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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Previous Year’s Work: Frission

I took the opportunity to examine previous year’s work on Interactive Media, examining their project proposals for clues and tips on mine (sort of an ARG feeling in a way, I was becoming Roslyn to inform how I would write Daedalus) One of the projects that jumped out at me was Frission.

Frission is an app for a smart device that generates ASMR as you read stories, ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) in short, its a term for when a sound triggers a specific response. This can be varied, a chill, a sensation of warmth, despair. This is most commonly experienced through music (although thunder, rain on a window or the barking of dogs can also generate feelings of fear or security, for example).

The idea is to utilise ASMR to enhance the stories presented in the app, for example a story about a sailor steering his boat along the shore would feature lulling sounds of waves splashing against the sides of the boat, the creak of wood, the buffeting of the sails or the subtle whisper of the winds. This would be in conjunction with the voice/text on screen and augmented with visually soothing illustrations. (The creator cited Pui Mun Law’s artwork, which reminded me oddly of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, but her artwork was nonetheless captivating to the eye and would surely be a boon to this app)

The creator’s financing stream of using kickstarter to create the product appears plausible as well. Given the popularity and volume of followers ASMR artists have (one had 406,200 followers on their blog) provided they are included in the Frission project, there is a ready revenue and customer base for this product. Naturally, many will simply be small fish, but there would be enough whales and dolphins (to coin the famous triangle) to invest the capital predicted to make the product. Once the app was launched however, it would require regular updates and the like to keep the content fresh.

This got me thinking about ASMR and wether I could perhaps use it for my own project, currently I’m reading Alexander Brandon’s Audio for games, Planning, Process and Production, in order to inform me of the types of audio tools I can use to enhance the playing experience of Daedalus. Imagine hearing the house creak and breathe as you searched Isadora’s house, hear Roslyn brush away the accumulated dust off of books as she searched for clues, listen to the clank and jangle of locks as you open a new area of the house to explore. This would add interest and keep the player engaged with the game and the narrative, because there is no escaping the fact that this will be something of a slow game, as most puzzle games are. Now the thing to do is figure out what sort of audioscape I want for Daedalus...

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Daedalus: How clues relate to puzzles the player will encounter through the game.

This post is more of a continuation of the last post I made, a chapter 2 if you will.

It is my intention that there be a wide variety of puzzles for the player to pit their wits against through the course of the game, having the same repetitive puzzle will prove boring after a few minutes as the player will quickly establish strategies to beat puzzles of a similar nature.

What follows are a few rough puzzle types I’ve drafted into mock up game screens, again I must state that I do not own the following images. They are the rightful property of Amnesia: The Dark Decent, Amnesia: Justine, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and The Imperial War Museum. I have used these images purely for the purposes of illustrating my ideas and I seek no monetary gains from their use.

Number/shadow puzzle: Taking inspiration from the Resident Evil series (which has incorporated cunning puzzle mechanics across the franchise) I have been intrigued by the use of shadow puzzles as either another puzzle type or to be used in conjunction to number/word puzzles. Take the screen below:

Here is a code to open a combination lock to another part of Isadora’s house, but Roslyn is missing a number. Hitting the action button, Roslyn scans for any useable clues in the environment:

Selecting the axe, she discovers that it is a tool to be used to cast a shadow, bringing it up into a revolving plane (fully possible with a touch screen device) Roslyn can manipulate the axe into making a shape onto the gap between 5 and 9:

Putting the axe in the right place reveals that the missing number is 7.

Now solved, Roslyn can return to the combination lock and access more of the house. It has yet to be decided wether shadow puzzles can be a stand alone concept or, as illustrated above, another layer to add to other puzzles.

Clues within clues: Later in the game Roslyn encounters a picture lock:

While pressing the action button will allow Roslyn to select different dials, unless she can figure out the right combination of images she can’t get into the room. Therefore she must backtrack through other areas to search for a clue that may shed some light, a good place for her to look may be the reading room:

Again, pressing the action button, Roslyn can search for clues. Luckily, here’s one that she overlooked from before:

Picking up the book and examining it in her journal, Roslyn is surprised to discover that there is a secondary clue hidden within:

Highlighting the cypher with the cypher button, Roslyn can return to the dial lock and enter the right code to open the door and discover a new room, the study:

No doubt more mysteries lie within to obscure her pursuit of Isadora’s whereabouts.

Recordings: Alternatively, Roslyn can interact with gramophone recordings in the house which may hold clues to the puzzle at hand. Returning to the dial lock, the answer could be in one of Isadora’s recorded memos to herself or a threatening message from Theodore:

Pressing the action button will play the recording, once done it will be automatically added to the recordings button where Roslyn can re-play any recording she’s listened to throughout the game. (Useful for when Roslyn returns to the dial lock and needs to double check the right order of the pictures she needs)

Object Puzzles: Sometimes a puzzle will require Roslyn to scout out specific objects to open electric locks or pressure plates; take below, where Roslyn must find four lightbulbs to complete the circuit to open the basement area of the house:

Searching previous rooms, Roslyn can find where the four lightbulbs have been scattered around the house:

Once the right objects have been collected, Roslyn can return to the circuit and screw the bulbs in, opening the basement area for exploration:

These are just a taste of the sorts of clues that will feature in the game, hopefully (alongside the previous post) the nature of clue hunting in “Daedalus” to solve puzzles will make more sense (like a game of Cluedo) and enable you to see my ideas in a better light.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Proof of concept: A Mock up on how “Daedalus” will work as a game.

A long post today, it’s taken a while to cook up whilst I iron everything out but I believe I’ve finally got the basics of the game established.

These last two weeks I’ve read through two excellent games design books, A Theory of Fun for Games Designers by Raph Koster (who I had touched upon in the previous post) and Basics of Game Design by Michael. E. Moore. The former provided some fantastic theory and the latter was a brilliant crash course in basic game design and mechanics (highly recommend them both!) In conjunction with the other material I’ve read so far (including the brilliant workshop with Gill White), I’ve been able to get a better idea of how Daedalus will play out.

The important things to bear in mind are: Movement, the nature of the puzzles and how the player will interact with them and replay-ability.

What happens in the game? What is it about?

Story: This game places you in the shoes of Roslyn Wilson, Veteren of the Great War and an ex-territorial nurse who served at a Casualty Clearing Station in Flanders. Seeking to escape her trauma of the war, she accepts her Aunty Isadora’s invitation to visit her at the Scottish artists retreat at Kircudbright, Galloway. When she arrives though, her Auntie has vanished, leaving cryptic clues and puzzles Roslyn must unravel to establish where she has gone.

She descends into a dangerous world of occult practise, ethereal conspiracy and is introduced to the malicious Theodore Quatermass and his Coven of the Rat who have dangerous intentions concerning Isadora.

Game Objective: Discover Auntie Isadora’s location and uncover her dealings with Theodore Quatermass and the Coven of the Rat.

World: The game will be self contained in this first instalment, keeping Roslyn inside Isadora’s home. As its the first time we are introduced to the world, it would be too demanding of the player to send them skipping across multiple locations (not to mention adding a whacking amount of production cost on top creating multiple bespoke environments) I have a clear view of making this into a returnable series, hopefully with growing popularity and revenue streams (which I will expand upon later in this post) it will finance later games where we can explore more of the world of the game and introduce more complicated game systems.

Focus: The game will first and foremost focus on puzzle solving and cryptology, using clues in the environment to solve the puzzles and add to the overall narrative of the story (using environmental story techniques forwarded by The Last of Us and Bioshock) To that end, I’ve chosen to strip out some of the more active occult elements (ghosts of dead soldiers pursing the player for instance) and keep them firmly in the grounds of the backstory and as hints to puzzles.

But how will the game look? Here is a trial image I took a few weeks ago, my attempt at creating an in game clue (a journal and an interesting object)

What are the most important aspects the player must highlight? What is necessary to continue the game and what is just set decoration?

As this game will be played on a mobile device, it struck me that the player needed simple, clear button controls/prompts to interact with the world. Things of interest have to be highlighted, so the player is not stabbing the screen trying to find the one item they need to continue playing.

In Basics of Game Design, Moore recommends making a paper version of the game to get an understanding of how it will look and work. Once you’ve got a reference point, it becomes easier to spot elements that will function and those that are going to cause you a headache later in the design process once you hand the idea over to other departments. To that end, I’ve created a number of mock up screens to better explain my idea and how the player will interact with the game.

Before I walk through my visual ideas though, I am honour bound to point out some copyright issues;

The following images I have used to aid my mock ups are stills from Amnesia: The Dark Decent and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. In addition I have used images from Tate Art Gallery, Imperial War Museum and Tarot Today. I do not own any of these images and I seek no profit from them, they are used merely for the purposes of illustrating my ideas at this stage and full rights belong to the creators of these images.

That aside now, here we go. Below is how I envision the basic game screen to look during play as the player character, Roslyn, enters a room in her Auntie Isadora’s house:

The actions and instructions have to be basic (given the control limitations of playing a game on a mobile device) therefore I reasoned several buttons at the base of the screen would provide the clearest range of options for a player to use as well as allow the player an unrestricted view of the environment in which to hunt for clues and puzzles.

Journal: All clues, solved puzzles and notes Roslyn will write to herself during the game will be stored here. Though an overused concept in the game world (like red barrels), the journal is recognisable to players of every age as an object of storing information and previous exploits.

Tools: Roslyn can pick up items as she travels through the game, ranging from pieces of machinery to open up puzzles, lock picks to access new areas of the house and paint thinner to access hidden images behind painted pictures.

Action: This opens up new menu interfaces to allow Roslyn to interact with the world, from inspecting clues, moving between rooms and levels or move objects aside.

Recordings: Roslyn can replay any recordings she comes across in the world. I felt it important to keep these separate from the journal as I wanted the recordings to be played back in multiple languages (depending on the language of the game) and include subtitles to allow players to easily follow what the recording is talking about.

Help: This will give the player a prompt if they’re stuck on a puzzle for more than a few minutes, however in return for a prompt they’ll have to watch an embedded advert (which I will touch on later)

Gameplay: To search for a clue, the player will run press the action button and select “Search for clues”. Once done, the play draws their finger over the screen, anything interactive will then be highlighted to the player:

Alternatively if no clues are forthcoming or the present clues in the room aren’t helpful, the player can search other rooms or double back to where they had been before. To move, the player will press the action button on the screen to bring up movement options:

This also allows the level designers to create bigger spaces for the player to explore without being restricted to a few feet round the door. So if the player leaves this room, they can enter the main hall:

Where they could take the stairs to the top level or enter other rooms on the ground level. Alternatively, the player could go back into the room they were just in:

And investigate the window at the back of the room:

Dealing with clues: Once you’ve highlighted a clue:

You press the action button and select “Investigate clue” where the object will be brought up for closer inspection:

The clue will automatically be added to your journal and you can inspect it straight away or exit and look at it later.

Journal menu: The Journal menu will be as straightforward as possible, much like the main game menu:

The clue will be better presented, sometimes with Isadora or Theodore’s handwriting on which the player can read. Below will be Roslyn’s notes, providing subtle hints for the player to follow to help solve the puzzle/cypher.

To the sides will be other clues, cyphers and previously solved puzzles as well as an image of Roslyn. The longer the puzzle takes, the more exhausted she becomes and the more points the player loses (represented in Moves box).

Replay-ability: leading on from the previous section, I wanted to include a points system to assist in the replay value of the game. This serves three functions, 1.) if the player is getting tired so is Roslyn, creating a sympathetic bond between player and protagonist, 2.) the player can see their protagonist without breaking POV (many games do this in their cutscenes, where the game is first person, but suddenly jumps to third person for cut scenes) 3.) it encourages the player to play again to get a better score.

A key part of this will be introducing new puzzles for the player to test themselves against. If it were the same puzzles every time, the player will quickly memorise the answers and not be offered a challenge. Therefore I suggest 150 playable puzzles into the game (physical/jigsaw/word/cryptic) but only giving the player 30 per play through, every new play through will randomly generate a new sequence of 30 puzzles to play against. This presents the player with 5 completely unique play-through combinations, giving the game a greater longevity.

Revenue streams: Even in its basic form as currently envisioned, this will be an expensive game to make. Requiring a medium level of production, I would roughly estimate at this stage that the game would cost somewhere around the 20-30K mark. Though I must stress that this is an estimate and no doubt the costs would shoot up during production.

All of this cost can’t be thrust upon the player (this is a mobile game after all) and other games of this nature are available as free downloads. How to provide extra revenue to pay off the game and make it profitable?

Studying the models of Angry Birds and Stampede Zoo, they use imbedded adverts in their gameplay. Watch the video and get another life point or upgrade is generally the trade off and is proving most successful. Daedalus can incorporate this into the “Help” button, where in return for a tip on how to solve the puzzle the player has to watch an advert.

Additionally there is the merchandising option, indie games use this to both advertise their game in addition to generating more revenue. Shirts, bags and stickers with the game logo or protagonist are all acceptable sources of profit and are proven measures of increasing initial product profitability.

Conclusion: That’s the basics of the game so far, I’ve still yet to configure what sort of puzzles the player will encounter, but I’m very close. I’ll post about that soon, again with illustrations, but hopefully it should provide you all with a better understanding of where Daedalus now stands.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Primal gaming - can we get beyond the power fantasy in games?

Bit of a thought provoking blog this week, provoked by some much overdue reading on game mechanics.

I was delving my way through “A Theory of Fun for Games Designers” by Raph Koster, a very clearly written book on simple games mechanics and how to make them enjoyable. As I was making my way through it I stumbled across the following paragraph;

“The most common route for these days for developing games involves grafting a story onto them. But most video game developers take a (usually mediocre) story and put little game obstacles all through it. It’s as if we are requiring the player to solve a crossword puzzle in order to turn the page to get more of the novel. There is also a current of game design which unapologetically puts story first. These are often powerful emotional experiences with relatively shallow game mechanics. This isn’t a flaw - its a deliberate design choice - but it doesn’t speak to the kind of learning we get from game systems...since the games are about power, control and these other primitive things, the stories tend to be as well. This means they tend to be power fantasises. That’s generally considered a pretty juvenile sort of story.” (Koster, pg.86)

Now I stopped at that and thought, ‘Well that’s probably true of older games, but the ones I play don’t fall into that category! If they did, I wouldn’t play them, because I know better.’ Once you fall into that reasoning, you know you don’t know any better at all.

Therefore, to prove to myself that I was someone who knew better, I went back to playing Crysis 2 on the PS3. ‘Here was an enjoyable game with an interesting story’ I thought, eagerly loading the disc and continuing where I’d left off from before. Within five minutes Koster’s quotation bounced round my skull. My super solider avatar was having a merry time running round the sandbox blowing up hundreds of dim witted opponents, cloaking into stealth, morphing into extra armour...chopping down enemies...with...such...ease...gaaaaaaawd it suddenly became so tedious. Here is exactly what Koster was talking about, the game was nothing but a power fantasy simulator, a modern day Achilles smashing Trojans due to some divine help that made him a better player.

‘Terrible example, I’m sure, but I’ll try something else!’ I did cry, throwing that disc out and rummaging round my games library. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was duly put on. Within another ten minutes of watching numbers scatter across the screen as I trounced scavs and moon monsters in equal measure with super shotguns, I was aware of the power fantasy trope that runs riot throughout the game.

‘Dear Lord there has to be something!’ I screamed as I plonked on Bioshock Infinite, here was a game that had an interesting, if flawed, story. And whilst the story was a damn sight better than the other games narratives, the gameplay itself became a menagerie of “walk to this area, meet these fascinating people and murder them, steal their stuff, enter exposition, repeat.”

At the moment of defeat, I put on the original Bioshock, fully prepared to be disappointed again. Luckily it was quite the opposite!

Yes, there was shooting (and a fair amount of wrench swinging) but there was no feeling of power fantasy, in fact quite the opposite. For much of the game you’re on the back foot trying to survive and get the hell out of Rapture, but the genius of the story is a.) it’s simplicity and b.) the subtle questions of social morality it throws at you throughout.

The story is straightforward, you have ended up in a city that is actively trying to kill you and you want out as fast as possible. Escaping is a primal feeling and easily relatable to all players, it does not require extensive explaining. This objective does not change until roughly a third of the way into the game where we see Atlas’s family murdered by Andrew Ryan’s agents, where our desire to escape is replaced by a need for justice, for revenge. Again, another primal feeling that all players can relate to (especially when we’ve had Atlas helping us all this time and empathise with his need to escape as well)

Which is where the second element of the story comes to the fore, the questions of social morality. As you play Bioshock you learn why it was built under the sea; having witnessed the devastation of Hiroshima and the impending cold war between East and west, industrialist Andrew Ryan sought to create an Ark that would save humanities’ brightest and best from a barbaric world. Rapture was founded as a place for rational, civilised people who could escape the trappings of social convention. Theirs would be a world of the self, where “a man would be entitled to the sweat of his own brow” and altruism would be avoided at all costs.

Of course, with the discovery of “Adam” and the genetic arms race it created in society, of modifying the self to get ahead of the next person, this civilised world devolved into a monster filled asylum. The people did what they need to survive, splicing their bodies to fight each other off and killing wantonly. What do you the player do in order to escape the city? You also splice up, you also kill wantonly, so what separates you from the monsters? How are you different from these people who pursued the needs of the self before those in suffering? And does this mean that utopia is a veiled hell in waiting? Bioshock slams you with these difficult questions and does so in its core gameplay and narrative, each mutually supporting the other. This isn’t a power simulator, its an examination of power sharing in society and of wide spread addiction. This is what lifts this game up, because it challenges the player beyond the simple aspects of the game. It asks you to think about what you’re doing and why, but most importantly it asks wether you can empathise with the world around you or if you’ll simply take in order to win. This internal question is best externalised with the Little Sisters, do you save them or kill them for their Adam? If you choose the latter, then you don’t deserve to escape Rapture, because Rapture is really where you belong...

In my mind at least, this is the sort of thing games should be forwarding if they wish to develop beyond the power fantasy. The player must be challenged beyond the simple game at hand, they must walk away from the experience and, if not changed, at least ponder what the game was suggesting/asking.

Unfortunately, with the spew of exploding, sword swishing, world destroying games that are coming out at quite a violent rate every month, this is going to be a long time coming. Perhaps what is needed is a generation that hasn’t been raised on blowing stuff up since the late 80′s/early 90′s like mine has, that can go ‘Well this is good and all, but surely there’s more here?’. Just as artists did once they got past painting the real and explored the realm of possibility, and as filmmakers did once they got past depicting exterior real life and explored internal complexities.

I hold out hope for that generation. I hope I can afford the platform to play their games too.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Sherlock Holmes and the Internet of Things - workshop with Gill White

To say this has been the most enjoyable lecture of any of my modules this year would be putting it lightly. Having spent most of my mis-spent youth on amateur dramatics, the opportunity to engage in some live theatrics was akin to a red rag to a bull.

But in all seriousness now, it was brilliant workshop in not only storytelling, but also how to uniquely engage people in a subtle ARG puzzle solver. It’s given me a fair few ideas for my personal project to consider, in relation to my prior research.

To begin at the beginning, “Sherlock Holmes and the Internet of things” (whose website is accessible here: http://sherlockholmes.io/) was an interactive project Gill White has worked on with the University of Colombia. In essence, it places teams of players into the role of an investigator (like the vaunted detective of 221B Baker street) solving a random murder at the Lincoln center during the 2016 New York Film Festival.

An actor in black latex would lie on the ground (as the organisers were not allowed to use tape, for fear of damaging the floor) and pose as one of many victims of a crime. Around the body would be several notes, detailing clues on their person, nearby objects (like the murder weapon or notes from the killer) and suspicious items (footprints, spills of turpentine etc)

Everyone taking part in solving the case would receive a period newspaper, detailing the “orrid deed, murder most foul!” with a section of map printed on the inside with locations of further clues in the area. Each member would have to work with the other, sharing their map sections to get the bigger picture, comparing clues and hypothesising what happened, why it happened and who did it.

It’s a fabulous group storytelling exercise, everyone engaging to piece together the narrative and play the game. Because this is first and foremost a game, and it is why it hooks people in to play. Genius.

Luckily, this has been boiled down into a portable workshop for anyone to play anywhere, which leads us into the activity of this week’s workshop. The set up is succinctly explained in the image below:

And that is exactly what we did. We started by detailing an object of personal importance to us and why it was important (unintentionally weaving a narrative around these objects, which was the aim) Once done, we moved into groups and began taping out our bodies. Some of us went for a more standard corpse in the corner, some of a more worrying frame of mind (a.k.a my team) went for more of a creative flair.

Once done, everyone drew objects and scattered them round each other’s bodies to function as clues. Lastly we attached all manner of notes to these clues, changing their role completely to the point where images of knives became chocolate bars and simple things like blusher brushes became murder weapons!

Lastly came the real challenge, returning to your team’s original body and deciphering the crazed clues our compatriots had left us. Once done, we had to perform to the rest of the class (hence the am-drams) the identity of the victim, why they had died, who killed them and how they met their fate, based solely on the notes attached to the body.

This workshop really got me thinking about some of the mechanics I can use for Daedalus, specifically how the player interacts with the puzzles as Roslyn. The use of notes (Roslyn’s own clinical scribbles) alongside half scrawled clues from her auntie, in conjunction to the visuals on screen, would provide clear instructions for the player in how to play the game as well as generate the correct atmosphere for the game.

Doodling puzzles in the manner as this workshop on paper, to get a better idea of level layout and how the puzzle is to be achieved, would be highly beneficial. Crucially, it would aid in my pitch to have a visual guide for the panel to view (seeing as I would be unable to even create anything remotely like a tech demo!) to better get across how I wish the game to be perceived.

I’ll try and digitise these and upload in future blogs, so that you readers out there will be able to follow my line of thinking as the idea is formulated more in the next few weeks.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Daedalus: Core mechanics

Here we go, the long awaited post...

To understand what I’m looking for, I had to first look at the current market of cryptic/word puzzle games to see how other companies make these types of games.

Pouring through android games websites (which, as I mentioned in yesterday’s posts, will be my preferred operating system to run the game on) it is clearly apparent that there is a deficit of the sort of game I wish to make. There are a great many crossword/scramble style games, which I will elucidate on below, that utilise both single and multi-player modes and will be useful to examine in relation to ‘Daedalus’.

“Words with friends” is a free to play dual mode game, though it has a team based multiplayer function (where players compete in teams against each other on a scrabble style challenge) it has a dedicated single player mode. The crux of this mode is playing against A.I. controlled famous literary types from history in a game of scrabble. Each figure from history increases the difficulty, till the head honcho boss is none other than William Shakespeare (though I am perturbed as to why the likes of Tolkien, Oscar Wilde or Sassoon isn’t up there with him) It features point scoring, weekly awards to win, effectively demanding regular casual play to keep you hooked in.

“Wordament” is another free to play game that, despite it’s arguments to the contrary in its trailer, is another scrabble clone. It’s main gimmic is that it pits you against the internet and features multiple languages to allow players from around the globe to compete against each other despite language barriers.

“4 pics 1 word” works differently from the others, this is a word game that provides 4 pictures that are related by one word that describes them all. The aim of the game is to guess that word, naturally the further you play the more abstract the word or clues.

Stepping into the realms of cryptography, there is only one such game on offer! Made by the NSA of all people (which begs the question of who else is looking at your answers?) its very direct, blandly presented and feels more like a quiz for a job application at NSA (much like the scene from the film Imitation Game (2014) where Turing quizes applicants for Bletchley Park) but has some brain throbbing cryptic puzzles to pit your wits against.

Each of these have unique aspects about them that I can incorporate into ‘Daedalus’, using some of the scrabble aspects of ‘Words with friends’ and ‘Wordament’ but juxtaposed with picture association puzzles to shake up the gameplay and provide something new for the player.

However, I still want a mystery element to ‘Daedalus’, to tie in the occult aspects of the narrative. Searching through the mystery games on offer for Android, the majority revolve around “spot the hidden object”. They play off Film-Noir overtones and references, making themselves quite stereotypical.

Notable exceptions include ‘The Layton brother’s mystery room’, part of Nintendo’s successful professor Layton series, this serves as a sequel with Layton’s son solving crimes. It utilises key qualities of the aforementioned games in this blog, word puzzles, cryptic aspects, comparing text files for discrepancies and hidden clues and picture recognition. These are the sort of mechanics I seek to include in ‘Daedalus’, to make it interesting and varied.

Also the interactive Sherlock Holmes Adventures, which is presented as an interactive book. As you read through the story, you can interact with clues, build case profiles and track suspects motives. All of this is available on mobile and goes to show just what is possible on this platform.

This has shown me the prospects at hand with ‘Daedalus’, keeping it more of an investigative game (perhaps later games could feature our protagonist Roslyn striking out to her Auntie’s hiding place to unravel further clues there) that has a returning series potential. It will focus on words, encrypted letters, picture clues and memory tests embedded in the puzzles at hand to provide intriguing gameplay that not many have come across before.

One is now rather excited by the prospect, but more research is required and ideas refined. But it’s quite a start.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Twitter: A long awaited return

I may have said this once or twice before, but I am not hugely tec savy.

This can be best pointed out by my twitter account, which I have just logged back into for the first time since 2016! (As you’re reading this I’m bowing my head in shame) So when the opportunity arose to utilise twitter as this weeks blogged experience, I saw an opportunity to kill two...no that’s quite violent...ahh....buy two for the price of one? I’ll work on it.

Now reinstated on the ol’ twitter feed its much as I remember it from before, an interesting collection of thoughts and articles spanning the arts, politics and philosophical matters (I may have been a tad pretentious in my selection of who to follow) then I got to thinking about platforms and how Twitter is a phenomenal platform for the sharing of ideas, views and materials.

Yes its a social media site, yet it has carved for itself a measure of respectability (gentrification if you will) that puts it above other sights. Take Tumblr for example, this is a platform first and formost for sharing art, creative ideas and visual language. It’s an artists dimension, where as twitter is one for thought, challenging social concepts and holding things into sharp focus. It begs analytical thought and debate, which is something the likes of Facebook will never achieve in a million years.

Crucially, its a mediascape (quick, slap on that New Wave Retro Synth from the mediascape blog!) that is fed into and supported by mobile devices. Anyone anywhere can use their phone to tap into the latest topic discussion, instigate sweeping movements and share in stating their voice. Amazingly, from my initial searches, I can’t find anyone whose tried creating a word game on this platform. For a space where people are obsessed with lexicanum, this seems like a massive gap begging to be exploited!

Perhaps there is a way for ‘Daedalus’ to tap into this platform as well? Perhaps scatter clues through twitter feeds or instigate hype and awareness of the game? It has been repeated to me on a number of instances that I have to iron out my core game mechanics and how they will work as a cryptic/word analysis game, which believe you me shall be the main thrust of my next blog post.

Suffice to say, now that I have been re-introduced to the twitter fold (and armed with everything we’ve been taught in Interactive Media so far) there is a pivotal volume of potential here to be utilised in the coming weeks ahead for both Daedalus and 4 Degrees North. I’ve a lot of work ahead of me it seems.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Platforms: Interactive tools to reach the masses and how to feed this into my projects.

This week’s lecture we examined multiple platforms for sharing content, beginning with the original platforms of the super computers in the 60′s and 70′s, marching through arcades, Sinclairs, Home computers, lap tops and now mobile devices. Admittedly, we had partially touched on this previously in our opening lecture on the history of gaming. The two have been inseparable, with every new leap of technology games have stepped in to make the most of new advances and push entertainment and storytelling forward. Personally it was highly useful to cover this ground again, as for my personal project I am looking at a mobile game, and look at this weeks information with this in mind. Reviewing my prior notes, I am reminded that between 75-80% of app downloads for mobile devices have been games. And the majority of them have been paid for! Mobile is the premier market for games now, especially with engineering on Android technology allowing compatibility across the world on the same operating software. The emerging markets have skipped conventional communications technology, such as computers, and have automatically made the leap to smart phone and mobile technology to match that in the West. If ever there was an appropriate platform for my product, these two lectures have confirmed this for me!

Additionally, utilising research from last week, despite the inherent costs of developing a good quality phone game (looking upwards to a 150K) this is still considerably cheaper than the millions spent on console or PC games which themselves are bound to be used by specific consoles. Mobile phone platforms can be accessed anywhere in the world, the only barrier to my product would be language (as a word/puzzle game will be heavily reliant on text unlike something akin to “space exploders six” where explosions speak for themselves)

With this is the group project for 4 Degrees North, we are increasingly erring towards a product that either functions on a mobile device or utilises mobile technology as part of its package. Mobile technology, as demonstrated above, strikes me as the premier up and coming (if not now current!) platform for distributing new material nationally and globally. To instantaneously distribute a service at the click of a download, that’s the way forward.

I will be returning to the subjects of platforms in my subsequent posts, which is why this may appear a tad sparse. Never fear, I will be continuing to be looking into and discussing platforms on a regular basis!

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Financing “Daedalus” and “4 Degrees North”

So to take what we’ve learned from class and incorporate it into the personal and group projects, it will be a costly venture on all accounts.

Traditional financing routes are now outdated, which leaves online sourcing of finance as the only currently reliable (and I use that word sparingly) option. Just like with project creation, a certain amount of crazy out the box thinking is required.

Initial research into games (and apps in general) for phones show that the most basic games and programmes attain high production costs. According to game makers Team Cooper, a low concept game such as flappy bird cost over £10K alone. (http://teamcooper.co.uk/blog/how-much-does-a-mobile-game-cost-to-develop/) Whilst software developers R-Style informs us that for Angry Birds tec company Rovio invested $140 million into the games App. (https://r-stylelab.com/company/blog/mobile-technologies/how-much-does-mobile-game-development-cost) So development costs are exceptional even for apparently simple, or even free to play games!

However that doesn’t mean bigger games aren’t coming to mobile platforms, people are always pushing the boundaries graphically or technically (just look at the infinity blade series which apes AAA console sentiments whilst using simple game commands compatible for phones) it’s just going to cost a LOT more in investment, coding, troubleshooting and testing.

For Daedalus, free to play would have to be out of the question, given the nature of the game and the complicated coding involved, the game would have to be sold. Adverts could be imbedded in the game (perhaps offering clues in return for watching videos if you’ve been on a problem longer than usual) which would help financing greatly. Diversifying into other products (t-shirts, plushies) may be problematic given that there isn’t currently a recognisable protagonist in the game for fans to latch onto.

Although saying that, it hasn’t stopped the developers of the game Scorn, who have already built up an excited fan base for their game via their kickstarter and judicious use of teaser trailers to generate interest. (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777595379/scorn-part-1-of-2-dasein)

As you can see on the page, they utilise a whole range of exclusive goods to tempt people into pledging money for the game (even the soundtrack on vinyl to grab a niche market!) and the protagonist in that game is a mass of bones with no voice. Which goes to show that the diversification option is available.

I will also be considering such options for the group project with my team ‘4 Degrees North’, utilising additional products/content to support the basic service will be a viable financial strategy. Especially if the market base are already present and committed to the product (game/app/experience or otherwise)

I also tried going on Paper Sail, an interesting little game that would certainly factor into the basic game concept and perhaps be developed in the 10K bracket. (This would include costs of its unique art style, lighting and atmospheric music and sound effects)

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gavinbaker92-blog · 7 years ago

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Show me the money: Financing and business models.

This week’s lecture has been immensely illuminating, bringing into focus the outdated business models being clung to as well as the rapidly developing ones that will have superseded them in the next few years.

I was surprised to see that content creators have only been business minded since 2005, previously they had created a product and hoped a large scale investor would take note and throw some financing their way. This has only been exacerbated with the growth of the internet, which has benefited consumers but not artists. This is a buyer’s market where the consumer enjoys most things seemingly for free.

Having previously made independent short films, I am all too aware of the difficulties of securing finance for a project (where you are effectively convincing people to buy dreams on which there may or may not be a worthwhile return.) Nearly every time I’ve resorted to the Bootstrap method of financing - using my own money. This is fine for small projects where you can recover money from other means, but for a major project hitting those big K’s its a dangerous situation to put yourself in. Really, your product has to make money, but how can it make money if consumers can enjoy similar content for free?

In steps using virtual goods: micro payments, DLC, new generated or exclusive access content. These are used to either increase the value of an already purchased game (DLC in the form multiplayer maps or new mini campaigns for AAA games) or micro payments for free to play titles (outlandish colour schemes for weapons, clothes, hats [looking at you TF2!] or even victory dance moves) this generates a need in the consumer to purchase these goods, as they cannot get them elsewhere. Of course this system is easily abused and can land developers in trouble, just look at the financial villainy of EA games.

Another route into generating the funds a creator needs is to factor in advertising into the game mechanics, Zoo Rodeo and Angry Birds have done this very successfully. The trick here is to galvanise an incentive for the player to watch an advert, be it to get another life, generate more in game money or have another loot box. The advertiser will then pay the creator a handsome fee for this blatant product placement.

Returning to Angry Birds for a moment, another revenue stream is to utilise the game to sell products affiliated with the game: merchandising! Angry Birds makes a phenomenal return on selling posters, plushies, t-shirts and stickers from the game. The picture below is but a drop of what is on sale.

Lastly there is crowdsourcing to consider, using platforms such as Patreon and Kickstarter to appeal to fans directly for financial assistance to develop a product. What one has to keep in mind is the 1:10:89 rule, 1% of people interested will be uber fans and will do everything they can to see the project made, 10% will contribute something, 89% will never be heard from again. Therefore it is of maximum importance that creators keep the big whales in mind (having exclusive goods that will appeal) as well as finding a way for the 89% to feel like contributing something without feeling over taxed.

This new digital era has created a situation of flux, where the rules are being re-written as I type this blog. There are no longer any readily reliable distribution and financial systems to utilise, but there are a plethora of brand new concepts and ideas just begging to be properly thought out and utilised. In an odd way, the future is both bleak AND ripe with opportunity.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 8 years ago

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Personal Project Proposal: Daedalus

It’s taken me longer than usual to update on this as I was finalising more of my ideas and coming up with a basic plot for the project, but luckily the stars have aligned and such a proposal can now be made! As I’ve mentioned previously, I wanted to create a game (preferably for phones) that would appeal to the 30 - 45 gaming demographic. However I didn’t want it to be another variation on a candy crush or crossword, I thought, why not have an elusive mystery story that people could play on their phone? Why does it have to be the sole home of console and PC platforms?

I’ve long believed that gaming is a culturally acceptable method of telling stories, especially when you can be involved in its telling. And I see that there is a gap in the phone game market for narratively enriching games, why can’t people delve into a juicy story in a game enroute to work or in their home? They would easily do it with a book, podcast or online video, why not a game?

I want to create a game that centers on a mystery, that utilises environmental storytelling (graffiti on walls, journals, scraps of text, odd testimonies etc) to unlock more about the game world as well as puzzle solving elements to create mental challenge beyond “Blow up threat to unlock rubies”.

I’ve been inspired lately by such works as Dear Esther, which utilises beautiful visuals and music with stunning voice over work to enrich the story; Amnesia (both Dark Decent ad Machine for Pigs) which utilises journals and notes to fill in character backstory as well as simple mechanics (exploration for resources and hiding from pursuers as opposed to seeking active combat); and relatable voice over as presented in the first Bioshock game. When we witness the Spider Splicer kill the first person we meet and narrowly escape joining the poor fellow, we’re overjoyed when the dulcet tones of Atlas offer a means of escape and immediately take to him.

And, as you might have guessed from my profile pic, I’m a keen fan of history and of WW1 (I Belong to both British and German Great War living history groups) and saw a way of presenting a unique story with my project aims.

I therefore present my idea: Daedalus. A puzzle solver mystery with overtones of occult horror.

1921: Roslyn Wilson, once a Territorial nurse serving in a Casualty Clearing Station in the hell of Flanders during the Great War, now tries to banish her nightmares. She takes up her auntie’s invitation of visiting her at the artists retreat of Kircudbright, but when Roslyn arrives her auntie has vanished. All that remains are perplexing puzzles and ciphers pertaining to her location. Suddenly Letters arrive from a Theodore Quatermass, talking of debts to be paid and that the blood will inherit. Soon strange visitations occur and Roslyn is faced with threats of an occult nature.

Faced with increasing insidious otherworldly dangers and people with questionable motives, Roslyn must use all of her intellect and lateral thinking to unlock her Auntie’s puzzles, find her and discover the exact nature of her debts. If she can’t, then the damage the deranged Theodore and his Coven of the Rat will threaten not just the town of Kircudbright, but the whole of Great Britain.

Admittedly this is a horror inspired game, and horror is not to everyone’s tastes. However I find the best games inspire a desire to discover the story or mystery at stake, the best horror games are those that force the player to endure the fear in order to find out more about the story and world. There’s a perverse fascination with finding out what is behind the bleeding door, to make the unknown known.

I will also be constrained by how consumers will play the game, normally a game of this type would use analogue sticks or mouse and keyboard to achieve 360 degree movement. Could this work on a touch screen? Again, Amnesia and Dear Esther have inspired a solution: the only movement required is turning and moving forwards and backwards as well as carrying a light source. By eliminating excess movement, it downplays the weaknesses of the device and, with the light source, helps obscure the edges of view. This will assist the horror overtones, of light and dark, and mask the limited graphics mobile devices have.

The focus of the game will be puzzle solving (word and physical) as well as an element of outsmarting pursuit. My intention is for the narrative to influence game and vice versa, Roslyn is an intelligent woman whose chief weapon is her intellect. Therefore having her smash things with an axe or sawn off shotgun would be glaring and counter intuitive, whilst decoding cyphers and unlocking alternate strategies to escape perilous situations would be more in line with her character. To this end I wish to steer well clear of any combat mechanics.

Of course there will be much to research and consider, costings for one (considering how cheaply a mobile game can be made for, is it financially viable to produce a game of this proposed complexity?) likelihood of my target market enjoying the game (will I have to amend my target market?) and is mobile technology the best medium for this project?

I have a bunch of concept sketches, character bios and further breakdowns of game mechanics I am unable to squeeze into this post, but I will follow up in due course in subsequent posts. These posts will outline more of the game world, visuals and the protagonist and antagonist.

I will confess, I am rather excited! Just got to run it by the rest of the chaps now.

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gavinbaker92-blog · 8 years ago

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Online comics and alien conspiracies: Exoriate

Our independent task this week was to access an interactive website and explore either Fort McMoney or Exoriate. The decision was rather straightforward as Fort McMoney positively refused to load, despite all my attempts at downloading Flash or begging in French. Some programs are just stubborn.

So I chose Exoriate. It’s an online comic, the narrative of which seems to be based around our dear old friend alien conspiracy and keeping him out of the public eye.

Whilst the comic was entertaining enough (lots of BRAK! And DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA! to bring joy to every Ork with a Shoota) But the most intriguing part was the Zorg mini game hidden inside one of the panels, which opened up more of the narrative world.

I’d played Zorg once before (to no great success, I kept using complex words and could only manage to wonder around the garden before being eaten by a Grue). However, having the lecturer in our Interactive Media lecture this week point out which kinds of simple commands would work in a Zorg game, I was better prepared.

I thoroughly enjoyed the intrigue the game presented, the background images and sound helped steep me into the game world and added a sense of weight to my decisions in game. From the letter pop up and the code written into it or the random bio-hazard symbols that would randomly etch itself over the screen, it helped drive the story forward.

Annoyingly it was so short! I wanted to keep going, to explore the dark house and find out exactly what this conspiracy was! But that was the whole point, it’s to inspire the player to go out and buy the comic. To raise so many questions that the consumer is bound to pursue the line of inquiry or suffer a headache. It’s amazing how gripping a simple text game can be (Much like Five Dials was, even if it took a server sinister turn towards the end) as well as their inclusivity. An excellent point one of my classmates brought up in a previous exercise was about subtitles, as she is hard of hearing she struggled with an interactive video website that had no subtitles for her to read. Therefore the experience was barred for her, where as this, even without the music, could generate the same feeling of conspiracy with visual aids.

This, in conjunction with this week’s lecture, has presented me with quite a few ideas to pursue for my main project. Though I’d have to be careful with which commands to allow in the programming, people have a habit of typing the oddest responses...

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