Social Games

Adam SimonMarch 12, 2008

Catch Them All play test, 3/08

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CollectionCollect non-players as Friends, score extra points for socializing them into one of the player groups.

AlliancesPlayers belong to different groups, and must decide which group to support at any given time.

Catch Them All play test, 3/08

Big games are software for cities.

I’m interested in games as a way to reflect back our personal view of the world in a way that encourages playful experimentation and results in a better understanding of our selves.

Rumplestiltskin (an Artefactual Performance) prototyping, 12/07

Social

EnvironmentalThe Invention of Murder game marker, 10/07

Socialbomb play test, 4/07

friend collection + tagging was fun

highly visible in the environment & for non-players

(-:

rules & scoring were too complex

synchronizing all the players doesn’t work

game state was confused with too many tagged friends

)-:

+1 iteration

+1 new concept

use narrative / theme to explain groups & rules

keep players focused on each other, not other people

move resource collection into the environment

+1 new concept

use narrative / theme to explain groups & rules

keep players focused on each other, not other people

move resource collection into the environment

infection & containment

real-world resources are power-ups for a smaller game

model mechanics on very specific social concepts

?

are alliance & collection good social systems to model?

what is the interface?

this is not the game