Too big ethical discussion in a game ,isolated choice.
People want to be convinced and empathize with an argument.
Cheapened serious topics.
Random encounters that don't have to do with the narrative.
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
August 19th (Gaming Questions) Sonic 2
How were the game mechanics used to immerse the player into your chosen game's narrative?
The game mechanics in Sonic 2 that were immersive for the player's narrative and game's narrative were the obstacles and urgency.
The obstacles for the player that created immersion were the enemies and platforming.
Defeating enemies linked up with Sonic's goals of stopping Eggman with the player's goal of beating the game as the enemies contained the animals that Sonic was trying to free ,as well as giving the player score and removing obstacles in their way.This common goal between player and avatar, incentive to defeat Eggman and the game, and conforming to the game world's logic, enemies further immersed the player into the game world narrative.
The platforming changed the player's approach to the game,as they would have to conform the the game's worlds logic further causing the connection between the avatar and the player through their goals and actions.
The urgency for the player that created immersion were the speed,time limit,and real time attacks by the enemies forcing the player to make quick real time decisions as Sonic would.The speed made the player focusing more intensively on the game. The time limit linked competitive aspects such as having a good score with the urgency of the narrative,Eggman's capture of Sonic's friends.
Sonic 2's game mechanics linked the players goals,thinking,and motivation to that of the avatar's narrative goals,thinking,and motivations which in turn connected the narrative,and avatar to the player.
(Removed)
The distractions for the player that created immersion were the rings collected during the levels.These rings had use through collecting them for extra lives,allowing the player to continue later on if they killed Sonic.These rings took some of the focus of the player as they had incentive to collect them but they were not needed to pass the level.This contributed to the hectic game play making the player more engaged and focused on whats happening.This immersed the player into the game world rules of Sonic's life as we had to think how Sonic could get through the levels/world.
The game mechanics in Sonic 2 that were immersive for the player's narrative and game's narrative were the obstacles and urgency.
The obstacles for the player that created immersion were the enemies and platforming.
Defeating enemies linked up with Sonic's goals of stopping Eggman with the player's goal of beating the game as the enemies contained the animals that Sonic was trying to free ,as well as giving the player score and removing obstacles in their way.This common goal between player and avatar, incentive to defeat Eggman and the game, and conforming to the game world's logic, enemies further immersed the player into the game world narrative.
The platforming changed the player's approach to the game,as they would have to conform the the game's worlds logic further causing the connection between the avatar and the player through their goals and actions.
The urgency for the player that created immersion were the speed,time limit,and real time attacks by the enemies forcing the player to make quick real time decisions as Sonic would.The speed made the player focusing more intensively on the game. The time limit linked competitive aspects such as having a good score with the urgency of the narrative,Eggman's capture of Sonic's friends.
Sonic 2's game mechanics linked the players goals,thinking,and motivation to that of the avatar's narrative goals,thinking,and motivations which in turn connected the narrative,and avatar to the player.
(Removed)
The distractions for the player that created immersion were the rings collected during the levels.These rings had use through collecting them for extra lives,allowing the player to continue later on if they killed Sonic.These rings took some of the focus of the player as they had incentive to collect them but they were not needed to pass the level.This contributed to the hectic game play making the player more engaged and focused on whats happening.This immersed the player into the game world rules of Sonic's life as we had to think how Sonic could get through the levels/world.
August 19th (Gaming Notes) Sonic 2,Hotline Miami
Sonic 2
I feel like i get into a focus as i am so distracted by everything rushing past and looking out for things that would hurt sonic
focusing on the platforming while also looking ahead to the next parts kept me quite busy.theres alot of urgency in the gameplay aswell as getting prepared for further levels with rings.
got halfway through the game before moving on.Didn't want to start from scratch
Hotline Miami:
I feel like i get into a focus as i am so distracted by everything rushing past and looking out for things that would hurt sonic
focusing on the platforming while also looking ahead to the next parts kept me quite busy.theres alot of urgency in the gameplay aswell as getting prepared for further levels with rings.
got halfway through the game before moving on.Didn't want to start from scratch
Hotline Miami:
August 18th (Reading Notes) Bizzochi
two approaches
visual sound
UI hud cursor showed the characters narrative option
interface connect narrative in gameplay
interface being narrativised:
look and feel
narrativised perspective
behavioural mimicking behaviour metaphors briding and mixed reality interfaces
"ubin's scroll"
helmet showing health and being ingame and out of game
story into interface,making a connection between ludic and narrative pleasure.
look and feel:
audio visual in interface that reinforces narrative idea
showing results in narrative and gameplay through interface.
embedding narrative into the interface
reinforcing race and culture of character through interface
audio interface
interface reflects ideas or theme.
interface placed through the gameworld.
player is always present so interface is,eg helmet
game metrics is health etc
spyro's fly showing health
armour damage
crashs mask
Questions:
bizoo
that interface can cross the border and connect the ludic and narrative parts.
interface can be shown inside the game
''Ubin's scroll" in banner saga becuase saving is like writing history,which ties the scroll to gameplay and narrative
cellphone in GTA give quests and narrative info aswell as gameplay elements.broken down interface
interface within gameworld showing narrative and ludic elements (ie health bars on isaacs back)
visual sound
UI hud cursor showed the characters narrative option
interface connect narrative in gameplay
interface being narrativised:
look and feel
narrativised perspective
behavioural mimicking behaviour metaphors briding and mixed reality interfaces
"ubin's scroll"
helmet showing health and being ingame and out of game
story into interface,making a connection between ludic and narrative pleasure.
look and feel:
audio visual in interface that reinforces narrative idea
showing results in narrative and gameplay through interface.
embedding narrative into the interface
reinforcing race and culture of character through interface
audio interface
interface reflects ideas or theme.
interface placed through the gameworld.
player is always present so interface is,eg helmet
game metrics is health etc
spyro's fly showing health
armour damage
crashs mask
Questions:
bizoo
that interface can cross the border and connect the ludic and narrative parts.
interface can be shown inside the game
''Ubin's scroll" in banner saga becuase saving is like writing history,which ties the scroll to gameplay and narrative
cellphone in GTA give quests and narrative info aswell as gameplay elements.broken down interface
interface within gameworld showing narrative and ludic elements (ie health bars on isaacs back)
Thursday, 13 August 2015
August 14th (Gaming Questions) Gone Home -Edited-
Was the use of Micro narrative objects in your chosen game engaging? Explain your answer.
Some of the micro narrative objects were engaging in Gone Home,others detracted from the whole experience as they stopped the player's exploration for too long.
The objects that I found engaging were the objects that Katie (the player) had an opinion of or named differently.Objects such as the "Good ol Christmas duck" and "Gosh dad" had different names pop up suggesting what Katie first thought of and gave us indication on the relationship between Katie,that object,and who it belonged to as well as what she thought of said person.
The objects I didn't find engaging were the ones that went off on a tangent and were long pages of text.Objects such as the pirate stories took a long time to get through and I found them boring to read, Katie seemed to have little opinion of it, and they stopped the game play exploration element dead in its tracks.Because of this those micro narrative objects were not engaging.
Although these pirate stories added towards Katie's sister as a character,they failed to engage the player and there were many simpler examples which gave more narrative information on her sister.The dialogue after finding objects,the student objects around the sister's room,and the notes sent to and from her new friend all portrayed her personality as a student and how she acted as a friend.
The use of short and simple objects showing character relationships and personalities were more engaging than complex,large amount of information that pause the interactions/exploration of the player.
(Removed)
Other objects that made the game engaging were some of the little objects that reaffirmed my ideas on what the story was or what the characters were like.Objects like highlighters,erasers,notes from her mother/father and such around Sam's room and in other locations reaffirmed the idea that she was a student studying and was trying to make friends at her new school.
Some of the micro narrative objects were engaging in Gone Home,others detracted from the whole experience as they stopped the player's exploration for too long.
The objects that I found engaging were the objects that Katie (the player) had an opinion of or named differently.Objects such as the "Good ol Christmas duck" and "Gosh dad" had different names pop up suggesting what Katie first thought of and gave us indication on the relationship between Katie,that object,and who it belonged to as well as what she thought of said person.
The objects I didn't find engaging were the ones that went off on a tangent and were long pages of text.Objects such as the pirate stories took a long time to get through and I found them boring to read, Katie seemed to have little opinion of it, and they stopped the game play exploration element dead in its tracks.Because of this those micro narrative objects were not engaging.
Although these pirate stories added towards Katie's sister as a character,they failed to engage the player and there were many simpler examples which gave more narrative information on her sister.The dialogue after finding objects,the student objects around the sister's room,and the notes sent to and from her new friend all portrayed her personality as a student and how she acted as a friend.
The use of short and simple objects showing character relationships and personalities were more engaging than complex,large amount of information that pause the interactions/exploration of the player.
(Removed)
Other objects that made the game engaging were some of the little objects that reaffirmed my ideas on what the story was or what the characters were like.Objects like highlighters,erasers,notes from her mother/father and such around Sam's room and in other locations reaffirmed the idea that she was a student studying and was trying to make friends at her new school.
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
August 12th (Gaming Notes) Gone Home
Was the use of Micro narrative objects in your chosen game engaging? Explain your answer.
Gone Home Notes:
Tutorial,wasd and mouse
cassette loading screen
Audio black screen narration intro.Audio answerphone recording.
says the time and date in text at start
Bags at the door showing you just got home
blue cup outside on the porch
note on door saying not to look around from sam.
found key under duck,and christmas decorations 6$ duck
note with instructions on directions to work
found a 17th birthday card behind shelf
to sam from uncle harvey?
will someone notice different lights on?
boxes showing recently moved in/moving out?
receipt from movers
I can grab things and flush toilets and turn on sinks? why?
an old friend of daniels wants to come over,but sam doesnt like him.
a daughter in military?
oscar doc masan died in newspaper
heard weird talking in the background
principle with note on stationary
note from student asked whether or not being psycho runs in the family or if its just your uncle.
conspiracy notes on wall about a book someone was reading
some story notes in trash,space story
note from oscar masan to terrence about his new wife
electrical fault form,explaining the spooky light flickers
Terrence almost getting fired from reviews?
Father write about JFK alot
being told to review things
xfiles and jfk
lots of conspiracy theories
tent out of couch?
story about pirate?
was fired by publisher,found this by alot of drinks.
sam telling to katie sorry about the missing stuff
sam invited lonnie over
crumpled note,whatever you've found dont tell mom and dad
having lonnie over,daniel wants his game back
Gone Home Notes:
Tutorial,wasd and mouse
cassette loading screen
Audio black screen narration intro.Audio answerphone recording.
says the time and date in text at start
Bags at the door showing you just got home
blue cup outside on the porch
note on door saying not to look around from sam.
found key under duck,and christmas decorations 6$ duck
note with instructions on directions to work
found a 17th birthday card behind shelf
to sam from uncle harvey?
will someone notice different lights on?
boxes showing recently moved in/moving out?
receipt from movers
I can grab things and flush toilets and turn on sinks? why?
an old friend of daniels wants to come over,but sam doesnt like him.
a daughter in military?
oscar doc masan died in newspaper
heard weird talking in the background
principle with note on stationary
note from student asked whether or not being psycho runs in the family or if its just your uncle.
conspiracy notes on wall about a book someone was reading
some story notes in trash,space story
note from oscar masan to terrence about his new wife
electrical fault form,explaining the spooky light flickers
Terrence almost getting fired from reviews?
Father write about JFK alot
being told to review things
xfiles and jfk
lots of conspiracy theories
tent out of couch?
story about pirate?
was fired by publisher,found this by alot of drinks.
sam telling to katie sorry about the missing stuff
sam invited lonnie over
crumpled note,whatever you've found dont tell mom and dad
having lonnie over,daniel wants his game back
Saturday, 8 August 2015
August 9th (Reading Notes) Narration of Things
dark souls is renowned for being hard
narrative renowned games dont always live up to standard gameplay wise
hard games are fun when fair
cutscenes are an easy way to put narration in therefore popular
gaming can imitate other forms of media narrative wise
npcs can be too stoic or desperate to give info
space showed progression
items can give story info
items described their character
past tense is traditional
to know something and dissect it destroys it
items as speculation,not factual description by the narrator
item description might be false or not give the whole picture
even if an item has no function for you,it can have story elements of value.
hard gameplay,hard to get narrative too?
items can give rough picture of lore
dark souls challenging story and gameplay although narrative is minor
narrative renowned games dont always live up to standard gameplay wise
hard games are fun when fair
cutscenes are an easy way to put narration in therefore popular
gaming can imitate other forms of media narrative wise
npcs can be too stoic or desperate to give info
space showed progression
items can give story info
items described their character
past tense is traditional
to know something and dissect it destroys it
items as speculation,not factual description by the narrator
item description might be false or not give the whole picture
even if an item has no function for you,it can have story elements of value.
hard gameplay,hard to get narrative too?
items can give rough picture of lore
dark souls challenging story and gameplay although narrative is minor
August 9th (Reading Notes) Sim Sin City
fear mongering in every form of media ,not just games.
not really anyone has been killed because I videogames.
religious books have killed more people
any form of text has an effect.
important games are games that change our idea of what they are.
open world granted alot of freedom
open world is a playground
games that a repetitive turn into a job
play made work bearable
gta wasnt repetitive and shemue was therefore gta sold better.
must have reason for freedom
quest fetching is not fun
space is key in games
get from point a to B in whatever fun way possible.
transportation in gta is fun
gta turned spatial travel into fun/car simulation
NPC's are repetitive due to technology
NPCs should be good actors
specific behavior rules limit characters to stereotypes
lack of interactivity or narrative made them moving targets.
the world made dialogue pointless as its violent
certain kinds of characters do not need dialogue
action heroes can get away with anything.
shenmue had bad communication skills with its npcs
gta can no no communication and still work
shenmue reminded you npcs were bots
lack of communication allowed to focus on action
gta dehumanized npcs
ludology and narrratology were never a debate ,just disinformation
story is based into settings with rules to allow the player to assume a genre without instructions
teleology =goal orientated.
goals make it easier to understand into a plot/walkthrough
gta simulated crime instead of story
everything builds on older things
flight sims had similar freedom to gta
freedom to experiment
freedom can have bad experiences due to no guidance
games are more worlds with rules than narrative sequences
not really anyone has been killed because I videogames.
religious books have killed more people
any form of text has an effect.
important games are games that change our idea of what they are.
open world granted alot of freedom
open world is a playground
games that a repetitive turn into a job
play made work bearable
gta wasnt repetitive and shemue was therefore gta sold better.
must have reason for freedom
quest fetching is not fun
space is key in games
get from point a to B in whatever fun way possible.
transportation in gta is fun
gta turned spatial travel into fun/car simulation
NPC's are repetitive due to technology
NPCs should be good actors
specific behavior rules limit characters to stereotypes
lack of interactivity or narrative made them moving targets.
the world made dialogue pointless as its violent
certain kinds of characters do not need dialogue
action heroes can get away with anything.
shenmue had bad communication skills with its npcs
gta can no no communication and still work
shenmue reminded you npcs were bots
lack of communication allowed to focus on action
gta dehumanized npcs
ludology and narrratology were never a debate ,just disinformation
story is based into settings with rules to allow the player to assume a genre without instructions
teleology =goal orientated.
goals make it easier to understand into a plot/walkthrough
gta simulated crime instead of story
everything builds on older things
flight sims had similar freedom to gta
freedom to experiment
freedom can have bad experiences due to no guidance
games are more worlds with rules than narrative sequences
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
August 6th (Gaming Questions) GTA IV -Edited-
2. Does your chosen game's design of the avatar character help to immerse you in the story?
Niko from GTAIV helped to immerse the player through putting the avatar in a similar situation to the player 'narrative wise' beginning a new game through the stereotype of being new to the area and being introduced to the unknown/uncertainty.
Through interactions with Niko's cousin and random NPC's you bump into mentioning things to you saying how different you look,the state of Romain's apartment, and other game world elements you realize that Niko's cousin lied to him showing he had no idea what was in store for him which matched up with the general player expectation.
The dialogue said by Niko when Romain showed him his apartment such as "What about the mansion? Huh?" showed Niko as a character felt a range of things from being confused and angry about not knowing things which relates back to the players feeling of this unknown world and slowly being introduced to it.This also linked up to the players gameplay experience as they didn't know controls,the area,how the people around him normally act which created empathy for Niko's situation of new experiences ,learning new things and how this part of the world works. Niko's dialogue such as "What do you do for fun around here?" and slow confused reactions to the parts of the game world showed that he was not sure what to think of the place and that it was not like home.
This stereotype/generalization of being in a new environment created empathy for the avatar as it could relate back to real life experiences of the player like:Moving home,first day of school/work,finding your way around a new place.This simple idea of being new allows the player to experience liberty city alongside or even as Niko making you feel immersed.
Niko from GTAIV helped to immerse the player through putting the avatar in a similar situation to the player 'narrative wise' beginning a new game through the stereotype of being new to the area and being introduced to the unknown/uncertainty.
Through interactions with Niko's cousin and random NPC's you bump into mentioning things to you saying how different you look,the state of Romain's apartment, and other game world elements you realize that Niko's cousin lied to him showing he had no idea what was in store for him which matched up with the general player expectation.
The dialogue said by Niko when Romain showed him his apartment such as "What about the mansion? Huh?" showed Niko as a character felt a range of things from being confused and angry about not knowing things which relates back to the players feeling of this unknown world and slowly being introduced to it.This also linked up to the players gameplay experience as they didn't know controls,the area,how the people around him normally act which created empathy for Niko's situation of new experiences ,learning new things and how this part of the world works. Niko's dialogue such as "What do you do for fun around here?" and slow confused reactions to the parts of the game world showed that he was not sure what to think of the place and that it was not like home.
This stereotype/generalization of being in a new environment created empathy for the avatar as it could relate back to real life experiences of the player like:Moving home,first day of school/work,finding your way around a new place.This simple idea of being new allows the player to experience liberty city alongside or even as Niko making you feel immersed.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
August 5th (Gaming Notes) GTA IV
GTA 4 had quite a long intro cutscene introducing the character
interactive cutscene used to look out for loan sharks from the stationary car
driving from point a to b
Feels alot like fetch quests and tutorials pop up every now and again.
interactive cutscene used to look out for loan sharks from the stationary car
driving from point a to b
Feels alot like fetch quests and tutorials pop up every now and again.
August 5th (Reading Notes) Understanding Videogames
Storytelling reception:
arguing translation of games to narrative and vice versa
are video games stories?
you cant just be an audience in games because nothing will happen
the characters have different motivations and agendas
adventure games are decendents of text adventures.
early gaming history didnt really dabble in narrative aside from text based adventures.
early games were too abstract
technology made game worlds more believable.
stories can just be an excuse to make a game.
games can draw from other media and focus on certain parts of the universe.
those games can happen differently than the movie because there are choices.
the point of age of empires is resource management
games have goals
sims = adult doll house
significant story role =narrative video games
narrative is succession of event
visual/verbal representation=text
act of telling=narration
order of events
linear narrative
book is the same text/experience each time.games arent
some games are nonfiction,retelling of life events
some texts you assume relationships as how we would normally
player can loosely connect their actions to the universe of the game they are playing.
player makes it a story
story can constrain player to try tell a better story.
Storytelling:
who,what,how,why of narrative
fictional world is the setting which includes setting actors
games have settings since the beggining
many parts of game world are for looks not use.
genre affects players motivation to explore
spatial representation is unique to videogames.
fairness rules over space in multiplay games.
criticism of cutscenes alot
taking agency for effect
introduce conflict,upcoming gameplay context.
move the narrative towards what the author wants the player to experience.
cutscenes can mark change of time ,time skips
taken to another location
people are used to time skips in games
control time for effect,slowmo matrixness
establishing cutscene surveilance information
games cant convey things properly with free will
cutscenes are authors voice
imagine world and view it as a player
interactive.
scale of interactivity with NPCS
shape language myths,common stereotypes,etc should be used more?
change character personality.
distinct personality can alienate players,but there are cases of distinct characters that like,laracroft
vague expressions that still fit with player,victory losing
filling in the blanks
arguing translation of games to narrative and vice versa
are video games stories?
you cant just be an audience in games because nothing will happen
the characters have different motivations and agendas
adventure games are decendents of text adventures.
early gaming history didnt really dabble in narrative aside from text based adventures.
early games were too abstract
technology made game worlds more believable.
stories can just be an excuse to make a game.
games can draw from other media and focus on certain parts of the universe.
those games can happen differently than the movie because there are choices.
the point of age of empires is resource management
games have goals
sims = adult doll house
significant story role =narrative video games
narrative is succession of event
visual/verbal representation=text
act of telling=narration
order of events
linear narrative
book is the same text/experience each time.games arent
some games are nonfiction,retelling of life events
some texts you assume relationships as how we would normally
player can loosely connect their actions to the universe of the game they are playing.
player makes it a story
story can constrain player to try tell a better story.
Storytelling:
who,what,how,why of narrative
fictional world is the setting which includes setting actors
games have settings since the beggining
many parts of game world are for looks not use.
genre affects players motivation to explore
spatial representation is unique to videogames.
fairness rules over space in multiplay games.
criticism of cutscenes alot
taking agency for effect
introduce conflict,upcoming gameplay context.
move the narrative towards what the author wants the player to experience.
cutscenes can mark change of time ,time skips
taken to another location
people are used to time skips in games
control time for effect,slowmo matrixness
establishing cutscene surveilance information
games cant convey things properly with free will
cutscenes are authors voice
imagine world and view it as a player
interactive.
scale of interactivity with NPCS
shape language myths,common stereotypes,etc should be used more?
change character personality.
distinct personality can alienate players,but there are cases of distinct characters that like,laracroft
vague expressions that still fit with player,victory losing
filling in the blanks
Sunday, 2 August 2015
August 3rd (Reading Notes) Gamasutra Hero's journey
Question he is hopefully going to answer"what pratical use is the heros jounrey to us as story tellers and game writers"
Myths are important.myths teach moral values and how we should be.
Myths affect us as a whole even now.
myths help identify ourselves
myths reinforces social aspects
he says myths are the core of morals
myths fill in gaps of knowledge .
he says myths are connected to us genetically.
hive mind=super society.
survival instinct
knowledge passed down,cautionary tales.
heros are role models.
self sacrifice is powerful and helps society
myth motifs are reflective of parts of the human psyche /brain
okay so he says myths and religion are part of evolution.........
myths are a good foundation.
brain makes sense of experience through organizing and comparing to myths
he says you cant live without myths
myths create meaning for people
use structure of heroes journey to create new.
games are myth substitutes
games help people with a lack of control in their lives.
games cant reinforces myth unless they have story
-heros world
-inciting incident
-starting advetnure
-problems
-finding the antagonist
-success
-helping society in his return
-can you skip some archetypes.
heroes journey isnt instructions
heroes journey describes common themes
fiction is flexible.
just use archetypes you need.
Theme>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
step1
-pick theme, myth ,moral ,what do you want audience to get out of it etc
emotion through experiencing the problem.
Hero>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
make your hero show /embody that first step
hero has courage or finds it
clever and resourceful
has a special talent
is an outlaw
good at what they do.
protagonist,leads story
wounded disgraces grieving
motivated by idealism
sexually potent?
Villain>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
well written villain =well written story
memorable
hero= self sacrificing villain=self centred
-traits similar to hero?
-pride confidence
-outlaw
-wounded
-special talent
-sex appeal?
-non hero traits
-motivated by greed,lust for power,vanity,narcissism
-never acts out of idealism,believes evil cause. (what about misunderstanding
?)
-often cruel
-may win by luck,hero never does? (but its comedic as hell)
-is not forgiving
-might quit,but only at the end
-may whine and grovel which hero cant do. (why cant hero?) accepting journey
-may not be stoical like the hero stoic=can endure ,reserved
-may not be loyal
-usually not physical superior - though sidekick may be
-no special birthright or destiny,though he may falsely claim one
show heroes regular world.
once you have premise,hero,villain,you need to show regular world.
this is tricky
dont need to show it at the start
could start in middle of action
could show how the world was in flashback
trying to realize ideal outcome
show how they are flawed ad how they transformed by the end
disrupt the world:
inciting incident
something at stake to motivation them
newsbringer/herald
hero can refuse but not in a game apparently
enter mythlogical woods:
-each level should show growth in character (stumble forward or back?)
-struggle to find oneself and struggle to win
-hero changes throughout level
confront the evil one:
- "belly of the beast" fighting bad guy in their lair
-confronts evil and overcomes themselves in order to win
acquire the prize
-premise was the prize makes the journey worth while
-showing the moral
-let the player acquire it
heros return:
delivering prize to community
whether they survive or not to give it depends on what you are trying to tell.
character transformed personality goal,motivation by the end or achieved it
three act structure:
get player into situation
give him problems
get him out out the problems
three act structure doesnt help character growth but can be used alongside heroes journey
empathy,being in someone elses shoes
fusion of gamer and character
repetition is good and reaffirms "myth"
character archtypes go back in time,from detective to wild west ,to medieval,to greek etc
struggle wears them down to their core so they can change
premise can tell how the world is,or how it should be.
every level is a chapter/development not just gameplay
show player they can achieve the moral too
insecurities and fears you have are what you would be showing in the premise.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
July 30th (Reading Notes) Storyplaying
-FN= decision point? first person narrative?
-decision points need more than one choice
-video games are the main thing that have choices
-there are rules that shows the options and how they will affect the story (like sids)
-Choice is what video games are about
-does the player know what the effects of the choices are?
-Agency is a thing and there are different ways of using it.
-choice can be uninformed and random
-choice can make you win and fail
-choices can give you info on the better one.
-their fullest interactivity is about knowing consequence
-choice is at least 2 options.
-player doesnt know it has to be a choice.
-awareness can be given though
-choice can have different motives behind it
-usually the player is interested
-player expect one option to be better.
-to have motivation you need to be informed about it.
-amount of context shows what kind of choice it is.
-if the game says it will have an effect in its context,the player will think the choices are different
-there may not even be a difference in the "choices" (illusion of choice)
-one choice must be viewed better they must differ.
-motivation is usually moral
-motivation and logic helps the choice
-choices with little info and no motivation are tedious.
-player can choose logically and randomly
-context can give no info,some info with lacking parts for the whole perspective,and all the info for whole perspective
-no info= whatever choice is okay
-too much info worsens your experience.
-no conflict=no interest
-should never say the right choice
-random choices dont work even with motivation (ie gambling)
-player doesnt feel anything is certain but things could happen.
-player is uncertain on outcomes and organizes which is better based on the info they have.
-players feel they have power if they think the choices change the story/game.
-sense of choice but the choice is meaningless without different outcomes.
-Info you get effects gameplay and immersion.
-not all choices need motivation.
-not playing anymore is an option.
-in story games,player has no motive to start.
-competitive games do as its "win"
-other choices can get in the way of what you are eventually gonna do,(side missions and ditraction quests)
-choices can switch motives from game to story (ie better Armour in a side quest instead of the main mission)
-side mission can have story too but it doesnt progress the main story usually.
-curiosity is key.
-consequence makes suspense
-exploration should done at your own pace.
-since you can explore and progress story,why not both?
-linear means you cant go back
-exploration can be more random.
-exploration doesnt mean winning ,just experienced.
-completing sometimes isnt winning ,its experiencing the whole game.
-games can have no time or urgency.
-real life = theres time game= do it whenever you feel like
-a pro to gaming is there you can stop time. (with the pause button)
-games can restrict time (turnbased)
-in turn based the moving doesnt matter time wise
because its turnbased.
-you can add urgency back into turnbased games with time limits
-timed events can be more exciting
-quick time events ....
-time in games can go wit real time to add immersion
-time is an illusion in games
-reflex choice are a thing
-thinking subconciously under pressure is a technique
-reflexes are a thing in combat
-platforming is a thing.
-barrels are urgency
-turns can have different times and level of agency
-turn based pauses agency
-you have enough time to react to make a reflex choice
-moral comes to reflex faster
-choices can have different time restraints to each other.
-choices can prevent change or cause it.
-spatial advancing enemies/problems,whereas terraria is time limit problems and prgression through environment adjustment.
-cause and effect in sim city where as minecraft can only have cause in classic mode
-starcraft/age of empires forces you to build for protection
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
July 30th (Game Questions) Banner Saga
Discuss the ingame design and implementation of decision point in your game ie the actual way conveying choice to the player looks and functions.
Banner Saga:
The story choices were placed on a scroll which fit in with the character Ubin who always carried notes with him recording his perspective of history.He usually made the decisions as he had authority on practically everything at the start.Some icons glowed when hovered over to show its a thing to chose.
The text of the choices were sometimes runic and almost hidden as wind flowing over the landscape.
I felt the options should glow from the start as you could miss some hidden and think you have less choices.I missed the market the first time as I didn't see it.The text answers you could select you worded to show different attitudes.But I never knew which were choices and which were the character getting more info.It may have needed some separation eg red text could be choice,yellow text could be questions/getting info.
The gameplay choices were intuitive as the fist icon was attack and the shield breaking was to lower enemy defense.These icons linked up to the enemy health and defense icons.I did find it confusing why the health was a fist still.It seemed they connect health and strength in a weird way.
The blue squares indicated where you could go,yellow indicated using willpower to go further.
I feel the whole willpower icons and such were confusing as the choices for willpower didnt show properly to me what power was draining from where,I never knew how much willpower was left in a character or if it was just their will level.
Willpower was a star icon which to me didn't really indicate what it was all about.
Whereas maybe it could make a character glow or move differently to show that they had the option to use willpower.
I felt the tutorials icons,buttons and text/highlight showed the player the options well but some icons need to click on a player or a different place to open up other menus for them they could have been displayed from the get go.
Banner Saga:
The story choices were placed on a scroll which fit in with the character Ubin who always carried notes with him recording his perspective of history.He usually made the decisions as he had authority on practically everything at the start.Some icons glowed when hovered over to show its a thing to chose.
The text of the choices were sometimes runic and almost hidden as wind flowing over the landscape.
I felt the options should glow from the start as you could miss some hidden and think you have less choices.I missed the market the first time as I didn't see it.The text answers you could select you worded to show different attitudes.But I never knew which were choices and which were the character getting more info.It may have needed some separation eg red text could be choice,yellow text could be questions/getting info.
The gameplay choices were intuitive as the fist icon was attack and the shield breaking was to lower enemy defense.These icons linked up to the enemy health and defense icons.I did find it confusing why the health was a fist still.It seemed they connect health and strength in a weird way.
The blue squares indicated where you could go,yellow indicated using willpower to go further.
I feel the whole willpower icons and such were confusing as the choices for willpower didnt show properly to me what power was draining from where,I never knew how much willpower was left in a character or if it was just their will level.
Willpower was a star icon which to me didn't really indicate what it was all about.
Whereas maybe it could make a character glow or move differently to show that they had the option to use willpower.
I felt the tutorials icons,buttons and text/highlight showed the player the options well but some icons need to click on a player or a different place to open up other menus for them they could have been displayed from the get go.
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
July 29th (Gaming Notes) Banner Saga
Questions:
Evaluate use of decision points according to Sids requirements for a game choice.
Discuss the meaningful outcome of choices on the story.
Discuss the way in which the choices are displayed.
Other notes:
Quite a long introduction in an animated cutscene
Tutorial with text box UI popping up.
Introducing game mechanics.
Picture icons showing choices (fist=attack,broken shield=break down enemies defense)
I like how this lets you move at your own pace to make informed decisions.The only thing that has urgency is missing information in a cutscene.
The first choice was three dialogue answers to choice from,all spoken with different attitudes.
locations to choose had highlighted lineart when moused over.
not sure how intimidating effected Hadd's actions and future actions
stylized runic writing to describe locations.
some choices seem to give different ideas of who ubin is to others and how they think about him directly after a choice,but im unsure if that is a short term effect or long term.
I'm wondering if certain characters can die and effect the story or some cant die and cause you to start again.
One of my characters died.
I had the option to talk to two seperate people but im unsure if that meant anything as I wenty to the other after,maybe its different depending on the order.
sometimes theres only one choice but one may have been taken away if I did something differently.
A travel sequence showing the party moving location.
Sounds indicate an upcoming battle,readying the player.
the tutorial lead my player into death while it was teaching me,that intergrated teaching and progressed the story .
I might have been supposed to lose the fight for the story.
Vognir died permanently,not sure if he had to.
A separate story seems to have started after the other party lost.
difficulty doesnt affect story.
not sure how losing affects story or if you were supposed to lose.
not sure if the first story was supposed to end there.
the choice of strength or breaking armour is difficult as they are almost equally important.
some options seem like they waste time and im not sure if this matters.
seems the characters you were playing as didn't die and the story just switched to other characters.
None of the main characters seem to have permanently died yet,so I don't quite know the consequences.
Other Notes.
Some seemed trivial eg "Does my green shirt look nice?" (By the way it does) and some seemed to effect the story or how the characters thought of you.I had a feeling the objective decisions may link back into the same next node in the story but I would have to play multiple times to figure it out.
When there was only one choice I felt like the other choices may be unavailable now due to previous decisions.Maybe I annoyed a character or they died and I no longer had that available.But to figure that out I would have to make different options while playing again.
There was no time limit on decisions which I think took away the urgency that the cutscenes had that you couldnt pause or rewind.But on the other hand it fit in the the gameplay choices as they had no urgency to allow for informed decisions.
Evaluate use of decision points according to Sids requirements for a game choice.
Discuss the meaningful outcome of choices on the story.
Discuss the way in which the choices are displayed.
Other notes:
Quite a long introduction in an animated cutscene
Tutorial with text box UI popping up.
Introducing game mechanics.
Picture icons showing choices (fist=attack,broken shield=break down enemies defense)
I like how this lets you move at your own pace to make informed decisions.The only thing that has urgency is missing information in a cutscene.
The first choice was three dialogue answers to choice from,all spoken with different attitudes.
locations to choose had highlighted lineart when moused over.
not sure how intimidating effected Hadd's actions and future actions
stylized runic writing to describe locations.
some choices seem to give different ideas of who ubin is to others and how they think about him directly after a choice,but im unsure if that is a short term effect or long term.
I'm wondering if certain characters can die and effect the story or some cant die and cause you to start again.
One of my characters died.
I had the option to talk to two seperate people but im unsure if that meant anything as I wenty to the other after,maybe its different depending on the order.
sometimes theres only one choice but one may have been taken away if I did something differently.
A travel sequence showing the party moving location.
Sounds indicate an upcoming battle,readying the player.
the tutorial lead my player into death while it was teaching me,that intergrated teaching and progressed the story .
I might have been supposed to lose the fight for the story.
Vognir died permanently,not sure if he had to.
A separate story seems to have started after the other party lost.
difficulty doesnt affect story.
not sure how losing affects story or if you were supposed to lose.
not sure if the first story was supposed to end there.
the choice of strength or breaking armour is difficult as they are almost equally important.
some options seem like they waste time and im not sure if this matters.
seems the characters you were playing as didn't die and the story just switched to other characters.
None of the main characters seem to have permanently died yet,so I don't quite know the consequences.
Other Notes.
Some seemed trivial eg "Does my green shirt look nice?" (By the way it does) and some seemed to effect the story or how the characters thought of you.I had a feeling the objective decisions may link back into the same next node in the story but I would have to play multiple times to figure it out.
When there was only one choice I felt like the other choices may be unavailable now due to previous decisions.Maybe I annoyed a character or they died and I no longer had that available.But to figure that out I would have to make different options while playing again.
There was no time limit on decisions which I think took away the urgency that the cutscenes had that you couldnt pause or rewind.But on the other hand it fit in the the gameplay choices as they had no urgency to allow for informed decisions.
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
July 23rd (Game Questions) Prince of Persia -Edited-
Story
nodes in Prince of Persia, July 23rd 2015
The
story nodes didn't work well to support the game play in Prince of
Persia as they tend to be fighting with each other for attention
,mostly storytelling interrupting game play.
This was shown through my experience playing it. I tend to get the general idea of the objective on on large scale through the cut-scenes but it was not helpful for any of the game play at hand so I relied on the objectives in the game play to progress rather than the cut-scenes as they were mostly context or game play catapults.
The personalities of the characters in the cut-scenes showed their motives and feelings such as the antagonist betraying everyone and tricking the prince into activating the sands of time.It just gives you context rather than how to play the game better or go about it like the surveillance nodes of cinematic shots which showing the area but even they got in the way.
The text objectives that appeared in the game play were at a scale which helped the progression better as it was what was in front of the player,not down the line and unchangeable. Game play needed to be understood to progress but the story didn't need to be understood or even acknowledged to progress.This is my main point as the story supported understanding of what was going on (context) but the game play was what we had to understand .You cannot fail a cut scene but you can fail the game play and not progress.
The story nodes could be completely ignored and would just be waiting time frustrating the player if they were not interested.
This was shown through my experience playing it. I tend to get the general idea of the objective on on large scale through the cut-scenes but it was not helpful for any of the game play at hand so I relied on the objectives in the game play to progress rather than the cut-scenes as they were mostly context or game play catapults.
The personalities of the characters in the cut-scenes showed their motives and feelings such as the antagonist betraying everyone and tricking the prince into activating the sands of time.It just gives you context rather than how to play the game better or go about it like the surveillance nodes of cinematic shots which showing the area but even they got in the way.
The text objectives that appeared in the game play were at a scale which helped the progression better as it was what was in front of the player,not down the line and unchangeable. Game play needed to be understood to progress but the story didn't need to be understood or even acknowledged to progress.This is my main point as the story supported understanding of what was going on (context) but the game play was what we had to understand .You cannot fail a cut scene but you can fail the game play and not progress.
The story nodes could be completely ignored and would just be waiting time frustrating the player if they were not interested.
To
sum everything up the story nodes gave context and objective on a
wide scale so it didn't support the immediate game play objectives at
hand directly.
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
July 22nd (Game Questions) Prince of Persia -Edited-
Did linear storytelling in your chosen game engage and excite you as a player? explain why or why not?
The linear storytelling in Prince of Persia was treated as a retelling of the story, with the mistakes made by the player ie death cause the narrator to tell you that it isn't how it went.
The linear storytelling wasn't exciting as a player but more as an audience while the swordplay and mechanics of the game were the exciting parts. Seeing how the things you learnt could be combined and thinking fast in a situation where timing was needed create the excitement from the challenge of it.
The story is engaging through its cinematics and story but from a mystery and intrigue side whereas the gameplay was engaging and exciting through its challenge, action.
The storytelling created tension that sometimes flows into the gameplay tension which kept up the exciting pace (Like when the rock falls in the cutscene creating urgency for the player)
But on the other hand the cinematics and cutscenes sometimes got in the way of the gameplay (camera changing for effect suddenly ,causing the player to die from inverted controls)
This happened many times throughout my play through as the cinematics and cutscenes took some agency from the player when you needed it (camera angle obscures vision when trying to look or fight )It was like the narrator was butting into the conversation of the game to push excitement in,taking my agency away in the process when I just wanted to fight efficiently without interuption. Objectives gave more motivation than the cutscenes but the storytelling in the objectives were small scale and uninteresting as they were hints on how to progress.
The past tense of his story being narrated took away a lot of urgency from the gameplay making it less exciting as its a story telling instead of the story unfolding.
The world is the main thing that overlaps as its both part of gameplay (through its environment affecting the character) and through that it immerses you in both sides. Although the environment didn't fully connect with the character I believe this is technology at fault rather than storytelling.
The linear storytelling in Prince of Persia was treated as a retelling of the story, with the mistakes made by the player ie death cause the narrator to tell you that it isn't how it went.
The linear storytelling wasn't exciting as a player but more as an audience while the swordplay and mechanics of the game were the exciting parts. Seeing how the things you learnt could be combined and thinking fast in a situation where timing was needed create the excitement from the challenge of it.
The story is engaging through its cinematics and story but from a mystery and intrigue side whereas the gameplay was engaging and exciting through its challenge, action.
The storytelling created tension that sometimes flows into the gameplay tension which kept up the exciting pace (Like when the rock falls in the cutscene creating urgency for the player)
But on the other hand the cinematics and cutscenes sometimes got in the way of the gameplay (camera changing for effect suddenly ,causing the player to die from inverted controls)
This happened many times throughout my play through as the cinematics and cutscenes took some agency from the player when you needed it (camera angle obscures vision when trying to look or fight )It was like the narrator was butting into the conversation of the game to push excitement in,taking my agency away in the process when I just wanted to fight efficiently without interuption. Objectives gave more motivation than the cutscenes but the storytelling in the objectives were small scale and uninteresting as they were hints on how to progress.
The past tense of his story being narrated took away a lot of urgency from the gameplay making it less exciting as its a story telling instead of the story unfolding.
The world is the main thing that overlaps as its both part of gameplay (through its environment affecting the character) and through that it immerses you in both sides. Although the environment didn't fully connect with the character I believe this is technology at fault rather than storytelling.
July 21st (Reading Notes) Turning a linear story into game
Gamasutra
Turning a linear story into game: The missing link between fiction and interactive entertainment.
Talking about games getting more popular,it needs to widen its audience by using familiarity of of other text mediums.
Sounds a bit sexist.
Says games limit how you go about writing it.
Says that the article is going to give you tips on how to make a game and that they aren't that far from cinema experience.
Creating a cinematic experience:
Theme,character,script,production are all things that texts have. Production =how its shown
books can use a different choice of words to show it differently.
Cinematography can easily transfer into games.
Questioning how to about effectively go about the narrative.
Using a directors knowledge for cinematography.
fusion parts =interactive cutscenes.
game designers need to know narrative and cinematography.
Choice of shots
Certain shots create different moods or put the player in different situations
purposefulness of shots.
some shots arent suitable for gameplay.
these kind of shot can help balance shot control and player camera control.
-taking away player control to show them something important. agency
- issuing objectives?
-slow characters can allow use of nicer shots
Editing
Editing=use of discourse
-dividing cutscenes and gameplay
-changing shots to bring attention/stimulate things
-shortcuts to avoid repetition in gameplay (fast travel)
-context based sound
A credible universe
believable
1-proper interaction between character and environment.
2-believable appropriate decoration
3-environment being to uniform (dont tessalate trees)
4-variety of sound effects
5-avoid repetition of objects
6-give the effect of a living world
7-give life like actions to AI
8-restricting view for immersion
9-realistic damage to give believably
Appropriate game design
Game design must make room for principles above
If someone gets used to a game it bores them
no challenge,no motivation to finish
Too difficult frustration causes them to give up.
He says games shouldnt be longer than 15 hours.
The following mechanisms form solid game design:
10-Linear paced game where you are guided along it at your own pace.
11-Harmonious fusion between action and narration,regular intervals
12-Don't have too many sub plots or things going on at once
13-Side characters provide motivation for the hero,can be played and protect the player.
14-varied actions through familiar common interface
15-correct use of camera for the context of the gameplay
16-hints,skipping difficult parts,lowering difficulty based on performance
17-handle the heros death in a believable manner
The defining traits of fiction:Theme Character Script Production
Theme being important to guide the cinematography and other aspects for the right atmosphere
Script organizes events and give appropriate info at the right times.ensures events have no unintentional gaps
production combines them all together cohesively
strong theme=successful game
games can have fully developed characters
storyline is support by strong character
story as reward
games can fully reach cinematic levels.
...
Main points
Important things
Believe-ability,Cinematography,Shot control,Balancing agency
Disagree/Agree:
-Games can be longer than 15 hours,there are ways of having quality through solid competition and gameplay with a unique experience each time.Games also don't have to end at their release date.date. -A lot of successful games add onto the existing game.
-A games lifespan can mean multiple things,the time it spends on sale (usually the consoles lifespan)
and the lifespan of retaining enjoyment of the game.
-Some games don't have to be varied and non tessellated.
-I personally don't like a game making things easier for me because I'm having difficulty,I'd rather beat it and get more of a reward out of knowing I did it.
-I don't really agree that only the villains can be weak to ensure believeability. A hero could be extremely weak and cause the player to fully assess situations ,as if they are in the characters shoes where you value your life as the player/character making it more believeable to play as.
I have yet to see a good game where you have heroes that can perma die and have less heroes ,it usually leads to not being able to finish the game through saving and having a low number of heroes,making impossible content if you needed a certain hero.
-I agree that games usually enable the player to live via proxy,but characters devoid of character can sometimes be better than a character who you hate the personality or reasoning of.Empathy is key.
You can even fill in the personality with your own if given the freedom.
How does this relate to the game I'm playing?
To be continued.
Turning a linear story into game: The missing link between fiction and interactive entertainment.
Talking about games getting more popular,it needs to widen its audience by using familiarity of of other text mediums.
Sounds a bit sexist.
Says games limit how you go about writing it.
Says that the article is going to give you tips on how to make a game and that they aren't that far from cinema experience.
Creating a cinematic experience:
Theme,character,script,production are all things that texts have. Production =how its shown
books can use a different choice of words to show it differently.
Cinematography can easily transfer into games.
Questioning how to about effectively go about the narrative.
Using a directors knowledge for cinematography.
fusion parts =interactive cutscenes.
game designers need to know narrative and cinematography.
Choice of shots
Certain shots create different moods or put the player in different situations
purposefulness of shots.
some shots arent suitable for gameplay.
these kind of shot can help balance shot control and player camera control.
-taking away player control to show them something important. agency
- issuing objectives?
-slow characters can allow use of nicer shots
Editing
Editing=use of discourse
-dividing cutscenes and gameplay
-changing shots to bring attention/stimulate things
-shortcuts to avoid repetition in gameplay (fast travel)
-context based sound
A credible universe
believable
1-proper interaction between character and environment.
2-believable appropriate decoration
3-environment being to uniform (dont tessalate trees)
4-variety of sound effects
5-avoid repetition of objects
6-give the effect of a living world
7-give life like actions to AI
8-restricting view for immersion
9-realistic damage to give believably
Appropriate game design
Game design must make room for principles above
If someone gets used to a game it bores them
no challenge,no motivation to finish
Too difficult frustration causes them to give up.
He says games shouldnt be longer than 15 hours.
The following mechanisms form solid game design:
10-Linear paced game where you are guided along it at your own pace.
11-Harmonious fusion between action and narration,regular intervals
12-Don't have too many sub plots or things going on at once
13-Side characters provide motivation for the hero,can be played and protect the player.
14-varied actions through familiar common interface
15-correct use of camera for the context of the gameplay
16-hints,skipping difficult parts,lowering difficulty based on performance
17-handle the heros death in a believable manner
The defining traits of fiction:Theme Character Script Production
Theme being important to guide the cinematography and other aspects for the right atmosphere
Script organizes events and give appropriate info at the right times.ensures events have no unintentional gaps
production combines them all together cohesively
strong theme=successful game
games can have fully developed characters
storyline is support by strong character
story as reward
games can fully reach cinematic levels.
...
Main points
Important things
Believe-ability,Cinematography,Shot control,Balancing agency
Disagree/Agree:
-Games can be longer than 15 hours,there are ways of having quality through solid competition and gameplay with a unique experience each time.Games also don't have to end at their release date.date. -A lot of successful games add onto the existing game.
-A games lifespan can mean multiple things,the time it spends on sale (usually the consoles lifespan)
and the lifespan of retaining enjoyment of the game.
-Some games don't have to be varied and non tessellated.
-I personally don't like a game making things easier for me because I'm having difficulty,I'd rather beat it and get more of a reward out of knowing I did it.
-I don't really agree that only the villains can be weak to ensure believeability. A hero could be extremely weak and cause the player to fully assess situations ,as if they are in the characters shoes where you value your life as the player/character making it more believeable to play as.
I have yet to see a good game where you have heroes that can perma die and have less heroes ,it usually leads to not being able to finish the game through saving and having a low number of heroes,making impossible content if you needed a certain hero.
-I agree that games usually enable the player to live via proxy,but characters devoid of character can sometimes be better than a character who you hate the personality or reasoning of.Empathy is key.
You can even fill in the personality with your own if given the freedom.
How does this relate to the game I'm playing?
To be continued.
Thursday, 16 July 2015
July 17th Post 2 (Game Questions) 9:05 -Edited-
The player assumes a lot from the context they are given and tries to fill in the blanks.
This game was a metaphor about becoming the character.
The player assumes a lot from the context they are given and this may in fact not be what the story is about.This happened to me in 9:05 as I assumed from the context of the character waking up in a house that the house was my character's home when in fact the character had murdered the owner of the house and passed out from injuries before the game started,unknown to the player at the time.
There was no indication at the beginning that this house was or wasn't yours.This is where the player filled in the blanks using the dialogue said by the narrator or characters such as "You should have left ages ago" "You get out of bed" in a way that the we thought we were a man waking up and getting yelled by his boss on the phone.
The situation of the boss on the phone to the murderer almost perfectly symbolizes the player's interaction with their character.We didn't know any better and neither did the boss.We couldn't see the character and neither could the boss through the phone.The boss assumed he was talking to the employee as it is his home number the same as we assumed we were the employee because we woke up in his bed.
As the story progressed we were given subtle hints such as"You feel like a new man" and "Who are you?!" which became more obvious over time they were not the person we assumed we were from the context of the beginning,confusing the player.
The very fact that the character didn't know his way around the house fit perfectly with the character they were in control of as we couldn't either as we are assuming the role.
July 17th Post 1 (Game Questions) 9:05
(3) Does your chosen game(s) make user input feel meaningful in terms of story direction and progression Why or why not?
The game I chose to answer this question of "Does your game make the user input feel meaningful in terms of story direction and progression and why?" was the game 9:05.
I believe the game does make the user's input feel meaningful but not in the way the use would assume although a lot of the game interaction was trivial boring things a person would naturally do without thinking but that was the point of the story in a way.Having to open doors by typing "open door" and such seemed quite boring and trivial.
The evidence I have for this is because of the meaning behind the story of the game,which is that you think you are having a boring day at work (Getting changed,eating breakfast,getting ready for work,driving to work) but when in fact you are unknowingly a murderer taking the identity of another character who you killed the night before inside his home and passed out. "You feel like a new person""Who are you?" "You had a rougher night than you thought"
This evidence shows how meaningful those actions were when the player assumed they were mundane when they were actually the murderer's attempt at identity theft.This shows how the player unknowingly progressed the story of this murderer with the wrong context of needing to go to work.
In conclusion this game made the player's actions meaningful through using the actions for the plot twist of not being who you think you are.
Wednesday, 15 July 2015
July 16th (Gaming Notes) 9:05
9:05 Notes:
So far it feels like the game is guiding your answers and giving hints on what you should do,but I feel like you don't have to do exactly what it suggests and sometimes it tells you you must do something else in order to do what you were trying to do.
Doesn't always interpret what you are trying to say
The game is rushing you to get to work but you seem to fight against the game to get what you need which adds to the tension of some supposed time limit
Some things are assumed by the player like entering the shower you assume it would naturally remove clothes and items for you.
A lot of these choices are trivial things we would do naturally in real life.
People's minds work differently so some words seem more obvious than others at times to some people.
Things that seem right to you can be wrong as you don't entirely know the full story.
In a way having to do every single action makes it feel like you are in full control of "Brian Hadley".
I found out game was about identity and self awareness which makes the players actions that of a murdering identity thief instead of who the player thought he was because of the players assumption that he was the person who lived in the house he woke up in.
I didn't actually think that was the end.
Other Gaming Notes
(2) How does your chosen game(s) try to achieve first-person storytelling? Is it successful?
Facade:
It tries to achieve first person story telling by making you a character that other characters in the game know.You don't really get to know yourself as a character as its about the marriage of Trip and Grace.This game is very driven by Trip and Grace.
I think its successful in making you assume the friend in the crossfire awkwardness.
But that doesn't mean its a good game.It told the story and threw you into the situation with interactivity (albeit they misunderstand you).
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
July 15th (Reading Notes) Introduction And Ideas
Reading Notes
Games telling stories - A brief note on games and narratives.
Introduction thoughts
(1)
The first paragraph is under the impression that we are still unsure whether games tell stories,and that the answer would help us study them and who shouldn't/should study them.
I'm assuming that if the answer was that they don't tell stories,then the narrative focus people shouldn't be involved anymore or should change their focus.
Then it goes on to say that if games doesn't fit into the already existing structures for narrative,Then we would have to start over again to figure out what games truly are and how to go about them.
(2)
The second paragraph insists that he isn't arguing what the terms he is using are,such as narrative.
He then says we can make our own decisions on what the terms are and that they can have multiple meanings.
I agree with this as a lot of the terms stem from multiple languages so the meaning can vary and the context or subject matter can affect how we interpret the words.
(3)
The third paragraph is saying that there is bias in the way that narrative has been applied to games and that some parts of the differences were ignored or were assumed as unimportant.It says comparing will show both the similarities and differences instead of pressing the narrative concepts to games.
I agree with this in theory but comparing without bias is pretty difficult and just the time period he wrote this in has created bias via technology,and gaming's progress as a whole,which I will get to later.
(4)
The forth paragraph says hes going to explain the arguments around games being narrative.
"We use everything for narrative"
This means that alot of texts/mediums/forms of media are narrative and therefore games should be too.I agree but I see the point that as a term gets a wider scope it will lose some of its meaning
"Most games feature narrative introductions and backstories"
This means say a game may have ending and starting cut scenes and such but I think he only sees this as a motivation/context for the player.
I view these as more than just a motivation or context as introductions are usually part of narrative such as "world building" or introducing characters like the first act of a story.
"Games share some traits with narratives"
This means that he thinks that since comparisons have been made people may assume games are narrative and may ignore the differences as he mentioned above.
I think narrative has a wide scope so of course there will be similarities but I don't think the differences stop games from having stories.
(5)
The next paragraph says what his points are going to be for games being non narrative/not stories.
"Games are not part of narrative media ecology formed by movies,novels,and theatre"
I think this is talking about how these forms of media interact and that he thinks games fail to translate properly or as well as other forms can.
In some ways I see how games may not have the same purpose therefore being translated differently.
But a lot of this translation failure again comes to his time period when the gaming industry (or lack thereof) was less developed.
"Time works differently than in narratives"
His point being that narratives in the other forms of text were mostly in past tense and that gaming is present tense.Interactivity is the part that changes this.
As we discussed before in class "Games are present narrative,they aren't a story until played through"
Aside from time skips the other forms of narrative are linear whereas games are like the idea of multiple universes in the way that each decision becomes a new narrative,a new story.
"The relation between the reader/viewer and the story world is different than the relation between the player and the gaming world"
His point is that in the other forms of media the audience/reader cannot affect or change the story,but the player to game relationship involves interactivity and more non trivial effort (ergodism)
I agree that the roles are different the games are more reliant on the player to tell the story but I don't think this makes games non narrative.
(6)
This paragraph is saying that in this article he is viewing narratives in a traditional sense.
He then says he will go back at the end to see if the more experimental parts of narrative fit together with games.
Games telling stories - A brief note on games and narratives.
Introduction thoughts
(1)
The first paragraph is under the impression that we are still unsure whether games tell stories,and that the answer would help us study them and who shouldn't/should study them.
I'm assuming that if the answer was that they don't tell stories,then the narrative focus people shouldn't be involved anymore or should change their focus.
Then it goes on to say that if games doesn't fit into the already existing structures for narrative,Then we would have to start over again to figure out what games truly are and how to go about them.
(2)
The second paragraph insists that he isn't arguing what the terms he is using are,such as narrative.
He then says we can make our own decisions on what the terms are and that they can have multiple meanings.
I agree with this as a lot of the terms stem from multiple languages so the meaning can vary and the context or subject matter can affect how we interpret the words.
(3)
The third paragraph is saying that there is bias in the way that narrative has been applied to games and that some parts of the differences were ignored or were assumed as unimportant.It says comparing will show both the similarities and differences instead of pressing the narrative concepts to games.
I agree with this in theory but comparing without bias is pretty difficult and just the time period he wrote this in has created bias via technology,and gaming's progress as a whole,which I will get to later.
(4)
The forth paragraph says hes going to explain the arguments around games being narrative.
"We use everything for narrative"
This means that alot of texts/mediums/forms of media are narrative and therefore games should be too.I agree but I see the point that as a term gets a wider scope it will lose some of its meaning
"Most games feature narrative introductions and backstories"
This means say a game may have ending and starting cut scenes and such but I think he only sees this as a motivation/context for the player.
I view these as more than just a motivation or context as introductions are usually part of narrative such as "world building" or introducing characters like the first act of a story.
"Games share some traits with narratives"
This means that he thinks that since comparisons have been made people may assume games are narrative and may ignore the differences as he mentioned above.
I think narrative has a wide scope so of course there will be similarities but I don't think the differences stop games from having stories.
(5)
The next paragraph says what his points are going to be for games being non narrative/not stories.
"Games are not part of narrative media ecology formed by movies,novels,and theatre"
I think this is talking about how these forms of media interact and that he thinks games fail to translate properly or as well as other forms can.
In some ways I see how games may not have the same purpose therefore being translated differently.
But a lot of this translation failure again comes to his time period when the gaming industry (or lack thereof) was less developed.
"Time works differently than in narratives"
His point being that narratives in the other forms of text were mostly in past tense and that gaming is present tense.Interactivity is the part that changes this.
As we discussed before in class "Games are present narrative,they aren't a story until played through"
Aside from time skips the other forms of narrative are linear whereas games are like the idea of multiple universes in the way that each decision becomes a new narrative,a new story.
"The relation between the reader/viewer and the story world is different than the relation between the player and the gaming world"
His point is that in the other forms of media the audience/reader cannot affect or change the story,but the player to game relationship involves interactivity and more non trivial effort (ergodism)
I agree that the roles are different the games are more reliant on the player to tell the story but I don't think this makes games non narrative.
(6)
This paragraph is saying that in this article he is viewing narratives in a traditional sense.
He then says he will go back at the end to see if the more experimental parts of narrative fit together with games.
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