Button Bash Design

Flatpack World

2011-08-23T08:53:00.000+10:00

The level builder has gotten bit of an upgrade since its last mention. Inicus' Tile Interpret system has been intergrated.

To cut down on processing time, it will only work on cubes that are selected with the level builder.

I have to recheck some code but you can still make non-retangular shaped buildings.

Particular walls on the buildings can now spawn props onto them. It still need some work as some walls have a tendancy to spawn props out of bounds. But media heavy and congested buildings are coming.

I'm working on a level now. It's still at grey box level. I'll be looking for test drivers tommorrow so if you want to give it a spin, come and ask me. (I learnt yesterday that System.IO.FileInfo.Delete is one of .Net features that aren't supported by Unity's web builds.)

Nag naggity nag

2011-08-23T07:13:00.003+10:00

Some graduation house keeping. Thank you to those who did fill in the form that I emailed you all (unless your email broke then you are excused and should ask for an explanation) and those you did find some time to go over the docs with their game descriptions and crew details. You spared me some time.

So I'm going to assume you (who haven't gotten around to it) are happy with the details listed below:

- Contact Details (This is a spreadsheet with names and emails)
- Carrom
- Knight Marshal
- Canon Courier

If you have had other people working on your games, make some effort to credit them. If I haven't gotten your roles right, then fix it or tell me to fix it. I'm still waiting on images for the Graduate DVD book, my deadline for this is getting closer and I have a lot to do for Wreckless so any effort is much appreciated.

If you don't want to donate or participate in any of the fundraising for the End of Year show, then can you let me know. I need to get an idea of numbers so I can gracefully write a letter to Michele and Herman telling them that (potentially all at this point) Gamers aren't going to be doing anything for the End of Year show.

Here's some Mana Bar figures as from this document. The Mana Bar can hold up to 60 people.

Booking out the Mana Bar on the 22nd November (End of Year show night) will cost:
- $1000 bar tab (5pm - 8pm)
- $2000 bar tab (5pm - 12pm)

Booking out the Mana Bar for Friday/Saturday nights will cost:
- $1500 bar tab (5pm - 8pm)
- $3000 bar tab (5pm - 12pm)

Booking out the Mana Bar for Sunday nights will cost:
- $600 bar tab (5pm - 8pm)
- $1500 bar tab (5pm - 12pm)

- Between an additional $200 - 800 for food (depending on your choices for food)

If you don't get your Griffith email: there's some Industry thing that Griffith's holding on the 13th of September at the Ship Inn. You need to RSVP a spot via HERE. Not guarantee that you'll get in.

Wreckless Conduct: Copy and Pasting Animations

2011-08-07T21:42:00.001+10:00

Copying and pasting animations for the rigs in Wreckless now goes something like this:

For the curious, there are about 54 items in the current rig that are used to animate. With the tool, we only have to copy animations from 9 of these objects.

Open up unanimated rig.

Import the animated rig.

Find and select the animated rig's "Root" node. Then copy the animations from it.

Find and select the unanimated rig's "Root" node. Paste the animations to it.

As the script's not in control of importing the rig, I haven't added any capabilities to find and match names of the 2 rigs. You also have to copy and paste for all the IK handles and rig controls. This does cut down the process to about 1 minute so I can't complain. The best part, most of the work is done in 4 lines of code which look like this:

proc CopyKeys() {
string $sourceRoot[] = `ls -selection`;
copyKey -time ":" -option keys -hierarchy below -controlPoints 1 -shape 1 {$sourceRoot[0]};
}//END CopyKeys

proc PasteKeys() {
string $rootNode[] = `ls -selection`;
pasteKey -option replaceCompletely -copies 1 -connect 0 -timeOffset 0 -floatOffset 0 -valueOffset 0 {$rootNode[0]};
}//END PasteKeys

Link Dump: Bits and bobs

2011-07-31T06:25:00.001+10:00

Miscellanouse bits that I found interesting:

- Bioshock Pitch
- Orchestra treatment of Woven Variations from Journey
- The numbers of mobile gaming (for you mobile game devs)
- This year's GDC Game Design Challenge: Bigger than Jesus (Features Jason Rohrer, John Romero and Jenova Chen)
- Board Games with comedian Tommy Dean
- ABC radio on the changing shape of the Australian Games industry and new opportunites Download the mp3

Graduating with Griffith

2011-07-29T11:17:00.001+10:00

If you're the kind of person that wants to avoid talking to people or queing up then this might be for you. I give you Griffith's online details about checking your graduation using the Griffith Portal. This feature will probably become available around Monday 1st of August. I'm sure you can always talk to Admin if you're not trusting of anything I happen to spout.

Wreckless Conduct: Debuggery

2011-07-27T06:07:00.000+10:00

Unity
It has been a long time between updates but I spent a lot of it debugging my level builder and associated scripts. It contains less bugs than before and few more options.

This a quick tool that I wrote to make using Inicus' Cube Interpret System easier to use.

It snaps cubes (any prefab) to a sizeable "tile grid" (Wreckless uses 3x3x3 metre scale), lets you scale the selected items by the scale (+n in x,y,z) and lets you add a tag to the selected. Which is important so the Cube system knows what to turn cubes into.

Road Intersections can align (it's a little buggy) before they generate roads and there's highways happening. I will be working on getting ramps and barriers on those intersections up.

Prop Zones are little areas that will be scattered around the levels that generate props for you to crash into. It saves me time having to place the props in manually. There are a variety of options for how props are spawned inside the zone. It's still a small work in progress, I have yet to find an elegant way to code it.

Skybox Progression
Although it's not apparent, Wreckless is meant to be full of hive city environments so the skybox should reflect it. I dislike matte painting but it's just how I've decided to get something up.

A shot of an unfinshed 3D version.

If there are any artists around who'd like to do some modelling or matte painting, it would certainly save us some time and look 1000 times better. Feel free to contact me or Inicus if you want to work on a cyberpunk environment.

Mel scripting
I got tired of having to set up all my default scene cameras' near and far clip planes so I wrote a mel script. I could add more functionality to it but this is good enough for me.

I spent a lot of time on the break trying to script a tool that will copy animations from 1 rig to another. So far no dice. But hopefully I can get back into it once I've picked some brains of far more intelligent people than I.

Wreckless Conduct: Level Building Phase 1

2011-06-06T16:01:00.000+10:00

While I would love to ammend the above title with "complete", this puppy has got a snowballing effect on it. One day I expect it to implode itself or explode my brain. Any day now.

Here's some progress shots of trying to roads to spawn around intersections:

The Level Builder 'menu':

I found it easier to import my reference image in so I can lay pieces out to fit the map. It's a little buggy but it works enough for me.

Placement of objects/world elements:

I'm going to be working on this for quite some time. There's a big list of bugs to fix and some added extras that would make level building easier. I'm going to take a break and then start making things better.

If anyone needs to construct a litmas test for the 90's, consider the raddest cat.

Links: Unity Tools

2011-05-29T14:29:00.001+10:00

Level building is pretty fiddly but here are links that might make it easier:

Positioning Objects via the Unity Manual. Check out the notes on Unit and Vertex snapping.

Align Positions via the Unity Manual. An example script from Unity.

Snap to Grid by Hayden Peake: Can be useful if you're working on a grid layout and to a particular scale.

LineMup by Matthew J. Collins. Aligns and distributes even spacing between selected objects. Comes with an instructional video.

Transform Utilites by Daniel Rodríguez (Also found here): A pretty hand tool for aligning objects in a scene, it's a little more technical than the other options but makes things much easier.

Now back to scalding my eyeballs with Wow-Wow Sauce and other ritualistic activities that make up level building. A proper post is coming

Wreckless Conduct: The Scent of Failure

2011-05-16T22:08:00.004+10:00

Some progress shots of level building toolkit + Unity Editor + beating head on keyboard looks like. Finally got some kind of mouse click system which instantiates a prefab in the scene window.

For those interested, the code looks a little like this:

//OnScenGUI is how the Editor handles events in the scene window

function OnSceneGUI() {

// Handles are like Gizmos

// Draw cube at 0,0,0 when level builder is on

Handles.color = Color.red;

Handles.CubeCap(0, Vector3.zero, Quaternion.identity, 0.5);

if(editMode) {

if(Event.current.type == EventType.MouseDown) {

if(Event.current.button == 0) {

var ray = HandleUtility.GUIPointToWorldRay(Event.current.mousePosition);

var dist : float;

// Cast a ray on a "fake" plane (The Plane class in Unity is a "Representation of planes")

// If ray hits the plane (grid stand in), use the current mouse position to instantiate our prefab

if(grid.Raycast(ray, dist)) {

var pos : Vector3 = ray.origin + ray.direction.normalized * dist * 0.5;

Debug.Log("Placed fab at: " + pos);

// Using EditorUtility.InstantiatePrefab does stop me from creating clones of my prefab

// I could still use Instantiate(gameObject, pos, Quaternion.identity) here as well

var currentPiece : GameObject = EditorUtility.InstantiatePrefab(target.currentFab);

// Seems like the line below is causing some problems

currentPiece.transform.position = pos;

}//END grid Raycast

}//END Mouse Left Click

}

// Prevent deselection of object while in Edit Mode

Selection.activeGameObject = target.transform.gameObject;

}//END In Edit Mode

}//END OnSceneGUI

Failure is listed down below, I'm getting worried about how long this is all taking so any suggestions are most welcome.

Edit: I've sort of resolved the fragmenting of prefabs, it had to do with my invoking of particular functions. I will be working on the functionality of the level builder.

This one is a little old but it does show that I've resolved a strange problem with the math that determined where a collider positioned itself and when you resized buildings.

For funs:
Minecraft - Unity Style. Also has a playable demo.

Wreckless Conduct: Streets of Hell

2011-05-10T13:30:00.005+10:00

With about 4 weeks to go, I decide to start scripting things that will help with level building. Yes, I have under-estimated the enormity of this task. Here's a look at what I've been working on.

Building scripts for prefabs:

Material randomiser:

To Do:
- City layout
- Roads
- Buildings
- Props

Wreckless Conduct: Highway Star

2011-04-28T21:12:00.000+10:00

Link: Unity Things

2011-04-26T09:17:00.001+10:00

Some stuff for Unity that looks pretty interesting and I may be writing an assignment about some of these..

Maya + Unity Grid: A MEL script and some interesting things about scale between Maya and Unity.

Level Builder: This thing's 141MB so it will eat your bandwith. It looks pretty interesting, I will be testing it out later. Edit: Okay, you get a demo version of the level builder that works in a strange way. It's interesting to play around with but for some bizzare reason is configured to work with joysticks.

UniLOD: A LOD system for Unity.

UnitySteer: Because I can't afford the Asset Store.

Wreckless Conduct: Prop Export Tool

2011-04-25T12:35:00.001+10:00

My Export Tool has hit its final stage of development. I doubt I'm going to do more to it but suggestions are always welcome.

Here's a pictorial outline of how it works:

Important: This works best if you point the tool to a Custom Assets/Assets folder in your Unity project that should have folders for Models and Textures. I may look into adjusting it so you can just choose a project folder but that will depend on time constraints.

If you can see the tool, then you may notice the text boxes for Model and Texture Folders. They are default names but you can edit them as long as you remember to have a "/" at the front. Annoying but it's just the way I've set to code to deal with empty text boxes.

I've got a slight problem with importing to Unity and the generation of materials. If you look at the pictures below, it will generate a material from the imported texture file and import the Maya default lambert1. It's very likely I will need to play with Unity's Editor classes but we'll see how I go.

Fixed:
- Problems with exporting with/without the Collision node
- Hacky fixes for re-exporting and multiple Collision Nodes (you can have mulitiple Collision nodes but it ignore those nodes upon export)
- Collision volume names, it will now stop appending additional tags to the volumes' name

Added:
- Naming of multiple volumes, you can add the same tag to whatever's under your selection
- Folder Names as mentioned before
- Remove collision volumes from the Collision node

Problems:
- You will need to assign another material to your object, Maya has a problem with renaming lambert1.
- It will still build an Export Node even if you haven't selected a mesh or when you exit out of the save dialog box. I may need to find a way to halt the procedure.

To Add:
- File Path refinement
- Extra pivot point options (maybe, I don't really need them but someone else might)

Wreckless Conduct: Dem Dry Bones

2011-04-21T19:55:00.000+10:00

The Wreckless Art Team's had some trouble with importing our animated rigs into the build. Tuesday night, Brie found the solution to our problem.

The solution involves an attribute found on joints known as Scale Compensation (or in Maya Segment Scale Compensate) which isn't supported by Unity. You just uncheck a checkbox found in the Attribute Editor and the rig will import correctly.

To save Brie the hassle of doing this 234 times (that's 39 bones x 6 models), I wrote a MEL script that does it for her. FUU-YEAH, Hadōken's a little hard to do but fixing pipeline issues like this is pretty good.

Wreckless Conduct:: Yellow Boxing

2011-04-18T21:59:00.001+10:00

'Lo and behold, it's that time where I do an update. Expect much boring stuff to occur right now. Here's some screenshots of some progress with unwrapping the car to keep your eyeballs entertained.

It's essentially 1 solid mesh of a Lowrider and then over 18 separated parts that will break off when you crash it in game. It's going to take some time to get a nice and smooth UV happening so don't hold your breath. I didn't model it, you may thank the genius behind it by giving him cash.

I've been working on a MEL script/Export tool that's going to help me export props for Wreckless. It's getting close to an alpha stage so I'm going to write about it since it does more things than a half-unwrapped car.

It's a tool that's built to work with Matt's BuildCollisionOnImport for Unity and make exporting props to the Wreckless build simpler. A basic run down for skim readers:
- It will export an FBX to either my current folder or somewhere I choose
- It will rename my mesh and current material to the same name as my Maya scene.
- It will also copy the image file linked to the material into the directory I chose
- It can place collision volumes under a collision node
- I can tag collision volumes using this tool (more about that below)
- It does pivot point placement
- Everything is placed under a node called Export

Here's some shots of what it does and what problems I've come across. Note: This tool only exports as FBX, I could probably make it do other file formats but that's not necessary at the moment.

1. This is our substitute model, it has a clean construction history and an assigned texture. The export tool is that thing on the side, you will get a cleaner shot of it later.

2. Pivot Settings, move the pivot to particular places. It has general placements at the moment but I will be trying to include more expansive options. The pivot offset only works for above and below the model. It doesn't do x or z axes at the moment.

You may ask why not and I would have to explain why trying to move the pivot 0.2 meters below the prop is a little bit tedious. You may read that as "she's a lazy little thing" and you would be right.

3. The export buttons. Quick export will dump your FBX to the same location as your Maya scene. Export will place your FBX into the folder you direct it to. It will also copy the image file you're using to texture it into any folder marked "Texture" in the same directory as the FBX. Placement for lazy people will be coming up.

4. I hit a problem with trying to stick duplicated versions of the model under a Collision Node. In the top picture, you can see it completely missed the collision volume I had put in the scene.

Surprisingly checking where it was calling the function actually fixed it. The bottom shot shows what you're meant to get with the tool. If you have noticed, it will also rename your mesh and current material the same name as your scene. That's a good thing if your scene is "Vending_Machine" but bad if it's "R_204892-492". I might include extra bits that allow the user to set a name for the mesh and material.

Exporting into Unity looks like this:

If you're not familiar with Matt's script, basically it will look for a node called "collision", then look for anything that has an ID tag. Depending on which tag you use, the script will then make a collider where you put a volume and then delete the mesh you used to make that volume.

So in the above case, the "_Box" tag we stuck on our collision volume will make a Box Collider. Feel free to come bug me if you don't get that explanation, stabbing costs you extra.

There are a few things to fix with the current version of the tool.

It can't generate collision volumes, these need to be made by the user. However it does come with some options that make it easier to put collision under the right node. I started putting these in when I remembered that there are props which contain more than 1 type of volume.

It's got a problem with naming volumes, as you can see it'll keep appending the tag to the transform's name. Don't you worry, I will fix it soon.

The current GUI looks like this, most things are explanatory but you can ask questions and I may try to answer them.

To Do:
- Solve problems with the collision tags, and node.
- Refine the export function
- Refine the naming system
- Include additional pivot point options

If you have any suggestions or complaints, please fire them at my head. I'll be sure to get them in a most painful way.

Unity Skyboxes

2011-04-16T14:52:00.002+10:00

I've been fiddling around with a new skybox texture for Wreckless Conduct. As skybox texture creation isn't covered in the Unity manual, I did a hunt around for some tutorials/information.

Flat Images for Skybox (A Unity Answers diagram) and Creating a Skybox discuss the same method but works well if you're using a 2D app like Photoshop. See also this tute from CGTextures.

"As Unity uses a sphere to project the skydome it is best to use Maya or Vue to create the textures for the skybox as the spherical projection is hard to get it right within a photoeditor only." (From the Unity Forums)

I've been told Unity will blow the skybox textures up so high-res images are a good thing.

Here's some old attempts at the skybox:

Wreckless Conduct: Plastic Surgery

2011-04-11T22:04:00.000+10:00

One of the tasks I've had for the last week was texturing the pedestrians modeled by Brie. So far there are only 3 but more are in the works. More can be done with these but I wonder just how much you'll see when you're plowing through them.

I've included the Texture maps and progress shots, just for the hell of it. Trying to paint wrinkles and stubble has got to be worth something, right?

You may or may not have noticed that the level had a HUGE scale issue that's been toned down (still a while to go). Here's some progress shots, there are still some things that need fixing but I'll get to them soon.

Wreckless Conduct: Hard Hat Area

2011-04-04T21:45:00.002+10:00

What some people do not realise is that level and world building requires you to award yourself a faceted degree in architecture, urban planning and fun. If you observe the images below, you can be assured that I did not earn my degree.

Scribbles from my notebook:

On the left: What I had planned for the level
On the right: What the plan looks like when you realise the mini-map is orientated a particular way...

*Okay it's a seperate image because I forgot that no-one else will know how to read the damn thing. Yes, North is thataway:

The varying levels of brightness in these next shots relate to my using additional lighting in the scene so I could see what I was doing.

Timelapse screenshots:

Detail shots:

The pits are housed in little buildings of their own, I'd make the buildings high-risers but there are a few things about scale that need fixing.

Unintended driving in a city of giants. The map shouldn't be that big but it is.

To Do:
- Fix the entire world of Wreckless starting with pbcak and this little black duck
- Add in props (It's looking a little bare)
- Texture pedestrians
- Save the ~~cheerleader~~, sorry the world. Like these fine, fine people. *

*That's the 90's BP logo right there, you might know it.

Wreckless Conduct: It's the Pits

2011-03-28T21:23:00.001+10:00

One of the features of Wreckless is the machine pits, where players can get their vehicle repaired and reload their weapons. The money you earn racing can be used here especially if you or a competitor has totalled your car.

Development sketches and notes:

The old pits from the prototypes:

The current pits(still work in progress):

These pits are going to be inserted into buildings so you can get drive-thru service, oh the wonders of modern convenience. The name's not important but keep an eye out for the hazard stripes, they work like beacons.

Pit props/window dressing*:

* None of which actually operates, it's mise en scène/set design.

Shots of WIP versions of the hydraulic lift:

Stats of the current hydraulic lift:

This prop has a few problems like scale but these are going to get fixed soon. Sorry techno-nuts, it doesn't lift your car up. It's just window dressing.

Wreckless Conduct: Week 4

2011-03-22T14:21:00.001+10:00

Last week the Wreckless team discussed the plan for the current 3 week sprint. The plan was to subtract the racing element and go for demolition derby.

Our old work breakdown looks like this:
Inicus - Competitor AI
Anderson - Car Customisation
Brie - Pedestrian modeling and animation *(This has changed to something particular tasty, more info can be had from Brie)
Me - Environment: modeling, texturing and level design

Old concept sketches dealing with roads, highways and rooftop racing. That's right, the city is a hive and it may turn out like Mega-City One from Judge Dredd. (Well hopefully something more navigable.)

Screenshot of me figuring out how the bridge and ramp road system is going to work out. It will get better.

You may not realise this but Inicus has written up a script that tiles the UVs for items like roads, pavements and windows when the game is run. Check out some before and after shots.

Wreckless Conduct: Props

2011-03-14T16:06:00.000+10:00

I've been working my way down the prop checklist and I have about 6 models to go and about X amount of variations to on everything. The design brief/art direction for Wreckless can be summed up as: "You'll be fine as long as you make it as I see it in my head".

Here's some screenshots of what may be appearing in Wednesday's prototype:

Yes, the street lamp looks very long. I will look into it.

These be things that will be stuck on buildings, the two little ones in the middle are generic fuse boxes.

Wreckless is meant to have a lot of advertising it its world. This is the stuff for now and it's not even the tip of the iceberg.

Link Dump

2011-03-11T05:49:00.002+10:00

#AltDevBlogADay has a new website which is much easier to use.

GDC Vault - Free videos from GDC.

DICE Presentations from this year's GDC. - They are an offshoot of EA so they will be discussing things about AAA title production.

Please Finish Your Game by Chris Hecker - (I will watch it sometime but I've been told it is important viewing)

Postmortem, Gamasutra style - Lessons learnt from production and release of games.

Space-Shooter Postmortem - Lessons learnt from a student producing a spaceship game and it comes with source code.

Kongregate Unity Game Winners - Unity and Kongregate had a competition and these are the results.

Jasmine showed me Space Invaders Infinity Gene, a very cool reboot of a classic which reminded me of Upgrade Complete

Demystifying trademarks and games - Stuff about copyright, logos and trademarks that you might want to think about.

12 business tips for indie game developers by Paul Taylor of Mode7

Extra Consideration: Console Gaming - Opinions piece from MovieBob, Yahtzee, and James Portnow.

Gaming can make a better world by Jane McGonigal - An interesting take on serious gaming and games as work.

Shadow Shoppe - A game prototype that is also a survey on how people associated character traits with body shape.

Da Font and Blambot are places that I use to look for fonts.

Wreckless Conduct: Buildings

2011-03-10T20:57:00.003+10:00

Subtitled "Why you should pay attention to every little thing your producer tells you".

Here's a run down of how the buildings in the Wreckless prototype developed. Most of this happened over the holiday and is a staggering exercise in my own stupidity. Somehow diagrams and written instructions are the better methods of instructing me.

Buildings started out as design sheets:

Used to be buildings that were made of a base and a bunch of planes. Somehow I missed the instructions where the entire building was built from planes. When your producer is this guy, you know when you've failed.

Old tile set which had a scale issue.

Tiny doors are bad. You can see the scale is all wrong.

A Wreckless human is about 1.8m tall and when you compare him to an improved door, he's going to be bumping heads with an imaginary door frame. This screen shot was taken by my boss.

Current Tile Set:

All these textures are scaleable based on a 3x3 meter scale. For example our roads are 6m wide and xm long.

Weekend Goal:
Model, unwrap and texture approx. 20 props to populate the prototype's level.

Wreckless Conduct: Prototype Week 1

2011-03-03T08:46:00.001+10:00

Hot Potato hasn't gone to the prototyping stage but its brother Terra has. However I have been working on another project during the holiday and that glorious and violent experience known as Wreckless Conduct is on the production short list.

This means that based on how the prototype ends up in 2 weeks, Wreckless Conduct will become a viable project for this semester or something to shelve for another time.

Wreckless Conduct is "a demolition derby with super awesome weapons" set in a cyberpunk future from the 90's. The project's headed by Inicus and features Anderson as programmer, Brie as character artist and myself on environments.

We've been working on the design and a prototype since late November/early December so our current goals for the next 2 weeks look like this:

Main Goal
Have a prototype that is a small game level
It will contain: moving pedestrians, competitors (AI controlled cars), environment props, buildings and a rudimentary HUD.

Work Breakdown
Plan for the next 2 weeks:

Brie: Model, unwrap, rig and animate (basic walk cycle) for generic pedestrian.

Yena: Environment textures and modeling environment props

Anderson: Credits system, Run time, HUD

Dominicus: Competitor AI, Pedestrian AI (coding for animations), build and implement level

Day 2 Thoughts
Yes, the current prototype has buildings with textures but they are broken. So I'll be spending the weekend fixing up those textures and then modeling environment props.

Here's some old building designs from the very start of the project, these were my starting points for building textures. More on this later.

Prop List
In rough order of priority these are some of things that would make the level look like a city. Consider it my checklist for the 2 weeks.

- Street Lamp / traffic light / electricity or phone pole
- Billboard (probably TV screen, but simple picture boards are also ok)
- Bin
- Street Sign
- Bench
- Dumpster
- Transformer / fuse box / something like that from which we extend wires between things
- Double-sided flat plane object on which to put wire/s texture (multiple different kinds of wire textures would be nice)
- Air-conditioning unit
- Vending machine
- Phone booth
- Metal barrel
- Neon sign
- Chainlink fence
- Plant box
- Construction scaffolding
- Cardboard box
- Wooden crate
- Gas Canister
- Handrails (for the edges of platforms, etc)

Here are some old design sheets for props.

Hot Potato 2.2

2011-03-01T22:24:00.002+10:00

Uploading Hot Potato version 2.2, some minor tweaks made but perhaps some more work to do. Both documents are .pdf format.

Edit: Small tweaks now added to make these the final versions.

Design Document 2.2

Hot Potato Pitch

Tater Dev: Old Images

2011-03-01T17:21:00.000+10:00

Old images that might appear in the pitch.

Tater Dev: Logo 1.4

2011-03-01T06:04:00.000+10:00

Tater Dev: Logo Fiddlin'

2011-02-24T13:36:00.001+10:00

Tater Dev: Logo Upgrade?

2011-02-24T05:35:00.001+10:00

Tater Dev: Roughs

2011-02-23T17:16:00.002+10:00

Tater Dev: Logo

2011-02-22T12:50:00.002+10:00

A rough of the game's logo/cover.

Tater Dev: Player and World Interactions

2011-02-21T15:15:00.003+10:00

In my previous post, I mentioned that the shape of Hot Potato's world plane and the controls are giving me some design headaches. It's a big problem to solve as the gameplay of Hot Potato depends on these two elements.

I'm going to be editing this on and off through out the week so come back and check it out.

The Problem:
Hot Potato's play mechanic is the player tilts the world and the ball moves according to the tilt's angle. By tilting the world, you're angling the ball so it falls onto objects to destroy them (score points). The tricky part is making this interesting and the solutions involve adjusting how player interaction is done.

Arguments on World Planes:

Notes:
The Rotating box(screen) is the easiest method to implement as it can work with multiple methods of level construction and 2D or 3D art. The player's view of the world isn't obstructed and game objects can be clearly identified. As movement is limited to left and right, the game might not be as entertaining.

Notes:
This rendition would make things more interesting as the player can tilt the world in more directions. This method can work with either manual level construction or procedural building generation. However the main issue with this method will be determining the maximum and minimum amounts of tilt the player can achieve and where the camera is positioned in relation to the ball.

Notes:
This curved shape would give the game an interesting look based on the camera's position. The amount of tilt and level of rotation is constrained by the world's shape. This world type would work best with procedural building generation.

Notes:
I once tried to explain this type of world plane to a friend using the 1st picture, instead it is best explained as being similar to some of the spherical levels found in the Ratchet and Clank series or Mario Galaxy.

Like the Cylindrical world, maintaining player interest will depend on the position of the camera. The camera position will determine the level of detail seen. Eg. A top down view will limit or negate the use of smaller objects such as crates. A zoomed in perspective would allow for more detail but can rotating and tilting a little disorientating for the player.

This method can work with building generation via scripts or manual placement. Manual placement would be dependant on the scale of the sphere, a larger sphere = more space to place objects.

GUI
Hot Potato has a minimalistic approach to GUI, it's a simple game and I see no need to make it complicated. The most important graphical interface the player will ever need is the ball. It's colour coded so you know just how much heat you're packing. If you need a refresher, it'll be in this previous post.

The menu will be acessed by pressing a keyboard button since trying to press an onscreen button would be a bad design choice for this game. Everything else is explained below:

Hot Potato v1.0

2011-02-17T12:30:00.003+10:00

Here be the most recent version of the design document which still requires a lot of refinement. Time's a ticking, crunch time is fast approaching and I have very little to show for it. Cries of "FFFUUUUUUUU-" will be heard.

Hot Potato

Genre
3D Destructive Sandbox

Engine
Unity 3

Tagline
Hot Potato got Destructive

Premise
Violence and mayhem as a flaming ball rampages through a city

Setting
The game is set in a large cartoon world where the laws of physics border on the ridiculous. Collisions in the game will be overly dramatic and humorous; contact with the ball will result in flames and explosions. Gratuitous violence is to be expected.

Game Structure
Hot Potato is a destructive casual game where the player's aim is to destroy the city using a flaming ball. Each play session involves the player attempting to beat their previous score before the ball's flame extinguishes.

The world of Hot Potato is designed in a sandbox structure, this allows the player to explore and experiment. Hot Potato focuses on mindless destruction and violence for enjoyment.

The game has room for different environments (maps) to become available for players to download or unlock. These would extend gameplay by offering the player different scenarios and objects to explore and destroy.

Gameplay
The player manipulates the ball's movement by tilting the world left and right. The ball's trajectory is affected by the tilt angle; players can manipulate this to optimise gameplay.

The flame burns out over time and the game will end if the flame burns out or is extinguished. Quick reflexes are required to avoid obstacles found in the game; these could have an extinguishing effect on the ball's flame.

Points are awarded for the amount of destruction the ball causes. Destroying and exploding objects will fuel the flame which aids in the destruction of objects and prevents the game from ending prematurely. The size and temperature of the flame will affect its destructive power.

Controls
Players control the game world via keyboard, the amount of tilt is determined by the duration of the key press. The world can be tilted in 8 directions (X and Z axes) to a maximum of 40°.

The angle and speed of tilting will affect the ball; the player can judge the timing and angle of their tilts to optimise the ball's collision.

Camera
The camera functions by scrolling with the ball, the camera will attempt to keep the ball centred on screen.

GUI
The GUI will only display the player's current score while the ball's current direction will be displayed onscreen as a moving arrow.

Ball
The ball is indirectly controlled by the player, its direction of movement is determined by angle and speed of the world's tilt but also by explosive collisions and obstacles.

Flame
Burns out over time but is fuelled by colliding with destroyable objects. The flame's colour is a visual indicator of how long it will last for. The colour will change from Red > Orange > White, with variations in between.

Flame Colour Chart: Left (Coolest) > Right (Hottest)
Warnings will appear if the flame is in danger of being extinguished.

As the ball destroys more objects, its colour will change to reflect its temperature. An object's resistance to the flame is determined by its size, type and material e.g., wooden objects are very flammable while vehicles require a higher temperature to explode.

The flame's size can increase momentarily when it collides with multiple objects or causes an explosion. Extra points can be rewarded if the flame flares up during these instances. Flaring up will cause the flame to spread out for a limited amount of time.

Collisions
When the ball collides with another object, it will either be damaged or explode depending on the object's size, type and material. A wooden crate will burn up but may explode if it contains explosive material. If the ball collides with a car, it could take repeated hits to explode the car.

Destruction and Explosions
The ball can destroy objects by burning or exploding them. Objects will add fuel to the flame while shrapnel can fly and damage other objects. Points are rewarded for the number of objects destroyed and additional points can be rewarded for explosions that occur during the destruction.

Explosions will fuel the ball's flame for longer and can cause chain reactions by destroying objects caught in its radius. Based the size of the explosion, the ball can be propelled in certain directions. This can be advantageous to the player as they can use it to navigate around the game or reach more objects.

Debris and Flying Objects
When an object is destroyed, there is a chance that it will break into debris or fly into other objects. Bonus points can be earned if the debris or object destroys nearby objects.

Barbequed, Gore and Ash
If the ball collides with flesh based creatures, there is a chance they will become barbeque or ash. Bonus points are rewarded if the player barbeques a large number of creatures. Gory collisions can occur if the creatures are hit with debris or flying objects.

There is the random chance that a pile of ash could become a zombie, points are rewarded if the resultant zombie is killed.

Demolition
Buildings can be destroyed over time by multiple collisions with the ball or during multiple explosions. Large explosions are more likely to destroy a building than smaller ones however small ones could be chained together to topple a building. A building's resistance is dictated by its size and function; a shack is much easier to destroy than a bank.

Destructible Objects
-Cardboard Boxes: Standard fuel that can be found anywhere in the world. Will burn but not explode or burst into debris.
-Wooden Crates: Has a low chance of exploding and breaking into debris. This will provide the ball with a moderate amount of fuel.
- Packed Crates: Wooden crates filled with miscellaneous items, some of these have the potential to explode.
- Metal Crates: Depending on the size and flame temperature, these can be difficult to destroy. These have a random chance of exploding.
Fences: These have varying resistance to flame, a concrete barricade can be used as an alternate pathway while a wooden fence would be fuel.
-Signs: Objects that provide some fuel for the ball, these are more useful as flying objects depending of their size.
- Traffic Lights and Street Lamps: The light and pole can be destroyed as separate sections resulting in more points.
-Trees: Will burn down and fuel the ball for a long period of time. Can be used to crush other objects in the world.
- Telephone and Electricity Poles: These have similar function to trees but can cause more destructive effects like electrocution and electrical fires.
- Oil Barrel: Will explode upon contact, the hot oil can cause a flare up and burn nearby objects.
- Gas Cylinder: Will explode when broken open, the amount of damage is determined by its size. This can cause chain reactions.
- Acid Container: When this explodes, it can spray acid everywhere. This can be used to erode surrounding objects and injure nearby creatures.
- Bombs: Explodes upon contact, can cause multiple explosions and destroy buildings.
- Trashcans and Dumpsters: Colliding into these will cause an eruption of garbage which can then be used to fuel the ball.
- Vehicles: Can explode with direct collision with the ball. A larger vehicle is more likely to be burnt and flung around the world during collision or if pushed by an explosion.

Fleshy Creatures
-Humans: Two legged creatures that will run away from destruction and explosions. They can be hurt in numerous ways; points are allocated based on the death received. Additional points can be rewarded depending on what human is killed. E.g. A civilian is worth less than a Santa impersonator.
-Animals: Creatures that have the random chance of becoming barbequed if they collide with the ball.
- Zombies: Arises from the ashes of killed fleshies, can be killed for more points. These will attempt to consume any fleshies nearby.

Obstacles
Obstacles can be broken down into various types that have an effect on the ball or its flame.

Air
If the ball is left in contact with these types of objects, its flame will be extinguished over time however these objects can propel the ball into an ideal direction. The player can prevent the flame from being blown out by tilting it away from the air flow.

- Fans: The size of this obstacle will indicate the strength of the fan, larger fans can push the ball away and lower the flame's temperature. A high temperature flame can destroy small fans but not industrial sized ones.
- Air Vents: The ball can be pushed in the direction that it faces however the flame can be reduced to Red if encountered.
- Wind Turbines and Wind Mills: These can push the ball back a long distance and blow the flame out.

Water
The majority of these obstacles will immediately douse the flame causing an instant game over. The player should avoid these.

- Puddles: Will lower the temperature of the ball and reduce its flame with prolonged exposure.
-Ice: This will melt when in contact with the ball's flame and the resulting water can extinguish the flame.
- Hoses: Can produce pools and streams of water that will put the flame out.
- Sprinklers: Produces a moving stream of water that the player should avoid.
- Pools: This will extinguish the flame immediately upon collision, these will vary in size.
- Fire Hydrants: Will produce a jet of water for a long period of time if the hydrant is destroyed.

Mineral
Prolonged contact with these can snuff out the flame and slow down the ball's movement. Tilting the world can shift the ball out of these traps. These traps are ranked by the rate they impede the ball's movement starting from low - high.

Dirt, sand, mud, slime, quicksand

Chemical
These obstacles can fuel or extinguish the ball's flame, a logo distinguish these obstacles from destructible objects. Extinguishing effects will be marked by a countdown

- Fire Extinguishers: Fire extinguishers can put the flame out momentarily dependant on its size in relation to the ball.
- Liquid Nitrogen: Will immediately extinguish the ball upon contact.
- Oxygen Tanks: Contact with these will enable the player to have a prolonged flare up for a set amount of time.
- Bicarbonate Soda: This can extinguish the ball upon prolonged contact with the contents of its container.
- Flour: Sacks of flour become explosive upon contact with the ball and can obscure some of the surrounding area from the player's view.

Physical
Physical obstacles can be used to negotiate the ball around other obstacles or to travel further across the world. Unlike other objects, these are inflammable.
- See saw: These react to the ball's position along the see saw's beam and can be used to reach higher ground or as a destructive tool.
- Conveyor Belt: These can be used to transport the ball over unsafe obstacles, reach higher locations or holds destructible objects. Conveyor belts can go in any direction.
- Cannons: This can be used to shoot the ball across the map, the distance and angle of trajectory is random and cannot be controlled by the player. The ball can set off loaded cannons to destroy nearby buildings.
- Catapults: These will fire the ball over a set distance in a straight line.
- Weights: These can extinguish the ball's flames or be used to crush nearby objects and buildings.
- Lifts: Will move any object up or down.

World Construction
The environments of Hot Potato could be manually constructed or via procedural generation. Both methods would provide sufficient game play for the needs of this project however these methods will have an effect on production.

Manual Construction
This method is more time consuming as the design of the level is integral to providing the player with challenging and enjoyable gameplay. The level would be a closed "arena" which has the potential for the player to encounter every object and obstacle possible. To prevent a premature end game, objects would respawn over time allowing the player to continually destroy objects.

Pros:
- Can customise sections of environment for more interesting player experiences
- Opportunities to create varied experience for player
- Gameplay can be varied based on size of level and types of environments
Cons:
- Level design and construction will be a time consuming part of production
- Challenging and enjoyable gameplay dependant on level design

Procedural Generation
An environment created from this method could be a continuous level which would force the player to keep moving the ball in search for more destructible objects. Procedural generation would provide endless gameplay but it does limit the gameplay to "mindless" destruction and avoidance of obstacles.

Pros:
- Level construction done through code
- Continuous game mode suits gameplay
Cons:
- May be difficult to implement
- Object and obstacle placement dependant on code, random results may occur

Scripting

Game Control
- Tilt using keyboard
- Roll Ball

World
- World Bounds

World Construction
- Procedural generation of objects

Ball
- Ball movement

- Collisions
-Identify type of object
- Increase/ Decrease flame
- Score increase

- Move ball

- No of explosions
- Add bonus
- Flare up

- Flame
- Decrease over time
- Reach 0, end game
- Temperature (HP)
- Colour
- Flare up

World Objects
- Collision detection

Destructible Objects
- Collision detection
- Destruction of object
- Replace with destroyed instance if necessary
- Explosion generation
- Movement
- Action/Animate

Obstacles
- Collision detection
- Action (what to do when ball collides with it)

Problems

- No mention of particle systems (Argh, an oversight that must be corrected)

- Scope is fairly large
I may need to reconsider cutting out a lot of the obstacles and fleshies. Fleshies will probably need to be scaled down to something that can be textured differently and zombies and animals will get cut out.

- Control system needs refinement
I need to clarify how the player will play the game and it will be difficult to plan until prototyping demonstrates what will work.

- World Plane
This and the control system will be discussed in a later post. It hadn't occured to me until a good friend pointed it out.

- Collisions
I have yet to consider how the code will identify what sort of explosion/action to take when the ball hits an object. Need to learn some physics, Newton strike me down now! I need to define if the physics in the game will be realistic or cartoony surrealism. Take the case of liquid nitrogen and fire, you'd want the ball to ice up but it won't. Instead the liquid nitrogen will extinguish the ball by reducing the amount of oxygen present. It is explained here in this long video.

- Art style
Where the hell is it? Instant fail.

Link Dump: Indie Dev

2011-02-04T19:51:00.003+10:00

Sure, it's the cool and happening thing to be completely original but sometimes you need to find a Master Yoda/Darth Vader/5-second idol to guide you on your way.

Here's a collection of sorts to check out. (I'll update this when I find more golden nuggets of information)

Job Security through Code Obscurity by Tony Albrecht (He's got a lot to say on programming, it's for the hard core coders out there)

Working From Home As An Indie by Alister Doulin (Who has some good all-rounder posts you may want to direct the very young and uneducated bright-eyed kids out there)

#AltDevBlogADay by A group of very cool Game Developers (who take time to post up anything and everything you may want/need/like to know about game development and then some. Much scrolling of mouse button will occur and it's likely you won't agree with the articles but there's space for you to comment.)

Here's some to get you started:
The importance of controls by Adam Kidd
Lessons from a Failed Project by Justin Liew
The Difference between non-interactive and interactive entertainment by Georg Backer

Fear: An Appropriate Response to the Business of Next Generation Game Development by Jason Rubin (Stuff you might want to be think about but will probably scare the pants off some folks. Yes, it is a little old but so what?)

Michael Jungbluth writes a 12 part series on the 12 Principles of Animation and how it will add appeal to game design.

Design As Questions, Development As Answers with Clinton Keith

The Game Prodigy (An online resource on game design)
- D Boy’s Ron Carmel’s Keys for Playtesting (World of Goo)
- Tackling Hard (really hard) Design Problems with yon host, Brice Morrison

Hot Potato v.0.8

2011-02-02T09:57:00.009+10:00

This post is just a record of a version of Hot Potato that was going to happen during the break but didn't eventuate. I rewrote the previous doc to suit the proposed two-person project.

This Hot Potato became a lot simpler and (probably) less fun. It was an exercise in getting something done. Yes, I'm aware this design has problems and I don't care much to fix them since this version is no longer happening.

Hot Potato

Genre
Destructive Platformer

Platform
Standalone application

Engine
Unity 3

Premise
Keep the ball (Hot Potato) airborne for as long as possible.

Project Aim
To produce a demo level of the game to showcase how the game's system works.

Gameplay
The player keeps the ball airborne by tilting the world and guiding the ball to collide with objects. Collisions and the resultant explosions aid with the ball's upward propulsion. The ball is propelled when it collides with objects but will gain an additional boost when it explodes objects.

The player can only control the world by tilting it left or right, this could be done by keyboard or via on screen buttons. The player will need to calculate the world and ball's positions to optimise their play.

The ball's movement is affected by its temperature and the angle of the world. The gravity affecting the ball will shift accordingly to the angle of the world, objects will not move with these forces unless under certain conditions.

Destroying and exploding objects will fuel the flame which aids in the destruction of objects and prevents the game from ending prematurely. The size and temperature of the flame will affect how the ball moves and how destructive it can be.

Points are rewarded for the number of destroyed objects and explosions. Additional points can be earned by chaining destruction and explosions and the duration of play.
The game ends when the ball is "dropped" or when its temperature reaches 0. The ball can be dropped if the player is unable to keep it airborne and it drops off screen.

Controls
The world tilt can be controlled via the keyboard, the amount of tilt is dependent on the duration of the key press.

GUI
The GUI for this demonstration level could be the score, additions could be a timer and a directional arrow that indicated the ball's upwards direction.

Level Construction
The demo level could be built in 2 ways, manual placement or procedural placement (script). Both methods would provide sufficient game play for the needs of this project however these methods will have an effect on production.

Manual Placement
This method requires a detailed level design that provides enjoyable and challenging gameplay. It will also be the more time consuming building method.

Procedural Placement
The scripting and debugging involved with this method has the potential to be fairly time consuming however it would provide less work when it came to building.

Ball's Properties
Temperature: Degrades over time and affects the majority of the ball's properties. A high temperature ball has less weight and more mobility than a low temperature ball. The temperature can also affect how destructive and explosive the ball is. It is indicated by colour.

Flame: Degrades over time and if it is extinguished, the level will end. The flame's size indicates the destruction radius of the ball.

Weight: Affects the ball's movement as it travels and how far it can be propelled by explosions. Also affects ball's bounce and how much force it applies to an object.

Explosive Power: Determines how much power to multiply collision based explosions.

Destruction
The ball can destroy objects by either crushing, burning or exploding them. Destroying objects will add fuel to the flame while shrapnel can fly and damage other objects. Points are rewarded for how many objects are destroyed and additional points can be rewarded if explosions occur during the destruction.

Explosions
Explosions occur when the ball collides with explosive objects or randomly during destruction chains. Explosions will fuel the ball's flame for longer and can create or multiply a destruction chain by burning or smashing other objects.

Depending on the size of the explosion, the ball can be propelled in certain directions. This can be advantageous to the player as they can use it to navigate around the level or reach more objects.

Dropping the Ball
The ball is dropped when its temperature reaches 0 or when it falls off screen. There are options for the player to be alerted visually or audibly when they are in danger of dropping the ball. Possible indicators could include a timer, this would allow the player time to salvage the situation.

Art Assets
The art in the game could be realistic or cartoony, this would be dependent on the realism of the physics involved. Realistic reactions would be more engaging if the art assets matched whereas exaggerated explosions would benefit from a less realistic style.

Objects could also be identified by colour, this would make it easier for the player to identify the most explosive objects but also it will save time in asset production as assets could be reused.

Scripting
The physics system is integral to the production of this game as the gameplay is dependent on how the ball will interact with the world. Below is a possible breakdown of the scripts needed for this demo.

Game Control
- Tilt using keyboard

World Bounds
- Collision detection (Detection of when the ball drops off screen)
- Movement with ball (Needs to shift in relation to ball)

Ball
- Collisions

- Temperature
- Movement
- Flame control (Has an effect on flame's destructive ability)
- Weight
- Game Over (If temperature reaches 0, game will end)

- Flame
- Size
- Destruction (Is affected by temperature)
- Radius
- Power

Objects
- Collision detection
- Destruction of object
- Explosion chance

- Placement

Menu Layout
Main Menu
Play
Options

Problems
- Small project scope = less fun gameplay/world
The prototype doesn't really indicate if this is a casual game experience where you can just play and always cause an explosion or a frantic twitch game where you're trying to explode stuff by making instant calculations.
- Objects undefined
No object list
- Lack of GUI
A directional arrow would help the player to know which way the ball was travelling and which direction is "up".
- Physics strange and potentially unrealistic
Changing weight of the ball could be problematic and doesn't make sense if the prototype uses realistic physics.
- Unclear level structure and goals
If the goal of the game is to keep airborne, the level construction/design and gameplay should reflect this. Therefore does the player keep moving in an endless environment or avoid hitting walls in a defined space?
- World Bound detection is unclear
How will the game and player know that they have "died"? Will the camera follow the player down the "pit"? Visible boundaries would be helpful.
- Art style is still undefined
This prototype has yet to mention if the game is in 2D or 3D however the use of Unity does imply 3D art.

Hot Potato v.0.4

2011-01-31T06:45:00.009+10:00

I've been working on a game concept over the break, it's based off an idea that I've had for a while now. Sadly I lost the original sketch that started it off but I'm rectifying it by posting up my design document's progression.

The initial concept

When I first conceived this idea, it was simply IPhone game of a maze toy. Instead of a little metal ball, you'd have a flaming ball that you'd use to just blow stuff up. I'd pegged it as "carthartic entertainment", the kind of game where it is culturally acceptable to be as violent as you like. It didn't even have a name at this point.

This first design document is pretty rough and was definetly unfinished. Things get better at a later date.

Hot Potato (v.0.4)
Genre
Destructive Puzzler

Premise
Player must keep the "hot potato" on fire as they manoeuvre it towards the goal.

Gameplay
The "hot potato" is controlled the player who can control its rolling direction and bounce. The level will end if the ball's flame is extinguished, so the player must keep fuelling the flame by colliding into flammable objects or by causing explosions.

The player will also need to avoid obstacles that can slow down momentum or extinguish the flame. Points are rewarded for speedy completion of level, destroyed objects and explosions. Points are multiplied if destruction and explosions are chained. (Note to self: Consider ball upgrade system using points as currency)

The game is broken up into levels, each has a goal that must be completed to finish the level. Examples include*:
- Reaching a goal within a time limit
- Destroying a specified number of objects
- Destroying a specified object
- Creating a specified number of explosion chains
*(Note to self: Temperature achieved?)

The game could be divided into different modes, these could be broken down as follows:
Classic - Play through the levels normally
Rocket/Pinball - Propel the ball as far up as possible by exploding nearby objects
Arcade - Play classic games using the ball*
Demolition Derby - Play through the exploratory levels, points will not be awarded but the player can unlock some achievements
(Note to self: Games like Tetris, Bubble Bobble, Breakout)

Unlocks
Unlocks are additional extras that can be accessed when a player spends points. Players will be able to unlock additional levels, game 'modes' and sandbox elements.

Achievements
Achievements can be accessed via the main menu and allow the player to keep track of their progress. Completing some achievements can open certain unlocks.

Sandbox Mode
The game features a sandbox mode that allows the user to create their own level or edit a pre-existing one to experiment with.

Main Menu Progression
(Blogger doesn't do indents, go figure.)

- Play
/// - Level Selection

- Unlocks
/// - Balls
/// - World Pieces
/// - Modes

- Achievements
/// - Medals (earned)
/// - ???

- Sandbox
///- Level Editor
////// - New Level
//////- Load Level
///// - Play Level

In Game Menu
- Resume
- Restart Level
- Return to Main

Ball
Has the following properties:
* Flame: Degrades over time and if it is extinguished, the level will end. The flame's size indicates the destruction radius of the ball.*
* Weight: Affects the ball's movement as it travels and how far it can be propelled by explosions.
Also affects ball's bounce and how much force it applies to an object.
* Explosive Power: Determines how much power to multiply collision based explosions by.
*(Note to self: Consider variables of: heat and oxygen playing part in this system. Also consider temperature as a property)

Ball Upgrades
The ball could be upgraded to have these additional properties:
* Gas Emitter: When triggered, releases gas that can set off more explosions
* Double Detonation: Gives the player the random chance to double the amount of explosions
* Ignition: Can provide additional spark to prevent ball's flame from dying
* Firefly: Ball can produce additional sparks to set off additional explosions or cause destruction
* Disrupt: An upgradable property that allows the ball to produce more shrapnel from destroyed objects
* Kinetic Gamble: An upgradable property that will allow more explosions to occur during destruction chains
* Nova: Kamikaze explosion

Destruction
The ball can destroy objects by either crushing, burning or exploding them. Destroying objects will add fuel to the flame while shrapnel can fly and damage other objects. Points are rewarded for how many objects are destroyed and additional points can be rewarded if explosions occur during the destruction.

Debris
When an object is destroyed, there is a chance that it will produce debris. This has the chance of destroying or damaging nearby objects or can be used to fuel the ball's flame. The force that the ball imparts will affect how far the particles/chunks will be flung from their source.

Explosions
Explosions occur when the ball collides with explosive objects or randomly during destruction chains. Explosions will fuel the ball's flame for longer and can create or multiply a destruction chain by burning or smashing other objects.

Depending on the size of the explosion, the ball can be propelled in certain directions. This can be advantageous to the player as they can use it to navigate around the level or reach more objects.

Destructible Objects
*Blocks
*Cardboard Box
*Crates
*Trees
* Cars
*Signs
* Buildings
*Humans

Explosive Objects
* Blocks

*Explosive Crates
* Oil Barrel
* Gas Cylinder
* Bombs

Obstacles
Obstacles can be broken down into various types that have an effect on the ball or its flame.
* Air: Obstacles that can push the ball in certain directions but can also blow the flame out depending on the strength of the obstacle
E.g. Fans, turbines, air vents
* Water: The can douse the flame out
E.g. Water, ice, fire hydrants
* Earth: Rolling on these types of obstacles can put out the flame and slow the ball down
E.g. Dirt, quick sand, mud
* Chemical: Colliding with these could douse the flame or destroy the ball
E.g. Acid, extinguishing foam
* Physical: Objects that can either aid or abet the ball's progress in a level
E.g. Seesaws, weights, cannons, conveyor belt

Alternate Systems
Hot Potato could be altered to for a different control system that tilted the world rather than the ball. This could prove to be more challenging but also extremely frustrating depending on the world's physics.

The game could also be turned into a simple chain reaction game where the player must decide on the optimum position to drop the ball into the level. This version would let the user upgrade their "arsenal" to different types of balls. This could include, world tilting to optimise success. (Would only be available after certain upgrades)

The game could also be styled so that level creation was part of the gameplay. The player would be given a goal and needed to construct the level and play to see if they were successful. Play would become more difficult if the level had pre-defined objects that the player needed to work around.

Level Ideas
- Circular track (motorcycle cage)
- Ice/Snowfield
- Cannons
- City
- Nuclear Power plant
- Tetris
- Rings of fire

Queries:
- Is flame temperature a factor in destruction? (If yes, thermometer needed)
- Does everything explode or will real world chemistry and physics need to be a requirement?
- What works better, rolling ball or tilting world
- Tilting would work well on iPhone
- Additional button press to boost explosions (maybe upgrade)
- Camera view
- Directional arrow

random.post(revival)

2010-12-31T11:00:00.004+10:00

Yes, I did abandon the blog for some time. Things will be happening here. Hold still while I get the defibulator and don't mind Igor, he stares at everyone like that. Really, don't mess with that restraint.

Here's some interesting links to check out:
- Downsides to Iteration by Adam Saltsman
- Enriching Lives with Extra Credits
- Cow Clicker and My Life Purpose by Leanne C Taylor (I think this article is more interesting than say this.)
- World building, fictional world theory and Echo Bazaar via Failbetter Games

Tree Hugging

2010-08-17T19:33:00.004+10:00

Edit: We've moved the blog to Wordpress so the link's been updated.

I'm currently working on a new project about climate change. Stuff about it will be on the Tree Huggers blog. It's a very exciting project that I may be the producer of (we'll see) and I get to work with a really awesome group of people. Chop chop.

Bubble burst...

2010-07-24T16:43:00.002+10:00

The sandbox idea's on hold at the moment, we're looking at turning it into a Facebook game so production will recommence after the current uni semester. It will be exciting to see how far we can get with it. We'll be expanding the cauldron idea to having a "witch's cottage and garden", where the player will produce their own magical items and ingredients.

The best part, you will get rewarded for sabotaging the environments of your friends. They can do the same but there's nothing like industrial espionage to strengthen a bond, is there? There might be more to come from this project later.

Bubble bubble..

2010-06-29T18:41:00.003+10:00

We'd looked at our last concept for a while but it was starting to become very difficult to work with. Utopia is a very wide concept, some of our ideas dealt with situations where utopia was impossible.

Some hunting through Jay is Games proved that our delivery might also drag the project down. Take Interaction Artist For 219 days in a row, Chris DeLeon designed a game. A lot of them are not great but it is a demonstration of giving an audience a (huge) variety of scenarios to play with. Since we're afraid of producing crap, we decided to keep looking for some inspiration.

Doodle God offers a sandboxy experience, by combining elements together to make newer ones.Vectorpark offers a variety of interactive toys and games, we got inspired to work on an interactive environment like tiny grow.

Interactive environments can be fun, especially if you don't know what's coming up. I like it when you've created something and it produces/spawns extra objects that are also interactive.

A quick look at a random word generator nets us:
- Toad
- Dinosaur
- Shipwreck
- Library
- Kangaroo
- Owl
- Volcano
- Spacecraft

Toad lead to Cauldron which leads to us working on a game about item creation. Trust me, it can be a lot of fun. For example:
- alcohol + air freshener = Captain Planet
- hourglass + cat = cat clock
- ?? + ?? + acid = refreshing drink
The possibilites are endless.

Idea Seeding #2

2010-06-16T14:43:00.006+10:00

Yesterday's brainstorm session didn't end with much, we did have a few tentative ideas but felt that they wouldn't go very far. We did agree that letting the player devolve and disassemble a world or structure would be a hook. Something in the human condition makes destruction very attractive and rewarding.

Today we decided to go with a slightly different approach; come up with a game concept and adapt it to suit the sandbox theme.

Brainstorming
Using a random word generator we picked out:
- Garden of Eden
- Overpopulation
- Happiness
- Puddle Poet

It was very tempting to conceptualise a Garden of Eden game. The risk with these games are how bored with the player get with nurturing or destroying the environment. Not to mention the political and religious connotations that come with it.

The trouble with sandbox games are the limits, every world has limits and play is bound by them. Endless possibilities are not truly endless but given the scope of the game, the player can achieve a lot. Our budget (non existent) doesn't allow us to produce a "true" sandbox game.

Planting the Idea
Following the train of thought that a sandbox has limits, I asked if we'd be happier making an interactive toy or a game. An interactive toy is the easier option and you can argue that it could be a game. It's a broad subject and has plenty of room for debate. (There's space to rant down below or at your screen if you please.)

If you can play with an object, it will not be a game unless you make it so. Developing rules, scores and goals lead to this, additional players and explosions are optional extras.

It's yet to be discussed if our current concept will just be an interactive toy, but it could become a game. Maybe.

The Concept
The initial concept was to give the player some famous artworks and let them deface or deform them. It's moved into presenting a series(no definite number) of interactive "blocks". (They need a better name but this will suffice until production)

"Blocks" are interactive images (not sure if this will include games). Each "block" has its own rules, what the player does is dependant on the block's design. The mighty mouse will be how you interact with objects, environments and what other junk is put into the "block".

Thematic Brainstorming
We also discussed the content of the "blocks", it was linking theme vs character. A character is a quick way of getting the player to emotionally project themselves onto and into the game. It doesn't fit the concept where the player (not their avatar) is interacting with the world.

Themes provide an abstract base to build lots of variations and interpretations. The difficulty lies in which one to pick.

Themes that we brewed were:
- Love (That one's for Truna)
- Grief/Loss
- Revenge
- Utopia (Dystopia's included too)
- Terror/Fear
- Trust

The winner was: Utopia

Important Details

Audience: The Jay is Games crowd
Scope: Scaleable
Platform: Flash
Team Size: 2 (for now)
Time: 7 weeks
Risks:
- proportion (too much?)
- time
- repetative action can be boring

We'll see were this leads to next time.

Idea Seeding #1

2010-06-15T14:38:00.004+10:00

Trying to come up with a good idea can be difficult, getting this idea to work as a game is harder. Brainstorming can be rewarding but it can also turn into some strange beasts.

Taking a cue from the 8th CGDC, Jasmine and I are going to be tackling the theme of "Sandbox".

Definition
Sandbox can mean:
- a pit full of sand
- a virtual container in which untrusted programs can be safely run
- an online environment in which code or content changes can be tested without affecting the original system
- a game with non linear and open ended play

Examples
Sandbox is an undefined "genre" of games where anything is possible. Here's some games that fit loosely in this kind.
- Sandbox of God (Has to be downloaded)
- Grow
- Good Things Should Never End
- Sleep is Death
- Any life simulation eg. The Sims, virtual pets, trainer etc
- Little Big Planet, GTA etc.
- Balloon in a Wasteland, Shopping Cart Hero, Level Up

Word Association
This can be a helpful tool in finding a concept to work on or at least finding out what your team is like. Use with caution, hilarity and disaster can occur.

- Interactive (Very obvious but remember it. You want this instead of immersion)
- Rube Goldberg Machine (See one in action here with OK Go - Thanks Arash!)
- God
- World Creation
- (Pure) Play
- Sand (It's out of my system now)
- Simulation
- Hypotheticals
- Experimentation
- Different Outcomes
- Children
- Exploration
- Creation
- No (small?) Consequences
- Lego (Mechano if you're cool)
- Customisation
- Play-Doh/Clay
- Frankenstein's Monster
- Level Editors
- Duality
- Time Sinks
Where will this lead us? Stay tuned for more later.

Spacecase

2010-06-12T10:47:00.008+10:00

When you get that new rush of enthusism that makes you want to go at super speeds, ride rainbows and take on the world? I get plenty of moments like that, sadly I run out of steam when I need it the most.

Here's some images from while I was learning the ins and outs of Actionscript. I'm still a long way from coding anything decent but I'm still naiive enough to believe that I'll be able to make a complete game.

During some irratic brainstorm of confusing cortex functions, I came up with the idea of a literal space opera game. Going with impulse ideas is sometimes a bad thing, you'll thank me when you've avoided crashing the space time continuim while trying to find a cure for the common cold by constructing a cat powered time machine.

Why Space + Opera sounded like a good idea is lost to me. I've been rolling the concept in my head for so long, I've forgotten all the good bits. It's really too early to have this grandoise ideas but it's hard to stop coming up with them.

Early concept art:

The original main character was going to be a conductor whose opera gets overrun by aliens. It didn't make much sense since an opera in space would naturally involve aliens. I remember thinking of a mechanic that involved using the conductor's baton to make platforms move up based on which way you moved it.

When people (or your teacher) says they like to shoot stuff, well you might just go with the flow. Don't do it all the time, suicide conga lines aren't fun. Even if they offer pina coladas.

The next interation of the hero was based on the typical "Buck Rogers" acetype. Big chin, big hair and a dislike against opera loving aliens.

Along the way this all got converted into a basic platformer. Designing levels is interesting but can also be frustrating. Like making puzzles.

Concept for the level design:
(I can't remember why he has a jetpack)

Attempt at designing a level.

Teaming up with people can lead to some interesting results, good and bad. The final prototype ended up having our hero blasting away cooties who'd come to eat this ship. One day I might make the original version, until then I'll just keep trying to get something done.

The character line up, cooties are on the far right:

Flummox !

2010-06-08T20:15:00.006+10:00

One of the problems with game design is find out how difficult designing puzzles is until you try it out for yourself. It is definitely a case of fail early and fail many times.

Below is a 'timeline' of how I learnt to make puzzles. They get better as along the way.

[Above: Some hideous early stuff from when we were trying to work out how the game would work.]

[Above: An old puzzle concept that had blocks(prisms) that would either bend light or shadow. Red lines show player movement.]

[Above: A puzzle design that didn't quite work out. The red lines indicate player's movements.]

[Above: Flow of an entire level, there's about 8/9 puzzles packed into this little baby.]

[Above: Because it's so confusing with all the lines everywhere.]

Things that I've learnt about making puzzles:

- Read The Platformer Primer (The advice in it also applies to other games beside platformers.)

- Know what's involved in your game eg. special features or difficulty.

- Figure out what elements make up your game eg credit, goals and risks.

- Try making basic puzzles that demonstrate what these elements/objects do. (Getting a feel for the how player and items work together is really handy)

- Map out when new elements/types are going to added in the game.

- Plan out a difficulty curve for the game or areas.

- Set out goals for each puzzle. What do you want the player to in each puzzle.

- Sometimes working backwards helps.

- Reusing parts are okay but you do need to "mix" it up for the player.

- Player's don't like mazes, neither do kings.

- Trial and error is good.

- Get someone else to "play" your puzzles, they might find a problem with it.

- Don't under-estimate the stupidity of people.

- Play some games to get some reference.

Too Verbose

2010-05-15T20:25:00.005+10:00

I've been trying to work on a succinct description of this game concept. This is proving to be difficult, it requires a fair amount of explaining if you don't have pictures. (I tried it out)

The game world is full of light and shadow, the player has the ability to walk across pathways created by cast shadows. Each level will involve the player manipulating light and shadow to get to the exit.

I need to condense this into 1-2 sentences that use descriptive adjectives and describes the aesthetic and mood. Okay, a flip through the thesaurus yields us this:

- intriguing
- captivating
- fascinating
- stimulating
- absorbing
- compelling

- curious
- inquisitive
- exploratory

- relaxing
- serene
- calm
- composed

- meditative
- reflective
- contemplative

- ambient
- moody

Is the game concept anything of these? Its aesthetics's still being decided, I know it's going to pixellated but the exact colours? How far can you use "atmospheric" to describe games with limited colour palettes? Or games that have a certain "feel" about them? Take games like Aether, Small Worlds, Redder or Colour my Heart.

Can't think of anything else to write, I'll come back to this later.

Living Shadows

2010-05-09T14:05:00.007+10:00

Although it hasn't been confirmed what game concept Button Bash is going to be doing but I'd thought I look at games that have a) similar mechanic or b)similar themes. Prepare yourselves, it may appear that you are suffering double vision. Do not adjust your sets, this is perfectly normal. Sadly, this is not the Twilight Zone, spooky twins and bus shredding gremlins aren't on the menu tonight.

Living Shadows via TvTropes has a long list of pop culture works where shadows come to life. Or try Alternate Universes or Mirror Universes. Evil goatee anyone?

Sean Howard outlines how dual/shadow world works with simple game mechanics in this concept about negative space.

Here's a rundown if you're not going to read it:
- Monochromatic world (Black & White)
- Use of negative space (Will the light worlder go up a shadow ladder or will they just pass by?)
- Actions affect both world (If I nuke the toaster in the shadow world, your kitchen will not be the same in the light world)

I'm pretty sure everyone's had this idea, it almost a trope. The main question is can we design a concept that uses these basics and still surprise people with them?

Poto & Cabenga by Honeyslug

Dual screen action with two strange little characters. The only button you need is [SPACE], but pressing and releasing it does cause each character to react in a different way. Releasing [SPACE] makes the horse jump, while hitting it makes the orange guy jump. Quick reflexes are necessary.

Obviously my original game concept did get some influence from here but I'm not sure how an evolved version is going to pan out.

The Forest Temple by Oslo Albet

The goal of this game is guide Fireboy and Watergirl through the temple and collect what treasures you can. WASD system controls Watergirl while Fireboy's got the arrow keys. This can be confusing unless you're brainy enough to play with a friend.

Trine by Frozenbyte

A thief, wizard and a knight get involved with a magic crystal and now share the same body. You can switch between the three to get around the game world. Each character has special abilities that give the player a variety of solutions to getting around the world.

Monochro Observer by Tatsuya Koyama

Black and white world where two characters share a common goal of getting to a shiny vortex. You swap between the two as you clear or create blocks so they can reach the goal.

Yin Yang by Nitrome

Another one where you flip between the two characters and their worlds to get to a common goal. Of course, these smiling imps need to help each other to get to the flags. In this game, characters can link worlds by moving crates, which can help bridge gaps to make reaching goals possible.

Common themes and mechanics of these games:
- Characters have common goals (reach same place or points)
- Flipping/switching between characters
-Characters have to help each other (if I pull this lever, it will open a door for my partner)
- Both worlds offer similar experience (eg. same number of obstacles that may not have the same placement)
- Characters may have different abilities (not applicable for all games)

Is it design suicide to be looking at these games?

Button Bashers

2010-05-07T15:54:00.003+10:00

Pretty excited, since the final project for Critical Games Design is about conceptualising an idea into something tangible.(Tangible in a digital environment for my particular group)

After much heated debating and a intense straw drawing contest, I give you Button Bash, the group I'm working in. (Excuse the name, it's like having two guys in the same room who are called Steve and Steven)

The Team:
Ryan as Sound and Level Designer
Anderson as Programmer
Nick as Artist and Animator
Myself as Lead Designer/Project Manager

The exact details of our project is to be confirmed but I'm hopeful that it will be an evolved version of this. (Don't press B to stop evolution, it's counter-productive)

Changes are starting up on a narrative and mechanics. I'm pretty sure what's coming up will be a different sheep all together. I'm still going to make the original version but consider this to be it's cousin who's parents can afford to feed it hamburgers.

Currently we'll be working on getting the blog started, work flow sorted and nutting out the idea. Forsooth and henceforth! (Yes, I know I've used the words incorrectly but they sound fun and roll off my tongue)

Hard-Boiled: Rebirthed

2010-04-30T07:21:00.004+10:00

Here's some mock-ups of how I'd like to re-imagine "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" as an art game. If I'm lucky I can get this to be prototyped either as the next assignment or on my own. We'll see.

Hard-Boiled: Autopsy Report

2010-04-24T14:50:00.004+10:00

Taking me way too long to get stuff written for this essay so here's some notes that are supposed to help me write it. Got a long way to go.

Novel Elements [I've probably missed the point on these so feel free to correct me]
- parallel stories which are interlinked
- alternate chapters
- unnamed protagonist (is the reader projected onto this character?)
- Indirect/Atypical approach to hero's journey

Core concepts of novel
- Identity
- Self (mind?)
- Use of conscious & subconscious mind

Story breakdowns:

Hard-Boiled Wonderland
Hero:
Unnamed Protagonist

Job/Special Skills:
Calcutec, human data encryption device

Setting:
Retro-futuristic Tokyo

Common item:
Unicorn skull as prop

Love interest:
Librarian as love interest

Guide/Mentor:
Guidance from old scientist and granddaughter

Enemies:
- Semiotics & Factory
- System
- INKlings
- Thugs (Junior & Big Boy)

Goal:
- Solve mystery surrounding current assignment (?)
- Not get killed (assumed goal)

Are the narratives linked: Unaware of existence of other until revealed to protagonist

The End of the World
Hero:
Unnamed Protagonist

Job/Special Skills:
Dreamreader, reads dreams from unicorn skulls

Setting:
Isolated walled town

Common Item:
- Unicorns, part of town
- Unicorn skulls part of 'dream reading'

Love Interest:
Librarian who main character forms relationship with

Guide/Mentor:
- Shadow (Provides objectives)
- Gatekeeper (Gives character job)

Enemies:
- Shadow (does provide conflict)
- Gatekeeper (enforces Town rules)
- Time (period of time to complete objectives)
- Woods & Woodfolk

Goal:
- Escape from Town(Shadow's goal)
- Find out about Town (Narrator)
- Keep grasp of mind (Narrator)

Linked to other narrative:
- Cannot remember past life (other self)
- At times memories from concious self make protagonist more aware

Game Design
This is just some notes on if I think the game is or isn't resistant to becoming a game.

Pros
- Interesting story & concepts
- Mixture of genres
- Exciting world(s)
- Subtle clues/links between stories
- Locations inspiring
- Potential for themes/concepts be explored in game
- Follows Campbell's hero's journey
- Atypical narrative
- Player/reader free to decide how story is told/read
- Can have replay value (dependant on point above)
- Games with similar themes have been made

Cons
- Story can be confusing
- Alternate stories quite different
- World(s) too unfamiliar to player
- Difficult to tie together graphically
- Links need to be made by reader/player
- Hard to explain
- Reader can't relate to characters (debatable)
- Ending up to reader's interpretation
- Ties to hero's journey not clear (atypical)
- Goals unclear
- Can't "win" game
- Replayable?
- Fun?
- Novel targets particular audience (intellectual)

Hard-Boiled - Witness Statements

2010-04-24T06:53:00.001+10:00

It takes me ten minutes to explain the plot of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. It takes this guy about 1 minute to do it.

Via Tv Tropes,we have a list of elements that are in the novel. [Contains spoilers]

Big Eater: The librarian in Hard Boiled Wonderland is a thin woman who seems to always be hungry.

Cyberpunk: Hard-Boiled Wonderland

Downer Ending

Empty Shell: The citizens of the town at the End of the World are basically this, and it is implied that the narrator will become like this once his shadow dies and he is fully assimilated into the town.

Epiphanic Prison: The End of the World (To escape the prison set out by the story, the character has to have a moment of realisation(epiphany))

Fate Worse Than Death: What will happen to the narrator at the end after his mind self-destructs.

Identity Amnesia: The narrator of The End of the World can't remember anything about himself before coming to the town.

Living Shadow: The narrator of The End of the World has been seperated from his shadow, which seems to have a mind of its own and which desires to get inside the town so that it can reunite with him.

Loss Of Identity: A major theme

Mind Screw (You're going to be thinking Mind Fuck while they mean use of heavy symbolism)

Nameless Narrative: None of the characters in the book have names.

Neuro Vault: The protagonist of Hard-Boiled Wonderland has top secret data hidden inside his subconscious to prevent the anti-government Semiotecs from getting at it.

Ontological Mystery (Here they mean characters in a story who have no idea to their identity, purpose and are in a restricted environment.)

Those Two Bad Guys: Two thugs show up at the narrator's home in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and trash it, but their purpose is unknown.

Two Lines No Waiting (Two narrative threads that are interwoven)

Unicorn: At the End of the World, there are beasts living outside the town that are described as unicorns, although they are quite different than the traditional description. The narrator uses their skulls for "dreamreading". The narrator of Hard-Boiled Wonderland also encounters a unicorn skull at one point.

Type 311 - Fitcher's Bird

2010-04-23T09:25:00.008+10:00

Task for this week is to pick:
a) Fairy Tale
b) Genre
c) Artist
With their powers combined, I should have a game concept with just about everything nutted out.

your concept should include:

* core value
* overall goal
* genre and player activities / encounters etc
* aesthetic / mood / emotion

Combining Fitcher's Bird, action adventure games and the art of William Blake, I bring you Type 311-Fitcher's Bird.

Background:
Fitcher's Bird classed as an AT 311 – The giant and the three sisters, if you're into the ATU system of categorising fairy tales. It is also referred to as "The heroine who save her sisters and herself".

Core Values:
AT-311's are tales of keeping promises, loyalty, trickery and breaking cycles. In these stories, the heroine saves herself and her sisters from the supernatural menace. (how's that for empowerment?)

Common Elements:
- Supernatural (powerful) antagonist
- 3 sisters/women
- Punishment for breaking promises
- Outwitting of the villain

Protagonists:
Heroine - Youngest sister who discovers the sorcerer's ghastly secret and manages to avoid getting killed herself. She uses her wit to rescue herself and others from the sorcerer's house.

Sorcerer - Routinely disguises himself and kidnaps young women.

Sisters/Victims - Other girls who were previous victims of the sorcerer. The heroine is able to bring them back to life in the course of the story.

Adaption:
Type 311 is a action adventure game that also touches on suvival horror. The player is given the role of an investigative reporter who becomes involved in the mystery behind a serial killer known as Fitcher. During the course of the investigation, the player is transported to a strange world (killer's psyche) where the killer and his victims are trapped.

Above: Concept of typical game screen

Goal:
The goal of the game is to escape from the strange world and solve the mystery behind the killer's motives. This investigation forms the main quest of the game, sub quests take the form of freeing other victims from the horror of their deaths.

Player Activities:
The player solves the mysteries by exploring and interacting with the world. By finding and using items that will help the player or other characters. The player has to run to avoid encountering dangerous monsters (extensions of the killer's mind) and try to stay sane in an every changing environment.

Solving the killer's motives and freeing the victims involves the player asking characters questions and finding clues which the player will need to string together to form useable information. [Diagram pending]

Aesthetic:
Inspired by William Blake's paintings, the aesthetic is used to convey the dangerous supernatural world that the characters(and player) find themselves in. The game world uses imagery from Blake's paintings to represent the killer, his world and how he sees his victims.

Above: The Gates of Hell

Above: The Ghost of a Flea

Mood:
Using Blake's art as a means of capturing the madness of the killer's mind, the game's asethic is used to illustrate the "demons" that the killer has transformed himself and his victims into.

Above: Encounter with killer(sorcerer) conceptual drawing

Above: Environment concept

Respawn: A Brainstorm

2010-04-23T06:13:00.005+10:00

The next Game On program is the Iron Dev design challenge. More info can be had on the Brisbane IGDA's Facebook page. For those not in the know, it's a panel of 4-5 judges and 12 contestants(or groups) who have 10 minutes to explain why their game proposal is awesome. The topic, respawn. It's on May 5th so hurry if you're interested.

When you combine Dominicus, Jasmine, Natalie, myself and an astral projection of Steven Colbourne, you may get something like this:

This is what brainstorming can unleash. What will come next, we will see if I get clearance to do more posts about our iron dev journey.

Hard-Boiled: Mugshots 1

2010-04-22T09:18:00.003+10:00

Here's some rough sketches of some art based off Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Nothing concrete yet but some nicer(clearer) concept art is coming.

[That ought to be a unicorn skull but I haven't gone for accurate references yet. Sorry, at this point, if it looks like a skull, it's enough.]

Hard-Boiled - Trailing the Suspect

2010-04-17T07:05:00.009+10:00

We're moving further into the swamp, luckily we've remembered to pack a torch. After some conferring with Truna and friends, I've decided to write about turning Haruki Murakami's novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World into a game.

Let's profile the subject.

Author: Haruki Murakami

Date: 1985, the English version was first published in 1991

Background: (Speculative fiction) Novel that mixes genres of hard-boiled detectives, cyberpunk, pop culture and the works of Kafka.

Themes:
- Identity
- Consciousness and subconsciousness
- Nature of the human mind

Presentation of Themes:
Uses two parallel stories as an allegory for discussing the themes. The stories are connected through the use of unicorn skulls as a reoccurring item. The stories are presented in alternating chapters.

Plot:
The novel is split between two stories, "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" and "The End of the World". [It's one of those books that requires 10 minutes of explanation.]

Hard-Boiled Wonderland:
A detective novel set in a technomagically realistic Tokyo. The main character is a Calcutec, a human encryption device, who works for The System which is a organisation that keeps information safe. His life becomes complicated when an assignment leads him to using advanced (and forbidden) techniques to store information using his subconscious. More problems occur when he finds out that he may have been part of a experiment involving his brain.

The End of the World:
Set in a walled village where no one leaves and unicorns come to die. The protagonist is unaware of how he came to the village but to avoid dying in the harsh approaching winter, he agrees to become a villager and have his shadow separated. He is then given the job of Dreamreader which invertantly removes memories in the village. The man's shadow tries to convince him that they must escape and the main character has to make the ultimate choice.

Style:
I would talk abou the style of the work but there's only so much you can say that isn't this or that. Words like

Connections:
What does the work make YOU think of?

-Everyday the Same Dream
-Don't Look Back
-Today I Die
-ICO
-Flower, Sun and Rain
-Hotel Dusk
-Rule of Rose
-Daymare Town series

Action Hero Explosion

2010-04-09T07:04:00.007+10:00

Here's a blast from the past, week 2(?) of Critical Games Studies where we had to redesign Snakes and Ladders.

After much brain storming (super fast brain action), we came up with an Action Hero themed board that depicts the "typical" tropes associated with being an Action Hero. It's capitalised because it's just that cool.

Below is an incomplete list of action heroes, it's all very spur of the moment.

Based off the works of:
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Steven Seagal
- Bruce Willis
- Chuck Norris
- Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Sylvester Stallone
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Hulk Hogan
- Mel Gibson
- Will Smith
- Tom Cruise
- Keanu Reeves
- Harrisson Ford
- Steve McQueen
- Richard Dean Anderson aka MacGyver

Hilarity by: Cassandra, Natalie, Jasmine, Jeanny and I.
Board Additions by Jeanny.

Players: 2 + (it gets better with more people)
Aim: Live the life of an action hero, will you get out of unscathed?

Been there, Done that? Part V

2010-04-08T06:49:00.003+10:00

I'm going over what I have at the moment and deciding which ideas work the best. Mockup images are coming when I find the time, until then use your imaginations.

Mythbusters
Scribblenauts style game
Narrative Type: Quest (for knowledge)
Adaption: Uses premise of the show, may use information presented on the show

Game Layout:
- Game is set out in levels that are based on complexity of myths. eg. 1 star to 6 star in difficulty.
- Each stage sets out a myth that the player must solve
- Solving myths earn player bigger budgets
- Game also has free-play mode where the player can create their own myths to solve
- Team members can be added to screen to suggest ideas or become test subjects
- Player can use money earned to buy additional objects to use in future experiments

Mechanics:
- Object engine, all generated objects have set properties but these can be changed by the player eg. object will explode when remote is pushed
- Additional onscreen menu can be used to program additional elements
- Player is given a budget for each myth(stage)
- Object library, keeps track of what player can use and what hasn't been unlocked
- Player can use money to buy additional objects

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Sandbox game
Narrative Type: Quest and Rebirth (hard to tell, it's like an art house movie)
Adaptation: Set in world of novel, may use some plot elements in the story missions

Story:
Set in Japan, data unknown, the player starts out as a Calcutec(human encryption/data processor) but can choose to remain working for the System or the Factory. They will need to undergo training(tutorial) that will explain how the game works. The player starts at a low level Calcutec and must work their way up the ranks. At a high enough level, they can choose which jobs(missions) to take. Missions will award the player money and choices in the story they craft for their character.

Game Layout:
- Open sandbox game (3D?)
- Player has to make choices over jobs at later level
- Player also has choices over which faction to become
- Money can be earned and used to buy objects (Calcutecs need to pay rent too)

Mechanics:
- Open world (real world physics?)
- Encryption puzzles, player must solve to successfully store data into their brain
- Story Trees

Art/Sandbox Game
Narrative Type: Quest and Rebirth
Adaptation: Based off the novel, some things may have changed

Story:
Two parallel stories that ask questions about consciousness, the subconscious and identity. One set in modern day Japan and the other set in "the End of the World", an isolated walled town. Both stories have mysteries to solve but will they answer any questions?
Story 1 - Hard-Boiled Wonderland
Story 2 - the End of the World

Game Layout:
- 2D or 3D (Perhaps in the style of Kurayami)
- The player can switch between the stories by interacting with a unicorn skull
- The player explores the world to find answers to questions posed by the game

Mechanics:
- Story 1, the player can store data into their head via encryption puzzles
- Story 2, the player must work with their shadow to either escape the village or solve the mysteries behind the town
- Depending on the interactions, the questions asked by the game will be answered

Satirical Religion
Fighter
Narrative: Comedy or Overcome the Monster(that is your opponent!)
Adaption: Uses caricatures of figures associated with "religion" and philosophy
I know religion is a touchy subject but I'm posting this up as an exercise in design. I seriously doubt that this would actually become my assignment much less a game. If you're of a religion, I'm sorry but this is in the spirit of humor not maliciousness.

Game Layout:
- Game comes with story and PvP modes
- Story mode has the player's character fight to gain supremacy over the hearts of people
- PvP because you can't have a fighting game without multi player. People having fun while beating the shit out some polygons in the name of one-man-showmanship = money
- Players have two meters to fill, faith and divinity. Both meters determine amount of damage that can be done by players' super moves.
- If both meters are filled, the player can execute a "god" move(ultimate attack).

Mechanics:
- Press combination of buttons to bash
- Players also have a faith meter
- Faith meter will rise when the players pull off combos that look cool to the in game audience(belivers).
- Faith meter can also be boosted when the player taunts without being interrupted.
- Super moves/combos can be pulled off when the meters reaches full capacity.

RTS game
Narrative: Quest (for power)
Adaption: Parodies the rise and fame of satirical religions

Game Layout:
- Player chooses a faction(god) and must take over the internet(maps/scenarios)
- Fan Base and Reputation need to be maintained to win the scenario
- Number of units and buildings may also be part of win conditions
- Player can also perform "divine acts" that boost effects of buildings and units
- Enemies will attempt to take over your territory and you are required to defend against them

Game Mechanics:
- Reputation is built by how well a player maintains its status eg. maintance of buildings and units
- Units are created out of buildings
- Some units can convert enemy buildings and units
- Fan base is built up by constructing buildings(representations of computers & websites) and units(viral videos, memes)
- Buildings need to be maintained by player (aka upgrade)
- Units are maintained when buildings are upgraded but also when player performs "divine acts"

Been there, Done that? Part IV

2010-04-07T06:48:00.003+10:00

If you haven't watched Mythbusters, you're education needs some intense fixing. It's a show about "using elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos and news stories". There are many explosions to satisfy the punter.

Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel website has a few (web)games. These are:
- Myth or Fact (True & False quizzes based on a theme)
- The Myth Game (True & False quiz but with hangman element)
- Photo puzzles
- How's your Memory (Memory match)

Sadly these are really more about how much have you watched this show and how much random trivia(or fact) have you managed to absorb. Let's take a look at what you can do with the show or perhaps these games to make them better.

Mythbusters contains:
- Science
- Explosions
- Debunking (of myths, rumors and the internet)
- Hilarity (eyebrow html tags are funny)
- Factual knowledge (depending on what level your knowledge is)
- Robert Lee (You'll know it when you hear him)
- Guns
- Explosions! (it's on there twice because once you've exploded non-dairy creamer, there's no going back. Don't try it home, you will burn places down.)

Party Game
Learning can be fun, but actually proving how smart you are against other people is better. Think Buzz but with much less stupid. Answer questions fast enough will earn more points

Party Mini-Games
Not keen on answering questions, well how about participating in some Mythbuster themed Mini-Games? Suitable for the Wii, you can challenge friends or the computer to see who can explode or solve things faster. Eg. Shake the Wiimote enough times to drop the crash test dummy, aim and fire to try and blow up the car

Puzzle Action
Scribblenauts style Mythbuster game where you solve myths by creating objects. The catch, you have a budget. If you can't afford the car for the dangerous stunt, what can you use instead?

Educational game
Get the kids(or grownups) involved with a virtual Mythbusters lab. Here Jamie and Adam will assign them myths and they need to figure out to debunk them. Inventory system required.

Action
If you're keen on explosions, how about a Mythbuster Explosion game. In the vein of Miami Shark, pick characters of the Mythbuster team to explode things in the pursuit of science!

Alternatively The Action Hero's Handbook is full of knowledge that can be put into a game.

Contains information on:
- How to perform a Vulcan neck grip
- Scoring with the ladies
- Jedi Mind tricks
- Communicating with aliens
- How to take bullets

You can also combine it with The Worse-Case Scenario Survival Handbook for added life lessons.

Sandbox
The main character is a hero-for-hire who needs to undergo training using the Handbook as his guide. You could also use the guide as tutorial material or perhaps as missions that your character can take.
Bonus Commando Expansion pack - where you can put your hero in worse case scenarios and they need to get out of.

Minesweeper
A heroic clone of Minesweeper in a similar style to ClueSweeper where the player needs to find objects and methods to escape the "trap/situation"(board).

Ack, I'm running low on ideas. A regroup and assess is in order. Company fallout.

Been there, Done that? Part III

2010-04-06T06:48:00.008+10:00

The longer I draw this search out, the harder it gets. Prepare yourself for some crazy treatments of works you'd never really consider. Your regular scheduled program will return at a later date.

Parody Religions
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the parody religion, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. It's become an internet phenomena and is part of a satirical protest against the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools.

You can read the story on the website or Wikipedia and you can substitute FSM with the Invisible Pink Unicorn or Russell's Teapot.

Suggestions for satirical religious games:

RTS
Where you pick a god and try to convert as many "heathens" and dominate the world by building websites, fan groups and viral videos. (satirical gods tend to be up to date with their technology)

Fighter
[Edit 25th July 2010: Clearly didn't research this enough since Molleindustria pulled this one off a few years ago.]
Tired of arguing over who beats all? Duke it out with fellow geeks in this crazy fighting game. Includes Charles Darwin, ninjas and pirates as unlockable characters.

Open World
In the style of GTA or Destroy All Humans, consider getting FSM to possess a human host and convert(inform) as many people as possible. Or the FSM can go around and frighten as many people as possible. Any publicity is good publicity right? Points awarded for scaring hardcore religious and convincing people to be well informed

Casual Game Puzzler
Try some Bejewelled or Tetris clones where you've got to match up FSM(or other) symbols to clear the stage. (Pretty lame, maybe you can say the rapture is coming and your chosen god is collecting believers to save...)

Art Game
A game about what's it like to be an internet phenomena

Educational(Serious) game
A game more about why or why not Intelligent Design should be taught as an alternative to evolution theories.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
Mrs Beeton Online
A Victorian classic, "a guide of reliable information about every aspect of running a house for the aspirant middle classes".

Consider:

Cooking Mama: Victorian Style
Points given if you've managed to prevent the children from upsetting the cook and have gotten the house ready should your mother-in-law come unannounced.

Mrs Beeton for the Nintendo DS or as an IPhone Ap like this

Casual Game
Time management and cooking come together in a Victorian version of Cake Mania

Sandbox Victorian House
It's like playing with a virtual doll house except you've got to pay the bills wearing a full set of petticoats and a corset. Mrs Beeton serves as your help menu/tutorial guide

Puzzle
Perhaps a Mrs Beeton version of Record Tripping?

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Wikipedia entry
The wiki will give you a decent overview of the book but it you like surrealism, give the book a try. It features two parallel narratives that may converge at the end. Yes, it's one of those things open to interpretation.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland contains:
- "Calcutec," a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use their subconscious as an encryption key.
- The System, a quasi-governmental organisation who protect data
- The Factory, a rogue organisation who steal data
- "Semiotics", fallen Calcutecs who work for the Factory
- Crazy scientist who's developed an imperfect method of recording images from the subconscious
- INKlings, a group of sewer-dwellers who are dangerous and worship fish and leeches. They eat humans.
- Thugs
- Love interests

The End of the World contains:
- Isolated town that is walled off
- Unicorns
- Group of people who have had their shadows (and their minds & memories) removed
- A protagonist who reads dreams from unicorn skulls and is losing his memory of his previous life
- His shadow who is trying not to die (and lose the protagonist's mind) He plans an escape and tries to get the protagonist to help.

Possible treatments:

Third person sandbox
Set in the world of Hard-Boiled Wonderland, the player's role is to be either a Calcutec or Semiotic and receives missions based on their role. Confrontations with the enemy and INKlings can be avoided if one is careful. Alternativly the player could be a agent for the System or the Factory and be trying to poach members from the other organisation.

Art (or Puzzler) game
Set in The End of the World, a stranger decides to stay and is given the village initiation. Experience the world by interacting with stuff or in the puzzle version, solve the myster of the town by working with your shadow.

Puzzle game
Train a Calcutec by getting them to encrypt data into their head via puzzles. More indepth data requires harder missions. When you've finished the character(you) is now a fully trained Calcutec

There maybe some ideas to come, we shall see.

Been there, Done that? Part II

2010-04-05T17:11:00.003+10:00

What can you do with a BA in Arts? (Or English for those who are being a smart arse) What can you do with common household items? Do mullets give you super powers? This questions could be answered but why would you, when there is MacGyver?

That's right, I'm going to try to thunk out a MacGyver game in this entry.

MacGyverisms:
MacGyver Online

For those not in the know (or simply too "cool" to have ever watched it), MacGyver was a TV show about a secret agent, who preaches non-violence and carries a Swiss Army knife instead of a gun. Apparently having a science degree and the ability to turn junk into inventions will save the world.

A MacGyverism is a word used to describe the "ingenious" use of items by MacGyver to solve problems. Like blow open doors or escape off mountains. A MacGyverism will have some basis in scientific principles but have been adjusted for entertainment (anti-terrorist) purposes.

In the 1st episode, MacGyver uses 12 MacGyverisms to save the day:

- Disarmed missile with a paper clip
- Matches, string & rifle made timed diversion
- Smashed flare-launcher barrel used as rocket thruster
- Lit cigarette with hidden laser
- Used Cigarette smoke to see laser
- Mirror from binoculars reflected laser to 'sting' itself
- Raised fallen I-beam with knotted fire hose filled with water
- Tested heat on door with a stick (it caught fire)
- Pulled wires out of control panel and joined together to start fans in gas chamber.
- Milk chocolate bars stopped sulfuric acid leak
- Sodium metal & cold capsule made explosive
- Signaled status by blinking light system in Morse code

Let's pretend that Mac-daddy doesn't have any copyright and licensing issues that would prevent us from making a game. What kind of games can we make out of this TV show? Why would we even make games out of something so implausible?

MacGyver's main gimmick is, a secret agent that can unleash world-saving powers but these powers work best when he's got to improvise. That's right, this show is all about implausible stuff but making it look cool and exciting. Nothing says cool than turning a casket into a jet ski.

The show can be a video game, the main question is what kind of game would you make?
[These are questions, I'm sure there are games that do all this kind of stuff with no problems but I'm going off the top of my head here]

Action/Adventure is a pretty easy choice, the player can control MacGyver on missions but how would you factor in the improv item creation? Can you make an inventory that works to combine items without in the way of the action?
- 2D platformer where Mac fights enemies and collects required items along the way (Boring)
- 3D platformer like Uncharted
- Point&Click Adventure offers a way of inventory but you're going to have more fun dodging the enemy and karating chopping them into unconsciousness. (can't remember if Mac has karate skills)

Puzzlers, do MacGyver puzzles involve combining items or do you collect items? Or solving actual puzzles?
- Would a mini-game like Bioshock's hacking system work in MacGyver-land?
- How about collection of mini-games? Anyone up to see how fast you can solve a problem? eg. How fast can you collect helpful items or how fast can you rig up that cement mixer?
- It's tempting to see how fast can MacGyver escape like Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore (It's a Simpsons gag)
- Or even Mythbuster style

FPS... Mac's got a no-gun policy but maybe you can go FP on gadgets?
- Maybe Mac can swap tools to get past guards and save some hostages
- Of course you could always TPS if you prefer looking at Mac from afar
- Maybe Mac inspired Die Hard clone or Arkham Asylum?

Things you shouldn't even think about:
- A sidekick (It's a safety precaution against fans)
- Rythm game
- Sports.. ?

Been there, Done that? Part I

2010-04-05T05:46:00.008+10:00

How do you make a game out of something that has never been made into a game? First you have look for some source material. One of the hardest things to do is to look for a subject, because you will keep looking and looking. This list will make you cry as will asking a well-read games lecturer. Avoid this, it is misleading and dumb.

Here's where I'm at with finding topics for the essay.

Der Ring des Nibelungen:
More info at Wikipedia

It's very tempting to do this one. It's got a lot dramatic elements and it falls neatly in the narrative structure, it's a story about heroes, gods, tragedy (bursts at the scenes) and love. It also has the added bonus of Viking Helmets, the big ladies who sing are bit of a downer, especially when you realise that interval is four hours away...

The biggest downer to this is - Odin Sphere. The more I remember the game, the more I realise that the Ring Saga has been made into a video game.

Ring Saga contains:
- Wotan (Odin)
- Valkyries
- Nibelungen (Magic Ring)
- Fighting over Magic Ring
- Dragon
- Orphaned hero in love with Valkyrie (who is also daughter of Wotan)
- Treachery
- Tragedy (Death)
- Götterdämmerung (Ragnarök - The Nordic End of the World)

Odin Sphere contains:
- Odin
- Valkyries
- Titrel (A magic ring)
- Fighting over magic ring
- Dragons (Bonus points if you find Wagner the Dragon an in-joke)
- Orphaned hero in love with Valkyrie (yes, who is the daughter of Odin)
- Treachery
- Tragedy (Death)
- Armageddon (End of the World)

How's that for derailment? I'm going to have to find me a new topic.

Story Generator v2.0

2010-04-02T14:41:00.005+10:00

To rectify the terribly bad post, I've decided to redo the story and write it the way it should have been. (Edit: 3/4/10 - Well at least something more exciting)

The basic elements:
- Henry the Theoretical Force
- Wanted by the Cops
- Is next to a discarded lunch
- A kingdom torn by Civil War happens
- With a Happy Crack Dealer
- In a story about Liberation

Quantitative Explosions: Let's get Theoretical(20XX)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Quantitative Explosions: Let's get Theoretical is a 20XX remake of the original 19XX film and directed by BLah. It deviates from the original by having the main character Henry continually refer to the discarded lunch next to him as an allegory to his situation. [citation needed].

Plot:

This article's plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise.

The film opens in a country torn by war, a voice over informs the audience. The government is corrupt and is secretly a means of distracting the public from the machinations of the Mien Royal Family who are unable to agree on a successor to the throne.

Henry the Theoretical Force (A Glowing Ball or Tony Abbott) is chased by armed forces into hiding in an alleyway dumpster. As the leader of a resistance group and a Theoretical Force, he is able to perform super human acts by eating books on various theories. The Big Bang Theory enables him to shoot fireballs and explode atoms while Monomyth gives him the abilities to rewrite people's lives.

Unable to access any material in the dumpster, Henry waits for his meeting with a fellow resistance fighter, he talks about his views of the government and his life story with different characters that seek refuge in the dumpster. Henry tries to recruit several of these characters by telling them stories of his exploits.

These stories range from when Henry began as a resistance fighter to his current situation. Henry's current plan is to bomb the royal palace by getting drug dealers to pass out a super drug filled nanobots developed by the resistance. People having ingested the drug will be possessed to congregate outside the government stronghold. At a signal, the possessed will explode.

Complications occur when the dumpster is emptied and Henry is transported to the Lunch Zone. The Lunch Zone is filled with discarded lunches of "a thousand and one mindless office workers" and a thousand and one hungry homeless cops. Underpowered by a lack of reference material, Henry is forced to retreat. Later Henry meets Happy Crack Dealer(Some Guy) who shows him how to harness the power of memory to remember theories and fight he bad guys. "Yar, you've learnt to unshackle yourself from your limitations."

I is hax0r!!!!111!!

Happy Crack Dealer also reveals to Henry that the government is a front and his real target is that of the royal family. Henry is about to launch his way out of the Lunch Zone when he encounters Royal Offspring #1138(a Robot) who has finally won the right to be the rule of the country.

An epic fight occurs and at this point the film diverges into three separate endings.

Ending A: Where #1138 reveals that he has reprogrammed all the resistance nanobots in the drugs to transform people into super solders and finally achieve his goal of ruling the country. Great catastrophe ensures for Henry and the resistance.

Ending B: Henry engages in a super move that changes the events of the entire movie and enables the resistance to overthrow the royal family but at the cost of taking the movie down to 1.5 hours (Oh shame). Thus liberating the audience from their seats.

Ending C: The film continues on its explosive and verbose manner as the epic fight causes the entire Lunch Zone to collaspe on itself. The country is then freed of a tyranical monarchy and a pesky resistance.

Story Generator : Liberation

2010-04-02T09:21:00.007+10:00

story generation exercise - in groups - take a pack of post it notes [or tear up a piece of paper]

INSTRUCTIONS: every member of the group writes on the cards:

1. a character name and attribute [eg martha the vandal]
2. an obstacle [eg main character is blind]
3. a setting [eg inner london]
4. a *disturbance* or event [eg a stranger arrives]
5. another character [eg dark stranger]
6. a premise or idea [eg this game is about justice]

place each card type in separate piles and shuffle them - each member of the group takes a card and has to put together a plot and tell the story

post the stories your JOURNAL BLOGS - each story should be told in well under 50 words - ensure a decent unity of action - a beginning, middle and end ..

*Note: The (freedom) note is something I scribbled down after trying to figure out what Henry is.

After a rather mad scramble, I got six post-its but I don't plan on writing a story in 50 words. Given what could happen, the story of Henry the Theoretical Force sort of demands more than 50 words.

The following story contains much swearing and drug abuse. Sorry, Dave hasn't got any manners.

EPISODE #54 - It Came Out of A Sandwich
[Dramatis personæ]

NARRATOR, a Disembodied Voice

HENRY, a Theoretical Force

DAVE, the Happy Crack Dealer

COPS, a group of highly ineffective law enforcement officers

RADIO, a pair of deus ex machinas

NARRATOR:
Following his misadventures in episode #231 "Attack of the Killer Munchies", Dave the Happy Crack Dealer had evaded the police by diving into a dumpster. Disguising himself with old banana peels and Doritos wrappers, Dave quickly adopts a freegan lifestyle. We now present a tale of high action and liberation, coated in a dense layer of mediocrity, episode #54 "It Came Out Of A Sandwich".

FX:
[Police sirens, running footsteps and heavy breathing can be heard]

FX:
[Police radio cuts in, lots of static]

RADIO OFFICER:
All units to convene at City Hall, armed and ready. Repeat, armed and ready at City Hall.

FX:
[Footsteps and squad car door slams. Heavy breathing stops]

COP B:
Damn Rushkies! Ya kno' dis city ain' had no peace since dem royals stopped makin' babies.

COP A:
Yeah, yeah. Pass over 'em tasers. It's gonna be a rough nite.

FX:
[Car revs up and drives away. Sirens fade out. Dumpster lid can be heard]

DAVE:
Fuck, I thought I was screwed. [snorts] Ahh, that's some good shit.

FX:
[Crackling of chip packets, plastic bags and falling tin cans]

DAVE:
Half a sandwich! [crackle] Cheetos! Yeah, I'm going to have me some delicious. [eating noises]

HENRY:
Dave, Dave, you must help me.

DAVE:
Fuck! Henry, can't ya see a man's eating here. What you want now? I thought you weren't coming to see me anymore. [grunts]

FX:
[Thump and rustling of garbage]

HENRY:
Dave, did you just snort some cocaine?

DAVE:
I'm a crack dealer, course I snort the shit. As an all seeing force, you're a dumb fuck.

HENRY:
I'm a theoretical force, not an omnipotent force. Dave, will you listen to me? This matter is important.

DAVE:
[sighs] Yeah, whatever. It's not going to like the time we stared at those goats, is it? Those woolly bitches gave me the willies.

FX:
[Police radio crackles and the dumpster lid slams]

RADIO:
All units are reminded that the Prince is armed and dangerous. Deadly Force has been granted to all units. I repeat, shoot to kill.

FX:
[Sirens, guns and cars get fainter. Dumpster lid slams.]

NARRATOR:
After much talk about old ladies, life and the price of bananas, Dave and Henry proceed to walk around the city. Dave is unaware that Henry has convinced him to purchase a series of university texts while Dave has secret motives to liberate a large stash of drugs from the police.

FX:
[Loud crashes and explosions can be heard. Police sirens and gun shots fade in and out. Dave's laughter can be heard.]

DAVE:
Booyeah, I am the Superman!

FX:
[Loud explosions and a machine gun fires briefly.]

HENRY:
Dave, please will you get those books off that shelf. Dave!

COP A:
Police! Put down that cardboard lady...?

FX:
[Loud crashes and fade]

NARRATOR:
Problems begin when Henry is unable to open the books and Dave is beaten up by a pair of Siamese twins who steal all his money.

FX:
[Scuffling and yelling is heard. A thump follows.]

HENRY:
Curses, I forgot I don't have arms. Dave, Dave?

DAVE:
Shove it Henry. [in pain] Why don't you just shove it.

HENRY:
Dave, please.

DAVE:
Fuck it Henry. If you don't shut up I'm going to burn them damn books.

FX:
[Sirens and gun shots can be heard]

RADIO:
The war between the West and East Royal Family factions entered public scrutiny again as an explosion killed over 100 people.

COP B:
Youse, freeze. Hey I'm talkin' to youse!

FX:
[Gun shots]

NARRATOR:
Henry and Dave's relationship crumbles when after a bad day of running away from the police, Dave burns all the books that he's collected for Henry.

FX:
[Fire crackles]

DAVE:
Damn you to fucking hell. The police have been on our tail for days.

HENRY:
No... Dave please, I really need those books. Please. I never told you this but I...

DAVE:
Shut up! You little whiney bitch! Just leave.

FX:
[Popping noise]

NARRATOR:
With that single pop, Henry disappeared from Dave's life.

DAVE:
Finally. What a douche. I can get back to work.

NARRATOR:
[cough] Back to our story. Dave finds himself able to continue with his work as the Happy Drug Dealer without the strange adventures of stealing Jungian and Socratic texts. Sadly he is unaware that this has all been an extremely bizarre dream that resulted from eaten a half eaten sandwich he found in the dumpster.

DAVE:
The pastrami was good or was that rat?

HENRY:
I disliked my ending, can I change it?

FX:
[Sirens]

COP B:
Gotcha, I'm a goin' enjoy beatin' your ass.

FX:
[Theme song]

NARRATOR:
Next Week, Will Dave the Happy Crack Dealer be able to survive 30 minutes of Bingo the Birthday Clown? Tune in for episode #148 "Star Crunch is a Serial". Don't forget to tune in for the special presentation of episode #0-75-A "The Return of Henry". How will Dave be able to combat Henry the Theoretical Force, now powered by a Joseph Campbell Narrative engine?

Sorry that was utter shit.. Maybe I will rewrite it at some point.

Flights of Fantasy

2010-03-29T07:38:00.005+10:00

While we're still stumbling around and trying to find something to write about, here's some more ideas for the 2nd essay. For the fantasy inclined fan, here's some works that you could turn into video games.

Phantasmagorical and Strange Happenings

The Redwall series by Brain Jacques:
anthropomorphic animals, swords and protecting their castle from the enemy are the main points of this series. Do I sense an RTS?

Diana Wynne Jones' novels:
Did you know Howl's Moving Castle had a sequel? Or you could try the Chrestomanci series featuring a enchanter with nine lives.

The works of Raymond E. Feist:
Try to to focus on one book or one of the smaller series. Yes, there have been some games but you could make Magician: The Game or how about political intrigue Tsurani style in Daughter of the Empire.

Arcorna by Anne McCaffrey

Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea's series

The Black Jewels by Anne Bishop:
'Bad fantasy' but does have some elements appropriate for games that have units or characters that level up via hierarchy.

David Eddings:
Perhaps try The Elenium or The Tamuli.

Promethea by Alan Moore (Alan Moore may screw your head in this one. Copies of this comic are floating around in the Brisbane City Council library system)

Novels by Haruki Murakami (Challenging and intense reading)

Tomorrow series by John Marsden (Die hard fans may kill you for destroying the spirit of the book

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (intense reading, if you're female you might think it's shit)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer:
Contains a child who's an evil genius, fairy police force with lasers and a ninja butler.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde

Abarat series by Clive Baker:
If you're going to tackle this one, perhaps concentrate on the world of Abarat.

Hurtling through the Galaxy

2010-03-28T06:36:00.009+10:00

Like the last post, this one is going to about looking for ideas for the essay topic: Why this work has not been converted into a videogame before and discuss.

[4:50 pm I've just realised some of these ideas are not actual "works", they are more concepts so you'll either need to find a source material(text/video) based around these concepts. I'll be changing some of these so they are based off actual texts or films.]

TV, Science Fiction and Oddballs:

MacGuyver:
I can't see why a game that uses MacGyverisms to solve problems, escape cells and kills bad guys hasn't been made. It could just be the mullet.

The A-Team:
Explosions, guns, escapes and Mr T.

Mythbusters:
Teaching kids or grownups, the hows and whys of the universe. You could make it into a learning game, give your player a problem, give them free run of some labs and see if they can busts some myths. Alternatively you could turn in into a trivia game to see how much stuff you know.

The Action Hero's Handbook

Phillip K Dick

Snow Crash:
Hacker/Sword Fighter/Secret Agent turned pizza delivery guy who's broke has discovers plot to destroy humanity. The story world features the Metaverse, a fictional virtual reality that was spawned from the Internet. It's been described as an MMO.

Comic book heroes:
Flash Gordon, Tom Strong or find a hero like Hungry Beast did.

2001: A Space Odyssey:
If you were trapped in space with HAL, what would you do?
Alternatively you could look at Moon. (Beware, die hard fans may stop you from killing the movies)

Brainship series

Culture Jamming:
- Steal This Book
- Flash Mobs (Improv Everywhere)
- Anonymous
- The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
- Scientology(insert appropriate level of sarcasm here).

Alternate Sports *Concepts:
- Roller Derby(Whip It)
- Unicycle Hockey or Boxer Hockey
- BASEketball
- Dodgeball (links to international rule book in pdf form) or the movie
- Speed Dating (I jest)

Advergame *Concepts:
If you don't mind capitalising on a current product or you like seeing where extreme commercialisation is headed, why not try making a game to help advertise a product or company?
- Kids MMO where weapons use brand name candy as ammo. Sour Warhead anyone?
- This, obviously copyright and the corporation may scare you off buy you know it would awesome if it where made.

Internet Social Phenomena *Concepts:
Why not see what you can come up with based around stuff like: Twitter, Facebook or even YouTube. Maybe you could use these sites as part of the plot or game mechanic.
- A Private Investigator searching for missing people via Facebook
- The FBI trailing drug consignments via coded Twitter messages
- A wannabe trying to become popular via YouTube

Fragging the Classics

2010-03-27T07:22:00.008+10:00

The goal for assignment 2: "this work has not been converted into a videogame before: discuss".

That is a big rabbit hole to go down into, there are a lot of works that you can choose from and a lot of works you should not look at. Stuck for an idea, join the queue, but here's some places you can check out:

Project Gutenberg: One of the best places to get public domain(no copyright) works by authors who've long been in the grave.

Wikipedia: An entertaining place where you can check if a work has been made into a film or video game. Alternatively you could use it to find something that hasn't been done before, like Canning or Mensa.

'Classic' works to turn into games:
I've stuck in some example works that may have used the original as an inspiration or are something in a similar vein. I'm not going to go into what classic is, this is just something to generate ideas.

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer:
Stories within a story of a group of pilgrims (it's the 14th century) travelling from Southwark to Canterbury Cathedral. They tell each other stories to pass the time and provides a framework for Chaucer to use all sorts of literary devices like self insertion, parables and a set of characters who represent a cross section of society. It's really tempting to do a American McGee's Grimm on it..

Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu:
Early 11th century Japan's 'Casanova', The Tale of Genji tracks the (romantic) life and times of the illegitimate prince Genji. There are a few ways to go about it, but try to avoid making a erotic visual novel/game, that's the easy way out.)

The works of Alexandre Dumas, père:
Best known for works of high adventure such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, have a lot elements that could make them into video games. Revenge, politics and swords are awesome. Gankutsuou is Monte Cristo in space. [I've been told a lot of Dumas' books have been made into games so you may have to tread carefully.]

The Bard, William Shakespeare:
Zounds, these works have gallons of inspiration in them. Hamlet and The Tempest have already been video games but you could try King Lear (lots of dying) or A Midsummer Night's Dream (happy endings). (I know some of these link to wiki but as if you're going to read the whole play at this stage)

Jane Austen:
No.. I hear you cry? Well how about mixing it up some? How about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters? Guts, gore and killing strange monsters in Regency England, why hasn't this been made before?

Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
Why not, young man finds an enchanted lady who's cursed and decides to free her. There's an evil magician and some drama, sure it's a ballet but you could rewrite it to fit in a video game. LucasArts did with Loom.

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelun) by Wilhelm Richard Wagner:
You're probably more familiar with What's Opera, Doc? (Kill the Wabbit) The Ring saga could be made into a game, who doesn't love Norse gods and viking helmets? Odin Sphere is almost like the opera but without the big ladies breaking glasses or ears.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy:
Set during the Reign of Terror (start of the French Revolution), the series follows the exploits of Sir Percy Blakeney, a man with a secret identity. When he's not being a fop(the 17th C 'man of fashion'), he's off saving innocent French nobles from getting the chop. How easy would it be to convert it into a action/adventure with swashbuckling rescue missions?

The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes:
Maybe you can actually create a video game out of the story of an old man obsessed with chivalry who decides that he will become a knight. Don Quixote is beset by problems, he's clearly delusional, people make fun of him and his family are trying to stop him from acting so crazy. What's a man to do when giants (windmills) are all over La Mancha? See if you have better luck than Terry Gilliam in adapting this work.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain:
A smart talking man with a knowledge of firearms and machinery is transported to the year 528 after being hit on the head. He eventually realises that his 19th C knowledge makes him the smartest man on Earth(Middle Aged version). Hijinks ensure. You could turn this into a several different games, think action/adventure, puzzle or click and point.

The Ramayana:
An ancient Sanskrit epic about the prince Rama(an avatar of Vishnu) and his wife Sita who is kidnapped by Ravana the demon King. Don't go "God of War" or "Dante's Inferno" on this despite the similarities. A comic book adaptation is being made into a MMO.

Still stuck?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

The Amazing Screw-On Head by Mike Mignola

Oscar Wilde's stories

Works by L. Frank Baum (The guy who wrote The Wizard of Oz)

The Pilgram's Progress by John Bunyan (Heavy Reading)

The Illiad by Homer (The Trojan War)

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Level Up - Working in a Story

2010-03-26T12:21:00.008+10:00

This week you should consider the different theories presented in the lecture and do two things: one, which one do you most agree with? and two: give us a game which you feel EPITOMISES your favoured theory and why?

Game Theories:
- Games are active
- Games as work
- Games as learning
- Games as social interaction
- Games as a study of rules or Games bound by a system of rules
- Games without goals (it's not a game with a goal, so they say)
- Games as spaces or Games as story worlds
- Games as an "Unholy" alliance of designer and player
- Games as art (a bonus one from my head)

Yes, I'm sure I've missed the point but this is what I have gotten out of the lecture so it's going to be different to whatever is in your head. The hard part of picking one of these theories is finding one that I'd agree with 100%. Games are complex constructions that have a whole lot of elements that I find difficult to pigeon hole as one 'thing'.

Nearly all games fit within these theories it depends on what aspects you decide to concentrate on. I'd could go on all day about it but that would be digressing into a giant pile of blah blah. I'm going to concentrate on "Games as story worlds" and "Games as work".

I like games that have worlds that are fully (or try to be) immersive and are about having to work within the confines of the story. A lot of the time this fails, the story is bad and the game mechanics are boring or don't work. A game that has a story world has to work hard to get the player to stay in the world for a long time.

Let's take Japanese RPG's for example. J-RPGS are all games that run on 2 theories, games as a story world and games as work. The story and world is there to suck you in, the work is used to stop it from being one giant visual novel. The kind of work you do is leveling up (grinding).

Why level up:
- To stop getting killed
- To get powerups/gain abilities
- Collect items (you collect items for many reasons)
- OCD (you're compelled to get as much stuff as possible)
- Bragging rights (the internet is a strange place where bragging on how little you level up will earn you 'cred')

Case Study:

Let's look at an example of how the story world and working(level) work together.
The JRPG works on having a story and characters that make the player/audience want to progress the story or spend time with the character. The get further in the story, you more you need to level up.

Persona 3:
A dungeon with 250 levels, characters, social relationships and your personality that require leveling up? Welcome to Persona 3, a J-RPG that puts you in the life of a Japanese teenager who has to deal with demons, the apocalypse, soul searching and exams.

Levelling up requires you to fight monsters that appear in the dungeon, standard fair. What makes this different is that if you need to get to certain floors of the dungeon by certain days. That's right, it's got a calender cycle. Okay, strange but possible until you find out that your party members are digital humans; work them too hard and they get tired and catch colds. Your main character has these weaknesses too, work him too hard and he won't be able to fight.

There are some incentives for levelling up, you get access to new summons, magic powers, money and the thrill of not dying in the randomly generated dungeon. Don't forget, you're saving the world. How's that for extra curricular activity?

The story of Persona 3 does make the fighting and levelling bearable, sometimes enjoyable. You're going to save the world, making sure you don't die while doing it is a powerful incentive. Another incentive is Hard Mode, you die and there aren't no magic items to bring you back to life.

The game has moments that do make you feel a part of the world. Team members will tell you enthusiastically when they level up or when they land a critical hit. Exclamation marks pop up when you character answers a question correctly, is charming or stands up for himself.

The social relationship leveling up? Strangely investing time in NPCs does reap some benefits, being best buds or having a relationship will net you more powerful summons. Having friends also helps you save the world from doom. You get bonus content as you get closer to your friends, finding out why a monk hangs out at a night club is one of the highlights. JRPG's are notorious for making character interaction a must, I don't know if these skills will carry over to your real life.

Unlike real life, if you level up aspects of your personality, you can meet new people or impress the ones you know. Somehow it's worked into the story; a creepy man from a dimension that only you can access tells you to make friends as part of your contract that you've signed with some strange ghostly kid... It makes sense in the world of Persona but no where else.

The game world does have a lot of extra things to do but they are geared towards levelling either relationships or your own stats. Singing karaoke makes you more courageous.. The main character is pretty bland, giving you lots of opportunity to give him a personality. The game's also great at getting people to micromanage the character's life. Not that's a bad thing when you get to the stage of juggling 3 girlfriends..

It's best to say that this particular story is work, you work to save the world and better yourself. Working to save the world involves levelling up and trying not to die. Well, at least you've spent over 50 hours getting through a really intense story, surely that's worth it?

Pretty sure I've failed getting any form of a message across. Better luck next time.

The Wizard of Oz - Remixed

2010-03-26T07:22:00.007+10:00

This week's prototyping exercise was to take L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz and turn it into a game. The catch is that the game must be based on 1 of 5 game theories:

- Play as Darwinian influence (survival of the fittest)
- Play as active performance (player works to create work via action)
- Play as work (where the game exists because the player plays it)
- Play as (learning) fun ("teach" the player a satisfying pattern)
- Play as social imperative (playing provides social opportunities)

Ideas generated by: Max, Natalie, Jasmine and I.

The Wizard of Oz as Survival of the Fittest:
Feel free to add dystopian future to any of these.

- Wizard of Oz as Survivor (TV show)
- Battle Royale: Oz
- Wizard of Oz fighting game
- MMO (offers survival but also social opportunities, why kill when you can befriend?)
- RTS (pick a faction of Oz and try to assimilate as many hosts to bred a batch of super solders)

Return to Oz: Teaching the player:
Genre: Action/Adventure with puzzle elements (up for discussion)
Play: Non linear

Inspired by the movie Return to Oz and The Wizard of Oz series, the game has the player moving between the real world and memories set in the land of Oz.

The real world is filled with problems but the solutions to these problems can be found in Oz. The player is given a portal to be transported to a memory bank where they can choose which memory to play.

The game is comprised of small events that culminate into a larger goal, the puzzles that the player solves help fix the real world and progress the game.

Potential Puzzles:
- Freeing cursed characters from the Nome King's spell
- Finding treasure in Mombi the Witch's Hall of Heads

Hairstyln'

2010-03-24T15:56:00.006+10:00

Somehow I'm an(the?!) example on how to do shit that involves written assignments. If you're looking on how to write an essay, you're looking in the wrong place. Here's some stuff that will help you to make it look like you did research.

Swinburne University: Harvard Style Guide: The most useful one around, it's pretty wordy but does have guidelines for referencing Wikipedia, Youtube, blogs and Twitter.

Harvard - UQ style!: If it's good enough for them, then it's good enough for you. Download UQ's guide here.

Griffith U's Referencing Tool: Nuttin' says serious learning than a Flash applet. No Flash - use the text version. Or pdf version.

Don't forget:
Bibliographies go on a new page. They are also A - Z like a phone book.

Episode III - Third time's not so charming

2010-03-23T20:03:00.006+10:00

Getting a little closer but the conclusion stinks as usual. Some of the stuff is the same, but I have tried to make it flow better and get some of those ideas tighter. Hopefully the final version is within sight.

Star Wars has had a pervasive impact on the modern human psyche and has left its mark on directors, fans and video game designers. It is responsible for several changes in popular culture, the rise of the blockbuster, the franchise movie, the use of computer generated special effects and for leaving an indelible mark on popular lexicon. (Emerson n.d; Jenkins 2005) Countless references from the series have been used in commercials, video games, books and other mediums.

For those born after the inception of Star Wars, they have accepted it as a site of shared cultural knowledge. (Booker 1997) Peter Krämer (2001) cites during a class, he asked students the role of Star Wars had in their lives and was surprised by the response. They recounted that as children; they inhabited a 'Star Wars universe' and still felt that was still applied even as adults. "... the saga's characters, stories and catch phrases had been a primary reference point for their peer group and also within their families." (Kramer 2001)

Star Wars has a video game industry has spawned over 100 video and computer commodities. Much of the series continuing popularity and perpetuation of Star Wars over our society is due to the production of video games. (ref) Video games have offered a way for Star Wars to continue their dominance of popular culture; this spread also has had an effect on video games as a source of inspiration, reference and parody.

The biggest game in the industry that Star Wars has inspired is Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders. Nishikado recalls that he was inspired by news of the American movie that was coming to Japan. He had felt that setting the game in space and having aliens as opponents would be less immoral than shooting human enemies. "Human movement would have been easier, but I felt it would be immoral to shoot humans, even if they were bad guys." (Nishikado cited in The Creation of Space Invaders 2005)

Space Invaders is considered to one of the seminal arcade games which launched an industry. The influence on the games industry can still be felt today. It pushed video games culture into mainstream consciousness; it created the genre of games known as top-down shooters and became a historical icon of video games. (Edwards n.d)

Its conception could not have happened without Star Wars' interpretation of space as an adventure. It paved the way for space opera and aliens to be acceptable serious topics for movies and video games. (Edwards n.d) While Star Wars is considered the quintessential space adventure movie, it has also created the archetypal video game moment.

`Star Wars' didn't create video games but it totally influenced them... The Death Star trench run in the original `Star Wars' is the archetypal video game climax: Fire a missile, hit a weak spot and everything gets destroyed. (Schneider cited in Caro 2005)

The battles set in space have been an inspiration to game designers Ted Michon and David Rolfe who in 1979 released the arcade game Star Fire. Due to licensing and publishing issues the game never bore the Star Wars brand but players have made connections between Star Fire and its muse.

David Rolfe admits that Michon wanted to create a game in the same genre as Star Wars. The graphics created for the game attracted Star Wars fans through their similarity to the original product. It has been described by some to be a digital equivalent to piloting a vehicle from the movies. (Thomasson 2006; Minter 2003) The sheer volume of fan media is overwhelming; the desire for others to relive and recreate the experiences of Star Wars and its characters is not limited to fans. (Jenkins H 2005; Caro 2003)

Star Wars and Star Fire would later lead to an unusual game inspired by an official Star Wars product.

The review in question described the Walkers as “giant mechanical camels”. “And that just got me thinking about giant camels in general,” says Minter. (The Making Of: Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009)

Drawing inspiration from a review of The Empire Strikes Back, Minter created an imaginative experience which pitted the player against shielded camels that could fire lasers. (The Making Of: Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009) With an aesthetic borrowed from the Parker Brother's game, Minter's game could be seen as a parody but also as a retelling of the original game.

It is difficult to imagine a cultural landscape without Star Wars, much of it has become ingrained into our communicated media such as films, books and video games. It has remained one of the most popular space operas, a prime example of man's obsession with adventure and the unknowns of space. Space Invaders and its space themed game play originate with Star Wars; this little seed of inspiration gave rise to one of icons of video game culture.

Conclusion is not finished, again. I will get around to it once I figure out just how to sum this essay up.
Following the rise of Space Invaders and Lucas' films, video games, aliens, space operas became pop culture standards. The thrill of exciting frontiers opened by digital media continues today. Scenarios, characters and lines from the films have often been referenced in different mediums and still provide stimulus for developing works.

Episode II - The Waffle starts now

2010-03-22T07:49:00.006+10:00

Another slightly re-jigged draft of yesterday's entry, it's starting to get better. Who knows I may have something by Thursday that actually looks like an essay.

How does a space opera from the 1970's influence contemporary gaming? Yeah, yea, I know this line is getting old. I'll come up with something better.

Star Wars has had a pervasive impact on the modern human psyche and has left its mark on directors, fans and video game designers. It is responsible for several changes in popular culture, the rise of the blockbuster, the franchise movie, the use of computer generated special effects and for leaving an indelible mark on popular lexicon. (Emerson n.d; Jenkins 2005) Countless references from the series have been used in commercials, video games, books and other mediums.

The biggest game in the industry that Star Wars has inspired is Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders. Nishikado recalls that he was inspired by news of the American movie that was coming to Japan. He had felt that setting the game in space and having aliens as opponents would be less immoral than shooting human enemies. "Human movement would have been easier, but I felt it would be immoral to shoot humans, even if they were bad guys." (Nishikado cited in The Creation of Space Invaders 2005)

Space Invaders is considered to one of the seminal arcade games which launched an industry. The influence on the gaming industry can still be felt today. It pushed video games culture into mainstream consciousness; it created the genre of games known as top-down shooters and became a historical icon of video games. (Edwards n.d)

Its conception could not have happened without a fairy tale sent in space known as Star Wars. Star Wars paved the way for space opera and aliens to be acceptable serious topics for movies and video games. (Edwards n.d) While Star Wars is considered the quintessential space adventure movie, it has also created the archetypal video game moment.

`Star Wars' didn't create video games but it totally influenced them... The Death Star trench run in the original `Star Wars' is the archetypal video game climax: Fire a missile, hit a weak spot and everything gets destroyed. (Schneider cited in Caro 2005)

The battles set in space have been an inspiration to game designers Ted Michon and David Rolfe who in 1979 released the arcade game Star Fire. Due to licensing and publishing issues the game never bore the Star Wars brand but players have made connections between Star Fire and its inspiration.

David Rolfe admits that Michon wanted to create a game in the same genre as Star Wars. The graphics created for the game attracted Star Wars fans through their similarity to the original product. (Thomasson 2006 ; Minter 2004)

Star Wars and Star Fire would later lead to an unusual game inspired by an official Star Wars product.

The review in question described the Walkers as “giant mechanical camels”. “And that just got me thinking about giant camels in general,” says Minter. (The Making Of: Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009)

Drawing inspiration from a review of The Empire Strikes Back, Minter created an imaginative experience which pitted the player against shielded camels that could fire lasers. With an aesthetic borrowed from the Parker Brother's game, Minter's game could be seen as a parody but also as a retelling of the original game. (The Making Of: Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009)

For those born after the inception of Star Wars have accepted it as a site of shared cultural knowledge. (Booker 1997) Peter Krämer (2001) cites during a class, he asked students the role of Star Wars had in their lives and was surprised by the response. They recounted that as children, they were inhabiting a 'Star Wars universe' and still felt that was still applied even as adults.

"... the saga's characters, stories and catch phrases had been a primary reference point for their peer group and also within their families." (Kramer 2001)

More to come so don't winge that it's not going anywhere.
23rd March Edit: No, changed part of it so this is an unfinished draft

Bibliography

Booker W 1997, 'New Hope: The Postmodern Project of Star Wars' in S Redmond(ed), Liquid Metal The Science Fiction Film Reader, Wallflower Press, London, pp. 289 - 307.

Brown J 2005, The impact of the Star Wars trilogy, viewed 10th March 2010, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june05/star_wars_5-19.html.

Caro M 2005, The power of the dark side, viewed 10th March 2010, http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0505080390may08,0,5154795.story?page=1.

Ebert R 1999, Great Movies: Star Wars, viewed 11th March 2010, http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990628/REVIEWS08/906280301/1023.

Edwards B n.d., Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders Celebrating 30 Years of Shooting at Sushi, viewed 5th March 2010, http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3168373.

Emerson J n.d, How Star Wars Shook the World, viewed 10th March 2010, http://movies.msn.com/movies/starwars/?GT1=7701&.

Jenkins H 2005, Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, viewed 12th March 2010, http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html.

Kramer P 2001, 'It's Aimed At Kids - The Kid in Everybody: George Lucas, Star Wars and Children's Entertainment', in Y Trasker(ed), Action and Adventure Cinema, Routledge, Oxen, pp. 358 - 370.

Minter J 2004, The Joy of ZX & Hex, viewed 20th March 2010, http://www.llamasoft.co.uk/lshistory4.php.

Rickey, C 2005, Debate brews about cultural impact of 'Star Wars', viewed 10th March 2010, http://media.www.the-telescope.com/media/storage/paper749/news/2005/05/09/StarWars/Debate.Brews.About.Cultural.Impact.Of.star.Wars-953413.shtml.

The Creation of Space Invaders 2005, Edge Online, viewed 12th March 2010, http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-creation-space-invaders.

The Making Of:Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009, Edge Online, viewed 14th March 2010, http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/the-making-of-attack-of-the-mutant-camels.

Thomasson M 2006, Interview with David Rolfe, viewed 13th March 2010, http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_rolfe.html.

Episode I - Rough Start

2010-03-21T06:44:00.004+10:00

This is a pretty rough draft of my essay about Star War's impact on modern gamimg. A lot of things need to sorted like references, ideas, flow and a conclusion. More will come as I rework it.

Star Wars is responsible for several changes in popular culture, the rise of the blockbuster, the franchise movie, the use of computer generated special effects and for leaving an indelible mark on popular lexicon. (Emerson n.d ; Jenkins 2005) Countless references from the series have been used in commercials, video games, books and other mediums.

How could a space opera from the 70's influence contemporary gaming?

Star Wars has had a pervasive impact on the modern human psyche and has left its mark on directors, fans and video game designers. This essay will look at the impact Star Wars had on people as a cultural phenomena and at the video games it has inspired.

Peter Krämer (2001) cites during a class, he asked students the role of Star Wars had in their lives and was surprised by the response. He recounts that as children, many of his students felt they been inhabiting the Star Wars universe and still do as adults.

"... the saga's characters, stories and catch phrases had been a primary reference point for their peer group and also within their families." (Kramer 2001)

The appeal of Star Wars has many facets, its creator George Lucas has been cited that it is a portrayal of faith and innocence triumphing over cynicism and despair. (Levin cited in Brooker 1997) Critics have panned and praised the series approach to capture the "inner child". (Kramer 2001) Simular parallels can seen in the number of games that offer the player a similar experience.

"`Star Wars' didn't create video games but it totally influenced them... The Death Star trench run in the original `Star Wars' is the archetypal video game climax: Fire a missile, hit a weak spot and everything gets destroyed." (Schneider cited in Caro 2005)

It is moments like these that have inspired games such as Space Invaders, Star Fire, Attack of the Mutant Camels and countless others. Entering a world where Star Wars, some of these products prove that Star Wars is an inspiring force that spans a lifetime.

The 1979 arcade game Star Fire owes its creation to Star Wars. Ted Michon was inspired by the movies to create a game in this genre, he created graphics that were extremely close to the designs of Star Wars. (Thomasson 2006) Star Fire is noted for emulating the experience of flying a TIE fighter from the movies. (Minter 2003)

One of the strangest video games to claim influence from Star Wars is Jeff Minter's Attack of the Mutant Camels.

The review in question described the Walkers as “giant mechanical camels”. “And that just got me thinking about giant camels in general,” says Minter. (The Making Of: Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009)

Drawing inspiration from a review of The Empire Strikes Back, Minter created an imaginative experience which pitted the player against shielded camels that could fire lasers. With an aesthetic borrowed from the Parker Brother's game, Minter's game could be seen as a parody but also as a retelling of the original game.

The biggest game in the industry that Star Wars has inspired is Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders. Nishikado recalls that he was inspired by news of the American movie that was coming to Japan. He had felt that setting the game in space and having aliens as opponents would be less immoral than shooting human enemies.(The Creation of Space Invaders 2005)

Space Invaders is considered to one of the seminal arcade games which launched an industry. The influence on the gaming industry can still be felt today. It pushed video games culture into mainstream consciousness, it created the genre of games known as top-down shooters and it's conception could not have happened without a fairy tale sent in space known as Star Wars. Star Wars paved the way for space opera and aliens to be acceptable serious topics for movies and video games.(Edwards n.d)

Video games would not be a dynamic cultural force without the influence of Star Wars whether it's the need to emulate scenes from the movies or as a jumping platform for game development. The excitement of pretending to be a Jedi Knight as a child to engaging hyper-speed as an adult gamer, these moments could only have come from a world where Star Wars exists.

From the late 70's, Star Wars has been the one cultural force that has eclipsed other trends and inducted generations of people into its fold. Few can imagine life without its presence, even the uninterested are aware of its influence over their lives. If the force with you?

Bibliography

Booker W 1997, 'New Hope: The Postmodern Project of Star Wars' in S Redmond(ed), Liquid Metal The Science Fiction Film Reader, Wallflower Press, London, pp. 289 - 307.

Brown, J 2005, The impact of the Star Wars trilogy, viewed 10th March 2010, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june05/star_wars_5-19.html.

Caro, M 2005, The power of the dark side, viewed 10th March 2010, http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0505080390may08,0,5154795.story?page=1.

Ebert, R 1999, Great Movies: Star Wars, viewed 11th March 2010, http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990628/REVIEWS08/906280301/1023.

Edwards B, n.d., Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders Celebrating 30 Years of Shooting at Sushi, viewed 5th March 2010, http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3168373.

Emerson, J n.d, How Star Wars Shook the World, viewed 10th March 2010, http://movies.msn.com/movies/starwars/?GT1=7701&.

Jenkins H 2005, Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, viewed 12th March 2010, http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html.

Kramer P 2001, 'It's Aimed At Kids - The Kid in Everybody: George Lucas, Star Wars and Children's Entertainment', in Y Trasker(ed), Action and Adventure Cinema, Routledge, Oxen, pp. 358 - 370.

Rickey, C 2005, Debate brews about cultural impact of 'Star Wars', viewed 10th March 2010, http://media.www.the-telescope.com/media/storage/paper749/news/2005/05/09/StarWars/Debate.Brews.About.Cultural.Impact.Of.star.Wars-953413.shtml.

The Creation of Space Invaders 2005, Edge Online, viewed 12th March 2010, http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-creation-space-invaders.

The Making Of:Attack of The Mutant Camels 2009, Edge Online, viewed 14th March 2010, http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/the-making-of-attack-of-the-mutant-camels.

Thomasson M 2006, Interview with David Rolfe, viewed 13th March 2010, http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_rolfe.html.

D&D Griffith Style

2010-03-20T16:53:00.005+10:00

This week we were asked to make a prototype of a game that is played on a map. After some thought, it came down to a D&D style game set in Griffith University.

D&D Griffith Uni
Concept by: Jasmine, Jeanny, Cassandra, Natalie and myself

Number of Players: 4 +
Dungeon Master is required to set tasks, enemies and adjudicate player fights

Goal:
Players are to start at the pub and must enter the university grounds to retrieve or deliver an item from a specific location. When they have completed this task, they must return to the pub. The first to return is the victor.

Challenges:
Players must face obstacles and enemies (teachers or other players). Players can attack each other when they are on adjacent squares or land on the same square as another. The attacker will be given the first roll.

Victory is given to the player with the most inventive attack and the highest roll. The loser will be sent back an allocated number of spaces. The DM will roll for NPCs.

Preparation:
Players will need to determine their weapon of choice however the DM will set the limits of this weapon. eg. Range, number of uses and attack.

For consideration:
- The use of cards will make battles, tasks and inventories easier to manage.
- Player vs Player combat will need to be adjusted so that opponents are more of an obstacle.

Family Trees

2010-03-19T15:48:00.006+10:00

The mission:

Play as many of the 80s games as you can and consider:

* The evolution of the basic elements that you looked at last week

* Describe a favorite 80s work in terms of the evolving design features discussed in the lecture (Genre, World, Narrative, Graphics and Perspective)

* Find a descendant (literal / emotional) and compare

* Particularly consider how many of the core mechanics have evolved in conjunction with improved graphic capabilities – compare with some contemporary games

The last post was about the evolution of narrative and whether it is a background element or an integral part of the game. There are still many games where the story adds background flavour, you can replace the main character and other elements without disrupting the story.

Games like Super Mario or Sonic could have different characters without affecting the story line or way you play. Castlevania(1986) or Metroid(1986) could almost be the same game if the narrative did not dictate what the game world was.

Top: Castelvania (1986)
Bottom: Metroid (1986)

Both games offer similar gameplay, you must explore the environment, defeat bosses and find items or abilities to progress deeper in the environment. The fact that one is a gothic fantasy and the other set in space could be overlooked but the narrative enriches game play.

Let's take a closer look at the Castlevania and Metroid Series.

Genre:
The 1st Castlevania and Metroid games were released in 1986 and are classed as action-adventure games with platform elements. Unlike Castlevania, Metroid doesn't feature distinct levels, instead the game world is connected via doors and elevators. Castlevania would adopt this approach in 1997 instead of the linear stage it had previously used.

Both games would also feature a character with a changing arsenal of weapons. This would change how the players took on obstacles(enemies). Instead of jumping on the enemies, the player would need to think more tactically, eg. Time their attacks or movement, weapon choice etc.

Top: Castelvania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
Bottom: Metroid (1986)

World and Narrative:
The worlds and narratives of Castlevania and Metroid form a symbiotic relationship. They could work without each other but the game experience would be lacking. Both the main characters need a goal to complete but also creates an opportunity to create an expanded world.

A larger world means the player will spend more time in the game which gives rise to the many sequels or related games from the series. The story of Metroid is grown in each installment, Samus is constantly fighting against aliens that are from another planet or produced by human organisations. Space travel provides a convenient method of creating different areas and using these environments to provide enough challenges in the game to make it enjoyable or difficult.

Top: Metroid map
Bottom: Castlevania map(1986)

In Castlevania, the ever present threat of Dracula's revival fuels the narrative of the series. In later games the narrative becomes more complex as different characters fight to prevent Dracula's resurrection which is heralded by the appearance of his castle. The castle then becomes the game world in which the player explores and experiences the game.

Graphics and Perspective:

You can look up the specs of the Nintendo Entertainment System on the Internet. A pull from the internet monkey gives us this on the graphic capabilities of the Nes.

The system has an available color palette of 48 colors and 5 grays. Red, green and blue can be individually darkened at specific screen regions using carefully timed code. Up to 24 colors may be used on one scan line: a background color, four sets of three tile colors and four sets of three sprite colors. This total does not include color de-emphasis.

A total of 64 sprites may be displayed onscreen at a given time without reloading sprites mid-screen. Sprites may be either 8 pixels by 8 pixels, or 8 pixels by 16 pixels, although the choice must be made globally and it affects all sprites. Up to eight sprites may be present on one scanline, using a flag to indicate when additional sprites are to be dropped. This flag allows the software to rotate sprite priorities, increasing maximum amount of sprites, but typically causing flicker.

Obviously the 1986 Castlevania and Metroid are pretty much pixel pancakes. They're flat and don't come in many colours. Even with a limited colour palette, the games were still able to deliver a believable game world if you just squint with your mind.

The graphic and technological capabilities of the era made 2D the easiest option. We're only offered a side view of our character, any sense of perspective is flattened. The game space has only 2 layers, the moving background and everything else that the player can interact with.

Moving ahead in time and the use of 3D, the graphics and perspective change. Being able to move and see in three dimensions means that the environments should be follow realistic perspective. As stated before, a bigger narrative means a bigger world and vice versa.

Top: Castelvania: Lament of Innocence (2003)
Bottom: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007)

With better graphics the action becomes more realistic (within reason, if you're sporting a cartoon style you can play with reality). The 3D player has to be able to turn around and see the world or whatever hideous creature is about to come at them. Gameplay is more intense now that you have a (fairly) realistic world to explore.

Core Mechanics & Evolution:

In both Castlevania and Metroid, the core mechanics are:

- A player character that can move in 3 directions and jump
- A player character that can attack and has subweapons
- An explorable map/world that scrolls

Castlevania also offers:
- Stages that must be cleared
- Sub weapons that have different effects
- Whip that can be upgraded

Metroid has:
- One big world connected by doors and other passages
- Samus has upgradable weapons and abilites
- Some areas need certain abilites to be reached

During the later games, a lot of these mechanics are enhanced or changed. The whip in subsequent Castlevania games becomes a tool for reaching other areas. Samus' abilites change depending on the game environment, locking onto an enemy becomes possible in the 3D games.

The core mechanics of a game have to change to keep up with the changing complexity of the environments. When technology progresses more, the audience will expect the game to be capable of much more.

A Marriage - Narrative and Mechanics

2010-03-19T07:14:00.002+10:00

This post is all about answering the question: Is the narrative part of the gameplay or is it merely an introduction to set the scene or wallpaper? Please note the use of narrative is from early games such as Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Asteroids.

Nara-wha?:

A question, is there a story to the game Pac-Man? Yes or No? A game like Pac-Man has no discernible story, instead it is all about the "chase" and eating. What about Pitfall!? Harry has a name but not much else that makes him stand out from a stick man. There is no actual narrative in this game either but that wouldn't stop a player from creating one for the game.

There aren't many clues in the game, Harry could be anyone but why is he in the jungle and why must he get out so quickly? If you create your own narrative, doesn't it make Harry's adventure more rewarding? A player can become more involved in the game, it is no longer a demonstration of skill, it is a quest.

You could say the same for Asteroids and Space Invaders. The game mechanics and play gives you no indication as to why saving your space ship or the world is important. They are all tests of survival.

Courtship:

In 1981, Donkey Kong was the 1st game to use complete narrative in a game. The typical damsel in distress story combined with challenging gameplay. Does this narrative just an excuse for play or is it part of the game?

In Donkey Kong you're given a clear story which outlines the goal of the game. Save the girl. It is a little hard to dissect the gameplay from the narrative and vice versa. Both co-exist but it can also be argued that one is supporting the other.

Haunted House offers a different side to the argument. The game's story gives you a reason for playing this game but without it the player would be clueless of their goal.

There are not enough visual clues in this screen shot to show what is the goal of this game. Which of these icons represents the player? If you weren't familiar with this game, you would not know that it was the pair of eyes.

Rags to Riches is a game about a homeless man who decides that he is going to work his way up the social ladder. The catch is, the player is the homeless man. Although there is no narrative, the player has to connect with this character and the world.

The game provides real life obstacles, the man must get a haircut if he wishes to seek employment but must also dodge the police, robbers and the IRS. This game gives the opportunity for the player to create a story for the character but one that is in the confines of the world.

Although there is a long term goal, the "story" is obviously a way to set the scene for the game. Sadly, if you do reach the goal of becoming a millionare, there is no ending. The game will still continue to play the game of life.

Case Studies:

Bentley Bear finds himself in a castle filled with monsters and witch who are out to get him so he won't walk away with large amounts of the witch's treasure. The plot of Crystal Castles provides you with background for the game. It is one of the few games that features a definite ending instead of repeating the game on a higher difficulty level.

What is the core mechanic and what genre would you call the game?

The player has to find the best way to move Bentley around the screen to collect gems and avoid enemies. Bentley also has the ability to jump on and over enemies.

Crystal Castle is a platformer with some puzzle game elements, you need to complete the level quickly but you also need to move in the environment that allows you to maxinmise your chances of survival.

Does it matter that Bentley is a bear?
Bentley the Bear provides a basis for themeing designs of collectables it doesn't really add anything to the story. You could replace the bear with just about anything from a frog to a robot without harming the story.

Consider The Legend of Zelda (1986) – does it matter that Link is a young boy? What mythos does this game call on?

The Legend of Zelda and its subsequent children showcase how a narrative intergrates into gameplay. Link's goal is to save the princess but there is also the bigger goal of saving Hyrule from Ganon.

Playing as a young boy(man in some games) helps keep the sense of high adventure prevelant in the series. The youth who is exploring unknown lands echoes the player's exploration of the game world. When Link accquires new skills and items, the player can use these to track their own progression.

Link is an archetypal hero who can be found in different forms and media. From fairytales to comic books, the hero has many forms. Joseph Cambell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces illustrates the journey of the hero.

Looking at the diagram, you can make connections to the flow of typical RPG games.

Obviously as technology progresses, the need for more involvement from the player into the game and world grows. There is a growing number of games that focus on the narrative and use the games as a means of telling that story.

On the flipside there are still games that use the narrative as a frame for launching their game. Having a narrative enables the player(s) to participate at a deeper level, making the game more enjoyable or at the least more interactive.

Text Adventure - Finding a torch

2010-03-18T09:07:00.000+10:00

I'm still drafting the essay in my head and on the computer so here's where it stands at the moment. This is rough and rambling so nothing will make much sense, this post is another launching point.

Main point - Star Wars is cultural phenomena

Arguments:

It is cultural icon
Star Wars is one, it has pervaded the world like a virus. There are generations who have not seen the films and yet still have a vague understanding of scenarios, quotes and characters. The influences of this series can still be felt today.

Considered to be responsible the "Hollywood blockbuster effect"
Jaws and Star Wars: A New Hope are considered to be the movies that made the "summer movie blockbuster" a ritual. These type of film is associated with fast-paced action and a "thrill factor" that made repeat viewings enjoyable.

Set standard for movie franchises
Rule of threes? A double edged sword topic where hearsay is rampant. Given the number of film franchises and trilogies... who knows. Star Wars did prove that trilogies could be successful and marketable.

Has huge fan base
I will be mentioning this but not writing in great detail about how influential this is.

Use of computer generated graphics
In the 1970s, Star Wars presented an innovation in using computer generated special effects for the first film. Lucas' need for cutting edge visual effects spawned the genus for Industrial Light & Magic but also inspired geeks to do more with their computers.

Episode VI - What's my line?

2010-03-17T14:45:00.001+10:00

Here's a bunch of quotes on the cultural impact of Star Wars.

Emerson, J n.d:
"For 22 years, between the release of the original "Star Wars" film ("Episode IV: A New Hope") and the release of the first prequel ("Episode I: The Phantom Menace"), the "Star Wars" phenomenon had an impact on American popular culture like nothing else before, or since."

"The "Star Wars" phenomenon wasn't really so much about "content," though. It was more about capturing zeitgeist-lightning (or hyperspace star fields) in a bottle."

Hunter, S in Brown, J 2009:
"And that moment, I think, it's just one of the most treasured moments I have in a life of movie going. I mean, it promised so much, it was so romantic, it was so revitalizing, it was so much a sense of reinventing the genre, that it's a very powerful emotional moment."

"Well, for better or for worse, it spawned a host of imitators. Not imitators in the sense that they -- I'm not talking about cheesy imitations or parodies, but what it did was it made -- it sort of made the summer movie blockbuster. "

Pollock, T in Caro, R 2005:
"These are coming into a vastly different cultural world," Pollock said. "That not only includes the `Star Wars' movies but so many other large, long trilogies, Asian movies, epic movies. . . . Did `Lord of the Rings' have the impact that `Star Wars' had? No -- not because it isn't as good. I loved it dearly. But it came into a world where `Star Wars' existed and so many other things too."

Bach, S in Rickey, C 2005:
"Star Wars' transformed Hollywood from a moviemaking town into a synergized marketing town,"

Shyamalan, MN in Rickey, C 2005:
"He created a religion," says Shyamalan. "No other filmmaker has ever done that."

Ealy, C 1999:
"...they're trying to understand the cultural significance of the Star Wars saga, and in turn, discover clues about how a story captures the imagination of a society. It's too easy to dismiss Star Wars as unworthy of critical attention, they say. It's quite another matter to attempt to understand its resonance."

Biskard, P in Ealy, C 1999:
"Star Wars legitimized comic-book movies, where the endings are happy. It took serial formulas, B-movie formulas of the 1930s, and used modern technology to pump up those formulas and reinvent them. I call it the gentrification of the B movie. . . . It paved the way for the blockbuster syndrome of the '80s."

Jenkins, H 2005:
"The rich narrative universe of the Star Wars saga provided countless images, icons, and artifacts that could be reproduced in a wide variety of forms and sold to diverse groups of consumers."

"The action figures provided this generation with some of their earliest avatars, encouraging them to assume the role of a Jedi Knight or an intergalactic bounty hunter, enabling them to physically manipulate the characters and props in order to construct their own stories."

Lucas, G in Sibley 2007:
The success of the Star Wars series would not be possible if it did not possess an abiding cultural resonance. After the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Mr. Lucas told an interviewer that "this is the kind of movie we need. There needs to be a kind of film that expresses the mythological realities of life -- the deeper psychological movements of the way we conduct our lives."

References:

Brown, J 2005, The impact of the Star Wars trilogy, viewed 10th March 2010,
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june05/star_wars_5-19.html .

Caro, M 2005, The power of the dark side, viewed 10th March 2010,
http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0505080390may08,0,5154795.story?page=1.

Ealy, C 1999, Understanding Star Wars, viewed 10th March 2010,
http://delrio.dcccd.edu/mhenry/UnderstandingStarWars.htm.

Emerson, J n.d, How Star Wars Shook the World, viewed 10th March 2010,
http://movies.msn.com/movies/starwars/?GT1=7701&.

Jenkins, H 2005, Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, viewed 12th March 2010,
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html.

Rickey, C 2005, Debate brews about cultural impact of 'Star Wars', viewed 10th March 2010,
http://media.www.the-telescope.com/media/storage/paper749/news/2005/05/09/StarWars/Debate.Brews.About.Cultural.Impact.Of.star.Wars-953413.shtml.

Sibley, R 2007, How George Lucas created a cultural force, viewed 17th March 2010,
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=c782db39-0f36-4ad1-bdf2-27a115ecb422

Text Adventure - You wake up...

2010-03-14T17:12:00.001+10:00

I'm planning the flow of the essay while still trying to research. Don't do it that way, it is fraught with perils and distractions.

My initial plan for the essay was:

Intro:
Map out where essay is headed and briefly state what each segment is about.

Star Wars and Video Games:
Write about which games have claimed direct influence from Star Wars and which could have had some influence from the work. I would also look at the Star Wars gaming franchise as well.

Archetypes and the Quest:
This section would look at the archetypes in Lucas' work and compare and contrast it with video games.

The Blockbuster Effect:
Since the release of Episode IV, Star Wars is considered to be the model for movie franchise. Here I would write about how the blockbuster influenced the video game industry.

Conclusion:
Rinse and repeat cycle, it's a summary of all the points on why Star Wars and Lucas are influential to the video game industry.

The main problem with this outline is that there are too many points to cover in 800 words. I'm thinking of compressing into 2 sections, Video Games and The Blockbuster Effect seem the easiest in terms of substantial evidence and access.

I'd love to do Archetypes and the Quest but I think all the evidence would be circumstantial at best. It's a little fantastic to try and prove that the Master Sword is indeed the Zelda analog of a lightsaber.

Episode V - Dominating the Pixels

2010-03-13T06:18:00.001+10:00

Let's take a look at the published Star Wars gaming commodities. Currently there are approximately 138 games with the brand name.

Starting from the 1982 Atari 2600's The Empire Strikes Back, the Empire has spread from console to console, PC and even mobile phones. Where does the Star Wars and video gaming relationship begin? Let's start at the beginning and what came before.

This is not a definitive list, it is a retrospective of games that have similar themes/style to Star Wars.

1960s

Spacewar!: Pitted two spaceships against each other while trying to combat the gravity well of a star.

Space Travel: A player operated ship would attempt to land on various planets and other space bodies.

Lunar Lander: A early text based game that also went under the names of Rocket, Lunar, LEM and Apollo.

1970s

Computer Space: Considered one of the world's first commercial coin-operated machine, this had you avoiding and returning fire from a pair of flying saucers.

Star Trek: A text game adventure where the player took command of the Enterprise and destroyed Klingon ships.

Space Attack & Space Battle: Due to a licensing hitch, these Battlestar Galactica games are a tiny dot in the Galactica franchise.

Space Invaders: Defend the world from aliens in one of the world's popular game.

Asteroids: Clear space of asteroids and pesky aliens in this famous game.

Star Fire: Heavily inspired from Star Wars, this game came with innovations like lock on, sit-down cock pit and allowed the player to enter their initials in the high score.

Star Raiders: A game that inspired the X-Wing series of the Star Wars franchise, it featured FP view in '3D' space and hyper space travelling.

Above: Biggs in the X-Wing cockpit
Below: Cover art for the video game Epic, look familiar?

Left: Cover art for Star Fire
Middle and Right: Ships from the Star Wars movies

During the early 80's, a toy company called Parker Brothers convinced Lucasfilms to let them produce games based on Star Wars for any platform. Quickly getting together a small team of operatives, the team set out to reverse engineer the Atari VCS and produce the first Star Wars game.

In general, the Atari[VCS] was so limited that we weren't so grandiose to say: 'Oh, we're going to recreate the experience of the move here'. It was clearly going to be a limited experience, something at best would remind you of the movie, evoke a little bit of the emotion and most importantly be a fun game to play. (Bradford, B in Edge, 2009)

Fun doesn't describe the results, over a million copies were sold and Parker Brothers would go on to make three more titled games. The Empire Strikes Back would prepare the world for the mass of Star Wars games that would arrive during the 80s and resurge in the new millennia.

One of the strangest video games to claim influence from Star Wars is Jeff Minter's Attack of the Mutant Camels.

Top: The Empire Strikes Back
Below: Attack of the Mutant Camels

“Normal camels aren’t that big, and so if they weren’t to be robot camels then they must be mutant camels. And thus was born a very silly game sequence indeed.” (Minter, J in Edge 2009)

Drawing inspiration from a review of the Parker Brothers' game, Minter created an imaginative experience which pitted the player against shielded camels that could fire lasers. With an aesthetic borrowed from The Empire Strikes Back, Minter's game could be seen as a parody but also as a retelling of the original game. The strangeness continued when Minter produced a sequel where the player assumes the role of a mutant camel flying its captors and evading the space ship from the original game.

Henry Jenkins(2005) writes that creative rewriting of science fiction, movies and television are now considered acceptable in main stream culture. With this in mind, the creation of Star Fire is not a subject of copyright infringement but a work of appreciation.

The industry increasingly refers to Star Trek or Star Wars as "franchises," using a term that makes clear the commercial stakes in these transactions. This new "franchise" system actively encourages viewers to pursue their interests in media content across various transmission channels, to be alert to the potential for new experiences offered by these various tie-ins.(Jenkins, H 2005)

When nascent technologies become more readily available, publishers and promoters are able to provide extensions of popular narrative to its fans. (Jenkins, H 2005) Star Fire places the player in a virtual cockpit of a spaceship which is modelled heavily off the x-wing fighters from Star Wars. Star Wars as a cultural phenomena seems to incite a desire to recreate the experiences in the movies.

In 1977, the movie "Star Wars" came out, and Ted(Michon) thought it was the best movie ever, and he wanted to develop a game in this genre... Ted and his wife prepared the graphics, which had a "Star Wars" look to them. He figured that either we would license the rights or we would make whatever changes were necessary to avoid legal infringements... So the succinct answer to your question is that Exidy had very little input into the game play, and Ted was responsible for the Star Wars look. (Rolfe, D in Good Deal Games 2006)

From this, one could argue that several of the x number of space games have been attempts to emulate the experience of Luke Skywalker and Rebel Army to reclaim their piece of the universe from the hand of the evil Empire.

References:

Backwards Compatible - Star Wars 2008, Good Game, ABC1, 28 September 2008.

Edge Magazine 2009, The Making Of:Attack of The Mutant Camels
http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/the-making-of-attack-of-the-mutant-camels.

Edge Magazine 2009, 'The Making Of... Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back', Edge Magazine, col 209, pp. 112 - 115.

Gametrailers.com 2008, The Star Wars Retrospective Episode I, viewed 13th March 2010, http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-i-star-wars/31944.

Good Deal Games 2006, Interview with David Rolfe
http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_rolfe.html.

Jenkins, H 2005, Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, viewed 12th March 2010,
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html.

'History of Video Games', Wikipedia, viewed 5th March 2010,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games.

Episode IV - Why Star Wars?

2010-03-11T07:54:00.000+10:00

Who's or what is the most influential person/item in modern gaming? Out of a list of 17 possible entries, it's boiled down to writing about George Lucas and Star Wars. How does a space opera from the 70's lead to the development of contemporary games? It's a good question, I hope I can find the answer as I look into this cultural phenomena.
[I will be adding more to this as the days go by. This is a very rough bouncing board where thoughts don't connect yet.]

General Points about Star Wars:

It is considered a cultural unifier

Has had a significant impact on American pop culture

Scenes, characters and quotes are part of popular lexicon (lingo)

Early example of film pastiche (combination of genre)

Introduced advances in computer generated special effects

Generated model for movie trilogies and franchises

Help establish big budget blockbuster industry

Star Wars is BIG business but sales figures and graphs don't give us a clear picture as to why it is such a cultural icon, much less how it's influenced modern gaming. Much of the information about Star Wars is either Star Wars trivia (facts from the fictional universe) or heavily opinionated discussion on a number of topics, cultural, religious, cinematic or economic.

What do we know about Star Wars and video gaming? During the creation and development of Space Invaders, creator Tomohiro Nishikado was having trouble coming up with a design that would work with the limitations of the technology.

Then I heard about a movie called Star Wars released in the U.S. which was coming to Japan next year, so I came up with a game based in space which had space aliens as targets.(Nishikado in Edge, 2005)

Fast forward some years and to some people, it is evident that the Force did have a role to play in the development of video games.

"`Star Wars' didn't create video games but it totally influenced them," says Peer Schneider, senior publisher of IGN.com, a Web site for video gamers. "The Death Star trench run in the original `Star Wars' is the archetypal video game climax: Fire a missile, hit a weak spot and everything gets destroyed."(Rickey, C, 2005)

Ironically this would later become the plot of a Star Wars arcade game, suggesting that there are some facets of pop culture do come full circle.

References:

Edge 2005,The Creation of Space Invaders, viewed 12th March 2010, http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-creation-space-invaders.

Edwards, B, n.d., Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders Celebrating 30 Years of Shooting at Sushi., viewed 5th March 2010,
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3168373.

Ebert, R 1999, Great Movies: Star Wars, viewed 11th March 2010,
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990628/REVIEWS08/906280301/1023.

Rickey, C 2005, Debate brews about cultural impact of 'Star Wars', viewed 10th March 2010,
http://media.www.the-telescope.com/media/storage/paper749/news/2005/05/09/StarWars/Debate.Brews.About.Cultural.Impact.Of.star.Wars-953413.shtml.

'Space Invaders' 2010, Wikipedia, viewed 5th March 2010,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders.

'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, 2010, Wikipedia, viewed 10th March 2010,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope.

Stuff to be analysed:
- Edge Magazine 2006, A Short History of LucasArts
http://www.edge-online.com/features/a-short-history-lucasarts

- Jenkins, H 2005, Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars?:
Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html

Games in Animation History

2010-03-07T06:56:00.000+10:00

Animation has a long and varied history with many differing attitudes and styles, from art house to slapstick comedy. This semester, I'm supposed to take a class (Animation, Auteurs and Digital environments) that is all about analysing and critiquing Animation(and games) in it's historical context and comparing it with the precedent.

The gamers in the class are outraged, this doesn't have much to do with our degree, much less our preferred subject matter. Not to mention that the animators already have a leg up with having done a history course. (we think) Persevere we must.

So what's a gamer to do when the BIG assignment is all about, taking a film, game, studio, series of work and discussing how it fits into the context of Animation History? Try and work something out with as little information that you have.

(9/3/10) : I think my lack of understanding these categories is hindering the kind of essay ideas I am coming up with. I hope the lecturer will clear this up instead of leaving us in the dust.

Here's a great big list of the categories for the subject with some of my ideas on what I can do with it.

Animation as Optical Toy:
I'm pretty sure all games can be considered an optical toy or a use of optical illusions. Being digital in nature, there is a fine line between a game being an actual object and the experience of playing the game. The main question would be, is a game really just an elaborate optical toy?

Game products based on traditional optical toys:
- Eye Toy
- Project Natal
- XBox Live Vision

Animation as Comic:
My initial understanding of this was the use of comedy but instead it refers to the transition of comic books or strips to animation. I'm thinking of using it to compare or contrast on the following topics:
- how narrative is used
- influence on how story is told
- graphic styles
- influence on culture (comics on games or games on comics)

Find a franchise and see if a game has been made of it, there are just too many to name.

Here's some examples:
- Spiderman
- Batman
- Gundam
- Visual Novels

Animation as Theatre:
According to my course guide this is where the history of comedy is referenced. Not sure if it also refers to theatrical arts. Likely topics to cover would be the use of comedy in games, methods of characterisation (how characters are expressing themselves) or use of theatrical elements. Not sure of the exact requirements, hopefully it will cleared up soon.

Here's something that reads like work:
- how character animation impacts/enhance user response to either story or gameplay
- development of comedy in games
- use of comedy in game eg. in dialogue, character interaction

Some games to look at:
- Sam & Max
- Monkey Island Series
- Toonstruck
- Newgrounds

Animation as Live Action:
TV sitcoms, Disney and Games are all listed under this topic, so I guess an essay about the gameplay mechanics eg. immediate response of controller to screen. Not too sure, it's hard working in the dark.

Though Live Action Gaming does turn up LARP if you look. I don't think that's what the assignment is asking for.

Animation as Fine Art:
The most obvious choice is art games, the hardest task is finding enough examples and reference material to talk effectively about this genre.
Essay topics would include:
- How the art game (auteur game) is impacting on the gaming scene
- Why there is an increase of art games
- What is the role of an art game / How does a game without game play work

Games to look at:
- flOw
- Flower
- Today I Die
- Aether
- Braid
- Heavy Rain

Animation as Puppet:
Digital puppetry is the subject matter here, so things like machinima or avatars are a crucial element to crafting an essay.

Games/Items to look at:
- The Sims
- Second Life
- Red vs Blue
- World of Warcraft

Simular products:
- Populus
- Black & White

These are looking at using computer generated "people" and manlipulating them as their God.
Essay Topics:
- Use of video games as a film making technology
- Social factors in digital environments
- Use of avatar in playing games

Animation as Music:
Something about music videos so I guess music games may be covered in this section. Perhaps writing about the multiplayer/social group of these games.

Modern Music Games:
- Dance Dance Revolution
- Guitar Hero
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan or Elite Beat Agents
- Electroplankton

Animation as Science:
Early computer experimentation, edu-tainment (serious games) and virutal simulations are all linked in this topic. The obvious thing is to find a product and blab on about it, though I'm not sure how well you can link military simulations to the history of animation...

Topics to look at:
- Early computer programs eg. graphic user interfaces
- Virtual simulations eg. military training simulations, Sim City
- Educational games
- AI, Real Time Strategy units

Games to look at:
- Sim City
- Spore
- The Sims
- VBS1 & VBS2 (Training tool for the British Military and the USMC and other military forces around the world)

Non Games:
- Ghost in the Shell
- The Matrix
- Tron

The problem with this is I think I would keep going back to how graphics are needed to make this user friendly... I think I am missing the point of this essay.

Animation as Documentary:
Virtual realities, multi-player and games with ethical/political messages are the call here.

Stuff to look at:
- The Sims eg. Alice & Kev
- World of Warcraft
- Second Life
- Harpooned
- Dafur is Dying
- Escape from Woomera

Animation as Play:
I have no idea as to what this topic will be, I'm tossing up between stage play and "I'm going to play". If it's the later, there will be way too many things to think about since nearly all games are about play.

(11/3/10): Out lecturer doesn't even know what this is going to be. I think it is heading towards "gameplay" which will be a tricky path indeed.

Heroes of Video Gaming - Part I

2010-03-06T08:38:00.000+10:00

Students will research and write a 500 word essay responding to the question “Who or What has had the greatest influence over modern games (and why)?” Students are expected to prepare a succinct, well articulated opinion piece. They will be graded on the cogency of their argument, research material found to back up their claims and to a lesser extent, writing / referencing skills.

Who or what do you come up with when faced with an assignment like this? That is the challenge I am currently dealing with, so here's an early run down of potential subjects.

Inventions

Cathode Ray Tube: Without it television and computers would not be what they are today. One of the major pieces of technology that lead to advancements in visual entertainment and interfaces. You can't play a video game without a screen.

Joy Sticks: You can't fly planes, wage war or save the universe without some influence from this baby. Traversing the X, Y and Z dimensions has never been easier. Also comes in Arcade and Thumb(Analog) flavours.

Game Controller: The Joy Stick's more advanced brothers, comes with more technological advances than the last. Until humans can play using their minds, we're all going to settle for hand-eye coordination and Gamer's Thumb for a while yet.

Computer: Responsible for the making and playing of games, the computer has continued to inspire people to stretch limits and break some molds.

Lasers: An invention that lead to the invention of CDS and Science Fiction weapons. You can't have a light saber without lasers.

CD-ROM: When Floppy Discs are not large enough, this shiny and slim disc entered our hearts and still lives on. Indispensable for installing and storing games.

Organisations

The US Military: Arguably one of the most influential organisations out there that have influenced the development of video games. From computers, AI, virtual reality and the Internet, this organisation has had a big hand in making technology for war and civilian use.

NASA: Boldly going where you can't and inspiring generations of boffins, nerds and geeks to create technologies for space travel, physics and Space Nazis. For us earth-bound creatures, we still may not be piloting Star Fighters without these egg heads.

MIT: Boffins need an education and at this fine institution many of the world's computing and networking technologies got their start. Spacewar!, GNU Project and Jargon File all got launched here.

Stanford University: Situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, it is famous for educating a myriad of people who went out and developed companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Electronic Arts, Sun Microsystems(Java, kids.), Nvidia and Google.

Companies

Nintendo: One of the largest game companies that still influences popular culture and gaming trends. Popularity has ensured that when a non-gamer thinks of video games, it is very likely they're thinking of Nintendo.

Atari: The little engine that could have, Atari pioneered home consoles, arcades and personal computers in the early days. After the debacle of ET and a saturation in the market, it has never recovered the glory of days past.

Apple: Starting with personal computers and now dominating wireless multimedia devices. Presenting games to the consumer has never been easier for independent gamer developers to get a foothold in the market.

Lucas Arts: Part of Lucas' domination of entertainment, this company is synonymous with adventure games and light sabers. Despite the focus on the Star Wars franchise, many of the adventures games remain firm favourites in the hearts of many.

People

Alan Turing: Mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist whose work in the devlopment of computer science made him one of the key players in the creation of the modern computer.

Ralph H Baer: Developer of the Brown Box, the first home console and is considered the spawn point for the video game industy.

Geroge Lucas: The man behind Star Wars, a franchise that inspired generations. From Space Invaders, jokes and military plans, somewhere in your mind Star Wars has influenced your vision of space.

Shigeru Miyamoto: The face of Nintendo, a life that is filled with commerical success. Considered to be one of the most influential game designers around.

Others to consider

Issac Assimov

Microchip

Internet

Dungeons & Dragons

Star Trek

Senat

Things not to consider:

Coffee

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Midi Music

4-chan

Web Comics

Critics