Setting, that is, where events in a video game take place. This is one core element of game design that adds to the immersion, or, ‘buy in’ from a player; this is the focal point of the fifth module. The setting that video game designers establish, can connect users with relevant themes and topics, as the world itself should immerse participants in a way that seamlessly transfers goals and objectives, but also attempts to refrain from adding extraneous information. Setting attributes
In the fifth module, participants are asked to develop the setting that surrounds the other areas of the game design document they have created thus far. The semiotics of setting, within the context of video game design are detailed using the following sub-headers: Setting Game World (context), Game World (look and feel), Tangible, Non-tangible, Game World (areas), Game World (level progress). Each header connects to the story aspect of the game but, more importantly, it is the first time that participants are requested to consider how the story of their games, will connect with the computer technology, using multimedia. This is the core part of the course where the transition or, blurring, between the game design, as it directly connects with multimedia elements as they may exist as part of the video game as a finished work, by creating engagement scenarios, which afford interactivity.
This interactivity is explored through affordances in video games, distributed among three variables: Can, Will, and Will Not, within the context of game setting. These detail what the setting will afford participants from an interactivity standpoint. Students must make design decisions based on aspects of the aforementioned variables, write about these items, and share their ideas with their peers in an online wiki, providing feedback for peers on their own setting ideas. This module also marks one of the first locations of iterative design, where information in
this section, typically, calls on participants to return to, and refine other decisions made about their games, in an attempt to help with in-game interactivity..
Game World: Setting. Setting, in video game design, refers to where an interactive experience takes place. Specifically it is the context that is home to all of the themes, concepts, ideas, and interactions. Ported into instructional design, the setting is of significance, as it calls on designers to select contextual items that best match the desired experience outcomes.
Game World: Look and feel. Look and feel, in video game design, refers specifically to how participants can interact, within the context of the setting. In the Gaming, Interactive, and Multiplatform Media course, participants are guided to use two variables to articulate how their games will look and feel. The ‘non-tangible’ variables, ‘will’ and ‘will not’, outline what rules participants are forced to abide by for successful navigation of an experience. The ‘tangible’ variable, ‘can’, outlines how objectives and affordances manifest themselves.
Will. The ‘will’ of look and feel, refers to elements that participants must do. For
example, in a first person post-apocalyptic dystopian future action adventure role-playing game, Fallout 3, the player will be able to walk into rooms, and will be able to walk around while inside of rooms. In this example, participants who want to successfully navigate through this
experience must learn that these are core concepts in understanding how the experience is designed, and how they connect to the ideas and concepts present in the experience. Ported into instructional design, there are always core objectives that participants are required to do,
however, finding creative ways of incorporating core objectives, as a seamless part of the instructional design may benefit instruction by offering explorative ways of engaging with core content, as a means of getting participants to complete required tasks.
Will Not. The ‘will not’ of look and feel, refers to elements that participants are not able to do. For example, in the same first person post-apocalyptic dystopian future action adventure role-playing game, Fallout 3, the player will not be able to fly, dig underground at random points, or, sing, to name a few affordances. With these examples, participants who wish to engage with the experience must accept that they will not be able to do the aforementioned as part of the engagement with the experience. Ported into instructional design, the way in which instructional design platforms are chosen, may have a beneficial, or non-beneficial effect on participants, depending on the specificity of the affordances in the chosen medium. To expand with an example, using 3rd party platforms such as Facebook™, Twitter™, and Youtube™ as part of an instructional tool, without embedding them inside of another experience, may lead to participants watching content that is unassociated with course core objectives.
Can. The ‘can’ of look and feel, refers to elements of autonomy, which are, things that participants are able to do that add to experience immersion, while not necessarily imperative to the progression of the participant through the intended experience. Continuing with the Fallout 3 example, while in different rooms, players can pick up items from one of 20 different item categories; ammunition, armor and clothing, broken steel, consumables, crafting items, cut items, notes, house improvements, images, mentioned-only items, miscellaneous, Mothership Zeta, Operation: Anchorage items, point lookout items, quest items, skill books, Pitt items,
unique items, bobbleheads, & weapons1, and each of these items have a sub categorical list of their own. Many of which do not necessarily advance the story as it pertains to the successful completion of the game’s core objectives. Ported into instructional design, the way that designers provide supplemental material, can suggest additional content in a way that, if engaging enough, participants can regularly consume as part of the experience. Conversely, if additional content is not cleverly integrated into instructional design, participants may not connect with materials that could potentially help with the overall engagement with course content.
Game World: Areas. ‘Game world: areas’, in video game design, refers to the overarching structure of an experience, that is, where participants engage with different parts of an experience. Often, games are categorized by increasing difficulty levels, but, these difficulty levels are embedded within different parts of the places that a player can venture to. Here, the different areas are usually theme-based, and tied directly to the overarching goals of the experience. Ported into instructional design, ensuring that each part of a course, often weekly- based, progressively connects, and challenges participants increasingly should be a critical part of planning the structure of an educational experience.
Game World: Level Progress. ‘Game World: Level Progress’, in video game design, refers to the specific navigational structure of an experience, that is how participants will advance through the different parts of the experience. This may be linear in nature, or, participants may be
1 Fallout 3 items. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Fallout_3_items
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afforded the opportunity to explore different parts at their own leisure, in a non-linear manner. It is critical to note that, while video game design affords participants the illusion of non-linear experience navigation, the non-linear path of instructional design, still contains design-based linearity, through objective completion, or the implementation of currency, or completion criteria as means of keeping participants connected to the overall intended experience. Ported into
instructional design, asynchronous and synchronous instructional design is well known, however, the nature of how the instructional design, when asynchronous instruction is used, needs to be articulated in a way that still connects participants to core curricular content, under the perception of asynchronous instruction. As no experience in a video game is truly non-linear, instructional designers, especially those who use multimedia, should be aware that the illusion of non-linearity is part of the instructional design process.
When it comes to instructional design, using multimedia, module 5 is of significance in the way that it is composed, first, calling on students to play a game that contains the theories that will be covered in the module, but, I’ve selected a game, The Room, that removes many of the details that avid game players would assume should be part of the design considerations – elaborate backgrounds, high-quality visuals, and perhaps other visually appealing items. The Room, is a simple concept – one is contained in a single room, trying to figure out the mysteries, and intricate storyline, contained within a single, locked box. The decision to include this game is intentional, for this game contains all of the successful elements of a good video game, without many of the common assumptions of what makes a good video game – keeping up with trending technologies. The Room has been ported to mobile phones, which means, it is capable of running on a wider range of compatible devices than newer devices.