"Because no one can save the universe..."
As I'm currently embarking on my literature review, I've been blazing through various conference and journal papers regarding different aspects of my PhD. Last night I came across a very enjoyable paper entitled "Game Over: Learning by Dying", by Dimitri Grammenos, from the CHI 2008 proceedings. The paper presents "the world's first universally inaccessible game (i.e. a game that can be played by no one)" and is intended as an educational tool for emphasising the importance of adhering to game design rules when designing and developing a game.
The game is designed around a reversal of the stereotypical Space Invaders scenario, whereby you assume the role of an alien at the top of the screen, defending the universe from the invaders at the bottom of the screen. Each level is designed to stress the importance of a fundamental game design guideline, with the guideline being displayed (along with some humourous quotes) at the end of each level.
The game has a very light hearted feel to it, but was evaluated by users to be a very useful educational tool for game designers. You can download the game at UA-Games and try it out for yourself. I found it to be pretty enjoyable, even though it was (not surprisingly) ridiculously unfair.
2 comments:
The actor/director Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano at one point dabbled in game design, for the Famicom. Created a game that was almost impossible to complete, and deliberately pointless with it :D
Sounds like about as much fun as Game Over!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeshi_no_Chousenjou
Heh, funny you should mention that. The paper had a paragraph about that game, I guess it was an influence :)
Found it really amusing reading about it on Wikipedia.
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