Call For Proposals

Game Analysis Workshop – GAW 2019
14-15 November 2019
TU Delft
Netherlands
http://game-analysis-workshop.org/call-for-proposals/

Extended deadline: September 20, 2019

Queries about the workshop: game.analysis.workshop@gmail.com

Gamelab (TU Delft), Centre for Education and Learning, University of Lincoln, the Cologne Game Lab (TH Köln), and the Welten Institute (Open University of the Netherlands) invite you to apply to a two-day, hands-on game analysis workshop.

WORKSHOP GOAL

In an attempt to develop a multidisciplinary game analysis methodology and toolkit, we are seeking a diverse spectrum of approaches to game analysis, which can also include critical evaluation of a game. By game analysis, we refer to a systematic and critical identification of structures, elements and qualities of a game or genre.

PROPOSAL FORMAT

Applicants should submit a concise description of their preferred method of game analysis, no more than 250 words in length. Approaches to game analysis can be formal, empirical or qualitative in nature and should speak to a broad audience while featuring the applicant’s home discipline. Please send a description of your game analysis approach to game.analysis.workshop@gmail.com by September 20. The number of participants is limited. Acceptance/Rejection notifications will be sent by October 1st.

WORKSHOP STRUCTURE

Applicants who are accepted will be invited to the two-day game analysis workshop at TU Delft, Netherlands. Selected applicants will analyze a mainstream game during the workshop, but will not know which game in advance.

GAW 2019 will begin with the ‘big reveal’ of the game that will be the object of analysis. Participants will spend the rest of the day (Thursday, November 14th) playing the selected game and analyzing it with their particular approach. The necessary equipment – consoles, PCs, portable devices, and copies of the game – will be provided.

On day two (Friday, November 15th), participants will spend the morning reviewing the results of their analysis and preparing a brief recap. After lunch, participants will share their findings with one another and assess the efficacy of their methods by discussing such questions as: What worked? What could be improved? How might the diverse selection of approaches complement one another?

IMPORTANT DATES/INFO

• Proposal deadline: September 20th
• Notification of acceptance: October 1st
• Workshop: November 14th-15th (TU Delft, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management)

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

• Alessandra Antonaci (Open University of the Netherlands)
• Maria Freese (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)
• Emmanuel Guardiola (Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln)
• Jussi Holopainen (University of Lincoln, Lincoln Games Research Network)
• Roland Klemke (Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln & Open University of the Netherlands)
• Anique Kuijpers (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)
• Bibeg Limbu (Open University of the Netherlands)
• Heide Lukosch (TU Delft Gamelab & HIT Lab, University of Canterbury)
• Curtis Maughan (Vanderbilt University)

EXAMPLES

Here are two samples of what an approach to game analysis might look like:

1. Approach to Game Analysis: Diegetic vs. Non-diegetic Sound

“The combination of diegetic and non-diegetic sound is essential to establishing an immersive game world. Furthermore, sound cues often provide the player with a visceral form of feedback that shapes play development. This approach to game analysis revolves around key elements of sound information to catalogue the ways in which diegetic and non-diegetic sound are used to guide the player and enhance player experience. This analysis will include sound effects as well as soundtrack and/or score.

In my game analysis, I will create a catalogue of diegetic vs. non-diegetic sounds, and analyze how various sound information distinguish themselves from one another and how they work together. Employing the catalogue of sounds, I will then illustrate the ways in which diegetic and non-diegetic sound is implemented in the game of choice by breaking down a few key sequences of gameplay. I hope to approach answers to the following questions: What is the nature of the interplay between diegetic and non-diegetic sound in creating an immersive game world? What is the nature of the interplay between diegetic and non-diegetic sound in guiding the player? How does the interplay of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in video games differ from that in film or theatre?”

2. An approach to Game Analysis: visual patterns discourse in gameplay progression

“Games, unlike movies, can mostly allow camera view framing control and exploration of large world scenarios to players. This relative freedom makes it more difficult to capture and analyze visual data in video games rather than in films, as every game experience can be somewhat unique to each player. So I propose a methodological approach to understand if there is a visual coherence in games regarding its challenges and climax progression with its visual elements, i.e. a “gameplay visual discourse”.

In my analysis, I will process gameplay images with ImageJ, a software that can extract numerical metadata of a large volume of images and also generates graphic charts from collected data. This analysis will only include visual elements from gameplay, excluding cutscenes. Two techniques will be used: a) Parameter of hue, brightness, and saturation balances extracted from gameplay images, and b) Generate visualization of game scenario’s color scheme from collected data.

I intend with this approach observe gameplay visual impact (by the principle of color and tone contrast) and its affinity within the intensity of game’s progression structure. I hope to get answers to the following questions: What can it be analyzed from a scheme coherence’s graphic charts of gameplay visual data color? How is the relation between image metadata, color and tone scheme, and game challenges intertwined during gameplay? What layers of meaning could emerge from the confluence between game progression and color and tone contrasts in gameplay?”