The History of the Stealth Game

The History of the Stealth Game
Author: Kirk McKeand
Publisher: White Owl
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2022-09-08
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 139909694X

For many, video games are like magic. They hide in the dark and then appear from nowhere, fully formed. Based on over a dozen firsthand interviews that cover genre-defining games and the titles that inspired them — Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Assassin’s Creed, Hitman, Splinter Cell, Prey, The Last of Us Part II, and more — this book shines a flashlight into the shadowy corners of game development history, uncovering the untold stories behind these formative titles. These insider interviews cover development struggles, internal conflicts, changes in direction, and insight into the reasoning and challenges behind specific mechanics and development decisions. There’s the story of how Thief was developed, in part, by an indie band. It covers Metal Gear Solid’s localization issues and the Americanization of Hideo Kojima’s seminal stealth series, along with a page from the original Metal Gear Solid design document. Elsewhere, one of IO Interactive’s founders explains why Hitman’s Agent 47 is inspired by Coca-Cola, the creator of Assassin’s Creed tells us his vision for the future of the series, and there are plenty of surprises besides. Rather than looking back at the genre as a whole, it traces a line through and connects the dots via personal stories and anecdotes from the people who were there. Foreword written by Arkane’s Harvey Smith.

Video Game Art Reader

Video Game Art Reader
Author: Tiffany Funk
Publisher: Amherst College Press
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2022-04
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1943208344

This volume of VGAR critically analyzes video game art as a means of survival. Though "survival strategy" exists as a defined gaming genre, all video games-as unique, participatory artworks-model both individual and collaborative means of survival through play. Video games offer opportunities to navigate both historical and fictional conflicts, traverse landscapes devastated by climate change or nuclear holocaust, and manage the limited resources of individuals or even whole civilizations on earth and beyond. They offer players a dizzying array of dystopian scenarios in which to build and invent, cooperate with others (through other players, NPCs, or AI) to survive another day. Contributors show how video games focus attention, hone visuospatial skills, and shape cognitive control and physical reflexes and thus have the power to participate in the larger context of radical, activist artworks that challenge destructive hegemonic structures as methods of human conditioning, coping, and creating.

Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]

Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]
Author: Mark J. P. Wolf
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 1173
Release: 2021-05-24
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN:

Now in its second edition, the Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming is the definitive, go-to resource for anyone interested in the diverse and expanding video game industry. This three-volume encyclopedia covers all things video games, including the games themselves, the companies that make them, and the people who play them. Written by scholars who are exceptionally knowledgeable in the field of video game studies, it notes genres, institutions, important concepts, theoretical concerns, and more and is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of video games of its kind, covering video games throughout all periods of their existence and geographically around the world. This is the second edition of Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming, originally published in 2012. All of the entries have been revised to accommodate changes in the industry, and an additional volume has been added to address the recent developments, advances, and changes that have occurred in this ever-evolving field. This set is a vital resource for scholars and video game aficionados alike.

Stealth Assessment

Stealth Assessment
Author: Valerie Jean Shute
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 102
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0262518813

An approach to performance-based assessments that embeds assessments in digital games in order to measure how students are progressing toward targeted goals. To succeed in today's interconnected and complex world, workers need to be able to think systemically, creatively, and critically. Equipping K-16 students with these twenty-first-century competencies requires new thinking not only about what should be taught in school but also about how to develop valid assessments to measure and support these competencies. In Stealth Assessment, Valerie Shute and Matthew Ventura investigate an approach that embeds performance-based assessments in digital games. They argue that using well-designed games as vehicles to assess and support learning will help combat students' growing disengagement from school, provide dynamic and ongoing measures of learning processes and outcomes, and offer students opportunities to apply such complex competencies as creativity, problem solving, persistence, and collaboration. Embedding assessments within games provides a way to monitor players' progress toward targeted competencies and to use that information to support learning. Shute and Ventura discuss problems with such traditional assessment methods as multiple-choice questions, review evidence relating to digital games and learning, and illustrate the stealth-assessment approach with a set of assessments they are developing and embedding in the digital game Newton's Playground. These stealth assessments are intended to measure levels of creativity, persistence, and conceptual understanding of Newtonian physics during game play. Finally, they consider future research directions related to stealth assessment in education.

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers
Author: John Szczepaniak
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-11-04
Genre: Computer games
ISBN: 9781518655319

Detailed contents listing here: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/books/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers-volume-2/ Nearly 400 pages and over 30 interviews, with exclusive content on the history of Japanese games. The origins of Hudson, Masaya's epic robot sagas, Nintendo's funding of a PlayStation RTS, detailed history of Westone Entertainment, and a diverse range of unreleased games. Includes exclusive office layout maps, design documents, and archive photos. In a world first - something no other journalist has dared examine - there's candid discussion on the involvement of Japan's yakuza in the industry. Forewords by Retro Gamer founding editor Martyn Carroll and game history professor Martin Picard.

100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed)

100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed)
Author: Nate Crowley
Publisher: Solaris
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2017-09-07
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1786181444

THE WORLD’S FIRST POST-TRUTH GAMING BOOK After rashly tweeting he would dream up an imaginary computer game for every ‘like’ received, Nate Crowley found himself on an epic quest to conjure up hundreds of entirely fictional titles. From 1980s hits like BeastEnders to modern classics like 90s Goth Soccer and BinCrab Destiny, this beautiful retrospective takes the reader on a lavish tour of the most memorable and groundbreaking games never made. Brought to hilarious life by a team of genuine videogame industry concept artists and written by a professional over-imaginer, this book doesn’t just throw out silly ideas – it expands on them in relentless, excruciating detail.

A Brief History Of Video Games

A Brief History Of Video Games
Author: Rich Stanton
Publisher: Robinson
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1472118812

'Stanton writes with terrific verve and precision . . . his understanding of the seductive pleasures of gaming takes us right to its heart.' Maria Bustillos, Times Literary Supplement 'The best overview book of the industry that I've read.' Andrew Liptak, io9 From the first wood-panelled Pong machines in California to the masterpieces of engineering that now sit in countless homes all over the world, A Brief History of Video Games reveals the vibrant history and culture of interactive entertainment. Above all, this is a book about the games - how the experience of playing has developed from simple, repetitive beginnings into a cornucopia of genres and styles, at once utterly immersive and socially engaging. With full-colour illustrations throughout, it shows how technological advances have transformed the first dots and dashes of bored engineers into sophisticated, responsive worlds that are endlessly captivating. As thrilling and surprising as the games it describes, this is an indispensable read for anyone serious about the business of having fun.

Gaming and the Arts of Storytelling

Gaming and the Arts of Storytelling
Author: Darshana Jayemanne
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2019-07-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3039212311

This book examines the notion of storytelling in videogames. This topic allows new perspectives on the enduring problem of narrative in digital games, while also opening up different avenues of inquiry. The collection looks at storytelling in games from many perspectives. Topics include the remediation of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in games such as Spec Ops: The Line; the storytelling similarities in Twin Peaks and Deadly Premonition, a new concept of ‘choice poetics’; the esthetics of Alien films and games, and a new theoretical overview of early game studies on narrative

Paratextualizing Games

Paratextualizing Games
Author: Benjamin Beil
Publisher: transcript Verlag
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2021-11-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3732854213

Gaming no longer only takes place as a ›closed interactive experience‹ in front of TV screens, but also as broadcast on streaming platforms or as cultural events in exhibition centers and e-sport arenas. The popularization of new technologies, forms of expression, and online services has had a considerable influence on the academic and journalistic discourse about games. This anthology examines which paratexts gaming cultures have produced - i.e., in which forms and formats and through which channels we talk (and write) about games - as well as the way in which paratexts influence the development of games. How is knowledge about games generated and shaped today and how do boundaries between (popular) criticism, journalism, and scholarship have started to blur? In short: How does the paratext change the text?

Uncertainty in Games

Uncertainty in Games
Author: Greg Costikyan
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2013
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262018969

How uncertainty in games -- from Super Mario Bros. to Rock/Paper/Scissors -- engages players and shapes play experiences.