As you might have noticed I have been absent for more than a month now. No conclusion to the MGDC, no new one for March, no thoughts or idea’s… nothing. What happened to me?
I dare to state it is not laziness, or carelessness. I have been wanting to get on with the MGDC a lot, especially since I have some idea’s in my head about the strategic uses of a D6 in a non-chance environment. But that’s just how for it all gets this past month, in my head.
To blame is … well, to blame am I, for being so ambitious in our school project. I haven’t dropped a single word about it, so let me start at the beginning.
Half a year ago, my class was divided into three groups, and given the following assignment: “Make an interactive project, based on Hamlet, with the twist ‘Machine’ “ We set to work, quickly coming up with the idea of an interactive theatre-play. There would be an online pregame where people could get a place in the world of the play, and get to know the characters. The idea was that they could get things like phone numbers etc. from them, and consequently call the characters during the play, or endgame, to give them advise.
After three weeks the teachers rated the three projects, and found them to be much alike. We were merged into one group, 10 members, to spend the rest of the 6 months creating a project together. It ended up being a mess. No one wanted to take responsibility for such a thing, and big discussions hindered any progress in the concept for weeks.
We dragged ourselves out of that tar pit however, and developed as a group. A new concept started to take shape, and we were happy to present the big plan in December; A three-week pregame, wherein the player would get to know the characters (politicians) in our interactive version of Hamlet. The players would fulfill the role of Spin doctors, influencing the reputations of the politicians. These reputations would be taken to the Endgame, where the players would continue to influence the reputations during an interactive five-acter.
So far, so good. We enjoyed a break from the project during winter-school, and resumed the project end January. That’s when things went out of hands. The pre-game turned into an ARG, with almost no preparation we had to run a challenging game for 66 players. Suddenly I was working on the project 09:00 to 22:00 daily. The last days of the pre-game (last Thursday for example) I was working on the project till 03:00… Everything had to be shoved aside.
Was it really necessary? Well maybe not. Maybe I did put more effort into than was strictly needed. But this was such a superb chance to experiment and learn! And I have learned a lot.
This week we prepare for the endgame piece, which will take place Thursday night. I cannot give any spoilers yet, so I will save what I’ve learned and what exactly our project was all about for a later post.
Rik out.
zondag 14 maart 2010
zaterdag 13 februari 2010
Interactive Narrative
I’d like to write about Steven Poole’s article regarding interactive narrative (from: Trigger Happy, the inner life of videogames, 2002). A text that thoroughly changed my perspective on game narratives.
Even though the book is nearly a decade old, the message is still very actual. In the chapter Never-ending-stories Poole elaborates on interactive storytelling, why he thinks its impossible, and why he thinks that games shouldn’t have an interactive story. Interactive narrative means the story is able to respond to the players actions in real time, customizing it to the needs and interests of the audience.
Poole splits the story of a game (or any other form of narrative) in two; the synchronic story (what happens now) and the diachronic story (the events that led up to the synchronic story). He reasons that, since the diachronic story is set in stone (you can’t change what happened in the past.) it must be the synchronic story that can be made to respond interactively to the player. Then he continues to state that the gameplay of most games consists of a string of actions that by itself tell little or no story.
The latter can be argued about, since especially in the years since his writing a lot of games are actually story-driven, rewarding the player with a rich synchronic story. Interactive storytelling mostly used synonymously for non-linear narrative. Although this format does seem to offer a lot of freedom to the player, in it’s purest form (every choice leads to its own plotline) it would take a century to develop a meaningful range of different choices. The realistic alternative is a multi-linear storyline, where choices converge so they can ‘share’ chapters. This however results in an amnesiac storyline, that can never refer to it’s past in a specific way, since each chapter must be written to fit a series of different prequels. In that case the player learns to recognize the patterns, and avoid ‘bad’ choices. And as Poole states; “If you know the consequences of your choice in advance, it is no longer a choice.”
This directly links to one of the biggest problems with interactive narrative in games; the contradiction between replayability, and irreversibility. One of the most basic qualities of a game is the fact that you can restart, rewind (game over, try again). We can learn from mistakes and feel the satisfaction of getting it right. One of the most basic qualities of storytelling however, is emotions we feel because of the irreversibility. If the main characters in stories would be able to rewind and play again, there would be no tragedies. The most touching moments in games happen when the script kicks in with Animated cut scenes, showing us an emotional event. The conclusion Steeven Poole draws from this is, “the drama is provided by pre-scripted story, the virtual exploration is interactive, and never the twain shall meet.”
But we can ask ourselves, is this really a bad thing? I myself could not have better formulated it than Poole, who writes: “… But this should not be surprising, or even disappointing. Because stories will always be things that people want to be told. If everyone wanted to make up their own story, why would they buy so many novels and cinema tickets? We like stories in general because they’re not interactive.”
This means that a completely interactive narrative should not be aimed for in games. It doesn’t mean however that there is no innovation to be made. Interactivity and multi-linear / non-linear storylines can be a great inspiration and tool to achieve immersive narrative. In my opinion games are a perfect medium to bring the audience an experience, to tell them a story. And as a Game Designer, I want to tell stories.
Rik out.
Even though the book is nearly a decade old, the message is still very actual. In the chapter Never-ending-stories Poole elaborates on interactive storytelling, why he thinks its impossible, and why he thinks that games shouldn’t have an interactive story. Interactive narrative means the story is able to respond to the players actions in real time, customizing it to the needs and interests of the audience.
Poole splits the story of a game (or any other form of narrative) in two; the synchronic story (what happens now) and the diachronic story (the events that led up to the synchronic story). He reasons that, since the diachronic story is set in stone (you can’t change what happened in the past.) it must be the synchronic story that can be made to respond interactively to the player. Then he continues to state that the gameplay of most games consists of a string of actions that by itself tell little or no story.
The latter can be argued about, since especially in the years since his writing a lot of games are actually story-driven, rewarding the player with a rich synchronic story. Interactive storytelling mostly used synonymously for non-linear narrative. Although this format does seem to offer a lot of freedom to the player, in it’s purest form (every choice leads to its own plotline) it would take a century to develop a meaningful range of different choices. The realistic alternative is a multi-linear storyline, where choices converge so they can ‘share’ chapters. This however results in an amnesiac storyline, that can never refer to it’s past in a specific way, since each chapter must be written to fit a series of different prequels. In that case the player learns to recognize the patterns, and avoid ‘bad’ choices. And as Poole states; “If you know the consequences of your choice in advance, it is no longer a choice.”
This directly links to one of the biggest problems with interactive narrative in games; the contradiction between replayability, and irreversibility. One of the most basic qualities of a game is the fact that you can restart, rewind (game over, try again). We can learn from mistakes and feel the satisfaction of getting it right. One of the most basic qualities of storytelling however, is emotions we feel because of the irreversibility. If the main characters in stories would be able to rewind and play again, there would be no tragedies. The most touching moments in games happen when the script kicks in with Animated cut scenes, showing us an emotional event. The conclusion Steeven Poole draws from this is, “the drama is provided by pre-scripted story, the virtual exploration is interactive, and never the twain shall meet.”
But we can ask ourselves, is this really a bad thing? I myself could not have better formulated it than Poole, who writes: “… But this should not be surprising, or even disappointing. Because stories will always be things that people want to be told. If everyone wanted to make up their own story, why would they buy so many novels and cinema tickets? We like stories in general because they’re not interactive.”
This means that a completely interactive narrative should not be aimed for in games. It doesn’t mean however that there is no innovation to be made. Interactivity and multi-linear / non-linear storylines can be a great inspiration and tool to achieve immersive narrative. In my opinion games are a perfect medium to bring the audience an experience, to tell them a story. And as a Game Designer, I want to tell stories.
Rik out.
dinsdag 2 februari 2010
GGJ 2010
Two nights of deep slumber and I feel ready to write about last weekend’s Global Game Jam. For those who don’t know the event, it’s a worldwide happening where gamedesigners, -artists, -programmers and sounddesigners come together and create games in a less than 48 hour time span. The winner of the Dutch awards was a very nice platformer puzzle game, but I will save that for another post.
After some introductions we formed teams. I could have joined some friends, but thought it would be interesting to try and team up with people I didn’t know yet. We got a room assigned and immediately started brainstorming (with so much enthusiasm that we completely missed dinner). I liked the spirits of my team members but was less happy with the fact that they narrowed down immediately to the first idea to enter the table. I know 48 hours is not a long time, but this felt like an overhasty decision (Plus the concept is hardly an aspect I would economize on). I seemed to be the only one concerned with this, so I eventually gave in.
The original idea included a multi-colored level with enemies moving towards the player’s character. Consisting of the same colors as the background the trick would not be to react to masses and masses of enemies, avoiding and shooting them, but to try and find the camouflaged enemies, and then shoot them. I wasn’t convinced of the brilliance of this concept, but decided to do my very best to make this game a great game in spite of my prejudices.
About 45 hours later Stain was a playable game. An arcade shoot-em-up using an Xbox-360 controller, where the player takes the role of a disposable Key Golem, a protector of ‘the Dream’. Or in my words at that time:
As you shape the Ink colors of the Dream World, hidden Nightmares emerge, seeking your death. You are a Golem, one of many Key Guardians. Your only goal; to free as many consumed Dream Spirits before your destruction. Use the Dreams Keys to unlock Nightmares, break them, and free the consumed Spirits. Shape the Ink, reveal the deceitful Nightmares and postpone your unmaking for as long as possible. Do you have what it takes to be remembered as a Top Dreamer? Can you see through the Stain?
The player’s goal is to free as many Dream Spirits (the particles in the picture) as possible, by shooting keys at Nightmares that slowly crawl towards her. New keys can be acquired by flying into bigger Dream baubles that float through the screen now and then. Since each Nightmare comes in one of the background colors, you have to watch carefully to spot them in time. When a Nightmare hits the player, she loses a life (the Hourglasses). Three life’s and you’re out, or as we called it, “The Dream is over”. The player has one more tool at her disposal; an Ink firing gun. By holding the LT on the controller the player charges the Ink gun, and upon release fires a blob of ink onto the field. The longer the charge, the further the blob splashes onto the Dream, and the bigger the Stain. In this way the player can attempt to scout ahead for inbound Nightmares.
I learned a lot from this event. One of the lessons being that I can force myself to perform on as much as 4 hours of sleep over the whole weekend. Not something I want to do often, but it feels good to have sought out that border.
More useful are the following lessons:
Consistency /= Tutorial-says-so
Something that frustrated me most over the weekend was having to endlessly plead for consistency. For some reason the others were convinced that game world consistency comes from telling the player “this is the way it works” . Although I agree that a game world is the perfect place for breaking the rules of our reality in a virtual environment, It does not mean the game world does not need an internal consistency. I want the player to think “I can’t use my gun here because it’s obviously useless” and not “I can’t use my gun here because the designer thought the level would be too easy then.” I thank this lesson to Steven Poole, whose plea for game consistency in his book ‘Trigger Happy’ made me think about this dilemma.
Audio
No concrete lesson here, but since our group had no sound artist, I took it on me to collect and edit sound effects and background music. I learned a lot about these things by simply doing them for the first time.
Don’t ruin it
Perhaps the most harsh lesson I learned was that if something worked just prior to the Deadline, don’t exchange it with new content that can’t be tested. In my search for the perfect balancing algorithm for spawning enemies in relation to the advance of the game I forced a long logarithmic function into the game that caused the official upload to the gamejam site to be unplayable. The previous algorithm was perhaps a bit slow paced and linear but at least worked.
This concludes what I wanted to write about my experiences. I had a great time and will definitely be participating again next year. We have been invited to participate in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. I hope the team can be brought together to really polish the game and enter into this contest. I know I’d love to.
As mentioned before I will be posting about the game Resonance, which won the Dutch first price award and public vote award. If you’re anxious to try it yourself, go here.
Rik out.
After some introductions we formed teams. I could have joined some friends, but thought it would be interesting to try and team up with people I didn’t know yet. We got a room assigned and immediately started brainstorming (with so much enthusiasm that we completely missed dinner). I liked the spirits of my team members but was less happy with the fact that they narrowed down immediately to the first idea to enter the table. I know 48 hours is not a long time, but this felt like an overhasty decision (Plus the concept is hardly an aspect I would economize on). I seemed to be the only one concerned with this, so I eventually gave in.
The original idea included a multi-colored level with enemies moving towards the player’s character. Consisting of the same colors as the background the trick would not be to react to masses and masses of enemies, avoiding and shooting them, but to try and find the camouflaged enemies, and then shoot them. I wasn’t convinced of the brilliance of this concept, but decided to do my very best to make this game a great game in spite of my prejudices.
About 45 hours later Stain was a playable game. An arcade shoot-em-up using an Xbox-360 controller, where the player takes the role of a disposable Key Golem, a protector of ‘the Dream’. Or in my words at that time:
As you shape the Ink colors of the Dream World, hidden Nightmares emerge, seeking your death. You are a Golem, one of many Key Guardians. Your only goal; to free as many consumed Dream Spirits before your destruction. Use the Dreams Keys to unlock Nightmares, break them, and free the consumed Spirits. Shape the Ink, reveal the deceitful Nightmares and postpone your unmaking for as long as possible. Do you have what it takes to be remembered as a Top Dreamer? Can you see through the Stain?
The player’s goal is to free as many Dream Spirits (the particles in the picture) as possible, by shooting keys at Nightmares that slowly crawl towards her. New keys can be acquired by flying into bigger Dream baubles that float through the screen now and then. Since each Nightmare comes in one of the background colors, you have to watch carefully to spot them in time. When a Nightmare hits the player, she loses a life (the Hourglasses). Three life’s and you’re out, or as we called it, “The Dream is over”. The player has one more tool at her disposal; an Ink firing gun. By holding the LT on the controller the player charges the Ink gun, and upon release fires a blob of ink onto the field. The longer the charge, the further the blob splashes onto the Dream, and the bigger the Stain. In this way the player can attempt to scout ahead for inbound Nightmares.
I learned a lot from this event. One of the lessons being that I can force myself to perform on as much as 4 hours of sleep over the whole weekend. Not something I want to do often, but it feels good to have sought out that border.
More useful are the following lessons:
Consistency /= Tutorial-says-so
Something that frustrated me most over the weekend was having to endlessly plead for consistency. For some reason the others were convinced that game world consistency comes from telling the player “this is the way it works” . Although I agree that a game world is the perfect place for breaking the rules of our reality in a virtual environment, It does not mean the game world does not need an internal consistency. I want the player to think “I can’t use my gun here because it’s obviously useless” and not “I can’t use my gun here because the designer thought the level would be too easy then.” I thank this lesson to Steven Poole, whose plea for game consistency in his book ‘Trigger Happy’ made me think about this dilemma.
Audio
No concrete lesson here, but since our group had no sound artist, I took it on me to collect and edit sound effects and background music. I learned a lot about these things by simply doing them for the first time.
Don’t ruin it
Perhaps the most harsh lesson I learned was that if something worked just prior to the Deadline, don’t exchange it with new content that can’t be tested. In my search for the perfect balancing algorithm for spawning enemies in relation to the advance of the game I forced a long logarithmic function into the game that caused the official upload to the gamejam site to be unplayable. The previous algorithm was perhaps a bit slow paced and linear but at least worked.
This concludes what I wanted to write about my experiences. I had a great time and will definitely be participating again next year. We have been invited to participate in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. I hope the team can be brought together to really polish the game and enter into this contest. I know I’d love to.
As mentioned before I will be posting about the game Resonance, which won the Dutch first price award and public vote award. If you’re anxious to try it yourself, go here.
Rik out.
maandag 1 februari 2010
The first MGDC
The first of February means it is time to set the first Monthly Game Design Challenge! So far, it seems I have two others interested to contest.
I’m still quite exhausted from the Global Game Jam (more about that in a post-to-come), but a promise is a promise, even to myself. So without further ado, here’s this month’s challenge, as was decided by a handful of dice!
In February, design a game about Underwater, that has a Strategic play, using Pencils, two Six-sided Dice and Graph paper.
Underwater is this month’s theme. Some interesting idea’s pop up in my head. Apart from the obvious undersea-worlds and submarines, I see flooded apartments, trapped-under-the-ice, lost treasures and many, many more things which could make for an excellent game-setting.
Strategic play means the win-condition of the game is achieved by carefully planning and executing by the player. It means there is little or no chance, unless chance is part of an action the player can opt as part of her strategy. An interesting combination with the dice!
Pencils. Any color will do, any amount will do. They can be physically part of the game, or required to write/draw.
Two Six-sided Dice. It has to be two. No more and no less. As mentioned before this is an interesting match with the Strategic play. I am going to be testing alternative uses, for example as game pieces that can be turned to change value or function on basis of their number.
Graph paper. Paper with squares, the kind you used to bring to Math class. Perhaps one sheet will do as game board, or a pile is needed for the players to draw or write on. The fact that it is graph paper has to be utilized, so you can’t just treat it as blank paper for folding your game pieces.
Apart from the above items, anything can be used to create a game for this challenge, with the exception of extra six-sided dice. I am looking forward to start playing with these restrictions, and to see the results of the others.
For now I say, let the Challenge begin!
Rik out.
I’m still quite exhausted from the Global Game Jam (more about that in a post-to-come), but a promise is a promise, even to myself. So without further ado, here’s this month’s challenge, as was decided by a handful of dice!
In February, design a game about Underwater, that has a Strategic play, using Pencils, two Six-sided Dice and Graph paper.
Underwater is this month’s theme. Some interesting idea’s pop up in my head. Apart from the obvious undersea-worlds and submarines, I see flooded apartments, trapped-under-the-ice, lost treasures and many, many more things which could make for an excellent game-setting.
Strategic play means the win-condition of the game is achieved by carefully planning and executing by the player. It means there is little or no chance, unless chance is part of an action the player can opt as part of her strategy. An interesting combination with the dice!
Pencils. Any color will do, any amount will do. They can be physically part of the game, or required to write/draw.
Two Six-sided Dice. It has to be two. No more and no less. As mentioned before this is an interesting match with the Strategic play. I am going to be testing alternative uses, for example as game pieces that can be turned to change value or function on basis of their number.
Graph paper. Paper with squares, the kind you used to bring to Math class. Perhaps one sheet will do as game board, or a pile is needed for the players to draw or write on. The fact that it is graph paper has to be utilized, so you can’t just treat it as blank paper for folding your game pieces.
Apart from the above items, anything can be used to create a game for this challenge, with the exception of extra six-sided dice. I am looking forward to start playing with these restrictions, and to see the results of the others.
For now I say, let the Challenge begin!
Rik out.
zaterdag 23 januari 2010
Monthly Game Design Challenge
As I wrote in my previous post, I will start a Monthly Game Design Challenge. Right here, right now.
What is it?
The Monthly Game Design Challenge is much as the name implies, a challenge I want to set each month. The challenge will be to create a board-, card-, dice- or otherwise non-digital game with an assignment including restrictions and a theme.
Why?
To put creativity to the test. To practice designing for various target audiences. To train Game Design skills. To have a lot of fun creating new games.
For who?
To begin with, for me. But I will be inviting fellow-students and friends. And anyone who reads this and wants to give it a try. Whether they keep the result to themselves or share them.
How will the challenges be set?
I will put together a list (or array if you will) containing:
- Game Assets (dice, cards, symbols etc.)
- Themes (pirate, shopping mart etc.)
- Play Types (< 12 years, strategic etc.)
Anyone is welcome to send (mail, reactions, call) me any idea's they have for any of the above categories so I can add them to the list. At the start of every new month I will randomly select 1-3 Game Assets, 1 Theme and 1 Play Type from the list.
So what will a challenge look like?
A challenge may look like this:
"This month, create a game about Scuba diving that uses 5 six-sided dice and a chessboard, and is targeted at age 8-12."
This means the final design at the end of the month must include 5 six-sided dice and a chessboard, but may very well also feature a set of cards, plastic mini-figs, coins etc.
When will the Monthly Game Design Challenge start?
I will start as of now to create the list mentioned earlier. The first challenge will be announced Feb. 1st, 2010.
I will be blogging about my process and outcome with every challenge. I welcome others to do the same, reply to my entries or e-mail me. If this grows to be something that is enjoyed and practiced by more people than just me and some friends I will put up a website to archive and share projects. In case it gets that far I look forward to shape the whole thing into a casual competition, with titles to be won etc.
For now, that's it. More on this in February with the first challenge.
Rik out.
[Photo by fdecomite]
The First Post
I have been cracking my head over this first post. How to start out a Blog, how to write a post that will define by its content the expectations (my own) and obligations (to myself) for the future of this Blog? So I'll start with a sum-up of those two factors.
Expectations:
- This Blog will be read
- This Blog will inspire myself and others
- This Blog will remind me my goals and ambitions, and help me get there.
Obligations:
- I will start a monthly Gamedesign Challenge here. (More about that later)
- I will talk about Games (of any kind) from a designers perspective
- I will talk about Gamedesign
Having jumped that hedge, I feel thrilled to take this step. For me it stands for making the choice of becoming a Gamedesigner. For me this is a promise of things to come and dreams to live.
Rik out.
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