Casual Game Design, Chapter 2 (Gregory Trefry).

Casual Game Design, Chapter 2 (Gregory Trefry).

Intro

Hello and welcome back to my blog.

I’ve been feeling under the weather for the last 1-2 weeks, so I ceased updating the blog.

Now I’ve fully recovered I plan to update weekly on weekends, starting today.

The Book

Last week I read the first and second chapters in Gregory Trefry’s book, Casual Game Design.

The book focuses on designing games that appeal to large audiences, many of which may not have played games before.

The end of the chapter focuses on refining an existing concept, and the process of designing the levels for your game.

Design the Levels

In this section Trefry lists some level design guidelines, and explains how to go about them. Below I have broken down the guidelines into individual quotes, and interpreted what Trefry is saying.

Be Empathetic

Trefry says, “First-time designers mistakenly take level design as a contest between designer and the player. The ethos seems to be, ‘But can you beat this!?’ This is the wrong approach.”

By this Trefry is saying that newer level designers often try to create levels that actively defeat the player; as though playing the game is some kind of bloody gladiatorial contest. Indeed I have seen an approach similar to this in the later levels of the platformer Super Meat boy. The later levels of the game are designed to absolutely challenge the player, and force them to use all their skills in order to succeed.

The next few quotes tie heavily into the agile software development process, Scrum, and its User Stories. (A user story is a way of breaking down the mechanics and actions of the game into ‘stories’ which the player would like to experience. E.g. in a platformer, ‘The player will want to jump.’

“You need to be able to put yourself in the position of the player, and see the game through their eyes.” “They don’t know all the tricks and secrets hidden in the level.”

“But then you must also ask yourself, what would the players like to do? What will make them enjoy the level?”

Here Trefry is simply saying that the player must use empathy to experience the level and game from a new players point of view. This is after all, the audience who will be playing the game.

“They want to win. Your challenge is letting players do that without letting them see that you let them win.”

Trefry is saying that player’s ultimately want to win the games that they play. I think this is even more crucial for casual games, since the audience will not be used to failing at a game, and so may instantly give up playing it.

If you can’t beat the level then it is waaaaaaaay too hard

“As a general rule of thumb for causal games I feel the designer should be able to beat early levels in a game with one arm tied behind his back.”

As you can see, the first level in Super Meat Boy takes literally under 5 seconds to complete. The player can make two small jumps to reach the central platform or they can wall jump using the left wall and complete the level extremely quickly.

"It’s entirely possible to design a level that is unwinnable by setting a goal score too high or a jump too far. You have to be able to play through your level from beginning to end and prove it’s winnable."

Trefry is demonstrating that it is absolutely essential for the designers to play through and complete every level in their game, to prove it is possible. This example reminds me of the Validate feature in the Track Editor mode of Trackmania 2: Canyon.

Once the player creates a custom track, they must press the ‘Validate button (Looks like a flag) in order for the track to be playable online. Once the button is clicked the player will be teleported to the start of their track, so they can race it from the beginning to the end to prove it is possible. This simple system prevents people uploading broken tracks, that are physically impossible to race on.

Design for the General Audience not the Hardcore

“You need to take their demands into consideration, but like democracy you need to answer the majorities needs first.”

“The large majority of your casual audience is not hardcore. They want challenge in the order of an invigorating hike, maybe some light scrambling over rocks. They don’t want to scale a 100ft cliff, covered in ice.”

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a platformer that satisfies both parties. The game features two help systems, Hint TV, and Super Guide, that greatly aid players new to the franchise, or gaming in general.

The first system is called Hint TV. Carefully positioned throughout the game are a number of small TV screens. Once approached the screens show a small gameplay clip, showcasing a new mechanic in the game, such as a new power-up. Newer players can watch these TV’s to gain valuable information on how to complete levels, and use Mario’s various abilities. Experienced players can avoid the TV’s if they so wish, and figure out the game’s new controls and power-ups for themselves. This system benefits both casual and hardcore players.

 

The second system, Super Guide, has a more pronounced effect. If the player dies a fixed number of times in any level, a character appears and offers to play the level for you, while you watch. The caveat of this is the player only “earns” a bronze star at the end of the level, rather than the normal golden star. This system allows a new player to watch the computer player’s, pre-recorded actions, showing how to pass certain obstacles, and how to utilize items and abilities. Once the Super Guide has finished a run, the player can re-play the level at any time via the map screen and go back into the level to earn the full reward, the golden star.

Ease players into the Game

Ease players into the game. Introduce one element at a time.”

“Since players must spend so much energy learning the game in the first few levels, don’t overwhelm them by making them learn tricky levels too.”

Super Meat Boy is a very challenging game, but it also eases the player gently into the experience. Indeed, the first 1-3 levels in SMB are incredibly easy, and virtually anyone gamer or not, can complete them.

The early levels introduce one mechanic at a time, beginning with jumping.

Next progressing to wall jumping up simple spaces to gain height.

 And finally moving onto sprinting and jumping, which allows the player to jump further.

Don’t forget to challenge players

“Without a bit of challenge, the game will lose all sense of vitality, devolving to no more than an exercise.”

“Sometimes challenge means making players actually lose a level, just to remind them they are playing a game and keep them on their toes.”

Build levels around a central concept

“The best levels are concise and clean. They focus on one central idea, running through different elaborations on that idea.”

“Focusing on one idea will help you find the core idea of fun in the level and help you polish that to a shine.”

Teach players to play the level

“A level should offer signals to the player that indicate how to approach the level.”

“If your game requires a particular kind of wall jump, set up similar structures for the wall jumps in the easy and hard parts. In this way players will begin to recognise what action they should perform to pass difficult spots.”

Give players room to explore

“Levels that introduce a new feature should focus on teaching the player the basics of using the feature. Completing the level should require the player to interact with the new feature in some basic and straight forward way.

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, the player gains access to the Cloud Suit power-up early on in the game. The suit allows the player to create up to three platforms in mid-air. Once the third platform has been created the suit disappears, and must be re-acquired in the level to be used again.

To finish the earlier levels the player need only create a simple set of platforms to take them to the level’s star.

“The first interaction teaches players the basics, the second teaches them to creatively apply their new tools.”

In later levels, players must combine Mario’s advanced acrobatics, (back flipping for extra height, long jumping for extra distance), in conjunction with the cloud suit to reach out of the way platforms, to eventually nab the star. The green laser walls knock you off the cloud to your death.

 

Occasionally break your own rules (carefully)

“The occasional shift in the patterns of the game can surprise and delight your player.” “It keeps the gameplay fresh and enables the player to feel they have creatively applied the mechanics of the game”.

SMG2 uses a ‘comet’ system to vary the level to level gameplay of the game. Every level in the game contains a ‘comet medal’. Once a set number of medals are collected, a comet arrives at a fixed level. The comet applies effects such as; sped up enemies, time limit, limiting Mario to one health, and shadow Mario clones. The clones will constantly spawn at the beginning of the level, and mimic your actions. If you stand still the clones will eventually catch up to you, doing damage as they collide.

 

All of these mechanics modify the normal flow of the levels, actively engaging the player with different types of gameplay.

Create a plan

“It’s crucial to outline your level structure. Layout where you think you will introduce new concepts, power-ups, enemies and content to the game.”

"Outlining the whole game helps you craft the overall experience of the game, progressing the game in complexity and difficulty. It will also help you see which elements you are using too often and which you are ignoring.”

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this entry about Trefry’s casual game design book and the information in contains. All being well I should be updating at least once per week every weekend.

Books Referenced

Casual Game Design, Trefry, 2010

Games Referenced

Super Meat Boy, PC/Xbox 360, Team Meat

Trackmania 2, PC, Nadeo

Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii, Nintendo EAD

Remediation Between Gaming and Film

NB. Major spoilers will follow to the plot of the film Run Lola Run, in order for me to talk about it in detail. I therefore suggest that anyone reading this should watch the film before reading this blog entry... (I will also describe plot elements from other films, most notably, The Matrix Trilogy and the more recent, SuckerPunch).

Remediation is a concept I had come across before, in several different mediums without being aware of it.

Remediation is "the representation of one medium in another..." (Bolter Jay, Grusin Richard, 2000, Page 45). A simple example of this is taking a feature, a time limit, from one medium, gaming and applying that into another medium, film, in the form of Run Lola Run.

In this case I will focus on remediation between films and video games. Many other kinds of remediation exist, scrolling TV news tickers emulate internet news sites, the fundamental rules of perspective of 3D shapes on a flat plane used in many current video games, were created in the Renaissance, centuries ago.  Some video games are in fact based directly on existing movie or book franchises.

These games are sometimes referred to as "movie tie-in games" when the game releases at the same time or shortly after the film. If these games are rushed to retail to meet the films deadline, then it is possible a decline in quality will follow. A well known example of a game based on a movie held in high regard by gamers and critics alike, is the N64 FPS game Goldeneye. This game was eventually released several years after the film that prompted it, thus leading to a dramatic overall of the gameplay features, likely increasing the games overall quality.

Anyway, onto how Run Lola Run uses Remediation from video games...

Run Lola Run

This was a very interesting film, and an excellent example of remediation in action. In this case, elements common to gaming, were taken and used in a film, which creates quite a unique experience. (We watched the film in German, with English subtitles).

Before I talk about the different elements which were inspired by games, I will first cover the bare bones plot of the movie, to give my writing some much needed context. The plot involves Lola and Mani trying to repay gangsters the £20,000 they accidently left on a train. Mani is contemplating armed robbery to get the money he needs to pay the gangster that employed him. Lola’s goal is to get to Mani, who will only wait 20 minutes before robbing the shop. The film has a number of unexpected twists, which I will describe below.

Time Limit

Perhaps the most obvious instance of remediation is the 20 minute time limit that Lola has to save Mani, before he tries to earn the money needed by robbing the nearby shop. Time limits are a common element in most older video games. A few notable examples are Space Invaders, Sonic 1,  and Mario Brothers Donkey Kong. In Space Invaders the player gets a Game Over if the spiky blue aliens reach the bottom edge of the screen. In Sonic 1, and the other original Genesis games, each level has a time limit of 10 minutes. Once this time limit is reached, Sonic loses a life and will be reset at the last checkpoint.

The film itself really seemed to have a large element of tension, since we, the audience, know that Lola is constantly running out of time to achieve her aim of saving Mani. Every time she is delayed, we wince, as we know that it costs her precious time, and consequently brings Mani closer to committing the crime and suffering the consequences.

Which brings up to the next element the film borrows from games, if Lola fails, in her task of Mani saving within the 20 minute time limit, she gets extra...

Lives

Lives. Lola seems to have multiple lives to achieve her goal. Lives are a tried and true gaming concept dating back to games like, Donkey Kong Space Invaders, and Pac Man. It seemed like a novel, clever idea to continue the film in this way. At the end of the first 20 minute run, I was convinced that the film was over, Mani was captured, and Lola was dead...

I will now summarise the key changes that occur in each new life. As I said above, major plot points/spoilers will be discussed in this section. You have been warned.

Attempt 1 - This is the first attempt, which introduces us to Lola and Mani's characters, and the people they interact with in the 20 minute time-frame they have. It sets the scene for the rest of the film, and gives us some idea of what to expect.

Result = Mani is captured; Lola is shot by a panicking policeman and dies. Lola gets another chance to try to save Mani.

Attempt 2 -

Result = Lola managed to rob her fathers business and escape with the money needed. Mani is run over by an ambulance, when running towards Lola. Lola gets another chance to try to save Mani.

Attempt 3 -

Result = Lola manages to win most of the money needed in a casino. Mani manages to chase down the homeless person who ended up with their money on the train. Mani gets the money back by threatening him with the gun. Meanwhile Lola saves a man in an ambulance.

Eventually Lola catches up to Mani, and is very angry with him, since he managed to get the money himself, and she went through all that distress for nothing. (Frankly I was surprised that Lola didn't leave Mani, after all her efforts were for nothing. The film broke so many conventional ideas, that I was almost disappointed that it had a conventional, "happy ending").

Overall I greatly enjoyed watching Run Lola Run! It seemed like a well made, thought out film, which I'd happily recommend to friends.

Another example of remediation from gaming to film is the well known sci-fi franchise the Matrix trilogy.

The Matrix Trilogy

Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix

The Matrix Trilogy is another good example of remediation in action. Video games have often tried to change and manipulate the laws of reality, gravity, physics etc, in gaming. This is exactly what Neo, Trinity and Morpheus do while inside the Matrix. They bend and warp the rules to suit themselves. This allows them to react and fight with super-human speed, run up and along walls, jump massive distances, and even fly. In addition to this, characters can enter a state known as "Bullet Time" where time slows down to the point where they can see and dodge individual bullets. As the trilogy progresses Neo becomes progressively more powerful and gains new abilities, in much the same way a video game character would level up in an RPG. Indeed by the end of the second film, The Matrix Reloaded, Neo is able to exhort some control of his abilities in reality, although this takes a terrible toll on his physical body.

Suckerpunch

Suckerpunch Trench Battle

Suckerpunch is a recent action/adventure film and perhaps the most recent example of remediation in film. Large segments of the film take place in the main protagonists mind, and these are the bits which use remediation heavily. Below I shall describe some of these segments, and relate them to games I have either played, or have knowledge of.

One futuristic section of the film is set on a fast moving train, where the characters must get to and disarm a bomb before it reaches a massive city and detonates. This segment is highly reminiscent of the first Gears of War game. In Gears 1 the main protagonists are using a train to transport a bomb to an enemy base. In both cases, the characters must fight multiple enemies on the train, in order to disarm or transport it.

Another segment of the film, involves the characters fighting their way through a futuristic version of WW2-like trenches to reach a military bunker. Once inside the bunker a map must be stolen. That sentence may seem normal, until you consider that the enemy soldiers are not German infantry, but steam powered zombies. The look of these soldiers recalls the Hellgast in Playstation 3's Killzone series of games. One of the main characters also pilots a hulking mech, complete with grenade launchers, machine guns, and jump jets that allow it to fly for periods of time.

Suckerpunch Zombie Soldier   

Helghast soldier from Killzone.

An earlier segment of the film has the main protagonist Baby Doll fighting and overcoming gigantic stone samurai warriors. These warriors wield both conventional weapons such as swords, and spears, as well as shoulder mounted missiles launchers and massively destructive mini-guns. This segment, sans the modern weapons, reminds me heavily of games like Ninja Gaiden, where the player plays as a fast moving ninja master character. In Ninja Gaiden the player fights both human Samurai and demonic enemies, called fiends. The general feel of the fast paced, brutal combat seemed to be replicated in this film.

I think it is also worth mentioning that the overall plot of the film, the girls stealing the 5 items (which they acquire by fighting through epic CGI battle sequences), to use in an escape plan, is similar in structure to many video games. Many video games have the player going on a quest, overcoming challenges to gain x number of magical items. Indeed, the popular Legend of Zelda, series of video games usually boils down to this basic narrative formula.

It was enjoyable to write about some of the films I've seen recently, and show how these relate to gaming.

Thanks for reading.

Bibliography

Jay Bolter & Richard Grusin (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media MIT Press

Examples of Remediation Worth Watching

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright), 2010

This crazy film was based on an even crazier comic. The entire film is packed with hundreds of video game references, everything from on-screen statistics meters, dramatic "KO!'s" to direct uses of video game music. (Legend of Zelda forest theme).

Favourite moment = When Scott confronts his "dark" self. Excellent parody of gaming conventions.

Run Lola Run! (Tom Tykwer) 1998

Favourite moment = When Lola escapes her fathers bank in the second attempt, only to think the police are pointing the guns at her...

The Matrix (The Wachowskis) 1999

The first Matrix film. Favourite moment = When Neo first realises the potential of his powers, and uses them to defeat an enemy agent.

The Matrix Reloaded (The Wachowskis) 2003

The second Matrix film. Favourite moment = Highway chase/battle scene. Lots of fighting on top of and around cars/trucks.

The Matrix Revolutions (The Wachowskis) 2003

The third and final Matrix film. Favourite moment = Neo and Smiths final battle in the rain.

SuckerPunch (Zack Snyder) 2011

A bizarre thriller/action adventure film. Great CGI battle sequences.

Favourite moment = Futuristic WW2 trench battle sequence.

Games Mentioned

Goldeneye (Nintendo 64) Rareware, 1997

Gears of War 1 (Xbox 360) Epic, 2006

Killzone (Playstation 3) Geurrilla Games, 2004

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) Team Ninja, 2003

Enchanted Arrows Design Issues Essay Draft

Enchanted Arrows Design Issues Essay Draft

Introduction

In this essay I shall analyse the design issues myself and the other members of the Enchanted Arrows team faced, when creating a game with a KS1 (5-7 years old) target audience. I shall do this by primarily focussing on the ideas of, Marcos Venturelli and xxxx. The authors xx, xx, and xx offer alternative viewpoints when analysing video games but in this review I will mainly discuss Space of Possibility and Pacing (Venturelli), 2009, Page 1) and xx (). (Insert Name), date, page number).

Enchanted Arrows is a 2D educational spelling game, where the player controls the crosshair of an on-screen archer, and tries to shoot at items on the screen. Once an item has been shot, a stream of bubbles containing letters of the alphabet, appear on screen. The player must shoot the correct bubbles to spell the name of the item, thus clearing that item from the screen. They must repeat this process to clear 3 items, whereupon they can move onto the next level. Every item spelt correctly will give the player 100 points. Any items spelt incorrectly will deduct 50 points from their overall score.

I shall begin by using Venturelli's theory of pacing to analyse major design issues in Enchanted Arrows.

Pacing

Marcos Venturelli defines pacing as "...a concept related to the overall rhythm of the game, the relative speed at which the different moving parts of the system are put in motion." (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). What Venturelli means by this is...

In practise, the main gameplay mechanic of aiming at and shooting bubbles was not as engaging as we hoped. Indeed, the majority of the game consists of waiting for the right letter to fall to correctly spell a word. This problem is compounded by the pattern the bubbles follow when falling onto the screen. Sometimes, bubbles on the left side of the screen, near the archer, will block line of sight to the bubbles on the far right half of the screen. This results in the player having to wait until the bubbles on the left have reached the ground and popped, thus leaving a clear shot to the bubbles on the right.

Space of Possibility

Venturelli defines the space of possibility as "...the collection of all possible actions and outcomes inside the designed space of the game - all actions and outcomes artificially made possible by the system." (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). By this definition, the space of possibility in Enchanted Arrows is incredibly small, since the player can ultimately only carry out two main actions, spelling a word correctly, or failing to spell that word.

Venturelli links this concept to movement impetus, the "will or desire of a player to move forward through a level". (author, year, Page).

Venturelli says "". (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). What Venturelli means by this is...

List of Design Issues:

Main gameplay mechanics simply are not engaging in practise. Most of the game involves waiting for the right letter to fall, to correctly spell a word. This gives the game a very slow pace.

Not enough gameplay variety due to time constraints. Both boss levels had to be cut due to time constraints. This is a shame, since they would have spiced up the gameplay, and let the player take a break from the main gameplay mechanic.

Have to Wait for Letters to fall. (Sometimes letters on the left side of the screen, will block off the letter you need to show on the right side, which is frustrating).

Difficult to tell if the game is enjoyable to play, due to the age group we are creating the game for. What bores us to tears, they may love.

Four separate issues, well that' a start I suppose.

 

Bibliography

Venturelli Marcos, "Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design - A PopCap Case Study", 2009.

Available online at: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MarkVenturelli/20091107/3497/Space_of_Possibility_and_Pacing_in_Casual_Game_Design__A_PopCap_Case_Study.php

P.S. 

As you can see this is an extremely rough draft. I'm still deciding which sources to use other than Venturelli hence the gaps at the start.

Hopefully my draft is on the right track.

Guest Speaker Mike Bambury on Creating Ideas

Two weeks ago I attended a scheduled talk by Mike Bambury, an art director in Sony's London studio. The talk focussed on idea creation, and the methods one could use to create new untapped ideas.

Bambury began by showing us a quick introduction video, showcasing Sony games across different genres, and audiences. The diverse range of games previewed everything from, Little Big Planet 2, to Killzone 3, to several Sony Move titles like EyePet, and Sorcery.

Once the video was out of the way, Bambury began to talk about ideas and the different methods that exist to generate original ideas.

Bambury linked his talk to the author Edward Debono, and in particular, the books, Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step. Both of these books offer different tools for idea creation. Bambury talked us through three of these tools, random entry, concept extraction and lastly, provocation.

Random Entry

The first tool, Random Entry, is simple to explain but intriguing in premise. Firstly the user has to think of two to three random words. The next step is for the user to try to associate these words into a coherent whole, thus forming a random idea for a new game.

Here's an example from the talk. Bambury asked for single words describing a space station located on the moon. Members of the talk shouted out words like, "cold", "empty", "futuristic", and "cheese". The audience participant explained that the moon could be made of cheese, hence the association. Bambury said that the "cheese" example perfectly demonstrated the point of the exercise. He asked how many games are set on a space station, on a moon made of cheese, not many obviously, so the idea is original.

At this point, Bambury showed us the next tool, concept extraction.

Concept Extraction

The second tool, Concept Extraction, involves the user trying to guess the underlining theme behind a stream of words or objects. Bambury gave an example in the talk to demonstrate this. Bambury asked us to tell him the underlining concept of words he was calling out. "Van", "Car", "Plane", "Bus". In this case the underlining theme, the concept we had extracted, was transport. So the game idea would be to make a game based around the different kinds of transport that exist, and do something new with that.

Provocation

The final tool, Provocation, is to simply take an existing idea and turn it on its head.

Here’s an example from the talk. Bambury asked us to list the fundamental aspects of a typical FPS game. We responded with “weapons”, “enemies”, “killing”, “levels”, and so on.

Bambury proposed making an FPS without those fundamental elements, to create a new, original idea. As an avid gamer I have played many examples of the FPS genre, and I cannot think of a single game that tried to remove all of those elements. Games such as Half Life 2, and Halo have integrated near seamless level progression, but you would be hard pressed to find an FPS that at its core, doesn't rely on shooting enemies. (It could be argued that Half Life 2 makes some big strides in this direction, with its focus on puzzle solving and the clever uses of the gravity gun throughout most of the game. But that's a subject for another day, I'm aiming to play Half Life 2: Episode 2 over the summer, and then write a long review about the main game and both episodes).

A practical example of provocation that comes to mind, is the platform game VVVVVV. Now, the fundamental aspect of any platformer is the ability to jump from platform to platform. In VVVVVV, however, your character Viridian cannot jump. Instead he has the ability to reverse gravity at will while touching a normal ground or ceiling surface. This gameplay mechanic results in the player frequently platforming upside down, and changing the gravity constantly in order to progress through the game. To me, this seems like an obvious example of the provocation school of thought, taking an existing idea and reversing it, in action.

Screenshot from VVVVVV

Bambury summarised this section of the talk by saying "Using provocation game designers can come up with new ideas by reversing standard practises." I can definitely see the potential for this tool when trying to come up with new, appealing game ideas.

Overall I greatly enjoyed Bambury’s ideas talk. Best of all, it made me think outside of the box when considering game design, and reminded me just how important that is.

I've decided to buy both Edward Debono books via Amazon and attempt to read them over the summer. Hopefully after reading them I should gain a greater insight into the three tools covered in Bambury's talk.

As always, thanks for reading.

Bibliography

Debono Edward, "Six Thinking Hats", 1986

Debono Edward, "Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step", 1970

Games Referenced

Little Big Planet 2 (Playstation 3) , Media Molecule, 2011

Killzone 3 (Playstation 3) , Guerrilla Games, 2011

Eyepet (Playstation Move) , SCE London Studio, 2010

Sorcery (Playstation Move) The Workshop, 2011

VVVVVV (Steam) Terry Cavanagh, 2010

Half Life 2 (PC) Valve, 2004

Sound Workshops and Foley Sessions

This week our group sound workshop sessions with Mathew Applegate came to an end.

In these workshops Matt told us about himself, his life and his career. He explained sound concepts such as diegesis and non-digesis.

Diegesis and Non Diegesis

In a movie or game, diegetic sounds are caused by a sound source present on the screen. The characters in the world can actually hear the sound.

Non-diegtic sounds are the opposite, the sounds don't exist in the 'world' of the movie or game, only the audience can hear them. These sounds are sometimes used to set the mood of a scene, so the character may have theme music, to clue the audience in on their future If this is sinister music, the audience will realise the character has a dark future ahead of them, but since the character can't hear the music, they have no way of telling that anything is amiss. Narration is another example of non-diegtic sound. Narration is a good method of explaining the situation to the audience without effecting the 'world' or characters in the game or movie.

Opening Shot

Matt taught us the importance of the opening shots of a movie or game. The opening shot is quite simply, the first 5-10 seconds of sound the audience hears upon starting the movie or game. This piece of sound instantly clues the audience in on the atmosphere and mood of the media they are watching or playing. Matt used the example of the Star Wars the Clone Wars animated cartoon, to show the effect of the opening shot. The opening of the cartoon contains a massive amount of information. Classic star wars music plays, along with marching footsteps, and a short burst of the Imperial anthem. The cartoon is aimed at both old and new star wars fans. The quick short, Imperial burst was clearly put there for long time fans, who will know that it signifies how the clone wars ends, and how the Empire begins.

Matt also taught us that sound can describe what size an object is. In Star Wars for instance, the bigger Star Destroyer like clone ship engines make a very deep rumbling sound, whereas the small one man fighter ships make a lighter higher pitched sound.

Other concepts Matt taught us include, room tone, how the size and materials of a room can drastically change the sound output in that room. A simple example of this is, in some FPS games, if you fire a weapon in an open space, say a large cavern, and then fire the same weapon in a small enclosed room, the sounds produced with be very different.

Thematic Music

Thematic music is non-diegtic music, which gives the audience an impression of what the character is like and how they act. In the Star Wars animated cartoon, Anakin Skywalker's theme music, sounds troubled and discordant, reflecting the conflict present in Anakin's future. Internal monologues allow the audience to see what a character is thinking. A reverb is usually added to these monologues so the audience is in no doubt that they are listening to the characters thoughts, rather than hearing them speak directly.

Willhelm Scream

An interesting aside that Matt taught us was about the Willhelm scream. The Willhelm scream is used in a staggering number of movies and games, for comedic effect. The scream sounds cartoony and very unrealistic, so directors and sound designers seem to like adding the scream in as a kind of inside joke. I was amazed at the sheer number of movies I watched that featured the scream. Everything from Star Wars, to LOTR, to Toy Story 3, to Inception. If you think of a movie, it's likely the Willhelm Scream will be present at some point.

Stepping Back

Matt also taught us that in order to properly analyse a movie or game, we as an audience, must step back from the story and sound, and experience it at an entirely different level.

This is particularly difficult in games, since it is extremely difficult to do well at a game without concentrating and being immersed in its world.

Matt recommended using video capture card software to record ourselves playing a game, and then watching it back to analyse it. I plan to try this in the summer, since I've always wanted to record some of my favourite moments in gaming so I can easily relive them.

Foley Sessions

We were privileged to have two Foley sessions with Matt. Foley is the process of creating sounds using everyday objects. It is extensively used in TV, movies and games.

Matt let us create sounds using a large variety of objects. Below I have attempted to list every object I can remember us using, and what sound it created.

Slinky and Plastic Cup = Various laser sounds.

Path Tiles = Scraping sound, sounds like a heavy and a light object being moved depending on which side of the tiles is used.

Frozen Vegetables (Carrots, Cabbages etc) = Bone crunching, bone breaking, alien pods.

Trainers = Very pronounced clear footsteps.

Cloth sheet, Crisp Packet, Bubble Wrap and Children's Toy = crackling fire sound.

Creaky Door = Loud creaking sound.

Normal Door = Quiet low creaking sound.

Movie Light rotated = Horrible creaking sound.

Vending Machine Motor = Loud sound of motor running. Edited to produce engine sounds of big spaceships.

Electric Light = Electrical humming/clicking sound.

Metal Ladder and Metal Pole = Metal tapping sound.

Cushions, Cloth Sheet and Punching/Kicking = Realistic punching/kicking sounds.

It was an awesome experience to both see how foley sounds are created, and to take part in creating those sounds. The Slinky and Plastic Cup left me speechless, when Matt first demonstrated it. Actual laser-like sounds coming out of a toy and a plastic cup combined is quite an experience. I'd heard that if the two objects were put together correctly they could cause the sounds, but I don't think I seriously believed it until I saw it happen.

Conclusion

It's a shame our sound sessions have come to an end so rapidly. Matt was able to bring his passion for sound into the lessons he taught, which made the subject both interesting and enjoyable. I certainly learnt a lot and discovered that sounds are much more interesting than I thought.

I will attempt to analyse the sounds in movies I watch and games I play. As I said above, so far I am mainly noticing the Willhelm Scream, but I suppose that's still a start. :)

As usual, thanks for reading.

References

Star Wars The Clone Wars (George Lucas). 2008

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (George Lucas). 1983

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson). 2002

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson). 2003

Inception (Christopher Nolan). 2010

Christmas Holidays & New Year

Well another Christmas has come and gone, coupled with the start to another new

year.

Christmas

Christmas generally starts to feel less and less special as you grow older, but this year's Christmas and the surrounding days still felt very special to me.

This was mainly due to two main reasons:

The first reason was that I spent the majority of the time with my family. To me the Christmas holiday doesn't really begin until the tree is put up as a family, with classic Christmas music playing in the background. (The Best Christmas Album In the World Ever! Which contains classic songs like 'Happy Xmas', 'I wish it could be Christmas Everyday', 'I believe in father Christmas', A Spaceman Came Travelling', and so on). Unfortunately since we've had the tree many years, some of the lights have begun to stop working. The overall effect of the tree, however, is still very impressive.

 

Christmas itself was a very festive occasion, all of the relatives came round, to eat and drink and be merry. We also played some new board games, beginning with Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Harry Potter Scene It.

Friends

The second reason was that I met up with two of my good friends Mike and Ste, after not seeing them for months due to each of us going to different universities in different parts of England.

The three of us went to Cineworld to see the new Tron film, Tron: Legacy. I found the film to be enjoyable, although in hindsight I wish I'd have watched the original Tron film before seeing the new sequel. That would have given me a different perspective on the movie. I still knew of Tron, mainly from the popular Lightcycle game, which has been re-made in many forms.

After the movie we returned to my house to relax and play some video games. We played our traditional matches of Super Smash Bros Brawl, with me reprising my usual role as Kirby, Mike as Ganondorf, and Ste as Marth or Pit.

After a dozen or more matches we switched to playing Halo Reach, the newest game in the Halo series. Reach is a prequel to the rest of the series, and adds many new multiplayer features.

To begin with Me, Mike and Ste played some online games of Rumble Pit (a selection of free for all gamemodes). Mike had the advantage since he'd played Reach at University with his flatmates. It was the first time me or Ste had played Reach, and we did quite badly until we got used to the differences in Reach compared to the other Halo games. The most obvious difference is the addition of classes called, 'loadouts' in most game modes. Each 'loadout' comes with pre-defined weapons and a single special ability.

These abilities range from; sprinting, active camouflage, jetpacks, a radar jammer and temporary invincibility. Me and Ste really enjoyed trying out the jetpack. Flying around the map was an excellent way to traverse the map, and get the jump literally, on ground dwelling enemies. Unfortunately the jetpack is relatively slow, so the player flying around in the sky is a massive target, and is often picked off from afar for an easy kill.

After a few matches we switched to the new and improved Forge map creation tool, now named Forgeworld.

Forgeworld

Forgeworld allows the player to create custom multiplayer maps by selecting and placing developer created objects onto the game map.

The variety of the objects is truly staggering, the player has near limitless possibilities with the wide range of pieces Forgeworld provides.

To begin with me, Mike and Ste began by exploring the default blank map itself. We were all very surprised by the absolutely massive size of the map itself. Next we spawned in some weapons and vehicles and had a deathmatch of sorts, with Ste taking on the role of making a small base area for us to fight in. Soon the base began to take a different shape, a giant ramp leading to the heavens, an excellent sniping position, to prey on those players, far, far below.

Without me or Mike really realising it, Ste continued developing what soon turned into a racetrack, although not exactly the typical image of a racetrack. Suspended way, way up in the air, with no sides or barriers, it was a very perilous racecourse. Falling off meant restarting the entire course, which became an issue as the course continued to grow.

I hope to record a video of the finished racetrack using Reach's video editing features to be posted in a future blog post. (After the new year we made a second and probably better designed racetrack, so I'll try and post a video of that also).

New Year

I rang in the new year in a quiet way, with my family. We watched Toy Story 3, which I found to be a very entertaining, yet emotional movie, which definitely tugged on my heartstrings.

I don't want to spoil the plot of the movie, so I'll just heartily recommend that you buy the DVD and watch it if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading. :)

P.S. After writing this, I realise how far behind I've managed to fall with my blog posting. I also remembered how much I love the Christmas holiday, and how it's probably my favourite time of year, hence why I got so incredibly sidetracked. Well I plan to update my blog regularly again from now on.