"The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design," Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D., Art Institute of Pittsburgh 2008

© Maria C.R. Harrington, 2008, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Presentation to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, January 14, 2008, Pittsburgh, PA USA
Maria C.R. Harrington
Presentation to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh,
January 14, 2008, Pittsburgh, PA USA
School of Information Sciences
Department of Information Science and
Telecommunications
University of Pittsburgh
135 North Bellefield Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
mharring@pitt.edu
Human
Computer
Interaction
Spatial
Information
Theory
Knowledge
Acquisition
Systems

Dissertation:
“Simulated Ecological Environments for Education (SEEE): A
Tripartite Model Framework of HCI Design Parameters for
Situational Learning in Virtual Environments.”

Overview
“The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and
Storytelling in Modern Game Design”
Art
Poetry
Storytelling
->>> Designing new experiences
Art in 3D
Worlds
Poetry in 3D
Worlds
Storytelling in
3D Wolds

Art Overview
• Definition(s)
• Offer an
experience that
represents expert
execution and
high aesthetics
and high
intellectual and
emotional
response
Expert Execution = High Aesthetics
Novice Execution = Low Aesthetics
NoviceConcept=LowIntellectual&
EmotionalResponse
ExpertConcept=HighIntellectual&
EmotionalResponse

Art: Example

Poetry Overview
• Definition(s)
• Offer an
experience that
represents expert
execution and
High Standards of
Rhythm, Verse,
Sound and
Semantics
Expert Execution = High Standards of
Rhythm, Verse, Sound and
Semantics
Novice Execution = Low Standards
Rhythm, Verse, Sound and
Semantics
EmotionalResponse
EmotionalResponse

Poetry: Example
He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven by William Butler Yeats
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Storytelling Overview
• Definition(s)
• Offer an
experience that
represents expert
execution and
High Standards in
plot of a narrative
or dramatic work
Expert Execution = plot of a narrative
or dramatic work
Novice Execution = Low Standards
plot of a narrative or dramatic work
EmotionalResponse
EmotionalResponse

Storytelling: Example
• Treasure Island
• Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a
tale of "buccaneers and buried gold".
1883,
• “Coming of age story”
• Adventure tale known for its superb
atmosphere
• Character and Action,
• Wry commentary on the ambiguity of
morality
• It is one of the most frequently
dramatized of all novels

Poetry
Expert Execution =
High Standards of Rhythm, Verse,
Sound and Semantics
Art
Expert Execution =
High Aesthetics
Storytelling
Expert Execution =
plot of a narrative or dramatic work
Design Space for new
experiences with
Games
Expert Concept & High
Intellectual & Emotional
Response
Design Space:
Visual, Emotional, Rhythm, Sound

Goal: Designing new experiences
• Start with what we know… Contrast to existing experiences…
• Games for excitement?
– First person shooters (targets)
– Collaborative often with teams
– Fast
– Violent!
• Games for ego?
– Cards
– Collaborative
– Competitive
– Roles are winner and losers
• What is the user experiencing in these types of games?

What are the user experiences?
• First person shooters?
– Excitement?
– Adrenaline rush?
– Accomplishment?
• Cards?
– Money!!!!
– Wining!!!
– Psych-out others?

What is missing?
• Need to define new goals in the “Gap”
• What is the “Gap” ???
• The Gap is the place that exists in the market
– user needs – that are not currently being
satisfied by the market…
Gap = New Design Features and Opportunities

Goal: Designing new experiences
• What is missing? New goals? (Flip it!)
• Games for excitement calm?
– Exploratory (ok not to have a target)
– Individual? Or collaborative? But a different type - helping?
– Slow – not timed – under the individuals control
– Peaceful!
• Games for ego self? Intellectually and Emotionally Stimulating?
– Individual? Or collaborative?
– No explicit goal, pure exploration
– No winner and losers

What are the user experiences?
• How to design for Calm?
– Slow and peaceful?
– “Flow” – Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991). Flow the psychology
of optimal experience. New York, NY.: Harper Perennial.
– No goals
• How to design for Self?
– Highly personal
– “Multiple Intelligences” – Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of
mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY:
Basic Books Paperback.
– Helping others = release of “endorphins”

Designing new experiences
• Qualities of the design taxonomy
– Art => Aesthetics
– Poetry =>Rhythm
– Storytelling => Personal
• Experience
– Results from the Balance of main qualities
– Ambiance and Mood is created

Designing Art => Aesthetics
• Definition
• Example of Art => Aesthetics in
Games
• Char Davies
• Virtual Environments Osmose
(1995) and Ephémère (1998)
[ Integrating full body
immersion, interactive 3D
digital imagery and sound, and
navigation via a breathing
interface.
• “Breath – “Just Breath”
•http://www.immersence.com/index.html

Designing Poetry =>Rhythm
• Definition
• Example of Poetry =>Rhythm in Games
• SIGGRAPH 2006 video
• Heebok Lee, CMU “Tread Softly” an
interpretation of W.B. Yeats poem
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcmfU-9VGIQ

Designing Storytelling => Personal
• Norbert Braun
• “Project “Geist
• “Storytelling in
Collaborative
Augmented Reality
Environments”
• WSCG 2003, Plzen,
Czech Republic

Geist
The Castle of Heidelberg
Sketches of Characters
Augmented Reality Implementation and Interaction

Critical Features of Experience
• Most Common
– Aesthetics
• Influences all signals
• Emotional and Affective
– Rhythm
• Linguistic
• Musical
• Pace of Spatial-Temporal
– Personal
• Anecdotes
• Tales
• Roles for both teller and listener
• Writer -> control of destiny

Myst … A Case Study
• By Robyn and Rand Miller
• Released in 1993 for the Macintosh
• Best selling PC game for many years
• Over 12 million copies
• Four sequels: Riven, Myst III: Exile,
Myst IV: Revelation, and Myst V: End of
Ages
• Myst Masterpiece Edition, and
realMYST

Myst: Some Background Facts
• The original Macintosh version was constructed in Hypercard
• The gameplay is a first-person journey through an interactive world
• Users can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking
or dragging them
• This is an evolution of interactive exploration
• Narrative unfolds with nonverbal images & sounds
• The player must explore the seemingly deserted Myst Island
• Where they can find clues to be transported to several 'Ages', each of
which is a self-contained mini-world
• Each Age – (Selenic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood) -
requires the user to solve a series of logical, interrelated puzzles

Myst: What is different?
• The primary objective of the game is to discover the
objective of the game?
• There are no obvious enemies,
• No physical violence, and
• No threat of "dying" at any point
• There is no time limit
• No need for speed
• The game unfolds at its own pace and is solved through a
combination of patience, observation, and logical thinking.

Myst: Extraction of Design
• Art: High Aesthetics and Emotion
– Surrealistic Island, Solitary and Mysterious Atmosphere
• Poetry: High Standards of Rhythm, Verse, Sound
and Semantics
– Pace, Images and Sound Create Poetry of Space
• Storytelling: Plot and Narrative Personally Engaging
– Discovered and Created on Route – Highly Personal

Conclusion & Generalizations
• Critical Features to keep in mind for design
– Art: High Aesthetics and Emotion
– Poetry: High Standards of Rhythm, Verse, Sound
and Semantics
– Storytelling: Plot and Narrative Personally
Engaging

Conclusion & Future Application
• How to apply?
– Education
• “Talk-to-Me Phonics Amazing Animals Boxed Set”
– Edutainment
• “New Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek”
– Advertisements
• IBM in Second Life
– Works of multi-media art
• SIGGRAPH Art Gallery and Emerging Technologies

Demo & Questions
• Simulated Ecological Environments for Education
• http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~mariah/phd/index.html

"The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design," Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D., Art Institute of Pittsburgh 2008

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"The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design," Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D., Art Institute of Pittsburgh 2008