Video Recording of "Reconstructing S-31" Prototype

While I have put aside my "Reconstructing S-31" project, in order to experiment with my recently took some footage of the game's early prototype. It is clear from the footage that what I had implemented gameplay wise was rather uninteresting and that it would take a fundamentally game changing mechanics to salvage the dull play experience. It is also clear that I have a lot to learn regarding video recording. Regardless, this means that I now have a YouTube channel which I plan to use from time to time.

Swimming in the Depths of Kinetics and Physically Rooted Leisure Sports

This past Friday, as a friend and I were attempting to pass the time despite its dry nature, I became inspired to create a real life version of Angry Birds. Regardless of the fact that this idea was probably the result of heat delusion, I mentioned it briefly to another friend of mine via text and he pointed out to me that such had already been executed.

So I watched this and was quite impressed:

I love this kind of stuff. Limited by the bounds of the physical world, one sets out to use illusion and practical means to create a fantastically experience. The greatest example of this craft can be found in the work of the Disney Imagineers and the incredible work found within the Disney Land theme parks.

After some convincing, I got my buddy to take me out to the his shed to look for some cardboard boxes to build the destructible structures with. We then grabbed a bag of around twenty tennis balls and started to experiment away. One of the great advantages of creating a sport is that one does not have to program the physics engine, thus the focus could be entirely on drafting rules, discovering new ways of play, and testing out new gameplay elements.

By this point the idea to recreate Angry Birds had evolved into something much more interesting. Instead of launching projectiles using a sling (the general lack of elastic in American homes contributed to this development) we decided that are game would have the players simply throwing the tennis balls at the cardboard structures. There was experimentation with what sort of goals and challenges could be interesting to achieve using reality's physics. In Angry Birds the goal is to kill pigs by inflicting a certain amount of stress upon them; having them fall from a great height or be crushed by a collapsing pillar. To emulate this we implemented water balloons, but these proved to be too time consuming to produce and far too fragile. So instead, we focused on placing cones within our layouts that the player would have to knock over. These worked far better, but the types of structures we could build were extremely limited by the rather unfortunate selection of corrugated boxes presented to use.

After all of this there are now plans to purchase high quality boxes to use for building structures and to further experiment with both the rules and the play of the game. While this activity is not quite a formal game yet, it still presents an excellent opportunity to learn and have fun and to perhaps create something new and exciting.

As far as I know, this could turn into the great new sport of the 21st century. Yes, idealistic, but hopeful!

A Simple(ish) Response to the Founding Question of Electronic Arts

There are some things that are best expressed through the visual image; I am certain this is one of them.
Electronic Arts, back in the 1980's, set forth to answer the question, "Can a computer make you cry?"
Refenced again and again throughout the industry as an inspirational, as well as a humorously ironic quote, it has come to evolve into a more specific form in the game development circles.

"Can a game make you cry?"

And so, there have been many attempts since the question has been posed to prove that indeed yes, they can. It has been a race to discover "the Citizen Kane of games" (puke). Or, rather more honestly, to show the world that games are just as respectable a human construction as the other art forms.

Developers waiting to create the first game that drives human emotion so deep as to bring forth tears, behold! The answer does not lie in the next big cinematic science fiction RPG. No, the answer is to be found in these images:







There are going to be perfectly valid examples in folk games, board games, and even some multiplayer video games as well. Tears of victory; tears of defeat. Tears of shame; tears of relief. In my experience playing competitive sports, I will vouch for the fact that crying is not an uncommon emotional response to the results of a game.

To answer the original question, "Can a computer make you cry?", it is important to remember that crying is an emotionally response, and that emotion is unique to humans and an other instances of natural life. Will someday that human element be brought in effectively enough into the systems, the AI and the representative imagery of a video game in order to allow these emotional responses to come solely from the interactive aspects of a single player experience? Maybe; give it another twenty years. Can emotions be brought forth from allowing the human element to be better expressed and shared in networked electronic game play? Yes; however, the technology for such is not yet here.

Experimenting with Concept Art and Vector Graphics

Recently a friend asked me to do some concept work for a weapons mod he is hoping to sometime release for the sandbox, brick building game Blockland. His idea is to have two competing manufacturers' guns available for players to use. When the focus is on only one aspect of the game, in this case the weapons, there is a more abundant attention to the finer details. So currently there is a semi-huge back story to the universe in which these weapons exist that informs their cultural significance, their meaningful design, and overall context.

My role in this creation process is to basically draw up concept art that the 3D modeler can use as a reference for his work. I decided to try something new and enter the realm of vector graphics, using a wonderful open source program called Inkscape. So far it is rather intuitive to use and fits my needs perfectly; the tools do a serviceable job of letting me use my angular artistic style. I am trying to feel my way through understanding everything that is possible with vector graphics and how they should be properly handled.

The other challenge is learning how to properly draw interesting weapons that look like they function properly. Function is extremely important to providing a sense of realism. I am not at all an expert in guns, but I know some of the basics and am trying to further educate myself in the subject.

Here is a sample of what I am working on. This is a pistol from the cooperation Visage, whose products are focused on both great useability and stylistic looks:

Note to Self...

...remember that competing in the "Ludum Dare" competition would be an excellent opportunity to create a small, reasonable game with the incentive based motivation of competing with other developers. I have been spending some time over this weekend watching Notch (the man who made Minecraft) work on his entry for the 21st competition over a live stream he is broadcasting. And while his work is definitely some of the most inspirational out there, watching him program fills me with all of the positive emotions I associate with game development. To start from scratch, having to create a simple pseudo 3D game, is really impressive. Anyways, here is a link to the Ludum Dare website for further reference: http://ludumdare.com/.

On a New Approach to Dialogue Trees

This is concept is based upon what I was talking about earlier in reference to my interest in a radio drama like game. When the player is given only audio to comprehend the game world, what sort of input should they use to interact with it? Though in the end it is probably too simplistic and limiting, I have been considering what this type of game would be like if the player had access to only one button. Though it is not a perfect solution for all interactions, after some thought I have found that it could probably work well for dialogue trees.

When someone is considering what they should say, there is a thought process. They twist and turn through different reasoning, considering different options as their understanding evolves. Based upon what has happened or been said before, their brain processes the next course of action. In an aural game, the player's controllable character's thought process is heard and it is up to the player to determine when to stop thinking and act. One single press of a button accomplishes this. There is a balance to be considered; choosing to act too hastily can lead to a bad decision, but over thinking the solution can also result in bad answer. However some situations will call for strictly quick action, since there is not enough time to completely think everything through. If the systems behind this can become dynamic enough to be satisfying and deep, it could really be an innovative new approach to the rather elementary concept of dialogue trees.

Games are Typically Extremely Social in Nature

In fact, I would argue that games can create some of the most satisfying, encouraging, and constructive social experiences to be had. Put away the connotations of the shut-in playing computer games in a basement for their entire existence; instead, picture a high school football match or a midnight round of Settlers of Catan. These are the games that are coming to my mind when I think about games socially. Even video games, which, thanks to the predominance of single player experiences, have been seen as naturally anti-social (rightfully so), are starting to show their capability as an impressive social platform due in part to the rise of networked play.

I truly do believe that if one's task was to, as easily and non-awkwardly as possible, introduce several strangers to each other, that the best way to warm them up to engaging in social interaction with each other is through some sort of analog game (board game, sport, or folk game). The magic circle breaks pretensions and fears, allowing for the players to work towards a goal either with or against each other in a common universe of understanding.

While the conversational interaction found on an online multiplayer video game server leaves much to be desired for, it is soon to evolve in quality to someday match the depth of conversation found in reality. If computer AI technology slows in its growth, a multiplayer predominate industry, instead of a single player predominate industry, is a very possible, very real, and very bright future. The communities focused on competition and custom content found for many PC games such as Quake and TrackMania will become the norm. And while the audience who grew up on single player experiences of the past three decades will probably have a large resentment for the trend (as they already do now), they will have to realize that, with all of humanity in mind, they are a niche. Single player games will always exist, but soon they will no longer be as common and widespread as they are now.