Page 109 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Board of The Landlord’s Game, according to the 1906 patent.The introduction of digital technologies brought a change in the role of game inventors. A video game does not usually require physical piecesto be created, but rather for its rules to be abstracted in the form of a series of instructions establishing how the computer should respond to the player. Computational processes allow extremely complex games to be created, some with systems that would be di cult to emulate in board games. Creating a video game requires not only knowledge of programming but also creative skills like music, the visual arts or inventing ctional worlds. We have gone from noughts and crosses in the rst computers to creating vast virtual environments for playersto explore, as in the game The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011). A video game can be created by one or two people, a small group of 10 creators or, in the case of console games, teams of between 100 and 200 people. The bigger the team, the more specialised each discipline is: the designers focus on creating speci c levels, optimising combat systems or creating di erent storylines; the programmers deal with arti cial intelligence, systems or graphics; the graphic artists design architectural spaces in the manner of art directors and the props for the ctional world; the animators bring the characters tolife; the sound engineers and editors and the composers create the game’s soundtrack; and teams of producers and testers ensure the programme functions properly. The process of creating the game rules is therefore a discipline separate from programming, hence the shift from game inventors to game designers, whose work is to create rules that give rise to a series of interactive experiences. This distinction also applies to the creators of board games, because the discipline of game design is considered to go beyond physically designing a product or writing a computer code.Video game design is still related to program- ming at various international educational institutions, but a good programmer is not necessarily capable of designing a game. We are also witnessing an increase in the number of centres that teach game design in their ne arts and design schools, as they regard digital games as an artistic and cultural expression. The divide between science and arts no longer exists, because creating games requires justas much cybernetic thought as psychologyor story-writing skills. Game designers must work from a Renaissance-style interdisciplinary approach, being as well versed in digital creation as they are in human nature.The divide between science and arts no longer exists, because creating games requires just as much cybernetic thought as psychology or story-writing skills.Games are thus emerging that serve as an artistic expression and can accordingly also convey ideas. Papers, Please: A Dystopian Docu- ment Thriller (2013) places the player in the role of an immigration inspector in a ctitious com- munist state who has to decide whether or not travellers should be allowed into the country based on the papers they show. For every travel- ler whose application is correctly processed– whether they are allowed in or detained – the player earns money to maintain his family, whereas mistakes lead to loss of money or noAC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2017109Smart culture. Analysis of digital trends