Transcript Document

What is an Ontology?
An ontology for a domain is the explicit
formal specification of the terms in the
domain and relations among them.
What is an Ontology ...
Defines a common vocabulary for a
group of professionals who need to
share information in a given domain.
Includes machine-interpretable
definitions of basic concepts in the
domain and relations among them.
Share a Common Understanding
Several different Web sites contain medical
information or provide medical e-commerce
services.
They share the same underlying ontology.
Enables computer agents to extract and
aggregate information from different sites.
Common Digital Entertainment ontology.
Medium for discussing and sharing ideas among
designers.
Foundation for analysis and critiquing.
Enable Reuse of Domain
Knowledge
Notions of Time
Time intervals
Points in time
Relative measures of time.
Notions of Space
Spatial relations
Navigation around obstacles.
Emotions
Applicable over a broad range of applications.
Make Domain Assumptions
Explicit
Makes it easier to change underlying
domain assumptions.
Hard coding assumptions about the world
makes it hard to
Find and understand assumptions
Change assumptions
Explicit specifications are useful for new
users who must learn what terms in the
domain mean.
Separate Domain from
Operational Knowledge
Describe a task of configuring a product from
components according to a required
specification.
Develop a program that is independent of the
specific products and components
themselves
Same program can configure
PCs
Elevators
Video Game Consoles
Submitted Aug 8, 2006:
Ontologist
Enterra Solutions, LLC
Immediate Need
Office Sites: Yardley, PA (outside Philadelphia) and Vienna, VA
Job Description:
1. Metadata development, semantic analysis, ontology development, knowledge engineering, and
relevance algorithm application to the classification and automation of governance and policy
directives.
2. Work closely with technical team of intelligence analysts and software developers and assist in the
design and development of automation solutions in J2EE enterprise architecture platforms.
3. Work closely with subject matter experts, provide liaison and guidance in decomposing and
classifying governance and policy directives.
4. Research and identify latest semantic web technologies, artificial intelligence, taxonomies,
mappings, and related abstraction and adaptive systems to enhance and advance Enterra’s offerings.
5. Self-directed and motivated to work independently within matrix organization
6. Will be required to get security clearance.
Required Skills:
1. 5 to 7 years combined experience with ontologies, knowledge management, library sciences,
or rule based artificial intelligence systems.
2. MS degree (PhD a plus) in computer science, information sciences, library sciences, or
related language analytics fields.
3. Experience working with software development teams, familiarity with software
development life cycles.
4. Experience working with web technologies (J2EE, .NET) and XML-based tools and
techniques.
5. Experience in design and implementation of semantic and/or metadata enabled web
solutions.
Preferred or Desired Skills:
1. Experience with web ontology standards such as OWL, RDF, DAML, Semantic Web, etc.
2. Experience with inference tools such as RACER, Pellet, etc.
3. Familiarity with latest search engine technologies and information abstraction techniques.
Must be both eligible and willing to allow Enterra to apply for US Secret Clearance due
to work in federal sector. Therefore, US Citizenship required.
Comprehensive background check including criminal, professional and educational will
be conducted prior to employment.
Salary and Terms:Full Time
Company Website:http://www.enterrasolutions.com
Please send resumes to [email protected]
Denise McAuliffe – Director of Human Resources
Enterra Solutions, LLC
1040 Stony Hill Road, Suite 100
Yardley
Pennsylvania 19067
215-497-3100
215-497-3114
[email protected]
About Enterra Solutions
Enterra Solutions, at www.enterrasolutions.com, is the leader in
Enterprise Resilience Management™ – a new enterprise
architecture that enables public- and private-sector organizations
to respond to the stressors that result from globalization, rapid
technological change, terrorism, natural disasters, and other 21st
century challenges. Enterra's proprietary Enterprise Resilience
Management Solutions ™ (ERMS ™) consists of a best-practices
methodology and technology solution that automates rules sets and
integrates security, compliance, and business process optimization
into a single function, and provides a platform that translates the
organization into a Resilient Enterprise ™.
Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies Establishes
The “Institute for Advanced Technologies in Global
Resilience”
YARDLEY, Pa. and OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (September 7, 2006) – Enterra
Solutions, LLC, and the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies (ORCAS)
announced today that Enterra CEO Stephen F. DeAngelis will help
establish a new Institute for Advanced Technologies in Global Resilience.
"I am excited about the possibilities this represents," DeAngelis said. "This
Institute will provide an exciting venue for scientists and academics to
explore how to make the world more resilient in the age of globalization. In
one location, leading chemical, nuclear, biological, information
technologists, political scientists and business people will come together to
explore approaches to critical issues facing the world."
Knowledge Media Institute (http://kmi.open.ac.uk)
“KMi employs 70 people, a mix of researchers, technologists, designers and
administrative staff. We are in a phase of rapid expansion, and as a result job
opportunities arise frequently.”
“Our research is aligned with a number of broad strategic threads, currently
Narrative Hypermedia, Knowledge Management, Social Software, New Media
Systems and Semantic Web and Knowledge Services.”
The Open University's Knowledge Media Institute has an opening for a
Research Fellow to undertake research in the area of semantic web and Grid
services - applying semantic web technology to support the management of
web and Grid services. This work takes place within the context of our EUfunded project Living Human Digital Library (LHDL) which will create the
technical infrastructure for the Living Human project (see
http://www.tecno.ior.it/VRLAB/LHP/). Applicants should have experience in
developing symbolic AI systems. Additionally knowledge of the Web
Services Modelling Ontology (WSMO - see http://www.wsmo.org), our
semantic web services platform IRS-III, our knowledge modelling language
OCML (see http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/ocml), web services, Lisp and/or
Java would also be useful.
The Open University's Knowledge Media Institute has two
openings for Research Fellows to undertake research in applying
semantic web services to eLearning. This work takes place within
the context of our EU-funded project LUISA. Applicants should
have experience in developing symbolic AI systems. Additionally
knowledge of the Web Services Modelling Ontology (WSMO - see
http://www.wsmo.org), our semantic web services platform IRSIII, our knowledge modelling language OCML (see
http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/ocml), web services, Lisp and/or
Java would also be useful.
The Open University's Knowledge Media Institute has an openings
for a Research Fellow to undertake research in the area of coupling
semantic web services to business process models - using semantic
web and web services technology to support the management of
processes within and between organisations. This work takes place
within the context of our EU-funded Integrated Project SUPER (see
http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/super). Applicants should have
experience in developing symbolic AI systems. Additionally
knowledge of the Web Services Modelling Ontology (WSMO - see
http://www.wsmo.org), our semantic web services platform IRS-III,
our knowledge modelling language OCML (see
http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/ocml), web services, Lisp and/or Java
would also be useful.
PhD Scholarships at the IT University of Copenhagen
(http://www1.itu.dk/sw49645.asp)
The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) invites applicants for a number of
PhD scholarships starting in the beginning of 2007. This is an open call, but
applicants are expected to relate their project proposals to one of the topics
stated below.
…
Center for Computer Games Research (http://game.itu.dk/): The Critical
Study of Games (game aesthetics, game ontology, game culture, gameplay,
players & player communities), and Game Design and Development (game
design theory, games and HCI/play testing, and game software
development).
…
Description Logic
Description Logic
Family Ontology
o.1
o.2
o.3
o.4
o.5
o.6
o.7
Man := (hasGender = 1) ∩ (hasGender з Male)
Woman := (hasGender = 1) ∩ (hasGender з Female)
(hasChild)-1 = hasParent
Person := Man U Woman
Parent := Person ∩ (hasChild ≥ 1)
Father := Parent ∩ Man
Mother := Parent ∩ Woman
Family Ontology Relations
Relations:
hasGender(Person,String)
hasParent(Person,Person)
hasChild(Person,Person)
hasConsort(Person,Person)
Rule:
r.1 hasParent(?x1, ?x2) Λ hasConsort(?x2, ?x3)
=> hasParent(?x1, ?x3)
Family Ontology Example
Person Instances: m1, f1, f2
Relation Instances:
hasGender(m1, Male)
hasChild(m1, f2)
hasGender(f1, Female)
hasConsort(m1, f1)
Conclude: Mother(f1)
Family Ontology Example
d.1 hasGender(f1, Female)  Woman(f1) [o.2]
d.2 Woman(f1)  Person(f1) [o.4]
d.3 hasChild(m1, m2)  hasParent(m2, m1) [o.3]
d.4 hasParent(m2, m1) Λ hasConsort(m1, f1)
 hasParent(m2, f1) [r.1]
d.5 hasParent(m2, f1)  hasChild(f1, m2) [o.3]
d.6 Person(f1) Λ hasChild(f1, m2)  Parent(f1) [o.5]
d.7 Parent(f1) Λ Woman(f1)  Mother(f1) [o.7]
Family Ontology Example
Steps d.1 – d.3 performed by description logic
ontology reasoner.
Step d.4 performed by deductive rule engine.
d.5 – d.7 performed by the ontology reasoner
using the necessary relation instance
concluded by the deductive rule engine in
d.4.
Neither ontology reasoner nor deductive rule
engine alone is sufficient.
Game Ontology Project
Michael Mateas et al, Georgia Tech
Identify the important ”parts” of games.
Rules
Player activities
Presentation and input
Player goals
Entitities in the game world
Etc.
Identify relations between the parts.
Game Ontology Project
Capture the discrete decisions that must be
made in a game design.
Describe how effects of decisions propagate
throughout rest of design.
Via constraints and tradeoffs between elements.
Show how various elements contribute to the
overall design.
Important for game analysis.
Help clarify design choices.
Important to game designer.
Top Level Elements
Interface
Mapping between the embodied reactions of the
player and the manipulation of game entities.
Rules
Constrain what can and can’t be done in a game.
Determine the basic interactions that can take
place within the game.
Goals
Objectives or conditions that define success in the
game.
Top Level Elements
Entities
Objects in the game that the player
Manages
Modifies
Interacts with at some level
Entity manipulation
Alteration of the game made by player or in-game
entity.
Actions or verbs that can be performed by the
player or in-game entity.
Ontology Entries
Name
Description
Parent
Captures the notion of a subtype
Child elements are more specific or specialized conepts than
the parent
Child
Part elements
Elements related by the part-of relation
Captures the notion of compound elements
Strong Examples
Weak Examples
Ontology Extracts
Presentation
Cardinality of gameworld
1-Dimensional gameworld
2-Dimensional gameworld
Presentation hardware
Audio display hardware
Haptic display
Visual display hardware
Video monitor
VR goggles
Ontology Extracts
Rules
Rules Synergies
Dominant Strategy
Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment
Gameplay Rules
Cardinality of Gamepay
0-Dimension Gameplay
1-Dimensional Gameplay
2-Dimensional Gameplay
Game Ends
Evaluation of Ending
Resource Exhaustion
Cardinality of Gameworld
Cardinality of gameworld
Many games are spatially-based in the sense that a player must interact with a game
world that is defined and presented as having spatial properties.
Usually, this means that a player is granted a view of a world that affords its perception as a
2 or 3 dimensional place. For example, if playing a game of chess, the player may be afforded
a 2 dimensional representation of a chess board versus a 3D representation where the board is
viewed at an angle and the chess pieces are rendered in 3D. For the former case, the game
world's cardinality of space is 2D while the latter is 3D.
In other cases, while the player may have the perception of a world, the actual dimensions of this
may be unclear or undefined. This is commonly seen in text-based adventure games where the
locations that the character visits may not follow normal rules of logic. For example,
typing "North" to exit a location and then typing "South" may not lead the character
back to the original location despite the logical assumption that moving "North" is the inverse
to "South."
Cardinality of Gameworld
Also, in many games there is certain confusion caused by changes in representation between
levels or episodes of the game. In fact, the mere existence of various levels makes this
distinction more confusing. In a game such as Donkey Kong, where there are 3 distinct
2D levels, do we consider each level a place that is connected to the previous ones? Would
that make Donkey Kong's game world 3D? For simplicity, we refer to the cardinality of
space in terms of what is represented in a level or episode. Thus, for the case of Donkey
Kong, we would maintain that it takes place in a 2D game world.
We note that the cardinality of space refers to the perception of the game world by the
player and not to the actual degrees of freedom the player is allowed within the game
world. To account for this, please refer to Cardinality of Gameplay.
See also Cardinality of Gameplay
Parents: Presentation
Children: 1-Dimensional gameworld , 2-Dimensional gameworld ,
3-Dimensional gameworld , Undefined gameworld cardinality
2-Dimensional Gameworld
2-Dimensional gameworld
2-Dimensional game worlds, as the name implies, are spaces that have 2 degrees
of freedom. Without getting into any of the specific mathematics, we can think
of them as spaces that have length and width (or width and height) but lack
depth. Most older video games have 2-dimensional game worlds. A few examples
of these include Pac-Man, Tetris and Asteroids.
See also Cardinality of Gameplay
Parents: Cardinality of gameworld
Cardinality of Gameplay
Cardinality of Gamepay
The cardinality of gameplay refers to the degrees of freedom the player has with
respects to movement (or the control of movement) in a certain game. For example,
the player may control a character that moves left and right or have to place tokens
on a 2-dimensional board. Other games, allow the player to control movement in 3
dimensions.
It is important to note that the cardinality of gameplay is related, but not necessarily
the same as the cardinality of the gameworld. For example, while the classic game
of Monopoly is played on a two-dimensional board, the players tokens are limited
to move along one dimension and always in the same direction. In this example,
the cardinality of gameplay is 1D.
Cardinality of Gameplay
We also note that the cardinality is only with respect to the movement the
player can perform and this is independent of other actions, or that the
effects of those actions may occur in some other dimension. For example,
in Space Invaders the player controls a ship that can move from left to right
along the bottom of the screen. The players ship can also fire shots that
travel upwards along the screen. In this case, the cardinality of gameplay
is 1D, despite the fact that the gameworld is 2D and that the players shots
have effects outside of the limits of the players movements.
Parents: Gameplay Rules
Children: 0-Dimension Gameplay , 1-Dimensional Gameplay ,
2-Dimensional Gameplay , 3-Dimensional Gameplay ,
Undefined Cardinality of Gameplay
1-Dimensional Gameplay
1-Dimensional Gameplay
Games that have a cardinality of gameplay that is 1D restrict movement to only
one axis. This means that movement can only be controlled in one direction and
the exact opposite of the direction. For example, up/down or left/right.
Strong Example:
In Space Invaders, the player controls a ship that can move from left to right
across the bottom of the screen. The objective is to fire at the enemy invaders
that are slowly moving downwards.
Strong Example:
In Pong, the player controls a raquet that moves vertically across the side of the screen.
The object of the game is to position the raquet so that the ball hits it.
Parents: Cardinality of Gamepay
Application of Ontology Concepts
Space Invaders
2-Dimensional Gameworld
Invaders march across the screen from left
to right and down towards players
1-Dimensional Gameplay
Player can only move his spaceship from
side to side.
Describing Games
An Interaction-Centric Structural Framework
Staffan Björk
Interactive Institute (http://w3.tii.se)
Jussi Holopainen
Head of Games Design Group - Nokia
Research Center
(http://research.nokia.com)
Two Tiered Approach
Describe the components that together make
a game.
Component Framework
Create a high level language for talking about
the design of interaction within a game.
Game design patterns
(www.gamedesignpatterns.org)
Descriptions of patterns of interaction relevant to
game play.
Use concepts provided by component framework.
Design Patterns
“Each pattern describes a problem which
occurs over and over again in our
environment, and then describes the core
of the solution to that problem, in such a
way that you can use this solution a
million times over, without ever doing it
the same way twice.”
Alexander, C. et al. (1977): A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction.
Oxford University Press.
Game Design Patterns: a
definition
“Game design patterns are general
descriptions of interaction which occur in
games. The patterns are semi-formalized
interrelated tools that can be applied in
situations to generate context-dependent
solutions. Game design patterns are usually
identified from existing games where the
interaction pattern may or may not have been
intentionally promoted by the game designers.”
(Björk, 2003-05-13)
Game design patterns I
A method for talking about games in
order to:
Describe them
Analyze them
Compare them
Create them
Based on design patterns
Game design patterns II
A way to describe design choices (or emergent features) that reoccur in
many games
Offers possible explanations to why these design choices have been made
A guide to how to make similar design choices in game projects
What is required to make the pattern emerge
What consequences can the pattern have on game play?
Motivation
Need a vocabulary for talking about games
Need to discuss and do game designs in a structured fashion
Provide a tool for, especially experimental, game design
Game Design Patterns III
Semi interdependent descriptions of
commonly reoccurring parts of the
design of a game that concern
gameplay.
Component Framework
An activity-based model of game interaction
Fundamental feature of games is making changes in quantitative game
states.
Describe games in terms of activities players perform.
Provides concepts for talking about the first order of game design.
Includes many of the traditional concepts used to describe games
Player, rule, goal, etc.
Physical and logical components that make game play possible.
Basic components then be used to describe second order concepts.
Game design patterns.
Lays out the details of how games are constructed
Describe, analyze and compare games
Game state
Playing the game is making changes in the game state!
Component Framework
Component Categories
Reflect four basic ways of viewing the activity of
playing a game.
Holistic
Determine how the activity of playing the game is divided
Boundary
Limit the player activities by allowing certain actions and making
some activities more rewarding
Temporal
Describe the flow of the game play and define the changes in the
game state
Structural
Define the parts of the game which are manipulated by the
players and the game system
Holistic – Game Instance
The components, actions, and events that
describe the specific play of a single game.
Setup
All the actions of participating players
Ending the game
Determination of the final outcome
Any activities required to restore the game state
before the next setup.
Game stays the same, but every instance is
unique.
Game Instance Examples
Game instance of chess includes
Players
Game boards
Pieces
Moves of both players
Game instance of Asteroids
Starts when players insert coins and select number of players
Continues until all players have run out of lives
If they played well they get to choose a handle and their score is
displayed on the high score list.
Game instance of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online
Roleplaying Game, e.g., Ultima Online)
Includes entire history of that persistent world.
From initiation of the server to final server shutdown.
Holistic – Game Session
Complete activity of a single player
From start of actual gameplay to last actions considered part
of the game.
E.g., a single game instance of chess consists of two game
sessions
One for each player.
Not so interesting in a game with only one player.
Very interesting for MMORPGs
Players start playing the game independently of each other.
Specific player sessions may never overlap at all.
Holistic – Play Session
Applies to individual player.
Time actually spent playing might be
divided into several different occasions.
Each occasion called a play session.
A game session consists of one or more
play sessions.
Holistic – Setup Session
Could be very simple.
Choose color of a car in a rally game.
Provide players with ways to determine
their play experience.
Set personal goals.
Insert player’s own material into the game.
Setting mutators in Unreal Tournament.
Choosing and modifying characters in
MMORPGs.
Holistic – Set-Down Session
Usually uninteresting from a game
experience perspective.
However, can allow the individual to do
administrative or planning activities.
Compare current game instance with
previous instances.
Essential in games that can’t be won.
Measure success relative to other game instances.
Raising or gaining skills in RPGs.
Boundary Components
Limit the player activities by
allowing certain actions and
making some activities more
rewarding.
Rules: dictate how everything works!
Modes of Play: states where the player can perform
different actions.
Goals and subgoals: motivation for playing the game
in certain ways. Game states that the players should
try to achieve.
Rules - Example
Europa Universalis II real-time strategy game.
Describe dependency between a country’s
Leaders, provinces, research, international status,
religion, and military forces.
Describe trade, vassals, loans, and alliances between
countries.
Tutorial supplies basic concepts and fundamental
relationships but
Players must learn the detailed rules unaided.
Game mastery heavily depends on understanding what
the rules are and how to take advantage of them.
Rules Example
Nomic is a game based on changing rules.
(http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/nomic.htm)
Peter Suber, Professor of Philosphy, Earlham College
Changing the rules is a move.
The Initial Set of rules does little more than regulate the
rule-changing process.
Goal is either
Get 100 points.
Prove that gameplay can’t continue due to two
contradictory rules.
Intended to illustrate and embody the thesis of his book, The
Paradox of Self-Amendment, that a legal "rule of change"
such as a constitutional amendment clause may apply to
itself and authorize its own amendment.
Temporal Components
Describe the flow of the
game play and define
the changes in the
game state
Actions: what the player can do
Events: what are the game state changes
Closures: meaningful game state changes
End conditions: determine changes of mode of play and closures
Evaluation functions: determine the outcome of an end condition
Structural Components
Define the parts of the
game which are
manipulated by the
players and the game
system
Interface: provides players information about the game state and
possible actions
Game Elements: components that contain the game state
Players: entities that try to achieve their own goals within the
game
Game Facilitator: synchronizes the game state
Examples of Game Design
Patterns
Examples
Power-Ups
Boss Monster
Paper-Rock-Scissor
Cut Scenes
Role Reversal
Parallel Lives
Orthogonal Unit Differentiation
Stimulated Social Interaction
Characteristics of Game Design
Patterns
Three main characteristics
Recurring game mechanics or elements of
interaction in games
Semi-formal inter-dependent descriptions
Can be intentional or emergent in game designs
No canonical definition
Many are possible
Not only a collection of patterns
The methods in which they can be used
Pattern template
Name
Description
Core Definition
General Description
Examples
Using the pattern
Consequences
Relations
References
Based on the component framework (game sessions, rules, players, actions,
closures, information structures, control structures, etc.)
Pattern template, cont.
Name
Preferable short, specific, and idiomatic
Description
Concise description of the pattern
Description of how it affects the structural
framework (if it does)
Examples of games in which the pattern is
found
Pattern template, cont.
Consequences
What effects the game pattern has on game play
What superior patterns the pattern supports
Potentially conflicting patterns and why
Using the pattern
What components from the structural framework
are required to use the pattern
Subpatterns that can be used to instantiate the
pattern
Common choices a designer is faced with when
trying to apply a pattern
Pattern template, cont.
Relations
X Instantiates Y (Y is instantiated by X)
the presence of X causes the presence of Y.
E.g., the effects on gameplay of Dice automatically introduces the effects
of Randomness.
X Modulates Y (Y is modulated by X)
X affects aspects of Y in a way that influences gameplay.
X fine tunes Y
E.g., Privelaged Movement modulates Movement.
Potentially conflicting patterns
E.g., Competition and Cooperation
References
Games exemplifying the pattern
Patents
Example pattern - Producer-
Consumer
Name
Producer-Consumer
Description
The production of resource by one game element that is consumed
by another game element or game event.
Producer-Consumer determines the lifetime of game elements,
usually resources, and thus governs the flow of the game play.
Games usually have several overlapping and interconnected
Producer-Consumers governing the flow of available game elements,
especially resources. As resources are used to determine the
possible player actions these Producer-Consumer networks also
determine the actual flow of the game play. Producer-Consumers can
operate recursively, i.e. one Producer-Consumer might determine the
life time of another Producer-Consumer. Producer-Consumers are
often chained together to form more complex networks of resource
flows.
Producer-Consumer
Example: in Civilization the units are
produced in cities and consumed in
battles against enemy units and
cities. This kind of a ProducerConsumer is also used in almost all
real-time strategy games.
Example: in Asteroids the rocks are
produced at the start of each level
and are consumed by the player
shooting at them. The same
principle applies to many other
games where the level progression
is based on eliminating, i.e.
consuming, other game elements:
the pills in Pac-Man, free space in
Qix, and the aliens in Space
Invaders.
Producer-Consumer
Using the pattern
As the name implies, Producer-Consumer is a compound pattern of Producer and
Consumer and as such this pattern governs how both of these are instantiated. The
effect of producing and consuming Resources or Units often turns out to be several
different pairs of Producer-Consumers as the produced game element can be
consumed in many different ways. For example, the Units in real-time strategy game
such as the Age of Empires series can be eliminated in direct combat with enemy
Units, when bombarded by indirect fire, and finally when their supply points are
exhausted. The Producer-Consumer in this case consists of the Producer of the Units
with three different Consumers.
Producer-Consumers are often, especially in Resource Management games, chained
together with Converters and sometimes Containers. These chains can in turn be
used to create more complex networks. The Converter is used as the Consumer in
the first Producer-Consumer and as the Producer in the second. In other words, the
Converter takes the resources produced by the first Producer and converts them to
the resources produced by the second Producer.
This kind of Producer-Consumer chains sometimes have a Container attached to the
Converter to stockpile produced Resources. For example, in real-time strategy game
StarCraft something is produced and taken to the converter and then converted to
something else and stockpiled somewhere. Investments can be seen as Converters
that are used to convert Resources into other forms of Resources, possibly abstract
ones.
Producer-Consumer
Consequences
As is the case with the main subpatterns Producer and Consumer of
Producer-Consumer, the pattern is quite abstract but the effects on the
flow of the game are very concrete. The Producer-Consumers simply
govern the whole flow of the game from games with a single ProducerConsumer to games with complex and many layered networks of
Producer-Consumers.
The feeling of player control is increased if players are able to manipulate
either the Producer or the Consumer part or both. However, in more
complex Producer-Consumer chains this can lead to situations where
players lose Illusions of Influence as the effects of individual actions can
become almost impossible to track down and the process no longer has
Predictable Consequences. Also, adding new Producer-Consumers that
the players have control over gives them opportunities for more Varied
Gameplay. Producer-Consumer networks with Converters and
Containers are used in Resource Management games to accomplish the
Right Level of Complexity. The game usually starts with simple
Producer-Consumers and as the game progresses new ProducerConsumers are added to the network to increase the complexity.
Producer-Consumer
Relations
Instantiates: Varied Gameplay, Resource
Management
Modulates: Resources, Right Level of Complexity,
Investments, Units
Instantiated by: Producers, Consumers, Converters
Modulated by: Container
Potentially Conflicting with: Illusions of Influence,
Predictable Consequences
Example pattern – Boss
Monsters
Name
Boss Monsters
Description
A more powerful enemy the players have to overcome to
reach certain goals in the game.
Sometimes defeating the Boss Monster can be a goal in
itself, but usually Boss Monsters are used as subgoals in
the game and the high-level goal is of another type of
goal. Boss Monsters are almost always used to structure
the progress of the game.
Boss Monsters
Example: The games in
The Legend of Zelda
series are almost totally
structured around
defeating Boss
Monsters in order to
progress in the game
and to reach the highlevel goals of the game.
Boss Monsters
Using the pattern
Defeating the Boss Monster typically uses Eliminate modulated with some
version of Overcome goal patterns. For example, in a tabletop
roleplaying game, defeating the evil dragon guarding the princess
consists of several rounds of tests of skills and attributes of the players
until the dragon is dead. The Boss Monster is used as a subgoal to
signify reaching a high-level goal, as is the case in the previous
roleplaying example: Eliminating the dragon is a subgoal for Rescuing
the princess. It is common for Boss Monsters to have some form of
Achilles' Heel that allows players to have an easier way to defeat them.
Boss Monsters are usually an integral part of Narrative Structures and
sometimes they are the main motivation for the player to progress in the
game. That is why there is a need to carefully consider how to fit the
nature, history, abilities, and even the audiovisual representation of the
Boss Monsters to the Alternative Reality of the game.
Boss Monsters
Consequences
Boss Monsters are used to structure the progress in
the Hierarchy of Goals so that Higher-Level
Closures as Gameplay Progresses occur, and they
typically signify the end of Levels. Defeating the
Boss Monster creates a more significant closure
associated with the progress in the game. The
Boss Monster can be used to modulate the
Tension in the overall game and is a natural part in
the Narrative Structure of the game, as it can be
seen as an end climax for a narrative section.
Boss Monsters
Relations
Instantiates: Higher-Level Closures as
Gameplay Progresses, Overcome, Tension
Modulates: Rescue, Levels
Instantiated by: Eliminate
Modulated by: Achilles' Heels
Potentially Conflicting with: -
What can design patterns be
used for?
Inspiration
Problem-Solving for Game Interaction
Design
Creative design tool
Communicating with peers
Communicating with other professions
Note: can be used for any kind of game
Inspiration
Avoid getting stuck in the same
thoughts
Avoid missing possible ideas
Each pattern is an example of possible
interaction in a game
No need to distill ideas from existing
games oneself
Can be used for brainstorming
Problem-Solving for Game
Interaction Design
Understanding why a design has certain
unwanted characteristics
NOT why a game isn’t fun or good!
Give examples of what can be added to
a design to achieve a certain effect
Creative Design Tool
Choosing a couple of patterns can be
the starting point for a game concept
Refinement can be done by examining
and choosing subpatterns, gradually
building a more concrete game design
Can be used as a support when
designing for new mediums and genres
Communicating with Peers
Offer a neutral definition instead of
relying on matching subjective
understandings
Patterns can be used as concise
definitions that make descriptions
shorter and more specific
Communicating with other
professions
Offer a neutral definition instead of relying on
matching subjective understandings
Patterns can be used as concise definitions
that make descriptions shorter and more
specific
Avoid jargon specific to profession
Describe the salient game play elements to
non-gamers
The need for a pattern
collection
All the previous uses assumed the
existence of a pattern collection
Requires less investment to start using
any pattern-based method
Starting point for describing new
patterns
Validate the methods by using the
collection and documenting the process
The need for a pattern
collection, cont.
Patterns never exist without other
patterns
The actual manifestation of a pattern in
a game strongly dependent on the other
patterns present
Networks of patterns “create” the game