Category Archives: Development

Development: Understanding Games

Posted by Chad Knick on

You know there are often times when I have to sit back and reflect on my college education. I feel like sometimes the general consensus is that game design is an easy field of study and that it’s all about fun and games – well, I can tell you from personal experience – it’s not. It’s a frustrating, difficult, yet rewarding experience. You may be designing something that’s intended to be a fun experience had by all, but it requires dedication, determination, and trial and error fixes to make a masterpiece.

Now why am I talking about this today? Well, I’ll let you in on some of my studies.

Understanding games since 2007!

I’ve recently started one of my first game design courses – and as a part of our study – we were asked to view a set of games [ or more like tutorials ] on understanding how video games work. These “games” were designed by developer, Andreas Zecher. They’re pixelated doses of joy and educational for anyone who wants to get to know some of the basics on what make games interactive and enjoyable to any player.

We’re pixelated practitioners of punctual programming!

Now here are some minor accessibility notes on these light little interactive tutorials:

  • Multiple languages – English and German for most [ Dutch added for Ep. 1 ]
  • All info is text driven – so deaf viewers will be fine.
  • Most games represented are easily playable via mouse or arrow keys.
  • Some portions may cause issues for color blind gamers.
  • Text is small, which could make it difficult for vision impaired gamers.

Otherwise, these tutorials are definitely a memorable little piece of pixelated education that should be enjoyed and shared. Whether you’re an artist, designer, programmer, music artist, etc. I think these games definitely help share how interactivity and making your medium a fun experience can go a long way into making something worthwhile. You can play/view all 4 episodes of Understanding Games here. Have fun, learn a little something, and enjoy the ride my fellow developer/gamers!

Understanding Games: Episode 1

Understanding Games: Episode 2

Understanding Games: Episode 3

Understanding Games: Episode 4

Developer of the Week: Media Molecule

Posted by Chad Knick on

Well, I haven’t done one of these in a long while – but I think it’s time for a long overdue Developer of the Week post. This time I’m focusing on a company that I truly admire for giving the control of a game to the user and letting users merely play with tools to design their own gaming experiences. Media Molecule is the UK based company famous for the lovely family-friendly PS3 exclusives LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2. I’ve been a huge fan and advocate of the LittleBigPlanet series for years now, but what I’m most fascinated with by the Media Molecule crew is the amazing opportunities for accessibility in player designed levels.

Umm... excuse me, but umm - might I get a nifty hat too?

LittleBigPlanet is a one of a kind ‘creator’ game, and players are truly taking advantage of these design tools to create unique and meaningful little gaming experiences [ some of which I’m so fascinated by I wish they were their own PSN games ] Now while LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 as games themselves, can often lend themselves to a few accessibility issues in the Story mode, I think that can be overlooked by some of the more artistic and fantastic designs that the online community has been providing. Media Molecule is a fantastic company for giving power to the players instead of just having them play through something that’s already been designed.

Here’s a couple of community levels that I’ve played that I definitely suggest you check out, because they’re quite accessible and definitely a fun experience to try out:

1. Flowtation:

You play as a small jellyfish swimming through a vast ocean experience collecting colored water droplets to solve puzzles within the game. It’s a simple concept that’s extremely accessible. Created by a designer entitled: EaziG – the level provides simple gameplay, intricate puzzles, beautiful atmosphere and music, and when you see this little game it’s no wonder why I suggest that this game become it’s own little PSN title. The accessibility is phenomenal:

  • Relaxed gameplay and mechanics allows for players to take their time with each move. This helps mobility challenged gamers to actually succeed and enjoy this game – even single handed players will be able to enjoy this as long as you’re willing to be patient with the controls.
  • Color scheme is dark, but the main characters and puzzle pieces are illuminated in the darkened waters, which makes the game accessible for colorblind gamers and vision impaired gamers. 
  • Deaf players can easily play this game, while it’s disappointing that they can’t hear the warm, calming, melodic music, no sounds are required to play.
  • This game is actually very simple and relaxing – so cognitively challenged players may actually enjoy this title.

Gameplay of Flowtation:

2. A Daily Cup of Tea:

This is a very simple item drop game, where players have to catch small sugar cubes into their tea cups. Now the game designed by Nirokeib, and while the design has a very sepia tone color scheme – the games accessibility makes it noteworthy to, once again, be one of the suggestions of ‘must check out’ LBP2 games. Here’s how the accessibility breaks down – and what makes it a fun experience for me personally:

  • The controls only require you to hit the triangle button once to lock into your tea cup, and then it’s a matter of moving left to right on one single analog stick. This may seem like too easy of a game to care about, but it’s actually quite a fun experience with the frequency of sugar cubes being set at random. You may see an easy moment where there’s only a few and then you’ll get bombarded with quite a few.
  • Precision is required, because you have to catch the sugar cubes in the cup to make them dissipate. This can make the game a tad more difficult for mobility impaired gamers, but still totally accessible.
  • The music is good, but it’s not required to play and all instructions are displayed to you via text – which is fantastic for deaf gamers. Definitely makes the level more accessible for those with hearing impairments. 

Gameplay of A Daily Cup of Tea:

I’ve checked out quite a few more, but those two held the most love from me. I just want to give my love to Media Molecule, because they have a fantastic game that allows players to create accessible little mini games for fellow players. The Story modes and creation modes of LBP and LBP 2 may be a bit extensive to deal with for mobility challenged gamers [ Trust me, I’m perfectly capable of fast reflex movements, and many times LBP levels drove me nuts with how often I died. ]

Media Molecule gives players an ability to devise a game jam on a daily basis. They have millions of players devising millions of levels and with all of these vast creation tools and creators going forward there’s no wonder that these games are fantastic for the trend of accessibility being valued in games. Media Molecule, I just want to say folks, I love you guys. You have made a fantastic – trend-changing game, and I hope more and more community developers begin to devise games that are accessible to multiple players.

Well, this gives a new meaning to 'jaw dropping' performance...

LBP and LBP 2 have been two of my favorite games to play as an aspiring developer and I am fascinated by all of the lovely games I see coming out of the community and all of the advancements that you all have placed within the games’ look and feel. If anybody owns a PS3 [ especially if you’re a developer who owns one ] I highly suggest picking up these games. LBP and LBP 2 have deep creation tools that are easy to understand and access – and if you’re a more advanced designer you’ll be able to do even further fantastic levels with all of the advancements that LBP 2 has given.

Check out Media Molecule and the LBP series. Their gameplay and game design tools are making a difference, and that’s why I admire them and nominate them for my Developer of the Week this week. I hope that the future of this company keeps going forward, developing ways to provide more and more accessibility to the masses and the levels that they create and those that they allow players to create.

I can’t wait to see the future – and here’s to the waiting period for whenever they announce LittleBigPlanet 3.

Games of the Week: ‘Point and Click’ Adventures

Posted by Chad Knick on

Well, for those of you who have kept up with my blog from the beginning, you’ve probably heard me talk a little bit about a man named Tim Schafer. Now it’s not secret that I’m a definite fan of his work and that of Double Fine Productions. I think I’ve successfully laid my hands on at least -most- of their titles, but if you haven’t been in the loop here’s the scoop:

Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions are in the process of creating a ‘point and click’ adventure game. The Kickstarter garnished over 3,000,000+ dollars in donations AND I was one of those donators [ Woo to the $ 15 tier! ] Now, while I’m not allowed to discuss anything private as far as development goes – I figured I could still honor this ‘point and click’ adventure by promoting some other ‘point and click’ graphic adventure games that I feel are totally worth noting – so without further ado:

1. Machinarium

Now I was directed to this game via Alex over at Space Giraffe, and yes, I’m 3 years behind the curve. This is an unfortunate circumstance, but meh, you brush yourself off and move on. Machinarium is a wonderful little ‘point and click’ indie game that I think anyone who has an affinity for games that contain robots in them should try. You play as a little robot, and you travel through this junkyard solving puzzles and navigating your way around. There are 30 levels, and each one, while it may seem simple, is actually quite intricate and can take some time to figure out.

One small step for bots - one massive leap for gaming!

The game is, for the most part, accessible on all levels except for blind players. The color schemes are sharp, but not too abrasive to the eyes for color-blind gamers. The gameplay mechanics are simple ‘point and click’ so mobility challenged gamers won’t have a problem navigating the maps and finding what needs to be done. In the case of deaf players, there is no real sound except for sound effects and ambient music. They don’t really affect the gameplay, and so it should be accessible for deaf gamers, especially because most instruction is given via picture references which is a plus.

It's like if Tim Burton designed a video game with robots...

Now, I only played the demo version and you can gladly try it out too here.

– but from what I’ve gathered the game is immersive, the artwork is moving and fitting to the music, and after I was done with the demo I was longing for more. It’s definitely a warm, homespun game that I would definitely suggest worth checking out if you’re in the mood for an updated, old-school experience of a point-and-click. You can get the full game DRM free on Steam, Mac, Windows or Linux for just $10.00 – for 30 levels of old-school awesome I’d say it’s a definite check out.

2. Little Wheel

Now, if you’re in the mood for a FREE experience along the same vein, I invite you to take a look at another little robotic adventure ‘point and click‘ dubbed Little Wheel by FastGames. Little Wheel takes you on a journey through a robotic homeland that’s become devoid of power, and as the only powered robot left in your entire planet you must go forth solving puzzles and attempting to bring power back to the whole world through puzzle solving. Does it sound neat yet? If you’re a robot fan you’re probably drooling. Here’s a handkerchief.

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do - 2 can be...

Now as far as accessibility goes – the accessibility drops a tad on this title. The only issue is that Little Wheel gives you no instructions. It shows you via faint circles where clickable items are, but it’s up to you to solve every scenario and figure out what can be used and what can’t etc. The color scheme is incredibly dark, almost akin to a Limbo style of gameplay. This is probably going to make it difficult for some color-blind gamers to play as the patterns of the objects have moments where they blend in during movements.

The wheels on the cage go round and round, round and round...

The gameplay can become increasingly hard too, so cognitively impaired players may have trouble figuring out patterns and actions to do when given no instructions and no hint options. Sound isn’t a requirement for this game, but you’ll be missing out on a full experience if you can’t hear the sound effects and jazz-toned music. The game is adorably charming though, despite it’s simple mechanics. It has an art-deco sort of feel and it you find yourself drawn into wanting to complete each and every puzzle [ well at least I did ] If you’re interested and would like to give it a look over you can head over and check out Little Wheel.

Well folks, that’s it for today, I hope you enjoy my ‘bot filled Games of the Week and you take in the simplistic joys that are ‘point and click’ adventure games. I’m going to go dive back into my mounds of sketchbooks and notebooks now as I await for Schafer’s Adventure to be released…

If you’re still in a steampunk mood though I also suggest you take a look at this short film by Anthony Lucas. It’s in the same vein as these games and it’s wicked good fun – though it’s a bit dark and disturbing at some points for an animation so please be aware [ also it’s quite long, just an fyi for those that are busy ]:

Inspirational Gamer of the Week: Gareth Garratt

Posted by Chad Knick on

Hey there folks, sorry for the late post today. I usually like to get my posts done in the morning, but scheduling issues occurred today. Even so, I’m dedicated enough to this blog to make sure these types of stories go out. Especially ones that speak so near and dear to my heart like today’s story. Now this story was actually reported on a little over a year ago on Kotaku, but it’s still very relevant to the topics I try to present on gaming and so that’s why I’m covering it today.

Every once in a while you see a wonderful gesture done by a company that makes the enjoyment of one gamer worth all the hard work put  forth. In the case of UK gamer, Gareth Garret, Visceral Games went above and beyond the call after one letter was written to them. Gareth has a form of cerebral palsy that severely limits his motor skill movements. He has a passion for playing video games, but uses only his chin to navigate the mouse controls. This is an astonishing testament to Gareth’s resiliency to overcome the adversity of his condition, but it was a letter that he sent to Visceral Games that truly got my attention.

In the letter it simply stated:

“I just got Dead Space 2, and I’m so disappointed.”

He went on to talk about how the lack of customizable controls on the PC made it almost impossible to play most titles, and especially Dead Space 2, but how he would very much enjoy playing the game if he could. This caught the attention of other gamers and of Visceral Games and in response Visceral Games sent this note to Gareth:

“Dear Dead Space 2 PC Players, 

The Dead Space 2 team is aware of the issue that disabled gamers are having with Dead Space 2 PC. In fact, a number of folks on our team are so passionate about this  fix done that they are currently working hard to allow players to remap key-bindings in the mouse which should help disabled gamers enjoy the game.”

So why does this even matter, why is all of this relevant to what I’m talking about today? First, I would like for you to check out this video of Gareth. Here he is playing Fallout: New Vegas on his PC – just so you can get a better understanding of amazing this guy is in my eyes, and I hope in yours too:

Well, I’ve been discussing the necessity of accessible controls like crazy in some of my past posts. I’ve explained why accessible controls can ultimately increase revenue streams and why allowing them will ultimately lead to an overwhelmingly better gaming environment for all gamers – not just disabled gamers. There is currently petition going around [ and I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my earlier Button Remapping post ] but it was started by another inspiring gamer who I’ll discuss at a later date named Chuck Bittner.

The petition was set up to start getting mainstream companies to recognize the necessity for accessible controls, accessible options, and the like. I know it may seem far fetched to ask a large company to make a concession of giving accessible controls to all console and PC games, but hear me out on this.

An options menu is clearly just that – AN OPTION. It doesn’t impede an able-bodied gamer from using a control configuration that he/she approves of, it merely gives MORE options to those who don’t fit the standard ‘options’ that are usually set. I can’t imagine having to play like these gentlemen, and I am so blessed that I am capable of doing so much – but these guys inspire me.

They prove to me that even though a person has limitations that were either birth given or man-made it shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a past-time or a specific skill or hobby you enjoy. I’m a huge advocate for this movement and I encourage anyone who’s in agreement with me to go and join the petition:

Button Remapping Petition

Currently there are 83,848 signatures – but there are plenty more disabled gamers out there in this world. So, if you are a disabled gamer, if you know a family member or friend who is a disabled gamer and you want them to be able to have the same enjoyment and opportunities as the rest of the gaming universe then I encourage you to follow up and at least keep following this petition – because it’s something special and much needed in our industry. We need to start seeing gaming as a whole community – not just ‘hardcore’ and ‘casuals’ or ‘females’ and ‘males’ or ‘abled’ and ‘disabled’ – but rather just ‘gamers.’

Gamers one and gamers all. Let’s focus on accommodation and not discrimination.

So here is to you Gareth, for speaking out to a company and getting your voice heard. Here is to you for changing the course of the way a company thinks about it’s products and it’s accessibility, and here is to you for just being an amazing, fantastic person who – through all odds, finds a way to find joy through your gaming. You are truly an inspiration and I applaud you. The day I get an industry job, you can bet my first words out of my mouth are going to be:

“Yeah, but is it accessible though?”

Inspirational Gamer of The Week: Almost Human Games

Posted by Chad Knick on

Imagine if you will that you are a gamer and you love playing games, or you would love to play games, but the accessibility of the controls made it inaccessible or impossible to succeed at playing said games. This is a situation that occurs for thousands, if not millions of gamers world wide with disabilities. This week though we have a case of a gaming company hearing the voice of one individual and changing the course of their games accessibility just from the sound of one question posed to them.

In January 2012 a small indie company called Almost Human Games began promotion of a game called Legends of Grimrock. It was set to be an old-school dungeon crawler RPG. The dungeons have tile based movement and so most actions are rather simplistic in nature. The real story here comes from a gamer, HarpoonIPA, who contacted Almost Human about their accessibility and why the option of on-screen directional movement arrows was actually a necessity in his case.

This is amazing - so I had to share.

HarpoonIPA is a paraplegic gamer who is required to use a mouth stick for any of his typing and so when HarpoonIPA explained the reason why accessible onscreen button controls were a necessity for his enjoyment and gameplay. The developers were touched by his story and, thus, set about implementing the onscreen HUD to the game. Developer, Petri Hakkinen, stated in an interview with Kotaku that:

” It was no big deal to implement it. I mean even it were to affect only the life of one single person, it is still totally worth it.”

The game will be released on April 11th, 2012 on Windows, Mac, and iOS – but this event truly speaks to me. I mean, as a designer, I’m constantly searching for new ideas and new methods that people are working on and trying to see how to best implement aspects into my own projects. In this story I think it speaks in droves the kind of impact small gestures like this can have.

Why don’t we have more onscreen HUD controls?

Why don’t we see more main-stream developers taking the reigns and reformatting their works to be more accessible?

I have to ask, is it a finance thing?

Is it a lack of desire to change control schemes, or do developers feel locked to the plastic control schemes presented by mainstream consoles?

Is it because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?

I applaud HarpoonIPA for speaking out and requesting his needs and desires to help the developers change their accessibility, and I applaud the developers for having the courage and wherewithal to follow through with it. Most gaming companies would have stopped this idea at the front door, because there’s so much consumerism and mass appeal that goes into production of most of these games. Indie games catch a break though, because they don’t often have to deal with all of the red-tape of a hierarchy system.

Badger Badger Badger Badger...MUSHROOM MONSTER!

My question that this poses is why? Why does it have to be indie houses that show the most attention to detail when it comes to creating accessibility? Why can’t the console market take steps to creating meaningful experiences like this? I’ve traveled many forums, talked to countless other gamers, and even having SOME options like this available to them would make their enjoyment of their gaming lives overall better. One thing I hate though above all are the folks out there who are able-bodied and who troll forums like Youtube and other major network sites and claim that the needs of disabled players shouldn’t be recognized because it will give them an ‘unfair advantage.’

Trust me I’ve seen hate bashing on some button remapping campaigns. Some able-bodied gamers believe that giving access to additions like button remapping or assistive controls will ultimately give disabled gamers an advantage in their gameplay. How much sense does this really make? None. I pose this argument to anyone who still thinks this is true: If you’re getting beat by a disabled gamer, and you’re able bodied, you seriously need to think about choosing a new game to play. They are playing at a disadvantage already, so how does giving them the ability to play on an equal playing field make it an unfair advantage for them?

Hmm - He's behind bars... now how to make a stew out of him?

Fellow gamers shouldn’t complain, instead, embrace and show love and support for your fellow gamers. Almost Human has and I’m so excited to see design studios doing this. I hope there’s more of it in the future. I believe a ton of MMO’s could benefit from onscreen HUD displays like this: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, DC Universe Online – you name it, they could use it. I’ve also thought about the concept of voice recognition software too. I know that Bioware was working on voice software for the Kinect and Mass Effect 3, but I would love to see that same concept implemented into other games before I can truly say that it’s a step forward in gaming.

So here is to you Almost Human Games! You reached out to a gamer in need and changed your game for the benefit of, not only him, but countless new gamers who will play your title. You have not only my respect, but my admiration, and I wish you all the best of luck upon the games release April 11th, 2012! Time for me to go slay a dragon in some dungeon somewhere…

Development: MolyJam 2012 Wrap Up

Posted by Chad Knick on

Well folks, the wonderful MolyJam 2012 has come and gone, and now only the games remain. This quirky, out-of-the-box, off-the-wall range of ideas from the odd mind of a green pixel named Peter Molydeux, has brought some amazing concepts and, shall we say, very unique array of indie games from all over the world. There are so many that it certainly hard to cover ALL of them in detail within this one post, but I’m going to try and cover some of my favorites throughout this post. I hope you enjoy these odd titles as much as I did.

I haven’t had a chance to play all of these an most of these are Windows run games [ I learned from experience folks ] but if you’ve got the time and energy to take a look at some of these indie gems I totally suggest it. I’m only going to present a few of them, primarily ones that have content you can view here, but there’s so many that honestly you’re just going to have to gauge for yourself. Here goes, welcome to the world of Peter Molydeux and what his oddities have created.

MolyJam Seattle:

Unbearable 

Molydeux Tweet: “You are a bear but for some reason your oxygen comes from hugging people. Problem is that hugging people breaks their bones.”

 

MolyJam Australia:

The Spandex Parable

Molydeux Tweet: “You know, what if the aim of the game was to resist actually completing it? That kept me up all night yesterday.”

 

The Miner

Molydeux Tweet: “Imagine a world where people don’t talk, physical words are hidden underground. You must travel the world hunting ‘I’, ‘love’ and ‘you’.”

 

MolyJam Netherlands:

My Last Friend

Molydeux Tweet: “You’re a scarecrow in a world with just 1 bird”

 

MolyJam Montreal:

Friends ‘Til The End

Molydeux Tweet: “You play as a small boy with a remote control helicoptor that is alive and your friend, then you discover a nuclear missle inside it”

 

MolyJam Monterrey 

Plug and Slay

Molydeux Tweet: “What if you lived in a world where all guns are required to be plugged into wall sockets? Now THAT would be a tactical shooter wouldn’t it?”

 

All of these games are very simple, and most have surprisingly accessible mechanics involved. The most interesting aspect that I find comes from game jams like this, and why I feel we need to do this more often, is because it breaks us from the mundane. It tears us away from our FPS universe of game design which we, unfortunately, live in today. The games that I’ve posed here [ and the hundreds that were submitted worldwide ] are games that evoke something in us. An emotion comes over us and we’re invested in the game. Watch. You’ll see.

You may think that playing a game with a bear who needs constant affection, or playing a scarecrow who can’t move but desires love from another living creature is a boring concept for a game. Everyone has rights to their own opinions, but what intrigues me about these games [ all of the ones submitted to MolyJam ] is that they took simple concepts and made them into meaningful and intriguing games. So, whether you’re a ‘hardcore’ gamer and wouldn’t dream of touching an indie nugget for the life of you – or you’re a light-hearted video game savant who loves games for the art of it all – I severely suggest checking out the entire listing of MolyJam games.

Many of these games can be played from your computer, but some have added accessibility by allowing for use of a controller of your choice [ PS3, XBox – anything with a USB cord ] Now these are just a small sampling of the games that were submitted over the 48 hour period of MolyJam and so if you’re curious you can go and check out ALL of the submissions and download the games for FREE here:

MolyJam Game Archive

Note: Now folks, let us remember, these games were made in 48 hours. If you’re expecting high-end quality production value I’d try and lower your expectations. Some of the games are incomplete, lack certain physics standards, etc. Don’t let that take away from the enjoyment or the experience. These games are more about the fun and the emotion they evoke than anything else.

In closing folks, this past few days of playing these 48 hour nuggets of awesome has inspired me to truly start working on my own concepts as well and taking them from paper to actual production level. I’ll be using GameSalad, and or GameMaker, and so I’ll keep you folks posted as to when I begin that lush journey into the sea of indie building. I hope you all enjoy these games and get something out of their messages:

Games can be simple, evoke emotion, and have more meaning to a player than mere achievements and trophies. The days of old are gone. It’s time to open up a new slate and share ideas, meaningful ones, with the world.

 

Development: What Would Molydeux?: Game Jam Tomorrow

Posted by Chad Knick on

Hey there folks! So today – to build off of my Tech Talk argument of yesterday, I figured I would give my developer folks a heads up [ because unfortunately I can’t attend – but you might! ] So, if you haven’t heard yet, there’s a funny little faux Peter Molyneux Twitter account out there and it’s posted up some really odd and intriguing game concepts under the tag Peter Molydeux. I figured this was a wonderful idea and so I wanted to share it with fans. Essentially here’s the deal:

People all over are going to be running a 48 hour gaming jam to come up with ideas based on these game concepts that greenpixeldeux has come up with. Thanks though, goes to Anna Kipnis of Double Fine Productions suggesting the game jam.

Reading his Twitter feed, some of the concepts are incredible and I would love to see the outcome of the games! I mean, they are off the wall and cooky. Some are so off the beaten path that I shudder to think how someone would make a game out of something that odd. Here are just a few to get you understanding the insanity and fun of this event at hand:

“Imagine, you play a baby in a pram and can only see your parent’s faces. Studying those faces deeply is the key to true progress”

“Game in which you can only progress during one minute silences. You need to find creative ways to keep the nation having 1 minute silences.”

“Imagine carrying a radioactive baby in a pitch black environment, your baby would act as a torch. Rocking the baby intensifies the glow etc”

“Game in which you must comfort children on a plane who are afraid of flying, game mechanic is similar to spinning plates.”

“What if your tummy rumbling created earthquakes? In a world where food is rare.”

If you are interested in joining the efforts of this wonderful game opportunity then here’s what you need to know:

Cities that will be hosting MolyJam:

What Would Molydeux? Jam Sessions

You can just click your city of preference and go directly to their Facebook sign up sheet. I’ll be following up with this as it goes along and I can’t wait to see what kind of games come out of this wonderful idea! I’ve heard of game jams before, so they’re not uncommon, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a Twitter account used in this way to promote the operation of game design. It’s a neat feeling knowing that there will be possibly thousands of designers attending and huddling in different cities all over the world and using these small suggestions via a faux Twitter account to make interesting, innovative and brilliant new IP’s. I can’t wait to see the end result – but what’s the best part you ask?!

Peter Molyneux will be ATTENDING the LONDON MolyJam!

The whole thing is apparently going to be live streamed from the MolyJam website so I’ll keep people posted about that. I am so stoked for this, and it’s a shame I can’t attend, but I never hesitate to be excited for my fellow gamers.

I say happy programming and designing to all of you who manage to attend this awesome experience! I, for one, am not going to let the lack of my jam session access deter me though. I am definitely going to be using inspiration from some of these tweets for future reference and perhaps future game concepts. Thanks Peter Molydeux – your epic oddities and whimsies about what gamers deserve – are awesome.

Much more follow up on this in the days to come!

UPDATE: This was a promotional video for the Game Jam release via the Twitter last night:

Join up folks developer powers unite!

The “Mass Affect” of Mass Effect

Posted by Chad Knick on

Today we’re going to be discussing emotion within a gaming franchise and why fan reaction to games is actually a great sign for the gaming industry. Recently, I’ve heard all the hullaballoo and hoopla about Mass Effect 3 and it’s uproarious fan-base seeking vengeance upon the lowly EA for denouncing their faith to the franchise and ultimately seeking retribution on Bioware and EA for a disappointing ending to a what [I’m assuming based off reactions…] is a worthwhile franchise.

Now, I can only hold a slight sense of ambiguity here, considering I am a PS3 owner and haven’t really started playing any of the Mass Effect franchise. This, however, I feel allows me to discuss why in the world this uproarious fan base deserves praise and why Bioware and EA should actually be proud of their accomplishments.

No, I’m not saying that they should be proud that they pissed off millions of adoring fans that worship Commander Shepard like he’s a pseudo-psychological father figure. We should be making games for the user, not the development teams. They should be proud that they’ve managed to design a game that evokes so much passion and love behind the fan base. I had a friend recently send me a video from the Escapist covering this same topic, and he asked me my opinion on this whole thing as merely a third party observer.  Well folks it’s time to crack the knuckles and get down to the nitty-gritty of this whole debacle.

So, first there was that whole issue with the “Day One DLC” comment. I can see why that would miff fans, but most graciously stepped aside and waited for the games release. Now mass amounts of fans bombarded stores to gather up Mass Effect 3, the last in the saga of Commander Shepard and his crew, and low and behold – the ending fell short [apparently way short] of expectations. Now why does this even matter? – As a designer, I’m more concerned about how this affects the industry and the players as a whole, rather than individual experience. Games should be fun, engaging, and meaningful experiences for the user and I think Mass Effect is clearly one of those games. I don’t see a hoard of angry players, instead I take this as a positive point for games and I think EA and Bioware should too.

Here’s why:

Look, I realize that with every game that comes out there’s always going to be a small hoard of naysayers denouncing the game like it was some Exorcist baby or something.  That’s going to happen. The law of averages says so, but the idea here is that Mass Effect has done something now that I don’t think we would have seen in past generations. Games are now creating franchises that have become deep, meaningful, emotional experiences and when games fall flat on their face now people are vocal about it. We’re in a technological era where the use of Facebook. Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, etc. all of these social media hubs are at our fingertips for us to voice our opinions on [often times] superfluous crap, but other times, the message has meaning.

In the case of Mass Effect 3 we see gamers becoming so vocal that they begin writing petitions for a game’s ending to be changed to something more fitting – and by who’s standards is it more fitting? The gamers. It’s because there are plenty of gamers out there who pour themselves into the hearts, minds, mythos, and culture of these gaming environments. They feel as though they are the soul experts upon this material, and when you slap a shiny bumper sticker of an ending onto the end of a game that reads, “Hope you had fun, because this is all you get.” Players grow exponentially more upset.  I’ll give examples too based off of one of my favorite franchises that disappointed me – but not to this point:

Why when I look at this image does Muse's "Uprising" play in my head?

I’ll take a huge PS3 smash hit, much like Mass Effect has been to most 360 owners, and Nathan Drake from the Uncharted Series is basically our version of Commander Shepard. There are fan bases all over the web who love this franchise and given that it gets near perfect scores for every review base it’s covered in you’d be hard pressed to assume I’d personally have anything bad to say about it. Well, even as a fan of Naughty Dog, I practically job-shadow their work from everything from Jak and Daxter to The Last of Us, the last installment in the franchise left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.  Now I know that probably goes against the normal consensus, but please hear me out on this.

Nathan Drake, for me, is a hero that people grow to love and much like I grew a love for Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones instantly, I grew attached to this cocky, smart ass hero who’d be willing to throw himself into vast amounts of danger for an heirloom ring or trinket. The last installment, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, capped off my wild ride with Nathan with a rather stagnant ending to say the least. I won’t spoil the ending for folks who haven’t played it, because I hate doing that, but what I will say is that Naughty Dog dropped the ball a bit.

I went from this...

... to this, yeah definite improvement...

... to... spiders in the walls? So confused.

Was it a nice closure to this portion of the story – yeah, sure – but was it what I was expecting? Not by a long shot.  The final boss fight felt lackluster, and while it was exciting, there was some sort of allure and intrigue that Uncharted and Uncharted 2 built up in their lore along the way. The lore and mysticism of Uncharted 3 fell short for me, and thus when the final boss battle came, the villain that I was posed against was sadly not to my expectations.

See? So I feel your pain Mass Effect fans! I really do, because it sucks when you invest so much energy into a game and you invest your heart into a series and you get slapped in the face with something unexpected, or something lackluster to what fans standards for the franchise are. This is a great era for games though, and thus why I’ll try and get back on topic. In this generation we’re starting to see a trend of ‘franchise’ game building, something that I thought for a time would be a lost art form.

The next-gen consoles have given developers the means of creating believable, heartwarming, intriguing characters which we immediately attach to like a five year old kindergartener with a crush on a recess sweetheart. We lunge ourselves hips deep into the lore and wade through it like it’s some hot, steamy jacuzzi of relaxation and enjoyment.  We grow wikis and forums dedicated to this lore and we cosplay because we can!

Seriously - this is what you call fan devotion right here...

I grew up wanting to write games and design games, strictly for this purpose – to evoke emotional responses in gamers and to give them fun, immersive experiences that they can take away from the gameplay and cherish forever. I’m hoping that when I do start developing games that the games and topics I choose to work on evoke that meaningful lore and grasp players in the same way that the Mass Effect cast has grasped the emotions of every player within it’s core.

I don’t want to design games strictly for myself, because I think they’re ‘artsy and neat’ but rather because I want to have millions of people experience something – anything – from my games. I want them to become memorable – and hey – even a bad memory is a memory none the less, at least your game’s not completely forgotten.

Games today are evoking emotional chords with us that I don’t think they did years ago. Games have storylines now, characters who we identify with, who we care for, and who we ultimately want to succeed [ and or fail depending ] and when those ideals we have as fans don’t pan out it saddens us greatly.  As an industry we need to look at this bigger picture here before we go and think that gamers are just out to slight us and make us feel like the work we put in means nothing to them. It means a great amount to them, and so Bioware and EA, you should be proud!

You’ve effectively proven that games now affect human emotions and that they’re not just some childish pastime. You’ve broken the inevitable boundaries of the medium and proven [ through your apparent mistake ] that games have VALUE to people’s lives. They matter to players and that games are important to households. These characters are becoming just as prevalent as household television or movie icons. I’ll close by saying this:

In the next couple of years, as video games become even more immersive, interconnected, and visceral experiences within our every day lives – this scenario will happen again and again and again. In fact, it happens quite regularly, but the only reason Mass Effect 3 is getting so much play is because of the fan base. Mass Effect, through the reaction this has caused, has effectively become the Star Wars or Star Trek of video games.

This means that franchises MEAN something to the player more than ever in game history. I’m pretty sure if Nintendo screwed up Mario tomorrow on some epic new next-gen game, that you’d have petitions up the next day with lines outside doors of retail stores mocking Nintendo for disgracing their title character. This is why this issue is so important, so be proud Bioware, through your choices many franchises will learn and, hopefully, that means better more FAN supported games!

Much love and happy gaming to you all!

Oh, and one last piece of advice:

Bioware and EA, I see you’re planning on writing a new ending as DLC. Do the fans a service and please allow the DLC to be a FREE download. If they’ve clearly vocalized that they hate the ending enough to cause this much disruption, do you really think it’s wise to ask them to pay more for something they feel you’ve done in error? – Just saying. It may help you to be fan-friendly here rather than fight them.

Gamification: “How Games Make Kids Smarter” by Gabe Zichermann

Posted by Chad Knick on

Now for those of you who’ve stumbled upon my post today and the first words out of your mouth are: “Chad, you must be out of your mind because you’re making up words now!” – actually, no I’m not. It’s a legit word that’s been floating around the industry now for quite some time. Gamification is defined as:

“The process of applying game design principles to non-game activities to make them more engaging to a user.” 

So why is this important, well, for years I have heard the nay-sayers and the hoards of pitch-fork laced, torch bearing parental units who march up with every cause in the book about how games will inevitably kill off every feasible skill that their child has. They feel like the idea of video games as an educational medium can’t possibly be a reality, and that today’s console market is so laden with violent, mature, sexually explicit content that even an unladen swallow would be burdened down by the size of that irrational coconut.

The fact of the matter is parents are only seeing a fraction of the market, and they’re also only seeing the visual content in which a game provides. Now, first and foremost, I want to make it known that I don’t condone violent video games for children. It’s wrong and it’s a parent’s decision to make sure that a child’s influences are maintained and controlled. The truth is that the video game market isn’t as scary as parents make it out to be, and in fact, games offer children so much more to this generation than they had when I was growing up as a child.

The reason I chose to write about this today is because I listened to a discussion by a game designer, Gabe Zichermann, and his theories on why children seem as though they may have attention deficit disorder and why games are actually quite educational for well, not just children, but everyone.

Gabe starts off his lecture with discussing a great game, which I think most of my fellow 90’s generation folks will know and love: Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego? Now I can splurge on how many hours I capped into that game, and how it was indeed an educational wormhole of knowledge for me growing up. I can also provide you with a list of other educational games that I grew up with that taught me a ton of life skills and lessons as I developed:

  • Word Munchers – Word and Phonics Skills
  • Civilization – Democracy, Resource Management, Diplomacy
  • The Sims – Spacial Layouts, Finance Management, Architectural Design
  • Rollercoaster Tycoon – Finance Management, Customer Satisfaction
  • Museum Madness – History, Science, Physics, etc.

Now why is all of this important, does it even really matter how I grew up and what games I played? Well, no, but each of these games has affected how the gaming industry has developed itself in some way. The Sims proved that our limitations of our brains were only limited by the world’s we could create. Will Wright proved to the world that games were not just infantile toys, but methods of expression and creativity for our brains. Zichermann expresses this very well in his talk, basically explaining that perhaps the reason children these days seem like may have ADD, is because with technology and games at their fingertips children of this era have become immune to traditional teaching methods, because our world is too slow.

Most modern games today don’t come out of the box and state that they’re educational material, except if you count companies like Leapfrog, MobiGo, and V-Tech that specialize in kid’s educational game development. Modern consoles, however, not so much. Sure there are a few games here and there that specialize and overtly state that they are an educational game for kids and parents [ Once Upon A Monster comes to mind… ] but for the most part the console market is weighed down by heftier, meatier, more robust content. Does that mean that they’re not educational? Absolutely not!

Let’s take a look at a modern HUD screen from a video game and take into account what exactly a child, or anyone for that matter, has to process when playing a video game. Here I’ve chosen to pick one of my favorite video games of all time, Jak and Daxter, as an example piece:

[ This is a prime example of Multitasking 101 ]

Notice how many items that a player has to keep track of: fireflies collected, health bar, precursor orbs, jet ski speed, map, etc.

These are all visual cues that a player has to be cognizant of at one time or another throughout the entire game. Zichermann explains that this sense of immersion and cognitive experience is actually better for students and he even gives an example in the video about how a teacher, Ananth Pai, replaced his students school curriculum with game-based education. He gave students Nintendo DS systems and off-the-shelf video games that helped promote math and language skills. The results were astonishing as the students within the class jumped an almost full grade level in their educational awareness.

[ Visual Awareness, Reading, and Problem Solving? Eh Gads! It’s too much! ]

So to say that games are non-educational wastes of space is just wrong and unsettling. Zichermann states that gamification and the result of the overwhelming acceptance of video games in our lives gives us training methods at our fingertips. He expresses that games are growing up everywhere from our cars, to our homes, to our stop lights. We’re developing into a game based culture and we shouldn’t be scared of it. I personally believe we should embrace it, because it will give us a way to make all of this social media, social interaction, immersive education, collaboration efforts, etc.

If you haven’t read my article on Jane McGonigal’s ideas on how gaming can make a better world, Zichermann’s ideas embrace McGonigal’s ideas and he understands that the world is changing to a game-based society. The use of games will help us make the world fun, educational, collaborative, and will actually allow the children of our world provide a way to make a difference in our current society.

If, after ALL of this, and you still don’t believe in my endorsement of gamification and it’s affects on the educational processes of our culture, I urge you to check out two things. First please check out this video of a young 12 year old boy named Thomas Suarez.

This kid is amazing, and I’m hoping one day when I get lucky enough to have children of my own that I’ll eventually have a son like this kid. I hope that my love of video games and technology will rub off somehow and my son or daughter will embrace the technological era and run with it like Thomas has. He’s not only taught himself coding and how to design apps for a global market, but he’s now teaching an app building club for fellow students in his school! Honestly, if that isn’t the coolest thing in the world I don’t know what is. More power to you Thomas! Keep it up man!

Secondly, I’ll ask that if you’re STILL skeptical that this modern era of video games is going to ultimately bring down the educational levels of your children to a diabolical screeching halt have no fear. Unfortunately, no, our consoles and PC’s are not the TARDIS and I highly doubt any teacher is Dr. Who [ although that would be fantastic! ] but teachers need to get informed as to how our educational mediums are becoming too basic for students. We have to make education engaging and exciting, and the way to do that is to introduce gaming of some sort into the classroom.

If you’re interested, and a teacher, I urge you to check out this string of articles by Andrew Proto – a fellow blogger over at Zichermann’s Gamification Blog.

http://gamification.co/2011/09/28/the-gamified-classroom/

Take care folks, and may the educational system be enhanced by the methods that we choose to teach from in the coming future. I can’t wait for the day when games start to help problem solving real life issues, and we start to see a real change in our world due to awareness and activity formed by video game play.

Happy educating folks!

Development News: Quantic Dream’s “Kara” Short Film

Posted by Chad Knick on

Today in Development News, I want to discuss one of my favorite development teams out there, Quantic Dream. Now, sure, I may get a lot of flack from time to time from my gamer buddies about my lustful enthralled enjoyment over Quantic Dream’s original title: Heavy Rain, but let’s face it – even if some hardcore gamers decide that Heavy Rain is a little too much narrative for their liking there is no denying one simple fact. The game is visually stunning and it really set the bar, in my personal opinion, for what the capabilities of the PS3 were at the time.

It’s been two years since Heavy Rain’s release in 2010 and since then we haven’t seen much out of the quiet studio with Quantic Dream, but today IGN.com released an interview with David Cage, the founder and lead developer over at Quantic Dream. He released statements about possibly having the studio be exclusive to working with Sony and he also unveiled a wonderful little short film that supposedly was produced by a new graphics engine that the studio had been working on. Now I know that doesn’t sound like amazing news, but in actuality it is and here’s why. The trailer I’m about to drop in here is a trailer for a short film called “Kara”

The trailer was done entirely in real-time on a PS3 using a new technology graphics engine that Quantic Dream has been working on for the past two hermitic years of solitude they’ve taken. Now apparently in the interview Cage mentioned that the trailer you’re about to see is taken from “Version 1” of this new engine and that the short film was completed on this engine “almost one year ago.” – so keep that in mind when you take a gander at this HD short film: Kara. I’ll discuss my opinions of the capabilities below afterwards.

So what does this mean for the future of gaming?

Well, clearly, we’ve seen in the past couple of years that gaming graphics engines are becoming far more advanced that the old 8-bit processors and even 64 bit consoles.  What makes the past couple of years even more amazing to me, as a designer, is that we’ve begun the design of engines that allow us to tell stories. No longer are we limited by pixel counts or motor limitations of character models, but our model development process has exceeded expectations leaps and bounds past what I assumed could be possible at this point.

If we take a look at the long list of games which I’m finding to have visually stunning performances: LA Noire, GTA 4, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect, etc.

The list goes on, and while certainly some of those games stand out visually more than others [ personally I found some pixelation and movement issues in all of these games at one point or another, but minor flaws are trivial in the scheme of storytelling.] I think that is actually the point I’m getting at, storytelling.

Storytelling has become an art form in the gaming media. We’ve gone from an industry that focused so hard to provide games that could be enjoyed strictly based off of the technology we had, to now focusing our efforts to tell emotional and meaningful story lines just like movies and television. When I watch this film I’m captivated, because I honestly didn’t believe that game technology was on a visual peak such as this.

If you had said to me years ago that one day we would get to the graphic capacity to where a model’s eyes would gloss over and cry, her mouth would move with every syllable, her emotions would be able to be captivating and engaging within a video game screen I very well may have scoffed at the idea. Most video game art has a sort of pseudo-realism.

Even the most prolific of designers and artists in the industry [ Square Enix, Bioware, etc. ] Often times I find that their models come out somehow reminding me that I am watching a video game, whether it’s through the coloring of the characters, the stylistic choices, etc. Something always reminds me that I’m witnessing a video game, thus, no matter how hard they try video games lose a sense of realism for me.

Now is that a good thing?

Absolutely. I think if games were so realistic and enthralling players very well may have an issue determining what reality from fiction is, but what I love about this technology and why I wanted to talk about it is simply because this is our next step in gaming evolution. Our whole industry revolves around design and graphics engines with the prolific capabilities that Quantic Dream has displayed. If we can create worlds, people, interactive environments with this amount of detail, then imagine what we can accomplish just within a small window of time in this industry?

No longer will stories have to be left to novelists and movie goers. The experiences and emotions which we gain from these mediums will be able to be attained through an interactive vision. I just want to ask my fellow viewers this: After watching the video how did you feel? Were you captivated by the tale and would you like to see a game made from this short film? How did just seeing these graphic capabilities affect you? – and would you like to see games developed with this sort of caliber? If we have the capabilities then why aren’t we pushing the boundaries of our next-gen systems before we start thinking about building new ones?

I would love to see a world where stories are told through interactivity. Where we can captivate children and parents of all ages with stories that reach them on a more interpersonal level. Games allow that to occur in our human lives. They allow us to interconnect with each other via online play, interconnect via story lines and emotions, and interconnect via the stories that we develop from listening to other people’s stories. We all learn in this world, and games are just going to be another way we can reach the masses through this. Given advanced graphics capabilities, I personally, say that the sky is the limit – and I can’t wait to make games for this upcoming generation, if the gaming society I’m going into will produce beauty like this.

Thank you Quantic Dream! Keep up the good work and I’m eager for your next project to reach shelves, whenever you decide to do so!