Historical research

So what is historical contextual studies?

I will be looking and researching the history of games, from Art movements to designers that sparked them off. Just a few of these movements are called Futurism to Bauhaus. Also architecture is a big part of games, a lot of research goes into games and getting the games contextually right, for example we would not expect too have a game set in Paris with pyramids or the statue of liberty in the city centre.

Semiotics and their importance is another tool i must understand in this topic, semiotics basically means the signs that we see every day and what they mean to us, for example in a driving game based in England the light on green would mean go, however to other countries this semiotic rule does not apply. So semiotics need to be universally understood.

I will be looking at the evolution from board games like Monopoly and Jenga, to vintage video games that inspire people such as Pac-Man and super Mario 64

The industry is called games "design" and we use the word design for a reason.  Within games we see elements of Graphic, product, web, and logo design, which are all placed in the game for a reason.  As well as having all these factors in it is obviously important that these new next Gen. games are aesthetically pleasing.

It has always been my deep belief that architecture and design are myth making acts. - Emilio Ambasz

This to me means that over the years an original prototype has been lost, almost mythical for instance a computer mouse has evolved over years the original years ago has changed so much to the modern day models.

Design is the process by which a designer creates a context to be encountered by a participant from which has meaning. -Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen.

I feel that this quote is the core quote that relates closest to games design, i believe that it talks about everything that we encounter in games, problems that we must overcome as participants.