Here is my first blog post on Gamestories, a website devoted to Game Design.
Gamestories is a new general game theory written by Chris Billows. Gamestories recognizes that games may not share mechanics or themes, but they all share the need to tap the player’s senses. Games are different from cinema, literature, music, and other forms of entertainment & art because the senses they trigger are more extensive and they invite the practice of transformation.
Instead of focusing on whether a game is fun, art, interactive, or challenging, Gamestories says that games are important because at their best they invite players to bring all of their senses to the medium. A player’s senses are triggered through the game’s events, become remembered, and then later shared with other players. The greatest meaning of a game is not that it tells the player a story, but that the player tells a story to others about the game.
Player plays Game > Player transforms Game Events > Events resonates with Player > Player tells Stories about Game
Gamestories can be summarized thus:
“A game succeeds as a game when it taps the player’s full range of senses, triggering integration of game events, and reflecting these as stories and lessons to others.”
In no particular order, this webseries will deal with the following topics as it relates to Game Design.
1) The role of the Human Senses in Games
2) Introduction to the Immersion Accords of Connection, Message, Medium, and Performance
3) How to create Game Events in each of the Immersion Accords
4) The neglected design of Passive Cultivation
5) How to use Game Events to tell stories and teach lessons
6) The Gamestory Worksheet
7) Game reviews and random postings
Thank you for visiting.
Chris
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