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PROFESSOR: Today I've got quite
a lot of stuff to go through.

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So hopefully we'll get to
the actual game playing,

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but if not, don't
worry, you'll actually

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get to play the games--

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the games that we'll
end up playing today

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are games from last year.

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A lot of them are actually
the final semester--

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the final project,
which means they are not

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00:00:38,777 --> 00:00:41,110
answering the same question
that you're trying to answer

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with your very first project.

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But it should give you a sense
of what the scope of this class

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actually is.

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Last week, a couple of
you played the LEGO game,

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Block Party.

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That was a two week project,
and that was just without staff.

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These were more like
four week projects.

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And we'll design my
students with larger teams

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and probably closer
to the kind of game

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that you're going
to end up making.

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I want you to keep in
mind that you're not

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constrained to building games
that look exactly like those.

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In fact, after
you've got a chance

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to play some of the
games from last year,

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I hope you actually
have a chance

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to think a little bit
about what did they not do.

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00:01:25,860 --> 00:01:28,560
All these games are like
this sort of board game.

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And you will see a lot of them
are this sort of board game.

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You find out what this is.

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And you'll be able
to do-- you can think

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a little bit about what would it
be like to design a game that's

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not that.

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00:01:38,205 --> 00:01:40,992
What if you just wanted to make
your car game, for instance?

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You can.

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That's no reason
why you couldn't.

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What if you want to do a live
action game where you actually

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move around with your
body, that sort of thing?

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That's totally doable.

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I really, really hesitate not--

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try not to put any live digital
components in your game.

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I know some people--

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unless it's something
simple like a timer

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that you can run
off your iPhone.

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00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:03,700
OK, maybe that's fine.

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00:02:03,700 --> 00:02:06,690
By actually writing code,
then the scope of this project

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just went through what
I expected you to do.

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And the possibility
of failure is--

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go back please.

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AUDIENCE: Very much.

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PROFESSOR: But not
failing the class.

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But your project just
failing during runtime.

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So that's probably something you
don't necessarily want to do.

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We had two readings today,
one for last Wednesday

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and then one for today.

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So I want to--

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I try to cover quite a bit
of it from the first reading

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during class itself.

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Was anyone here not
here on Wednesday?

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OK, all right.

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So we need to make sure that
your name's on the attendance

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sheet.

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And you should come and
talk to me after class.

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And we'll make sure you
get a copy of the syllabus

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and everything like that.

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Make sure that you get
expectations for this class.

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Everybody who was
here, hopefully you

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found your name on
the attendance sheet

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because I had to manually
add a few of you.

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So I hope you got--

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I got it all right.

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Now one of the points
that I try to get across--

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is this recording?

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Yeah.

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One of the points that
I tried to get across

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on Wednesday was--

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all right, who's the
most important person

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when it comes to
actually playing a game?

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AUDIENCE: (COLLECTIVELY)
The players.

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PROFESSOR: The players, right,
not the designers, not you.

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But you when you actually
play someone else's game.

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Then you're the most
important person.

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If that person's experience
is problematic or exciting

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or engaged or outright hostile
to other players, or something

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like that, that's making it the
way that they want to take it.

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And then you as the
designer are are

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going to run through a number
of different challenges trying

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to be able to give
them an experience

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that you're trying
to create for them.

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But you also have to acknowledge
that if somebody wants

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to take your hardcore
strategy game

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and turn it into a lighthearted
party game, or vice versa,

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that's their prerogative.

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And if they say,
hey, I really, really

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wanted this to be a
lighthearted game,

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and you gave me
this hardcore game.

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And it made me hate the
people around me, the table.

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And I don't like
it, that is fine.

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It's OK for them to
not like your game

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based on my criteria like that.

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However, one of the
things that comes up

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in the Brathwaite
reading is this concept

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of meaningful decisions, right?

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Well, what's-- Sid Meire how
many of you heard of Sid Meier?

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Yeah, what games can
people remember from--

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AUDIENCE: (COLLECTIVELY)
Civilization.

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PROFESSOR: OK, Civilization.

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Railroads?

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I think he also did
the first [INAUDIBLE].

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Pirates?

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Yeah, yeah.

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Mostly a computer game designer,
although if you actually

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play his games, if you like
digital board games a lot,

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especially Civilization.

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And he has a code,
which just says

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games are a series of
interesting decisions.

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Not necessarily meaningful
but interesting--

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00:04:59,810 --> 00:05:00,630
the decisions.

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And what are some of
the ways that a decision

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can be meaningful?

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What are some of the things that
might come up in the reading

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00:05:07,110 --> 00:05:08,820
or occur to you right now?

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That a decision in a game can be
meaningful-- what does it mean?

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What does it mean
to be meaningful?

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00:05:15,694 --> 00:05:16,235
Couple hands?

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AUDIENCE: When you make that
decision, the game's status

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00:05:18,568 --> 00:05:20,564
changes or code that
meanders the change?

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PROFESSOR: OK, so when you
make a decision, and then

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the outcome actually
has changed.

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So the corollary is that if you
make a decision and the outcome

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hasn't changed, it wouldn't
terribly be meaningful.

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OK?

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AUDIENCE: That's what
I was going to say.

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[INAUDIBLE] a lot like doing
something and, I don't know,

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getting money [INAUDIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: So getting money?

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So getting some sort
of quantitative reward

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based on the decision
that you've made.

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AUDIENCE: Also you can get
a [INAUDIBLE] actually good

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00:05:50,443 --> 00:05:51,569
to wear or not.

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It could be something
really awesome in the game,

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00:05:53,610 --> 00:05:54,961
and you make a decision--

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PROFESSOR: So kudos
of the [INAUDIBLE].

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It's like, wow, that
was an amazing--

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like in football, for instance.

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That was an amazing play.

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It didn't necessarily complete,
but it would have been awesome.

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But maybe it was an awesome
defense or something like that.

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That could be a
meaningful decision.

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How about if you
decide to roll a die?

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Game state has changed, usually.

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Is that a meaningful thing?

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AUDIENCE: It could be
if it's [INAUDIBLE].

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00:06:33,330 --> 00:06:36,854
You roll a dice in one direction
of the game where you not

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[INAUDIBLE] different.

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00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:39,530
That's getting [INAUDIBLE].

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It's like, do I
roll the die now,

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or do I wait a minute
before I take my turn.

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That's not really a
meaningful decision.

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PROFESSOR: OK, it's like,
let me think about this.

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Then I'll roll it eventually.

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All right, someone had--

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I'm going to go this way.

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AUDIENCE: So if you had
meaningful alternatives

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as well?

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PROFESSOR: OK, so again,
if you had the choice

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not to roll the die, OK?

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AUDIENCE: I would say most
games that the die roll would be

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00:07:00,775 --> 00:07:02,852
meaningful but not a decision.

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00:07:02,852 --> 00:07:04,810
So the die roll basically
tells you what to do.

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00:07:04,810 --> 00:07:06,810
You're not actually
thinking about it.

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00:07:06,810 --> 00:07:07,810
But still [INAUDIBLE].

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00:07:07,810 --> 00:07:10,560
You can still change the
game state and that two wins

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00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:11,790
or whatever happens to me.

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00:07:11,790 --> 00:07:14,460
PROFESSOR: So the outcome of the
die roll is usually meaningful,

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00:07:14,460 --> 00:07:17,010
but you may not have had
to decide to do that.

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[INAUDIBLE]

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AUDIENCE: To go with that.

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00:07:19,712 --> 00:07:21,388
In a game like Yahtzee where--

185
00:07:21,388 --> 00:07:23,388
do you roll the dice
you're trying to make room.

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00:07:23,388 --> 00:07:26,574
But it's about the
die rolling where it's

187
00:07:26,574 --> 00:07:28,168
like something not [INAUDIBLE].

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00:07:28,168 --> 00:07:30,433
It's not really a decision.

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00:07:30,433 --> 00:07:32,172
You have to do it every turn.

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PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm.

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00:07:33,500 --> 00:07:35,359
Yeah, and that's an
interesting thing.

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00:07:35,359 --> 00:07:36,900
I talked a little
bit about mechanics

193
00:07:36,900 --> 00:07:40,320
on Wednesday and
the idea that if you

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00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,270
think of a mechanic
as something a player

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00:07:42,270 --> 00:07:45,860
does to change the game
state, the roll die--

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00:07:45,860 --> 00:07:47,550
the die rolling thing
is a weird thing

197
00:07:47,550 --> 00:07:49,425
because gameplay that's
changing is something

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00:07:49,425 --> 00:07:52,100
a player does but a player
didn't decide how to do that,

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right?

200
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,347
And as [INAUDIBLE].

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00:07:55,347 --> 00:07:57,180
AUDIENCE: Well, they've
covered [INAUDIBLE].

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00:07:57,180 --> 00:07:59,550
PROFESSOR: OK, yeah that's good.

203
00:07:59,550 --> 00:08:01,750
AUDIENCE: We can choose
different behavioral

204
00:08:01,750 --> 00:08:02,510
[INAUDIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: Oh yeah,
like getting Yahtzee--

206
00:08:04,260 --> 00:08:05,322
which die, right?

207
00:08:05,322 --> 00:08:05,822
Yeah?

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00:08:05,822 --> 00:08:07,440
AUDIENCE: I learned
this definition

209
00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,400
of [INAUDIBLE] series decisions,
like the card game War,

210
00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,122
for instance, or the
board game Candy Land.

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00:08:14,122 --> 00:08:16,080
PROFESSOR: That's a
version of Candy Land which

212
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,840
lets you choose which pile
of red cards to draw from.

213
00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,910
But is that meaningful?

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00:08:23,910 --> 00:08:25,980
A stack of randomly
shuffled cards?

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00:08:25,980 --> 00:08:31,170
AUDIENCE: Yeah, it has
to do with [INAUDIBLE].

216
00:08:31,170 --> 00:08:33,244
AUDIENCE: If their
random pile [INAUDIBLE].

217
00:08:33,244 --> 00:08:35,850
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

218
00:08:37,690 --> 00:08:39,190
PROFESSOR: I feel
you something else

219
00:08:39,190 --> 00:08:40,190
that you wanted
to add on to that.

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00:08:40,190 --> 00:08:41,410
AUDIENCE: No, it's OK.

221
00:08:41,410 --> 00:08:42,868
These are these
things are in game.

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And--

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00:08:43,774 --> 00:08:45,994
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

224
00:08:45,994 --> 00:08:48,350
PROFESSOR: The thing is
that they might be games

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00:08:48,350 --> 00:08:51,990
but that particular decision
may not be the meaningful one.

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00:08:51,990 --> 00:08:55,620
And it's possible that
in the entire game, maybe

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00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:57,600
you don't get that many
meaningful decisions.

228
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That doesn't necessarily
make it not a game.

229
00:09:00,250 --> 00:09:02,265
It might make it not
a very good game,

230
00:09:02,265 --> 00:09:03,390
which is a different thing.

231
00:09:03,390 --> 00:09:06,516
That's a qualitative and often
subjective experience, right?

232
00:09:06,516 --> 00:09:08,140
So it's real and make
you awesome game.

233
00:09:08,140 --> 00:09:09,748
You get to play in
a land of candy.

234
00:09:13,170 --> 00:09:14,696
A few more hands [INAUDIBLE]?

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AUDIENCE: Yeah, on that topic.

236
00:09:16,430 --> 00:09:19,310
I think there's a reason why
people who over a certain age

237
00:09:19,310 --> 00:09:20,685
never really wanted
to play Candy

238
00:09:20,685 --> 00:09:23,224
Land anymore because they
realized that they don't really

239
00:09:23,224 --> 00:09:25,140
do anything, so they get
really bored with it.

240
00:09:25,140 --> 00:09:26,960
For kids or some
other targeted thing

241
00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,370
going on more than the
meaningful decision,

242
00:09:30,370 --> 00:09:34,500
making it fun to actually just
doing something and moving--

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00:09:34,500 --> 00:09:35,792
or winning cards.

244
00:09:35,792 --> 00:09:37,740
[INAUDIBLE]

245
00:09:37,740 --> 00:09:42,390
PROFESSOR: The thing that war
and Candy Land let you do--

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00:09:42,390 --> 00:09:46,740
it's, for instance, it gives
a five-year-old a winning

247
00:09:46,740 --> 00:09:50,440
chance against an adult, right?

248
00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,250
That could be huge for a kid.

249
00:09:52,250 --> 00:09:55,710
It's like, wow, I can actually
play this with an adult?

250
00:09:55,710 --> 00:09:57,690
Learning how to take
turns is one thing

251
00:09:57,690 --> 00:09:59,460
that people have actually get
good at the games like Candy

252
00:09:59,460 --> 00:09:59,960
Land.

253
00:10:02,561 --> 00:10:04,560
I can't remember if I
brought this up last time.

254
00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:06,060
I believe Candy
Land was invented

255
00:10:06,060 --> 00:10:09,410
to keep kids from getting
polio from each other.

256
00:10:09,410 --> 00:10:10,656
That might be urban legend.

257
00:10:10,656 --> 00:10:11,330
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

258
00:10:11,330 --> 00:10:12,413
PROFESSOR: Huh, it's true?

259
00:10:12,413 --> 00:10:14,220
AUDIENCE: It keeps kids indoors.

260
00:10:14,220 --> 00:10:15,030
PROFESSOR: Keeps
kids indoors and try

261
00:10:15,030 --> 00:10:16,030
to get them from their--

262
00:10:16,030 --> 00:10:19,440
AUDIENCE: --they're
working with other kids.

263
00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,984
There's polio going around
at the time it happened.

264
00:10:21,984 --> 00:10:23,516
If you stay indoors
with the people

265
00:10:23,516 --> 00:10:25,945
you already know you
know aren't infected,

266
00:10:25,945 --> 00:10:27,320
you're going to be OK.

267
00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,280
PROFESSOR: So, OK, that was--

268
00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:31,880
AUDIENCE: With polio, you
can't do much of anything.

269
00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,338
PROFESSOR: There's
a huge inversion

270
00:10:33,338 --> 00:10:36,084
from the get out and
get some exercise.

271
00:10:41,300 --> 00:10:42,520
It's a serious game.

272
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,870
It has [INAUDIBLE].

273
00:10:44,870 --> 00:10:48,080
Let's play in the land of Candy.

274
00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,400
I would like to go back
a little bit to this idea

275
00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,310
about changing the
game state, right?

276
00:10:55,310 --> 00:10:58,220
You make a decision
in a game, and you've

277
00:10:58,220 --> 00:10:59,330
changed the game state.

278
00:10:59,330 --> 00:11:03,080
And it wasn't a decision--

279
00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:07,240
it wasn't-- I get to try to
roll from three identical dice.

280
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:08,400
Which die do I roll, OK?

281
00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,294
All right, that's not real--

282
00:11:10,294 --> 00:11:12,580
the real decision.

283
00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:14,640
I [INAUDIBLE] loaded
and then identical.

284
00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:21,380
But anyway, so what
do you need to be

285
00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:23,210
able to communicate
to the player

286
00:11:23,210 --> 00:11:26,640
that their decision
actually changed anything?

287
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,660
OK, actually let me
flip that around.

288
00:11:29,660 --> 00:11:31,407
If you don't let
the player know what

289
00:11:31,407 --> 00:11:33,740
changed the game state, even
though the game state might

290
00:11:33,740 --> 00:11:39,170
have changed, is it that
meaningful a decision anymore?

291
00:11:39,170 --> 00:11:40,040
You did something.

292
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,417
Some numbers changed
inside the system.

293
00:11:42,417 --> 00:11:44,250
It's good to affect how
things go out later.

294
00:11:44,250 --> 00:11:47,706
But you don't actually
know what happened.

295
00:11:47,706 --> 00:11:50,950
Has anyone played
a game like this?

296
00:11:50,950 --> 00:11:52,801
Does that sound familiar?

297
00:11:52,801 --> 00:11:55,180
AUDIENCE: I feel it's very
much potential to player

298
00:11:55,180 --> 00:11:58,503
and the system because
a lot of times something

299
00:11:58,503 --> 00:12:02,950
like that will happen and
whatever most people say,

300
00:12:02,950 --> 00:12:04,910
oh, nothing really changed.

301
00:12:04,910 --> 00:12:07,600
My decision didn't
matter at all.

302
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,540
Whereas someone that takes
the game more seriously

303
00:12:10,540 --> 00:12:13,370
might actually realize
something changed just

304
00:12:13,370 --> 00:12:16,650
from [INAUDIBLE] looking out
for something ridiculous.

305
00:12:16,650 --> 00:12:21,100
And also if you expect players
to get very into your game,

306
00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:22,620
this is the stuff
that you can leave

307
00:12:22,620 --> 00:12:26,020
with because they will
understand it and figure it out

308
00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:27,140
on their own.

309
00:12:27,140 --> 00:12:29,600
And that has to be
part of the game.

310
00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,200
Whereas if you expect players
to pick it up and play it

311
00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,314
three times in their life
and then move on, then

312
00:12:36,314 --> 00:12:38,480
it probably won't help them
that much and you should

313
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,855
you should probably give them
more free time [INAUDIBLE].

314
00:12:40,855 --> 00:12:42,450
PROFESSOR: Yep, some other hand?

315
00:12:42,450 --> 00:12:45,677
AUDIENCE: I think, also, if you
have an adventure game where

316
00:12:45,677 --> 00:12:46,885
there's a story or something.

317
00:12:46,885 --> 00:12:50,160
And you tell some guys
to just not help the guy.

318
00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,629
And then he becomes
an evil warlord later,

319
00:12:52,629 --> 00:12:54,920
there are some interesting
things you can do with that.

320
00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,040
PROFESSOR: There's a long
term consequences, so

321
00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:58,620
a lot of immediate consequences.

322
00:12:58,620 --> 00:13:02,121
Immediate feedback, which is
a term that you brought up.

323
00:13:02,121 --> 00:13:03,870
AUDIENCE: Looking at--
there are certainly

324
00:13:03,870 --> 00:13:08,220
games where [INAUDIBLE] example.

325
00:13:08,220 --> 00:13:10,350
The minions,
oftentimes you can draw

326
00:13:10,350 --> 00:13:12,590
cards that don't help
you to [INAUDIBLE]

327
00:13:12,590 --> 00:13:13,730
causing [INAUDIBLE].

328
00:13:13,730 --> 00:13:16,030
But normally if I were to
do this without thinking

329
00:13:16,030 --> 00:13:17,550
and thinking doesn't matter.

330
00:13:17,550 --> 00:13:21,210
Would it actually be slightly
beneficial or slightly

331
00:13:21,210 --> 00:13:22,630
[INAUDIBLE] that
actually do this?

332
00:13:22,630 --> 00:13:24,769
But unless you really
think about it,

333
00:13:24,769 --> 00:13:27,060
you won't even notice that
it caused any sort of change

334
00:13:27,060 --> 00:13:28,630
there.

335
00:13:28,630 --> 00:13:32,682
Because if you [INAUDIBLE]
this winter game wherein--

336
00:13:32,682 --> 00:13:34,765
there's a point where you
must-- if there's a dog,

337
00:13:34,765 --> 00:13:36,460
and you need to
give it a sandwich.

338
00:13:36,460 --> 00:13:38,810
Otherwise you'd do it
yourself 200 turns later,

339
00:13:38,810 --> 00:13:40,210
an hour earlier in this game.

340
00:13:40,210 --> 00:13:43,471
PROFESSOR: Right, and
that hurts, right?

341
00:13:43,471 --> 00:13:45,070
AUDIENCE: What's
the game called?

342
00:13:45,070 --> 00:13:48,680
AUDIENCE: The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy text adventure.

343
00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:50,680
AUDIENCE: Another really
straightforward example

344
00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:53,640
is competitive games
where you get only some

345
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,810
of the [INAUDIBLE] information,
like Starcraft or something.

346
00:13:57,810 --> 00:13:59,600
[INAUDIBLE]

347
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,360
PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's
interesting because usually a

348
00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,460
[INAUDIBLE] changing
what your opponent does

349
00:14:04,460 --> 00:14:07,296
based on what you can't see.

350
00:14:09,850 --> 00:14:11,870
And I say usually
because it does happen.

351
00:14:11,870 --> 00:14:15,140
Occasionally, your opponent sees
something that you didn't see.

352
00:14:15,140 --> 00:14:19,370
And they changed their
strategy based on that.

353
00:14:19,370 --> 00:14:21,099
I've played a number
of adventure games

354
00:14:21,099 --> 00:14:23,390
that actually have this more
as a puzzle solving thing.

355
00:14:23,390 --> 00:14:25,670
So it's not like 200 turns
later something changes.

356
00:14:25,670 --> 00:14:28,640
It's like something
changes right away,

357
00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:31,910
and you need to figure
out what changed.

358
00:14:31,910 --> 00:14:33,330
So it's not immediate feedback.

359
00:14:33,330 --> 00:14:34,996
There's feedback
somewhere in the world.

360
00:14:34,996 --> 00:14:39,090
But I want to say I probably
didn't enjoyed those games.

361
00:14:39,090 --> 00:14:40,550
Maybe someone does.

362
00:14:40,550 --> 00:14:41,660
Something [INAUDIBLE].

363
00:14:41,660 --> 00:14:43,243
AUDIENCE: Well, you
have to be careful

364
00:14:43,243 --> 00:14:46,550
that it doesn't have too
much complexity or some sort

365
00:14:46,550 --> 00:14:49,640
of unanticipated change that
there's two people the learning

366
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,080
curve [INAUDIBLE].

367
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:52,770
Certain games you
enjoy it, but you

368
00:14:52,770 --> 00:14:54,584
play it and it takes two hours.

369
00:14:54,584 --> 00:14:58,000
And you realize something
you did [INAUDIBLE] you

370
00:14:58,000 --> 00:14:59,255
might not want to play again.

371
00:14:59,255 --> 00:15:00,040
PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's like--

372
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:00,740
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

373
00:15:00,740 --> 00:15:02,198
PROFESSOR: --I got
the wrong ending

374
00:15:02,198 --> 00:15:04,445
because I made this
decision five hours ago

375
00:15:04,445 --> 00:15:05,490
or something like that.

376
00:15:05,490 --> 00:15:08,820
OK, how about the alternative,
when something-- my game state

377
00:15:08,820 --> 00:15:14,570
changes, and you're not really
sure how your decision came up

378
00:15:14,570 --> 00:15:17,750
with that outcome.

379
00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:21,365
So not random exactly,
but overly complex maybe.

380
00:15:21,365 --> 00:15:23,740
AUDIENCE: Well, you don't end
up with a good mental model

381
00:15:23,740 --> 00:15:25,690
of how the game works.

382
00:15:25,690 --> 00:15:29,442
And so even though you
make meaningful decisions,

383
00:15:29,442 --> 00:15:30,900
you don't know what
the meaning is.

384
00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:33,330
And so any time you're
making another decision,

385
00:15:33,330 --> 00:15:35,877
you may be able to select,
actually choose in a way

386
00:15:35,877 --> 00:15:36,585
that you want to.

387
00:15:36,585 --> 00:15:37,950
PROFESSOR: Yep, OK, mhm.

388
00:15:37,950 --> 00:15:41,020
AUDIENCE: It prevents a chess
style of approaching the game.

389
00:15:41,020 --> 00:15:43,632
Right, in chess you
see the board and you--

390
00:15:43,632 --> 00:15:45,340
a lot of the really
good players will see

391
00:15:45,340 --> 00:15:47,410
X number of moves in advance.

392
00:15:47,410 --> 00:15:50,740
But when things happen,
they just randomly appear.

393
00:15:50,740 --> 00:15:52,430
You have to react on the fly.

394
00:15:52,430 --> 00:15:55,820
You can't just plan
out all of your moves.

395
00:15:55,820 --> 00:15:57,260
PROFESSOR: This--
we [INAUDIBLE].

396
00:15:57,260 --> 00:15:59,789
AUDIENCE: I think this
one's a lot bigger issue

397
00:15:59,789 --> 00:16:01,330
than the other one
because this could

398
00:16:01,330 --> 00:16:05,020
lead to a lot of
frustration with players.

399
00:16:05,020 --> 00:16:06,900
If they can see the
game state changing

400
00:16:06,900 --> 00:16:09,316
and know that they're effective
but don't know how they're

401
00:16:09,316 --> 00:16:13,101
affecting it, I just
feel as a player, that

402
00:16:13,101 --> 00:16:14,520
would frustrate you to no end.

403
00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,350
And that would make you
think that everything you do

404
00:16:17,350 --> 00:16:18,987
doesn't really matter
and that you're

405
00:16:18,987 --> 00:16:21,195
going to win or lose regardless
of what you're doing.

406
00:16:21,195 --> 00:16:24,745
And it turns it into a
Candy Land game even if--

407
00:16:24,745 --> 00:16:27,060
AUDIENCE: Mm-hmm, OK.

408
00:16:27,060 --> 00:16:29,504
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] the game--

409
00:16:29,504 --> 00:16:31,990
occasionally I've
played [INAUDIBLE]

410
00:16:31,990 --> 00:16:34,121
that are hard to understand.

411
00:16:34,121 --> 00:16:39,370
And they're [INAUDIBLE] anything
intuitive like [INAUDIBLE].

412
00:16:39,370 --> 00:16:43,480
We sort of did
stuff, but we had--

413
00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:45,760
and then afterwards, we
didn't really understand.

414
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:47,635
We didn't understand
how we were changing it,

415
00:16:47,635 --> 00:16:49,514
but it took awhile
before you really--

416
00:16:49,514 --> 00:16:51,097
you don't understand
what's happening.

417
00:16:51,097 --> 00:16:53,050
And there are many
games where you can

418
00:16:53,050 --> 00:16:55,690
do very poorly or very well.

419
00:16:55,690 --> 00:16:57,960
And it takes a while to
understand exactly why you're

420
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,190
doing very poorly or very well.

421
00:17:00,190 --> 00:17:01,690
PROFESSOR: So
sometimes even success

422
00:17:01,690 --> 00:17:06,051
can be bewildering, right.

423
00:17:06,051 --> 00:17:06,550
Yeah?

424
00:17:06,550 --> 00:17:10,550
AUDIENCE: I feel like this sort
of [INAUDIBLE] from a digital

425
00:17:10,550 --> 00:17:12,996
game and a board game
because in a digital game,

426
00:17:12,996 --> 00:17:15,647
usually people have to take
their turns and have to play

427
00:17:15,647 --> 00:17:17,816
out more slowly, whereas
in a good board game,

428
00:17:17,816 --> 00:17:19,744
you change something and--

429
00:17:19,744 --> 00:17:21,672
if you do something
and something changes,

430
00:17:21,672 --> 00:17:24,413
maybe you can just start
over and do it again

431
00:17:24,413 --> 00:17:25,579
like it's a different thing.

432
00:17:25,579 --> 00:17:26,490
PROFESSOR: All right, hold on.

433
00:17:26,490 --> 00:17:27,572
So in a digital game?

434
00:17:27,572 --> 00:17:29,510
AUDIENCE: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE].

435
00:17:29,510 --> 00:17:31,810
PROFESSOR: OK, so
in a digital game,

436
00:17:31,810 --> 00:17:35,470
because some games let you save
state and then reload state.

437
00:17:35,470 --> 00:17:38,030
So you can say, well, what
if I tried this decision?

438
00:17:38,030 --> 00:17:40,780
And then there's an
interesting phenomenon

439
00:17:40,780 --> 00:17:43,120
that goes with that in a
lot of strategy games called

440
00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:44,620
save scrubbing.

441
00:17:44,620 --> 00:17:47,140
And that is where you know
that the outcome of something

442
00:17:47,140 --> 00:17:48,920
is based on a probability.

443
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,730
And so if you save and
reload often enough,

444
00:17:51,730 --> 00:17:55,210
you will always be successful.

445
00:17:55,210 --> 00:17:56,740
And that's an
interesting strategy.

446
00:17:56,740 --> 00:17:58,156
This is completely
aside from what

447
00:17:58,156 --> 00:17:59,350
I wanted talked about today.

448
00:17:59,350 --> 00:18:02,872
But it's an interesting strategy
that game designers use.

449
00:18:02,872 --> 00:18:04,330
And that is to--
in a digital game,

450
00:18:04,330 --> 00:18:08,130
save some random
number seed at the time

451
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:11,350
when the save is made so that
outcome's always the same.

452
00:18:11,350 --> 00:18:15,410
I expect tech support calls when
people when you implement that,

453
00:18:15,410 --> 00:18:17,800
though, because people are
like this-- your random number

454
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:18,370
is broken.

455
00:18:18,370 --> 00:18:19,856
I tried this thing 15 times.

456
00:18:19,856 --> 00:18:21,730
And it's supposed to
have a 90% success rate.

457
00:18:21,730 --> 00:18:23,770
And I always fail when
I do this one attack.

458
00:18:23,770 --> 00:18:28,180
And it's like, yes, because you
saved the random number seed.

459
00:18:28,180 --> 00:18:32,410
So that is actually a
problem because people

460
00:18:32,410 --> 00:18:36,870
have this concept about
how the mechanics of what

461
00:18:36,870 --> 00:18:40,280
does 90% probability
of success mean?

462
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:42,960
And [INAUDIBLE]
specifically call right now.

463
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,224
A second one might say that.

464
00:18:46,224 --> 00:18:48,790
90% probability of
success to a lot of people

465
00:18:48,790 --> 00:18:53,050
means that most-- means
that it's going to succeed.

466
00:18:53,050 --> 00:18:54,430
Now for a lot of
people, probably

467
00:18:54,430 --> 00:18:55,846
a lot of people
in this room, this

468
00:18:55,846 --> 00:18:58,560
means you will probably succeed.

469
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,200
But for a game whose
pushed the random number

470
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,202
seed has been saved and
you fail and then you

471
00:19:04,202 --> 00:19:06,160
reload from the start,
it means you will always

472
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,010
fail because that's a
different concept of how

473
00:19:10,010 --> 00:19:11,590
the random number
generator works.

474
00:19:11,590 --> 00:19:12,965
It makes a lot of
sense to people

475
00:19:12,965 --> 00:19:15,100
who are game designers
or computer scientists

476
00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:17,520
but may not make a lot of
sense to a lot of players.

477
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,870
I get to re-roll again when
I save in those, right?

478
00:19:19,870 --> 00:19:22,960
But now you get to re-roll
exactly the same time, exactly

479
00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,000
the same way, which
means you've got to come.

480
00:19:28,180 --> 00:19:31,240
So this brings me to
the second reading,

481
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,890
which is Don Norman's
first chapter in the design

482
00:19:35,890 --> 00:19:37,245
of everyday things.

483
00:19:37,245 --> 00:19:39,040
The book used to be
called The Psychology

484
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,570
of Everyday Things, which
had a nice little acronym him

485
00:19:41,570 --> 00:19:42,610
of POET.

486
00:19:42,610 --> 00:19:47,402
But then people had trouble
finding the book because he

487
00:19:47,402 --> 00:19:48,610
was looking for design books.

488
00:19:48,610 --> 00:19:50,590
And it was shelved in
the psychology section.

489
00:19:50,590 --> 00:19:53,529
So he changed the name to The
Design of Everyday Things,

490
00:19:53,529 --> 00:19:55,570
which I think is a really
interesting application

491
00:19:55,570 --> 00:19:57,250
of the kinds of things
that he's talking about.

492
00:19:57,250 --> 00:19:59,650
Do you expect to find this
book somewhere and is not

493
00:19:59,650 --> 00:20:00,770
in that section?

494
00:20:00,770 --> 00:20:04,056
So you make a change
and you iterate on it.

495
00:20:04,056 --> 00:20:05,430
And if you look
at the copyright,

496
00:20:05,430 --> 00:20:08,530
it actually still Psychology
of Everyday Things.

497
00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:11,350
He talks about visibility.

498
00:20:11,350 --> 00:20:17,000
And what does visibility
do in a syst--

499
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,187
in a design?

500
00:20:18,187 --> 00:20:20,572
AUDIENCE: It helps
people understand

501
00:20:20,572 --> 00:20:24,390
the qualities of what they're
doing or what [INAUDIBLE].

502
00:20:24,390 --> 00:20:27,930
PROFESSOR: Yeah, they
have an intent, right?

503
00:20:27,930 --> 00:20:30,510
They want to
accomplish something.

504
00:20:30,510 --> 00:20:32,640
And it gives them
a clue on what they

505
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,630
could do to accomplish that.

506
00:20:34,630 --> 00:20:38,430
So already, that's a direct
application to games, right?

507
00:20:38,430 --> 00:20:39,540
You have a goal in mind.

508
00:20:39,540 --> 00:20:42,150
It's like I want to accumulate
more cash in this game.

509
00:20:42,150 --> 00:20:43,820
I want to--

510
00:20:43,820 --> 00:20:46,079
I'll produce my opponent
or something like that.

511
00:20:46,079 --> 00:20:48,120
All right, what are all
the things that I can do?

512
00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:50,757
What's telling me might--

513
00:20:50,757 --> 00:20:52,090
what's in front of me right now?

514
00:20:52,090 --> 00:20:53,923
Maybe in a board game,
maybe in a card game,

515
00:20:53,923 --> 00:20:55,530
maybe in a visual
game, that's telling

516
00:20:55,530 --> 00:20:57,930
me visibly, right
now, that this might

517
00:20:57,930 --> 00:20:59,526
be the way I get to do that.

518
00:21:04,107 --> 00:21:06,450
In a lot of strategy
games, some of these things

519
00:21:06,450 --> 00:21:08,370
are very literal, right?

520
00:21:08,370 --> 00:21:11,460
So and so technology
gives you this bonus.

521
00:21:11,460 --> 00:21:15,300
It's very-- I guess a little
of the role playing games also

522
00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:16,020
have this, right?

523
00:21:16,020 --> 00:21:17,780
I want to hit things harder.

524
00:21:17,780 --> 00:21:19,980
Oh, look, this thing just
needs plus one to attack.

525
00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:24,820
All right, OK, that that's
a very literal thing now.

526
00:21:24,820 --> 00:21:27,480
How much effort
you need to do, you

527
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,140
need to go through to actually
find that piece of information

528
00:21:30,140 --> 00:21:34,080
and whether plus one is actually
a meaningful difference at all.

529
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,700
It's depending on the
design of the game.

530
00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:40,620
But visibility has
something to do

531
00:21:40,620 --> 00:21:45,866
with the intent of the player
of the user in Norman's case.

532
00:21:45,866 --> 00:21:47,240
But he's not
talking about games.

533
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,710
He's talking about the
design of everything.

534
00:21:49,710 --> 00:21:53,100
And what the system can actually
do, the actual operations

535
00:21:53,100 --> 00:21:54,060
of the system.

536
00:21:54,060 --> 00:21:56,130
So I'm playing a game like--

537
00:21:59,700 --> 00:22:02,520
I'm playing a real time strategy
game, and I have a tank.

538
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:04,350
And I want to make
it do doughnuts.

539
00:22:04,350 --> 00:22:08,460
And it's like, well, the system
doesn't actually support that.

540
00:22:08,460 --> 00:22:11,460
There's no physics
simulations to this tank.

541
00:22:11,460 --> 00:22:17,670
So I need to be able
to convey to the player

542
00:22:17,670 --> 00:22:20,280
that this is not something you
can actually do in the game.

543
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:24,770
You can tell which hex to
move your tank, but that's it.

544
00:22:24,770 --> 00:22:28,440
Maybe the tank doesn't
even turn, right?

545
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:33,420
So the other thing is
this concept of mapping,

546
00:22:33,420 --> 00:22:36,120
that there is this--

547
00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:38,620
again, it has to do with
the player's intent of what

548
00:22:38,620 --> 00:22:41,350
they want to do, what
they want to accomplish.

549
00:22:41,350 --> 00:22:44,280
But mapping, instead of
the actual operations

550
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,400
of the system,
actually has to do it

551
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,715
for what you can
see of the system.

552
00:22:48,715 --> 00:22:50,840
So there are affordances
and there are constraints.

553
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,460
These are both words that are
introduced in that reading.

554
00:22:53,460 --> 00:22:56,050
I think affordances is
introduced in this reading.

555
00:22:56,050 --> 00:22:58,600
What's an example
of an affordance?

556
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,630
AUDIENCE: If you
can sit on a chair?

557
00:23:03,630 --> 00:23:05,046
PROFESSOR: You can
sit on a chair?

558
00:23:07,235 --> 00:23:11,990
What about this thing tells
you that you can sit on it?

559
00:23:11,990 --> 00:23:14,644
AUDIENCE: It seems sturdy, and
it's got a place for your butt.

560
00:23:14,644 --> 00:23:17,060
PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's got a
nice little butt-shaped thing,

561
00:23:17,060 --> 00:23:18,910
here right?

562
00:23:18,910 --> 00:23:22,010
It's not made of spikes.

563
00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:25,290
It's got at least three
legs, which may help,

564
00:23:25,290 --> 00:23:28,990
and evenly distributed,
which means that it's not

565
00:23:28,990 --> 00:23:29,940
going to tip over.

566
00:23:29,940 --> 00:23:31,314
AUDIENCE: You can
also measure it

567
00:23:31,314 --> 00:23:33,820
related to other objects
to [INAUDIBLE] also.

568
00:23:33,820 --> 00:23:34,412
And that you--

569
00:23:34,412 --> 00:23:35,870
PROFESSOR: OK,
there's a little bit

570
00:23:35,870 --> 00:23:40,187
of cultural familiarity with
other chairs that you've seen.

571
00:23:40,187 --> 00:23:41,895
AUDIENCE: What about
a handle on a door?

572
00:23:41,895 --> 00:23:44,670
PROFESSOR: A handle on a door.

573
00:23:44,670 --> 00:23:46,894
What does a handle on
a door allow you to do?

574
00:23:46,894 --> 00:23:51,980
AUDIENCE: It's like-- it's
a place for your hand.

575
00:23:51,980 --> 00:23:53,190
PROFESSOR: It's hand-shaped.

576
00:23:53,190 --> 00:23:53,704
It's--

577
00:23:53,704 --> 00:23:55,912
AUDIENCE: If you hold your
hand out in a natural way,

578
00:23:55,912 --> 00:23:57,391
you grab--

579
00:23:57,391 --> 00:23:58,841
looking at the text.

580
00:23:58,841 --> 00:24:00,382
Oh, I wasn't thinking
of that handle.

581
00:24:00,382 --> 00:24:04,146
I was thinking of the
vertical [INAUDIBLE].

582
00:24:04,146 --> 00:24:06,270
AUDIENCE: The one that
looks like a U-shaped tube--

583
00:24:06,270 --> 00:24:06,840
like that.

584
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:09,340
AUDIENCE: Yeah, exactly.

585
00:24:09,340 --> 00:24:12,240
PROFESSOR: So yeah, it's
kind the right shape.

586
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,130
It's one of those door
handles or something

587
00:24:14,130 --> 00:24:18,120
like the size of a
supporting column.

588
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:21,174
You wouldn't necessarily think
that you had to grab it, right?

589
00:24:21,174 --> 00:24:24,340
AUDIENCE: An outlet is
for anything [INAUDIBLE].

590
00:24:27,230 --> 00:24:28,640
PROFESSOR: Like fingers?

591
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:30,140
AUDIENCE: They're
not finger-shaped.

592
00:24:30,140 --> 00:24:32,050
PROFESSOR: Because
they're not finger-shaped.

593
00:24:32,050 --> 00:24:35,770
Yeah, although it has a kind
of weird happy face on it,

594
00:24:35,770 --> 00:24:38,605
which I always thought was
a little bit strange about--

595
00:24:38,605 --> 00:24:40,480
that might have been
designed, too, actually.

596
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,340
That might have something
because if you--

597
00:24:42,340 --> 00:24:43,520
this won't kill you, really.

598
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,179
So you should put
it in your home.

599
00:24:45,179 --> 00:24:47,720
I want to find out more about
the history of the [INAUDIBLE].

600
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,720
AUDIENCE: It's
actually-- the design

601
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:58,424
with the ground on the bottom is
a bad idea because if something

602
00:24:58,424 --> 00:25:00,500
starts falling out that
are too exposed to it,

603
00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:02,593
it will not be the ground one.

604
00:25:02,593 --> 00:25:05,431
So it would be
better to flip it.

605
00:25:05,431 --> 00:25:07,472
PROFESSOR: Where's the
ground in the mid- up top?

606
00:25:07,472 --> 00:25:08,527
AUDIENCE: Yeah,
because then even

607
00:25:08,527 --> 00:25:10,056
if it starts coming
out a little,

608
00:25:10,056 --> 00:25:12,481
then something falls
down between the--

609
00:25:12,481 --> 00:25:13,730
PROFESSOR: So it's bad design.

610
00:25:13,730 --> 00:25:16,510
It's bad design because you want
to put it on your wall in a way

611
00:25:16,510 --> 00:25:18,260
that it smiles at
you all the time.

612
00:25:18,260 --> 00:25:20,582
But when it's the
other way around,

613
00:25:20,582 --> 00:25:22,040
it's actually a
little more stable.

614
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,930
It's actually like a mo--

615
00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:29,338
British plugs, actually, have
the pin usually on top and--

616
00:25:29,338 --> 00:25:31,296
AUDIENCE: The British
have the [INAUDIBLE] pin.

617
00:25:31,296 --> 00:25:32,770
There's [INAUDIBLE].

618
00:25:32,770 --> 00:25:33,270
Right?

619
00:25:33,270 --> 00:25:35,162
PROFESSOR: That would be the--

620
00:25:35,162 --> 00:25:35,870
what would it be?

621
00:25:35,870 --> 00:25:36,770
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

622
00:25:36,770 --> 00:25:38,240
AUDIENCE: For two round circles.

623
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,364
PROFESSOR: Yeah, yeah, the
two round circles, yeah.

624
00:25:40,364 --> 00:25:41,775
AUDIENCE: They're using--

625
00:25:41,775 --> 00:25:43,400
PROFESSOR: Dan, I
think you're thinking

626
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,376
of your pins, which are round.

627
00:25:45,376 --> 00:25:47,300
The original size is flat.

628
00:25:47,300 --> 00:25:49,460
But they are twice the
width of the thing.

629
00:25:49,460 --> 00:25:51,584
You could stick your finger
in a British pin, which

630
00:25:51,584 --> 00:25:53,810
means they have to design
all kinds of protection

631
00:25:53,810 --> 00:25:56,087
mechanisms, plastic springs,
and things like that,

632
00:25:56,087 --> 00:25:57,920
just to be able to
prevent you from sticking

633
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:58,760
your finger in it.

634
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,750
It does have-- yeah,
this one's actually nice

635
00:26:00,750 --> 00:26:02,600
because the biggest
hole in there

636
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,660
is the lethal hole in there,
is the one that doesn't have

637
00:26:05,660 --> 00:26:07,095
any current running through it.

638
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,850
So an affordance
is something which

639
00:26:13,850 --> 00:26:16,610
suggests this is how
you can use it, right?

640
00:26:16,610 --> 00:26:19,160
Something that you
can get hand around

641
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,080
suggests you can grab it.

642
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,900
Something with a
movable hinge suggests

643
00:26:23,900 --> 00:26:26,940
that's the direction
that you move it in.

644
00:26:26,940 --> 00:26:30,192
So they talk about materials
like wood and glass, right?

645
00:26:30,192 --> 00:26:31,400
Glass is for looking through.

646
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:34,310
Glass is for smashing.

647
00:26:34,310 --> 00:26:38,330
Wood is for holding
things together.

648
00:26:38,330 --> 00:26:40,747
And wood is possibly
for writing.

649
00:26:40,747 --> 00:26:42,080
You've got this porous material.

650
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:46,480
It paints very easily,
that sort of thing.

651
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,900
And in games-- let me just bring
all the [INAUDIBLE] forward.

652
00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:52,640
Let's try to identify
the components of--

653
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,190
how many of you have
played put before?

654
00:26:55,190 --> 00:26:59,940
Really, really--
this is the box.

655
00:26:59,940 --> 00:27:03,700
Let's talk about things in
here that's a rule sheet.

656
00:27:03,700 --> 00:27:06,200
I guess it affords reading, but
I'm not going to talk about.

657
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:07,190
It has this thing.

658
00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:12,384
Actually, what you
do with this thing?

659
00:27:12,384 --> 00:27:14,120
AUDIENCE: Ring it.

660
00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:14,956
PROFESSOR: Slap?

661
00:27:14,956 --> 00:27:15,710
[BELL RING]

662
00:27:15,710 --> 00:27:17,060
Yeah, that's what it does.

663
00:27:17,060 --> 00:27:18,980
OK, all right, so now
that you've seen what

664
00:27:18,980 --> 00:27:19,820
this thing does.

665
00:27:19,820 --> 00:27:23,030
What is one of the
things that this--

666
00:27:23,030 --> 00:27:26,240
not in the rule book
[INAUDIBLE] completely.

667
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,450
If you have this in your game,
what is this thing good for?

668
00:27:29,450 --> 00:27:30,692
AUDIENCE: Getting attention.

669
00:27:30,692 --> 00:27:32,150
PROFESSOR: Getting
attention, yeah.

670
00:27:32,150 --> 00:27:32,570
It's loud.

671
00:27:32,570 --> 00:27:33,650
AUDIENCE: Annoying people?

672
00:27:33,650 --> 00:27:34,360
PROFESSOR: Annoying people.

673
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:35,735
You could use it
to annoy people.

674
00:27:35,735 --> 00:27:39,534
It's like-- you want to lock
out what they're trying to say

675
00:27:39,534 --> 00:27:41,117
or something and
just keep hitting it.

676
00:27:41,117 --> 00:27:42,533
AUDIENCE: They
knowing that you're

677
00:27:42,533 --> 00:27:43,979
the one that [INAUDIBLE].

678
00:27:43,979 --> 00:27:45,410
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

679
00:27:45,410 --> 00:27:48,980
PROFESSOR: OK, yeah, so the
completion of something,

680
00:27:48,980 --> 00:27:50,400
the end of--

681
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,890
because it's very
progressive, right?

682
00:27:52,890 --> 00:27:55,140
It's not just a loud--
like an air horn.

683
00:27:55,140 --> 00:27:56,202
It goes eh.

684
00:27:56,202 --> 00:27:57,160
This one actually has--

685
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:58,710
[BELL RING]

686
00:27:58,710 --> 00:28:02,441
--very, very sharp
[INAUDIBLE] sound.

687
00:28:02,441 --> 00:28:02,940
What else?

688
00:28:06,490 --> 00:28:07,707
What else about this?

689
00:28:07,707 --> 00:28:09,080
AUDIENCE: It's shiny.

690
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:10,500
PROFESSOR: It is shiny.

691
00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:13,410
Makes you want it, right?

692
00:28:13,410 --> 00:28:15,120
AUDIENCE: You can
hold it in your hand.

693
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,570
And so you might be able to
completely pass it around.

694
00:28:17,570 --> 00:28:18,580
PROFESSOR: You could
pass it around.

695
00:28:18,580 --> 00:28:20,454
This could be controlled
by different people.

696
00:28:20,454 --> 00:28:22,890
It doesn't necessarily-- it's
not a huge thing for anyone.

697
00:28:22,890 --> 00:28:24,640
AUDIENCE: There's
only one of them.

698
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:25,960
PROFESSOR: There's only one.

699
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,550
If you only had
one, so then that

700
00:28:27,550 --> 00:28:29,804
becomes even more desirable
because it's the only--

701
00:28:29,804 --> 00:28:31,196
[LAUGHING]

702
00:28:31,196 --> 00:28:32,588
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

703
00:28:32,588 --> 00:28:33,520
AUDIENCE: Nice.

704
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,140
PROFESSOR: Something that may
might be able to stand nicely

705
00:28:35,140 --> 00:28:36,250
on a flat surface.

706
00:28:36,250 --> 00:28:38,740
But it's not rubberised
or anything of that.

707
00:28:38,740 --> 00:28:42,650
So if you put it on an incline
surface or something like that,

708
00:28:42,650 --> 00:28:45,040
it not stop sliding.

709
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,493
So this implies that it's going
to sit on a table somewhere.

710
00:28:49,493 --> 00:28:50,993
It also comes with
a bunch of cards.

711
00:28:50,993 --> 00:28:54,070
Ooh, whoa.

712
00:28:54,070 --> 00:28:55,710
What happened to these cards?

713
00:28:55,710 --> 00:29:01,442
OK, now the paint could
rubbed off or something that.

714
00:29:01,442 --> 00:29:06,730
So don't worry too much about
the text and the graphics.

715
00:29:06,730 --> 00:29:08,080
But just look at the card.

716
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,660
What do cards allow you to do?

717
00:29:11,660 --> 00:29:13,954
What are the
affordances of cards?

718
00:29:13,954 --> 00:29:14,454
Hm?

719
00:29:14,454 --> 00:29:15,830
AUDIENCE: You can hold a
couple of them in your hand.

720
00:29:15,830 --> 00:29:18,413
PROFESSOR: You can hold a couple
of them in your hand at once,

721
00:29:18,413 --> 00:29:19,648
OK.

722
00:29:19,648 --> 00:29:22,664
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
because they're [INAUDIBLE].

723
00:29:22,664 --> 00:29:24,330
PROFESSOR: Yeah,
there's a site that you

724
00:29:24,330 --> 00:29:27,340
can put no useful
information on, right?

725
00:29:27,340 --> 00:29:29,160
Besides the brand
of the game, sure.

726
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,706
But all identical, so you
don't know what it is.

727
00:29:32,706 --> 00:29:36,152
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
each other.

728
00:29:36,152 --> 00:29:38,610
PROFESSOR: You can hold a lot
of them in your hand at once.

729
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:42,460
What else?

730
00:29:42,460 --> 00:29:44,350
What else about this?

731
00:29:44,350 --> 00:29:47,207
AUDIENCE: Pattern
recognition [INAUDIBLE].

732
00:29:47,207 --> 00:29:49,040
PROFESSOR: The way how
they've been designed

733
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,460
makes it possible for you
to do pattern recognition.

734
00:29:52,460 --> 00:29:55,040
Something which they didn't
do is use different colors,

735
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,500
which might make it even
easier, at least for people

736
00:29:57,500 --> 00:29:58,620
who are not colorblind.

737
00:30:01,170 --> 00:30:06,320
But they've arranged similar
elements in the same place.

738
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:11,430
And they didn't use colors
to denote the numbers.

739
00:30:11,430 --> 00:30:15,325
What else about these cards?

740
00:30:15,325 --> 00:30:17,890
AUDIENCE: Just cards in
general-- you can change them.

741
00:30:17,890 --> 00:30:20,220
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I
guess that's up to you.

742
00:30:20,220 --> 00:30:23,460
And in fact, Pit does that.

743
00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:26,650
Pit's one of those games where
exchange is a real time thing.

744
00:30:26,650 --> 00:30:30,269
We're probably play it
later in the semester

745
00:30:30,269 --> 00:30:31,310
because that's all light.

746
00:30:31,310 --> 00:30:31,905
That's so easy.

747
00:30:31,905 --> 00:30:32,350
Yeah?

748
00:30:32,350 --> 00:30:34,564
AUDIENCE: It's easy to have
a deck and then draw from it.

749
00:30:34,564 --> 00:30:36,960
PROFESSOR: Oh yeah, you can
have this randomizing thing

750
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,910
where you just have a whole
stack sitting on the table.

751
00:30:38,910 --> 00:30:39,990
And then you don't know
what you're going to get.

752
00:30:39,990 --> 00:30:41,160
And you just grab one.

753
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:42,750
Amazingly, it's
actually pretty easy

754
00:30:42,750 --> 00:30:45,293
to just grab one as opposed
to five at the time.

755
00:30:45,293 --> 00:30:47,834
AUDIENCE: It's easy to make them
up too if there was a really

756
00:30:47,834 --> 00:30:49,050
good random aspect to the game.

757
00:30:49,050 --> 00:30:49,770
PROFESSOR: Because of this?

758
00:30:49,770 --> 00:30:50,645
Because of shuffling?

759
00:30:50,645 --> 00:30:52,490
Yeah.

760
00:30:52,490 --> 00:30:53,656
Or 52-card pickup.

761
00:30:56,820 --> 00:30:58,340
It fits in a hand.

762
00:30:58,340 --> 00:31:00,960
It's a little bit smaller than
it needs to be in order for you

763
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,072
to hold it
comfortably like that.

764
00:31:03,072 --> 00:31:05,280
But these particular cards
are a very, very good size

765
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,149
for shuffling.

766
00:31:07,149 --> 00:31:08,148
AUDIENCE: They're black.

767
00:31:08,148 --> 00:31:09,620
You can put them on tables.

768
00:31:09,620 --> 00:31:12,010
PROFESSOR: You can put them
on things like tables, yeah.

769
00:31:12,010 --> 00:31:13,180
You can deal them.

770
00:31:13,180 --> 00:31:16,830
You can flip them upwards
and downwards, sure.

771
00:31:16,830 --> 00:31:20,952
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
means that you

772
00:31:20,952 --> 00:31:24,560
have to put either face down
or they get really [INAUDIBLE].

773
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,160
AUDIENCE: Yeah, they're really
terrible for building things

774
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:27,790
out of.

775
00:31:27,790 --> 00:31:31,560
It's possible but really
hard to make something,

776
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,510
to make a card stand up.

777
00:31:33,510 --> 00:31:37,800
So it makes it really obvious
that it's either this or this.

778
00:31:40,385 --> 00:31:44,760
Other orientations other than
that face up or face down

779
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,920
aren't really considered,
aren't really part of the game.

780
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,920
AUDIENCE: I assume that
they're rectangular?

781
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:51,920
PROFESSOR: Yep.

782
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,356
AUDIENCE: So going back to
the point of orientation,

783
00:31:54,356 --> 00:31:56,700
maybe they're vertical
and horizontal--

784
00:31:56,700 --> 00:31:59,530
PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, it's up top--

785
00:31:59,530 --> 00:32:01,270
the path it took [INAUDIBLE].

786
00:32:01,270 --> 00:32:03,436
AUDIENCE: It'd be hard to
do with a square or circle

787
00:32:03,436 --> 00:32:06,000
card, but a regular
shape, an elongated shape.

788
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,050
PROFESSOR: Conversely,
a square card

789
00:32:09,050 --> 00:32:12,780
could [INAUDIBLE] full rotation
in any direction, rotation.

790
00:32:12,780 --> 00:32:15,280
We'll get that, actually, in
the next one where you can just

791
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,290
rotate things around.

792
00:32:17,290 --> 00:32:22,724
AUDIENCE: Stiffness and
shininess of them [INAUDIBLE]

793
00:32:22,724 --> 00:32:25,107
In some games you have
papers that you write on them

794
00:32:25,107 --> 00:32:26,975
that are disposable.

795
00:32:26,975 --> 00:32:27,910
Pass a paper.

796
00:32:27,910 --> 00:32:31,080
PROFESSOR: This is about
left a little bit of time.

797
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,970
Multiple play sessions at least.

798
00:32:33,970 --> 00:32:36,150
So yeah, a bunch of
things that come through

799
00:32:36,150 --> 00:32:38,100
are already that
you've identified

800
00:32:38,100 --> 00:32:39,970
which are all very accurate.

801
00:32:39,970 --> 00:32:41,220
And that's a lot.

802
00:32:41,220 --> 00:32:42,360
Cards do a lot.

803
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,120
And when you're
designing a game,

804
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,495
you need to think about whether
cards are the right thing

805
00:32:46,495 --> 00:32:49,140
for your choice, for your game.

806
00:32:49,140 --> 00:32:51,720
And you've gone through
a pretty deep analysis

807
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,270
about what this thing does
that might make it appropriate.

808
00:32:56,270 --> 00:32:59,005
Something that might be
in those subtle-- the

809
00:32:59,005 --> 00:33:01,920
rounded corners actually
make it much easier

810
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,340
for you to do things like this.

811
00:33:05,340 --> 00:33:07,200
If it wasn't around
the corner, it's

812
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,110
actually pretty
uncomfortable to do a fan.

813
00:33:11,110 --> 00:33:12,640
It's not like you couldn't.

814
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,806
You totally could.

815
00:33:14,806 --> 00:33:17,300
The stationary
stores actually do

816
00:33:17,300 --> 00:33:21,272
sell punches, corner punches
around of your cards.

817
00:33:21,272 --> 00:33:22,980
It is not something
that I would actually

818
00:33:22,980 --> 00:33:25,350
recommend that you do during
prototyping because it

819
00:33:25,350 --> 00:33:27,640
takes too damn much time.

820
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,120
But if you were to design a
game for home, for your family,

821
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:31,020
or something like
that, and you want

822
00:33:31,020 --> 00:33:32,560
to make it a
pleasant experience.

823
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,160
You might just want
to spend $2 on a punch

824
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:37,590
and just punch the corners out.

825
00:33:37,590 --> 00:33:39,540
It's really, really hard
to do it consistently

826
00:33:39,540 --> 00:33:41,290
when using your
hands, by the way.

827
00:33:41,290 --> 00:33:46,590
So it could take away the whole
information hiding things.

828
00:33:46,590 --> 00:33:49,475
But oh, the one that was badly
punched, that's the joker.

829
00:33:53,370 --> 00:33:55,340
Let's see.

830
00:33:55,340 --> 00:33:56,667
That's, oh, that's next.

831
00:34:00,850 --> 00:34:03,050
Let's see what
else I talk about?

832
00:34:03,050 --> 00:34:06,090
So mapping, so back to
the idea of mapping.

833
00:34:06,090 --> 00:34:07,820
You've got your intent.

834
00:34:07,820 --> 00:34:09,980
Here is something that you
want to do as a player,

835
00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:12,277
maybe hide information
from other people.

836
00:34:12,277 --> 00:34:14,235
And then there's the
affordances of the system.

837
00:34:14,235 --> 00:34:17,670
Now if I wanted to
hide my cards from you,

838
00:34:17,670 --> 00:34:19,949
then I will hold
my cards in a way

839
00:34:19,949 --> 00:34:22,530
that only you can only
see the side that doesn't

840
00:34:22,530 --> 00:34:25,440
reveal any useful information.

841
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,190
So that's a very,
very direct, clear

842
00:34:29,190 --> 00:34:31,290
what he calls natural
mapping, although I am not

843
00:34:31,290 --> 00:34:36,580
quite sure that phrase is
very easy to use in practice.

844
00:34:36,580 --> 00:34:38,610
It gets a little
bit more complicated

845
00:34:38,610 --> 00:34:41,067
when you actually
look at the system

846
00:34:41,067 --> 00:34:42,900
that the game is trying
to reproduce, right?

847
00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,469
So far I've just been
talking about cards.

848
00:34:45,469 --> 00:34:49,110
I haven't been talking about
what the rules of the game are.

849
00:34:49,110 --> 00:34:51,239
How many people play
cards or something?

850
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:52,889
OK, a couple of people.

851
00:34:52,889 --> 00:34:55,662
We should be able to get
a chance to play this

852
00:34:55,662 --> 00:34:56,760
later this semester.

853
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,766
I'm pretty sure it's
already in the syllabus.

854
00:34:59,766 --> 00:35:02,370
So there are a couple of
things in this game that

855
00:35:02,370 --> 00:35:05,857
is this board.

856
00:35:05,857 --> 00:35:07,940
There's a back of the
board, which is not colored.

857
00:35:07,940 --> 00:35:11,830
And it has a design on it.

858
00:35:11,830 --> 00:35:14,960
We could just pass this one.

859
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,660
It's got no playing
pieces that are referred

860
00:35:18,660 --> 00:35:27,570
to as meatballs by the hardcover
board game fact base, I guess.

861
00:35:27,570 --> 00:35:30,800
They look like little people.

862
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,560
Actually, there's probably
enough in that for everyone

863
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:35,874
to grab one or two.

864
00:35:35,874 --> 00:35:37,290
And then you can
just take a look.

865
00:35:37,290 --> 00:35:42,200
I want them all back, but
you can take a look at them.

866
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:46,600
Whoops, and a bunch of piles
that I will also hand out.

867
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:50,560
I'll hand out to those people.

868
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,060
AUDIENCE: Something
you can look at.

869
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:55,910
[INAUDIBLE]

870
00:36:07,450 --> 00:36:09,570
PROFESSOR: Just take
a look at the pieces,

871
00:36:09,570 --> 00:36:15,459
and let's start with the titles.

872
00:36:15,459 --> 00:36:17,250
Some of you have gotten
just the meatballs.

873
00:36:17,250 --> 00:36:19,640
Some of you have
gotten the titles.

874
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,888
What do the tiles suggest,
just by looking at them?

875
00:36:23,888 --> 00:36:25,880
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

876
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:26,380
Terrain?

877
00:36:26,380 --> 00:36:30,570
PROFESSOR: Terrain, all right,
something to do with land.

878
00:36:30,570 --> 00:36:31,993
What else?

879
00:36:31,993 --> 00:36:35,157
AUDIENCE: The various terrain
features seem to match up.

880
00:36:35,157 --> 00:36:37,365
PROFESSOR: The various
terrain features such as the--

881
00:36:37,365 --> 00:36:39,090
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] and roads.

882
00:36:39,090 --> 00:36:40,050
You can match up.

883
00:36:40,050 --> 00:36:42,120
PROFESSOR: Yeah,
they line up nicely

884
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,680
when you put the tiles in a
grid with other tiles, right?

885
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:51,050
Yeah, there was a hand
back in the back room?

886
00:36:51,050 --> 00:36:51,880
No?

887
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:53,220
AUDIENCE: You can rotate them.

888
00:36:53,220 --> 00:36:53,750
PROFESSOR: Yeah you could ro--

889
00:36:53,750 --> 00:36:54,450
AUDIENCE: Squares.

890
00:36:54,450 --> 00:36:56,825
PROFESSOR: Yeah, squares,
because unlike the cards, which

891
00:36:56,825 --> 00:36:59,240
is taller and than it is wide
or wider than it is tall.

892
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:00,990
This one is the same
length-- more or less

893
00:37:00,990 --> 00:37:02,520
the same size from
all directions.

894
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,550
So the idea is that maybe
you could freely, just freely

895
00:37:05,550 --> 00:37:07,140
rotate these things.

896
00:37:07,140 --> 00:37:09,290
AUDIENCE: They're
identical with a back.

897
00:37:09,290 --> 00:37:12,250
PROFESSOR: They are all
identical with a back?

898
00:37:12,250 --> 00:37:15,750
And that tells us about
these tiles, something

899
00:37:15,750 --> 00:37:17,699
that we already
know about cards.

900
00:37:17,699 --> 00:37:19,490
AUDIENCE: You want to
hide the information.

901
00:37:19,490 --> 00:37:21,150
PROFESSOR: You want to
hide the information?

902
00:37:21,150 --> 00:37:21,845
AUDIENCE: Or.

903
00:37:21,845 --> 00:37:22,590
PROFESSOR: Or--

904
00:37:22,590 --> 00:37:23,570
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

905
00:37:23,570 --> 00:37:25,687
PROFESSOR: Or you want
to shuffle it, yeah.

906
00:37:25,687 --> 00:37:27,270
The fact that you've
got a hidden back

907
00:37:27,270 --> 00:37:29,400
gives you quite a lot of
different possibilities.

908
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,762
This rule-- this game in
particular uses mostly because

909
00:37:32,762 --> 00:37:34,470
of this shuffling and
this randomization.

910
00:37:34,470 --> 00:37:38,310
You don't know what tile
you're going to draw.

911
00:37:38,310 --> 00:37:42,180
So for people who
haven't played this game,

912
00:37:42,180 --> 00:37:44,160
and you're looking at
all these tiles, what

913
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:45,770
do you think you do
with these tiles?

914
00:37:45,770 --> 00:37:55,372
AUDIENCE: You match them
up [INAUDIBLE] on them?

915
00:37:55,372 --> 00:37:57,330
PROFESSOR: Congratulations,
that's [INAUDIBLE].

916
00:37:57,330 --> 00:37:59,020
You figured out they game.

917
00:37:59,020 --> 00:38:00,420
You match things.

918
00:38:00,420 --> 00:38:01,410
You make big things.

919
00:38:01,410 --> 00:38:02,555
You put people on them.

920
00:38:05,566 --> 00:38:11,530
That track that's going around,
the board that's going around,

921
00:38:11,530 --> 00:38:15,630
I've got one that is probably
a little bit less insightful

922
00:38:15,630 --> 00:38:19,340
for this particular lecture.

923
00:38:19,340 --> 00:38:21,810
Anyone want to guess
what that is, someone

924
00:38:21,810 --> 00:38:23,456
who hasn't played the game?

925
00:38:23,456 --> 00:38:25,250
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

926
00:38:25,250 --> 00:38:26,072
PROFESSOR: You haven't
played the game, right?

927
00:38:26,072 --> 00:38:27,835
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I've
played some other games,

928
00:38:27,835 --> 00:38:29,876
but it's probably just a
scoreboard or something.

929
00:38:29,876 --> 00:38:31,250
PROFESSOR: There's a scoreboard.

930
00:38:31,250 --> 00:38:34,061
AUDIENCE: You do something
to move you along the path

931
00:38:34,061 --> 00:38:34,560
somehow.

932
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:36,726
And then the first person
to reach it probably wins.

933
00:38:36,726 --> 00:38:37,932
PROFESSOR: Yep, OK, good.

934
00:38:40,666 --> 00:38:42,208
Well, yeah?

935
00:38:42,208 --> 00:38:45,112
AUDIENCE: Well, it looks
like it connects back.

936
00:38:45,112 --> 00:38:47,320
So it makes me think
that maybe instead

937
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,022
of winning by just getting
around, maybe every loop, you

938
00:38:50,022 --> 00:38:52,090
get a new tile or
something like that.

939
00:38:52,090 --> 00:38:56,360
PROFESSOR: OK, it
keeps going on and on.

940
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,690
It's a combination of all three.

941
00:38:58,690 --> 00:39:00,230
It is a scorecard.

942
00:39:00,230 --> 00:39:02,230
If you loop around, I
think it means that you've

943
00:39:02,230 --> 00:39:07,270
got 100 points or 50 points.

944
00:39:07,270 --> 00:39:11,170
So you just add 50 to your score
every time that you go around.

945
00:39:11,170 --> 00:39:14,740
And what six are those things?

946
00:39:14,740 --> 00:39:17,336
What would you
place on that board?

947
00:39:17,336 --> 00:39:18,503
AUDIENCE: The little people?

948
00:39:18,503 --> 00:39:19,419
PROFESSOR: The meeple.

949
00:39:19,419 --> 00:39:20,340
You place the meeple.

950
00:39:20,340 --> 00:39:21,798
You place the
meeples on the tiles.

951
00:39:21,798 --> 00:39:25,446
You place the
meeples on the board.

952
00:39:25,446 --> 00:39:27,070
You wouldn't place
a tile on that board

953
00:39:27,070 --> 00:39:29,387
because there's no hexes there.

954
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:37,760
So you've already got
a mapping of probably

955
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,310
what intent that you've got.

956
00:39:39,310 --> 00:39:42,060
Let's make some big things
and put our people on them.

957
00:39:42,060 --> 00:39:46,390
And the affordances of what you
can do with these titles that

958
00:39:46,390 --> 00:39:47,920
suggested that to you.

959
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,000
This is a game about making
large patches of similar things

960
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,535
and then putting people on them.

961
00:39:55,535 --> 00:39:57,012
Oh, my notes are over here.

962
00:39:57,012 --> 00:39:57,512
Why the--

963
00:39:57,512 --> 00:39:59,278
AUDIENCE: It keeps coming on.

964
00:39:59,278 --> 00:40:00,490
[INAUDIBLE]

965
00:40:00,490 --> 00:40:03,200
PROFESSOR: I saw you keep being
close to my family photographs.

966
00:40:05,890 --> 00:40:11,860
So there's a whole bunch of
ways that you can help people

967
00:40:11,860 --> 00:40:13,750
with these sorts of mappings.

968
00:40:13,750 --> 00:40:18,370
We've be talking a lot
of visual and physical.

969
00:40:18,370 --> 00:40:20,650
I guess [INAUDIBLE]
would describe

970
00:40:20,650 --> 00:40:23,560
a lot of these as
spatial, metaphors to use.

971
00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,600
Spatial mostly to describe
things like driving in a car

972
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,589
and you turn the wheel to the
left especially toward the top

973
00:40:30,589 --> 00:40:31,630
of the wheel to the left.

974
00:40:31,630 --> 00:40:36,650
And you car it's directed to
turn left, that sort of thing.

975
00:40:36,650 --> 00:40:38,230
That embodies metaphors as well.

976
00:40:38,230 --> 00:40:43,960
Things that are high are either
supposed to be good and happy,

977
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:48,040
things that are low when
you're feeling depressed.

978
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:49,970
And you can't pick
yourself off the ground,

979
00:40:49,970 --> 00:40:53,710
making you sad or bad.

980
00:40:53,710 --> 00:40:58,450
A lot of these metaphors
are actually arbitrary.

981
00:40:58,450 --> 00:41:02,170
A lot of us have learned
them through culture

982
00:41:02,170 --> 00:41:04,310
and socialization in a world.

983
00:41:04,310 --> 00:41:07,340
But that means that
these might be things

984
00:41:07,340 --> 00:41:10,202
that you can play off.

985
00:41:10,202 --> 00:41:12,160
And we're going to do a
little bit more detail.

986
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:14,576
I'll give you a couple of more
examples in about two weeks

987
00:41:14,576 --> 00:41:19,090
when we revisit the
idea of user design.

988
00:41:19,090 --> 00:41:22,240
He talks about things like
single control, single function

989
00:41:22,240 --> 00:41:25,900
where if you've got something
that does something,

990
00:41:25,900 --> 00:41:29,364
you might not want to make it do
yet another thing on top of it

991
00:41:29,364 --> 00:41:31,530
because that starts to get
really, really confusing.

992
00:41:31,530 --> 00:41:33,946
The meeples, for instance,
yeah you place them on the map,

993
00:41:33,946 --> 00:41:37,336
but you also place
them on the scoreboard.

994
00:41:37,336 --> 00:41:38,710
I personally think
this game will

995
00:41:38,710 --> 00:41:40,737
be a little bit easier
to learn if they just

996
00:41:40,737 --> 00:41:42,820
gave you a different piece
for the scoreboard that

997
00:41:42,820 --> 00:41:43,720
was the meeple--

998
00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:47,500
the same colors, just a
slightly different piece--

999
00:41:47,500 --> 00:41:50,390
because pieces never move from
the scoreboard to the tiles

1000
00:41:50,390 --> 00:41:50,890
or back.

1001
00:41:53,935 --> 00:41:57,630
The other thing that
I want to talk about

1002
00:41:57,630 --> 00:42:01,460
is what do these
tiles not let you do?

1003
00:42:04,870 --> 00:42:06,680
Well, they did let you do that.

1004
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:07,930
But was it easy?

1005
00:42:07,930 --> 00:42:08,750
AUDIENCE: No.

1006
00:42:08,750 --> 00:42:10,670
PROFESSOR: No, OK, all right.

1007
00:42:10,670 --> 00:42:14,020
They're also not very good
building but you realize,

1008
00:42:14,020 --> 00:42:15,790
just like cards aren't.

1009
00:42:15,790 --> 00:42:18,999
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1010
00:42:18,999 --> 00:42:21,040
PROFESSOR: Holding a whole
bunch of them is hard.

1011
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:21,915
They're really thick.

1012
00:42:21,915 --> 00:42:23,770
And you saw the
difficulty I had just

1013
00:42:23,770 --> 00:42:27,280
trying to pull half of
them out of the box.

1014
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,270
They were unwieldy.

1015
00:42:29,270 --> 00:42:30,560
AUDIENCE: Shuffling.

1016
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:32,440
PROFESSOR: Shuffling's tough.

1017
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:36,136
You can-- all right, maybe
I'll do this once a game.

1018
00:42:36,136 --> 00:42:37,377
AUDIENCE: In a pack maybe?

1019
00:42:37,377 --> 00:42:37,960
PROFESSOR: Hm?

1020
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,540
If you had them in a pack, yes.

1021
00:42:40,540 --> 00:42:43,130
A pack is on affordance, right?

1022
00:42:43,130 --> 00:42:45,840
It affords its own like me
picking Scrabble, for instance.

1023
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:48,708
How then Scrabble was
really, really well in a bag.

1024
00:42:51,709 --> 00:42:53,500
So if you wanted to
randomize things, yeah,

1025
00:42:53,500 --> 00:42:56,652
you could totally just put
the whole back hiding thing

1026
00:42:56,652 --> 00:42:58,360
and just put them all
into a bag and then

1027
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,800
just pull one out of random.

1028
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,622
So these are constraints.

1029
00:43:03,622 --> 00:43:05,830
You're not really supposed
to have more than one tile

1030
00:43:05,830 --> 00:43:07,480
at a time [INAUDIBLE].

1031
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,030
You are supposed to draw one,
figure out where it goes,

1032
00:43:10,030 --> 00:43:11,810
put it down.

1033
00:43:11,810 --> 00:43:14,290
You're not supposed to
ever hang on to two.

1034
00:43:14,290 --> 00:43:17,380
So it's OK that the tiles
are designed in such a way

1035
00:43:17,380 --> 00:43:19,750
that it makes it hard
for you to hold on to do.

1036
00:43:22,774 --> 00:43:24,690
For the cards, for
instance, you're not really

1037
00:43:24,690 --> 00:43:27,370
supposed to stack them.

1038
00:43:27,370 --> 00:43:31,120
They are not very
useful to you when

1039
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,607
you've got them face down
because you can't really

1040
00:43:34,607 --> 00:43:35,440
see the information.

1041
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,856
To get a small number of cards,
like in poker or something

1042
00:43:37,856 --> 00:43:39,370
like that, maybe
you could remember

1043
00:43:39,370 --> 00:43:41,740
what you had face down.

1044
00:43:41,740 --> 00:43:46,330
But if it's a large number
of cards, like in Pit,

1045
00:43:46,330 --> 00:43:48,980
you really want then
hooked face up, facing you.

1046
00:43:48,980 --> 00:43:50,240
So the idea of--

1047
00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:53,210
in Pit, you don't really
ever put that face down.

1048
00:43:53,210 --> 00:43:55,890
I think there might be a rule
about placing them face down

1049
00:43:55,890 --> 00:43:58,203
right at the end of the game.

1050
00:43:58,203 --> 00:44:01,240
But you don't actually--
no, that's not even true.

1051
00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:03,560
You don't ever have to
place them face down.

1052
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:08,194
When they're face down,
they're not interesting to you.

1053
00:44:08,194 --> 00:44:10,899
You should have had that
information in a minute.

1054
00:44:10,899 --> 00:44:11,940
So these are constraints.

1055
00:44:11,940 --> 00:44:15,440
These are things--
this is another way

1056
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:17,020
that the visibility
of the system

1057
00:44:17,020 --> 00:44:19,450
can help you with
those mappings.

1058
00:44:19,450 --> 00:44:22,090
You're looking at the
system and the pieces

1059
00:44:22,090 --> 00:44:24,200
that it's giving you,
and you're thinking,

1060
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:25,799
what can't I do
with these things?

1061
00:44:25,799 --> 00:44:27,340
And that's probably
not what the game

1062
00:44:27,340 --> 00:44:29,110
wants you to do
with these things

1063
00:44:29,110 --> 00:44:31,262
if the game is designed well.

1064
00:44:31,262 --> 00:44:32,470
Games can be designed poorly.

1065
00:44:32,470 --> 00:44:33,460
That's a caveat.

1066
00:44:33,460 --> 00:44:36,550
Everything that I say is
a qualitative, subjective

1067
00:44:36,550 --> 00:44:37,354
statement.

1068
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:43,840
And that goes back
to something that

1069
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,200
was brought up earlier
about mental models, right?

1070
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:49,966
As you play around
with these pieces--

1071
00:44:49,966 --> 00:44:51,340
of course when
you read the rules

1072
00:44:51,340 --> 00:44:52,740
and you see the
illustrations, maybe when

1073
00:44:52,740 --> 00:44:54,239
they read it at the
back of the box,

1074
00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:56,860
I would suggest that
usually you start

1075
00:44:56,860 --> 00:44:59,230
trying to figure out what a
game is when you pick it up

1076
00:44:59,230 --> 00:45:00,979
off the shell and you
start looking at it.

1077
00:45:00,979 --> 00:45:04,010
And it says, hey, this is
a game that I want to play.

1078
00:45:04,010 --> 00:45:06,380
Delux Pit, over 100 years of--

1079
00:45:06,380 --> 00:45:09,130
100 years of card game
punch, these 100 years.

1080
00:45:09,130 --> 00:45:10,660
The front says 1904.

1081
00:45:10,660 --> 00:45:15,040
So this is probably not
a science fiction game,

1082
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:15,779
all right?

1083
00:45:15,779 --> 00:45:18,070
Actually, for people who
haven't played this game, what

1084
00:45:18,070 --> 00:45:19,600
do you think this is about?

1085
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:20,380
I don't think I've
talked about it.

1086
00:45:20,380 --> 00:45:21,730
AUDIENCE: Maybe about the
stock market or something.

1087
00:45:21,730 --> 00:45:22,605
There's a bowl on it.

1088
00:45:22,605 --> 00:45:23,938
PROFESSOR: There's a bowl on it.

1089
00:45:23,938 --> 00:45:25,630
AUDIENCE: There's a
trading pit maybe.

1090
00:45:25,630 --> 00:45:28,960
PROFESSOR: Yeah, the title
of the game suggests things.

1091
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,040
It isn't like a
commodity trading game.

1092
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:33,465
On the side, it says
[INAUDIBLE] market.

1093
00:45:33,465 --> 00:45:36,610
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1094
00:45:37,460 --> 00:45:40,120
PROFESSOR: I wonder whether
you should at the bell

1095
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:42,517
and over 100 years of card
game fun intentionally.

1096
00:45:42,517 --> 00:45:45,100
This is like, this game back in
the time when stock market are

1097
00:45:45,100 --> 00:45:46,390
run with bells.

1098
00:45:46,390 --> 00:45:49,480
I guess they still
are but mostly just

1099
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,600
run with computers nowadays.

1100
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:58,584
I'd love to see Pit on some sort
of updated 21st century thing.

1101
00:45:58,584 --> 00:46:00,640
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1102
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:02,500
PROFESSOR: So there
are, of course,

1103
00:46:02,500 --> 00:46:06,250
the text at a back that
tells you not only what

1104
00:46:06,250 --> 00:46:07,762
the theme of this game is.

1105
00:46:07,762 --> 00:46:10,220
Shout your deal and trade your
cards to quarter the market,

1106
00:46:10,220 --> 00:46:11,530
et cetera.

1107
00:46:11,530 --> 00:46:14,620
And then it also says, family
age seven plus, 30 minutes,

1108
00:46:14,620 --> 00:46:17,550
three to eight
players, just to tell--

1109
00:46:17,550 --> 00:46:18,634
to give you a better idea.

1110
00:46:18,634 --> 00:46:20,133
And when you look
at this thing, I'm

1111
00:46:20,133 --> 00:46:21,610
immediately forming
a mental model

1112
00:46:21,610 --> 00:46:23,020
of how is this game plays.

1113
00:46:23,020 --> 00:46:24,820
You know that you're supposed to
collect cards because they show

1114
00:46:24,820 --> 00:46:25,510
you a whole bunch of cards.

1115
00:46:25,510 --> 00:46:27,990
You know you're supposed to slam
a bell at some point in time.

1116
00:46:27,990 --> 00:46:28,970
And then you're just
reading the rules.

1117
00:46:28,970 --> 00:46:30,540
All right, so what do I do this?

1118
00:46:30,540 --> 00:46:33,740
It's pretty easy.

1119
00:46:33,740 --> 00:46:36,190
Let's see.

1120
00:46:36,190 --> 00:46:39,240
When it comes to
cards and so on,

1121
00:46:39,240 --> 00:46:41,890
there is actually a deep,
deep problem with this game

1122
00:46:41,890 --> 00:46:43,450
despite how popular it is.

1123
00:46:43,450 --> 00:46:46,940
And that scoring is actually
pretty difficult to do.

1124
00:46:46,940 --> 00:46:49,460
It's a math intensive problem.

1125
00:46:49,460 --> 00:46:54,430
It does largely map on to
how many of the meeples

1126
00:46:54,430 --> 00:46:58,870
that you have of your own color
on large patches of things.

1127
00:46:58,870 --> 00:47:01,510
But how much those things are
worth, those patches are worth,

1128
00:47:01,510 --> 00:47:03,830
require a lot of capital,
a lot of counting.

1129
00:47:03,830 --> 00:47:07,060
And that's why you
need the scoring track.

1130
00:47:07,060 --> 00:47:09,730
So that is a big
problem with the game

1131
00:47:09,730 --> 00:47:11,540
on how the mapping works.

1132
00:47:11,540 --> 00:47:13,180
It doesn't really
give you a good idea

1133
00:47:13,180 --> 00:47:16,530
or a good conceptual model of
how much something is worth.

1134
00:47:16,530 --> 00:47:18,460
But you've got a
large patch of thing.

1135
00:47:18,460 --> 00:47:23,200
You've got your dude
somewhere in there.

1136
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,630
You can at least
make the mapping.

1137
00:47:25,630 --> 00:47:27,143
That's worth something.

1138
00:47:31,435 --> 00:47:36,580
And then that's-- the feedback
that you get back from games

1139
00:47:36,580 --> 00:47:39,070
when it's Pit-- the feedback
that you get when you hit

1140
00:47:39,070 --> 00:47:39,960
the bell, right?

1141
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:41,044
There's a huge ding sound.

1142
00:47:41,044 --> 00:47:42,585
That's the feedback
that you get when

1143
00:47:42,585 --> 00:47:44,110
you try to fit a
piece that doesn't

1144
00:47:44,110 --> 00:47:46,210
fit into something else.

1145
00:47:46,210 --> 00:47:47,710
And there's a couple
of board games

1146
00:47:47,710 --> 00:47:49,640
where you have to
put pieces together,

1147
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,240
and that gives you an idea
of maybe those two pieces

1148
00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:53,650
don't go together.

1149
00:47:53,650 --> 00:47:56,687
What others things look for
in the realm of feedback

1150
00:47:56,687 --> 00:47:57,895
when it comes to board games?

1151
00:48:05,104 --> 00:48:08,080
AUDIENCE: Maybe a track?

1152
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,550
PROFESSOR: Hm?

1153
00:48:10,550 --> 00:48:12,151
You mean a board track?

1154
00:48:12,151 --> 00:48:14,740
AUDIENCE: Yeah, you want
to stay on the track.

1155
00:48:14,740 --> 00:48:17,740
PROFESSOR: OK, all
right, that's--

1156
00:48:17,740 --> 00:48:21,250
actually there are games where
the only legitimate places

1157
00:48:21,250 --> 00:48:25,360
that you can put your pieces can
be is literally on the pieces

1158
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:26,580
that they provided you.

1159
00:48:26,580 --> 00:48:29,170
So if you fall out of
it, you are no longer--

1160
00:48:29,170 --> 00:48:33,451
that's not a legal place
for you to place your token.

1161
00:48:33,451 --> 00:48:34,950
AUDIENCE: So it
depends on the game.

1162
00:48:34,950 --> 00:48:38,687
But for a very easy example, in
a game like Risk would have--

1163
00:48:38,687 --> 00:48:40,270
you can very quickly
look at the board

1164
00:48:40,270 --> 00:48:42,712
and say who has
the most soldiers.

1165
00:48:42,712 --> 00:48:46,840
[INAUDIBLE] but it's
a good container.

1166
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:49,658
Just something like that would
usually be nice to see you just

1167
00:48:49,658 --> 00:48:51,532
quickly look at it and
say, oh, this person's

1168
00:48:51,532 --> 00:48:52,800
waiting for this reason.

1169
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:55,891
PROFESSOR: So the sheer quantity
of similarly colored things.

1170
00:48:55,891 --> 00:48:57,244
AUDIENCE: Yeah, it doesn't
even have to be [INAUDIBLE].

1171
00:48:57,244 --> 00:48:58,827
In Monopoly, if you
look at the board,

1172
00:48:58,827 --> 00:49:00,190
whoever has the most houses.

1173
00:49:00,190 --> 00:49:03,634
[INAUDIBLE]

1174
00:49:03,634 --> 00:49:05,050
AUDIENCE: Similarly,
in Catan, you

1175
00:49:05,050 --> 00:49:07,645
can see if somebody
has massive roads

1176
00:49:07,645 --> 00:49:10,580
or a lot of tunnels
and cities, you

1177
00:49:10,580 --> 00:49:12,852
can usually tell that
they're doing pretty well.

1178
00:49:12,852 --> 00:49:17,870
PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, that's,
again, direct visual metaphor.

1179
00:49:17,870 --> 00:49:19,840
And, of course,
in that game, you

1180
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:22,379
earn points by having the
longest road to emphasize

1181
00:49:22,379 --> 00:49:24,670
it's a good thing even though
it's already a good thing

1182
00:49:24,670 --> 00:49:27,675
to have in game.

1183
00:49:27,675 --> 00:49:28,175
What else?

1184
00:49:31,860 --> 00:49:35,400
Other players can give
you feedback, right?

1185
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:40,350
If people remember playing
Code 7 7 last week,

1186
00:49:40,350 --> 00:49:42,540
there's information
that other players

1187
00:49:42,540 --> 00:49:45,630
can provide you that you need.

1188
00:49:45,630 --> 00:49:47,700
But other players
have to provide you.

1189
00:49:47,700 --> 00:49:52,050
So what other
games can you think

1190
00:49:52,050 --> 00:49:54,780
of where other players
are your primary feedback

1191
00:49:54,780 --> 00:49:58,948
mechanism on whether you've
done that's OK or not?

1192
00:49:58,948 --> 00:50:00,340
AUDIENCE: Mound Builders?

1193
00:50:00,340 --> 00:50:01,462
PROFESSOR: Mound?

1194
00:50:01,462 --> 00:50:03,210
AUDIENCE: The only
feedback you get.

1195
00:50:03,210 --> 00:50:05,250
PROFESSOR: It is the only
feedback you get, OK.

1196
00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:06,250
AUDIENCE: Poker?

1197
00:50:06,250 --> 00:50:07,750
PROFESSOR: Poker?

1198
00:50:07,750 --> 00:50:09,250
Did--

1199
00:50:09,250 --> 00:50:10,860
AUDIENCE: If you make a bet--

1200
00:50:10,860 --> 00:50:14,100
they're bluffing and
you make that a good,

1201
00:50:14,100 --> 00:50:15,600
you know there's
going to be a fold.

1202
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:21,160
PROFESSOR: OK, yeah, for
a certain kind of bad,

1203
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,164
it's like, I won it.

1204
00:50:24,164 --> 00:50:26,020
Everyone folds, and
it's like, wait what.

1205
00:50:26,020 --> 00:50:26,860
I had a royal flush.

1206
00:50:26,860 --> 00:50:29,620
Why'd you-- That was
a bad idea, right?

1207
00:50:29,620 --> 00:50:34,750
OK, that gives you sort of
feedback for this specific kind

1208
00:50:34,750 --> 00:50:35,686
of thing.

1209
00:50:35,686 --> 00:50:36,560
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

1210
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:38,710
PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah.

1211
00:50:38,710 --> 00:50:41,125
You stick a card with
something written on it.

1212
00:50:41,125 --> 00:50:44,515
AUDIENCE: Yeah, and particularly
based on [INAUDIBLE].

1213
00:50:44,515 --> 00:50:47,260
PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, again,
it's like Code 7 7.

1214
00:50:47,260 --> 00:50:49,810
Everything that you
know about the thing

1215
00:50:49,810 --> 00:50:51,760
that you are trying
to guess is something

1216
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:53,702
that only other people can see.

1217
00:50:53,702 --> 00:50:55,666
AUDIENCE: The game Mafia.

1218
00:50:55,666 --> 00:50:58,770
All the feedback is
filtered through the hosts.

1219
00:50:58,770 --> 00:51:03,640
PROFESSOR: And both useful and
possibly confusing feedback,

1220
00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:04,199
right?

1221
00:51:04,199 --> 00:51:06,490
So yeah, all the information
you're getting in the game

1222
00:51:06,490 --> 00:51:08,672
is through other
people in Mafia.

1223
00:51:08,672 --> 00:51:10,334
AUDIENCE: Battleship?

1224
00:51:10,334 --> 00:51:11,250
PROFESSOR: Battleship?

1225
00:51:11,250 --> 00:51:13,380
Yeah, there's again the hidden--

1226
00:51:13,380 --> 00:51:15,130
information that's
hidden from you,

1227
00:51:15,130 --> 00:51:19,350
but it's completely available
to your opponent and vice versa.

1228
00:51:19,350 --> 00:51:21,729
And [INAUDIBLE] I'd beat the
mechanics to tell you that.

1229
00:51:21,729 --> 00:51:23,020
There is a computer battleship.

1230
00:51:23,020 --> 00:51:24,520
It's not as fun.

1231
00:51:29,470 --> 00:51:34,750
Charades and Pictionary--
usually your teammates

1232
00:51:34,750 --> 00:51:36,370
are the ones who are guessing.

1233
00:51:36,370 --> 00:51:38,950
So I wouldn't necessarily
call that feedback

1234
00:51:38,950 --> 00:51:41,470
because it might
be good feedback

1235
00:51:41,470 --> 00:51:43,690
on whether your clues
are getting across

1236
00:51:43,690 --> 00:51:45,400
to your teammate.

1237
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:48,100
But your opponents are
also usually some sort

1238
00:51:48,100 --> 00:51:49,930
of feedback mechanism
that's keeping

1239
00:51:49,930 --> 00:51:54,816
time, that's keeping an
eye out for or listening

1240
00:51:54,816 --> 00:51:56,440
for his [INAUDIBLE]
things, like if you

1241
00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:58,810
said something very Pictionary.

1242
00:51:58,810 --> 00:52:00,970
If they hear you say
something, they go ah, ah, ah.

1243
00:52:00,970 --> 00:52:01,723
You can do that.

1244
00:52:04,910 --> 00:52:07,910
And are there a few more
hands or something like that?

1245
00:52:07,910 --> 00:52:12,850
So just always remember that
you can employ other players

1246
00:52:12,850 --> 00:52:14,080
into your feedback mechanism.

1247
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:16,837
It doesn't always have
to be your game alone.

1248
00:52:16,837 --> 00:52:19,984
AUDIENCE: There is
[INAUDIBLE] wrong kind

1249
00:52:19,984 --> 00:52:26,280
of tracking [INAUDIBLE]
is all its ever known.

1250
00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:29,262
You get some feedback
about what he's

1251
00:52:29,262 --> 00:52:33,390
doing, sort of what he's doing.

1252
00:52:33,390 --> 00:52:38,450
You have that in terms of the
information that [INAUDIBLE]

1253
00:52:38,450 --> 00:52:42,396
feedback on whether
or not you [INAUDIBLE]

1254
00:52:42,396 --> 00:52:43,690
from the player [INAUDIBLE].

1255
00:52:43,690 --> 00:52:45,940
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I think
it's like something like four

1256
00:52:45,940 --> 00:52:50,650
or five detectives chasing one
fugitive going through London's

1257
00:52:50,650 --> 00:52:57,255
mass transit system basically--
buses, cabs, underground, yeah.

1258
00:52:57,255 --> 00:52:59,500
And the person who's
running knows where they're

1259
00:52:59,500 --> 00:53:01,190
going at any given time.

1260
00:53:01,190 --> 00:53:04,820
The detectives are working
on partial information

1261
00:53:04,820 --> 00:53:08,440
to try to corner and
close this track.

1262
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:12,020
So I think that's on the list.

1263
00:53:12,020 --> 00:53:12,820
Do you remember it?

1264
00:53:12,820 --> 00:53:13,861
That was on the syllabus.

1265
00:53:13,861 --> 00:53:14,790
It used to be--

1266
00:53:14,790 --> 00:53:16,104
Scotland Yard.

1267
00:53:16,104 --> 00:53:18,745
AUDIENCE: I'll double
check it if it's not.

1268
00:53:18,745 --> 00:53:19,920
If they changed the game--

1269
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:23,340
PROFESSOR: Yeah, so we might
get a chance to play that.

1270
00:53:23,340 --> 00:53:26,412
But that also falls in
mastermind category of games

1271
00:53:26,412 --> 00:53:27,870
where it's like,
here's this person

1272
00:53:27,870 --> 00:53:29,860
like all the information,
only that person

1273
00:53:29,860 --> 00:53:31,860
is changing the information
as the game goes on.

1274
00:53:31,860 --> 00:53:32,790
That's a big
difference in Scotland.

1275
00:53:32,790 --> 00:53:33,951
AUDIENCE: Do you
remember this year?

1276
00:53:33,951 --> 00:53:34,920
But we do have a copy.

1277
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:37,100
PROFESSOR: OK, maybe
we'll bring it in.

1278
00:53:37,100 --> 00:53:40,110
It is a good game.

1279
00:53:40,110 --> 00:53:43,950
So one of the things that
[INAUDIBLE] ends his very first

1280
00:53:43,950 --> 00:53:47,700
chapter on is that
why is it so hard to--

1281
00:53:47,700 --> 00:53:49,440
he asks this question.

1282
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,410
OK, we've gone through this
huge list of things in his book,

1283
00:53:52,410 --> 00:53:54,704
including things
like light switches--

1284
00:53:54,704 --> 00:53:57,120
well, actually, he hasn't
talked about light switches yet.

1285
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:00,210
He will talk about light
switches, something like that.

1286
00:54:00,210 --> 00:54:01,320
He talks about cars.

1287
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:02,514
He talks about doors.

1288
00:54:02,514 --> 00:54:03,430
He talks about clocks.

1289
00:54:06,290 --> 00:54:10,650
And he asked this question-- why
is it so hard to actually make

1290
00:54:10,650 --> 00:54:12,710
something right?

1291
00:54:12,710 --> 00:54:14,730
Anyone remember?

1292
00:54:14,730 --> 00:54:16,279
Or anyone thinking of--

1293
00:54:16,279 --> 00:54:18,570
AUDIENCE: Doesn't the designer
never really [INAUDIBLE]

1294
00:54:18,570 --> 00:54:20,070
one-to-one with the user?

1295
00:54:20,070 --> 00:54:23,232
They're taking through
the object that repeats

1296
00:54:23,232 --> 00:54:25,812
her design more continuous?

1297
00:54:25,812 --> 00:54:27,270
PROFESSOR: That is
definitely true.

1298
00:54:27,270 --> 00:54:28,936
It is a second order problem.

1299
00:54:28,936 --> 00:54:31,560
You're designing something that
then becomes this manifestation

1300
00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:33,180
that somebody else uses.

1301
00:54:33,180 --> 00:54:37,000
And that's actually when
all the problems occur.

1302
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:38,130
You first, then.

1303
00:54:38,130 --> 00:54:39,862
AUDIENCE: Well, he
was talking about how

1304
00:54:39,862 --> 00:54:42,080
like at first when
something is invented.

1305
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:44,752
At first it's very complicated,
and then your iteration

1306
00:54:44,752 --> 00:54:46,664
comes up with
something very simple.

1307
00:54:46,664 --> 00:54:49,054
But then people
want more functions.

1308
00:54:49,054 --> 00:54:50,815
And they start
this whole process

1309
00:54:50,815 --> 00:54:53,420
over again where you
keep adding new things.

1310
00:54:53,420 --> 00:54:57,300
But it becomes less
and less intuitive.

1311
00:54:57,300 --> 00:55:00,630
PROFESSOR: Market forces
push you to add things,

1312
00:55:00,630 --> 00:55:04,170
to do additive design in
order to distinguish yourself

1313
00:55:04,170 --> 00:55:05,220
from the competition.

1314
00:55:05,220 --> 00:55:11,114
And that naturally leads
to complexity in interface.

1315
00:55:11,114 --> 00:55:12,982
AUDIENCE: And a lot
of products, you said,

1316
00:55:12,982 --> 00:55:16,814
don't get through that process
because it'll take five or six

1317
00:55:16,814 --> 00:55:18,263
times to get it right.

1318
00:55:18,263 --> 00:55:20,075
But if it's not good
by the second time,

1319
00:55:20,075 --> 00:55:22,340
people just won't buy it.

1320
00:55:22,340 --> 00:55:26,370
PROFESSOR: Yep, so
get back to iteration.

1321
00:55:26,370 --> 00:55:29,880
Five or six times means five or
six times at the same problem,

1322
00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:32,620
right?

1323
00:55:32,620 --> 00:55:40,070
So iteration is the reason
why design starts off

1324
00:55:40,070 --> 00:55:41,060
as being very clunky.

1325
00:55:41,060 --> 00:55:44,520
But it can eventually become
something that works well,

1326
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:46,620
communicates well, or
something that people

1327
00:55:46,620 --> 00:55:54,559
can learn and maybe even enjoy
in the case of the games.

1328
00:55:54,559 --> 00:55:56,100
One thing that's
funny about the book

1329
00:55:56,100 --> 00:55:58,560
is that it talks a little
bit about the clock radio

1330
00:55:58,560 --> 00:55:59,430
that could do--

1331
00:55:59,430 --> 00:56:02,220
make phone calls, and
be used as a desk lamp,

1332
00:56:02,220 --> 00:56:06,600
and keep track of your
appointments, and used as a TV.

1333
00:56:06,600 --> 00:56:09,160
And I'm still thinking,
this isn't that this, right?

1334
00:56:09,160 --> 00:56:11,940
Exactly the same thing
they he's describing.

1335
00:56:11,940 --> 00:56:14,100
And it's interesting
because he described

1336
00:56:14,100 --> 00:56:16,932
a phone that can only be
used with two buttons, right?

1337
00:56:16,932 --> 00:56:19,080
Here's a button.

1338
00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:21,520
And then here's a huge button.

1339
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:22,930
You get to select things.

1340
00:56:22,930 --> 00:56:26,370
And it's exactly what he's
talking about on the dodgy edge

1341
00:56:26,370 --> 00:56:28,917
as he imagines that
this was something

1342
00:56:28,917 --> 00:56:30,750
to be possible at the
time when he wrote it.

1343
00:56:30,750 --> 00:56:31,380
That was 1980.

1344
00:56:31,380 --> 00:56:32,380
It wasn't that long ago.

1345
00:56:34,380 --> 00:56:37,070
And cell phones
obviously have gone

1346
00:56:37,070 --> 00:56:38,195
through a lot of criticism.

1347
00:56:38,195 --> 00:56:42,180
IPhone, of course, has a lot
of criticism because people

1348
00:56:42,180 --> 00:56:45,000
who criticize it for being
a lock-down system where you

1349
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:46,680
can't really do all that much.

1350
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:48,990
It's certainly not as
customizable as Android system.

1351
00:56:48,990 --> 00:56:51,510
It's expensive for what it does.

1352
00:56:51,510 --> 00:56:54,220
But then, arguably, by
locking out a lot of things

1353
00:56:54,220 --> 00:57:00,480
that you might want to do
but maybe don't have to do,

1354
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:02,370
they are trying to
make it easier for you

1355
00:57:02,370 --> 00:57:04,210
not to do the wrong thing.

1356
00:57:04,210 --> 00:57:06,390
So depending on-- there
are different ways

1357
00:57:06,390 --> 00:57:10,980
to fall on this camp.

1358
00:57:10,980 --> 00:57:13,350
But it is it has been
successful through a number

1359
00:57:13,350 --> 00:57:14,559
of different reasons.

1360
00:57:14,559 --> 00:57:16,350
Don't discount marketing
as being something

1361
00:57:16,350 --> 00:57:20,820
that the does sell.

1362
00:57:20,820 --> 00:57:26,280
But what I want you
to think about now

1363
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:28,884
is actually the
process of prototyping.

1364
00:57:28,884 --> 00:57:30,425
Actually you know
what, I'm not going

1365
00:57:30,425 --> 00:57:34,247
to go right into prototyping
because they will probably

1366
00:57:34,247 --> 00:57:35,830
make more sense once
I've actually got

1367
00:57:35,830 --> 00:57:38,120
the prototyping materials out.

1368
00:57:38,120 --> 00:57:41,241
What I am going to do is to give
everyone a five minute break.

1369
00:57:41,241 --> 00:57:42,990
We're actually going
to come back and play

1370
00:57:42,990 --> 00:57:44,448
some of last year's
games because I

1371
00:57:44,448 --> 00:57:48,210
think there's enough time
for it now for about an hour.

1372
00:57:48,210 --> 00:57:51,770
And then the last hour of
class, back I'm going to do

1373
00:57:51,770 --> 00:57:55,140
is I'm going to go
into brainstorming.

1374
00:57:55,140 --> 00:57:57,210
So then you can start
forming your teams,

1375
00:57:57,210 --> 00:57:59,250
thinking about what kind
of game that you want.

1376
00:57:59,250 --> 00:58:01,708
Prototyping might be something
we'll leave up to Wednesday.

1377
00:58:01,708 --> 00:58:03,990
So that there'll be
a little more time

1378
00:58:03,990 --> 00:58:05,760
for you to work in your teams.

1379
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:07,900
So I'd like to get all
the contest bits back.

1380
00:58:07,900 --> 00:58:12,960
So and then we'll pick this
up in about five minutes.

1381
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:13,860
[INAUDIBLE]

1382
00:58:18,060 --> 00:58:21,410
[SIDE CONVERSATION]