Constructing the Space of Possibility

Partha Desikan

Have you had a hand at designing games? If you have, or even if you have now developed an itch to try your hand, the following sensitive and insightful analysis by David Sudnow (page 117 in the book ‘Pilgrim in a Microworld', published by Warner Books, New York, NY, 1983) will catch you where

In the event that you have not heard of Breakout, this is the way Wikipedia defines and introduces the game:

Breakout is an arcade game developed by Atari Inc. and introduced on May 13, 1976. It was conceptualized by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, and influenced by the 1972 arcade game Pong. The game was ported to video game consoles and upgraded to video games such as Super Breakout. In addition, Breakout was the basis and inspiration for many books, video games, and the Apple II personal computer.

In the game, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen. A ball travels across the screen, bouncing off the top and side walls of the screen. When a brick is hit, the ball bounces away and the brick is destroyed. The player loses a turn when the ball touches the bottom of the screen. To prevent this from happening, the player has a movable paddle to bounce the ball upward and back into play.

The arcade cabinet uses a black and white monitor. However, the monitor has strips of colored cellophane placed over it so that the bricks appear to be in color.

Now here is Sudnow's ecstatic and graphic account:

I'd catch myself turning my chair into a more en face position vis-à-vis the TV. An obvious delusion. Maybe I could rest one elbow on the set to help feel the angle of my look and deepen a sense of the scale of things. See it from this side and that; see the invisible backside of things through an imaginary bodily tour of the object. Nonsense!

 If only I could feel the impact of the ball on the paddle, that would certainly help, would give me a tactile marker, stamping the gesture's places into a palpable little signature, so I'd feel each destination being achieved and not just witness the consequences of a connect shot. Nonsense!

Nonsense, just your eyes way up top, to be somehow fixed on things in ways that can't feel them fixing, then this silent smooth little plastic knob down there, neither near nor far away, but in an untouchable world without dimension. And in between all three nodes of the interface, there is nothing but a theory of electricity. So fluid, to have to write your signature with precise consistency in size within the strict bounds of a two and three sevenths of an inch of space, say, while the pen somehow never makes contact with the paper. There's nothing much to hold on to, not enough heft in this  knob so your hands can feel the extent of very minor movements, no depth to things you can use to anchor a sense of your own solidity.

Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman use the above nugget to ponder the possibility of a game designer anticipating and actually crafting such experiential possibilities from the players, if not the designer's, angle. In their book, ‘Rules of Play', (published by the MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2004, pages 66 and 67, they express their empathy and solidarity with the likes of David Sudnow, who wishes he could reach out and touch the electronic blip of his Breakout paddle. They throw out their hands and confess, however, that the game designer has his limitations. He cannot, like Sudnow, directly craft the possible space of his creation. But he can indirectly (only indirectly, mind) construct the space of possibility. Game design is an act of faith, they point out, in the rules you create and lay down, in the players who will play your game, and in your game itself. You will never know for sure, whether the game you lovingly created will in turn create meaningful play. But a proper understanding of key concepts like design, systems and interactivity especially, can help bring you as a designer, closer to a meaningful outcome.

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Of course
written by P. Desikan, 2008-07-11 12:52:15

Addictive, indeed, dear Karigar. And when a game designer does the kind of interactivity research that I write about, I am afraid, his product will keep more people ensnared and away longer from healthier preoccupations.Commerce is always partly exploitative1
Regards. Partha

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written by karigar, 2008-07-11 11:51:03

Dear Partha,

Nice writeup & comments. Watching kids in the local SAMs club/Walmart behaving like the 'Guitar Heroes' sounds being produced were somehow naturally produced with their own efforts...gives me mental goosebumps....too much of virtual 'reality' ??

But yes it is addictive indeed...

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You are being watched!
written by P. Desikan, 2008-05-27 08:09:17

Dear Friends,
Please look at these sequences.
1.Hatimtai writes in January this year in Medha Journal about the bright , emerging writer of fiction, Jhumpa Lahiri and there is an enthusiastic follow up from a number of us with comments.
2. Time magazine has a feature on the 'Quiet Laureate' in its May 19 issue.
3. Partha writes a blog on games in Medha Journal, citing an old favourite game to exemplify interactivity, on May 19.There are some happy comments.
4. On May 20th Dwai remembers the extent of interactive enjoyment that the game of Nintendo Wii is able to provide for him.
5. Time Magazine has a feature on the 'Wizard of Wii' in its June 2 issue.
What next, indeed?
Regards. Partha.

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Interactivity
written by dwai, 2008-05-20 16:52:59

How could I have missed it earlier?

Dear Partha,

A fantastic gaming console that is out-selling all the other consoles combined in the market today is the Nintendo Wii. That is the epitome of interactivity in the world of popular gaming devices (there are specialized Virtual-Reality type gizmos, but they are not very accessible cost-wise).

I happen to own a Nintendo Wii and simply love playing the out-of-box game software (Wii Sports). The fact that I get a physical stimulus (say while playing Tennis) when the virtual ball hits the virtual racket (via a soft vibration on the handle of the wiimote) makes the experience superb, entertaining.

The future of gaming is down that path (perhaps with the ability to attach sensors to both hands, feet -- taking it into the true Virtual Reality realm).

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Thank you
written by P. Desikan, 2008-05-20 12:56:25

Thank you Kannan, for spotting my mantra, interactivity and focusing on it. Thanks also for pointing out that considerable academic research, ( I would assume, notably in this country)is being devoted currently to augment learning through optimal utilization of games. I shall try to learn more about this by reading Avedon and Sutton-Smith. Naturally most of us at Medha would support such uses of video games which help to elevate human beings apart from the unquestioned ability of good and not so good videogames to bring in revenue!
Regards. Partha.
Thank you for your appreciation, Narensomu. The child, Oh yes. All researchers and innovators benefit by having the unalloyed wonder of a child.
Regards. Partha.

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written by narensomu, 2008-05-20 06:16:17

Dear Partha
Thanks for the informative post.
Game design requires , just as in the case of other kinds of design, putting of oneself in the other person's shoes.
And one has to love gaming absolutely to be able to make/design games.
In short, one also should have the child [ may be a ten plus?] within him/her intact , I think.
Regards
ns

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Interactivity and Games
written by Kannan AMR, 2008-05-19 21:48:19

Dear Partha,
Wonderful posting indeed! Video game industry is strongly competing with Hollywood in terms of revenue. One of the recent research interests among many researchers is making the best use of games to augment learning. Avedon and Sutton-Smith (1971) mention about how it surprising to note that number games were played by children of "so-called primitive societies" long before they were introduced into modern education as a teaching technique.
Very elegantly and at the same time painlessly (without getting into too much academic jargon), you have written the importance of interactivity. We live because of our interaction with nature and the mother earth. We learn through interactions. Interactive feature was the reason behind the success of WWW than other Internet applications.
Thank you for sharing such a thought provoking write-up!
Kannan
Avedon and Sutton-Smith, 1971. The Study of Games, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Thank you
written by P. Desikan, 2008-05-19 17:38:29

Thank you, dear Dwai, for drawing attention to the genius who pioneered quality platform games. Our friends may like to read a bio-sketch from Yale University on this extraordinary alumnus who started working for a computer science degree and finished off with one in psychology so that he could relax and produce his 'computer' games!
http://research.yale.edu/ysm/a...cleID=463
Thanks dear Pradip, for acknowledging along with me, that in this discipline as in several others, good products are created only by hard working persons who are committed to excellence.
Regards. Partha

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Not an easy thing to design
written by Dr. Pradip Gangopadh, 2008-05-19 17:06:45

Dear Partha,
I realized reading your article that designing games is a non trivial thing.

Regards

Pradip

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Game design is an act of Artistry based on Intuition?
written by dwai, 2008-05-19 16:07:23

Great post there Dear Partha.
So can we say that Game design is an act of artistry based on intuition?
The world of game design does seem like that. There are different games in the market, but the ones that seem to get you the most and involve you seem to be platformers such as Prince of Persia (and similar genre) -- there are elements of intelligence, intuition, logic, emotion all involved (in the process of game-playing).

Hats off the the genius of people like Jordan Mechner. Guys like him surely created a huge space of possibility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Mechner

Guys like him are the bridge between cold technology and human reality

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