This document discusses video game genres and influential game designers known as auteurs. It outlines common genres such as action, shooter, adventure, role-playing, strategy and others. For each genre, it provides examples of subgenres and influential auteurs who helped define many of the most popular franchises within that genre such as Shigeru Miyamoto for action-adventure games like Legend of Zelda, the Miller brothers for the adventure game Myst, Will Wright for life simulations like The Sims, and Sid Meier for strategy games like Civilization.

1. VIDEOGAME GENRES
& Auteurs

2. What is Genre
Film Studies Genre. A ready-made narrative
form., characterized by certain pre-established
conventions. Common genres are Westerns,
Drama, Thrillers, Sci-Fi, Comedy, etc.
A video game genre is defined by a set of
gameplay challenges. For example, an action
game is still an action game, regardless of
whether it takes place in a fantasy world or
outer space.

3. In Film Studies
Includes:
Action Adult Adventure Biography Children's
Comedy Crime Disaster Documentary Drama
Foreign Espionage Family Fantasy Gay &
Lesbian Horror Musical Mystery Period Piece
Romance Sci-Fi Short Sport Suspense Teen
Thriller War Western

4. In Videogame Studies
We will look at these and their various subgenres:
1. Action game | 2. Shooter game
3. Action-Adventure game |4. Adventure
5. Construction Simulation game | 6. Life Sim
7. RPG Game | 8. Strategy game
9. Vehicle Simulation
10 Others (Fitness, Music, Sports, Casual, Social)

5. Action Games
Requires players to overcome obstacles by using
quick reflexes and timing.
Subgenres include
Fighting Games Top Fighter Characters
Maze Games (eg Pac Man) thx Remi Gaillard.
Pinball Games
Platform Games (eg Donkey Kong)

6. Shooter Games
Focuses on combat involving weaponry.
Subgenres include
First Person Shooters (FPS) (eg Halo 3)
and Doom.
MMOFPS (eg Unreal Tournament)
Shmup Arcade Shooter (eg Space Invaders)

7. Action-Adventure
Tend to focus on exploration and involve a hero’s
journey -- puzzle solving and combat.
An example is the world’s best selling videogame
and that would be …..
This game? The Legend of Zelda
By the great videogame auteur Shigeru Miyamoto
(Game of second-person, narrative immersion.)

8. Shig Miyamoto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5GNzmUhho
 Donkey Kong (1981)
 Mario Bros. (1983)
 Super Mario Bros. (1985)
 Super Mario Bros. 2 (1986)
 The Legend of Zelda (1987)
 Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the
Past (1991)
 Super Mario Kart (1992)
 Super Mario 64 (1996)
 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
(1998)
 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
(2000)
 Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
 Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
 Metroid Prime (2002)
 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002)
 Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
 Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
 New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
Auteur

9. Adventure
Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not
defined by story, but rather by manner of
gameplay. Is considered a “purist” genre.
An example is the world’s best selling PC game
and that would be …..
MYST. A game of first-person,
embodied spatial immersion. (like VR)

10. Robyn and Rand Miller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiOqdfCBv40
 Robyn and Rand Miller developed the games
Myst and Riven through Cyan Worlds, a
Spokane, Washington-based studio, and
published and distributed by Brøderbund.
The Millers began working on Myst in 1991
and released it for the Macintosh computer
on September 24, 1993
 Remakes and ports of the game have been
released for Microsoft Windows, Windows
Mobile, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Jaguar
CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, 3DO, PlayStation
Portable, Nintendo DS, and the iPhone OS
by publishers Midway Games, Sunsoft, and
Mean Hamster Software.
Auteurs

11. Construction Simulation
In these games one builds or manages communities
and projects with a set of resources:
Subgenres include:
City building games (eg Sim City Classic)
God Games (Spore)
Both these games were designed by Will Wright.

12. Life Simulation
Life simulation games can be about individuals or
allow one to experiment with ecosystem sims.
Subgenres include:
Biological Simulations (Jurassic Park: Op Genesis
)
Pet-raising Simulations (Tamagotchi)
Social Simulations (Will Wright’s The Sims)

13. Will Wright
Cofounder of Maxis, now part of Electronic Arts. In 2009 he
formed the "Stupid Fun Club", an entertainment think tank.
SimCity brought him to prominence and he built on the
theme of computer simulation with SimEarth and SimAnt.
Wright's greatest success is The Sims which, as of 2009, is
the best-selling PC game in history. His latest work, Spore,
was released in 2008 and features gameplay based loosely
upon the model of evolution and scientific advancement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5ALcdxNag
Auteur

14. Role-Playing Game
Players get to play characters through a story
narrative.
Subgenres include:
Original Game Dungeons and Dragons.
MMORGs: WOW and Second Life.
A Thriller-a-thon
Tactical RPGs : Final Fantasy Tactics

15. Strategy Game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game (video
or board game) where players' uncoerced, and
often autonomous decision-making skills have a
high significance in determining the outcome.
Almost all strategy games require internal decision
tree style thinking, and typically very high
situational awareness.

16. Strategy Games
4X – Xplore, Xpand, Xploit, Xterminate.
(eg Civilization IV, Civilization V) auteur Sid Meir.
Game of Thrones Genesis
Turn-based Strategy Games (Battle For Wesmoth)
for iPhone.
Board/Card Games. Contract Bridge, Chess.

17. Sid Meir
Canadian Programmer/Designer of Strategy Games (Firaxis):
* Spitfire Ace (1982)
* HellCat Ace (1982)
* Floyd of the Jungle (1982)
* NATO Commander (1984)
* Solo Flight (1984)
* Kennedy Approach (1985)
* F-15 Strike Eagle (1985)
Auteur

18. Sid Meir, Videogame Auteur
 * Silent Service (1985)
* Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987)
 * F-19 Stealth Fighter (1988)
 * F-15 Strike Eagle II (1989)
 * Covert Action (1990)
 * Railroad Tycoon (1990)
 * Civilization (1991)
 * Pirates! Gold (1993)
 * Colonization (1994)
 * Civilization II (1996)
Continued

19. Sid Meir, Videogame Auteur
 * Magic: The Gathering (1997)
* Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (1997)
* Sid Meier's Antietam! (1998)
* Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999)
 * Civilization III (2001)
* Sid Meier's SimGolf (2002)
* Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)
* Civilization IV, Designed by Soren Johnson 2005.
* Sid Meier's Railroads!, released October 17, 200608
Continued Further!

20. Sid Meir, Videogame Auteur
* Civilization Revolution, announced on June 28, 2007 and
released on June 13, 2008. A seventh generation console
edition of Civilization.
 * Sid Meier's Civilization IV: War of Two Cities, 2008
 * Sid Meier's Pirates! Mobile 2008
 * Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Mobile, 2008 mobile version
 * Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization, is a 2008.
ACK EVEN MORE
WHOA!! What a body of work!

21. Vehicle Simulation
Provide the player with realistic interpretations
of operating vehicles.
Subgenres include:
Racing Games (eg Simpsons Hit and Run)
Flight Simulators (Flight Simulator X)

22. Other Notable Genres
Corporeal Games (Wii Sports)
Music Games (Guitar Hero)
Sports Games (NHL)
Casual Games (Puzzle Games – Tetris)
performance creator Guillaume Reymond
Social Games (Candy Crush on Facebook)
Serious Games (Booze Cruise, PPETRG)