Fletcher Pratt's Naval War Game

Fletcher Pratt’s Naval War Game was created by Fletcher Pratt and published by Lake Shore Press in 1943. It is widely considered one of the most popular and successful war games of the 20^th century and was even played across entire ballroom floors during its peak in popularity and could be played by as many as sixty people. Traditionally each player would command a single wooden ship – sometimes two – controlling the movement and firing of the vessel with the aim of the game to sink all other ships.  Players must focus on three main factors: the movement of their ship, calculating the range to fire at your target and applying any damage received from hits the enemies have scored on the player. Maneuvers were calculated via a complex mathematical formula and each ship has different capabilities and attributes based on those of real life ships, for example if one ship has a higher top speed than another it can move more fractions of an inch per round. (McAleer, 2012)

War Re-enactment

War re-enactments are a type of war gaming that is physically acted out traditionally using a large group of people re-enacting a famous battle, they are particularly popular in the United States. War re-enactments range and span through different time periods, things more recent such as the American Civil War and World War re-enactments are the most popular, but other re-enactments such as Classical Re-enactments portray the Greco-Roman world. The earliest recorded activity relating to a re-enactment was the recreation of famous battles staged by the Romans within their amphitheatres as a form of public spectacle. Many people pursue war re-enacting as a hobby with the age ranges being incredibly diverse with people of all ages attending events. A lot of people are interested in getting a historical perspective of such events; other participants participate for the escapism that the events offer. Living History is a form of war re-enactment that is meant solely for the purpose of education to the public, they do not always entail a mock battle instead some aim at simply portraying what a soldier’s life was like during the period in which the re-enactment is set. Closed events known as Tactical battles, which are not usually open to the public, are fought like real battles with each side devising strategies and tactics used to defeat their opponents, these traditionally are not recreations of battles and are played competitively. Total immersion events are ‘hard-core’ events that are re-enacted with a higher sense of realism, often featuring extended marches and generally living like an actual soldier to make it feel more authentic. 

Risk

Risk is a popular strategic board game that offered a new dynamic take on board games that revolutionized the industry and is considered a classic. It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde or The Conquest of the World in English. (Risk: The Game Of Strategic Conquest) It is a turn-based game to be played by two to six players with the primary objective of the game being to ‘occupy every territory on the board and in so doing, eliminate all other players.’ (Parker Brothers, 1963) Players control armies that they use in an attempt to capture enemy territories with the results dependent on dice rolls. Risk is widely known throughout the world and became incredibly popular in France, America and Italy to the point where there have been multiple licensed variations of it including Risk: Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition and released multiple video game adaptions. (How to Win at Risk)

Little Wars

Little Wars is a set of rules used when playing with toy soldiers written by H.G. Wells in 1913. (Belli, 2013) The book was not only a set of rules, it was also ‘an important socio-political work’ (Silvano, 2005) that hints at a few philosophical aspects of war and Well’s belief in pacifism. The book was written in a playful style and illustrated with amusing drawings and photographs offering an insight at the author’s personality. (Little Wars) Little Wars included simple rules for infantry, cavalry and artillery in the form of a 4.7 inch naval gun that launched projectiles commonly in the form of wooden dowels used to knock down enemy soldiers. The development of the game started via a visit by his friend Jerome K. Jerome after he visited, after dinner Jerome began shooting down toy soldiers with a toy cannon which inspired Wells to write Little Wars.

Diplomacy and Gaming-By-Mail

Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. (Calhamer) It was a wargame focusing on negation and diplomacy, hence the name, with absence of a die or form of randomizer requiring the players to use skill as a means of winning the game. (Parlett, 1999)  Diplomacy was the first commercially published game to be played by mail, a form of gaming played through postal mail – in this scenario - or email, popularized in the 1960s and reaching its peak in the 1980s. Diplomacy differs from the majority of war games in multiple ways including players write down all their moves in secret after a negotiation period and once revealed are put into play simultaneously; social interactions are an essential part of the game. It is played with between two and seven players and comprises of a negotiation phase and a movement phase. In the negotiation phase players may use any verbal means possible to forge alliances or form arrangements with one another, communication is a valuable asset to have during this phase. The movement phase consists of players writing down orders for each of their units in secret, once each player has done so each order will be executed simultaneously. Players must capture each other players supply centres, the winner is declared once each of the other players have been eliminated via lack of supply centres or if one player has over half the supply centres on the board. (Avalon Hill Games, 2000) It was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame in 1994.

Metroid Timeline

Essay Choice - Surrealism

I've decided to use Surrealism as my design movement for my essay due to it appealing to me. The fact that  the whole design movement centres around the impossible seems appropriate because in a game anythings possible. The paintings created by various artists including Salvador Dali and the German painter Max Ernst appeal to me more than the traditional artwork of more famous artists such as Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso because I personally find them more visually appealing this is possibly due to myself being born into more modern and colourful world visually when it comes to artwork. Computers were revolutionizing the way people lived and worked as I was growing up, a new medium was born that was available to artists to create new modern pieces of digital work. Digitally created graphics and artwork tends to be colourful and non sequitur much like Surrealism so I believe finding common ground between both is the reason I much prefer the artwork of Surrealism over much more celebrated works from alternate movements. Surrealism isn't exclusive to the visual arts, literature features heavily in surrealism, and theatre, film and music do also but in a lower capacity, but my preference is the visual arts aspect of it