As part of the Re:Game initiative at CRCA (UC San Diego), Jeremy Douglass and I are constructing the Video Gameplay Database (VGDb).
A significant component of the VGDb is representations of gameplay. Jeremy has developed several methods to study time as it relates to gameplay sessions. Together, we along with other interested researchers are beginning to explore the possibility of these representations.
For some, there’s an attraction to the ability to see a montage of gameplay situations, for others it’s the crop a particular section of screen geometry (such as the chords in Guitar Hero) and dissect the game design. And of course, the combination of these will serve to provide an understanding of large-scale patterns in the canon of game design.
For my own sake, I am most compelled to explore two representations: Averages and Maximums. Averages produce a long-exposure type impression from the video while Maximums overlay every frame into one image and provide an all-at-once impression. In the next few months, I will be recording and analyzing a great deal of gameplay using the “Video Game Sampling Unit” that we’ve devised at Re:Game. While all of the results will end up in the VGDb, I also intend to post the highlights of my explorations here—the truly revelatory discoveries and the wowzers.
In the meantime, here are two recent prototypes of the VGDb interface:
VGDb Prototype: Gameplay Sessions
VGDb: Gameplay Representations