Book research continued

Research, Analysis and Evaluation

My book research also revolved around the fundamentals of game design. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's books 'Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals' and 'The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology' both discuss the importance of a narrative, cultural rhetorics and context in a game. This is especially important for my project as I am using an existing cultural rhetoric and playing around a context that must creating meaning for the player and the characters. In a game, this comes through during the visual design process and final appearance of the characters and environment, along with the narrative. Signs are also important in games according to these books. "People use signs to designate objects or ideas. Because a sign represents something other than itself, we take the representation as the meaning of the sign." Referring to a player's interpretation of all aspects of a game, it is crucial that I take cultural symbols, traditions and other visual aspects into consideration when designing. These signs are created so that the narrative can be better interpreted by the reader in a wider context. Furthermore, reading these books opened up further questions- how do players relate to characters in a game? How are identities used and absorbed? What do the players take with them when the game ends? As I stated in my project proposal, it is essential that I purvey a culture that is less widely known about or portrayed in popular culture, gaming in particular. Using elements of Afro-Caribbean identity allows Afro-Caribbean people to relate to the game context and characters and, at the same time allows those who don't know about the folklore to learn about it through playing the game.