ETC Press

Game Mods: Design, Theory and Criticism

Erik Champion — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:41:54 PST

9 Introduction: Mod Mod Glorious Mod Erik Champion

27 Chapter 1: Between a Mod and a Hard Place Peter Christiansen

51 Chapter 2: Between Fact and Fiction in Cultural Heritage Natalie M. Underberg

67 Chapter 3: Use of “The Elder Scrolls Construction Set” to create a Virtual History Lesson Eric Fassbender

87 Chapter 4: Game Mods, Engines, and Architecture Kevin R. Conway

113 Chapter 5: Teaching Mods with Class Erik Champion

149 Chapter 6: From Games to Movies: Machinima and Modifications Friedrich Kirschner

167 Chapter 7: CryVE: Modding the CryEngine2 to create a CAVE System Marija Nakevska, Jun Hu, Alex Juarez

194 Contributors

Virtual Body Language – The History and Future of Avatars: How Nonverbal Expression is Evolving on the Internet

Jeffrey J. Ventrella — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:41:50 PST

1 Faux Pas of an Unattended Avatar 7

2 Body Language Goes Online 16

3 From Microbes to Post-Humans 34

4 Avatar-Centric Communication 56

5 A Body Language Alphabet 92

6 The Uncanny Valley of Expression 115

7 The Gestural Turing Test 125

8 The Tail Wagging the Brain 139

9 Verbal Ectoplasm 162

10 The Three-Dimensional Music of Gaze 177

11 Seven Hundred Puppet Strings 206

12 Voice as Puppeteer 231

13 Looking Ahead 246

Appendix: A Manifesto of Avatar Expression 258

References 262

The Cultural Gutter

Carol Borden et al. — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:11:03 PST

The Cultural Gutter (http://theculturalgutter.com/) is a great example of how wonderful the web can be. As with most things on the web, it was a site that I found through various and sundry links and recommendations from other places. It’s full of insightful articles on the art and craft found in our popular culture. And it was far enough along in its history, that I got to enjoy digging into their archive of past articles and relishing the discovery of a new site full of great content to read. The editors focus their critical eyes on science fiction, comics, romance, movies and games. And every Thursday they post a new article on one of these topics, so it has become a regular visit for me each week. The Cultural Gutter covers topics that resonate with the focus of ETC Press on issues revolving around entertainment technologies and how they can are applied across a variety of fields. With this in mind, ETC Press worked together with the Cultural Gutter editors to create this book. Science fiction/fantasy editor James Schellenberg, comics editor and publisher Carol Borden, romance editor Chris Szego, screen editor Ian Driscoll and founding editor and former games editor Jim Munroe, each chose ten of their favorite articles to share. And then ETC Alum, Eun Jung Lee, designed information graphics to introduce each section, as well as specific interpretative graphics for ten of the articles. The resulting book is a great introduction to the Cultural Gutter, and serves as the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, it will entice you into visiting the website to enjoy the thoughtful discussion around the wonderfully entertaining world of popular culture. As they quote Oscar Wilde on their site, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Enjoy!

Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning

Drew Davidson — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:30:21 PST

* Introduction
* Cloudmaker Days: A Memoir of the A. I. Game - Jay Bushman
* Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: The Story of Playing a Game - Drew Davidson
* The Purpose and Meaning of Drop 7 - John Sharp
* Inhabiting Demon’s Souls – My Memories of a Haunted World - Matthew Weise
* Knight Lore and the third dimension - Oscar Garcia-Panella
* Bad Mojo: Taking Perspective on Perspective - Brett E. Shelton
* Alone for All Seasons: Environmental Estrangement in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Matthew Sakey
* Actraiser - Andy Jih
* I <3 Fandango - Stephen Jacobs
* Fallout 3 - Kirk Battle
* Discovering Uru: Hard Fun and the Sublime Pleasures of Impossible Gameplay - Celia Pearce
* Immersive Game Design: Indigo Prophecy - Ben Miller
* Lions & Jackals: The Politics of Far Cry 2 - Jorge Albor
* Diablo II - Seth Sivak
* Depth in one Minute: A Conversation about Bejeweled Blitz - Jesper Juul and Rasmus Keldorff
* Manhunt - Jose Zagal
* Pool of Radiance - Sam Roberts
* Making and Unmaking Place in The Darkness - Bobby Schweizer
* ilovebees: Playing and Designing in Real-Time - Lee Sheldon
* Resident Evil 4: The Mercenaries Mini-Game - Stone Librande
* Super Mario 64: an exercise on freedom and style - Francisco Souki
* Galcon - Frank Lantz
* Biographies

Real Time Research: Improvisational Game Scholarship

Seann Dikkers et al. — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:27:44 PDT

Real-Time Research is a new kind of on-the-spot scholarship. At a series of conferences, the authors of this book asked academics, educators, and designers to collaborate on short-term, improvisational research projects - usually completed within 48 hours. What they found out - by way of sock puppets, video interviews, and lots of critical game play - might just surprise you.

This book chronicles the adventures of the authors and the results of their Real-Time Research experiments in education, game design, and media studies. It also serves as a guide to let you conduct your own Real-Time Research. In an age where rapid interdisciplinary investigation matters more and more, Real-Time Research offers a fast-paced method for collaborating across disciplinary boundaries in order to ask important questions. And offers a glimpse into the playful minds of today's leading scholars in games and learning.

Cross-Media Communications: an Introduction to the Art of Creating Integrated Media Experiences

Drew Davidson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:38:41 PST

This text is an introduction to the future of mass media and mass communications – cross-media communications. Cross-media is explained through the presentation and analysis of contemporary examples and project-based tutorials in cross-media development. The text introduces fundamental terms and concepts, and provides a solid overview of cross-media communications, one that builds from a general introduction to a specific examination of media and genres to a discussion of the concepts involved in designing and developing cross-media communications.

Toward a Ludic Architecture. The Space of Play and Games

Steffen P. Walz — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:38:40 PST

Whether we think of a board game, an athletic competition in a stadium, a videogame, playful social networking on the World Wide Web, an Alternate Reality Game, a location-based mobile game, or any combination thereof: Ludic activities are, have, and take place in or at, spaces.

“Toward a Ludic Architecture” is a pioneering publication, architecturally framing play and games as human practices in and of space. Filling the gap in literature, Steffen P. Walz considers game design theory and practice alongside architectural theory and practice, asking: how are play and games architected? What kind of architecture do they produce and in what way does architecture program play and games? What kind of architecture could be produced by playing and gameplaying?

“Toward a Ludic Architecture” is a must-read for analyzing and designing play and games from an architectural standpoint. Such a contribution is particularly applicable in an era when games extend into physical, designed space that is increasingly permeated by devices, sensors, and information networks, allowing for rules and fictions to superimpose our everyday environments. Including a maze-like, episodic, and critical discussion of interweaving “play-grounds,” “Toward a Ludic Architecture” is a playful look at the conceptual space of play and games.

Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education

José P. Zagal — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:38:39 PST

It seems like teaching about games should be easy. After all, students enjoy engaging with course content and have extensive experience with videogames. However, games education can be surprisingly complex. This book explores ludoliteracy, or the question of what it means to understand games, by looking at the challenges and problems faced by students taking games-related classes. In response to these challenges, this book then describes how online learning environments can be used to support learning about games by helping students get more from their experiences with games, and helping students use what they know to establish deeper understanding. Based on the findings from a series of research studies, Ludoliteracy examines the broader implications for supporting games education.

Beyond Fun: Serious Games and Media

Drew Davidson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:36:18 PDT

Introduction

The Four Slates of Educational Experiences - Clark Aldrich

Making visible: Using simulation and game environments across disciplines - Melinda Jackson

Games by Degrees: Playing with Programs - Drew Davidson

Practical barriers in using educational computer games - Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen

Educating the Fighter: Buttonmashing, Seeing, Being - Kurt Squire

Messages and Mediums: Learning to Teach With Videogames - David Thomas

Visual Literacy and Learning: Finding some online territories for the slow learner - Donna Leishman

Cheating Can be Good For You: Educational Games and Multiple Play Styles - Mia Consalvo

Procedural Literacy: Educating the New Media Practitioner - Michael Mateas

Simulation insubordination: How simulation games are revolutionising elearning - Siobhan Thomas

Games/Gaming/Simulation in a New Media (Literature) Classroom - Scott Rettberg

Weblogs: Learning in Public- Jill Walker Rettberg

Self, video games and pedagogy - Jenny Weight

Diving in to Peter Plantec's Brave New World of Virtual Humans - Bill Crosbie

Why Create a Media and Game Center? - Drew Davidson

Educational Software Development Sites - Marc Prensky

Videogames and the Future of Education - Ian Bogost

Author Biographies

Stories in Between: Narratives and Mediums @ Play

Drew Davidson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:36:17 PDT

This is a unique text exploring the interplay between stories and media. The discussion focuses around the Myst narrative as it moves across media from games to books to comics to games. Along the way, the text also discusses the Sandman comics, and the hypermedia of Ultima Online and MitterNachtSpiel. This text was created hypertextually to exist online as a website with an inter-related book.

Well Played 1.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning

Drew Davidson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:36:16 PDT

Introduction Ico - Charles Herold Super Mario Bros. - Patrick Curry Advance Wars - Noah Falstein Ultima Underworld - Corvus Elrod Bully - Kirk Battle (L.B. Jeffries) Half-Life 2 - Mark Sivak Europa Universalis - Greg Costikyan Zork & Kingdom of Loathing - Brett E. Shelton Phoenix Wright - Mia Consalvo Shadow of the Colossus - Nick Fortugno Civilization 4 - Kurt Squire, Shree Durga, Ben Devane Parappa the Rapper - Katherine Isbister Portal & Passage - Nick Montfort Silent Hill 2 - Doris C. Rusch Bioshock - Clint Hocking Metal Gear Solid 4 - James Paul Gee Tempest - Mary D. Flanagan Guitar Hero - Jason Vandenberghe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Seth Sivak The Secret of Monkey Island - Clara Fernández-Vara Mines of Minos - Jesse Schell World of Goo - Drew Davidson Author Biographies References