Welcome to the main hall of the Round Table, a monthly collection of posts revolving around the same topic. Participation is open to all, so make sure to check in on the first Monday of the month for the new topic. It’s easy, informal, and strong opinions are welcome. For particulars, read the FAQ.
2008
May ‘08
Diamonds in the Rough: Actress Karen Allen once said, “Eventually you love people - friends or lovers - because of their flaws.” It’s not surprising theatrical people tend to believe that the most compelling characters are the ones with the deepest flaws. There is, after all, a reason that Romeo, Juliet and Hamlet are still so widely known today. But what about popular video game characters? Are they mere two dimensional shells, or the result of frustrated teenaged boy’s dreams of power? This month’s Round Table invites you to discuss character flaws, or the lack thereof, in video game characters. Feel free to write about about a recurring character archetype, a specific favorite character, or specific least favorite character. Write about an avatar or mob, a tertiary character or primary adversary. Regardless of your approach, turn your jeweler’s loupe on these diamonds and expose their flaws to the world.
Participants: Girls Don’t Game, The Monk’s Brew, 100 Foot Croc, Game Design Reviews, Scorpia’s Lair, Unfettered Blather
April ‘08
Variations on a Theme: What are your favorite videogames? Or if you rather, what are your least favorite videogames? Chances are each group holds something in common. It could be something as simple as a gameplay mechanic that you love or loathe. It could be a save system that is too forgiving or too punitive. It might also be a particular type of story–Mario’s never ending proletariat struggle to gain the recognition of the upper classes, the rags-to-riches-by-way-of-the-sword story that so many RPGs feature.
Regardless, it’s a good bet that there’s a common theme running through this group of games. Some assumption the developers made about you, the audience. Assumptions that either resonate strongly with you or don’t. It’s these underlying assumptions, these themes, that this month’s Round Table invites you to explore. What are your most, or least, favorite themes? Are your favorite themes explored enough in videogames? Are your most hated themes explored too often? Answer one of these questions, or find your own approach.
Participants: H.T. Parnell’s, Stereo Left, Right, Centre, Worldmaker.net, Twenty Sided, Thoughts and Responses, Cult of the Turtle, Only A Game, Man Bytes Blog, And Thus Spoke Pi, The Interactive Quill, Unfettered Blather, The Artful Gamer, Andrew’s Site, Ethics of Madness, The Dust Forms Words
March ‘08
Our Masters’ Voices Having opened the 2008 Round Table by covering music and sound effect, we now move on to the third leg of videogame audio–voice talent. Do you like having character voices supplied for you, or do you hate it? Is the hiring of voice talent another indication of the industry’s drive to be more like Hollywood, or an important part of our maturation? Does spoken dialog help of hinder a game? Is there a particular game’s voice work you enjoy, or loathe? All these, and so many more, topics are open for discussion in this month’s Round Table!
Participants: Worldmaker.net, Man Bytes Blog, Thoughts and Responses, Andrew’s Site, Only A Game
February ‘08
Make Some NoiseThere’s no question that ambient sound can play a big role in videogames, yet the sound artists who design these soundscapes go largely unsung. This month’s Round Table invites you to explore the idea of sound effects in videogames. Whether you’ve got an idea for a better implementation, a gripe about a particular game’s audio fidelity, or a memory of how a game used sound effects to spectacular effect, this is your opportunity to sound off!
Participants: Only a Game, Man Bytes Blog, Worldmaker.net, Mile Zero, Andrew’s Site
January ‘08
These are the Soundtracks of our Lives From the early days of 8 bit music, to Trent Reznor’s affiliation with Quake, to publishers paying big money for Hollywood composers to score their latest AAA titles, it’s clear that game soundtracks play an important part in our videogame experiences. This month’s Round Table invites you to discuss why music is so important to gameplay, or why it isn’t. What soundtracks have pulled you into a game, or which have pushed you out? How could videogame soundtracks be improved, or what are you doing to improve them yourself? The only boundary I’m going to draw on this month’s topic is that your post must be about music, not audio and effects (that topic will most likely show up next month).
Participants: WorldMaker.net, Andrew’s Site, Only A Game, Unfettered Blather, Man Bytes Blog, Game Design Reviews, The Brainy Gamer (honorary post), Audiosurf (honorary game), Jason Preston, The Artful Gamer, Mile Zero
2007
December ‘07
Subject: Gender & Games. There are plenty of sites, blogs, journalists and academics talking about the role of gender in videogames. But within the larger spectrum of the industry, there seems to be far more energy focused on not talking about it, not directly anyway. This is our opportunity to let our voices be heard. Whether you choose to address the role of gender within a particular game, within the industry or within the videogame playing community, this month’s Round Table challenges you to consider the difficulties of gender portrayal and gender perception within a modern creative medium and global industry.
Participants: Game Design Reviews, Man Bytes Blog, Unfettered Blather, Only A Game, SSH83’s Blog, Mile Zero, GBGames
November ‘07
Subject: Age & Games. This month’s Round Table invites you to take a look at video games and the video game industry from a bird’s eye view. Feel free to write about how a particular game or genre has aged, how your age has impacted your gaming experience, or the ages of the industry as a whole. As (almost) always, feel free to push the boundaries of the topic just as far as you feel you can!
Participants: Only A Game, Hybrid Kos, Man Bytes Blog, Cathode Tan, Unfettered Blather
October ‘07
Round Table called on account of craziness!
September ‘07 Round Table
Grab Bag Review any of the Round Table from the last two years and either update your position or add a new voice to the mix. This is your chance to get that post in that you didn’t have time for when the topic was on the table!
Participants: Artful Gamer
August ‘07 Round Table
Two Different Colors On the MapThere’s a tension running through the gaming world right now. On the one side tempers are running high, feelings have been hurt and in some camps it almost feels like they’re planning for a war. The other side is mostly oblivious to the rising tension as they enjoy their games–waggling their Wiimotes in a satisfying manner as they play on their first console ever or logging onto a game portal for 20 minutes of a Zuma clone or Jigsaw Detective on their lunch break. Running between these two camps is an ever increasing number of players who once considered themselves hardcore, but now find the pressures of life eating into their gaming time. No longer do these transitional players have the time or energy for sprawling 60+ hour RPGs and all night MMO sessions and weekend engulfing epic frag-fests.
While some studios and publishers are splitting their focus between “casual” and “hardcore” games, this month’s Round Table asks us to consider another solution–convergence. What can be done from a design standpoint, or what has been done from a design standpoint, to appeal to both audiences with a single title? Pick the game genre you’re most familiar with and pick it apart, looking for opportunities (new or already implemented in an existing game) to appeal to the widest possible audience, suggest a whole new genre of game, or discuss an existing genre that is already taking a convergence approach. Alternately, reasoned arguments against a convergence approach are also welcome.
Participants: Man Bytes Blog, InVerse, Jason Preston, Only a Game, nongames.com
July ‘07 Round Table
AI: Beauty or Beast? This month’s topic is artificial intelligence. What does it mean to current games? What should it mean? How far have we come? How far do we have to go? Does what we call AI in games bear any resemblance to AI as understood by other industries? Should it? Are we currently using AI to its fullest advantage? Are we using it for the right things? No matter your approach, whether technical, historical, tragical, comical, artisical, musical, tragi-comical, or techno-tragi-comi-arti-musical, use this month’s topic (artificial intelligence if you’ve forgotten already) to grab AI by the lapels and shake until you just can’t shake anymore.
Participants: All Right All Ready!, Flash of Steel, GB Games, Only a Game, Man Bytes Blog, King Lud IC, InVerse, AiGameDev.com
June ‘07 Round Table
Two Great Tastes?How important are stories to video games? Does your favorite game have an inherent story or not? Would it be better if it did have one or didn’t have one? Do you prefer games which allow you to tell your own story, or ones which provide a compelling story for you? Take any approach which strikes you and discuss the role of story in video games.
Participants: Mile Zero, GB Games, InVerse, King Lud IC, Man Bytes Blog, Only a Game, Man Bytes Blog (II), Bastard Numbered, Ghosts in the Game
May ‘07 Round Table
Gooaaallll! How crucial to game play are goals? A large number of people play sandbox style games such as GTA and avoid the mission structure altogether. Others complain that Oblivion lacked enough guidance. What role does genre play in the use of goals, if any? This month’s Round Table encourages you to expound upon the topic of goals and gameplay in any manner you wish. Have fun and get your entries in early so we can raise the level of discussion over the course of the next month!
Participants: Inverse, Only a Game, zenBen Land, Bastard Numbered, Man Bytes Blog, Mile Zero, King Lud IC, nongames.com, Ludonauta (English), Ludonauta (Portuguese), zenBen Pt 2
Round Table Note: Due to lower than usual participation in April’s Round Table, part 2 of the topic has been canceled at this time.
April ‘07 Round Table Pt. 1
Three Colors: The following nine images are each built from three simple shapes of solid color. Your task is to choose at least three of these images and tell a small story about them. It can be as simple as a one paragraph description of a scene, or a more elaborate narrative if you wish. It does not need to be long and it does not need to be complex. There is no wrong or right story for each image, so let your imagination guide you and simply describe the situation or scene the image evokes for you. Please refrain from discussing the process of coming up with the story or the image itself until this portion of the Round Table is over. In other words, no expository text such as, “the yellow circle represents my mother’s love of her canaries,” for example. This stage of the Round Table ought to simply be the small story about what the image represents to you.
It would be ideal if you included each image that you were exploring in your post. I have a .zip file containing larger versions of each image. Ideally, you’ll be able to use the color images, but if you have a need, there are also black and white outline versions of the images as well. The outlined image .zip file contains a color key which you can feel free to ignore or use as is your choice.
Participants: Design Synthesis, The Dust Forms Words
March ‘07 Round Table
Plan Ahead. Next year I will do my best not to miss the Round Table due to the GDC. Promise!
February ‘07 Round Table
The Ties That Bind. In the beginning was the single player computer game. Whether it was a text adventure, graphic adventure, arcade, or RPG, a language of game design arose and was good, mostly. Eventually, our ability to connect computers become good enough that a new gameplay was introduced to the computer — multi-player games. This was not a major evolution, but a minor one, with each gamer’s experiences mimicking the gameplay of their single player games. Then, as connectivity speeds improved, the massively multiplayer online game was born. Providing an opportunity for all new gameplay, all new experiences, the games which rose to prominence mostly… well, didn’t provide these things… Or did they? This month’s topic is the relationship between single player gameplay and MOG gameplay. How are they alike? How are they different? Should they be more alike or less? All of these approaches and more would make an excellent approach to the topic, but let’s see what you have to say!
Participants: Man Bytes Blog, Only A Game, Ghosts in the Game, Design Synthesis, Twenty Sided
January ‘07 Round Table
When I Move, You Move (Just like that?). Since the first pixel got pushed about a screen in response a user pressing arrow buttons, games have moved toward deeper and truer emulation of human movement. Our media, from movies like Tron, Lawnmower Man, and Spy Kids 3D to books such as Neuromancer and Snow Crash, our culture has been sold on the concept of playing a game with one to one human motion mapping. And our technology, from VR helmets and goggles, to Nintendo’s Power Glove, to the Wii’s motion and position sensitive Wiimote, has striven to deliver this promise. There have been successes, there have been failures. This month’s Round Table invites you to discuss kinesthetic mimicry from any angle you choose! Pick an overall theme, or drill down on a precise point. Share your own ideas for improving the field,or critique a particular technology or media presentation. As always, it’s up to you. Just have fun!
Deadline: 11:59 PM on Thursday, January the 18th
Participants: Only A Game, Man Bytes Blog, King Lud IC, Avant Game (honorary entry)
2006
December ‘06 Round Table
Jack Frost Nipping At Your Nose Holiday music is full of, playful activities, joyous imagery, and (mostly) good feelings. Take a favorite holiday tune and translate it into a game design idea. Feel free to be as frivolous, or as serious, as you care to be!
Participants: nongames, Ghosts in the Game, Man Bytes Blog, Only A Game (remote), Painted Cave
November ‘06 Round Table
Where’s Your Grammar?!We all know that in order to be clearly understood while communicating, there are certain structural rules, or grammar, we ought to follow. Every language’s grammar is different and some are more complex than others. Painting and design has a grammar, although it is less restrictive than it once was. Film also has a grammar governing visual elements, from camera movement to color usage. Of course, throughout time, there are those who learned the grammar of their chosen medium and then tossed it out in favor of something more expressive, or daring, or challenging. For example - literature has the likes of William S. Burroughs, painting has Pablo Picasso, film has Jean-Luc Godard. Of course, for every person who breaks the rules of grammar intentionally and precisely (and well), you’ve got ten who break the rules out of laziness or indifference. So what about games? Do different genres utilize different grammars? What games are built with perfect grammar and do they succeed at being fun games? What games are hopelessly flawed because the designers decided to ignore grammar rules? Just what elements comprise game design (or genre) grammar anyway?
Deadline: 11:59 PM, November the 16th
Contributors: King Lud IC, Only a Game, The Dust Forms Words, Jason Preston, Man Bytes Blog, Ghosts in the Game
October ‘06 Round Table
This time it’s Fright Night… for real.We covered the fluffy bunny range of emotional interactions with games - friendship, home, death. Now it’s time to talk about fear. Bone chilling, spine tingling, hair raising, goose bumping fear. Has a game made you shriek in fear? How about cry in fear? Have you ever had to turn a game off because it was just that scary? Have you ever dreaded returning home because you know a game is there… lurking… waiting for you? If not, why not? There are plenty of scary games, games which attempt to use fear to push those primal buttons in your brain. Why doesn’t it work for you? Better yet, what would work on you? How far would a game have to go to induce a fear reaction? Or, if you’re feeling more rational than experiential this month… what about the game industry, or its future, do you fear the most?
Crawled forth from their graves: Unfettered Blather, Cathode Tan, Wondrous Inventions, Unfettered Blather (2), The Dust Forms Words, Design Synthesis, Only a Game, Man Bytes Blog
September ‘06 Round Table
Conventionally Speaking. This month we concern ourselves with conventions of game design. This can range from the conventions of marketing to a particular demographic (young men), or conventions of certain types of genre design (class based systems). These can be conventions you feel are important to the industry and the continuity of game design, or conventions you feel hinder the industry and the advancement of game design. These can be conventions of another art or craft that you feel game designers ought to adopt, or conventions you hope they don’t. Whatever your approach, define and explain your convention well, then wind up and knock it down, or roll up your sleeves and build support for it. It’s your choice.
Participants: The Dust Forms Words, Wondrous Inventions, Only A Game (1), Only A Game (2), Flash of Steel, Design Synthesis, Man Bytes Blog, Project Perko, nongames, Ghosts in the Game, Mile Zero, Ninja Theory
August ‘06 Round Table
Sports Coat, No Tie. There’s a lot of talk surrounding the casual games market right now. It seems that there’s gold in them thar games and it’s caught a few people by surprise. From PopCap who specializes in cross-platform simplicity to Three Rings who’ve turned casual games into a rich pirate-themed multiplayer mine (don’t mind me as I mix me up some metaphors). There’s been a lot of focus on what makes casual games work, what new markets they appeal to, and where casual games are going. But let’s turn the topic on its ear a bit, shall we? Ready for it? Here it is: How will the rest of the industry be impacted by the success of casual games? Take this wherever you care to. Take a look at the business side of things, the design side of things, or to some far flung future where the military hires housewives to play casual military sims in an effort to thwart an alien plot to destroy earth. It’s up to you. Make it personal - How Casual Games Have Changed My Design. Make it impersonal - The Impact of Casual Economics on the Development Cycle. Take the approach that resonates with you and most importantly… have fun.
Participants: Cathode Tan, Man Bytes Blog, nongames (grandfathered), Suttree (grandfathered), Only a Game, Suttree, King Lud IC, Design Synthesis, Ghosts in the Game, Mile Zero
July ‘06 Round Table
It Was Great When It All Began. There was a moment. A moment of sudden clarity. A moment when you knew that games were to be a part of your life, for the rest of your life. A moment when you knew that this hobby, or career, or passion, or calling, or whatever role it plays for you, would factor in heavily enough that family, friends, and significant others would simply have to understand, get on board, or leave. It might have been a single game experience. It might have been a single moment from a game. It might have been your first, or second, or seventh. But there was a moment. Or was there?
Participants: King Lud IC, Dry, Sardonic, Irreverent, Man Bytes Blog, Button Mashing, Design Synthesis, The Dust Forms Words
June ‘06 Round Table
The Jolly Reaper: Death is an oft used game mechanic, albeit a less permanent one than that which the Grim Reaper visits upon us personally. Some people love it, others hate it. On the other side of the scale, NPC Death is frequently the only possible outcome of interacting with a player who receives rewards and advancements for each demise. And there are, of course, games which feature Death, or Death’s minions (Death Jr. and Grim Fandango to name two). To take a gi-normous step to the left, people frequently pronounce the Death of some gaming trend or the other (as they frequently do for PC gaming) or call for the Death of the same (ad placement in games, for example). This month’s Round Table will focus on Death and Gaming, from whichever angle you care to approach it.
Participants: Ghosts in the Game, Unfettered Blather, Cathode Tan, Only A Game, Design Synthesis, Man Bytes Blog, Project Perko, The Dust Forms Words, King Lud IC, Ghosts in the Game (2), Donald Quixote
May ‘06 Round Table
Social Issues and Games: Games are a destructive force in our culture. Games are a positive force in our culture. Games make kids violent. Games teach kids better thinking skills. Games have negative messages. Games have positive messages. Games affect you. Games don’t affect you. What, if any, impact do games have on their audience? Are they a medium for deeper messages and themes? Are they instructional? Should they be? Are they a force of social change? Should they be? This month’s topic is open to any and all musings on the topic of games and their position/role within a social space.
Participants: Man Bytes Blog, The Dust Forms Words, Unfettered Blather, Only A Game, King Lud IC, Design Synthesis
April ‘06 Round Table
Your Friendship is a Game To Me: Games have long provided us with opportunities to interact with characters that we could never meet in our real lives, but have you ever met a NPCs who evoked feelings of friendship in you? As more and more games and people go online, new opportunities for friendships also arise- from that mage who healed you at the last minute, giving you the strength to deal the killing blow to an opponent, to the Dwarven tailor who always gives you great deals on the latest fashions, to the people in your guild. What are the limits of game centered friendships? Have you had great experiences, or horrible? It’s a big topic, so choose a slice and let us know what you think!
Participants: Unfettered Blather, Cathode Tan, The Dust Forms Words, Portico, Project Perko, Man Bytes Blog, Design Synthesis, Only a Game, Honorary Entry: Game Eaters, Mile Zero, Random Acts of Intelligence, King Lud IC, Ghosts in the Game
March ‘06 Round Table
Home, Home in the Game: Whether you’re sailing between islands in Windwaker, traversing the radiated landscape of Fallout, building one of the eight wonders of the world in a Tale in the Desert, designing fashions in Second Life, or grinding mobs in your MMOG of choice, there’s probably an area in the game that attracts you more than another, an area where you feel more comfortable, at ease, or even… at home. What makes you feel at home in a game? Is it a matter of ‘real’ estate or mental space and in a digital environment, how much overlap is there between the two? If no such space has existed for you, what would it take to make you feel at home in a game? Is such a thing even possible? If it’s possible, is it desirable?
Participants: Darth Pixel, Project Perko, The Geeky Feminist, Ghosts in the Game, Design Synthesis, Man Bytes Blog, Unfettered Blather, Only a Game, Outside Looking In, New Game Plus, Ghosts in the Games (2)
February ‘06 Round Table
Control Issues: Not everybody has them. but those that do tend to dictate how things get done. Take as broad, or as narrow, as literal, or as liberal, an approach to this topic as you like. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Participants: Only A Game, King Lud IC, Portico, Honorary Entry: Polygon Fiction, Man Bytes Blog, Only A Game (2), Ghosts in the Game
January ‘06 Round Table
When You Wish Upon a Star: 2006 will undoubtedly bring much gaming excitement. Two new consoles may reach stores by Christmas, new game engines will reach unparalleled beauty, adventure games may just prove to the buying public that they’re not dead in a revival akin to the late 90’s CRPG resurgence, and independent game studios may find more and more profitable distribution methods, game journalism may grow up and stop behaving like all of the other industry publications in the world. On the other hand, publishers may engulf studios, other small studios will be forced to suddenly close their doors, games based on movie franchises may continue to mostly suck, and if you work for EA you’ll probably still be working 80 hour weeks. Barring any hopes and dreams for your own involvement (i.e. No, “I want to publish,” or, “Just let me get a job,” posts), what would you like to see happen in games, gaming, or the industry this year and what would be the benefits/consequences of it happening?
Participants: Design Synthesis, Man Bytes Blog, Cathode Tan, Portico
2005
December ‘05 Round Table
Sell Me A Coat: The cold season is upon us, as is the season of commercialization. There are two industry trends that this month’s Round Table is concerned with. Firstly that with the escalating costs of game design, in-game advertising and in-game product placement will become, not only a necessity (source: Game Daily Biz - In-Game Ads Becoming Necessary), but an enhancing portion of the game reality (source: Next Generation - New Report Claims In-Game Ads Power). Secondly that the industry’s growth projections for the year are a bit chillier than expected and have been downgraded from 6% to 0% in light of November’s sales (source: Next Generation - Zero Growth for 2005).
Participants: Only A Game, Man Bytes Blog, Kind Lud IC, Honorary Entry: Wired, Mile Zero, Design Synthesis, Only a Game P.S., King Lud IC, Redux
November ‘05 Round Table
Video Games & Addiction. With the all of the attention on supposed video game inspired violence, we haven’t heard as much about many of the original concerns about video games: namely, the concern over this month’s Round Table topic: Video Game Addiction.
Participants: Only a Game, King Lud IC, Cathode Tan, Top of Cool, Man Bytes Blog, Design Synthesis
October ‘05 Round Table
Hollywood Lessons: Not only has the medium of games been compared to the medium of movies, but the business of creating them, selling them, and controlling their distribution has been compared to the business side of Hollywood as well. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing, or whether the lessons have been learned well or poorly, is a matter of opinion, conjecture, and the subject of many a study. How do you feel about the relationship between games and movies? About the correlations between the business of games and the business of film? What lessons should the game industry learn? What lessons shouldn’t they learn? What’s been done right? What’s been done wrong? What ought to be done better?
Participants:Man Bytes Blog, Design Synthesis, Only A Game, Unfettered Blather
- Topic Choice 1A(nalytical): Pick a game you’ve played that was flawed in some crucial fashion. Discuss the flaw and how it could have been avoided if the designers had “thought outside their genre” and included gameplay elements not typically associated with the style of their game.
- Topic Choice 1E(xploratory): Pick a genre of games and discuss how it would benefit from adopting some of the game mechanics of another genre. If the merging of the genres would create a new genre, discuss the core gameplay and boundaries of the new genre.
Participants: Only a Game, Cathode Tan, Tea Leaves, Portico, Man Bytes Blog, Unfettered Blather, Button Mashing, Mile Zero, Design Synthesis
August ‘05 Round Table
Innovation in the FPS Genre
Participants: Only a Game, Cathode Tan, Man Bytes Blog, Mile Zero, Unfettered Blather, Design Synthesis, Martos’ Mumblings