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Playscripts a new method for analyzing game design and play

Published: 14 November 2007 Publication History

Abstract

We propose a methodological framework for game analysis that uses the notion of 'scripting' as the basis for game interpretation and design. Drawing upon several disciplines and domains, this paper provides a template for critical analysis by outlining seven forms of scripting at work in games, and how these scripts either complement or compete with each other in various types of games. This system of analysis not only comprises the different technical, social or cognitive scripts that operate within the various modules of any given game, but also provides a method for the comparative study of different games, as well as a framework for building improved scripting and work flow tools for game designers.

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E. Aarseth. Playing research: Methodological approaches to game analysis. In Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 2003.
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D. Herman. Scripts, sequences, and stories: elements of a postclassical narratology. PMLA, 112(5), 1997.
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H. Jenkins. Game design as narrative architecture. In N. Wardrip-Fruin and P. Harrigan, editors, First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, Game, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2004. MIT Press.
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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    Future Play '07: Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Future Play
    November 2007
    279 pages
    ISBN:9781595939432
    DOI:10.1145/1328202
    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

    • Province of Ontario, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
    • Arcademy Games Awards Festival Arcadia
    • Microsoft User Research Group
    • Government of Canada, FedNor
    • Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
    • Garage Games
    • Visualization Design Institute, Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
    • Algoma University College
    • University of Ontario Institute of Technology
    • Bug-Tracker.Com
    • SchoolFinder

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 14 November 2007

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    Author Tags

    1. games
    2. ludology
    3. narrative
    4. scripting
    5. scripts

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    Futureplay2007
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    Futureplay2007: Futureplay 2007
    November 14 - 17, 2007
    Toronto, Canada

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