Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

skip to main content
10.1145/1690388.1690427acmotherconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesesemConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Simulation as a game design tool

Published: 29 October 2009 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we suggest using gameplay simulations on a logical event level as a design tool already in the early stages of the development process. The approach is centred on abstracting all unnecessary details of the gameplay to produce a highly simplified model of the game system. Compared to other kinds of intermediate design representations, such as sketches and prototypes, the simulations can reveal problems and opportunities in the longer term dynamics of possible gameplay. As an example we describe an implementation of a simulation model for the game Tower Bloxx using a simulation software package called DisCo.

References

[1]
T. Aaltonen, M. Katara, and R. Pitkänen. DisCo toolset - the new generation. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 7(1):3--18, 2001.
[2]
D. Balas, C. Brom, A. Abonyi, and J. Gemrot. Hierarchical petri nets for story plots featuring virtual humans. Proceedings of the Fourth Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment Conference, 2008.
[3]
J. Banks. Principles of simulation. In J. Banks, editor, Handbook of Simulation: Principles, Methodology, Advances, Applications, and Practice, pages 3--30. Wiley, New York, 1998.
[4]
S. Björk and J. Holopainen. Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media, Hingham (Mass.), 2005.
[5]
C. Brom and A. Abonyi. Petri nets for game plot. In Proceedings of AISB'06 Symposium on Narrative AI and Games, 2006.
[6]
A. Diller. Z: An Introduction to Formal Methods. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990.
[7]
T. Fullerton, C. Swain, and S. Hoffman. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann, Amsterdam, second edition, 2008.
[8]
S. M. Grünvogel. Formal models and game design. Game Studies, 5(1), 2005.
[9]
A. Järvinen. Games Without Frontiers: Theories and Methods for Game Studies and Design. Acta electronica Universitatis Tamperensis. Tampere University Press, Tampere, 2008.
[10]
H.-M. Järvinen. The DisCo2000 Specification Language Annotated version. 2002.
[11]
H.-M. Järvinen and R. Kurki-Suonio. The DisCo language and temporal logic of actions. Technical report, Tampere University of Technology, Software Systems Laboratory, 1990.
[12]
H.-M. Järvinen, R. Kurki-Suonio, M. Sakkinen, and K. Systä. Object-oriented specification of reactive systems. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Software Engineering, pages 63--71. IEEE Computer Society Press, 1990.
[13]
M. Katara. Composing DisCo specifications using generic Real-Time events - a mobile robot case study. In J. Penjamin, editor, Software Technology, Proceedings of the Fenno-Ugric Symposium FUSST'99, Technical Report CS 104/99, pages 75--86, Sagadi, Estonia, 1999. Tallinn Technical University.
[14]
M. Kleinsmann and R. Valkenburg. Barriers and enablers for creating shared understanding in co-design projects. Design Studies, 29(4):369--386, 2008.
[15]
V. Kokotovich and T. Purcell. Mental synthesis and creativity in design: an experimental examination. Design Studies, 21(5):437--449, 2000.
[16]
R. Kurki-Suonio. A Practical Theory of Reactive Systems: Incremental Modeling of Dynamic Behaviors. Springer, 2005.
[17]
L. Lamport. The temporal logic of actions. ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst., 16(3):872--923, 1994.
[18]
B. Lawson. How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified. Architectural Press, fourth edition, 2005.
[19]
J. Löwgren and E. Stolterman. Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology. The MIT Press, 2007.
[20]
T. Mikkonen. A layer-based formalization of an on-board instrument. Technical Report 18, Tampere University of Technology, Software Systems Laboratory, 1998.
[21]
T. Nummenmaa. Adding probabilistic modeling to executable formal DisCo specifications with applications in strategy modeling in multiplayer game design. Master's thesis, University of Tampere, 2008.
[22]
R. Oxman. The thinking eye: visual re-cognition in design emergence. Design Studies, 23(2):135--164, 2002.
[23]
M. W. Rohrer. Seeing is believing: the importance of visualization in manufacturing simulation. In Simulation Conference Proceedings, 2000. Winter, volume 2, pages 1211--1216 vol. 2, 2000.
[24]
R. Rouse. Game Design: Theory and Practice. Wordware Publishing, Inc., second edition, 2001.
[25]
K. Salen and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2004.
[26]
J. Schell. The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. Morgan Kaufmann, 2008.
[27]
D. A. Schön. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action. Basic Books, first edition, 1984.
[28]
E. Syriani and H. Vangheluwe. Programmed Graph Rewriting with Time for Simulation-Based Design, pages 91--106. 2008.
[29]
T. Nummenmaa. A method for modeling probabilistic object behaviour for simulations of formal specifications. In T. Uustalu, J. Vain, and J. Ernits, editors, NWPT 2008, Abstracts, Tallinn, Estonia, 2008.
[30]
A. Tveit, Ø. Rein, J. V. Iversen, and M. Matskin. Scalable agent-based simulation of players in massively multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of the 8th Scandinavian Conference on Artificial Intelligence (SCAI'03), pages 153--162, 2003.
[31]
M. C. Yang. A study of prototypes, design activity, and design outcome. Design Studies, 26(6):649--669, 2005.

Cited By

View all

Recommendations

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences
ACE '09: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology
October 2009
456 pages
ISBN:9781605588643
DOI:10.1145/1690388
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

  • Foundation of the Hellenic World

In-Cooperation

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 29 October 2009

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Check for updates

Author Tags

  1. DisCo language
  2. game design
  3. games
  4. prototype
  5. simulation

Qualifiers

  • Research-article

Conference

ACE '09
Sponsor:

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 36 of 90 submissions, 40%

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)5
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
Reflects downloads up to 29 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2021)Automated Playtesting with a Cognitive Model of Sensorimotor CoordinationProceedings of the 29th ACM International Conference on Multimedia10.1145/3474085.3475429(4920-4929)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2021
  • (2021)Prototyping Games Using Formal MethodsFormal Methods – Fun for Everybody10.1007/978-3-030-71374-4_6(124-142)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2021
  • (2018)PegasusInternational Journal of Computer Games Technology10.1155/2018/93410322018Online publication date: 2-Dec-2018
  • (2011)Supporting agile development by facilitating natural user interaction with executable formal specificationsACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/1988997.200364336:4(1-10)Online publication date: 4-Aug-2011
  • (2009)Exploring Games as Formal ModelsProceedings of the 2009 Fourth South-East European Workshop on Formal Methods10.1109/SEEFM.2009.15(60-65)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2009

View Options

Login options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media