APPENDIX A

Answers to Review Questions

Chapter 1

1. C. The Royal Game of Ur, discovered by Sir LeonardWoolley in the ancient city of Ur, Sumer (modern-day Iraq) in 1920, is considered to be the oldest game in recorded history.
2. False. Galaxy Game was created at Stanford University by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck in 1971. This arcade game (a coin-operated game) was built using a DEC PDP-11/20, and only one was made.
3. B. The title holder for the first digital game is often debated, but NIM can arguably be considered the first. Created in 1951 by Ferranti, it debuted at the Festival of Britain, and a computer (the Nimrod) was built just to play the game. Spacewar! is generally considered to be the first example of a shooter.
4. C. Many of the precursors to board games that we are familiar with, such as Snakes and Ladders, were created to teach the players moral values of good deeds versus bad. Snakes and Ladders has its origins in India approximately 400 years ago, and one of its early names was paramapada sopanam—the ladder to salvation.
5. False. The game is analog.
6. A. Travellers' Tour Through the United States is recognized as being the first board game published in the United States. It was published in New York City by F. Lockwood, a bookseller. The year was 1822, during a time in the United States when culture was shifting away from a primarily agrarian society to a more urban lifestyle that provided more leisure time and a rise in income for many Americans.

Chapter 2

1. B. Colossal Cave Adventure, which is based on Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, was the first adventure game. Civilization is a simulation game, World of Warcraft is an action/adventure/RPG massive multiplayer game, and Wolfenstein 3D is classified as being a first-person shooter.
2. True. Immersive games tend to have multiple things moving and many overlapping sounds during play, giving the gamer the opportunity to feel that the world is more real.
3. D. A strategy game is generally played between two or more players who take turns implementing their strategy during gameplay.
4. False. The system is voluntary. However, many retail stores only stock games that are rated.
5. C. Presence references how humans can extend their perceptions beyond the physical limitations of their sensory organs. When playing an immersive game, the player temporarily perceives two realities (environments): the one in which they live and the one that they perceive through the digital medium of the game.

Chapter 3

1. C. The success or failure of a game hinges on the gameplay. Regardless of how amazing the characters, environments, and quests may be, if the gameplay isn't fun and intriguing, the project will suffer.
2. True. Designers who need to work with people or animals should mimic correct movement as much as possible. Understanding anatomy helps the artist know what muscles groups are moving and why. Should your task be to create something otherworldly, it's incredibly helpful to know anatomy so you're aware of the size and shape of muscles that perform specific functions in humans and animals. For example, if you need to put wings on a creature, then look at winged animals and see how the muscle structure works so you can adapt that to your own design.
3. B. Lore is the backstory for the game and is generally required for immersive RPG, action/adventure, and adventure games. The lore explains the origins of characters, places, and conflicts that can drive the game.
4. True. Flowcharts are wonderful tools that you can use to help organize when and where events occur in games.
5. C. When you create an environment, there is the visual component of how it looks; however, the game uses animation and the engine to show how the player moves through the world. Some elements in the environment can affect movement, such as constant wind, severe weather, time warps slowing movement, and so on.

Chapter 4

1. D. All of these are excellent reasons why a designer will want to come up with a variety of designs to review during the initial concept art phase.
2. False. Although the finished game may indeed look and feel just like the vertical slice, the “slice” is meant to show, during very early phases of design and production, how the gameplay works. It can do that using temp art pieces, animation, and audio.
3. C. Demographic refers to who the audience is. This can mean age group, sex, race, or cultural values. Understanding the demographic when designing games helps pinpoint what things may be more successful based on other things that demographic tends to like.
4. True. A way-cool character is fun to look at. But if the gameplay is not fun, no one will play the game, and the character will soon be forgotten.
5. C. Concept-vis is not a type of previs. Essentially, all types of previsualization deal with concept work.

Chapter 5

1. C. The isometric type of axonometric projection shows three faces to any object, like a building, that are all the same size.
2. False. The demographic for a game is the audience it is designed for.
3. False. Most games played are categorized as E for everyone by the ESRB rating system as reported by the ESA.
4. B. Games are designed using either first-person or third-person POV.
5. True. These kinds of backgrounds allow for infinite scrolling.

Chapter 6

1. False. QA refers to a specific department in a gaming company—Quality Assurance and Software Testing. Because the success of a game relies so heavily on feedback from game testing, many companies farm that work out to third-party companies that provide intense, highly structured testing scenarios.
2. B. The HUD is the visual component on the screen that allows a player to see the state of the character or environment and can include health, points, time, and so on. The term comes from the heads-up display created by the military, which displays critical data about an aircraft directly on the pilot's faceplate or windshield so the pilot can keep their head up and not have to look down to read dials in the cockpit.
3. False. A diegetic interface is part of the gameplay. It's often shown as the dials on the dashboard of a car. The game Dead Space uses a diegetic interface: marks on the avatar's space suit show the health of the avatar.
4. True. An argument exists among game designers as to which approach to designing games is better: linear or nonlinear games. Statistics in sales and feedback from gamers indicates there are likes and dislikes with both styles, so it is likely both styles will continue to exist.
5. A. The EULA is an agreement, provided by the game company to the purchasers of their game, that outlines the user's rights and permissions as granted by the designer. The purchaser must agree to it in order to gain access to the game.

Chapter 7

1. A, D. This term is used to describe the job of the person who designs a level and the software that is used to compile all of the pieces made for a level. Many games today come with level editors built right into them so players can make their “mods” or custom levels to play in based on the components provided with the game like characters, architectural and landscape elements and sound.
2. True. The array method shows a snapshot, moving footage or a graphic that represents another location in the game the player can jump to. This is another type of navigation in a game different from using a map.
3. A. In this type of game design, the spatial layout provides a central hub that tends to be a bit friendlier for the player, a place they leave from and return to without fear. The larger challenges tend to be out on the spokes.
4. C. A launch icon is a shortcut a gamer can click to launch their game.
5. D. Everything that is designed for a game is written down in the game design document. It is used to organize the gameplay and to communicate to others on the team what needs to be created for each part of the game. The GDD contains the name of the game, the genre (gameplay style), information on the demographic, and detailed information on the purpose and play of the game. All of the information in the GDD is fluid and can be tweaked as the game is actually built.

Chapter 8

1. A. Composers brought onto a project to write and record original music create variations of the music that are delivered in sections called stems. The audio producer decides how to add them to the game. Stems can also be variations of the same piece of music so the producer can build up the music for a scene or have it playing quietly in the background.
2. False. Remote recording sessions happen on location. Unlike generating audio in a controlled environment, the goal is to record live noises, primarily for ambient sounds.
3. D. Layering is a method where simple or complex music or ambient sounds are combined to add complexity and richer sound for the game.
4. True. Location music is one way designers can add a signature sound to a specific region of the game. For example, only while in the capital city do players hear the music written specifically to complement gameplay in that area.
5. B. As a player moves through a game world, they may hear sounds in the distance that become louder as they get closer to where the marker was placed in the environment. The marker serves as a programming switch to turn music on or off or adjust volume.

Chapter 9

1. A. Level design is very involved and gives the designer the ability to focus on gameplay by deciding how an area will be physically laid out and what events will occur there based on the needs of the story.
2. False. This method, although widely used, generally is not accepted in a court of law, should an accusation of copyright infringement go to trial.
3. C. If a game is designed for a PC (home computer system), the designer can pretty much use any keys or mouse controls they desire. If, however, the game needs to play on a commercial system such as an Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation, then the controls need to match the company's requirements for their controllers.
4. False. Although one of the things programmers do for games is build the engine, commercial engines are available for sale or licensing, and there is also freeware that can be used.
5. D. The role of the producer is primarily to help keep a project on time and on budget and make critical decisions if it gets derailed. Some producers work on the art or other aspects of production; however, concept work is not generally considered part of the job.

Chapter 10

1. C. Platforms are the systems that play games. A game must be designed specifically for a platform, whether PC, console, handheld, mobile, arcade, or online. A game may be played on a variety of platforms, but a separate version must be created to run on each platform.
2. False. A portal is a website where gamers can download shareware or freeware games to play or become members, for a fee, to play the games in the portal's catalogue.
3. D. Product placement, popularized in film and television, where actual products appear in shots, has successfully migrated into video games.
4. True. Successful games are tested throughout their entire production process. A beta tester is someone who was not involved in the game and has no ties to the production company and can thereby provide objective feedback regarding gameplay.
5. B. Advergames are small, casual games that are fun and easy to play and that showcase, in the game, the product they are advertising. You can view more advergames here: www.adverblog.com/category/advergames/.