#ARDN611

[jackhealybct]

Dropping Eaves

My Idea One day I was sitting on the train on my commute and as per usual people watching and listening. This provoked me to think about what causes this kind of thing and is it something that interests people outside of just filling time on the train? Is the curiosity of what goes on in other people’s lives basis enough for a game? And furthermore, what are the repercussions for people noticing you listening to them or paying attention to them, as this stranger, considered to be a rude, nosey thing to do. From here I started dreaming up my prototype for a game based around eavesdropping on peoples conversations and the reactions they may have. I started looking around and was surprised by how little I could actually find on this phenomena. There was an article about a woman who shared as much interest as me in listening to strangers, but nothing about why or what causes it. However, I came across a couple of related videos that talked about conversations and a quote from Dr. Jordan Peterson was what clarified for me the basis for this interest in random peoples lives. “...people are ridiculously interesting, and everyone has their own characteristic experience that is actually unique, and so if you have a real conversation with someone and they tell you what is unique about their experience the probability that you can learn something from that, well its certain that you can.” (Peterson, 2018). This helped me to articulate this sensation that I was trying to invoke. Everyone lives their own life with their own values and experiences and it means that the amount that can be gleaned or the worlds that can be explored even just listening in to the day to day of random strangers is a relevant and interesting topic I wanted to explore. I personally find curiosity to be one of the most potent and defining traits of humanity. We have so many questions that we seek to answer every single day. As a species, we will seek these questions far and wide as well, which leads to amazing discoveries, fantastical development, and gorgeous art. My dad has told me from a young age that he believes that as long as we have dreamt it, we will do it. For people it is not a matter of if we will do something, it is a matter of when we will do it. This is described by our imagination, but it is driven by our curiosity. I think no more strange then, is to be curious of each other, and curious about our own mentalities. The strangest part of being human is that we have more than 7 billion different people, and we will likely never know even up to a single percent of them all. This means that it almost makes perfect sense to want to listen in to as many different strangers conversations when you have nothing else to do. Try and interact with as many alien lives in this short and sweet time we have to meet them.

In Context of Play There is a large discrepancy between listening in to the musings and conversations of strangers and using gameplay mechanics to listen to what dialogue has been written. The purpose of testing out this prototype was to begin seeing how something like eavesdropping can be gamified. Once it is a video game then it is an accessible way to look at both how people interact with it in a safe, contained way where they won’t be worried about being rude. Furthermore, I think it can contribute to game making, especially in world building. One of the greatest assets in building a city is that you can put hundreds of people in it. People that are capable of telling the player hundreds of things about the world they are entering. I think that eavesdropping and ambient dialogue is a criminally under-realised method of delivering information in a natural and potentially quite enticing way. Games have started exploring this, and I think with more and more technically powerful systems, more and more systemic dialogue options will be able to create fascinating and potent experiences thanks to the dialogue between two random stranger AIs. Play is such an engaging method of exploration and experimentation, that it would be fantastic to find ever bigger and better ways to explore society and the human condition through play.

[leifratahibct]

Context Of Games & Play Week 3 - Composition

This week we explored the concepts of emergence and depth within games and play. Canvas (2013) describes emergence as a game with simple mechanics but with complex dynamics. To get a clearer understanding of this some examples of emergent gameplay can be seen in fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken in the form of combos. Combos create emergence by mashing a set amount of buttons in certain formations to stun opponents increase attack speeds or create instances that unlock the ability to use complex moves after the initial encounter. An example in a sports game basketball the initial rules intended was to pass the ball between players in order to get a clear shot to score but there was nothing in the rules to say that players could not pass the ball to themselves hence where the concept of dribbling was conceived. In easier terms emergence is when players exploit new ways to play within the confines of the set of rules explicit to each player.

Depth within video games can range from a wide variety of different concepts like alternate paths, different dialogue choices, an extensive range of weaponry or even multiple mechanics in which to expand and strengthen the length or replayability a game has. Depth in the context of play offers the user choices for which direction the player wants to experience a game. Having depth causes players to think about things like in first person shooter games players have a large variety of weaponry to choose from but it is up to them to decide whether using a machine gun to spray down their opponent or using something like a shotgun for a more powerful kick.

[infernalmachette]

Games in their Context

Settling Catan, The weight of context. 

This paticular issue in board games is complex, because the initial intent of the creator of Settlers of Catan, Klaus Teuber do not seem to be malicious at all. He simply was playing and enjoying playing, play testing with his family and creating a elegant beautiful peice of gaming. However through a slightly more modern lense it is slightly unsettling that the indigenous people of Catan exist in a ghost space in the original game. Loring-Albright’s edition, First Nations of Catan does provide a elegant solution to the problem by implementing them as a player through the tribe token.  It does look like she wanted to keep with the games initial peaceful intentions too by making the peice mostly passive, but I feel like the militant mechanic has a lot of potential. Contextually both parties enjoyed the game immensely and I think it’s important to enjoy the games within the context you create for them and the context you exist in. Which brings me to the next reading’s points “The Euro Game as Heterotopia” 

Hetrotopia - To see one’s self 

There’s something special about euro board games in their naive choice to discard violence and heavy themes, they discard most other personal themes with them. Some people take this on a surface level and are disgusted by the impersonal nature of the abstract games, feeling alienated by the lack of simulation, like  Tom Vasel  and his opinion on Vasco da Gama. Vasel isn’t necessarily playing the game incorrectly by not making his own theme and story with the parts he’s been given, but there is a way he could enjoy it more. Devin Wilson talks about Michel Foucault’s theory on mirrored identity. How if we can see past the unreality of our “mirrored” selves we have a opportunity to shape the world beyond that.  Wilson talks about taking issue with the initial implied theme that The Castle of Burgundy seems to have, that animals are property to be eaten or used for their wool, their milk. He’s a vegan (wait don’t run away he’s making a good point) and doesn’t think we should use animals for ANYTHING that involves taking their lives or parts of them from them. So the idea of animals just being commodities doesn’t sit well with him. Instead of throwing up his hands and deciding he just didn’t like the game like Vasel would, he decided to adapt its meaning. Wilson chose to view the animals as companions, and the game suddenly became a whole lot more palatable. 

Context matters and maybe the initial themes and meaning of games initially might be unpalatable, but we can choose how we play them. 

For me personally, this is a thing I recognise a lot in my own gaming. I’m not usually very conscious of it, but the way I act in minecraft is a example. In minecraft my playstyle is to put down my roots, settle, and spend an extensive amount of time building. I can focus for a long long time on tedious tasks in minecraft, whether that be building roofs or digging out the foundations. There are rare occasions where I stop building, usually it’s to go on a big material gathering mission. The other task I’ll do is explore caves. I can spend hours upon hours wandering and collecting every bit of ore. Minecraft is reflective of the fact that I can do mindless tasks, if I like my environment and motivation enough. 

Please touch the art - Interactive art and its humanistic beauty 

Something that I find really stunning and beautiful about Connected worlds is kinda generic in relation to interactive art. Its interactive. That might be a cop out answer but the thing is is I adore the fact that the audience gets to live and exist with the art, touch it, feel like they’re affecting it. I think it’s wonderful to make art so accessible, so human so present. The cold distance that portraits behind glass has can be demoralizing, so to have this bright colourful island of interactive joy is beautiful. I especially like the aspect of it really encouraging children in paticular, making it playful and engaging them. This can foster a love of art throughout their lives, and that’s invaluable. 

E-sports and gaming addiction - Modern horror 

This video was a little scary I’ll admit. Something seems dystopian to me about the idea that Korean young people will spend endless hours playing in PC bangs, to the point where they never actually leave. I can understand the group who likes to play in them because it’s a quieter activity than clubbing though. The e-sport players, are different again. On one hand you can have positive opportunities for poorer Koreans to make a name for themselves. 

Video gaming is a relatively accessible thing because of the PC bangs, so it’s easy for rags to riches stories to happen. On the other hand there is the darker side that can affect any person playing in E-sports, of any nation. The match fixing, a dangerous thing in Korea. It is a thing that exists in other physical sports, like soccer or cricket. 

However I don’t know if we should only compare physical sports and E-sports. I feel like it would be valuable to compare E-sports to competitive chess. In a lot of situations the games are specifically strategic, not unlike chess. It’s also always held over a sit down game. E-sports does however reflect physical sports through its teamwork, and the massive dramatic stadiums for spectators. There’s a lot of mixture between the two actually, perhaps it could be held as a stepping stone between chess and soccer as entertainment play. 

[benbct]

First weeks readings

Flow is the state of which self-awareness is nullified. All that matters are the actions you take within the environment that the objective is given. The state of flow is important in game design. If flow is not achieved, it means there is something wrong with the objective and/or skill level. If the audience find the game too easy, the may find themselves very bored and therefore not enjoying the game. The opposite is also true as if the game is too difficult, the player will be over-exhausted and not enjoy the game to its' full potential. Everyones’ area of where they achieve flow is different and can also rapidly change as flow is based on the perception of the audience. But if flow can be achieved through your game, the audience will be immersed in your world and hopefully enjoy playing it.

The magic circle is about a time and place where certain actions that people may never do at any other point are deemed okay and in some respects, necessary. The magic circle is another important aspect of game design. The actions and consequences of a game should only last for that game. For instance, if you lie to a friend because the game has told you that you have to. That betrayal should never compromise that friendship afterwards. A way of avoiding this is to state the magic circle very clearly at the start of the game. If the actions that people must take to win the game are clearly stated before the start of the game; The players will expect those actions and know that they are only doing those things because the games' win condition demands it. If a player feels uncomfortable in doing said actions, then the game may be asking too much and/or the magic circle wasn't clear enough before the game. This could make or break a game since instead of the game being a fun to play with friends, it becomes more a battlefield in which relationships are ruined. A good example of a game that needs a clear magic circle is Town of Salem. The game relies on the audience lying to one another to win the game. If it is not clear that lying is a part of the game. It could be taken to heart and ones' perception of the one lying could change dramatically.

[synergybct]

Dog Simulator

Hey guys, I’m making a Dog Simulator with @sheenaatbct for a game jam. We’re planning on making a game kinda similar to Goat Simulator, but with our own lil’ zest of game design.

Project is still in the early days however, and with the deadline drawing closer the pressure is definitely on!

[dinomightofficial]

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes - A play experience

09/04/2018

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes was an interactive puzzle game that invokes good communication skills and A LOT of stress. A lot of it.

I played this with two other friends a couple days ago and I had been thinking about this experience for quite some time afterwards. I heard a lot about this game before but for some unknown reason I always had been doubting its ‘fun’ capabilities. It seemed like a chore, a nuisance. Why would someone pay $18 for a game which is essentially just 10 or so relatively easy puzzles on a briefcase. I had lots of doubts as the content seemed shallow and the printing seemed like a hassle.

But once everything was set up and I got to play with two very good communicators I found myself having lots of fun, unexpectedly. For what seemed like a briefcase worth of content I was surprised realizing the complexity something somewhat simple can introduce.

After all, this wasn’t so much a game that was digital, it was more tangible. The complexities that arose I realized were not on the screen but rather spoken, the difficulty bottle neck occurred in our communication. They had intentionally designed certain puzzles as to make the communication process confusing and often seemed to want us to say the wrong things. A puzzle as example were the word selectors. Words such as “U R”, “UR, “You Are”, “Your” and “You’re” needed emphasize in specificity, intentionally aiming the player to make common human mistakes. Brilliant I thought as I tried to come up with ideas similar to it on my own. I could imagine DLC’s for the game that extended the briefcase, what if it was a room filled with codes and wires that sprung across it and you had to navigate it, unplugging wires and shuffling documents around. A Room scaled puzzle/bomb scenario that the player could move around in.

At first glance the game wasn’t fun, on second glance it was tedious but intriguing none the less. As I continued, I slowly realized the developers intentions in the puzzle design and I began to connect the dots in its complexity. I realized further potential.

You know what? I love this game.

[sheenaatbct]

Contexts of Game and Play

Week 5 Readings

Things of Beauty: Super Smash Bros. as Spectator Sport, Innuendo Studios

This video talks about the culture around e-sports. The e-sport community becomes invested in certain characters, and players in a championship setting. They get to know the jargon and play style in the particular games they follow.  Video games differ from sports and board games, while those two have set rules that must be followed, video games only have laws. There’s a distinct limitation determined by the system itself. However, people find ways to change the way the game is played (dynamics). These kinds of changes in the game play causes the meta, what everyone in the competitive scene plays, determining the best way to play. One quote from the video that I took away was “The more everyone does one thing, the more valuable it becomes to do anything else”. Basically, breaking the meta works as no one knows how to play against it. In the case of the video, everyone would play Fox in Super Smash Bros. as he was a top tier character and the meta of the game. During a championship, one player used Yoshi instead, which was considered a lower tier character. As this player knew how to effectively use the character, the other player who followed the meta didn’t know how to beat him.  Players who didn’t follow the meta were either not good enough to play it, or had already mastered it and needed more challenge. The meta becomes the meta due to stories and opinions. The community itself decides the meta and how they want the game to be played.

Johann Sebastian Joust: Making a Video Game Without Video, Polygon

I thought this game was a super awesome idea, focused on bringing back the person to person connection you can find with video games. The game encourages people to interact with each other, to look at each other rather than at a screen.  Using it in public brings people together. People are attracted to the pretty lights and gather to witness or take part in the game. 

The creator mentioned the difference between local multiplayer games and online multiplayer. The connectivity in local multiplayer is much stronger than that of online play. 

Set and Setting, Wikipedia

This Wikipedia article talks about the set and setting of psychoactive and psychedelic drugs. The set regarding to mindset is how the user feels; their mental state. Setting regards to the physical and social environment that the user is in. Generally, a good setting and mindset causes a good experience and vice versa. 

Not sure why we have to read this?

Slave of God, Increpare (Game)

Firstly, the visuals on this game are crazy. Flashing lights and colours are a sure fire way to induce a seizure. Anyways, this game takes place in a club, and I can assume the character you play is on some crazy drugs due to the visuals and because we had to read the Set and Setting Wikipedia. 

Some things of note, the visuals get more and more distorted as you progress, especially seen on the dance floor. The music changes based on where you are and who you are close to. One of these characters has a strange little pink man (baby?) pop up in front of him when you get close. Your friend who you follow into the club with just sits by himself, you can get a drink for them and yourself but that’s about it. There’s a giant pillar thing to the right where you can climb up it to be above the club, with stars all below you too. A random ramp on the other side that doesn’t really go anywhere. And of course, going into the bathroom, your character starts to pee. 

To progress through the game, you have to be on the dance floor. One character in particular in the middle grabs your attention, and through each stage you interact with them in some way. This characters heart is visible, a sign that you are in love? 

The ending just shows the sun rising. The visuals are no longer out of whack. I guess this game kind of shows the culture around clubbing and the psychedelic drugs in use at clubs. It’s a strange, and uncomfortable visual experience to go through.

CyberQueen (Game)

I don’t really know what to say about this game either. It’s a weird text adventure filled with gross and gory language. It starts out with you trying to escape, and slowly sexual undertones and gross words begin to appear. I don’t really know how I feel about being able to click on the word “masturbate” 10 times over. 

Yet another uncomfortable experience. 

CYOA ,Sergio Cornaga (Game)

This one is a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but online. The choices you make within this game aren’t really clear as to if they’re good or not. I mean, I went to go talk to Milserge and he just kinda melted into goo. It seems so innocent at times, then something extremely weird or uncalled for.  I was drawn to it due to it’s interesting art style. The story lengths are quite short and many lead into the same direction either way. Most lead to random endings, super unexpected. I particularly liked this ending.

I guess the strangeness of this game makes you want to find out more. If there’s a murderous duck man that beats me up as one ending, what other weird endings are there?

I also looked at The Dandelion Game, where you play with wind and a floating piece of Dandelion, but I wasn’t really interested in it. And also Procedural Butt Generator, which just generates lines which kind of resemble a butt. Fun!

Shining in the Darkness, J. Johnson

This article talks about the game Swamp, a game designed for the blind. The games uses sound to describe the area around the player. The W key tells the player which direction they are facing, a radar tells you how far away objects are, like echolocation. It brings up a good point that the disabled community is a neglected group when it comes to gaming. For a while, the disabled community were stuck in an old era of video games. 

Games are always so focused on visuals, how pretty and aesthetic they look, while games aimed at the blind or others are not acknowledged. The author believes that games that are made specifically for disabled will become the next generation of gaming, such as touch screens have become.

I tried to play Swamp myself but it was way to frustrating to play through myself. I understood the idea of having the audio guide me, but it was way to annoying to deal with.

[icantplaythis-bct]

Feel

Secrets of Game Feel and Juice | Game Maker's Toolkit (Brown, 2015) 5 mins

www.youtube.com/watch?v=216_5nu4aVQ

Play: Celeste (Classic) or Celeste ($25 ish) (Matt Makes Games, 2015, 2018) 30 mins https://mattmakesgames.itch.io/celesteclassic https://mattmakesgames.itch.io/celeste https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/

In what specific ways does the game Celeste manifest game-feel or “juiciness”?

Game feel is appeal

Someone’s juice is someone’s enjoyment

How does game feel make you feel good

If you don’t get feedback it doesn’t feel good

Matches expectation more than reality

Celeste was warm and inviting - addicted

Wanting the try again and again - go further

Easy to try and try again - instantly revive

Hard game but in bite-size level

Pulse and inertia when you collide

Nice animation when you land

Satisfying when you boost

[vahidzbct]

Personal Choice in Games

Apply this author’s line of thinking to other playful situations: video games, sports, etc. Do you see your values and your personality more clearly when you play? Provide an anecdote if you can.

When I play games I do try and separate my personal thoughts and beliefs from the game though this does greatly depend on the game i play. In a game like Mafia or Secret Hitler even though I obviously don’t like killing people and I’m not a Nazi ill still play the game the way its meant to be played. but in a RPG or tabletop game i will make decisions i would make in real life because why not unless the character I’m playing as has his own personality then I will try and match what they would do.

[isthisprogress]

Contexts of Game and Play - Game Jam TIMELAPSE

Conceptual Statement: For our game jam, we would like to explore how walking simulators work in Virtual Reality. With my personal focus being towards the techniques that can be used to explore locomotion and player displacement in Virtual Reality.      

Executables:

Keyboard and mouse controls are enabled, if a HTC Vive is not connected.

Windows 32-Bit

Windows 64-Bit

Project Concept:

The project itself focuses on making a Kayak move and function in a virtual reality space with a HTC Vive.

Additionally, there was a VR Kayak experience that used a Samsung Gear VR. However, this was only a 360 video and was not a truly immersive play experience; all you did was watch someone else kayak through a GoPro.

(Jakub Vetrovec, 2016)

Why I did this project?

The ideas is based on something that Aldo wanted to do for a studio project. The idea was neat and felt like a good technical challenge. Furthermore, throughout the semester I have not felt challenged and feel most of my projects have a low risk rate. 

Additionally, locomotion has always been one of the biggest issue in VR and to be able to say that you created a solution give us a bunch of bragging rights.  

Inspirations:

ABZÛ:

This was also one of my play experiences.

This inspired more of the level and feeling we are attempting to create, over any of the technical aspects.

For starters, we were hoping to mimic the art style. By creating a cartoony and low-poly art style. The art-style was basic and worked well in empathising the secluded atmosphere. It worked well with the character and other creatures in the sea. 

Furthermore, the swimming got frustrating; where I had to ensure turning angles were correct to get to a certain point. However, this is what immersed me; I know that movement through water is not as easy as running. Even though, I got frustrated this never made me question the design.

(Giant Squid, 2016)

» How This Developer Created a Portal Locomotion System in 'Budget Cuts'

 I did an analysis on this article last year and found myself referencing this post: http://isthisprogress.tumblr.com/post/149360286110/how-this-developer-created-a-portal-locomotion

(UPLOAD, 2016)

Tools Used

Unreal Engine 4

Blender

Day 1:

So as a team we began dividing up our roles and focusing on our respective areas. My role being the programmer. 

For starters, I setup the pawn with the components that I felt were relevant for the kayak character:

 Full Resolution image

I colour coded the paddles to make differentiating the motion controllers, easier.

Each paddle was a child of its respective motion controller. 

Everything was parented to a blank scene component, to make snapping the pawn to the ground a lot easier. (Little did I know this was the cause of the problems that yet to come).

Furthermore, I did another iteration of setup; where I did not have any motion controllers in the pawn. Rather they were separate actors that would spawn into play and allows the player to controller. Honestly, it may seem like an unnecessary step; but it would make it easier to manage to potential problems with controllers and make editing them a lot easier.

Full Resolution image

However, once spawned these controllers would not move. I printed the values and it noted a change, but no difference were displayed on screen. I looked at the sample and copied over the same blueprint; yet the same problem persisted. I spent at least 1.5 hours trying to figure out why. This was one of my first dumb work choices. Rather than progress, my curiosity got the better of me.

The day went on and regardless off what mesh and collision properties I changed/added to the pawn or its sub-components. The Kayak clipped through all the objects. 

After some research, i discovered that when using a Vive the game spawns a virtual HMD in the players original location and the parent overrides the collision properties of the mesh. Thus, using a default scene component took a toll on my work. 

In the end this is what the pawn looked like:

  Full Resolution image

Day 2:

Going of yesterdays very slow day, I started doing the programming for the kayak. 

The prominent logic I came up with was this: 

Getting the point at which the paddle strike the water and it end point, then taking the relative x difference as the speed. Then I took the inverse tan off the the y difference over the x different off the start and end location to find the angle to rotate the kayak by. Then stutely teleport the actor to said location.

I started with basic teleporting, due to there being no built in movement component for VR. The problems I faced were:

1. The kayak would clip through objects.

2. The kayak would not move.

3. The kayak would move but not rotate.

4. The Kayak would glitch out, with random physics actions.

5. The Kayak would have no momentum.

Sadly this was the only video I recorded

A couple images of the Blueprints

Day 3:

As the roadblocks got stiffer, I began to do more research on how to make the Kayak. The found a video tutorial about arm swinging movement with a Vive, I created it then tried to implement it with what I already had. 

(David Dewhirst, 2017)

Which was based off the movement system within the book “Ready Player One”. 

However, this would not have momentum and did not really solve any issues with the Kayak. But, it did lead to a locomotion mechanism that involves dancing in VR ;) 

After, some more research; I discovered the Runeberg VR Plugin. This allowed me to actually add velocity to my pawn. Sadly the pawn refused to rotate, when moving.

(Rune Berg, 2016)

Nevertheless, with time constraints I will not be able to get something that feels very natural in time....

Day 4: 

Close to the deadline, I had to think of a cheap hack around it. I decided to make it into VR Speedboat, Aldo, suggested a quick hack of using one of the vehicles and placing a Kayak Mesh over it. 

I did that and added a few more tweaks and scripts. Then I finished, my role. Ryan continued to model and create the level. While, Aldo worked on the cell shader. 

References:

Jakub Vetrovec. (2016, August 7). Samsung Gear VR : Kayak Experience [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzWLmPq6P_E&ab_channel=JakubVetrovec

Giant Squid. (2016). ABZÛ [Video game]. Milan: 505 Games.

UPLOAD. (2016, August 6). How This Developer Created a Portal Locomotion System in ‘Budget Cuts’. Retrieved from http://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-portal-locomotion-design/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=Page%20post%20boosting&utm_content=This%20is%20a%20pretty%20inter…57a875d6f4bd3bc90d8b4778&utm_id=57a875d6f4bd3bc90d8b4778

David Dewhirst. (2017, January 28). Arm Swinger Style Movement Tutorial for Unreal 4 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMieSD_7nSg&ab_channel=DavidDewhirst

Rune Berg. (2016, May 12). SUPERSEDED // See V2 Highlights // USING THE VR MOVEMENT COMPONENT [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfXD91JnPj0&ab_channel=RuneBerg

[jackhealybct]

‘Critical Play’, ‘Flow’, and ‘The Magic Circle’

Critical Play There are many types of play not only in the modern world but in the world over time. Not exempt from this is play designed to break down and restructure ideas in the real world. Mary Flanagan discusses this ‘Critical Play’, in which play can be used to help people think critically about the world around them. ‘Critical Play’ let’s the hands on and immersive experience that is play be used to expose and explore ideas for people in ways that may go unnoticed, or in new ways entirely based on the experience. When Prof. Flanagan uses the term ‘Critical’ she seems to be referring to how the play is analysing the world around us and bringing that into a new medium to challenge and realise these issues, but also that this kind of play comes in a time when it could have a strong and decisive impact on our future as it could be a defining aspect of what brings about crucial changes. Flow ‘Flow’ is how Csikszentmihalyi articulated the whole immersion in an experience. However it so clearly drives forth this image that it is not just doing something, it is this marriage of your consciousness and your actions. For such a union to occur however it goes beyond just thinking hard about it, it is a tentative and liquid state that requires a significant set of factors to achieve. You have to be enjoying what you are doing to begin with. You can do something but how are you supposed to become one with it if you constantly have your mind drift off out of boredom, or think about how much you aren’t enjoying yourself. You have to be aware of what you are doing, and how you are doing it. It’s not enough to absent-mindedly act, but to actively engage and know you are doing that, be it knowing that you are moving your chess piece into an advantageous position or picking the right plant to deal with the zombie wearing a bucket invading your lawn. You have to intrinsically get something out of it. Sure a pat on the back or a cash prize would be nice out the end of a race, but if your mind is in a constant drift to the external reward then how are going to become wholly one with the task in front of you, the task you are supposed to be melding with. ‘Flow’ appears to be something that is easier to be taken out of than to get into, but it is a rewarding experience when you are able to meet the requirements. The Magic Circle Where ‘Flow’ is what happens when you become immersed in an experience, ‘The Magic Circle’ is where it can happen. Around most games is this metaphorical circle that is the arena in which the game can take place. It is a world of it’s own wherein different rules apply than that of the normal world. While the circle varies depending on what you are playing it very much is fundamentally the same in that what you can do inside can be in most ways, shapes, and forms, be very different to your day-to-day life. Take the game musical chairs for example. While in normal social circumstances, it is conceived as ludicrous to physically scramble for a seat and to do your best to steal one from your peers in a survival of the fittest type simulation, the magic circle around the game permits it. However ‘The Magic Circle’ doesn’t defy all normal societal behaviour. Even in Musical Chairs it’s against the rules to knock the other players out and drag them off to the side to get your seat. Games aren’t the only places with magic circles, and some magic circles are much clearer examples. Libraries and Theatres, for example, have a magic circle that dictates that you should be much quieter, whispering at most, as opposed to the normal permission to speak at most volumes you choose when out in public. Boxing rings have a very clearly marked magic circle, where once inside you can assault your opponent until they fall down unconscious but once you outside a single punch could land you in jail. Life becomes much different in ‘The Magic Circle’ since, depending on the rules inside it, your decisions, actions, and relationships can differ greatly. Playing a role playing game, a happy couple might decide to play rivals or enemies. A person who follows every rule to the letter might steal, cheat, and kill, contrary to their nature outside of the circle. Depending on the game you might become an evil murderous dictator upon stepping into the circle. What ‘The Magic Circle’ allows means that many options are open, and they in theory shouldn’t have an impact on life outside of the circle. So should you then see it fit to deceive and back-stab your fellow players. This is really quite subjective. Even inside ‘The Magic Circle’ you aren’t immune to your actions bleeding into your normal life. The happy couples go at being enemies could easily bring up arguments that they take home with them. The law abiding citizen might see the thrill of crime and go torrent a movie. We at the heart of it are only human. So keeping this in mind it’s a dangerous game to go around lying and deceiving. Of course there are games where it’s a core mechanic or a necessary evil in order to effectively take part. Plus you have to think about the people you play with. Some people could get a real kick out of a little deceit, where as other could find it an affront. While it’s easy to say to anyone, “it’s just a game”, thinking ‘The Magic Circle’ protects against consequences, it is very much up to the circumstances you find yourself as to whether you want to test the boundaries of the circle.

[leifratahibct]

Context Of Games & Play Week 2 - Situation

For week two of games and play we looked at the golden age of board games when European board games and westernized board games started using techniques from each other in the way they were made. Tabletop games of the Euro-style genre usually have an emphasis on strategy rather than conflict between other players or by being the luck of the draw whereas with American styled tabletop games they involved much more attributes of conflict between other players or involved aspects of luck that would cause drama between players. Examples of Euro-style board games or tabletop games are Settlers of Catan and Bohnanza. Some very good examples of American styled board games are Monopoly or Twilight Imperium.

Other things we looked at this week were physical installations. With physical installations, we focused on an installation called connected worlds. Connected Worlds was an installation that allowed users to interact with many different ecosystems within the New York Hall of Science. What interested me about the Connected Worlds installation was the way users could interact with the installation all at the same time creating different impacts that did not mess with the system.

[infernalmachette]

Week 7

This week was more about figuring out my own research question and direction that I’m going to work in. My idea currently is to work on soft body rigging that mimics the movement of cats. I want to do something more technical and a lot of the work is going to be in programing. I’ll be honest I have no idea what the hell I’m doing but here’s the question I have so far  How can I use soft bodies to mimic the physics of cats in jars? 

Also here’s some concept art: 

and here’s a game I’m going to use as inspiration because y’kno, soft bodies, sushi cat 

To note: It doesn’t have to be a cat I just think they’re neat 

[onlyryan]

Contexts of Game and Play

Here is the process and development of the game jam, I have broken it down into 5 main phases and provided a few clips of examples of how I made the models.

This is phase 1 where I began to develop the map from the ground up. I began by creating a landscape plane, maximizing brush size and tool strength to influence the surface. Because the scale was quite large, it was appropriate to apply higher settings. Basically the point of sculpting around the ridges first was to define the boundaries of the experience so they cant fall off a cliff. 

After the edge of the plane were sculpted to a sufficient height, I then moved onto sculpting the islands making my way towards the center of the map. 

I then followed up with phase 2 by adding a water plane to give the scene more substance and a more full perspective of the map as a whole. The water plane also helped to properly develop a judgement of the height of the islands and meant that I could go back and sculpt according to the height of the water plane if some islands were too low. I simply wanted to create variance of depth and form to create a little more interest in the map.  

Phase 3 was applying the cell shading to the map which was made by Aldo. This added more visual depth as it added a somewhat stylized effect with regards to the lighting and shadows. Progressively adding levels of materials seemed to work well, presumably a lot better than throwing all the materials in at once and working around that. It allowed us to judge how compatible the color scheme was- predominantly with a focus on that of the rock terrain and the water plane.

Phase 4 was integrating the assets (made in blender) into the map (Unreal Engine 4). Here’s some quick examples of how I went about making them in blender. 

After making the assets and applying basic materials, I quickly UV wrapped them (simple shapes, quick to wrap), imported them into UE4. The method of placement for the mushrooms/toadstools was through the foliage tool which I could then paint onto the surfaces. The main parts of this tool I had to change was the foliage density and randomization of their size and placement.

This process was followed by manually placing in the other assets and integrating the mechanic based element into the experience. The whole process was cut down to the most efficient ways of doing things as only one of us had experience with game jams. The biggest factor by far is time and gauging the scope of the project in relation to the time period that we have to achieve this by.

[synergybct]

Dog Simulator, hah, more like uh.. Poop Simulator

[dinomightofficial]

MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

06/03/2018

Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics were the three key words emphasized. Aesthetic referring to the type of fun/play the player experiences whilst going through a game. The paper describes and demonstrates the use of this formal analysis method of games to simplify our understanding and categorizing of games.

My understanding is that the method of developing and iterating a game through the MDA method is for games that are close to finished production and want to reflect and polish their game so that it satisfies this formal method. I was wondering throughout this reading how this same process would work in conjunction with experimental game design. I imagine that for things like VR play a new subset for MDA would have to be made especially with realism and varying levels of immersion in mind.

I was also wondering how this framework could be taken further in a competitive scene where team dynamic is heavily dependent on game mechanics. For example; Overwatch is considered a very teamwork dependent game if you wish to succeed in competitive play. However, I remember in earlier seasons of Overwatch the game mechanic contained clearly much less team dependent game mechanics. A commonly overlooked (and my favourite character) was Roadhog and it was well known throughout the Overwatch community that with this beast of a character there was no way of beating this character one versus one if you were to be even remotely close to him. Roadhog had the mechanic of hooking other players in and could basically kill any other character with a single shot. I loved this character because even if other players weren’t doing so good in a particular game I could just make up for their behalf by myself with less team work/dynamic required. As a result I was able to get to a pretty high rank in competitive play and I absolutely loved playing Overwatch because of it.

However, later on Roadhog was substantially nerfed and its stats reduced as the developers thought that he was a bit overpowered and wanted to make players focus more on teamwork and team dynamic rather than domination. For me however I remember Overwatch never felt the same again and it was no longer fun. 

For an example like this I’m not so sure the MDA format can be helpful as substituting team work for fun can be a difficult and almost an impossible achievement for a game designer. MDA is an attempt at one for trying to formalize game design. I feel however that this method accomplished more at generalizing design rather than giving a real and effective tool for developers to iterate their product on. I’m certain that this paper may have some useful implications for certain games but I imagine that the amount of games that can take full use out of this formal analysis would be quite small.

http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf