Play is Older Than Culture

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• RTVF 348 Game Design
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• COMM 205 Theories of Mass Communication

More Protoyping Pictures from Saviors!

New Saviors! pics…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on Saviors!

On saturday, I built a first prototype of my search and rescure game Saviors! Today, after some search to find the right material, I built an advanced prototype and I hope that I will soon be able to bring it in front of a group of test players.

Here are a few pictures, enjoy!

A building struck by an earthquake. We are missing many people and they are somewhere under this huge blocks of steel and cement.

 

Saturday Night Prototyping for “Saviors!”

This evening I did some prototyping for an old game idea of mine, Saviors!

In Saviors! you control a rescue group whose aim is to provide human aid in distaster zones world wide. Your goal is to save the lives of as many people as possible in places hit by disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, avalanches or volcanic eruptions.

I tried to figure how I could set up a very simple puzzle based system with an emphasis on limited time. I chose a earthquake scenario in which I had to rescue a family and their dog.

So, here’s the story (picture quality isn’t the best btw, my apologies):

An earthquake has struck! We're looking for a family supposed under this debris that was once a building.

Where to start digging?

Time is limited so we just start from somewhere. Bigger pieces cost us more turns/action points.

Hurra! We've found a dog and then a baby!!!

Oh, we've found the father! He's breathing, but badly wounded...

And there are the legs of the mother... her head and torso are under a pillar, that looks really frightening....

We've removed the pillar and the mother isn't as bad as it looked first. Oh and what's that?: We've found the little son of the family!

We've sent the son first because the mother is ok and will survive whereas the little boy needs some urgent treatment

The remains of our mission... we did a good job, except the poor dog. But it was too late for him already :(

Thank you, stranger! We will always remember you!

Game Idea #42

You will remember that I failed from my self-imposed challenge of coming up with 52 Game Ideas within a year. However, my decision was to keep going and add new ideas to the list as they come. After a quite long break, here is finally a new game idea. Enjoy!

Game Idea #42

We Built This City (WBTC)

WBTC is a city and road construction set that can be used to create a simulated city environment that can host a variety of games simultaneously.

Sample Mission Brief for a class of up to 30 students:

Form groups of up to six players. Use the WBTC set and any material of your choice to build a city around a certain theme (China, ghosts, lunar city, mafia, film festival etc…). Connect the cities to each other when their design is finished to have a group of city districts, however limit players access to the districts of their friends. Play a racing or exploration game with a reputation system in which for each new level of reputation a player’s freedom of travelling expands into a new city district. The player who finishes the quests in all city districts wins the game.

New Role at GDAM

I’m happy to announce that I have accepted a co-editor role over at GDAM (Game Design Aspect of the Month). The blog was created back in March by Writers Guild Award nominee Sande Chen and was since then host for a series of interesting articles and podcasts on game design topics.

I was a GDAM contributor myself during the  June, July and August rallies, but the co-editor role came a bit as a surprise. I’m honored to be asked to play a more important role and hopefully I will be able to make a positive impact. Thanks, Sande!

New Photographs

I was out taking pictures the other day. I came home with a few dozen pictures. No real masterpieces, but still I liked some of them.

I’m doing modifications on my photos, but I don’t see mod as a way to save me from technical flaws. My goal is to learn the ins and outs of light and composition during the actual take Therefore I refrain from manipulations and do not rely on the help that I can get from digital imaging software. I only use MS Paint for resizing or captioning. 

On the other hand, I’m interested in using the photos I took as sources for pattern studies or to use them as plastic elements with which I form new objects, concepts or simply moods.

Anyway, it’s better when the photos speak for themselves.

 

Untitled (2009)

 

The Balcony

Street Pattern (2009)

Blue Sky for Kafka

On Train

My latest article on the art game Train (Brenda Brathwaite, 2009) has been published at Sande Chen’s Game Design Aspect of the Month.

I hope you’re going to like it!

New Article on Pacing and Rhythm in Games

I’ve put up a new article on pacing and rhythm in games. The article is titled Tense and Tension in Games.

I hope you’ll like it. Don’t forget to leave your comment!

Mature Games podcast at GDAM

Have you lately been following the developments over at Sande Chen’s Game Aspect of the Month (GDAM)? The blog is known for serving as a platform for discussion  for game designer and scholars alike. So far, GDAM featured many articles on subjects like player death, prototyping, and trends of simplicity. This month’s July rally, however, came with the launch of a brandnew feature: A podcast on mature games!

It had been revealed earlier that in the coming months we will be able to listen to more of such podcasts!

This month’s Mature Games session which is moderated by 2007 Writers Guild Award in Videgame Writing nominee Sande Chen, features NY-based writer CJ Kershner and designer-turned programmer Ryon Levitt from japanese game developer KOEI. Issues range from serious games to sex and violence, and the participants touch on games like Starcraft, Passage and Harry Potter. If you have a few spare minutes, just tune in, it’s definitely worth the time!

Latest news over the Langdell issue at the IGDA

Over ay Man Bytes Blog, owner Corvus Elrod -also member of the IGDA Writing SIG executive board- has released his personal statement over the Tim Langdell issue at the IGDA.

As you might now, there has been some unrest among the IGDA membership in regard to Tim Langdell’s business ethics over recent months and the issue became even more delicate when the IGDA Board refused to comment over Langdell, who is on the IGDA Executive Board himself.

Some people from the IGDA membership have come together in recent weeks and protested via various channels. Now the action has come to a more serious level and the protesting members are in an attempt to collect enough signatures  to force the IGDA Board of Executives to call a vote over the issue. Whether the required 1400 signatures will be found is unclear. Whether the IGDA Board will vote to remove Tim Langdell once the 1400 signatures have been collected is even unclearer.

You can find out more about the issue on the IGDA Forums.