Introduction: Why Game Production Matters?

Sotamaa, Olli; Švelch, Jan

doi:10.5117/9789463725439_intro

Cited by 6 publications

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“…They do so through conducting ethnographies and interviews of game developers and their studios (e.g., ; carrying out political-economic analyses of game production, distribution, and corporate documentation ; and more broadly studying "the social and historical forces that inform the design […] and the perceptions of those who create" them to understand the choices developers make (de Smale et al, 2019, p. 392). These choices and their context vary greatly within their global, local and/or hobbyist contexts, furthermore depending on platform, funding and business models (Sotamaa & Švelch, 2021;cf. Garda & Grabarczyk, 2016;Švelch, 2021;Šisler, et al, 2022).…”

Section: Producing and Playing With Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pop Theology of Videogames

Wildt¹

2023

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Young people in the West are more likely to encounter religion in videogames than in places of worship like churches, mosques or temples. Lars de Wildt interviews developers and players of games such as Assassin’s Creed to find out how and why the Pop Theology of Videogames is so appealing to modern audiences. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book argues that developers of videogames and their players engage in a ‘Pop Theology’ through which laymen reconsider traditional questions of religion by playing with them. Games allow us to play with religious questions and identities in the same way that children play at being a soldier, or choose to ‘play house.’ This requires a radical rethinking of religious questions as no longer just questions of belief or disbelief; but as truths to be tried on, compared, and discarded at will.

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Section: Producing and Playing With Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pop Theology of Videogames

Wildt¹

2023

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“…They do so through conducting ethnographies and interviews of game developers and their studios (e.g., O'Donnell, 2014;Kerr, 2017); carrying out political-economic analyses of game production, distribution, and corporate documentation (Kerr, 2006;Nieborg, 2011Nieborg, , 2021; and more broadly studying "the social and historical forces that inform the design […] and the perceptions of those who create" them to understand the choices developers make (de Smale et al, 2019, p. 392). These choices and their context vary greatly within their global, local and/or hobbyist contexts, furthermore depending on platform, funding and business models (Sotamaa & Švelch, 2021;cf. Garda & Grabarczyk, 2016;Keogh, 2021Keogh, , 2022Švelch, 2021;Šisler, et al, 2022).…”

Section: Producing and Playing With Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction

Wildt¹

2023

The Pop Theology of Videogames

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Religion is surprisingly common in videogames. That is odd: religion was supposed to disappear under modernity, but survives in media despite decreased church attendance. It is now far more likely for young people to encounter religion in videogames than in church. Why is that so? And how should that change our understanding of religion? In this introduction, I summarize the related literatures on secularization, religion, games and play. Particularly religion and play have been theoretically intertwined, from the works of Durkheim and Huizinga to those of contemporary experts on games and religion – some of whom have been overly enthusiastic about finding religion. I finish by outlining how this book will theorize the pervasive and persistent presence of religion in contemporary videogames, asking why game makers use religion in their games, and how players make sense of this.

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“…The complex interdisciplinary process in game development, the demand for specialized tools and systems, and the need to maintain creativity show the need for researching game development in the wild (Engström, 2020). The game studies community also shows an increased interest to pursue this line of research (Sotamaa & Svelch, 2021). Currently, most studies can be found in the management and software engineering community.…”

Section: Game Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Level Design Processes and Challenges: A Cross Section of Game Development

2022

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This article examines level design processes and challenges at professional game studios. Thematic analysis of data, recorded through field studies and semi-structured interviews, identify four key themes: level design as an interdisciplinary effort; who is the level designer; the role of narrative in level design; and challenges of managing creativity in the level design process. Results indicate that while the role called level designer is often assigned to specific disciplines, the process of level design is usually highly interdisciplinary. Furthermore, this interdisciplinary collaboration requires management to maintain both creativity and efficient pipelines, by distributing ownership and facilitating communication and planning. The level design process seems particularly vulnerable to suboptimal interdisciplinary communication and planning, due to significant reliance on narrative design, game design, art, sound design, and tool development. While this article addresses level design specifically, most observations are comparable to previous findings on game development in general.

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Introduction: Why Game Production Matters?

Cited by 6 publications

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The Pop Theology of Videogames

The Pop Theology of Videogames

Introduction

Level Design Processes and Challenges: A Cross Section of Game Development

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