PSYC445 Midterm Terms Flashcards
Atari
Nolan Bushnell & Ted Dabney
Magnavox
Released the first ever home console known as the Magnovox Odyssey
Nintendo
Japanese gaming system which gave way to characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong
Steve Jobs and Apple Computer
Groundbreaking/innovative
William Higinbotham
Created the first video game in 1958 (“tennis for two”)
Ken and Roberta Williams
Created the first ever adventure game called “mystery house” in 1980
Company known as On-line systems and later Sierra Entertainment
Tony Hawk
Video Game Invasion Series
“Golden Age of Video Games”
First generation
MUDs and MMMORPG
Fantasy role playing games in which different users would interact with one another (“multi-user dungeons”)
ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board (Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature) The Entertainment Rating Board Rating Categories: - Early Childhood - Everyone - Everyone 10+ - Teen - Mature - Adults only - Rating Pending Interactive Elements - inform about interactive aspects of product, including users’ ability to interact, the sharing of users’ location with other users, or fact that personal info may be shared with 3rd parties Content Descriptors - list that details specific elements that might be considered offensive (violence, alcohol references, nudity, etc)
Video Game Genre
- Puzzles
- Racing
- Sports
- Violence
- Fighting
- Action
- Role playing
- Search and Explore
- Add more…
Task Analysis
How are tasks accomplished in video games
Screen Space
No visual space, all text based
- game involves only typing text as input and reading text as output
One screen contained
- graphics are confined to 2-dimensional space; objects confined to move around or to appear on one side and disappear at the other
One screen contained with wrap around
- moving objects can move off screen in one direction and re-appear on the other side maintaining their speed and trajectory
Scrolling on one axis
- games that require a long strip of space us horizontal scrolling synchronized with the player’s speed with stationary objects appearing on the right and disappearing on the left
Scrolling on two axes
- games that involve terrain maps typically require scrolling side to side and up and down
Adjacent spaces displayed one at a time
- continuous spaces are presented as a series of non-overlapping static screens cut one to the next without scrolling. When the character moves off-screen in one direction the scene changes instantaneously from one screen to the next
Layers of independently moving planes
- the space of made of layers of overlapping and independently moving planes of graphics. Front layer contains player-character, while the back layer contains background graphics and scrolls at a slower rate than foreground creating illusion of depth
Spaces allowing Z-axis movement out of frame
- a 3D effect created using Z-axis movement showing objects grow in size as they move up the tunnel to where the player’s character is
Multiple, non-adjacent spaces displayed on-screen simultaneously
- two or more independent points of view are shown in tiles for each competing playe. Each tile is one screen but players can see all screens
Interactive 3D environment
- first person perspective is shown that allows player to look around in a 3D environment on 2D screen
Represented or “mapped” spaces
- off-screen spaces are represented as a map on the screen to help the player navigate the whole space of the game and to reveal objects and events occurring in the off-screen space
Multiple screens for one player
- two or more screens may be available to the player to provide one screen for a shared game space and another for personal views and game options often on a handheld device
Multiple screens across players
- each player has his or her own personal screen on a network and a shared or common screen for all to view
Screen Space
Stages of video game development
Pre-production
- planning phase focused on idea or concept development and production of initial design documents (describes tasks, schedules, and estimates for the development team)
- High concept, pitch, concept, game design, document, prototype
Production
- main stage of development, when assets and source code for game are produced
- period of time in which project is fully staffed
- Design, programming, level creation, art production, audio production, testing
Post-production
- after game goes gold and ships, developers give game team members compensation time
- Maintenance
Game engines
- A system designed for the creation and development of video games
- The core functionality provided by a game engine includes a rendering engine for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection, sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localization support, and a scene graph.
NPCs and AI
- Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters (NPC’s)
- Techniques usually draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence.
- The computer abilities must be toned down to give human players a sense of fairness.
- Non-player characters and artificial intelligence
Playtesting
- the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before bringing it to the market
- more specifically, the process of exposing a game in development to its intended audience to identify potential design flaws and gather feedback
Sensorimotor play
ages infancy-2
- appears in electronic games as an integral part of the game interface
- all ages must learn the key, mouse, joystick mappings to actions
- learning to coordinate physical movements and the perception of its effects
Symbolic or representational play
ages 2-6
- child plays with dolls, toys, and objects and begins to use symbols to represent other objects
- this type of play is inherent to video games that use interface object models to represent characters, fields of play, weapons, treasures, etc.
- symbolic component essential to making it a game rather than a real world experience (creates the possibility of fantasy, suspension of belief, departure from reality, and illusion of risk without actually jeopardizing the physical safety of one’s self or that of others)
Games with rules
- played from school age on and introduce objective rules concerning allowable actions and obtainable goals
- these type of games impose a structure that sets limits and boundaries as well as scoring rules to award points and assign game winners
- bring in the social dynamics of cooperation and competition
- unlike games in the real world, the rules of physics and logic can be relaxed or altered in video games to allow teleportation, x-ray vision, and “cheats”
- Ex. Board games, sports
Ludology
The study of gaming (which focuses on teh extent to which a game is a goal-directed and competitive activity)
Jean Piaget
Describes 3 types of games that play a role in childhood when the child is learning to coordinate physical movement with the perception of its effects
Jean Piaget
Describes 3 types of games that play a role in childhood when the child is learning to coordinate physical movement with the perception of its effects
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards
Rewards reinforce behavior and may be given according to different schedules.
Intrinsic (Intra-Game) rewards:
- Points: dots, coins, kills
- Levels: boards, rooms, bosses
- Possessions: territory, wardrobe, treasures
- Entertainment: spaces to explore, music to listen to, things to watch
- Wins: completed games
Extrinsic rewards:
- Material goods: money, tokens, drinks, food
- Social factors: friendship, social status
- Personal development: physical development, cognitive abilities, knowledge
Schedule of reinforcement
- If behavior is reinforced by a reward then it will be repeated. The organism will learn the behavior.
- If things too hard or behavior not reinforced then learning to play will not occur. If too hard too quickly, then learning will go into extinction.
Partial reinforcement
- Can be either variable ratio or variable interval
- Most effective for creating high rates of responding with low rates of reinforcement that are resistant to extinction
Social comparison theory
States that we tend to compare ourselves with a distribution of our peers rather than players that are much, much better or worse than ourselves
Regret
Regret - when we’re disappointed with failure
- level of regret is a function of how close we came to succeeding
- Video games use regret level to motivate players to return to game
Cognitive dissonance
A discrepancy in beliefs about what is and what should be
Human factors psychology
Have to do with the ways in which machines are designed so that they can be more efficient, easy to control, reduce human error, and accommodate the human body
Ergonomics
Input devices/controllers need to conform to size, strength, and other physical characteristics of the human body
- hand controllers must conform to average size of hand of gamer
- Ex. Wii remote has ergonomics problem flying out of hands of gamers and hitting other players or objects; they have had to retro fit straps and gloves to try and fix problem
Game controllers
When playing game, player has to input information into system
- This is done by using a controller which should be specific to the console, the monitor, or the game
- may take form of keyboard commands or text instructions
- X-Y locations and movement in 2-space are input by mouse, joystick, trackball, etc.
- specific controllers have been developed for handhelds and consoles
- “Stupid controller” - 1) weird or unorganized button layout 2) awkward or uncomfortable shape or controller scheme 3) wasted space
Response mapping
Mapping of gamers’ actions whether button presses, joystick controllers, or wands movements to game input
- mapping depends first on the modalities or channels or types of information being conveyed
- simplest mapping is from keys to commands (“C” for crouch or “J” for jump), then key combinations “A” and “B’ for start)
- Depends on the types of information being relayed (keys to commands & key combinations)
Control dimensionality (CD)
A game metric developed by Activision to assess the complexity of the game controller for any given game
Feedback loops
A sequence from the gamers action to a situation to the response or feedback from the game.
May signal a correct/successful action or an incorrect/unsuccessful action
Absolute vs. relative pointing
Absolute pointing - direct correspondence between direction of pointer and cursor on the screen
Relative pointing - cursor moves relative to the movement of the pointing device (Ex: mouse)
Auditory feedback
- Used as reinforcement
- Used to be simple beeps, now has progressed to stereo and surround sound of auto crashes, gunfire, voice, and music
- How is sound used to make video games more appealing?
Tactile feedback
- Effective because it uses a separate and highly salient channel
- Many video game controllers use vibration to signal being hit, crashes, and other failures
- Use of separate and highly salient channels such as vibrations on the controller
