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Gundolf S. Freyermuth
Games, Game Design, Game Studies
An Introduction
– English edition –
FUEGO
About this Book
How did games rise to become the central audiovisual form of expression and storytelling in digital culture? How did the practices of their artistic production come into being? How did the academic analysis of the new medium's social effects and cultural meaning develop?
Addressing these fundamental questions and aspects of digital game culture in a holistic way for the first time, Gundolf S. Freyermuth's introduction outlines the media-historical development phases of analog and digital games, the history and artistic practices of game design, as well as the history, academic approaches, and most important research topics of game studies.
The Author
Gundolf S. Freyermuth (PhD) is Professor of Media and Game Studies and a founding director of the Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln–University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany. He also teaches Comparative Media Studies at the ifs international film school Cologne. His research interests include video games, audiovisuality, transmediality, and network culture.
Homepage: www.freyermuth.com
Imprint
© 2015 by Gundolf S. Freyermuth
Für die vorliegende ePub-Edition
© 2016 FUEGO
www.fuego.de eISBN 978-3-86287-177-3
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
A print as well as a pdf edition of this book are available from transcript (Bielefeld, http://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-2983-5/games-game-design-game-studies) and Columbia University Press (New York, http://cup.columbia.edu/book/games-game-design-game-studies/9783837629835)
Contents
PROLOG
PLAYING, MAKING, THINKING GAMES |
Playing—Games | Making Games—Game Design | Thinking Games—Game Studies | Acknowledgments
I GAMES
1 WHAT IS A GAME? SYSTEMATIC AND HISTORICAL APPROACHES |
Attempts at Systematic Definitions | Failure of Systematic Definitions | Historical Definition: The Alterity of Digital Games
2 GAMES IN THE MODERN ERA. A SHORT MEDIA HISTORY |
Games | Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Mediality | Case Study: Soccer—A Game’s Journey Through Medialities | Quaternary Mediality: From Spectator to Player
3 PROCEDURAL TURN (SINCE THE 1950S) |
Quadruplicate Origin of Digital Games | Digital Technology | Artificial Intelligence | Flight Simulation | Virtualization of Analog Games | Playful Use of Digital Technology | Procedurality
4 HYPEREPIC TURN (SINCE THE 1970S) |
Game Economics | From Mainframe and Arcade Games to Console and PC Games | The Innovative Genre of Text-Adventures | The Evolution of Audiovisual Storytelling | The Hyperepic
5 HYPERREALISTIC TURN (SINCE THE 1990S) |
Digital Technology| From the Model of the Novel to the Model of the Film | Hyperrealism | Authenticity and Operativity | The Innovative Genre of the First-Person Shooter
6 THE DOUBLE ALTERITY OF DIGITAL GAMES |
The Evolution of Games into an Audiovisual Medium | Digital Games vs. Analog Games and Linear Audiovisions | The Defining Medium of Digital Culture
7 A LOOK AHEAD: HYPERIMMERSIVE TURN? |
The Evolution of Digital Games | Lifelike Agency in Games | Utopia Holodeck | Gamelike Agency in Real Life | Potential for Hyperimmersive Turn
INTERMEZZO: GAME // FILM
INTRODUCTION |
1 GAME AND FILM |
Competition | Collaboration | Convergence
2 AUDIOVISUAL RIVALRIES |
Media History | Media Theory
3 MODES OF AUDIOVISUAL STORYTELLING |
Storytelling in Space and Time | Pre-Industrial Audiovisions: Theater | Industrial Audiovisions: Film and Television | Digital Audiovisions: Games | Complementarity | Summary: The Four Cs
II GAME DESIGN
INTRODUCTION |
1 ANALOG DESIGN |
The Evolution of Industrial Design Practices | The Evolution of Industrial Design Thinking
2 DIGITAL DESIGN |
The Digitalization of Design Practice | The Digitalization of Design Thinking
3 A SHORT HISTORY OF GAME DESIGN |
The First 40 Years | Present and Future
4 AREAS OF GAME DESIGN |
The Role of the Game Designer | Triad, Tetrad, and the Function of Narration
5 PRACTICES OF GAME DESIGN |