DGA day

7 March 2013

theme: Player Experience

REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CLOSED.

IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO CONTACT [@] DUTCHGAMESASSOCIATION.NL TO CHECK AVAILABILITY.

How do players experience games? That is an interesting question for people that make games. On March 7 the Player Experience theme will be discussed from various points of views, both academic and more practical.

The DGA day will be held at the NHTV campus in Breda. Due to the fact that their researchers and lecturors are mainly non-Dutch speakers, the sessions during this DGA day will be in English

The program (subject to last minute changes)

13.00 sign in (with tea/coffee)

13.15 – 14.15 Serious SIG (room P2.005) and Edu SIG meeting (room P0.005)

14.15 – 14.20 opening by Pim Bouman, DGA Chairman

14.20 – 14.50 Stefano Gualeni and Dirk Janssen NHTV: 'Biometric design for casual games'

14.50 – 15.20 Jeroen Stout: 'The Grandfather Clock (or: why games are bad at violence)'

15.20 – 15.35 break

15.35 – 16.05 Shoshannah Tekofsky (Tilburg University): 'PsyOps: Personality Assessment in Battlefield 3'

16.05 – 16.35 Jeroen van der Heijden (Valsplat): 'How can you -while developing- check if your game will deliver the right player experience? Tips and tricks from years of playtesting @valsplat.'

16.35 – 17.05 Niki Smit (Monobanda): 'Toys or Tools?'

17.05 – 17.30 DGA update by Monique van Reijen (programma manager CLICK//Games

17.30 – 18.30 drinks

Moderator: Ellis Bartholomeus

More information on the talks:

Jeroen van der Heijden (Valsplat)
Can you guarantee that your players will love your game? No. But a solid understanding of your players goes a long way. How? Watch them play your prototype. Tap into their minds (somtimes litarally). Know what they love. And for heaven’s sakes, don’t ask them what they want.
Jeroen will share some thoughts, tricks and tales from the playtests at the Valsplat gamelab.

Niki Smit (Monobanda)
Monobanda makes playful installations in public spaces. As gamedesigners, we like to think we have al lot of creativity. And, let's face it, it's fun to be creative! It makes you feel smart and productive. But can we share that feeling? Can we use our games to let people discover their own creativity?

Jeroen Stout (Stout Games)
Games may combine various experiences - they may tell a story, allow the player to form his own story and may offer him some challenge. What it is we make interactive is still limited, however, both technically and culturally. A ‘grandfather clock’ design alternates between non-interactive story and consequential challenge, aspiring to mesh these two forms without too much ludonarrative dissonance. If we cut challenge from this, we are left with (at most) narrative ‘walking games’. Yet what if we succeed in making high-fidelity interaction sans consequence - would games suddenly excel at small emotions and fare poorly at violence?

Shoshannah Tekofsky (Tilburg University)
'Does how you play, say something about who you are?' That is the central question in PsyOps Research conducted at Tilburg University. We gathered personality data from 13.000 Battlefield 3 players, and are currently investigating how that data relates to people's play styles. In my talk I'll lift a tip of the veil on some early findings, as well as speculate on how this type of research can help make games more engaging and informative.

NHTV is hosting the DGA day. Attending is free of charge.