My Miscellany

Global Game Jam 2011 Post Mortem

2011-01-30T22:34:00.007-06:00

Ah, my second Global Game Jam in a row. You can play our game Shadowless here. The theme this year was Extinction and my team decided to make a game about light struggling to fend off darkness. At the end of the day Sunday, we ended up with a half done game that only slightly resembled the original design ambitions. Global Game Jam is about experimentation, and what's experimentation without failure? Sure, half the team was also trying to run the our GGJ location while making the game, but we also made some mistakes in the game's development. Here are a few things I learned this year:

1. Design discussions should only go as far as what you can build now.

During the first night of brainstorming, we discussed too many fancy game ideas. At one point the game involved a traveling beam of light, wading its way through an ever encroaching darkness. When it came time to building these grand ideas we found ourselves empty-handed. We hadn't come up with any basic gameplay to hold any of our original ideas up. Questions like, "What is the player doing from second to second?" and "How is this light beam interacting with this light crystal?" were not answered. In the end, all that time spent talking went to waste and most of the original ideas were thrown out.

On Saturday afternoon we hastily reworked the premise into what the game is now. Inspired by endless survival games like Tilt-to-Live, our game would incorporate the core gameplay of frantically navigating through swarms of enemies while giving the player a primary goal of keeping a light crystal alive at the center of the screen.

2. Remote team members won't get the full experience.

My artist friend Mike wanted to participate in our jam remotely from California. While we were able to give him work, he missed out on all the bleary-eyed fun and final presentations. I could have streamed him in over Skype, but bandwidth was at a premium. Besides, he would've spent most of the time staring at my sleep deprived face.

3. We neglected sound.

I've done this during a smaller Game Jam before. In the thick of programming our heads off, we just couldn't be bothered to take a listen to the sound effects that were just submitted. As a result, we couldn't get revisions to the artist in time. Maybe having a dedicated project manager there to organize everything would have helped but -- in the fast paced Game Jam environment -- I imagine that person would end up sitting around bored a lot.

Gaming is Play. Play is Learning.

2010-07-03T11:36:00.006-05:00

At a recent game dev beer night here in Austin, a conversation I was having with my animator friend Jesse stumbled into educational games. Well, it didn't so much stumble itself as much as I steered it. We were talking about our ultimate goals in this industry and I said I wanted to have a positive effect on people beyond entertainment.

I've peeked into the world of productive gaming recently and the potential inspires me. There is movement in education toward virtual classrooms. Game development can be a "gateway-drug" for children to learn complex job skills.

Yet these examples don't involve game design for learning. In terms of games designed to educate the player, my friend countered that educational games just don't work. Exhibit #1: Our shared history in elementary school computer labs solving math problems to cartoon graphics. They didn't work.

I was then reminded of Bing Gordon's interview about founding Electronic Arts in Bill Moggridge's Designing Interactions.

"One of the first precepts of Electronic Arts, that interactive entertainment was going to be as big as traditional music and video entertainment, was driven by our belief that 'play' is a core human value; even a core mammalian value. We used this analogy that lion cubs learn to hung and fight by playing together. We asserted that interactive virtual world gaming would be a way that people could train in a bunch of different ways, socialize, and get same kind of richness that one can get in many aspects of real life, but without the risks."

When we play games, we are learning. Just look at how this concept can be applied to Microsoft Word.

I'd like to think my ultimate goal is to harness the power of interactive games to make the world a better place.

Flixel Jam 2 Post Mortem

2010-02-28T14:31:00.015-06:00

Last week's Flixel Game Jam came and went successfully. I have to admit, we didn't get as far at this Jam as we did in the last Flixel Jam. You can check out the fruits of our labor here. The idea was to create an RTS/Strategy game where the player casts miracles to convert dinosaurs to the player's faith. Along the way, the minions of L. Ron Hubbard seek to thwart you. It seemed like everyone had fun and learned something, but a few factors contributed to delays.

Brainstorming for two hours.
At the beginning of the last Jam, we brainstormed ideas very informally. We threw ideas out there and chose the one that sounded the most feasible. While this wasn't the most inclusive process, but it was quick. Luckily, no one was very adamant about contributing.

In contrast, during this Flixel Jam, we attempted a formal brainstorming technique we had learned during the Global Game Jam. It goes like this:

Everyone individually comes up with a random list of concepts, things, and mechanics for 15 minutes.
These lists are compiled and sorted into categories such as Mechanics, Places, and Things. Preferably this should be done on sticky notes for easy sorting.
Then each person combines sets of the sorted concepts into game ideas and pitches them to the team. They must answer three details about each idea: Visual Aesthetic, Game Mechanic, Game Flow, and Game Story.
Group members then discuss and pick the best idea that can be executed in the limited time available.

One thing we realized after we ran though this process was that it's meant for smaller groups. We had around 10 people attending this Jam. Sorting and pitching the 100 ideas that came flooding in after step two became unwieldy. Even after we moved the process to a Google Doc Spreadsheet, pitching the ideas took too long when everyone had to have a chance at compiling and pitching ideas.

AHHHHHHHH!

By the time we did choose an idea, we were so desperate to move forward, we came up with a mechanic and a story/premise, but did not establish the game flow/loop. Without this, we didn't have as much direction by the end of the day.

I can't really say which method would be superior for next time. It depends on how many people will be involved. If we're splitting up into groups of less than five people, we can probably do the more formal method.

Less experienced programmers.
After we were done brainstorming someone asked who was the lead programmer. Since I was the most experienced with Flixel the task fell upon me. Last Flixel Jam we had a few fairly hardcore programmers who had played with Flixel for a good amount of time before hand. Comparatively, most of our programmers had limited experience with Flixel. In the time we had, I attempted to give a sloppy crash-course explanation to how Flixel works. I suppose this programmer deficiency comes with the random collection of Jam participants and the six hour time limit. There simply isn't enough time to learn a new language and develop a complete game in that time. Programmers need to show up prepared.

Photo by Dmitri Wolf.

Starting unprepared.
SVN, Flex SDK, Flixel, Flash Develop - for programmers all those things need to be downloaded and installed before we begin. Getting everyone set up ate up another hour of our time.

For the next Jam, we should post on the Flixel Jam site that all participants should be set up with the proper software and be ready to go when they arrive. Furthermore, if programmers want to make a significant contribution, they'll need to play around with Flixel to become familiar with it before showing up as well.

Despite the challenges we faced we managed to put together a prototype that shows off the group's unique sense of humor and the basic ideas behind our original concept.

Transitioning to Box2D 2.1: b2Fixtures

2010-02-08T22:27:00.006-06:00

My game development team got a bit of a shot a few weeks ago when found that our ActionScript 3.0 physics engine, Box2D had released the Alpha version for their 2.1 update called 2.1a. Strangely, the C++ version of Box2D has yet to release this update.

I actually stumbled into downloading the new version while looking for a way to create multi-shape bodies. I figured the examples that come with the Box2D source would show me how. Boy was I in for a surprise: what were all these b2Fixtures doing in the code?

One of the many changes in Box2D 2.1a are the new b2Fixtures. Fixtures replace b2ShapDef's from 2.0.

The b2Fixtures must be used to associate b2Shape's with b2Body's. In addition they now hold values such as friction, restitution, density, isSensor, etc.


var bodyDef:b2BodyDef = new b2BodyDef();
bodyDef.type = b2Body.b2_dynamicBody;
bodyDef.position.Set(10 / m_physScale, 10 / m_physScale);

var shapeDef:b2PolygonShape = new b2PolygonShape();
shapeDef.SetAsBox(20 / m_physScale, 20 / m_physScale);

var fixtureDef:b2FixtureDef = new b2FixtureDef();
fixtureDef.shape = shapeDef;
body = m_world.CreateBody(bodyDef);
body.CreateFixture(fixtureDef);

Note that all the size and position variables are divided by m_physScale. This scales everything down by 30. We found out the hard way that Box2D works on very small scales. If your physical bodies are too big, then the forces needed to affect them will be ridiculously large.

In this code, b2BodyDef is used to set the Body's position in the world, and define that it is a dynamic body. Notice that b2Body enumerates the Body types. b2PolygonShape defines the square polygon for this Fixture. b2Fixture then takes the Shape. The world creates the Body and then the Body creates the Fixture.

In order to create compound Bodies with multiple shapes, we need to use b2PolygonShape.SetAsOrientedBox().

For b2CircleShape's we have to use b2CircleShape.SetLocalPosition().

Here's some code for creating a Body with both a square and a circle.


var bodyDef:b2BodyDef = new b2BodyDef();
bodyDef.type = b2Body.b2_dynamicBody;
bodyDef.position.Set(10 / m_physScale, 10 / m_physScale);

var shapeDef:b2PolygonShape = new b2PolygonShape();
shapeDef.SetAsOrientedBox(20/m_physScale, 20/m_physScale, new b2Vec2(0.0, -15.0/m_physScale), 0.5 * Math.PI);

var circleDef:b2CircleShape = new b2CircleShape();
circleDef.SetRadius(10/m_physScale);
circleDef.SetLocalPosition(new b2Vec2(20 / m_physScale, 20 / m_physScale));

var fixtureDef:b2FixtureDef = new b2FixtureDef();
fixtureDef.shape = shapeDef;
var fixtureDef2:b2FixtureDef = new b2FixtureDef();
fixtureDef2.shape = circleDef;
body = m_world.CreateBody(bodyDef);
body.CreateFixture(fixtureDef);
body.CreateFixture(fixtureDef2);

Stay tuned for other changes that 2.1a has introduced.

Global Game Jam 2010: Post Mortem

2010-02-02T11:26:00.012-06:00

I had a great time at last weekend's Global Game Jam 2010. Team Mound of Awesome managed to pump out a Flash stealth game in the 32 hours we had UT. The final build can be found here. For more games from the Austin location, check out the GGJ site.

This year's theme at our location was Deception involving a Man, a Plan, and/or a Canal. While we were forming teams, I had a few choices. Since I'm interning at Gendai Games, I would've been able to contribute to the their GameSalad team. However, I didn't have a Mac, and I didn't want to be limited by my computer. I had a little experience with XNA and plenty of experience with C# but I wasn't sure I'd be a good fit with that team. Unless I wanted to spend the weekend learning a new language, the Unity and Lua teams were out of the question. The OpenGL, C++ guys were nuts. So I settled on the Flash, Flixel team. Turns out they were three programmers who drove in from the SMU Guildhall in Plano, TX.

Even when I told the guys I was on board as a programmer, I had some doubts. Who were they? Their initial pirate vs cops SHMUP idea seemed too complex. Thanks to a brainstorming exercise proposed to all the teams, we ended up with a better game idea.

Each team member would spend 15 minutes brainstorming terms and concepts. Then the next 15 minutes would be spent organizing those organizing this disparate ideas into game concepts based on three core values. Each team member then pitched their concepts and we picked from the best sounding

Our game ended up being this:

Aesthetic: The art and visual style of the game. Without a solid artist on board, we settled on pixel art to begin with.
Mechanic: The core gameplay that the game is based around. While throwing together words our pile of ideas, I came up with deceiving enemies with masks then donkey punching them.
Flow/Story: How the game is structured. Is it a traditional arcade game with levels and a boss? Is it an endless game where the player goes for the high score? We decided our game would consist of a series of rooms and then a boss at the end. We couldn't decide why our protagonist needed to donkey punch people yet.

As Friday the weekend went on, I learned a few things about making games in such a fast paced environment.

Don't plan far ahead.

Our team didn't fall into this trap but I saw that other teams in our location did. One team planed on a very complex puzzle game based on 3D rendered cubes that would determine what direction a ball you threw at them would bounce. They ended up with a 2D action game about knocking over boxes. Another team thought up a robust storyline about a spy who was going to be betrayed in the middle of the game and then he would have to fight his own people who knew all his tricks. By Sunday, that team had barely gotten then engine in place to develop basic gameplay.

Our team set smaller goals as we met them. We had to come up with story and solutions to problems as we created the game. After we implemented the stealth mechanic, we found that the game was fun enough without the donkey punching. We hadn't figured out what our final boss encounter was going to be till Sunday morning - and we couldn't. We knew wanted to throw a surprise at the player for the final encounter but not much else. By Sunday, we settled on Mr. Mask meeting the CEO of Mask Wax Co., Barry Boss. Players would have to figure out how to get Billy to follow them into a manhole. It was a reversal of the player's need to stay away from the enemy's view circles all game. Suddenly, the player must use them to his advantage. In order to come up with that, we had first to figure out the foundations of our story and what our core mechanic would even feel like.

Pick your battles.

Towards the end of the Game Jam Sunday, I applied the Flixel logo to our game and made it red to match our Mr. Mask title screen. This is what this logo is all about. A cacophony of colors merging into the color of our game's logo. With this much mental investment in a logo, I shouldn't have been surprised by what happened later in the day. Another team member changed the logo from red to white. From within me, I felt a boiling rage bubbling. Wait, I told myself, you're being crazy. Let it go. You have a game to finish.

Tools are only as good as how much people use them.

The shear collaborative power of Wikis, forums, or even Google Wave is meaningless if no one uses it. The lesson is something I've also learned running GamesPlusBlog. Our team needed an information radiator to communicate what tasks needed doing. So we started a Wave and slapped on coding and art tasks we needed into it. It became very apparent that some of our group members were using it and some weren't. The art list simply went ignored and the coding tasks simply weren't complete. The idea behind an information radiator is so people don't have to spend time asking what there is to do. You simply look at the Wave/whiteboard/Wiki/what-have-you and you know. It's particularly effective in long term projects where people may be working remotely. But this is a Game Jam. We're all working around the same table over the course of three days. Asking your team members what needs to be done is 'information radiation' enough. That being said, the Wave was useful for communicating which levels needed to be created because our level designers were using to store a large amount of info that would have been hard to keep track of.

At the end of the day I'm proud to say TCAOMM was one of the most polished games at our GGJ2010 location.

Flixel Jam Postmortem

2010-01-25T22:04:00.006-06:00

Phil's second Flixel Jam has come to a close. It was a lot of fun and I hope to see everyone again for another Jam. In the six hours, we managed to pull together a simple game about falling from the sky. Dubbed Terminal Velocity, the game is far from perfect: it's too hard and it needs about a weeks worth of polish. However, that wasn't the point. In six hours we organized a team of ten developers- many of whom had never met before- and created a proof of concept for a simple mechanic. The result of those six hours can be seen here. For those interested, here are links to our source code as well as our current build of the game.

Here are some things we've learned:

Data sharing

We needed to share art assets and code, but we did not come up with a simple way to do it before hand. For art we debated whether to use DropBox or to set up a network share directory on someone's hard drive. I personally preferred DropBox, but using it would've required an email from every person in the room. They would've also needed to download the DropBox client and set up accounts on the website. The large amount of people and late arrivals made all this inconvenient. So we went with the network share. Once the person hosting the files set up a directory to share files, we only had to share the name of their computer. However, the speed of a network share- especially in the library's WiFi- left much to be desired.

For code, any kind of group programming demands source control. Git seemed like a shoe in, since me and Phil had been using it for a project of our own. However, asking a ragtag group of developers to learn such a command line oriented program would've taken up too much of the Jam's time. The source control had to be fairly easy to use with a public, remote repository we could set up quickly and for free. Subversion and Google Code hosting offered the perfect solution. Tortoise SVN for Windows users is almost a no-brainer to learn and SVN comes pre-installed on Apple computers. With Google Code, we didn't have to set up our own server. Once we started, the speed of our coding impressed me. The source control allowed us to all work independently without stepping on each other's toes.

Information sharing

We decided to use a Meebo.com chatroom for sharing the links to the repository, the network share computer names, and other things. The chatroom was easy to set up, but it became a distraction when it momentarily went down with our library's WiFi. Again, we would have to share the room's information with late arrivals. Next time, I'd like to try using a white board to communicate information everyone needs to know.

Working with artists

We had five programmers and four artists working together. As a career programmer, I'm pretty familiar with working with a team of other programmers. However, video games add the challenge of communicating requirements to artists. While the artists did a great job on music and graphics in the little time they had, their efforts could have been more efficient if we had been better communicating with them. Because we hadn't given them enough direction, they ended up running on their own. At the end of the day, too many music tracks and graphics were created and only a small percentage were implemented into the game. For the next game jam, I'd like to try using the white board to write down specifically which game objects we need assets for.

Conclusion

Looking back at this Jam, the challenges we faced remind me of the challenges Agile programming methodologies try to solve. We had to tackle how to manage a large team of developers all working in tandem. We had to find the proper technology for communicating in an efficient manner. In essence, creating a concept game in six hours is akin to making a scoping-deliverable in a fast paced development environment. Hopefully next time we can be more prepared and our game will be as good, if not better than what we made.

Getting started with Git Part 2: Branching and Tracking

2010-01-18T01:31:00.010-06:00

Part 1 of Getting started with Git can be found here.

Now that we've pulled and pushed code with a remote repository it's time get more advanced. One of the more elegant features of Git or any source control is the ability to branch code and work without fear of breaking the original source. With Git's local and remote repositories, the options become even more robust.

Branching Locally:

git branch BRANCHNAME

This command will create a branch called BRANCHNAME in your local repository. After it's created you can use git checkout BRANCHNAME to move between branches and your original master branch in the local repository.

You'll want to create branches when you're making drastic changes to the code that won't be easily rolled back. For example, I was working on our game engine and I wanted to implement the just released 2.1a version of the Box2D physics engine. Doing so would break all our code and it would take a couple of days at least to get it all back up and running. I branched so I could work with the working build while I was fixing up the broken one.

Working With Remote Branches:

Now, what if you want to push this local branch to the remote repository for the rest of your team to see? You can use this push command to create a new branch on the server

git push git@github.com:OWNERNAME/REPOSITORYNAME.git LOCALBRANCH:REMOTEBRANCH

What if someone else creates a branch that you want to keep track of? You can use this command to create a local branch and checkout their code into this new branch.

git branch --track LOCALBRANCH origin/REMOTEBRANCH

The --track argument tells git that any push and pull on this local branch should go to that remote branch. In fact, once you have tracking set up on a branch, simply typing git push or git pull will make Git automatically push or pull for that branch without you having to specify the remote address and which branches you want to work with.

Getting started with Git

2010-01-09T14:26:00.020-06:00

One of the toughest things to learn during this game project was actually our source control Git. Phil(our most experienced member) insisted we use Git because of its superiority to SVN and the like. Git allows you to create both a remote and local repository of your code. This means you can branch and merge code all you like on your local repository and only interact with the remote repository when you need to.

I've used SVN before so I didn't think much about learning Git. Ironically, after a week of trying to share code between the four programmers in our group, Phil was probably the least Git literate in our group. Git's cryptic interface can be pretty unforgiving, especially if you don't know Git's recommended workflow.

So I decided to write a guide to getting started with Git on Windows.

First you'll want to download and install Git here: http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list

I downloaded the full installer. Once the installation is complete, you should have the options "Git Bash here" and "Git GUI here" in your right click menu. I created a directory to store the project code called "flashproject". Right clicking on this directory and clicking "Git Bash here" should start a command line pointing at this directory.

Get the code from the remote repository

If you've set up a remote git repository with GitHub, you'll need to create an SSH public key to identify yourself. Detailed instructions for creating this key can be found here.

Now, you need to get the code from the repository. If that repository is GitHub, we do it with a clone command:


git clone git@github.com:[repository creator's username]/[repository name].git

This should download all the code from the remote repository into the directory we created. You only need to clone once. After this first time, you'll use git pull to get code from the remote repository.

UPDATE: Well, after trying this out with people in person, it looks like Git won't navigate to the newly cloned directory. We couldn't work with the code through Git until we used cd DIRECTORYNAME to navigate Git into the working directory. You'll know when you're in the right directory when you see (master) in the Git command line.

The Git Workflow

Once you have all the files on your hard drive, it's time to write some code. Once you're done, you'll need to follow a workflow to make sure your changes and any changes pushed by other coders to the remote repository merge nicely.

1. Add any additional files to Git's tracking.


git add "File path and name."

2. Commit changes locally:


git commit -am "Commit message"

Here is the biggest difference between working with Git and SVN for me. You need to commit your changes to the local repository if you want to then push the changes to the remote repository. When me and Phil started using Git, we were confused when it refused to pull remote code because of conflicts. Can't we just merge those conflicts? Turns out Git won't merge your changes with any changes from the remote repository unless your local code is committed first.

UPDATE: -am will allow you to write the commit message in the command line. If you choose to type git commit -a the command line will open a text editor so you can write a very detailed message. If you have lots of complex changes, this method may be preferable to the -am shortcut as git automatically generates some change logs in the text. One thing I found confusing about the editor, however, was how you exit. Once you've typed your commit message, you'll need to press ESC on your keyboard to enter its "command mode." Then press shift and ZZ to tell the editor to exit.

3. Pull the changes from the remote repository.
Just to check if there have been any changes since you pulled/cloned last.


git pull

4. Merge the remote and local changes if there were any.
Git will automatically merge basic differences to code, but you'll need to resolve more complex differences. Git will go into merge mode and modify the files, showing your changes and the remote changes with markers. These markers should look something like this:


<<<<<<< 
//Changes from one side. 
======= 
//Changes made by the other side. 
>>>>>>>

You'll have to go into each file and pick and choose which lines of code you want to keep manually. This seems complicated, but unless you and another coder are working on the exact same lines of code at the same time, you won't have to do manual merging very often.

5. Push your merged changes to the remote repository.


git push

This is just a basic start to pulling code from a remote repository, working with your local copy and pushing the changes back to the remote repository. Stay tuned for a guide to working with branches remotely and locally.

Listing Authors in a WordpressMU page

2009-12-14T00:09:00.011-06:00

I'm trying to give my staff more of a presence on GamesPlusBlog. They need to feel ownership of their piece of the blog and their content within.

One way of doing this is recognizing when authors join the site. For awhile now, our About Us page only displayed the three founders of the blog - Tim, Mike, and me. Ever since we began bringing on new writers, Mike has suggested we list them on this page. Pragmatic programmer that I am, however, I didn't want to have a list to curate every time an Author joined the site.

The obvious solution is have PHP and Wordpress generate a list of blog authors and display them onto the About Us page. Simple enough: a quick Google and I find the wp_list_authors function. However, Wordpress prohibits PHP code from executing on its pages and posts.

Another Google and the EXEC-PHP plugin looks like the key. Unfortunately I'm also working with WordpressMU.

Because WPMU is meant for use as a public, open blogging platform, like Wordpress.com or Blogger, it assumes any of your posts and pages are created by untrustworthy user accounts. Thus, it presents its own set of 'security' filters for posts and pages. We at GPB are using WPMU as a centralized, private blogging platform to simplify management for multiple blogs - not how WPMU was meant to be used. WPMU strips any PHP tags from posts.

Writing a small Wordpress Plugin to recognize a shortcode was my solution. Much like Wordpress galleries and captions, shortcode can be used in articles and pages without WPMU freaking out on you.

Here's my code - well sort of. Blogger likes to strip html tags from articles. I had ul tags surrounding the author list in the output string, but those aren't entirely necessary.


add_shortcode('gpb_listauthors', 'gpb_listauthors_shortcode');
function gpb_listauthors_shortcode($atts, $content=null)
{
    $args = array(
        'echo'=>false,
        'exclude_admin'=>false
    );
    
    $output = wp_list_authors($args);
    
    return $output;
}

Initially I echoed the code directly in the gpb_listauthors_shortcode function. This would output the list at the top of my Page. The solution was to build a string and return it. Hence the echo = false argument.

Ah, a nice list of my writers:

Daily Routines blog

2009-10-27T19:31:00.003-05:00

My sister passed me a link to The Daily Routines blog. Though it's currently stopped, it serves as a collection of interviews with professional writers about their daily routines.

It seems routine is the key to all creative endeavors. Here's what Michael Lewis has to say:

Is there any time of day you like to write?
I've always written best very early in the morning and very late at night. I write very little in the middle of the day. If I do any work in the middle of the day, it is editing what I've written that morning.

What would your ideal writing day look like?
Left to my own devices, with no family, I'd start writing at seven p.m. and stop at four a.m. That is the way I used to write. I liked to get ahead of everybody. I'd think to myself, "I'm starting tomorrow's workday, tonight!" Late nights are wonderfully tranquil. No phone calls, no interruptions. I like the feeling of knowing that nobody is trying to reach me.

See, even professionals have sloppy schedules. It's a comforting thought.

Motivation in the long haul

2009-10-13T23:23:00.002-05:00

I apologize for any confusion, dear reader, that this blog's original mission statement and colorful banner may cause you. No longer is this a repository for my video game musings: those have found a new home. What's left is, well, everything else about my life.

I find myself at a crossroads of sorts. Or maybe I arrived years ago while deciding college major. I closed my eyes, pinched my nose and walked down my chosen path. Now, four years later, I open my eyes to find myself right back where I started.

In my quest to find my true path I've attempted to dedicate myself to long term projects. Yet how does one find motivation and discipline to achieve such long term goals? It's a challenge foreign to the typical day job. Where motivations come in pay checks and goals come from others.

I've noticed that independant webcomic artists are the epitome of this desire to break away from the infamous "Day Job." I stumbled upon this Webcomics.com forum thread about motivation.

Here are a few takeaways:

1) Have a goal. Maybe it's the ending to your story, or enough pages for a collected volume in time to print for the next big convention, or just the big party for yourself that you'll throw when you reach the 1-yr mark. Whatever it is, keep your eyes on the prize, man.

2) Make friends-- in real life, not just online-- with other cartoonists who are also just starting out, and keep each other motivated. Put up an ad in your local comic shop, for example. If you can't find anyone locally, then get to a convention (small ones are OK) and meet other artists there.

3) Be obsessed. Disturbing, but true. :-)

Advice applicable to any field.

GamesPlusBlog!

2009-04-30T23:30:00.004-05:00

If I even have any regular readers who are outside my close circle of friends, you must be wondering why I haven't been posting much lately. Well, I've been working my ass off to get a collaborative blog up called GamesPlusBlog. For now, it's just a blog with a few writers. We're still ironing out the design and functionality but hopefully, it'll grow.

My game writing will be moving to the new site. What will become of GameConn? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll make it a life blog. Ya'll wanna hear about cooking, music and programming?

Uuugh, BRAID.

2009-04-15T16:56:00.006-05:00

Thinking with time is a lot harder than thinking with portals. Maybe it's difficulty isn't as elegantly balanced as Portal's but that was probably not Jonathan Blow's intention. I can't seem to take more than an hour of this game without getting a headache.

Fallout 3's ending

2009-04-08T11:05:00.006-05:00

(Spoilers: This post discusses Fallout 3's missions and ending.)

Versus CluClu Land discusses the nature of our "domination" of games. Why can't I be this smart?

The articles got me thinking. Did Fallout 3's ending incite such ire because it violated the player's dominance of the game? The majority of mission outcomes are very much under the player's control.

Before reaching the end of the game, players decide the fate of Megaton, consider President Eden's ultimatum and make countless other choices. Is there any doubt players came to expect complete control over their game? But the ending effectively stripped all of that control from the player. What was a game so easily dominated and at the whim of the player suddenly and linearly forces him into death for sake of the story. What was such an ending doing in this game? The ending is so at odds with the open ended nature of the game that, even if the player possessed an unavoidable alternative to dying, the game bends over backwards to force you to die.

I can imagine meetings where developers argued about this ending. It makes sense, poetically. One could argue, perhaps pretentiously, that sacrificing the player’s character symbolizes the significance of his sacrifice and the impact of death. And the way the G.E.C.K.’s code was used managed to illicit an emotional response from me. In that way, Fallout 3’s main quest line succeeds. But we have to wonder if it was in the right game.

SXSW in tow, pt 3

2009-03-25T23:32:00.008-05:00

(Pictures by Rama and Christina)

Let's talk about the image above. During last year's SXSW I overheard a friend's awe at the crowd in 6th street. I never made it there last year so I was unprepared to witness it on Saturday night. Imagine a downtown street as dense with people as a crowded bar. Imagine it being so crowded that someone decided they needed to chain their bike to the sign post above Mike's bike.

Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning tired, a bit jealous, and wondering about my criteria for good music. I was afraid I'd taken in too much. Like going for one too many helpings of mashed potatoes. Regardless, there was a lot happening today and I wasn't going to miss out. I figured following Rama downtown when he left around lunch time would make transportation easier than yesterday.

Once parked we made our way to the convention center for the guitar trade show. Afterwards, we sat in the SESAC day stage on the same floor as the trade show.

Natccu

"I am Natccu," she said before bursting into her first song. J-Pop rock with a healthy dose of gurrl. Really reminiscent of anime soundtrack music, so this one's for my anime watching friends. I was digging the show but Rama wanted to leave in the middle of it.

We made our way almost a dozen blocks toward Waterloo park. This year's Mess With Texas party was already underway.

Last year the party hosted 3 stages and introduced me to Yeasayers and Black Mountain. As dusty and crowded as the park was, a long list of prospective bands in one free venue was compelling.

I said in part 1 that you don't go to SXSW to see bands you've heard of. However in a venue this size, even shrunken down from last year, room is plentiful. Last year, Mike told me about an indie punk band called Cursive. He wanted to download them but they had removed themselves from emusic. Their song, The Recluse, found it's way into one of my Pandora stations and I dug it. I gotta say, they play The Recluse better in person than on the album. Rama wanted to leave in the middle of this performance too. I was getting tired of his watching habits.

I eventually found myself alone and watching the death metal band, Trash Talk. I actually find death metal fans more intriguing than the music itself. The mosh pits, the guys jumping at the microphone and even climbing on stage to scream lyrics with the band. There was a rather death metal looking gentleman to my right holding his dog's leash. He was bobbing his head, pumping his fist and shouting "Yeah!" on occasion. We were a few yards away from the mosh pit. "Damn dogs are the bane of my existence," he said. His dog lay on the ground, lazily sweeping sand over an electrical cord.

Thao Nguyen

I've been debating whether I should mention that she's Vietnamese here. On the one hand her name gives it away and it's kinda racist of me. On the other her deep, soulful voice was completely unexpected. It's reminds me of Cat Power or even Feist.

At this point I was simply exhausted from inadequate sleep and tons of walking. My shoes were covered in a fine layer of sand. King Khan & The Shrines, Japanater, Vivian Girls, and Thermals all probably deserving of some mention but at this point I could hardly parse the music anymore.

I needed a palate cleanser and it was 10 blocks away. Christina, Mike and Rama were in line for the movie 500 Days of Summer.

Gosh, I guess this is just how Rama rolls. That's Zooey Deschanel. The movie itself had surprisingly high production values for such a limited budget. During the post show talk the writers revealed that director Marc Webb's innovative techniques came from his music video experience.

With my pallet properly cleansed we walked down the 6th street I described in the first paragraph. Thumping base emanated form venues left and right. Bands with no gigs set up and played right on the street.

Mike looked into one window and saw interesting instruments. Christina looked in the SXSW brochure and determined Moriarty was playing. A friend's recommendation and a $5 cover was enough to convince us to go in.

Moriarty

What can I really say. They put on the best show I saw all SXSW. I guess I'm a sucker for talented folk music. But their stage presence was really the star. Clever coordination and a charming sense of humor.

You see the man in the red tie? He's preparing himself for an intense xylophone solo. During Mess with Texas Rama mused that small shows were better than big concerts. While watching Moriarty, it was hard to disagree. Intimate, live music is really the ultimate way to experience the medium. So much energy of a performance is lost when you cut out the band's presence. By the end of the set, I was sold.

SXSW in tow, pt 2

2009-03-25T21:44:00.007-05:00

*UPDATE* The band Solid Gold now has a link.

(Photos by Christina)

Weekday day shows are probably the easiest shows to see during SXSW. Everyone's at work so there are are no lines and venues typically don't have cover at these times. That being said I only actually attended one of these shows last week. Wednesday afternoon, Mike and I were to meet Christina during her lunch hour. 6th street, the epicenter of Austin nightlife, was a sunny and blocked off corridor of music venues. Its concrete lay in wait for the ensuing crowds.

The three of us made our way to Emo's but Christina's first choice was a no show. Off to Plan B:

Here We Go Magic

Kinda psychedelic electronic elements mixed in with upbeat rock. They were interesting enough to get an emusic download from me. But now that I have the album, there's a bit too much psychedelic stuff here.

I've already written what I did that night. Thursday was busy with work. Friday was a half-hearted exercise in what not to do at SXSW:

My sister said again and again, for SXSW, you really need a bike. Imagine parking in any downtown. Now imagine parking in a downtown with thousands of people flocking to hundreds of simultaneous music performances. We began the day trying to figure out or little transportation conundrum. Mike had a bike, I didn't. We finally decided to take the bus downtown so Mike could bring his bike along.

After we met Rama at the Austin convention center for Flatstock Mike rode off to meet Christina. Rama led me the 5 blocks, he'd already walked a few times that day, towards 6th street. He complained about the further 7 blocks down 6th we'd have to walk to meet with Mike and Christina. We stopped and ate a $3 slice of pizza and a $4 bratwurst bought with money from an ATM with a $5 transfer fee. (Note to self: be more prepared next time.) He decided not to follow me the rest of the way.

After finding Mike and Christina we wandered around the "outskirts" of SXSW trying to catch some good free shows. We saw a band called Solid Gold ~~but I haven't been able to look them up. Apparently they share a name with a psychedelic soul group.~~ The band has since contacted me with a link to their site. More psychedelic than I remember the performance being. Sounds pretty good, though.

The people owning a house in this area had set up an art gallery in their front yard and a venue in the backyard. We were greeted with a goat. And these guys:

Flatcar Rattlers

Punk-country or something like that. Wish I knew the genre. Not really my cup of tea, though. After dinner Christina and Mike decided to call it a night. Our initial plan involved me running behind their bikes. Miraculously, an empty cab passed us as we considered this.

The next morning I awoke to hear Rama bumped into a few members of Delhi 2 Dublin and partied with them.

Bah.

Saturday would prove to be much better.

SXSW in tow, pt 1

2009-03-23T21:04:00.012-05:00

(Photos by Rama)

Looking at the Austin Chronicle's SXSW insert, one can be easily intimidated by the music schedule. Like the classifieds of a desperate musical hell, thousands of bands in 9pt font reach at you to lift them from this dank obscurity.

I came to Austin in the hopes that some new music would find me. As I scanned the pages before me like some black and white Where's Waldo, I realized I would have to find the music myself... or at least stumble upon some. I was not disappointed.

Wednesday kicked off SXSW's 5 day musical... orgy. That night Rama and I were dropped off downtown and we made our way to a venue called Back Alley Social. Rama wanted to see Blue Scholars, a hip hop group. He'd heard of them before. In SXSW, if you don't have an expensive, all access badge, you don't come to see bands you've heard of. Any sliver of popularity will attract crowds the small bar venues are ill prepared to contain. The resulting line for 'Scholars quickly discouraged Rama. Off to Plan B.

Rama led me to a bar called Copa. The theme Wednesday was international music. Apparently he was interested in a few of the bands. Luckily for us, none with the notoriety to pack the venue. We found a seats in the venue's plentiful space and dug in for the night.

1001 Nights Orchestra

The band certainly lived up to the international theme. A variety of exotic instruments produced Middle Eastern and Eastern European folk music.

Ashu

Now this one's interesting. Ashu is a Bombay band named after it's creator, the guy in the middle with the red glasses. Apparently a music video is gathering them a bit of popularity in the Indian community. The venue was filling out at this point in the night. Rama glanced around the room and decried all the Indian faces, as if embarrassed to be at a family reunion.

The band itself had a surprisingly western rock feel.

Ashu ended their performance at 1am. I don't know if there's a correlation between dance music and the wee hours of the night. But when this next band's drummer incited dancing with his Indian drums during the sound check, it was obvious where this performance was going.

Delhi 2 Dublin

What do you get when you mix dance beats, a Korean sitarist in a kilt, a pink haired fiddler, a dhol drummer, and a lead singer flowing in Hindi? A damn good show, apparently. Delhi 2 Dublin brought the house down in spite of the venue's shoddy sound equipment. Energetic beats that get your head bobbing combined with folksy Celtic and Indian instruments. They were just the kind of innovative music I was hoping to find.

Battle Report: Losing

2009-03-10T15:33:00.004-05:00

It's an odd feeling when you realize you're out of your league in a fighting game. Where you have no tactics or moves to save you from your opponent's torrent of moves. No branch to grasp as you fall down the side of the cliff. I wish Capcom would hurry up and implement the update that will allow us to record our matches. I'd be able to analyze what's going wrong.

My recent loses with Sakura have left me in a bewildered state. My old tactics are failing. Her moves don't seem as effective as other character's. I'm stuck in a rut. Naturally, I should pick up another character to gain a new perspective in the game. But it doesn't feel right. I love her for her personality but her moves aren't giving me the support I need. I guess we weren't all that compatible to begin with. It's not you, Sakura, it's me. All that time we spent together must feel like a waste. Hopefully we can be still be friends.

I'm trading in the spunky school girl for a Sumo wrestler. He's a charge character so he's more reactionary than Sakura's all out offensive mix-up style. Not that he has no offense. Tricking people into the Oichio throw should be fun. But picking a new character presents a new set of challenges. I have to spend time to learn Honda. Time that is such a commodity in adult life. Time that veteran Street Fighter players have already clocked. Where's the limit to my abilities in these games? How much time am I prepared to sink into this game?

Thoughts on the Watchmen movie

2009-03-06T03:27:00.003-06:00

The movie was enjoyable. The visual splendor and recreation of classic scenes was fun. But the changes... Well, let's just say I understand why Alan Moore wanted nothing to do with this project.

If you haven't read it, read it before you watch it.

Thoughts on Flower

2009-03-02T21:58:00.005-06:00

I got this funny little feeling while playing Flower the first time. I’m not sure what it is. It’s like a little tickle in my chest that compels me to hang my mouth in awe. It makes me hold my controller gentle hands, careful not to pop the fragile bubble of immersion.

I know what you’re thinking. What a bunch of artsy-fartsy BS. And you’re right. Maybe the feeling comes from a sense of heightened expectations. I’m making myself extra receptive to this grand experience that was promised to me in press about the game. I had the same feeling while playing ICO so many years ago. All the reviewers having emotional reactions and talked about it in “hushed tones.” I had to own this game. Same thing happened with Shadow of the Colossus. My mouth hung open as I rode a horse through its giant planar landscapes.

I have managed to discard this awe on my subsequent play through. I am no longer audience to the grand “initial experience.” I am simply poking into its nooks and crannies to get 100%.

Hype aside, Flower is a game that manages to relax me. The combination of soothing musical score, piano key sound effects, and densely colorful images would melt me into my seat. Well, it would if I didn’t have to keep my arms up and steer the motion controls. But really, at least in one play session, I could feel my muscles loosening up as I swooshed through the mellow first levels. Then I loaded up Street Fighter 4 to face the horde of Ken players. SF4 is adrenaline pumping, heart pounding joystick pumping. So antithetical to the former experience that it gave me a cramp in my diaphragm. An experience I repeated today. I really gotta stop doing that.

Flower isn’t all swooshing around someone’s inner Happy Place. As the developer’s intention it lulls me into calmness before kicking up the mood for the climax. Without spoiling too much, Flower succeeds at eliciting a set of emotions then messes with them. It’s short. But so are poems. I guess we can see Flower as a sort of game design poem. Verses told in game play semantics. Someone stop me if I sound too artsy-fartsy.

Battle Report: Street Fighter 4

2009-02-23T22:12:00.006-06:00

I love silly fighting game characters. Facing off against the stoic badasses that head each fighting game. Throwing out their ridiculous winning animations after their equally ridiculous wins against more "epic" characters. Reminding us to never take these games too seriously.

That's part of the reason I knew Sakura was my main when I first played her. The other part? Instant gratification. When her dragon punch lands it has at least double the hits as a normal Ken/Ryu punch. Sure the damage is probably the same, but the clack-clack-clack-clack after catching a player off guard and punishing them just feels so good. Her offensive based specials also reminded me of playing Guilty Gear more than other character.

As you can probably tell, I'm feeling pretty good about this game right now. It's almost a polar opposite to my flagging attempts at playing last night. The day before going online for the first time showed me just how nubish me and my local fighting game clique are. Players saw through my over reliance of special moves and tore me apart. My tactics didn't work and I had nothing to replace them.

Then my friend came over and tore down anything that was left. His Balrog's punches a bulldozer clearing the rubble. I found myself barely able to do damage to him. But I'm not one to resign after defeat. As cliched as it is, what does not kill you makes you stronger. With the cleared land, I could now build a solid foundation.

My friend taught me to pay more attention to basic attacks. Landing a sweep on an attacking player is safer and easier than trying to counter the attacks with a special move. With my back to basics style I went online today and picked apart my foes. Only unleashing my former link combo flashiness when the opportunity arose. Sure they were newbies. All bearing exploitable holes in their offense and defense. But it feels good not to lose to them.

Well made HL2 fan film

2009-02-13T17:03:00.005-06:00

Brings back memories of Half Life 2. I can't really put into words why I like the Combine of the Half Life universe. Maybe it's the militaristic, oppression with a Sci-Fi bent. Maybe its all the little details like how the cops' suits emit sirens when the die. Something about it just pumps my adrenaline.

I've got two friends who own the game right now but they're both climbing out of respectable backlogs. I'm afraid they'll both be turned off by the fledgling level design Valve has so refined in Portal and HL2's Episodes.

Come on, guys. Weather HL2. Or play through Portal and see the kind of pacing and subtle story telling Valve is capable of achieving. If you want more, go for the episodes.

Par for course: L4D content free

2009-02-11T21:48:00.002-06:00

Looks like the Left4Dead content coming out this fall will be free for both consoles.

Microsoft has tried to maintain a certain "market value" for all it's content on the XBLM. After all, people might be reluctant to pay for a Gears or Halo map pack if they just got their L4D maps for free. I can imagine how Valve convinced Microsoft to allow this sort of heretical price tag on the XBLM. "Go ahead and send the message that people should be buying our games on the PC and not the 360 if you really wanna charge for this stuff."

I'm glad as the game shipped a little light on the content side. Even by Valve's new "you'll only play a few maps anyway, just look at Counter Strike" ideology, the 4 campaigns are starting to wear thin.

I'll admit, I was hoping the 360 content wouldn't be free. I engaged in a some petty PC superiority posturing with a 360 L4D player awhile back. This news only goes to prove his point. But really, what does it matter who's right or wrong when we're speculating on the backroom dealings of game publishers? We all end up on the cover of Modern Jackass.

Meditations on Capitalism

2009-02-05T12:17:00.001-06:00

This whole financial crisis has got me thinking. Capitalism is very dependent on consumerism. When the Chinese box making industry hits hard times when we stop buying enough HDTVs I have to ask myself where this global society is going. Say what you will about globalization. If those box making jobs were in America, then the American box making industry would be suffering. The point is the economy runs on us buying lots of stuff. When people stop buying things, our economy collapses.

This troubles me. I don't like materialism. I'm no Buddhist but that religion teaches us that we should not seek out shallow happiness in material possessions. What if America were a Buddhist nation? Would we have a president that told us to shop more as a response to 9/11?

"It is not correct to say that each society gets the men it deserves. Rather, each society produces the men it needs." - Peter Berger, Invitation to Sociology

The men capitalism needs to survive and flourish are rabid consumerists. All their possessions are disposable and replaceable. What's your first inclination when something breaks? Buy a new one. It's more profitable for companies to sell you a new product than repair your old one. Think about this the next time you use a disposable utensil at a restaurant. Its better for our economy if that restaurant pays a plastic utensil company to manufacture new sporks and straws on a regular basis. Yeah, it creates more jobs and pumps money into the economy but it really offends my pretentious environmentalist side. Think about the resources and chemicals it takes to create the plastics for those sporks. Then imagine the diesel it takes to ship those sporks across america to the restaurant chains. Now look at yourself, using the spork once, then throwing it out.

I'm not sure if capitalism deserves anything, but certainly the American society could do with more responsible citizens. If we are all content with more modest living perhaps we can weather this recession a bit easier. But that's just me. What do you think?

Disturbance in the workforce: Me

2009-02-05T11:02:00.000-06:00

Funny thing about being laid off; people treat it like someone in your family died.

"How are you feeling?"
"I'm so sorry to hear this happened."
"Norman, are you crying?"

I guess our culture paints a picture of destitution and adversity around unemployment. I couldn't be further from that picture. Why would I be crying over losing a job I wasn't completely satisfied with? Maybe if I were depending on my pay check to pay off my expensive car and mortgage from month to month or I had a family to take care of. I'll admit, I'm lucky to be in the financial situation I'm in right now.

For months before this week's layoff I considered leaving my IT consulting job to explore other career options. Fear of change and the warm blanket of a ridiculously high salary kept me in place. This could be the kick in the ass I need to venture out. After allHopefully the video game industry isn't collapsing too much to take me in.

This American Life meets video games

2009-02-01T22:19:00.001-06:00

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by all the new stuff coming out off the death of EGM (see my podcast sidebar). My weekly listening schedule hasn't been quite as shortened as I thought it would be.

One notable podcast is A Life Well Wasted from Robert Ashley. The first episode takes the This American Life format and applies it to recently deceased EGM. Though, honestly, I don't think you should listen to it focusing on that premise. I found myself nitpicking where ALWW wasn't like TAL. But it should be taken as what it is. A history of EGM from the eyes of the editors.

Meditations on music gaming

2009-01-26T20:17:00.000-06:00

When I bought Rock Band 2 a few months ago, the purchase was my first foray into the world of music gaming. I borrowed DDR once and dabbled in Guitar Hero at parties here and there. But never experienced the games long enough to ponder the kind of entertainment they provide us. When faced with the Rock Band skeptics who ask "why don't you learn a real instrument," I've always argued that these games offer people the chance to feel like a rock star. Indeed, the game is best when played with the geekiest of friends who have choice songs and abundant enthusiasm performing them.

Yet lately, I've stopped practicing the game on my own. I think Shawn Elliot reflects my thoughts best in a recent blog post:

"As I once said on a podcast, I feel weird when I watch people play Rock Band or Guitar Hero. I'm reminded of how human music is and what it means for us to make it. I think, this is what happens when a culture decides that music-making is strictly the domain of the specialist and that we should stop performing when it becomes clear that we aren't cut from professional cloth."

I've heard this guy mention on a podcast that in the past everyone practiced some form of amateur music. Whether it be singing or some instrument. Interesting how society has changed. I wonder how well I could play now if had taken up an instrument in middle school.

A musician friend in Austin asked me how often I play Rock Band. I answered a few hours a week. He told me if I spent that much time learning a real guitar, I could pick it up.

I'm not saying I won't play Rock Band anymore. Just pondering the possibilities. I'm not quite at the point where I think I'm too good for it. Social get-togethers are the current justification for the time spent on it.

Anyone else having doubts about strumming away at plastic instruments?

I really want to love you.

2009-01-20T19:34:00.000-06:00

I really do, PlayStation brand. I mean the intentions are there. You want to make a portable gaming device that has robust media capabilities. Great, I game and I listen to music, I'm in. You want to make a home console with really awesome and reliable hardware and online features matching XBoxLIVE. Cool, I'm in $600. But lately... I'm losing faith.

I saw that the PS3's new firmware is coming soon. Oh good, my smiley face picture sorting needs have so far been woefully unmet by my video game console. Seriously, Sony PS3 firmware team? Seriously? This is what you're spending your months developing? Do you need any ideas for what you could be more useful? I'll give you one right now.

When a friend messages me, I go to my friends list on the XMB. My natural instinct is to press X and go into that friend's menu to check the messages he's sent me.

Ok, I'm here. Where's the "check messages from this user" button? Sorry for small image, but if you look closely the only buttons there are "Create New message", "Compare Trophies", and "Start Chat".

So if I want to see the message list, I have to go back out to the XMB, press triangle to bring up the friend's menu and then click "View Messages".

I go through this process EVERY time I want to check my messages. It's been month since that main friend's page was implemented yet the issue has never come to the firmware team's attention. Arguably I'm being really picky about a small issue like this. Let's look at the bigger picture.

The hardware and software developments of the PS3 and XBox360 this generation have made me realize how different Microsoft and Sony are as companies. Microsoft is the software giant. Windows, .NET, Visual Studio, Office, MSSQL, XNA, the list goes on. MS makes software for and supports a large IT development community. Believe me, I work with the stuff everyday as an IT consultant. I'm pretty sure they know a thing or two about developing software with a specific user in mind. More specifically we can look at the new group chat feature in the New XBox Experience as an example of MS developing a feature based on a specific user need.

When my friends and I were playing COD4 last year we wanted to keep our voice chat to ourselves. The solution? Break out laptops and PSP's to use Skype. MS recognized this kind of user experience and integrated a private group chat feature.

Now Sony is obviously the hardware company. Walk into an electronics store and their brand is on almost every type of hardware. When you compare the PS3's failure rates to the Red Ring of Death debacle, there's no contest. Yet compare the PS3's Home launch to the NXE's launch and you see Sony and MS's roles reversed. NXE was delivered in a timely manner with useful features that made sense. Home was delayed for a year and I can't find a reason to use it.

One more thing, Sony firmware team. I hate the PSP's interface. You wanted this thing to be a next generation Walkman yet it fails to play music as well as any MP3 player with a decent UI. I can't dynamically sort my music like I can with other MP3 players or even the freaking PS3. Where's the damn Shuffle All feature? Why can I only access my music in the static folder structure on my memory stick? I really want the PSP to be my one go to device for portable entertainment. Heck, I'd probably buy more games for it if it took on that role. I'm just going to have to buy an MP3 player. Not a Sony one, though. I just couldn't trust the interface.

What is art?

2009-01-15T21:16:00.000-06:00

I've been struggling to write a blog post defining art. I want to define art in order to provide at least a personal vocabulary for my posts here. Yet as I write, I can't pin down a solid definition. I begin arguing that art must have a well defined message and context. Without the message then art becomes a banal sort of "anything anyone creates."

With this conviction I debate a coworker of mine. He's into making film on his free time so naturally, I want to know his opinion. He suggests everything is art. Even things not intended as art can be art to the individual.

I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah, I'm one of THOSE people, right?" he suggests.

I counter by arguing that art needs meaning to avoid being pointless. He argues that meaning depends on the the individual. Then it hits me. I've been writing about personal experiences with all these games. And it's impossible to know whether the creators intended for their audience to have such experiences. So my coworker has a point. And so my search continues. What do you think?

RIP 1up.com as we know it.

2009-01-08T20:17:00.001-06:00

If you don't already know, my video game news site of choice has just died. The URL isn't going away but a good part of the staff that really defined the heart and soul underneath got layed off. Here are the nitty-gritty business details if you need to know.

Taking a look at the list of firings is really the depressing part. The people on the chopping block were behind some of the best games industry podcasts. If you've ever looked on the sidebar of my blog you'd have noticed the link to the 1up.com podcasts. This whole thing probably lightens my weekly listening by half.

To top it off, the entire staff behind the weekly videocast, The 1UP Show, was fired as well. What am I supposed to do on Saturday mornings now? Games journalism is an industry where something seemingly so simple as scored reviews are causing controversy and sparking thoughtful debate. To me, The 1UP Show, was quietly shining the light toward a brighter future. It's segments features 1UP staff standing around talking about their ups and downs while playing games. They were reviews disguised as previews and shed and pretension of assigning scores or coming up with yay or nay conclusions. They focused on the details of games, rather than the skin deep review scores.

What can we do but remember the good times and look to the future. If GiantBomb.com is any indication, creative minds propel themselves to good things. I'll be watching.

A true game artist.

2008-12-23T23:14:00.000-06:00

My sister showed me this story about the guy who wrote Passage.

"In truth, ambitious game-makers want it to be true that games are polluting the minds of our youth, because that means games really are touching our brains in sophisticated ways, and therefore games have room to grow. Like Passage, they can be art."

This article pretty much sums up everything I've been pondering about games as a medium for art. Read it and see if you can't come to the same conclusion I have.

Consequence: Follow up.

2008-12-14T01:14:00.000-06:00

While writing the last blog I came across some interesting reading related to my topic. However, for the sake of brevity and focus, I chose to save them for a follow up.

If you'll remember, I was ranting about gaming as an interactive medium. The interactivity is what makes video games unique from movies, TV, etc. Chris Bateman's article, A Game Has Never Made You Cry, discusses further the separation between telling a story through cinema and gameplay mechanics. For the sake of conversation, he takes the concept of separating the medium of games and cinema to an extreme. That games can only be "systems". Thus, emotionally touching stories in games have only happened on the cinema/movie side of things. Game play itself cannot make you cry.

Whether or not you agree with the thesis and the assumption that a game is only a "system", the article highlights the separation between game play and story I've seen in games. Especially in the JRPG genre, I think there is a reliance on cinema/movie techniques to tell a story that is detached from game play. It works but ultimately the story told through these means does not tap the full potential of this medium.

Consequence

2008-12-13T20:27:00.000-06:00

SPOILERS: Warning this blog post contains minor spoilers about Valkyria Chronicles and a Fallout 3. No giant revelations, really, just a vaguely described plot point in VC and a description of a Fallout side quest.

Guilt
Last Tuesday I, as I do every day, arrived at work and opened up Gmail to idle in a chatroom with a few of my friends. Taylor went into a series of inane comments about killing rabbits. Cutting through his attempt at inciting humor, I said this,

"Screw you. People have died under my watch in the wasteland. For that, I am saddened. No justice, no recourse for them. Just a festering cesspool of the worst of human immorality. It's all i can do to hope to be a small positive force."

I know, it sounds corny. But it was all I could do to deal with a heavy sense of guilt I was feeling since the night before.

Where did this emotional outburst come from, you ask? Well, I was playing Fallout 3. My character found Big Town. The guard is a nervous 20 something called Rusty. He tells me Big Town is besieged by slavers and super mutants. Inside Big town, the few, young, defenseless and beleaguered residents asked me to save some hostages the mutants had taken to the old police station. The town's doctor, Red was among the captured. Consequently, in Red's clinic lay a severely injured man. Inspecting him gave me the option of attempting to help him or putting him out of his misery. Unfortunately, my medical skill was not high enough and had to leave him.

Heading out of town I encounter two super mutants. One of them aims a mini-gun at me and I watch my health slide steadily down. Panicking, I run back to town, hoping to get help from Dusty. It works. Except the mini-gun mutant blows poor Dusty's head off. Great. I just got the town's only guard killed. I kinda owe them now.

So off I go to the police station. Kill a few mutants here, kill a few there and I'm happily escorting Red back to Big Town. After I arrive, Red mentions she heard that the super mutants were planning another attack on the town. I decide to stay and use my Small Arms skills to teach everyone how to defend themselves.

Before the attack I decide I want to place some mines just across the bridge that is the one entrance to the town. I'm not even half way across it before the mutants launch their attack, lobbing grenades in tandem before pulling out their over sized melee weapons. The first wave is killed off without any casualties and everyone is standing around. I don't realize a second wave is coming and before I know it, more grenades land around me. In a split second I look over and Red is getting a sledgehammer to the head.

When the dust(or gibs in Fallout's case) settles I see Red's body lying next to the mutants'. I talk to the gathered survivors. "I've haven't felt this safe in a long time." When I mention Red, another survivor says "you did all you could."

No I didn't. What if I had payed more attention and put mines down after the first wave? This town would still have its doctor. I head back to Red's clinic and find the injured man still there. I still can't help him. No one can.

I know what you're thinking. Norman's going crazy over a one dimensional, throwaway character the developers were using for one measly side quest in this game. Yet I couldn't get over it. I felt like it was MY fault she died.

I had the same feeling while playing Valkyria Chronicles. The first time a member of my squad permanently died during a mission all I could do was stare at the screen. My mouth hanging open. Never mind the intentionally sad "dying moment" the developers created. The motherly Lancer who couldn't look after us anymore. The Sniper who wanted to avoid the front lines, cursing me for his death. As sad as those blurbs were, they only enhanced this heavy, almost burning feeling in my stomach. It was guilt. I put them where they were when they died. It was my brashness that killed them. Ultimately their deaths were more emotional for me than the death that occurs during a cutscene in the same game. Sure that death was sad, but it wasn't MY fault.

Consequence
I've taken two things from this. First a bit of insight about myself. Part of mourning is dealing with the irreversible consequences of death.

Second what makes gaming a unique medium from music, movies, etc is its interactivity. When I feel guilt over the consequences of my actions, that is an emotion that cannot be be elicited in a linear medium such as movies. A scripted death is a scripted death. It was inevitable and the viewer played no role in it. However, when death is a consequence of a player's actions it incites more profound emotions. Ultimately, I believe as gaming matures, creators will rely less on the storytelling mechanics of linear mediums such as movies and books and we'll discover what's possible in these interactive experiences.

However, the argument could also be made that I'm just retelling what's part of my personal experience and not what the developer had in mind when they created the game. I'm sure Fallout 3's developers didn't intend to incite such ridiculous amounts of guilt while designing Big Town's quest chain. But that would be judging the experience from a narrative point of view. That Fallout's experience is a series of events plotted out and directed by the developers. There is certainly an amount of design that goes into the environment around this quest chain. However, the open world aspect of this game's "system" means the developer has limited control over what the player ultimately does. Open world games rely on the quality of their "systems" to generate a good player experience. The feature of Fallout's "system" that led to my reaction was consequence. That characters can die and that death have impact on the world.

How not to play Left4Dead

2008-12-01T23:30:00.001-06:00

Shout outs to my fellow (non)survivors, Taylor and Jon. We tried the Dead Air campaign tonight and failed miserably many times during the finale. I wish there were a difficulty level that wasn't a cake walk like Normal and wasn't nigh impossible like Advanced.

God, between this and Valkyria Chronicles, how am I ever going to get anything done?

Desert Bus

2008-11-30T10:21:00.000-06:00

So these guys are playing this totally rad game, Desert Bus, for charity. The more money they get, the longer they play. All proceeds go to Child's Play. For every $20 you give, you get an entry into their Rock Band 2 raffle.

I'm patched into their 2 live feeds. Riveting.

TF2 Fun

2008-11-29T22:36:00.000-06:00

One of the reasons PC gaming should never die: crazy user generated stuff.

Found at Rock Paper Shotgun.

Hello, old friend.

2008-11-20T20:20:00.000-06:00

I'm going to post this before going back to Valkyria Chronicles for the rest of the night.

GWJ podcast and they jokingly mention a fictional miracle drink that will allow you play games while you sleep. Yes, with this drink, you can function normally and take care of responsibilities while also managing to play all the games you want to!

I could have used this while playing VC last night around 11:3o. I was driving my squad through the treacherously flat desert under heavy sniper fire. Curse my job. One more turn.

Hold on, why's Norman playing a JRPG? Doesn't he hate those things?

I've said how much separating story from gameplay is a misuse of the medium. But damnit, I'm having fun with this game. I guess it's my love of military tactical gameplay. I mean I really liked Company of Heroes. VC's also coming at the perfect time. Between flexing my level creativity in LittleBigPlanet and improving my skills in Rock Band 2, I've been itching for the one thing lacking in both those experiences. A solid single player experience.

VC is a good game and there are those who agree. But I don't totally buy into Tycho's infatuation with the game. It's fun, but it's not art. Again, I'm saving that for another post.

VC is war like only the Japanese could do it. We start the game and there are trucks getting blown up, civilians getting shot in the back and a town militia running to their aide. A literally shocking juxtaposition to the whimsical art style and dialogue that proceeded the violence. Then the protagonists involved in the fighting go home and have tea. Later in the story, they find a baby pig.

And inspite of all this I can't stop playing the game. I guess I should stop being such an art snob and just enjoy what's fun. Not let a few bad apples kill my expectations for a genre. Oh JRPG, how long has it been?

LBP: Honeymoon's over.

2008-11-16T19:51:00.000-06:00

Down times 3

There's a reason I haven't been playing much LBP for the past week. I just can't seem to muster much enthusiasm for the game anymore. It's because of all this moderation business.

I understand Sony and Media Molecule need to cover their asses. Marvel's lawsuit against NCSoft over the City of Heroes character creator proves that even user generated content can be a touchy legal subject.

But it just seemingly goes against the spirit of LBP when I hear about all this corporate and legal stuff.

To make it all worse, quite possibly THE most inventive and unique user level so far, Azure Palace, was pulled. I just can't help but feel all that enthusiasm I had for creating things drain out of me.

A rep from Media Molecule has responded. But really. There's something broken here. MM and Sony need to figure this out before they lose their entire community. I know I'm not up to finishing my level anymore. Why should I when it could get pulled for no obvious reason?

War games

2008-11-10T19:48:00.000-06:00

I was reading James Ransom-Wiley's reflections about Call of Duty: World at War's demonizing portrayal of Japanese troops. I haven't played the game, but what Ransom-Wiley describes of the first 5 minutes doesn't seem far off from portrayals of Nazi troops in some games. Is it really ok to demonize Nazi's? I mean yeah, they did the Holocaust, but does that mean that every single German soldier in WWII a heartless monster? I guess it makes sense in an action movie, Rambo kind of thing. Perhaps later in the game there will be a more human portrayal of Japanese soldiers. The heavy metal of WaW's launch trailer suggests otherwise.

No MERCY!!!

Now I'm not going to assume that this is 100% what COD:WaW is about. I shouldn't judge a game before it's even out. But I guess Ransom-Wiley's thoughts just make me think how much I hate how action movies turn violence and war into things to be idolized and relished. I think some people believe that all games are nothing but bubble gum action movies. I guess that's one of the challenges facing the games medium in it's struggle for mainstream acceptance and the covetted label of "art".

It all reminds me of Medal of Honor performance in Video Games Live. When Mr Tallarico came on stage to introduce the piece, he first asked whether there were any veterans in the audience. Then he said to respect those veterans, "we aren't going to show any footage from the game." Instead we were treated to a series of photographs depicting the struggle of both soldiers and civilians during that time. Set to the orchestral piece, I couldn't help but be touched.

But when the lights came back up I also couldn't help but think about Tallarico's words earlier in the show. To much cheering from the crowd, he boasted that the Video Games Live concerts were here to prove that video games are art. And yet here you are, not showing gameplay from Medal of Honor because it's as shallow and unrealistic as Rambo. VGL only really proves that video games have good music written for them and that music by itself is "art". But we already knew that. The mainstream population generally accepts music as an artform. No amount of showing gameplay during the performance or screaming about Halo will prove that the amount of "artistry" presented in the music is also presented in the game.

Am I saying that video games aren't art? No. I wouldn't call myself a connoiseur of the medium if I believed that. So what makes video games art? For that matter, what makes art art? What is art? I should touch on that in another post before I rant on for too long here.

I guess what I'm waiting for is the Saving Private Ryan of war video games. A game that uses the medium's strength of emotional, interactive storytelling to convey the horrors of war. Not boil it down to testosterone fueled fun.

LBP: When players die.

2008-11-08T22:33:00.001-06:00

A few nights back my friend Mike and I were playing some user created LittleBigPlanet levels. We jumped into one of the Shadow of the Colossus tribute levels and we reach a part where we have to ride our sponge horse, Aggro, across a bridge. *Spoilers* The creator was obviously trying to emulate Aggro's pivotal fall down a chasm because as soon as we reached the end of the bridge it disappeared. Sponge Aggro falls into the spikes below, dragging me and Mike with him. Now in hindsight we were supposed to jump off at the last second. I could go on about how bad that was in level design terms, but that's an entirely different post.

What I'd like to focus on in this post concerns what happened after we respawned. Not only did the creator not put a checkpoint before the bridge scene but on our trekk back to the bridge to try again, we found that the bridge does not respawn. Not only that, but an entire portion of the level was missing. Obviously, the creator didn't expect anyone to die at this point in the level inspite of the entire lack of indication that the bridge was going to disappear.

It's a disturbing trend I've been seeing now and then in user levels. I've run into a similar problem while creating my own level. A section involves hanging from a sponge trapeze thing as shown in this blueprint I made at LittleBigWorkShop.com

If the player drags the trapeze sponge thing all the way to the other side and makes it, then all's well and we can move on. However if the player dies and spawns back on the left side of the fire pit...

Well, now we have some trouble, don't we? The player went back, but the trapeze sponge didn't follow them. At this point, you can expect the player to become frustrated, go back to their pod and never play your level again. Perhaps they will also leave your level a nasty rating.

But how do we resolve this? One way would be to make an emitter of the trapeze sponges, but then you've got to implement a complicated set of triggers going back and forth. Respawning a sponge when the player spawns and killing the sponges stuck on the other side.

A simpler solution is to attach elastic to the trapeze sponge's bar to pull it back when the player lets go of the sponge.

So we want the elastic to be really low strength. Strong enough to pull the sponge back but weak enough to not impede the player while they're pulling it across the hazard. LittleBigWorkshop's blueprint tool is interesting, but kinda rough. As you can see, it's hard to represent exact things like where to attach the elastic.

Social gaming in 2008

2008-11-04T20:26:00.000-06:00

Internet and video games. Who woulda thought?

I'm playing Little Big Planet in ways I've never played games before. Ever.

No, I'm not talking about all that fancy creation mode stuff. I'm talking about turning on my PS3 and having at least 2 or 3 people I can play the game with. And this isn't some hardcore shooter where we all the planets have to align in order for us to have fun. I'm jumping into games with my friend and his "non-gamer" sister. My sister and her boyfriend(who happen to live in a different city than me). We're just casually moving through levels, having fun without even trying.

This experience is enabled by the online capabilities of these current gen consoles. The constant connection to the internet. Knowing what your friends are playing by glancing at the buddy list. Even before LittleBigPlanet launched, this connectedness of game consoles was setting my expectations. However inconsequential it might seem, seeing what your friends are playing and them seeing what you're playing has some sort of psychological hold on me.

Connectedness is even making me play PS2 games less. Loading up PS2 games on my PS3 causes the console to enter an emulation mode. Meaning no friend list capability. No one would know what I was doing. How horribly solitary.

Over the course of a few weeks last month, most of my PS3 owning friends had bought PixelJunk Monsters. Though the game had online leaderboards, there really wasn't a way to interact with everyone. LBP's release a few weeks later answered all of my prayers.

Comparing contemporary gaming to my middle school days of sinking hours into Final Fantasy or GTA 3 alone in the living room seems so primitive.

I know to anyone who owns an Xbox360 this must be news from 2 years ago. But my little clique of PlayStation fanboys over here is just now catching up.

Now Playing: Pixel Junk Eden (PS3)

2008-07-31T21:57:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here waiting for my second video to upload. You can catch my first here:

[EDIT: Damn, looks like there was some error uploading my first video and now it's lost forever. :( Honestly, the first video was waaay better than this second video. It's like the second I turned on the camera, my performance side kicked in and I hit combos everywhere. I don't really like how the uploading interface forces you to choose between youtube and your PS3 harddrive. Why not both?]

So if you couldn't figure out what was happening in the video, I'm playing that little white dot at the center of the screen. I'm collecting pollen (the little white bits), which fills seeds, the big blue things I'm jumping into that sprout into plants which help me reach my goal (glowing swirly thing).

I gotta say I'm hooked on Eden already. It's when I get into The Zone© the game just flows as my little Grimp jumps smoothly from pollen to seed chaining everything. This with the mellow electronic synth music is definitly a new and unique gaming experience.

The game supports up to 3 players in offline co-op. I tried it with a friend last weekend in the demo. It was sloppy at best considering how much skill this game requires. Both players need to be in sync. We'll see what happens when we're both well practiced. Well worth the $10 if you have a PS3.

Sorry.

2008-06-26T22:36:00.001-05:00

JordanPlayer is looking good!_0001, originally uploaded by norman.tran.

Too much Team Fortress 2.

Archive: Being Evil's Hard

2008-06-20T18:23:00.000-05:00

To appease my readership of 5 people while I deal with a new job, I present a blog post from my dark days of Xanga and High School, enjoy!

**Being evil's tough - (The story of the ugliest looking good guy in Fable)**

default da mane. The name of my new avatar to be unleashed into the Xbox action RPG, Fable. I sat behind a coffee table in my family friend's game room. My family friends were strewn about in the room in varying stages of boredom.

The six of us were waiting around until 7:00pm because their parents were taking us to a dinner party. I asked the two brothers who owned the Xbox whether they were good or evil earlier and both said they were good. Thus I decided to play evil on my brief stint with the game. Gotta have a little Yin with your Yang, eh?(or is it vice versa... whichever)

I started off as a mischievous little boy. Punching guards in the back, vandalizing, bullying bullies and victims alike. Chalking up "evil" points seemed simple enough. The game had given me a mission: collect money to buy a gift for my sister's birthday. Hey, I thought to myself a chance to be really evil. Maybe I can buy her an old sock instead...

Then a bit of doubt hit me. Wow, that's pretty depraved for someone to dismiss even family members. However, I couldn't test my doubts. The game gave me one option: buy and give her to gift. So I walked over to the garden where little default's sister was playing. Out of that cutely modeled face came very a convincingly acted girl. I tried hitting her to maybe advance in an evil way.

"Hey," she says. "Quit that or I'll tell mum on you."

Jeeeez. Now what sibling hasn't heard that before. I'm supposed to be evil here, but I can't be mean to little girls...
Good thing they didn't give me a choice there. I'd have been hard pressed to do something nasty. I give her her gift and the story advances. Of course, there's good reason they don't let you be evil. When bandits raid default's village, they take the only two survivors: his mother and sister. This, of course leads to the main storyline in the game. I mean, if default couldn't even empathize with his own blood, there would be no point to the main storyline.

Anyway, little default finds himself in the great Hero's Guild after his village is sacked. After he grows in to a teenager he gets these claw scars across his face for being mischievous as a kid, I suppose. Quite bad ass, though.

After he graduates and becomes an official hero for hire.

So I send default running along a path and some villagers are being attacked by wasps. Natural video gaming instincts kick in and I attack the wasps and save the citizens. While I do so, the game gives me some "good" points. Wait a second. I’m supposed to be evil. Maybe I’m supposed to be killing these villagers instead... My thoughts are interrupted by cheering from the villagers.

“Easy when you know how, eh?” one of them says to default after he strikes down the last wasp.

Ok, so I won’t start my evilness with these guys.

Later, I talk to a barber and get a pony tail and one of those Chinese mustaches with the long, dangling ends. Gotta be intimidating to be evil. Now whenever I’d take missions, villagers who’d never seen default before were stuttering when he came around.

“H-Hello s-sir,” one lady greeted him as he walked by. Default’s new hair do, the claw scars and his skinniness made for one bad ass, if ugly bastard.

“Don’t look like no chicken chaser(what they call “farm boys” in the game) to me,” a guy said.

Hey, people. I saved your asses from evil, giant wasps and you’re scared of me? So I get default to stop and wave a greeting at them. The villagers become more friendly. That’s more like it, I think to myself. No wait… I’m supposed to be evil.

Default travels into a town. By now, my family friends in the game room are bored of my goodey-goodness and want to see how far the evil in this game can go.

“Punch that guard,” they tell me. “I thought you were going to be evil. Quit flirting and kill that woman. You’re the worst bad guy ever. Either kill that guy or flirt with him. Oh jeez, would you quit staring at yourself.”

Of course, I have to pause every five minutes to zoom into default’s ugly mug. It now has one of those friendly, toothey smiles that unintentionally emphasizes his skinnyness.

“That’s bad ass,” I think aloud.

Sobering

2008-05-27T21:48:00.001-05:00

So I'm sitting in front of my computer one Thursday afternoon. I've got nothing to do and I've been meaning to buy Grand Theft Auto 4 for awhile now. Now is a good a time as any. It's not like the game will drop in price or anything.

Off I go, Best Buy gift card snuggly tucked into my wallet. I get in my car. Boy I keep forgetting to use that KTRU bumper sticker. I mean, how will passing strangers ever know that I listen to random indie music?

I turn on the radio. And tune into All Things Considered(ATC) on NPR. It's an interview with Yao Ming. It's the end of the interview and they talk about things like how he's supposed to represent his country. Huh, odd time for ATC, of all radio shows, to interview a player for a team that's not doing too well in the playoffs. Besides, that whole "coming to America" thing was played out a few years ago when Ming was actually coming to America.

I zone out for a bit. What's a person really supposed to do with money they get from graduation? It's easy to save actual money and use that responsibly. But when your family gives you a large gift card to Best Buy, it's really hard to spend that responsibly.

Wait, what are they talking about? Earthquake in China? Reports of 30,000 dead? Shit. When did this happen? Would I have even known about this if I hadn't decided to go buy GTA during ATC? Gah, I've turned into what my college sociology teacher has been warning me about. I've let myself become ignorant of what's happening around the world.

I park and walk into Best Buy. Do I pay an extra $30 for the special edition? A lock box and a bag? Not worth it. I make my purchase and go back to my car.

ATC's interviewing reporters in China. After an earthquake buildings are dangerously unstable. Everyone in the effected regions can't stay indoors. Aid has taken a few days to deploy in some regions. For the reporters, talking to people is a challenge. The people have issues with the way the government is responding to the disaster. But they don't want to make themselves or the national government look bad to foreigners. Despite this distrust, there is hospitality. A woman in an effected village managed to make tea for the reporters.

I get home and set down GTA. I go to my computer and read more about the earthquake. I at least owe it to the victims to know what's happening to them.

Niko Bellic the Skizophrenic

2008-05-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

Grand Theft Auto IV
Sandbox,Action PS3
Rockstar, 2008

So my friends are over and we're playing this game. One of them asks, "why did he shoot that guy?" No less than 3 people in the room say in unison, "because that guy's a cop."

Yeah, you know which game I'm talking about. The infamous Grand Theft Auto IV. Yes, yes, yes. GTA this, GTA that. I apologize for adding my 2 cents to the unavoidable pile of internet coverage for this game. But what can I say? It's compelling.

From this series, aside from GTAIV, I've only played GTA3. Back then, things were simpler. 3's player character was a thug with no name and no personality. It was easy to imagine that guy walking down a street on his way to the next bank robbery. Then "click." He's off on a rampage shooting cops and running over civilians.

Thinking back, that's what GTA3 was for me. Two distinct games. On the one hand, you have the story-based single player campaign leading our nameless thug through the gangs of Liberty City. On the other you have the morbid, sandbox, party, rampage game, called "how many stars can you get?"

Not much has changed three games later in GTAIV. I'm sure you're all very familiar with it. I don't actually own IV yet. The play session I am about to transcribe was played on my friend's copy of the game. "I'll buy it when I get around to it," I tell him.

We load the game up on my PS3. It slaps us with a mandatory install. Some obscure electronic beat music comes on over the progress bar.

"I gotta show you this YouTube video," I say. And off we go to my laptop on the other side of the room. 10 minutes later the TV is shouting at us, "F**K YOU B****ES!" The game decided to start up without user input after the install was complete. My friend and I run over and plop ourselves onto the couch. Our "pleasant" aural greeting is now complimented with an even more "pleasant" sight. If you haven't played the game, I don't want to spoil it for you. But if you're a parent, naive enough to not know what kind of game you've just bought for your kid, now's the time to regret it.

So here we are, GTA IV. After the opening cinematic I get to drive a car to a wave point. Nothing different from 3. Well except Niko Bellic. He's got quite a background. Coming to America from some Eastern European country. He wants to make a new start. He speaks of violence in hushed tones. "We've all made mistakes," he confesses to his cousin, Roman.

After that rather insightful speech into Niko's past, I realize this is the first time I'm left alone in the game to do whatever I want. This is GTA after all so I do what comes naturally: I punch the nearest pedestrian. A wanted level and depleted life bar later, I pause and feel weird about my emotions.

Now let's get some facts down about how I play video games. I'm the guy who wants the full 100% of the experience that a game developer has so carefully orchestrated for me. That conversation in Half Life 2 between Alyx and Eli? I'm the guy who attentively follows the characters around the room, positioning the camera so that all the characters are on screen. Lest I miss any subtle character interaction or carefully animated facial expression. What kind of person jumps around these scripted scenes, throwing physics objects at the characters their first time through the game? Oh wait, all of my friends do that.

I often find myself carefully trying to "act" like Gordon Freeman "should" when I play Half Life 2. Trying so hard to avoid breaking the fragile bubble of immersion Valve creates for me.

Yet it was so ironic that I found myself admiring the depth of Niko Bellic's character only to shatter any immersion I had in the game by going on a mini rampage. Not long after, I arrive at perhaps GTA IV's most novel mission type. The date. So novel that I ignore cousin Roman's request that I fight off some loan sharks. I just bought a new pair of pants for this date, no way I'm getting blood on them.

GTA's traffic and driving being what they are, I manage to arrive for the date with blood on the hood of Niko's car. And the date doesn't notice. My friend and I have a good laugh about it. GTA has arrived at this uncanny valley of player actions. The more realistic and detailed they make Liberty City and the more stuff they allow us to do, the more we notice what they don't let us do.

The next mission challenges Niko to chase down and unavoidably kill a loan shark. Niko seems to regret it a bit. "There are no clean starts," he tells Roman on the way home, "we all pick up new baggage every day." Wow. But blah blah blah, who cares about all that character and emotion crap, another friend has arrived. This play session has officially turned into a party. And as a good party host, I need to entertain. Despite investment in the storyline and sense of immersion, I make Niko steal a car and run people over. And thus begins our round-robin game of "who can get the most stars."

"Oops, probably shouldn't stand in front of a car on a freeway." "Wow, you can fling yourself through windshields now." "Can you steal bikes? Awesome." "Kill that cop, get some stars, what are you waiting for?"

In the middle of all this, I notice that Niko's just lost a reputation point with Roman. Apparently I missed one of his calls while stealing a cop car. Oh well, Dr. Bellic's personal relations are going to have to wait. Mr. Niko is trying to have fun.

Dreamfall: The Longest Rollercoaster

2008-05-07T22:41:00.001-05:00

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Adventure, PC
Funcom, 2006

A little background detailing my experience with this franchise is in order. I bought The Longest Journey a few years or so after it released. Dabbling in some of the shining gems of Lucasarts' golden years put me on an adventure game high. And suddenly, out comes this critically acclaimed adventure game completely bombing at retail. So perhaps the purchase was motivated by sympathy. Regardless, I brought the game home and used its half a dozen CD's to place its, then rather unwieldy, 1GB girth onto my, then considered small, 20GB hard drive.

I ended up falling in love with the storyline. Now don't get me wrong, the game had its flaws. For one, it had atrocious graphics. It also happened to follow the adventure game nomenclature of oftentimes ridiculous puzzle solutions. Not as bad as the worst in the genre, but enough to give me reason to stop playing the game for short periods. Despite how hard it was on my eyes and mind, I soldiered on and the game found it way into a special soft spot in my heart.

Playing Dreamfall has really convinced me game reviews need to move away from scores. I know that'll probably never happen, considering how much people like immediate satisfaction. People like those numerical symbols that categorize games as either perfect or trash. It really is easier to glance at a score than to read paragraph after paragraph of this... text-stuff.

Despite scoring a "dismal" 75 on Metacritic, I managed to enjoy Dreamfall. Shocking, I know. How can someone enjoy a FLAWED game? As a certain Escapist employed, Australian, comedy internet videogame reviewer put it, "I don't believe in complex opinion being represented numerically."

If I could quantify enjoyment(something I honestly am not going to do here) I'd probably rate this game more than a 75. Maybe an 90 or so(OK, I just did it, sorry). But wait a 90 doesn't reflect the game's flaws at all. I could say that it gets a 60 animation wise. It gets a 40 for its premature action and stealth sequences. But if you want to talk production values, the art direction probably gets an 90 - and so on and so on until we've compiled a big list of numbers. We can then average those numbers into one arbitrary, bigger number everyone can glance at while they ignore everything I'm typing here.

I'm sure I can overlook the fact that they forgot to hire a professional 3D animator if the gameplay is fun. I mean, that's what games are all about. Except the game plays like it's trying to single handedly appeal to both modern gamers with preferences for action games, and console gamers that need simplified controls. Feats that would easily revolutionize the adventure game genre. Unfortunately our friends over at Funcom just don't seem to have the talent.

I've spent a good part of this post bashing the game so let's not forget that I like Dreamfall. At this point I give my friends permission to bash me endlessly for my hypocrisy. I've don't like those JRPG, "SQUEE-NIX" things they worship so much. Stop playing your interactive movie/novels with tacked on turn based combat and convoluted storylines about spikey-haired emo kids saving the world!

I think it's all a misuse of the medium. JRPG's seem to maintain a minimal amount of interaction between the player and the narrative being spewed forth by endless, controller dropping, "let's go make a sandwhich" cinematics.

Yet here we are. You've all caught me red handed playing a game just for the storyline. I admit it. I'm closing my eyes and covering my ears and screaming "lalala" through every stunted action and stealth sequence so I can watch emo girls whine about having no purpose in life. Then save the world.

The storyline really isn't that bad. It's like Sci-Fi and fantasy at the same time. It'll gel with anyone who's ever done some soul searching. The characters are lovable. I just really hope Funcom isn't so occupied with Age of Conan that they forget Dreamfall: Chapters.