I might just marry the reverend.
:)
This response is also interesting… kind of like ‘Yeah, art games that are good are hard’ – which we all know is true. My take might be that ‘I look forward to seeing them evolve’ rather than ‘Most of the pitches out there suck’…. but at least the dialog is happening!!
Great to hear people discussing the value of games-as-art up on Destructoid! Go go go!
Get achievement points for accomplishing things in real life, right from your iPhone.
This is so Sims that I am almost experiencing deja vu. Game->Life->Game->Life….
Last night we had an IndieCade meeting at the house and as part of the work, were discussing our core values as an event. In touching on our “is” and “isn’t” lists I randomly suggested that we are “not gameists” – in that we don’t define what’s viable as a festival participant by a particular, pre-concieved notion of game. I said it as a joke, but as we talked it through, it gathered a bit more steam.
I will be pondering this a bit as we head off for the TGC company retreat today. Gameism. What defines gameism? Are you a gameist? Discuss!
Kellee is giving a short talk tonight at Ignite, LA - on the subject of game design. Specifically – why everyone should learn how to do game design – because it motivates people by giving them pleasing things to learn and do!!
So, today after biking home I was thinking about game design (in anticipation of her talk) and realized that I had to water the plants out front – as it’s been hot as hell, and they are wilting.
Prior waterings have been filled with frustration – mostly due to our crappy old hose and spray attachments, which required all sorts of work to untangle and use. This weekend, however, I decided to splurge and replace both the hose and spray attachments, and bought this:
In short: IT FUCKING ROCKS!!!
So – if you do any gardening you know that watering is necessary, at times – but boring as hell. Unless you have someone to spray – like young children (ahh, remember those family carwashes??) or helpless pets (sorry Mika!) it’s mostly about trying to control the amount of water that’s blasting out of the nozzle w/o cramping your hand.
Enter the Dramm Revolver – which comes with 9 settings (just like the fancy shower heads we use on ourselves!!) including: Fan, Cone, Center, Jet, Mist, Soaker, Flat, Angle, and Shower. Yeah yeah, I can hear you out there – sighing out loud and thinking this is a useless set of choices but my friend, YOU ARE WRONG!
Now that I can choose between a light mist, a full soak with hardly any outward force (great for watering hanging baskets!), angled streams (save your wrist – aim straight but spray at 60 degrees), and so on – each element on the front porch was a new challenge – a challenge I COULD WATER WITH GLEE!
Thus begins my new sometimes-post series: I LOVE YOU, GAME DESIGNER! The designers of the Dramm Revolver have transformed a tedious chore into a fun game that I can play against myself (use the most obtuse setting for the most boring chore, for example) – and now – other people in my household. That’s right, Juli – you’re going to have to out-water me next weekend.
:)
Three cheers for good design! It makes everyday chores fun, makes you feel smart – and motivates you to try to improve. WOOTS!
Petri has posted a time-lapse video of his desktop, taken over the course of his last prototype.
Bonus: you can download the game now and play it for yourself!
Mega Bonus: you can play the rest of the “unexperimental shooter” games too! 2D strikes again!
Early this September, I’ll be heading over to the UK to speak at dConstruct in Brighton. This excursion, a talk at UX and potentially Picnic, as well as a visit with Gonzalo in Uraguay (November) will give me an opportunity to continue the thread on UI and play activity that I began earlier in the year with my GDC Micro Talk on game layer designs for HOME.
While developing the ideas for that talk, I had the opportunity to speak at length with folks all over – from Imagineers to academics to developers – and beyond. This trend continued – as conversations about the design of public space are incredibly engaging to people from all walks of life, and central to the ongoing debate about regional development, public transportation, economic trends and ethical consumer behavior.
In the past, I’ve blogged about Christopher Alexander (I still read Timeless Way every year or two) and Jane Jacobs, and Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality. Now, I’m looking into books that explicitly focus on the design of entertainment landscapes: theme parks, urban entertainment centers, and the like.
This reading frenzy began with Designing Disney, which Warren got me on our last trip to the park here in Anaheim. Walking the ‘Land, talking about its design is always fun – but was amplified by his encyclopedic knowledge of Disney lore. And, as he suggested – there’s a wealth of information in Hench’s book which makes it essential reading for any game designer.
Digging around in leaf-node literature on park and entertainment construction – I’ve found interesting nuggets in unlikely places – like Developing Urban Entertaninment Centers – a late 90’s adver-book on “category killer”, megaplex retail design by the Urban Land Institute. While creepily capitalist in its language, the scholarship within it is sound – echoing theories that Jacobs, Alexander others presented decades ago. What’s more – it contains a lot of the same arguments for iterative design that you see in traditional game design tomes. (For a special treat – try replacing the phrases like “destination” and “retail” with “MMO” and “boxed-game”):
In large part, the distinctiveness of a destination development derives from the design of environments that create a sense of place for patrons and a strong presence for tenants. Rather than the predictable interior courts and shopping corridors that characterize malls and retail centers, destination developments have reintroduced the streets, piazzas esplanades and variations in facade that are the sine qua non of great cities…
…There is greater complexity in shaping the distinctive environments that define destinations. Developers must address the individual demands of retail and restaurant tenants for a wide variety of presentations that permit street front access, strong brand identity, and multilevel spaces. Creating engaging public places and overall identity and sense of cohesiveness while trying to meet competing tenant demands not only requires a skillful development team but a whole new approach to design.
Developers of destination projects engage in an interactive design process, adjusting and readjusting plans throughout the predevlopment stage to address the various requirements of tenants percieved consumer preferences, the particular demands of the site and often the standards set by public codes.
The soft costs associated with creating the sense of place that contributes to a project’s distinctiveness are considerably higher than those for the formula-like configurations of malls and shopping centers. In addition to the design costs related to an iterative process, the design team often is expanded to include scenographic artists, landscape achitects, special effects designers festival planners, graphic artists and branding consultants.
The hard costs associated with common spaces, tenant facades and store interiors are also higher than those for other forms of retail development. A central challenge in making these projects economically feasible therefore becomes the assignment of costs among the developer, the tenants, the public sector and in some cases even the corporate sponsors. Most of the forerunners in creating destination projects have seen these costs pay off in increased rents and sales.
In other words – when it comes to user interface and experience design, you get what you give. We really believe this at TGC – and design accordingly.
I happen to believe that presentations follow the same input/output model applies to presentations – so I’ll be thinking a lot about these ideas over the next two months! Have suggestions on books I can dig into along these lines as a I prep for my talks? Call, text or email me. I’m game!
… from his trip to Develop – where he spent some time talking to folks about the benifits of “soft fun” and emotional gameplay:
“Most games provide only primal feelings—and in general, power fantasies,” said Chen. “I loved these feelings when I was younger, but as I get older, I start to wonder about the other feelings I can have.”
The evolution of games experimenting in a larger emotional spectrum was something Chen hoped would be analogous to the early film industry. Originally fixated on thrilling the audience with footage of speeding trains, as the audience grew it became necessary to offer more involved and subtle productions.
“This is a time when user experience innovation has much more potential to develop video games than technical,” explained Chen. “If the feelings that you provide in your game are unique, then your game will be unique.”
As advice, Chen offered some lessons he had learned from the development of Flower, such as the discovery that in the attempt to make a “fun” game, the team had blunted the emotional impact.
“Sometimes hard fun is your enemy,” said Chen, “but it’s too easy to try and make a hard, fun game, as it’s almost all we know.”
Instead, developers are going to have to look at games as art if they want them to be treated as such, he said. Though Chen admitted that this was a topic about which many in the industry are “jaded,” he concluded that it was important that designers think as deeply about “what they wish to share with the audience,” as an artist would.
“Artists draw on their life and time, and reflect on that,” he said. “As designers, we have to think about what we want to share with our audience, what we want to tell them, otherwise we’re only wasting their time.”
Jenova also acknowledged our new project, which continues to develop these ideas – and gave a special shout-out to Sony for all their support and encouragement. Yay!
Dylan aka Jega’s new record drops today! Check it!
Described as the Stanley Kubrick of electronic music, having not released an album in 9 years, Manchester’s Dylan Nathan a.k.a. Jega is finally set to release his brand new album “Variance” on the Planet Mu record label. In 2003 a draft version of the album was leaked onto the Internet forcing Dylan to return to the drawing board and re-write vast chunks of the material. Since then factors outside music have meant Jega’s relocation from Manchester to New York and now LA, where he currently resides, and the delay of the project even further. The resulting double album, 18 tracks spread over two CDs, bears little if any relation to the leaked material of so many years back.
Fans in the know may have heard a sneak-preview on the BBC a few months back – and all will be happy to get their hands on the full range of tracks. Ups, Jega!!!
From a post that Butcher recommended in response to my comment that last week’s Economist was depressing as hell.
I want to direct the attention of those in the US finance industry to a white paper written by Themis Trading, called “Toxic Equity Trading Order Flow on Wall Street.” Basically, they outline why volume and volatility have jumped so much since 2007; and it’s not due to the credit crisis. They estimate that 70% of the volume in today’s markets is from high-frequency program trading. They outline how large brokers and funds can buy and sell a stock for the same price and still make 0.5 cents. Do that a million times a day and the money adds up. Or maybe do it 8 billion times. It requires powerful computers, complicity of the exchanges (because the exchanges get paid a lot), and highly proximate computer connections. Literally, the need for speed is so important that to play this game you have to have your servers physically at the exchange. Across the river in New Jersey is too slow. Forget Texas or California. This is a game played out in microseconds.
The retail world doesn’t get to play. This is a game only for big boys who can afford to pay for the “arms” needed to fight this war. But the rest of us pay for the game, as that half cent is like a tax on transactions, not to mention the increased daily volatility, which skews pricing. Think it doesn’t affect you? That “tax” is paid by mutual funds, your pension fund, and every large institution.
Frankly, this is outrageous. The more I read the madder I got. And it is going to get worse as computers get faster and software more intelligent. We need rules to level the playing field. Themis suggests one simple one: just make it a rule that all bids have to be good for at least one second. That would cure a lot of problems. One lousy second! In a world of microseconds, that is an eternity.
Goldman Sachs went after an employee who stole some of their latest and greatest software this last week. The US assistant attorney general said in the courtroom that the software had the potential to manipulate the market. Imagine that. I am shocked. There is gambling going on in the back room? Gee, commissioner, I had no idea.
All this “algo” (algorithmic) trading also gives a very false impression of volume. If you are a fund and see 10 million shares a day traded, you might feel comfortable that you could hold one million shares and exit your trade easily. But if 80% of the volume is false “algo” trading, that volume isn’t really there. You may have a position that will be a problem if you want to exit, and not know it.
“High-frequency trading strategies have become a stealth tax on retail and institutional investors. While stock prices will probably go where they would have gone anyway, toxic trading takes money from real investors and gives it to the high frequency trader who has the best computer. The exchanges, ECNs and high frequency traders are slowly bleeding investors, causing their transaction costs to rise, and the investors don’t even know it.” (Themis Trading)
We’ve had a lot of discussions about the economy, market and traders/banks at Casa de Roja (as I’m sure many of you have in your own homes). It’s increasingly distressing. We’re trying to save in ernest – but where do you put the money you’re saving? Under the mattress? Maybe I’ll ask the vanners who keep parking at the end of our street where they’re stashing cash. For all I know, it’s safer there…
GGJ has announced the 2010 call for hosts.
This year’s jam will happen from January 29-31, 2010. Host locations need to provide stuff like:
.. as well as security, access to food & beverage, etc.
To sign up your studio/lab/school or get more info email the Jam at: future@globalgamejam.org
Interesting article on teen media habits includes comments on how kids interface with music, games and film as well as news, television and social media like Twitter.
No teenager Robson knew reads a newspaper regularly since most “cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text while they could watch the news summarised on the internet or on TV”. The only newspapers that are read are the cheaper tabloids and freesheets.
His peers are also put off by intrusive advertising so they prefer listening to advert-free music on websites such as Last.fm to traditional radio. Teens see adverts on websites – pop ups, banner ads – as “extremely annoying and pointless,” Robson said. However, “most teenagers enjoy and support viral marketing, as often it creates humorous and interesting content”.
He stressed that his peers were “very reluctant” to pay for music and most had never bought a CD, with a large majority downloading songs illegally from filesharing sites.
Money and time are instead devoted to cinema, concerts and video game consoles. Downloading films off the internet is not popular as the films are usually bad quality and have to be watched on a small computer screen and there is a risk of viruses, Robson said.
What’s interesting is that aside from the comments about Twitter & music, I’d have to say my buying habits are similar. And even those first two categories lag in comparison to other peers, generally.
Maybe I’m devolving?
:)
So – it has been a wonderful, fun-filled and lovely June, and we’re now already well into July. 3 chapters of the thesis are reviewed – and the next batch is prepping for departure. And, of course, TGC is fantastic.
I had my 6 week review today – and can hardly believe it as the time just flew by. It has been the most satisfying, engaging and rewarding 6 weeks I’ve spent working as a developer – and I’m not just saying that to be a warm fuzzy! The team is fantastic, the game is awesome, and each day there are new opportunities to contribute something that helps make both great! One can’t ask for more than that, really.
But – there is more – and his name is Oscar!
Oscar came to us via a friend of a friend… who was visiting the house for Juli’s wonderful birthday celebration. We’d been looking for a playmate for Mika for a while, whose constant antics were driving poor Beverly mad. So – when Elicia mentioned that she had 3 kittens to find homes for – we had a feeling it might work out.
Upon arrival – Oscar was shy, as expected. But within a few days he’d left the bedroom and was happily exploring the house. A few more days of sniffing, growling and skittering… and voila! He and Mika were best buds!!
It’s always amazing how the arrival of a new baby changes your perspective – and with kittens it’s no exception. Suddenly our kitty (Mika) was the middle kid… with all that implies. She looks bigger, seems smarter – and most importantly, has developed a kind of big-sister confidence that radiates from her in just about every way. She’s even started to “escape” from the back yard into the front – where she sits under a bush, being all grown up. That is – until she comes back and prances into the house, to find Oscar nuzzling and waiting to wrassle.
Awww!
Elicia and Patrick were super wonderful people for rescuing Oscar – a wild kitty who literally fought to stay free despite the fact that he was surviving (flea-ridden and worm-infested) on dinners of boiled potatoes or grass. Not only did they have him spayed and chipped – they cuddled and loved him enough to start him on the path to pet heaven. What wonderful, wonderful people!
Three cheers for all the wonderful rescuers out there who have spent evenings after work capturing, fixing and finding homes for strays. That is nothing but good karma, thru and thru.
Having just returned from a trip to SF where we spent a day at the awesome new Academy of Sciences museum – I laughed aloud at this particular trooper pic. But really – there are so many brilliant images that it’s best to just watch the slideshow.
So best!!
Mind bending experience this morning at the Venice Whole Foods – right here on Lincoln and Rose:
I walk into the store and choose a delicious chocolate croissant from the selection at the bakery shelf – and then take my purchase over to the coffee bar, where I attempt to order an Americano. “If I could get it in this (offering my new Not a Paper Cup mug)… that would be great!”
“Sorry,” sighs the beleaguered, sad woman behind the counter. “We can’t serve coffee in personal mugs anymore – it’s a health hazard. I can make your drink in the paper cup, and you can pour it into that cup…. if you want.”
Me: dazed!
“Ok – so let me get this straight,” I say. “In order to purchase a cup of coffee from Whole Foods – I MUST USE A DISPOSABLE PAPER CUP?”
“We don’t make the rules. Sorry.”
I’m not sure if this is just a California thing (you have to sign release forms for just about everything here) or if this is in fact a Whole-chain policy. And I’m too busy to take the time to call them and ask. But I was really, honestly shocked. Laughed out loud in surprise!!
I suppose they could be worried about spreading disease when cups owned by people touch the coffee-making aparatus… But seriously? Really??? Can’t they use an in-between container (see small metal shot pots lined up along the bottom of the mega-spresso machine at your favorite coffee shop) and save a few trees in the process?
I passed on the coffee and walked around the corner to Groundworks – where the energetic and friendy (also kinda hot!) cashier gave me a compliment on my arty coffee container. “Slick! I really like this! Is it porcelain??” Win!!
No more WF coffee for me!
DP’s latest venture could be the solution to piracy and resale that the industry is looking for! Comments in the thread re: performance seem short-sighted. However – it is interesting to think about the implications for “flash developers” as Dave points out in the demo. What would one-click access to AAA games (many man-years invested in the content/scope) do to people’s perceptions of the standard PopCap or iPhone fare?
More importantly – how can smaller, more agile devs take advantage of the opportunity, when streaming finally hits big? If we can create new experiences that also harness the amazing look & feel (and SOUND!) of giga-team games… we might just get to have our cake and eat it too!
:)
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