Games

A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong solitaire, or some video games).[citation needed]

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational, or psychological role. According to Chris Crawford, the requirement for player interaction puts activities such as jigsaw puzzles and solitaire "games" into the category of puzzles rather than games.[1]

Attested as early as 2600 BC,[2][3] games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.[4]

Game @ Wikipedia

Blog posts in this category:

Positional Game Design

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

JoelE recently posted some thoughts on “the differences in feel between Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2” which I found interesting, even though I haven’t played those games.

I am particularly impressed by the game JoelE invented to demonstrate his thesis:

To explore what kind of effect secondary military objectives have on games, I made a simple game that can be played on a chess board. Here are the rules:

  • 1s can move 1 space
  • 2s can move 2 spaces
  • 3s can move 3 spaces etc.
  • Green spaces upgrade from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, etc.
  • Each upgrade space can be only used once per piece.
  • To take a piece, move into it.
  • The game is lost when all pieces are gone

Here is a picture of the starting position of the game:

Secondary Objectives (JoelE)

If you guys want to try this game, and see how the upgrade spaces affect it, you can play on a chess board, using pawns for level 1, horses for level 2, bishops for level 3, queen for level 4, and king for level 5. You may need to improvise if you run out of pieces.

JoelE @ teamliquid.net

This is brilliant: re-purposing a chessboard as logic analyzer for computer game strategies.

 

Battle Shoe

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

This belongs in a game somewhere. It really does:

Battle Shoe (Phil Noto)

Phil Noto

Via Boing Boing.

 

Meatcraft: A Real World Minecraft Art Gallery

Categories: Art, Minecraft
Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Meatcraft was a real world art installation by Jeffrey Kam and Cody McCabe, presented at San Jose State University from March 14-17, 2011.

Meatcraft

MeatcraftThe show consisted of a minecraft themed gallery, complete with 2 crafting tables, tools, working LED torches, a creeper costume that greeted you at the door, and a fully interactive grass block world in the center. The wall textures, the crafting tables and the center grass block are all to scale (1 meter cubes), to increase immersion and really make you feel like you’re in Minecraft. Clearly the possibilities for a project like this are endless so it was extremely difficult for us not to pursue other ideas we had (Steve costume, pigs, cows, music, automatic day/night cycle, minecarts etc.). For purposes of time and budget, we had to restrict ourselves from getting too crazy.

realworldminecraft.com

Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

 

Motorcycles out of watch parts

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

These lovely objects belong in a game somewhere. They really do:

motorcycles out of watch parts, by dkart71

motorcycles out of watch parts by dkart71

Someone, please, make a game where the player constructs a motorcycle made out of watch parts, and then rides to safety:

  • Shrink the player until a wristwatch is the right size for motorcycle parts
  • Drop the player into a magical (high-tech, alien, etc.) wristwatch factory
  • – My person favorite: neo-retro Evil Nazi wristwatch factory
  • Remind the player that watch parts can be assembled into motorcycles
  • Sound the burglar alarm
  • Start winding up the clockwork watchmen, make it loud
  • Remind the player that watchmen are dangerous, and motorcycles go faster than watchmen
  • Every so often, wind up more clockwork watchmen, as incentive for the player to finish that motorcycle ….

If the player doesn’t build a motorcycle in time … well, bad things probably happen … if it were my Evil Nazi Wristwatch factory, I would release the Giant Wind-Up Chattering Teeth … but you have your own kind of fun, and be sure to let me know about it, I’ll award you the Handy Vandal Medal of Supreme Coolness.

Via Boing Boing.

 

Jeff Koons Must Die!!! The Video Game

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Jeff Koons Must Die!!! The Video Game from Hunter Jonakin.

Tip of the hat to Agent 99 for the link

 

Super Mario as a first-person shooter

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Via Boing Boing.

 

Obsolete

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Obsolete by Paul Hynek

Obsolete (2006)

This belongs in a game somewhere. It really does.

Pawel Hynek’s 2006 image “Obsolete” depicts a homeless robot begging for electrical power; it’s striking and funny as well as a little uncomfortable-making.

Cory Doctorow @ Boing Boing

I’m reminded of William Gibson’s novel Mona Lisa Overdrive, where we encounter The Finn (a character from earlier Gibson novels) now incarnated as a back-alley machine personality construct:
read more »

 

Caution The Floor Is Now Lava

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Caution The Floor Is Now LavaI would love to find this “Caution The Floor Is Now Lava” sign in a first-person shooter game.

Who will make such a game? Someone? Anyone?

I can’t pay you, but I will award you the Handy Vandal Medal for Doing Extremely Cool Stuff.

Seriously: you’ll get your own blog post, with a picture of you and your work (maybe a picture of you ignoring the sign, and slipping on the lava — whatever you like).

Link to original @ reddit by flipswitch

Via Laughing Squid.


 

Coop’s Beholder

Posted by: the_handy_vandal

Beholder, by Coop

Beholder by Coop

Via Boing Boing.

I played many hours of Dungeons & Dragons back in my youth — enough that I feel qualified to answer the question, “Is the Beholder the coolest monster in the game?”

Yes. Yes it is. Si monumentum requiris, circumspice ….

 

Organic HUD

Categories: Art, Half-Life 2, Mods
Posted by: the_handy_vandal

hvmb_hud-organic-1