2013 October

Last Friday I participated in The Gold Coast Writers Festival – a Celebration of Young Writers proudly presented by the Gold Coast Writers Association.

The Authors in Schools Program

On Friday authors presented workshops and talks to children in participating schools. I was lucky enough to attend the Surfers Paradise Primary School with two other authors, Pamela Cameron Clarke and The Banjo of the Bush, Dave Farrer. As guest authors we were able to encourage children to explore the world of storytelling and poetry.

I presented a talk on comics, storyboarding and storytelling. These are subjects I’m most passionate about because I’ve collected comics for many, many years. Back when I began collecting comics there weren’t many girls who read comics let alone collected them. On Friday I was excited to find out there were many girls who enjoyed reading comics and knew a lot about comics and superheroes.

I talked a little about comics, my collection, and the one thing all writers or comic creators need to begin creating “an idea”. I also talked about graphic novels which I also collect these days too. Storyboarding is another element that can be fun for children to explore. I showed them a very basic little story that I created using a comic storyboard technique, leaving some dialogue boxes incomplete and areas that can be changed or rewritten so we could explore possible changes or additions.

We then moved on to storytelling and explored the three basic elements we need when beginning to write a story, character, setting and time by using my “Step Over the Line” technique. That was lots of fun!

I’d like to thank the Principal, Gary Ivory, the teachers, and especially the children of Surfers Paradise Primary School for allowing me to visit their wonderful school.

I’d also like to thank the Gold Coast Writers Association for asking me to participate in such a fantastic event.

I’ll leave you with a few of the wonderful comments the children wrote for me.

Thank you to all the children at the Surfers Paradise Primary School. 🙂 xx

You can stay stretched out on the sofa with your controller in your hand while you wait in the lobby for your next game to begin. Because I’m blogging about gameplay. So while you are sitting there I wonder if you know the answer to this question. Who created the first video game? Sometime ago I did a blog post for the GC Speckies: Come Play With Me that answered that question. You can find it here?

Let’s look at the term gameplay. What does gameplay mean exactly? Does it simply mean a series of choices? Or is it more about player interactions with the game’s system and other gamers? Could it be more about the challenges, motivation and the task performance that are involved? Perhaps it really means all of these things combined.

There are different types of gameplay:

Asymmetric gameplay
Cooperative gameplay
Deathmatch
Emergent gameplay
Hack and slash
Leveled gameplay
Micromanagement
Nonlinear gameplay
Twitch gameplay

Each type of gameplay has its own description, history (origin from where it developed), and variations that have evolved.

We all know today’s games can vary from light action fun to very serious out of this world experiences. This means the gameplay will differ too. Some games will have an asymmetric gameplay that will require players to make a series of choices so players can develop a connection to the characters and then set players a challenge level by level. In some gameplay like this players collect things by touching them, battling enemies, or finding a character that is captured. Other games will have a much more complex gameplay.

There are some fantastic presentations on gameplay and this is one of my favourites Lego Marvel Super Heroes: LEGO Marvel Gameplay Comic-Con

Gameplay is built on the platform of playability which includes learning, motivation, challenge, skill, emotions, interwoven stories that will challenge both the creators and the players and this, in my opinion, is the basis of great gameplay. For what are we if not challenged in some way throughout life?

May the gameplay prosper!

Gameplay Tribute

By Vacen Taylor

The Assassin’s Creed lives

And the Black Ops do their duty

Alice runs but not to the Battlefield

Spells form The Elder Scrolls

The Crysis has its recon

While Halo circles space

Treasure hides in the Borderlands

Survival drives a Tomb Raider

Grand Theft Auto moves by mission

While the Mario Bros Jump

A Need For Speed sets the pace

FIFA shoots and scores.

The gameplay is alive

And transforms energy into power

Gamers rule this world

Play hard, play well.

Next month I’m looking at superhero fiction that changed the world.

Until then, be brave and bold in your chosen field of creativity. And never be afraid to explore new techniques.

Archives for October 2013

Gold Coast Writers Festival: The Authors in Schools Program

Gameplay

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