This Last Week, in Summation
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4/20/13
Today I attempted to make contact with a few game developers, in order to ask them some questions regarding what role psychology actually plays in the development of a game.
I haven't learned anything yet, as none have responded, but hopefully they will soon.
Roughly 45 minutes was spent during this; looking up contacts, drafting introductions, and formulating relevant inquiries that would hold their attention while producing useful answers.
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4/21/13
Today I drafted myself a chart for use in identifying psychological devices used in games, why they are used, and how they are applied, whilst also recording their frequency/popularity. It is my hope that this chart will provide clear and concise information and statistics, for use in a conclusive summary on the importance of psychology in the gaming universe.
This didn't truly serve as a learning tool in its own, but will provide an organized template for the recording of my future learning.
Drafting and constructing a template of optimal efficacy, such as this, required about 30 minutes.
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4/23/13
Today I researched the myriad of psychological devices employed in the Bioshock franchise. I used a number of articles (the three most helpful, of which, being linked below) as reference and material, as well as some of my own memories of the games to aid in the further extrapolation.
I learned of a number of tactics for creating more immersive game worlds, and creating a sense of reality and fear. Such as giving the player the /illusion/ of freedom, and later revealing the dramatic lack thereof in order to instill an acute feeling of helplessness. Or causing the player to begin to question reality, in order to force their minds into motion and enthrall them with endless possibilities; done by subjecting them to life-like, yet quite surreal, environments. Such as the beautiful underwater city of Rapture or the impossible floating city of Columbia, the settings for the first two and third games respectively.
I spent a total of 3 hours on this step. 2.5-ish hours were used, simply browsing and reading, with the last half-hour set aside for deciding what information to commit to my carefully designed template.
This interview was perhaps the most informative of all.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/07/07/bioshock-infinite-gillen-vs-levine/
This article provided me with perspective on the applied devices, and of their efficiency.
http://my.opera.com/noisewar/blog/2007/09/01/bioshock-explained
This article gave me some nice, extra, tidbits of information on the subject.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24822
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4/23/13
Today I also composed a rather concise summary on how Irrational Games utilized and applied psychology in their production of the Bioshock series, and on how this made them better games.
I didn't so much learn new information, as I did further cement my research into my mind.
This took me about two and a half hours to complete.
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4/24/13
Today I researched the psychology behind the game "Amnesia: The Dark Descent".
I learned about the effectiveness of making the player feel totally helpless. Like how in Amnesia, because you have no method of defending yourself, you have NO CHOICE but to run and hide.
I spent roughly 3 hours on this segment.
I used this article briefly
http://www.altergamer.com/psychology-of-horror/
I used this article quite a lot
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/29/amnesia-the-dark-descent-review/
This article was also very useful
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-07-amnesia-the-dark-descent-review
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4/25/13
Today I wrote a follow-up summary on the research I did yesterday.
I didn't learn much, but I did further embed the knowledge within my memory.
The summary consumed all of two hours.
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