Laura Neal
12/10/2017
Question Pair No. 1:
>”Visualise Dieter Rams’ ’10 Principals of Good Design’.
> Do you feel that these ideas are relevant within Games Design today?”
—
One question that Dieter Rams, renowned German industrial designer and academic, presented himself with throughout his expansive career was ‘Is my design good design?’

To consider this and arrive at a justified answer, he created the ’10 Principals of Good Design’. They detail that good design is innovative, makes a product useful, is aesthetic, makes a product understandable, is unobtrusive, is honest, is long-lasting, is thorough down to the last detail, is environmentally-friendly and that it is as little design as possible. I am quite positive many people have heard the saying ‘Less is more’, but the question we ask ourselves here is ‘can this be seen in games design’?

As an example, I will be briefly examining the modern (2015) game ‘Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes‘; a game with one of the most prominent teamwork and communication skill elements I have ever seen in this medium. There are two players, one is assigned as the ‘Defuser’, operating the computer and hopefully defusing the bomb, and the other is the ‘Expert’. ‘Experts’ are presented with an official ‘Bomb Defusal Manual’ for the game, which can be either in paper form or viewed as a PDF. ‘Defusers’ are not allowed to see the manual, and respectively the screen is not for the ‘Experts’ eyes. The ‘enigmas’ are on the bomb, and the answers lie in the manual. It is here that the game presents the beauty of its design with its method of making the two players interact to achieve the common goal. The two players must then communicate back and forth a convoluted series of both visual and worded instructions in order to defuse a quite stylised bomb under a time limit that can be set from a lenient eight minutes to a tighter five.

I have personally played this game and enjoyed it thoroughly, and, like with everything else, I was constantly analysing what made it such a good concept. What I would like to bring most to attention are the intricate details of the gameplay; for example, when you are in the position of the ‘Defuser’, your job mainly involves managing the quality of your communication towards the ‘Expert’ in order to defuse the bomb quickly. If one was to view the ‘Manual’, they would be quick to notice that some words that require speaking sound the same or similar, such as ‘Red’ and Read’ and ‘Left’ and ‘Press’. This means that the ‘Expert’ spends more time explaining which version of the word they mean.

My reasoning behind choosing this particular game to discuss alongside the ’10 Principals’ is that it stands out to me as a game which utilises well its core element of user interaction. Although at first it’s difficult to understand, players soon get quicker and better at interpreting all the ‘Modules’. ‘Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes‘ is certainly aesthetically pleasing, as everything from the bomb ‘Modules’ to the diagrams printed across the ‘Manual’ has acquired the same ‘slim’ look adopted by very modern games.

References:
http://www.archdaily.com/198583/dieter-rams-10-principles-of-%25e2%2580%259cgood-design%25e2%2580%259d (To review the 10 principals)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams (To research what his field in design is)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Talking_and_Nobody_Explodes (For reference of the game’s release date)
http://www.bombmanual.com/manual/1/pdf/Bomb-Defusal-Manual_1.pdf

Images:

http://www.keeptalkinggame.com/press/keep_talking_and_nobody_explodes/images/07_KeepTalking_Gameplay3.jpg

http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Keep-Talking-Manual.jpg

A: http://twinery.org/2/#!/stories/3c7a08f1-42ee-4f02-86e4-4a87af5ebdcc/play

B: Item: “Descent: Journeys in the dark (2nd Edition)”

Descent is a Table Top RPG played using cards, plastic figures, printed board sections and dice. The way it combines Story and Gameplay comes in its Campaigns that are provided with both the main game and expansions. These gives the “Heroes” an objective (Save an innocent, get to the other end of the map, kill a certain enemy). Success or failure not only determines rewards from an encounter, but also how the story will progress. When the player succeeds, the world remains in a good state whereas failure increase the rate at which it falls apart. Whilst this does create a sense of tension and stakes in each encounter, it works against the “Heroes” as each failure makes later encounters more difficult.

The game does, however, lack a sense of freedom. It moves from one encounter to the next, keeping the player in combat. Whilst this does fit it’s theme of world falling into chaos and darkness, it fails to humanize the “Heroes” for the players, stopping the players from properly connecting to the character they are supposed to be and retracting from the overall experience.

However, the choices a player makes as they level up changes how they have to play the rest of the game, and I have personally witnessed people play in character throughout entire games, which shows that it still has the capacity to engage the players and bring them closer to the action in a way that I either cannot or have not yet discovered.

Refrences

> Visualise Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Good Design.

Dieter Rams is a renowned and revolutionary German industrial designer who created products for the likes of Braun and Vitsœ. He followed many beliefs when it came to designing products as a response to the concerning state of the world around him. He described the world as:

“An impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises.”

Thus, he developed his own ten principals for which he felt constituted good design. This is my interpretation of how some of these principals apply today.

-Innovation

As time goes by and technology advances, I believe it is increasingly challenging to be truly innovative. Rather, we as designers tend to take existing concepts and push them further to create the illusion of innovation. For example; the iPhone was once a ground breaking and innovative piece of unmatched technology but is now at a stage of incremental additions each generation.

-Aestheticism

Aesthetics are purely subjective; something that was considered aesthetically pleasing a decade ago might not be any more or might be by different people. Unfortunately for designers, the way something looks is incredibly important. Trying to shape products that the majority of people find attractive is a challenge due to the varying, subjective nature. Despite of this, there are always general trends and themes that can be applied to each generation and taken advantage of by designers.

-Honesty

It can be hard to tell how honest companies are being when they slap a price tag on their products and send them off – it is probably best not to think too much about this. Dieter Rams believes for a product to be ‘good’ it must be honest. Going back to Apple and their iPhone, it is estimated to cost $247.51 to manufacture each iPhone 8 unit yet they are marketed at $699. I wouldn’t say a difference of $451.49 per unit is truly honest but that all depends on how much you value the quality and style of the product.

Dieter Rams

> Do you feel that these ideas are relevant within Games Design today?

I feel that the ideas of Dieter Rams are from the perspective of someone with passion and good intentions for their industry and the target market. Larger, purely profit based companies tend to skip over some of these principals to maximise profits. In terms of the games design industry, big triple-A companies such as EA and Ubisoft have a reputation for producing formulaic games about similar, reused franchises. For instance, looking at a franchise such as FIFA would show how little innovation is applied to each iteration. The game compromises on some of Rams’ principals; lacking lifespan, simplicity and honesty. Despite this, FIFA has extraordinary sales figure. According to Video Game Sales Wiki, FIFA is the 11th bestselling video game franchise ever.

On the flip side of the gaming industry is the indie games. These games are much more personal and artistic, focusing on the experience of play rather than the profit of sales. I would say that Journey (developed by thatgamecompany) follows much closer to these principals. It’s incredibly simple yet beautifully immersive and emotional; it pushes how games can deliver compelling narrative through only sound and visuals. Keza MacDonald from The Guardian said: “Journey’s visual and sound design sets new standards for interactive entertainment.” Surely this constitutes good design.

Overall, I wouldn’t say that Dieter Rams’ ten principals for good design necessarily apply to the games industry or that they should. They can be applied to some games better than others but that doesn’t correlate to the sales figures. With some slight alterations I’m sure ten principals for good games design could be created but for now we’re left in a world of repetition with the occasional outstanding piece of art.

~ A l e x

Journey

Sources:

• Journey quote from <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2012/mar/13/journey-ps3-review>
• Dieter Rams facts from <https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/dieter-rams>
• Dieter Rams quote from <https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design>
• iPhone cost estimation from <http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/09/26/apples-iphone-8-heres-how-much-it-really-costs-to-build.html>
• FIFA sales stats from <http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Best_selling_game_franchises>
• Ten Principals from <https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design>

What are the key components of Postmodernism?

As defined, postmodernism is “a late-20th-century style and concept…which represents a departure from modernism and has at its heart a general distrust of grand theories” (Anon,(2017). Essentially, postmodernism as a style attempts to stand out and distinct itself from standard forms of expression as a means of challenging and critiquing physical representations of the world. Postmodernism is present within architecture, art, literature and even within the games industry, the movement itself is present wherever a form of expression can be made. The movement itself has ideas which fuel it, within the style artists “challenges all truths and concludes that there is no such thing”(Anon, 2017). Instead postmodernists believe that the concept of true or false are merely deceptions used by some to achieve power over others. Postmodernists additionally attempt to “rely on opinions”(Anon, 2017) and beliefs as opposed to raw facts, again this is done to challenge the norm of society. Within art, postmodern artists are shown to; combine previous art styles, simplify art, use text and collage, display art through the medium of video, present art through performance, and the list goes on. These different and unique postmodern mediums and techniques attempt to  present thought provoking imagery that confronts the  authority and traditionally held claims within society.

(Source: Tracey emins, (1998), http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/emin-my-bed-l03662)

For example, Tracey Emin’s contemporary installation work, titled “My Bed” for instance would fall under the category of postmodernism. Her simplified work created uproar and complaints, as many critiqued her work to be lacking within the art world.

(246 Words)

What Games do you think exemplify this in their design decisions?

Postmodernism is no stranger to the gaming world either. Game designers can question the normal perception one may have of our surrounding world, and instead present fantasy imaginative ideology or views on society through an interactive playable game. For me a notable game which is a great example of postmodernism within game design is Assassins Creed. The game franchise, is dominantly story based and revolves around conflict between two groups, the Assassin’s Creed and the Templars. The game is an analogy for uprisings against authority, the Templars represent groups seeking power and dominance over the general masses, whilst the creed stand for free will and independent control over actions. The Creed itself within the game was associated a very postmodern motto to fight and die for:

“Where others blindly believe what they are told, remember: Nothing is True. Where others are hindered by morality and the law, remember: Everything is permitted”

The game itself screams postmodernism! Themes of good and evil are always present alongside the overall message to think for yourself and to question figures with authority and command. However, although the philosophical implications of post modernism are present within the franchise, if the game designers and developers of the franchise intentionally did this, “remains, in true postmodern fashion, a “maybe”” (Max Heiliger, 2013/14).

( Source: http://vsbattles.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed )

(216 words)

Referencing List:

Anon, Oxford Dictionaries | English. 2017. postmodernism | Definition of postmodernism in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/postmodernism. [Accessed 18 October 2017].

Anon, Postmodernism and Truth. 2017. Postmodernism and Truth. [ONLINE] Available at: http://changingminds.org/explanations/critical_theory/concepts/postmodernism_truth.htm. [Accessed 18 October 2017].

Anon, AllAboutPhilosophy.org. 2017. Characteristics of Postmodernism. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/characteristics-of-postmodernism-faq.htm. [Accessed 18 October 2017].

Max Heiliger, (2013/14), – Academia.edu. 2017. Postmodern Influences in the Assassin’s Creed Franchise | Max Heiliger – Academia.edu. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.academia.edu/8309661/Postmodern_Influences_in_the_Assassins_Creed_Franchise. [Accessed 19 October 2017].

What were the key ideas of the Bauhaus?

The key points of the Bauhaus ideology were the following two things:
1.To bring together the act of creating the product with the act of designing it, so creative products could be manufactured. This was due to the school’s belief that Manufacturing had drawn away from creativity, and so consumers were getting products fit for purpose but not beautiful in design. Given that they believed that form must follow function, this makes sense as they are stating that whilst an object must fulfil its purpose first, it should also be designed to be aesthetically pleasing as well.
2. They believed that art wasn’t purely creative but also an intellectual pursuit, attempting to combine the practical skills involved in Painting and Sculpting with the act of designing something with a use the market needs. This, like above, centres on making the design and creation process a more natural flow via connecting them, as well as following their “Form Must Follow Function” ideology whilst combining many different areas of art.

Do you feel that the ideas could have an influence on contemporary games design?

Very much so, the idea of “Form must follow Function” is one I use a lot, and is very useful. Characters, Vehicles and other such things need to be designed in a way that can telegraph their actions so that the player can understand what is happening, levels need to be designed to work before they look good, and so on. This isn’t to say they should be designed to work then look nice, as “Form must follow Function” implies, as Game Creation is a digital art and so items can be edited after testing, so they can be made to look good first, then edited to work after. But in the end it must simply work as the priority, even if it means reducing the aesthetic quality of the item.

word count: 331 (approx.)

References

The Art Story, Bauhaus, www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm, 12/10/17

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