Video game genre
Non-games
are a class of
software
on the border between
video games
and
toys
. The term "non-game game" was coined by late
Nintendo
president
Satoru Iwata
, who describes it as "a form of entertainment that really doesn't have a winner, or even a real conclusion".
[1]
[
failed verification
]
Will Wright
had previously used the term "software toy" for the same purpose.
[2]
[
better source needed
]
The main difference between non-games and traditional video games is the lack of structured goals, objectives, and challenges.
[3]
This allows the player a greater degree of self-expression through freeform play, since they can set up their own goals to achieve. Some genres that have been considered non-games include
language-learning software
,
digital tabletop games
,
puzzle games
,
simulation games
, and
art games
.
History
[
edit
]
Non-games have existed since the early days of video games, although there hasn't been a specific term for them. One of the first is Atari Inc.’s 1977
Surround
, a two-player
snake game
for the
Atari VCS
, which contains a free-form drawing mode called "Video Graffiti." Later examples which were sold as games but present a less structured experience are
Alien Garden
(Epyx, 1982),
Moondust
(Creative Software, 1983),
Worms?
(one of the 1983 launch titles from Electronic Arts),
I, Robot
(Atari, 1983) which contains an "ungame mode" called "Doodle City," and
Jeff Minter's
Psychedelia
(Llamasoft, 1984), which is an interactive light synthesizer.
Bill Budge
's
Pinball Construction Set
(Electronic Arts, 1983) popularized software where building something is more entertaining than playing the finished product. To a lesser extent, some games became construction sets through the inclusion of level editors, like
Doug Smith
's
Lode Runner
(Broderbund, 1983), Ron Rosen's
Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory
(Datamost, 1983), and John Anderson's
Rally Speedway
(Adventure International, 1983). Other more proper construction sets followed, such as EA's
Adventure Construction Set
(1984) and
Racing Destruction Set
(1985).
In January 1984,
Joel Gluck
presented a simple toy called
Bounce
in his game design column in
ANALOG Computing
.
[4]
Bounce
lets users draw low-resolution lines, then release a block that leaves a permanent trail as it moves across the screen, making patterns as it reflects off of obstacles. The program is specifically designed not to have goals or scorekeeping, other than what's in the user's head.
Bounce
was revisited several times in
ANALOG
, including a version which allows multiple active blocks at once.
[5]
The 1989 simulation game
SimCity
was called a
software toy
by its creator
Will Wright
, since there is no ultimate objective in the main game; scenarios with objectives exist in some incarnations of the game, such as
SimCity 2000
, but these are not the focus.
[6]
Non-games have been particularly successful on the
Nintendo DS
and
Wii
platforms, where a broad range of Japanese titles have appealed to a growing number of
casual gamers
.
[7]
[8]
Types of non-games included
language-learning software
for English and Japanese (including one for the memorization of
kanji
),
Go
-learning games,
puzzle games
and
cooking games
.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]