Final Playtesting for Interactivity

17:23 BA2a , Interactivity 0 Comments

Having tweaked Timor from previous personal feedback and play-testing, I conducted some more.

These tweaks were placement of instruction and a few more Notions describing mechanics, the lights intentionally very hard to find. When adding the harp sound effect, I ran into a problem with the blueprints.



I'd added the sound playback from using the harp at the end, meaning it would only sound when it deflected an enemy, and I wanted it so the player could use the sound whenever they wanted, so shifting the position...


The aural feedback would occur and be checked for before the blueprints check if an enemy is in the vicinity, playing the sound at a button press!


On the initial playthrough, my first player was incredibly intimidated by the Ennui, the slow creeping movement and sudden appearance when running fast having quite an affect. When the Harp was found, the sound feedback was so appreciated, players kept spamming the button, to dispel the enemies and enjoy the added sound effect of the harp. Playthroughs were quite long, the map at first alien and new, after a few tries the player started learning the map and exploring, really enjoying the discovery of the Notions, wanting to explore further. Slipping through the world as an embraced mechanic really works, the player dismayed when this bug wasn't in effect, no longer having the freedom to bypass walls. My player was "really sucked into what you can find in the game" and really enjoyed exploring the map, qualms being a light counter and or a small map, however I'm adding neither as the metaphor behind the game, I want my player to feel lost, slowly learning the space and to have the persistence and incentive of discovery to keep going. Following on from contextual studies into research into mazes and labyrinths, my game is very much a multicursal maze, with dead ends and alternative routes, there are enemies in my maze and special items to collect that strengthen the player, following my findings on the idea of mazes making the player stronger for having explored it.

I've conducted only personal research because the nature of my game is quite personal, letting the players experience the game alone and connecting to it on a more personal level than me asking people to fill out a form. Then, sitting with the players, watching their reactions and how they interact with the denizens of my game world, offers much insight and demonstrates the effect my game can have on different individuals.

My next player dealt with the game in a much more jovial way, the Notion pleading the player to not leave it, caused my player to exclaim he won't staying still for a few minutes to see what would happen. He gave the Notions their own voices and dialogue as he was playing, the words really compelling him to look for more; taking th time to stop and read had both my players quite immersed, play time lasting roughly half an hour plus for both, I've really created a game with flow here, my players enjoying the fact that the more you play, the more you learn and the more immersed you become.. The harp mechanic was particularly enjoyed, and more functionality was requested, like different notes and the ability to play songs. The two modes were seen as each having drawbacks and advantages, both being fun to use for the player but floating preferred, a common trait among players. When Death was encountered, ending the game had the player confused and didn't know what to do or what the consequences were, so continued to play.Finding areas undiscovered was exciting but scary, not knowing what new dangers lurked nearby. It was noted that the game being large but sparse was quite effective, it feeling lonely and the few things you could find had a lot of value to the player, some being sad for some, some being highly amusing to others, this dialogue and writing is the driving force of Timor, and has been very well received by all players. My playtesters enjoyed the prototype so much I was asked to really develop it to see what it could become, something I feel I'd really like to pursue.

Circuses and Arenas/ Fairgrounds and Themeparks/ Art,Animation,Film/ Wargames and Sport- Research- Whistle-stop Run Through

02:58 BA2a , Research 0 Comments

The worlds of the Arts have great influence on games today, many take direct inspiration from famous artists and movements, Okami's visuals reflecting the woodblock prints of Japan as you travel a fictional Nippon, Monument valley takes direct inspiration from M.C. Escher's work as you explore the isometric world and the popular indie title Transistor takes much from the work of Gustav Klimt. Games can be a tool for art, the touch screens of the Wii U and 3DS utilised in Art Academy that aims to teach the player how to paint and draw better, games themselves can be considered works of Art, the combination of visuals, mechanics, soundtrack and animation creating memorable lasting experiences in the games by Thatgamecompany such as Flower and Journey.The game Lumino City that takes place in real life, handmade dioramas, set peices being handmade for the game whilst Tengami weaves a Japanese inspired narrative through Origami visuals and pop-up-book mechanics, pulling tabs to reveal secrets etc. The Beginner's Guide is much more of an interactive film than a game, heavily using theatrical techniques in weaving a narrative such as the use of Checkov's Gun, in this case a very literal example.  


This category centers mainly around Agon play, competing head-to-head with another. War games cover the obvious, Call of Duty, Battlefield and any other FPS where as Spec Ops the Line serves to emulate and undermine this set up, critiquing the play and the fantasy of being a hero when the reality is very different. The game This War of Mine focuses on the human aspect of people surviving war zones and the moral dilemmas that come up from trying to stay alive, do you invite in the other refugees who you know nothing about, or do you turn them away as your rations are meager as is. Tower Defense games focus on the player fending off waves of attackers by fortifying their own fortress, laying waste to armies that seek to level your kingdom. TN games' gaming vest allows players whilst playing FPSs to feel pain through air compressors, to feel immersed "in the heat of battle like never before", a tactile way of interacting with the violent nature of these games.

Sport games range from  officially licensed titles such as the annual release of new FIFA games, to more fictional mascot-led affairs with the cast of the Super Mario series, tennis rackets becoming hammers, baseball bats imbued with magic. The latter being more child friendly and making the nature of the sport more accessible, promoting the fun qualities of the activity. Games such as the popular Mario Kart, gather a large social spectrum of people to play against each other, connecting people through digital sports. So within War Games, it could be argued to be a more serious affair being strongly about two opposing forces, whereas sport within games has much more of a sense of camaraderie.

Books and Comics- Research

14:49 BA2a , Research 0 Comments

On the topic of books and games, narrative would be a clear aspect to cover, starting with the insurgence and popularity of episodic titles, a road paved by Tell Tale Games. They offer a few hours of gameplay and are usually heavily narrative focused, often with choices to make that effect the story later, Life Is Strange as an example. Narrative and story telling are arguably more important in these kind of games than gameplay, with a focus on good writing, multiple story arcs, character development and relatability. All covered in another Gamasutra article, written by Pascal Luben, its stated that its in fact the audience themselves that drive central writing decisions, a secondary character can easily become a main one if the audience's reception is largely positive, script writers follow the reaction of their audience and write accordingly, comparable with the penny dreadfuls of Charles Dickens. The game Virtues Last Reward is much like a playable graphic novel, it having many chapters and storylines and cliffhangers that have you feeling differently about characters, each timeline in the game comparable to an episode.

Harry Potter: Book of Spells came with a peripheral entitled the Wonderbook, that heavily focused on AR and allowed players to interact with visuals coming from the book and learn magic spells, an extension of the famous book series and a sort of digital toy. Similarly, the game Ni No Kuni originally for the DS came with a book called The Wizards Companion, the PS3 port came with a book too but it was purely for a collector's sake, the DS version contained runes and patterns that taught the players what to draw on the screen for each spell, for certain spells a connect the dot puzzle and other such physical puzzles had to be solved for use in the game. It also offered crucial clues and had a bestiary, it was a companion to the game that could be played without it.

Ancient tales such as Dante's Inferno are re-imagined, becoming a hack and slash romp through the circles of hell complete with action game staples like combos and quick time events. Similarly, American Mcgee's Alice is a dark a gothic twist on the original text, featuring demons and grotesque sights peppered with the absurdities of the original text, playable as a 3D platforming adventure game. The Witcher series of games actually stem from Andrzej Sapkowski's series of novels, life breathed into his text through games. As there are games based on Novels, there are now novels based on games, a long list of Assassin's Creed books can be found among others.

A strange old game for the PS1 is Parasite Eve, an early age action RPG that serves as a sequel to a book with the same name by Hideaki Sena, that was also developed into a film and manga. Its a sci-fi horror story about our own genes being sentient and turning on us, led by some creature known as Eve, the game continues where the book left off, a form of transmedia storytelling, the later games following the Manga series. Due to the limitations of the PS1, dialogue was written not spoken, words being capitalised for drama and emphasis. Virtual books and texts within games serve to push narrative should players choose to engage with them, RPGs like The Last Story featuring a Library you can go to to read about the lore of the world, Metroid Prime having a scanning system, allowing the player to read thousands of lines of text about creatures, the game world and its cultures should a player choose to.

The game company Cing, bankrupt in 2010, created many novella like games, rich in story and character, and they unfolded much like a mystery novel. Vice President at Cing Rika Suzuki fondly remembers their partnership with Nintendo who championed narrative led gaming. The games were very puzzle focused and had players mentally breaking the 4th wall multiple times, Another Code for the DS featured a puzzle that could only be solved by half closing the DS itself to see a reflection, the Hotel Dusk games had the console held on its side, much like an actual book. Cing made "mysteries out of mundane occurrences and complex human portraits" where other games that attempt mystery may feel rushed and have archetypes- "dolls without cohesive motives". Cing "spun novella-length yarns out of theirs casts" and the game Hotel Dusk featured rotoscoped sketches to animate the characters in a bewitching way. Quotes and info taken from Stephen Turner's article on Destructoid.

Spec Ops the Line, breaks the 4th wall consistently and parodies the nature of shooting games, mechanics echoing PTSD, it also takes the premise of Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness. However instead of the Congo, the game takes place in sand swept Dubai. This Spec Ops info was taken from Chloi Rad's article on IGN. An obscure title known as The Dark Eye was playable on the PC in the 90s, it was a strange mashup of lowres environments, claymation and spoken dialogue, following the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, the visuals eerily lending themselves to the narrative.

Comic book heroes are widely seen in games, be it movie liscensed, the Batman Arkham Asylum games, the Lego games or even in a specialised version of the game Scribblenauts: Unmasked, liscensed and featuring many iconic characters. Fighting games create worlds where these characters can enter exciting and action packed scenarios reflecting the original media, Marvel vs Capcom and Injustice Gods Among Us being prime examples. The Borderland series features a strong aesthetic resemblant of older comic books, with strong black outlines and vivid colours. The DS "bullet hell"title Big Bang Mini featured a world based on New York and comic book iconography, the bullets being onomatopoeia, the player avoiding all manner of "BOOM" and "ZAM".

Games pushing narrative, offering a more tangible story than books can through visuals and interaction, books as tools to be used in games and games that bring older tales to newer, contemporary audiences. Episodic titles and interaction with audiences are key points to perhaps develop.

Arcades and Parlour Games- Research

10:58 BA2a , Research 0 Comments

Arcades were incredibly popular during the 90s, but have since become obselete with the power of home gaming consoles allowing player access to hundreds of games, right at home. It was a disarmingly cheap (until you were on machines for hours!) and fun place to be, put in a few coins and play a game, forever wanting to improve or beat and progress in a game, these gaming machines were compelling and had ways of making you part with your change. Much of the following information comes from Jordan Zolan's article on "The Decline of the Arcade" on denofgeek.us.

Games like Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Pacman were present but other machines during the 90s held Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, games that weren't available at home, so you'd practice and play in these environments with other kids and teenagers to get better, to play against each other, to cheer each other on and feel a sense of camaraderie, united in real life by a love of games. "Arcades offered even the shyest kid to become King of the Castle" when having skill at a certain game, there'd often be "some unbeatable kid" you'd want to try and beat. This sense of union has now been facilitated through online play and voice chat from home consoles and PCs, you can play games with anyone in the world for as long as you like with one payment and not have to leave the house. Echoing Kazuki Takahashi's opinion on the lack of human connection, enforced by online play, this sense of union has been arguably filtered. I myself recall great joy as a kid going to an asian Arcade every so often, that had many machines only found in Japan. I remember putting all my pocket money in this card based beetle game "Mushiking", collecting cards from this machine to scan them in and power up my growing collection of beetles, swapping them with my friends and wanting that guy who poured all his money into the game who had the rarest cards- I still remember the glee of finally getting the butterfly special! It was this space, this world, this community with tickets and food and smells that was so wonderful, which has somewhat been lost in the takeover of todays home consoles an online-play as standard.

Fighting games and watching everyone else play, jousting with the other and when including eSports, its easily comparable to the idea of Greek Arenas. Who will beat the other? A fictional world where there may be bloodshed, but no harm will come to the player, as is the joy of video games. Arcades still seem to be in great use in Japan however, the game series Blazblue for example release console disks and arcade machines in tandem, the latter coming out before so players can already begin sharpening their skills. At tournaments, its not uncommon for these players to use joysticks and buttons, akin to those used on the machines.

Hubs in games, like the theme-park-centric Nintendo Land or even the home screen of the Wii U itself, try to create a digital community, the "miiverse" an online place to share tips and talk about games, trying to add a social element to the game you may be playing alone, making friends from a love of a series, as kids may have once done in arcades.

Arcade game mechanics have easily transitioned into gaming of today, games like Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Issac are designed to be difficult, but have a "one last try" appeal and a rapid reload time so you can get straight back into the action after you've failed. From Edmund McMillen's Gamasutra article, the "penalty for dying in video games started in the arcades where the major penalty was adding a quarter". As games appeared in homes and quarters were no longer necessary, the goal in games shifted from high scores to completion. Super Meat Boy's levels can be seen in entirety by the player, they know the ending is in sight, like the later mentioned Wario Ware, these bite size levels come in rapid succession so there is enough variety for players and they don't have time to get frustrated, they want to try the new challenge. "Video games are exercises in learning and growing", when a player completes a level, they can see a replay of all the times they died and the one time they did it faultlessly, congratulating the player for achieving something difficult.

Various iterations of classical arcade games have also made appearance on consoles, the DS game Pac-Pix heavily features the gimmick of drawing Pacman and other symbols, when the console and idea of touch screen controls were new. Another DS game in Space Invaders Extreme tried to reinvent the game for a contemporary audience, introducing flashy neon retro visuals and new powerup mechanics like a large vertical laser and bombs, to add some spice to the archaic game. Players nowadays can have their own digital library of games, be it digital or disk- games that focus on mini games, like Warioware, have an arcade feel in gaining extra credits and seeing how long you can play, before the game gets too difficult. Many video games feature arcade-like mini games, such as a playable games console within a game like No More Heroes, where the geeky protagonist plays a "bullet-hell" based on a fictional anime, to attain high scores, which serves as little more than a virtual...virtual distraction. Games within games.

The Parlour game in comparison unites people in a similarly social way. A largely Victorian pass time popular with the middle and upper classes, it was "the golden age of the parlour game" as stated by Patrick Beaver in his book on the topic, these noble men and women having a lot of free time. Mass Media such as radio and television and now games dwindled the play of parlour games, however they are sometimes still played today, often at Christmas or parties. Many have evolved into bourd games. Many of them make use of theatrical skill such a s charades, physical activity and word play. Games include word association, wink murder, Mafia, The Minister's Cat and snapdragon- a game that must have been played by the bourgeois as it was about snatching raisins from a bowl of flaming brandy in a darkened at the risk of being burnt- the idea was to see each other as demons, lunging for fruit over flames.

Many party games could count as modern day parlour games, and make use of peripherals to enhance the experience. The popular Guitar Hero has players competing against friends, to "play" a song better than the other, bringing people together in a physical way for a digital medium, Singstar and other karaoke games could also fit this bracket. The game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes can only be played with two people, one with a screen and a virtual bomb to diffuse, and the other with a physical 27 page manual that must be printed out to play. The bomb diffuser has wires and puzzles to solve, consulting the other player who has the manual but cannot see the bomb and vice-versa for the other, this leads to a challenge of explaining and talking the other through tasks to diffuse this bomb within a time limit. A brilliant game is Jack's Box, which makes use of the player's digital devices such as smart phones and tablets, to enter online rooms and use these devices as controllers, to play drawing and word based games, interacting with everyone in the room in a digital manner, comparable to the deeply social and physical Victorian parlour games.

This idea of games asking more of the player than just use of a controller, of being tactile, is interesting. Games like Metal Gear that continuously break the fourth wall, a famous boss fight not telling the player they had to swap controller ports, was a way of engaging the player outside the screen, engaging them more with the world within as its directly interacting with them. Games like No More Heroes and Fragile Dreams make use of the Wii Remote's speaker, phone calls in No More Heroes, prepping you before each boss fight, have you hold the remote to your ear as you wander an intentionally large, empty virtual space at a slower pace, to absorb this information in a physically engaging way, traversing virtually to support this "phonecall". AR in the driving force in Fatal Frame Spirit Camera, that comes with a physical book filled with markers and a lady who sits in your room, talking to you through AR, having the player physically walk to find her. Comparable to the upcoming Pokemon Go, players physically wandering to find Pokemon. Games breaking the 4th wall and having the player interact physically I find massively compelling, it could be a good strand to really explore!

Board games and Card Games - Research

05:09 BA2a , Research 0 Comments

Mindmaps for the two themes. Mario Party,which focuses on players controlling characters from the franchise, navigate a virtual board using dice to determine how far the player can go. There are different spaces with different affects, different boards with different events, and mini games to play at the end of everyone's turn, items can be used much like chance cards.

The game series Fire Emblem plays much like Chess, being a tactical rpg with board spaces, units moving in specialised ways, yet there's an added rock/paper/scissors element to weapons and their effectiveness. Any tile based tactical rpg also counts as a war game, and has links to Chess, Fire Emblem developing the core game with visuals, actually seeing these units do battle.

Many classic board and card game have been digitized, Solitaire used to come pre-installed with most computers and can be played on the iPads of today, many digital games bundle a wealth of these analogue games together in a single product, seen in many portable titles.  The game The Political Machine serves as parody to the American Presidency, small figures representing current real life leaders travel around a virtual America, converting states to their party and gaining money, making a virtual bourd game of a real life event in human culture. Tharsis is a game set in space, where a digital dice roll determines what happens to the crew of your ship, whilst Talisman which is based on an analogue game, that works off older generation digital rpg tropes, features item cards, magic spells, an experience system, skills and stats, much like Dungeon and Dragons, the imagined fantasies of these analogue games better realised through games- see Eye of Judgement.

Guild of Dungeoneering has you laying out a dungeon from cards, creating a sort of board of play, as a small warrior makes their way through the map, battling the monster you've set through cards representing attacks, the highest winning. A card based battle system appears within Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where every action during battle is a card, if your enemies card has a value that is higher, you cannot use that action, exhausting all your cards has you reload the deck you constructed for the fight, whilst stacking cards of a certain type and numeric value allows the  player to use aquired skills.

The popular card game Yu-Gi-Oh featured a spin off, that took the monsters of the game and put them in a board game setting, players constructing the board with cube nets with every dice roll. A lot of games with pre-order bonuses come packaged with novelties, a pack of playing cards printed with characters from the game is not uncommon. The game series Persona heavily references Tarot cards, as core features and mechanics, categorising summoned monsters based upon the characteristics of the Major Arcana, acquiring new cards (new monsters) has you plucking a card from a deck and tarot spreads are used to fuse them, to gain stronger ones. Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales featured a card dueling system, where you pitted cards representing monsters against one another, using special abilities and various effects, its complexities comparable to the aforementioned Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Eye of Judgement was a game for the PS3 that made use of a camera peripheral that went by the same name, collectible trading cards where distributed with the game alongside separate decks and booster packs. These cards when placed on the 3x3 grid also given with the game, which under the camera, would bring forth 3D AR digital creatures. The aim was for one player to claim 5 squares on the grid, each summoning monsters, trying to populate and defeat the other to achieve that goal, spell cards were also used, held to the camera to activate. The fantasy within Yu-Gi-Oh becomes somewhat of a reality here, online matches possible with many cards to collect.

Nintendo themselves, before video games, produced Hanafuda cards, a version of playing cards that were produced during the ban on gambling under the Tokugawa Shogunate. This set had 12 suits, one for each month. with a set of 4 that correspond to a flower in each, usually 2 were normal and 2 were special. There were many games that could be played with these cards, much like the contemporary decks we still use today.

Yu-Gi-Oh itself as a card game was originally a spin off from the popular Japanese Manga, that developed into the incredibly successful collectible trading card game it is today. Kazuki Takahashi wanted to base his story around the theme of games, inspired by role playing and tabletop games that create communication between real people, he feels that a true connection or communication cannot be achieved via the Internet. His story's protagonist transforms from a child into a cool, invincible adult when he plays games, Takahashi believing a player becomes a hero when playing- entering Huizinga's magic circle.

It could be argued that this Japanese card game, being based around monsters, is due to the culture of Japan. Yo-kai being an incredibly important part of Japan's heritage, these monsters are still present today in games and other media, looking at Pokemon and a further iteration, Yo-kai Watch which has players battle and collect these familiar creatures. Games that heavily feature monsters, often come from Japan. Japanese Role Playing Games are rich in monsters; slimes, skeletons, ghosts, dragons- one merely has to gaze at the popular Final Fantasy series to see a wealth of mascot monster characters- perhaps this is why mascots and other cute creatures are so celebrated in the East. Collecting and trading them was a large part of the appeal of Pokemon, which in turn became a well loved card game, trading and collecting the cards as you would the monsters. There's a sense of community, as mentioned by Takahashi, from playing card games, and by extension, board games- the fact there are still modern analogue games being produced is testament to the fact there is still a place for these games today next to their digital counter parts. Games bring people together, there are sprawling online communities dedicated to video games, people meet up in real life to discuss games at expos- from first hand experience, a lot of these people will also take part in games such as Yu-Gi-Oh when socialising.

Some interesting strands here are the collecting and social aspects of card games and bourd games, as well as the iconography of monsters, that has deep roots in Japanese folklore.

The Persona games as mentioned earlier, heavily feature monsters and the Arcarna, each card of the major Arcarna being part of a cycle of continued growth. Certain characters represent "social links" within the game, representative of each card and the struggles towards growth when following this path. The minor Aracana features suites of commonly cups, pentacle, wands and swords- a link could be made to the four suits of contemporary playing cards- complete conjecture here- The Fool of the major Arcana could be the Joker in the pack. These four suits deal with more minor problems and tasks in our everyday lives, wealth, social interactions, creativity and rational reason are circles of knowledge they cover, the people on these cards represent the people we meet in our every day lives. These smaller tasks could be linked to side quests in RPG games, if this was explored much further.

Art Test- 2D Character Concept Art- Monkey Island TellTale Games- Week 2

13:03 BA2a , Specialism 0 Comments

Second week of Art Tests, I worked with my final design, first creating a model sheet for the human form...

Mazes and Labyrinths- Research

02:44 Research 0 Comments

Beginning with the theme of Mazes and Labyrinths, I scrawled a mindmap listing games that could be associated with mazes.

Sprawling game worlds with twists and turns, like Middens which can serve as a true maze, something to explore for explorations sake with multiple strange landscapes and rooms. "Metroidvania" like games, large sprawling 2D maps that require players to backtrack to places they've been with newly acquired skills, Cave Story being a favorite. Any game with a dungeon, with puzzles to solve, like Legend of Zelda which in itself, has moments throughout the series where you must follow a path to get through maze-like areas.

Games with multiple paths, endings or routes are also to be considered, the player's navigation of their play depending on their choices, which route they take. The game Virtue's Last Reward features 28 different endings and can be compared to a multicursal maze, the player swapping timelines and alternative universes to piece together information. Ace Attorney where you play as a lawyer, navigating text and options to defend or prosecute, wading through options to find the right answer - any sort of mystery game can be included here, like the live action game Contradiction. Undertale which features different paths can also be seen this way, solving puzzles and navigating the game world.

Horror games that see the player trying to traverse environments and avoid abyssal monsters, comparable to the story of the Minotaur in the way a beast lurks within. Games that feature actual mazes like Pacman and many older arcade games revolve around the concept of a maze. Roguelikes with randomly generated dungeons  can also be considered.

With this in mind, the term "Metroidvania" could be explored, open ended platforming, action games that focus on the navigation of large game maps, often with puzzles, enemies and items to collect. From reading a Gamasutra article, indie developers see this subgenre as "timeless" as its core mechanics of exploration, character improvement, platforming and combat are highly compelling. If we look at this idea of character improvement, getting stronger through traversing a maze, perhaps a link can be made to church mazes, monks shuffling on their knees whilst praying in penance. To prove devotion, strength, by suffering or going through this ordeal, you'll come out stronger- mazes as a challenge, mazes aid self-improvement.

Exploration is key to "Metroidvania", as players are exploring the world themselves, not being led by scripted events, a player can feel more in control and therefore immersed, character upgrades see ensure enjoyment out of new discoveries right up to the end. Discovery is another crucial aspect that makes these games fun, forging their own path...

"I think it's extremely important that players guide themselves because, ultimately, it is something the player should do. Personally, I prefer, instead of going to a park to play, I would rather go to ruins to play. Because you can think, feel, and search, for yourself, your own way to play,"

Daisuke Amaya 2011- creator of Cave Story

"Nothing is more exciting than possibility"- Matt White

Making discoveries and forging your own path, my own primary research here, playing Undertale, I went into it "blind" making a lot of discoveries myself and choosing my own way of playing the game, choosing which path to follow. This constant decision making underlines what Espen Aarseth describes in his book "Cybertext" where he talks about the concept of Ergodic Literature:

"Nontrivial effort is required to allow the reader to traverse the text....each decision will make some parts of the text more, and others less, accessible". 

An example of Ergodic Literature is the ancient Chinese classic I-Ching, a divination text that influenced Religion, Business, Literature and Art to name a few. It had a specialised way of reading in cleromancy, casting lots, the four numbers 4, 5, 6 and 9 were turned into a hexagram, then looked up in the book. 

Aarseth goes on to say...

"I refer to the idea of a narrative text as a labyrinth, a game, or an imaginary world, in which the player can explore at will, get lost, discover secret paths, play around, follow the rules...."

Later within his book, he goes on to cite Penelope Reed Doob, who wrote "The idea of the Labyrinth: Metaphorical Labyrinths of Classical Antiquity" which explored the complex artistry and the important metaphor and motif that is the Labyrinth during the Middle Ages. She herself went on to cite Virgil (70- 19 BC) in that the multicursal and unicursal types of maze, are in fact one in the same. The artistic order and chaos and impenetrability, the shift from confusion to perception- this could be linked to solving puzzles in games. From a narrative point of view it could also include any plot twist ever, and when considering the concept of the oragami unicorn- within the book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide  by Henry Jenkins, one could easily backtrack the way they came, to make more sense of a narrative.

An example to tie this together, the game Nier has Shades that you must kill, a second playthrough however gives the player the ability to understand what they're saying, and reveals these "monsters" to be much more human with their own backstories and identities, the duo you just killed were a child and guardian, you just murdered a young women and her friends- therein lies the oragami unicorn, the player rethinking their actions, yet in this game there is no option to spare. Not every game can be Undertale!

Maze as narrative and play are interesting threads I may follow up soon. 

  

Art Test- 2D Character Concept Art- Monkey Island TellTale Games- Week 1

10:56 BA2a , Specialism 0 Comments

Project Monkey Island: Lost Cove 

Project Description Telltale is creating a new installment in the Monkey Island franchise. Following on from its successes with Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Lost Cove features a mechanic where the player can switch between normal day time and a mystical and spooky twilight dimension. 

Task Requirements: Design a shopkeeper character that resides in a remote underwater sunken temple. You don’t know how they get custom but they are surprisingly happy with their situation. 

Design and present both their normal and twilight state. 

Task Specification ❖ Model Sheet ❖ Character Sheet ❖ Concept Painting


Having chosen this art test to get into some character design, I started out by scribbling some loose doodles to vent some preliminary ideas, research the visual style and understand the world of the game- will what I design fit into this universe?

I looked into existing designs and TellTale concept art, studying what kinds of characters already exist as a point of reference.



I was really quite taken with LeChuck the zombie pirate, who has many different forms throughout the series; its interesting to look at how that may influence my character's two forms. The ferrymen, a more supernatural character, I felt had a compelling design, an emphasis on curves seems paramount throughout the art direction of this game.

I wanted my shopkeeper to have an interesting quirk, like finding and keeping notes in bottles, displaying them. Among my first ideas, I liked the idea of a sea hag who was a beautiful mermaid by day, but monstrous in the twilight- or a thespian ghost who by day would pretend (poorly) to be a human by wearing a mask and a cape. There's a lot of comedy in the characters and world of Monkey Island, so I wanted my character to have a joke or gag tied to it, something Guybrush Threepwood could play with in an interesting way.

I got on a created some silhouettes.




Having only just learned the joys of the softbrush, this silhouette out of those I'd chosen and scribbled over stood out the most. I was really fond of the squat body and angular, thin arms, the backback roll also gave me an idea...


Scribbling these two forms out, I liked the idea of my salesman being some form of seasnail by twilight, his huge bagpack filled with wares becoming a snailshell. The idea of Guybrush making puns about my "Snailsman" who could've once been a "snailor" amused me too much not to push the idea forward.

From here I started iteration, focusing on head design to lead the rest of the character.


I was really fond of the original face, but decided upon the bearded head as I thought it was the most expressive, appearing as a more well-kept person- I also like the idea of attaching a snail shell to his beard.


Having a clearer idea of the head, I had little idea about the rest of the body, so did some quick sketches playing with shape and posture. A more sort of "Gollum" like crouched posture appealed, yet a more sophisticated, taller, thinner character also seemed like it could work, a little like the Happy Mask Salesman from Majora's Mask.





I eventually made the head more disheveled, extending the beard and adding nautical paraphenalia, however a compass monocle was an idea I quite enjoyed. I then played with body shapes, posture, costumes and colour.


Putting different objects on the backpack could really add some dynamics to the overall silhouette- I was most fond of No. 3 as of the sleeves and position, I feel he's be really tall but permanently crouching under the weight of his wares. I was fond of the sombrero, but preferred the hat from No. 2 due to the interesting shape.



   I like the idea of the coat being patchwork, handstitched from loose scraps taken from what washed into the cove, anything he finds being anything he sells. The hat he wears would have a coin attached, the first he found and what he took as a sign to become a salesman. I wasn't originally too keen on more rustic colours, so tried a more clownish palette.

However, I went back to my original colours, I just removed the blue and opted for purple instead.

I then started work designing the Twilight form, that of a snail. I imagined this "spooky twilight realm" to be like that in A Link to the Past, where people animals reflective of who they are, a sea snail in this guy's case.


Sketching out head designs for this form, I opted with the highest one, though a barnacle beard could've been a quirky feature.

I wasn't sure about placeent of the hat and originally wanted it held aloft by his right eye, but now think it better on his left to make the overall shape more harmonious.


I then started playing with shell designs, but felt the first, more traditional shell would fit the world of Monkey Island better and keep with the similarities of the human rucksack.

The interest would therefore be in the details, adding crystals to the barnacles and then a whole treasure chest, flag and seaweed. This I feel more comic and fitting.


I wanted colder colours for the twilight form, to contrast the human one and fit better with the them. I went with the bottom right as I felt it worked the best. Im quite keen on the idea of my snailsman sellking things that latch onto his shell, heeping his earnings in his chest. All things to be explored in the character sheet!

The human's bag I went back and redesigned, scribbling some loose shapes to the detail.


I now have enough to work on model sheets, character sheets and a final illustration, shall get on!

Tying up Interactivity

14:13 BA2a , Interactivity 0 Comments

Having received feedback and reflecting upon previous play testing, I've decided to keep the glitch in the game.

Having watched an Extra Credits video on the concept of mechanic as metaphor, something I've really tried to push with my game, I now see this bug as an extension of the message. You can literally be dislodged from the world, be free-falling, but you can still make progress. You just have to find another way of working. How can you make this work for you?

I very much felt incapable, dislodged and like I was perpetually free-falling when making this game due to my own mental health being at an all time low due to many factors- this bug is highly reflective of what I've faced and what many others have and do. The point is, you push on regardless, despite how broken and disorientating everything may feel.


Adding the above prompt among the others into the game, I've also added the exit gate, and a small rock- placed at the bottom of the pit as a tongue-in-cheek "rock bottom".

The fact Ennui sets you back to the beginning isn't always a bad thing, it fixes "the glitch", and sometimes starting back at square one can give you the perspective you need to move forward.

Also, going back to the art game "loneliness"  and seeing how there's no narrative present, it leaves the player to create their own, is rather like what I've done. There is an objective given, but little else, players are to explore and experience the game in their own way. I've had one playtester use "the glitch" to their advantage, to further explore the game, and in fact, do so easier as the walls no longer hold them back. An idea present in another Extra Credits video is whilst developing the game, all devs should consider what it is their exploring whilst developing, leading to cohesive development. I've been exploring the ups and downs of depression, the game world itself being an emotional landscape, of climbing up or sinking below, climbing up from the depths being quite difficult and taking time.

The game Spec Ops The Line  which didn't have the budget to compete with games like COD, used its disadvantage to create a game that served to critique the genre, the game being about PTSD and ridiculing the idea of pretending to be a hero in a virtual environment, when the reality is far more macabre. It reflects PTSD through disassociating the player with their actions through mechanics and gameplay, players feeling as its a game they must shoot their enemies, however through loading screens the game guilts the player for their actions- reflecting the cognitive dissonance the protagonist would have for his violent actions. The game breaks the 4th wall a lot, it reaches beyond the game and to the player themselves, engaging them in a very direct way. Metaphorical mechanics have large impacts on players.

***Play-testing***

With all features in my game now collated, I decided to get it playtested one more time. My tester, at the pit to rock-bottom, actually chose to float down to investigate, the only player to have done that so far. She was very engaged, and really enjoyed mode swapping and how the Notions each had something different to say in different worlds. In this version of the game however the killzones were not big enough, so appearing in "the void" was still an issue, the feature of slipping through the world actually helped and was enjoyed! Some visual feedback from the harp could be good when its used, maybe even a sound clip! The lights were hard to find, which is intentional, but maybe a Notion to underline this and make it seem intentional would be good, perhaps some more arrows as well as it was rather difficult to navigate and the prompts were hard to see so may need some replacement.

Other than that, it was engaging! An Easter Egg of sorts (a prompt holding a light at the beginning which if you fade through you can collect) was found which was an interesting feature the tester revealed to me. The Notions she felt were neither good or bad, not on her side but with no power to hurt her. A main feature was that the harp was very hard to find, I may add some more clues.

I'll tweak these features in Timor, before testing it again!

Preliminary Essay Research

09:01 Research 0 Comments

During a lecture we were re-briefed on our piece of Academic Writing, in which we compare games of today to entertainment of the past, with the following categories to look into:

-Books and Comics

-Art, Animation and Film

-Fairgrounds, Amusement Parks or Themeparks

-Arcades and Parlour Games

-Board games and Cards

-Circus and Arenas

-Mazes and Labyrinths

-War Games and Sport

But I'm also going to add Theatre to this (we theatre students die hard, Ibsen, Artaud and Brecht still course through my veins)

We were tasked to swiftly venture up to the library, to hunt down two quotes from two books on one of the duos above, and how the context or history of that subject affects contemporary game culture. Having picked bourd games and cards, I discovered the book "The Right Way to Teach Chess to Kids" by Richard James (2013) which housed the interesting passage...

"...whether your main priority is just to teach them a game they can play for a couple of years at school, to use chess to make your kids smarter, to develop beneficial character traits, or to give them a long term interest."

I thought this an applicable comment on when to introduce kids to games, complex rules of the game engaging kids, much like complex worlds and stories could expand a child's mind. Childhood and the affects games can have could be an interesting thread to follow.

I also found "The Card Games Bible" by Hamlyn which discusses playing cards, the games to be played with them and how these card games bring people together socially...

"Women and men from all walks of life were soon playing card games at home and in taverns. New games - and different decks of cards - were rapidly invented in every region as the popularity of playing cards spread across Europe and went on to cross the Atlantic."

I feel a connection could be made here with how card games brought together a whole host of different people and how mobile games appeal to a wide range of people, from all walks of life. Online MMOs bring together a grand spectrum of people from all over the world - games unite us. This could also be something to further explore in different modes of play, how arenas, sports and films unite people, the social aspect of play. There was a mode in Super Smash Bros Brawl where you could choose to bet on who would win an online match for example, rather like arena fights.

Another point I'll note doubt, I'm rather interested in virtual spaces of games. The map layout and digital landscape of Majora's Mask's Clock Town is something I used to love exploring as a kid, and still do and can as an adult! This could be compared to a digital doll's house of sorts, your interactions however being played out before you, feedback being more meaningful as actual events are taking place, not merely being imagined. Games in comparison to older, perhaps archaic toys could also be an interesting topic to delve into. Further, broader research is needed however!