Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts

Research Report Proposal- Beginnings

So from here on out, I'm to start considering what to do for my 5000/10,000 word research report and look into what sources are available to me for that and to choose whether I want my report to take the form of an extended essay, an industry report, a technical report or any other such form. I'm currently most drawn to the idea of an extended essay and I've a few ideas already:

How is Western Culture interpreted within Japanese Games?- For this im interested in how Christianic lore and religion is often used and interpreted within Eastern games. Examples being the gruesome yet contextually accurate angels with the Bayonetta franchise, a hierachy of angels and reapers within The World Ends With You and even the pure concept and aesthetics of healers and clerics within RPGs. Benediction, Revival and healing all big features in these games, angels and devils are often called upon as imagery for anime characters as well.

The Culture of Monsters- Again with Japanese games and moreover culture, monsters and creatures are a huge part of Japan. With links to Japan's rich cultural history of yokai, these cultural monsters and the fondness for them influence the amount of mascots used in Japanese advertising, games like  Pokemon alongside many popular RPG titles having mascot monsters, such as the slime in Dragon Quest, merchandise for this critter being plentiful- a game called yokai watch from Nintendo is a new IP thats being released worldwide, pegged to be the next Pokemon, as the Western Disney IP Spectrobes attempted- why did this fail to match up? Looking at these links and exploring the attachment we have to virtual creatures, the historical context that influenced this and why we as people are so invested in the imaginary identities of beasts.

LGBT and Representation in Games-  As the industry ages, it begins to accept and represent the wider community of players from different walks of life, how are they being presented, how has it developed and what needs to be overcome? Th representation of women in games is developing from pure objectification, yet its still a large staple, as are stereotypes of minorities. The game series Fire Emblem in their latest installment allows the player to be gay, but only with a single character in game, and lesbian and gay relations being exclusive to the two sister title. Homosexuals are not Pokemon! This should not be exclusive, and why could this not have been opened out to all characters with the potential of being bi or pansexual? Why is it in the game a gay couple cant have children, a large mechanic of the game (aside from biological reasons) despite the game world featuring werewolves, dark magic and interdimensional world travel? Is the concept of a gay couple with children more mind-boggling than a polymorphing dragonic protagonist?! And less said about the gay conversion therapy story arch within the game the better....

Meta- Continuing my last essay into a wider research report on engagement with players, something I've been strongly suggested to consider. However, I'll take what I've done and add to my next idea, the one I want to go forward with...

The Theatricality of Games: How Games Invoke Catharsis, Employ Escapism and Promote Emotional Growth- The drama student in me is immortal. I've been a preacher of theatricality within games for an age (no one listens to me) so what better way to get my point across than 5000 well cited words? Games have always meant a lot to me in the stories they've weaved, the worlds I've visited, the characters I've met, and the emotions I've felt. I believe anything that can move or inspire an individual, employ catharsis, is something to be cherished. C. JoyBell C. a writer, once wrote:

"How do you know if something is real? That's easy. Does it change you? Does it form you? Does it give you wings? Does it give you roots? Does it make you look back at a month ago and say, "I am a whole different person now"? If yes, then it's real. The evidence of truth and reality, lies in how much something can touch you, can change you, even if it's from very far away."

I'll of course have to look into the source of this quote more, understand more about JoyBell first. But this is the thing, I can quite happily list countless times a game has made me cry, has touched my heart, has influenced my perception, has in no hyperbolic sense- changed me. I'm certain I'm not alone. I'd gather primary research through google docs, play some games I've been meaning to like The Cat Lady, FireWatch and others as well as explore meta more- how is a game directly contacting us to make us feel something?

A focus and look at a variety of theatre practitioners I'm aware of due to prior studies would also be beneficial, as well as seeing some theatre as well to link it all in with quotes and so the breadth of my research is as  wide as it is deep.

As a suggestion, I was tasked to look into online sources as well as the library I have at my disposal. I've found a variety of articles and books I could read and look into, the previously cited Aarseth's "Cybertext" will be something I'd like to read cover to cover over Summer alongside all and any theatre practitioner manifestos and essays.

Games are often dismissed as a medium, and there's a whole essay already arguing against my point, dismissing games as lacking the dramatic power to move a player. I wholeheartedly disagree.

Using gamestudies.org, Selmer Bringsjord writes that games cannot be dramatically compelling as to be so, game characters must be autonomous, they must highly complex AI. Disregarding this entirely with the fact that this essay was written nearly two decades ago, and much has advanced in that time, writers creating stories and strong, believable, relatable characters for players to connect to. Going through all her points, it was easy to argue that writer facilitates all of this- i also realised that as narrative and characters are important to drama, and games being highly interactive by nature, true moments of unique drama shine in games through choices. Branching paths with characters reacting in turn, as in my last essay, the morality and ethics of these decisions being the crux of the drama within games.

Another article introduced me to the technique of critiquing narratives via Polti Ratios, something I'll have to practice and analyse the games I'll be looking at with, categories for these ratios consisting of Levels of Drama, Variety of Drama and Involvement of Drama.

Using the Library, I found a book called "Masks: Faces of Culture" which I feel would make a wonderful comparison for theatre and games. Masks allow you to become someone else, much can be said for any play avatar created for any game- you don a persona of your own making. A Digra call for papers spoke about this very topic, about how players traverse virtual environments as a character and how this can aid learning and emotional development.

Looking through Jstor, I found a collection on Avatars and within games how ludology and narrative can help and hinder each other. I also found sources on the nature of catharsis and a book on how theatre educates, linking this to how games promote emotional growth.

I feel I have a lot to go on with this idea for my research report, but I'll see how I can refine it in the months to come.
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Research- Focus on Mazes, Morality and Meta- Proposal

Having originally wanted to base my essay on the idea of meta-games, linking that to mazes and labyrinths, exploration and interaction of the game making use of paths outside itself, I have refocused this idea, by applying it to the games Undertale and Virtues Last Reward.

With a focus on morality and choices, the idea of the labyrinth and the meta qualities of both games interwoven with these themes. Citing the likes of Epsen Aarseth to explore these games as ergodic literature, I'll also be exploring Bertolt Brecht's idea of alienating an audience and Antonin Artaud's concept of the Theatre of Cruelty, doing the polar opposite. With a wide scope on morality and ethics, I'll also be exploring the John Nash's Prisoner's Dilemma, an integral theme and mechanic to Virtues Last Reward and exemplified at key moments within Undertale, as well as Adam Smith's concept of "The Invisible Hand" and the selfishness of Man- both games looking quite deeply at the morality of mankind and critiquing it. The emotional dilemmas this offers up to the player shall also be explored through narrative and player interaction with what Aarseth calls a "cybertext", and how this links to the integral part of Mazes- to gain strength and betterment- exemplified further by the Christian context of Labyrinths.

Within the context of Meta and Labyrinths and Morality, John Clowder's Middens fits all of these: a large visually obscure maze-like world to explore, where every character can be killed indefinetly and that in its finale, preaches that all living things are bored and want to die. Summarised with this line, directed completely beyond the 4th wall, directly at the player.


 All my notes for this Essay:
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Circuses and Arenas/ Fairgrounds and Themeparks/ Art,Animation,Film/ Wargames and Sport- Research- Whistle-stop Run Through



Stemming from the arenas of Greece, fighting games are a clear link. 2D fighting games such as Blazblue, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat pit one against another, battling to the "death". The popularity of these games within Esports, often streamed to a global audience via sites like Twitch, shows the spectacle of a fight appeals to a wide number of people, just as it did to the Greeks, this is the reason Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs) are so popular. Many combat-centric games feature the idea of an arena, be it the hack and slash antics of the crucible within Darksiders 2, a distraction from the main quest where you take on many waves of enemies to unlock coveted prizes, or the much more docile Pokemon Stadium, a spin off that focuses on the combat element of the game, rendering 2D Pokemon in 3D models in more detailed environments. The idea of a Boss fight, a challenge a player must face and conquer to progress, is often an exciting one to the player, often rewarding the player with a new skill. Playing Legend of Zelda, an astute player may look at their map and find an unexplored, large, spherical room and deduce thats where a mini-boss may be- the room appearing like an arena in shape, large and spacious. Games that focus around boss fights primarily, are built on this idea of player anticipation, excitement for the spectacle; within No More Heroes  the identity of each assassin you must kill to climb the ranks is hinted at via a silhouette and a quote before each level, players traversing the unicursal labyrinth of the playscape to reach the Boss.

Circuses similarly, focus on this idea of a spectacle, exciting the spectator with wild, strange and new things to beguile and entertain. The game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance has the player pulling off visually dynamic acrobatic feats during combat, but also helper monsters, many of which in colour and design resemble carnival aesthetics, a performing seal and an adorned elephant being examples. Many games feature mini-games, some are made entirely of them, smaller self-contained interactive moments, set up in a way similar to a carnival, many small games available to try. The Sega owned franchise of NiGHTS is an ode to the Circus, the player taking on the role of a flying jester-like character, performing aerial acrobatics to accrue points, defeating circus inspired enemies such as freakish balloon-like clowns and shapeshifting, a visual spectacle as the protagonist takes on drastically varying forms to achieve a variety of feats. The fact the player must fly through hoops is no coincidence either. NiGHTS has a thematic focus on dreams, offering both the Dystopian world of Nightmares, and the Utopian one of dreams where all is possible, colourful and exciting.  



This idea of Utopia is incredibly strong concerning the realms of Fairgrounds and Theme parks. Crafting a world that is coherent throughout, with different themed sections of the park and themed foods and even toilets, this is furthered in the Super Mario franchise, in game there being a variety of different worlds, a lava, a jungle and spooky world all coming to mind. The hub area of Super Mario Galaxy is a sprawling environment you can fly around to explore, catapulting yourself to different sections of the map to access a plethora of other worlds. Real life theme parks such as Disneyland are seen in the game Epic Mickey, the player wandering a dystopian version of the utopian park, fighting nightmarish amalgamations of old park rides and traversing 3D renders of the parks, even finding a secret virtual version of Walt Disney's house. The game Kingdom Hearts is heavily influenced by Disney, the latest game featuring a mechanic where you summon parts of famous Disneyland rides to battle enemies, using a rotating teacup or mowing down enemies with the Park Train for example. The game series Scribblenauts Unlimited is a sort of sandbox game where you have the ability to write anything and have it appear, the games library of possible items being vast and deep, the world becoming a place where anything is possible due to your omnipotence, the game world a playground for you to explore and overcome challenges in creative ways. 



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.
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Books and Comics- Research



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.
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Arcades and Parlour Games- Research


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!
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Board games and Card Games - Research



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.
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Mazes and Labyrinths- Research


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. 

   

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Preliminary Essay Research

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!
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Weekly Summary 6

I began by hunting down audio, looking for a backing track to my game that would suit the mood I'm trying to convey. I discovered a piece on Soundcloud aptly titled "Sad Ambiance" by Aric-misc. projects and promptly asked for permission to use. I also looked for a sound effect for my NPCs, I wanted something more abstract than what royalty free sites like SoundBible were offering, something memorable and strange to fit the game and the NPCs themselves. I decided on a clockwork sound, as I felt within the game it wouldn't be easily identifiable, more of a strange crackle that players would hear as they entered the NPCs trigger box.

I also worked on some aesthetics for my game this week, to make it start to look like something.
Implementing my walk cycle proved difficult due to settings I had in place, but it was soon fixed by simple scaling. I painted the enemies that appear throughout the game, warping the player to the start.


I quite like the idea of some kind of mound, like in the Mutual Core video by Bjork, covered with theatre masks.


Im thinking of calling them Notions, or bad Thoughts as that's what they represent, catching up to the player and having them start at square one- they could also be seen as Ennui, that creeps and consumes the player.

I also wanted my collect orbs to appear as something, small suns or lights. The first being a failed attempt, the second a more workable sprite.


The player having to collect three minimum to pass through the gate at the top of the map, there are more to collect in the game if the player chooses to explore more however. I also tried to create a backdrop for my game, something simple.



However these were far too dark and parts of the first world and NPC text weren't appearing. I decided to leave it for now and use the default texture, until something more workable comes up.

Mechanically, a lot was going wrong with my game. When swapping worlds and hitting an enemy, an Ennui, the teleport co-ordinates would warp the player further along, so one world where you weren't meant to fly you could, and the other was the mapless dark void. So a simple actor with killzones  attached was needed. I looked into these nodes, as i needed the game to restart in case the player did fall through the game world, and a node to end the game with the Death Interactions

.
Whilst trying to get the harp to work, the pulse was acting as the collision necessary to warp the character to the beginning, so this needed to be changed to the player capsule, containing the character so the warp would still be effective.

To solve the enemy problems, I set up two pawns, one for each world. Which worked fine, but to make it more efficient I used one pawn with a boolean instead, based on world. This too had snags, but it was an issue of swapping nodes around- Ennui were taking the player to wrong world. The harp mechanic worked, but they no longer warped the player on a simple touch, they have to really get up close to the player. I tried to amend this with changing the dimensions of the capsule component with limited success. Through play-testing I'll judge if this is too much of an issue.


In regards to exit gate and collecting orbs, I learned that I needed two instead of one variable, one assigned to the character of "orbs" and one assigned to the orbs themselves as orb amount, so they can be added together upon collision, tested by the end gate.


This resulted in the exit gate working. So my harp now worked, the enemies worked correctly, as did movement and there's a way of winning the game. However for sake of metaphor, the other way of ending the game had to be implemented. The interactions with death.

It turned out what I had tried to lay out was far too convoluted, so I was taught about text arrays and linking a widget.



An array is a collection of variables accessed via a single node, simply referring to the number of the variable you need from the array is how these blueprints work.


By then referring to the order in which these words appear, and where within the widget...


This is how the interaction takes place, with a choice of two, or one options. This is how the player can choose to die.

Having now achieved a basis for all my working mechanics, I tried to visually polish everything to the be left with Pitch Document to work on solidly, however this shouldn't have been how I divided my time, they should have been worked on simultaneously. This can't be helped now however.

I tried setting each block that made the separate game maps a solid colour, by changing the texture of the material, that worked for a while, however it also destroyed my game. Each block that made my map expanded to the point of ruination, nothing could be navigated due to this texture change. I luckily had a backup but had to redo a lot of things. Having a black world and a white one would have to wait.

To get it playtested, I also roughed up some instructions, something I want visually present in the game, so players can wander immediately. NPCs, now called Notions, were also blocked in.


With these, I had my first playtest, leaving them in the room alone to connect more with the game, as intended.


Feedback

 -killzone needs to be bigger

-game works fine until you world swap into part of the other world, then you fall out completely

-theres a glitch if you world swap too quickly next to a Notion, the text stays

-there should be a harp and light sound effect

-the Notions were seen as suicidal thoughts and it sets the games tone as mental illness, they're seen as outside forces telling you what to do, good and bad influences. They were relatable messages.

-when reached Death, he seemed to be a good choice due to Notions, Positive mode is designed to have you fall and not be able to ascend without the other mode. They were seen the other way around, as there is a joy to flying, which is something I hadn't forseen.

-music worked very well, sound effects got attention

-harp and end gate not found, perhaps have arrows,

-Engaging, wanted to find Notions

-Main character has been seen as different genders by different people, something to be projected on, which was the intention.

A moment I enjoyed whilst playing is discovering a room in flying mood filled with huge Ennui, it was my playtester's first run in with them. A few niggles, but this insight is invaluable.



Game Research

 I was told to look into the works of Daniel Benmergui, a games designer who instills emotion and meaning into his games, upon closer inspection of his game "Today I Die" I realised...


...I'd actually played this before. At the Digital Revolution in London in 2014, I sat and played his game, and really connected with it. Its like interactive poetry, shifting words to change the scene to get the girl to safety. Simple mechanics, big impact. Much can be said for his other game "I wish I were the Moon".


I hadn't played this one, but I has multiple endings, based on what you shift where and when. Remove the man from his moon and hes miserable. Put both of you on it, you drown. My favourite way of ending the game is putting yourself in his place, becoming his "moon". These games hold a lot of meaning, and I really admire the emotion and story put into them

Research Lecture

Linking back to my essay, which is about how forms of entertainment of the past influence today's video games, its easy to see that play and games are an integral part of humanity. This lecture used mazes as an example, a real life space to navigate away from the real world. Something we all do today but don't require an architectural building to do; we can escape and explore through games.

There are unicursal mazes with one path, and multicursal mazes with multiple, these have dead ends and can lead you astray. The myth of the Minotaur heavily features one, and mazes have been a part of culture since the age of the Greeks in one form or another. Within a  multicursal maze you meander, exploring different routes, which can be said for games with different endings like Silent Hill, which is both virtually a physical maze and a psychological one. A personal favorite game is Virtues Last Reward, which has a plethora of endings which in itself is a mechanic, its a large "maze" that must be explored completely to discover the true ending. Pacman serves as a maze, a space to outrun and outwit ghosts through different levels, many games can be linked.

My game is a maze, an interactive one where intimate thoughts are encountered, its a space to be explored and surmounted. One can choose to explore and discover things, or choose the easy way out of the maze. A metaphor reflecting the living of a life.

Tale of  Tales have a game called The Path, which takes direct inspiration from Little Red Riding Hood. If you do as you're told an always have been through the story and every other source, you follow the path and nothing really happens, but stray or meander, and the game really starts.

The game I critique will have to be unpicked in such a way as to find these links, I'll start looking into games ASAP.
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Weekly Summary: 4

At the start of this week, I blocked out the majority of my map to use as a basis for the game, building from the tutorial I'd followed on creating a 2D platformer from scratch.

I was introduced to the use of a construction script alongside the typical event script, both were used
in creation of the lift.





I'm unsure as to the use of the lifts in my actual game, but for now they're staying to playtest my level as I work on implementing the core mechanics. I now had the working bare bones of my prototype.

Lecture: Lean, MVP, and Playtesting

 We had a lecture that covered a brief history of development models, ways of working to generate content, a game, in the most efficient way possible. There's the linear waterfall model...

The agile/scrum model...


The Lean method, brilliant for startup and smaller indie endeavors...the 5 whys are a way of tackling a problem, to keep drilling down by asking why, what is the root of everything?



And a break down graph that shows what this all really means


From a simple look, you can see the Lean method goes through the same process very quickly again and again, it fails faster to work out problems at much quicker pace, eliminating waste. The lean philosophy dictates that anything not adding value to the customer is  waste, waste can include unnecessary code and functionality, delay in software development process, unclear requirements, insufficient testing, bureaucracy and slow internal communication.



Amplify learning by testing the second something is done to change and alter and get feedback as soon as possible, this will get your product to where you want it to be much faster. Deciding as late as possible is another good factor of Lean, software development comes with a lot of uncertainty and making important decisions is best left until later, where you can make decisions based on fact rather than presumption.

An MVP, as Eric Ries Author of "The Lean Startup" describes, is a "version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort". So for my prototype, I need to create the core "game loop" which makes my game enjoyable and invokes flow, test it to see how it works and adjust accordingly. An Indie company would have very few developers, a few months to create their game and have a few mechanics to fine tune. To test the market with their MVP also.

Playtesting is imperative, but feedback must be valid, be it personal or from forms to gather metric data. Personal data can be good from a small pool of people, as it can illuminate issues that metric data might not be able to show you.

NPC BLUEPRINTS

I soon tackled blueprinting NPCs into my game, who I want to flavor my game world , I followed a tutorial to find a base but had to fashion my own set of nodes.


The basic components were a mesh or sprite, a text renderer, a box collision and a scene root. I wanted text to appear when you approach an NPC and leave when you left, and I could program text appearing when near, but couldn't make it leave, or more obtusely, text would already be present but coming close to the sprite would make it disappear.


However, I deferred from the tutorial and added variables, one to appear when close and another of blank text to appear when leaving, this got me exactly what I wanted.



I also wanted my character to feel uncomfortably quick, so experimented with the general character settings and ramped up max acceleration and max speed, however I may have to learn to remove the speed up and have my character sprinting straight away. Some brief feedback I received was that the fast movement felt like a joy, it was liberating to move so quickly. The NPCs were used as landmarks around the map and the boost offered by a fast moving lift, if a jump was timed correctly, would catapult you high, an anomaly as a mechanic! Enemies were also blueprinted, with collisions, that teleport the player back to the start if they reach you.
RESEARCH LECTURE

 Within our first Research lecture, we were introduced to the topic of Creating Coherent Worlds, how fictional worlds are built and how we as people at a very young age imagine worlds to enter and interact in, from cardboard boxes to table tops with Lego sets. Whilst we're making games on a rather small scale, how can we think about our fabricated game worlds on a larger scale? Whats influenced us? And what are the origins of the game worlds many of us escape to today?

The game Circus Charlie, a rather old game now, took direct inspiration from the Circus and used its aesthetic and music  to translate into a game; people like going to the circus for entertainment, surely a game based around it would be appealing?

The game Kingdom hearts, a collaboration between Disney and Square Enix, has Final Fantasy characters intermingling with Disney characters, it works surprisingly well with a Pop aesthetic twist to the conventional Square Enix tropes. The character Pinocchio comes from Carlo Collodi 's story, written in 1881, which was translated into a Disney film which has then been blended into Kingdom Hearts, a whole world called Prankster's Paradise is present in the game and must be explored. The film AI takes a sci-fi approach to the tale, the wooden puppet becomes a robot child and the Blue Fairy is a strange projection from extraterrestrial beings.

Bioshock Infinite's world however  has roots in the "ideal America" and theme parks like Coney Island. One can see how all breathing, alive worlds designed and made to exist in games have strong links to other real life entertainments and how these have contributed to entertainment today, in the form of games. For my 3000 word research task, I'm to unpick game worlds and analyse what has fed into their creation.

Playboard and Sketches


Sketching out mechanics such as character interaction, use of the harp item and two movement modes, I realised  I didn't know exactly what I wanted my character to look like.

So I sketched out some silhouettes and began iterating.





I soon decided on an idea, and explored through sketches what I wanted from my simplistic design. The sun and moon no longer being your guides or helpers, I like this idea of an inanimate mask that when put on speaks through your mute character, and can give you hints and tips as to what to do next. Advice and her personality would change depending on what mode you would speak to her in.






I then sketched a side on view, painted in photoshop and began using the animation software Spriter to cut up my sprite to be animated for my game.


I've been learning to place down bones to rig my character, to animate a walk cycle. I hope to have a few animations in my prototype, if I can add them in the end!
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