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.

Dig Dug 1500 Word Review WIP

Introduction

Dig Dug is a 2D Pacman-esque movement based game, developed and published by Namco in 1982. The premise of the game is for the player to dig tunnels into the terrain to gain access to enemies. The player must kill all the enemies in a level, using a bicycle pump, to advance to the next level. The game ends when the player loses all of their stored lives.

Game Mechanics

Dig Dug has many different game mechanics that influence the game. Below I have listed each game mechanic, given it a description and then discussed if I think it is a positive or negative aspect of the gameplay.

Digging

Digging is the primary method of moving in Dig Dug. Whenever the player moves underground, they automatically dig. In the player can dig in 4 directions, up, down, left and right. They cannot dig diagonally.

Rocks

Each level in Dig Dug contains large rocks that can be used as weapons against the two types of enemy. If the player tunnels under a rock, it will begin to tremble, and after a few seconds will fall downwards, destroying all terrain and enemies underneath it. The player gets a score bonus when they kill enemies by using the rocks, more on this in the score section.

Enemies

In Dig Dug there are only two types of enemy, the Pooka and the Fygar.

The Pooka is the basic enemy in Dig Dug. It moves through tunnels that the player has created and attempts to kill them by running into them.

The Fygar is a green dragon-like creature. It has the ability to breath a deadly, ranged streak of fire, which passes through terrain. If the player comes into contact with the fire or touch the Fygar directly, they will perish and lose a life.

Both the Pooka and the Fygar have the interesting ability to turn into a pair of evil yellow eye ghosts and float through solid terrain. This allows the enemies to reach and attack the player, even if they haven't dug a tunnel directly to the monsters.

Bicycle Pump

The Bicycle Pump is the primary means of destroying enemies available to the player. Once the fire button is pressed, the pump will fire directly towards the direction the player is facing. If the pump hits an enemy then the player must press the fire button 4 times in quick succession to fully inflate and kill the enemy. If the player pauses during this process, the enemy will quickly deflate, regain movement, and attack the player.

Levels

Dig Dug uses a simple level structure,

Each level in Dig Dug is divided into four coloured sections. These colours represent how deep underground the player has ventured. The deeper underground the player is when they kill an enemy, the larger point bonus they receive.

The game shows both a visual and text based representation of which level the player is on.

 

Score

Dig Dug features a score system that gives the player points for; killing enemies, digging through terrain and collecting fruit pickups. The player gets additional points if they dig under a rock and use it to crush pursuing enemies.

Dig Dug uses a high score system to remember the highest score the player has reached before dying. This score is permanently stored in the games memory, and is shown on the screen at all times. This prompts the player to try and beat their best score.

Lives

Dig Dug uses a simple lives system. The player begins the game with 3 lives, and gains an additional life every time their score increases by 10000. The player loses a life if they collide with; a Pooka, Frygar, Frygar fire, or a falling rock. When the player loses all of their lives, a game over occurs, and the player is sent back to the main menu screen.

Now I have described the basic mechanics of Dig Dug, I will discuss how these mechanics shape the game.

FADT (Formal Abstract Design Tools) (Church Doug, 1999, Page 3), can be used to break a game down into tools. Church finds three useful tools when analysing Super Mario 64, intention, perceivable consequence, and story. All three of these tools can be applied to Dig Dug to analyse the game and its mechanics.

Intention

Intention is the act of the "player making an implementable plan of their own, created in response to the current situation in the game world and one's understanding of the game play options.". (Church Doug, 1999, Page 4). When a player plays Dig Dug they must create a plan of action if they hope to achieve victory over each individually level in the game. This plan of action will change depending on: how many lives the player has remaining, the position and number of enemies on the screen and the pathway of tunnels dug through the terrain. The player must analyse all of these constantly changing game elements and make a plan to respond to the situation.

Dig Dug by its nature, is a fast, cruel game. One moment the player can be setting a new high score and have 3 lives remaining, the next, 2-3 enemies can pass through the walls and surround and kill the player.

Perceivable Consequence

Perceivable consequence is "A clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player". (Church Doug, 1999, Page 4). When the player dies from touching the Fygar's fire, drops a rock onto an enemy, or begins to inflate a monster, the game gives the player a specific, clear reaction. In the case of the Fygar the player will lose a life, when dropping a rock onto an enemy it will immediately flatten it. When the player begins to inflate a monster, it will cease all movement and grow larger.

Story

Story is "The narrative thread, whether design-driven or player-driven, that binds events together and drives the player forward towards completion of the game". (Church Doug, 1999, Page 5).

The design-driven narrative of Dig Dug is almost non existent. The player controls Dig Dug and must venture underground and eliminate monsters. That's the entirety of the design-driven narrative, but it isn't the entire story. The story in Dig Dug is every tunnel dug, every enemy overcome, every cunningly set up rock trap, etc. The story of the game is entirely determined by the player and their actions, thus it is player-driven.

This allows a player to create their own unique story each time they play through the game if they so choose. The smallest decision, such as tunnelling to the left as opposed to the right, can have a profound effect on the story.

Score and Lives

"One Definition  of endogenous is 'caused by factors inside the organism or system'. "Just so. A games structure creates its own meanings. The meaning grows out of the structure, it is caused by the structure, it is endogenous to the structure." (Costikyan, Greg, 2002, Page 22).

Both score and lives have endogenous meaning in Dig Dug. When the player plays Dig Dug they will attempt to get the highest score possible, this is the overall objective in Dig Dug, since the player can never "win" the game. Players start the game with a stock of three lives. Since death can happen very quickly in Dig Dug, lives are extremely precious. The player needs to have lives remaining to keep racking up the score; thus the more lives the player has in stock, the more likely they are to get a higher score.

The key point here is that although score and lives are literally a matter of life and death within the game-space of Dig Dug, they are meaningless and inconsequential in the real world. As Costikyan says "It has no concrete, real-world expression and no value in any context other than the game"(Costikyan, Greg, 2002, Page 22).

Word Count - 1319

Bibliography

Costik.com - A website run by Greg Costikyan that contains academic articles on game design and game analysis that he has written.

Author: Greg Costikyan

Article Name: I have no words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games
Article Year: 2002

Address: http://www.costik.com/nowords2002.pdf

Checked: 2nd December

Gamasutra.com - A website that contains both gaming news and many academic pieces on designing and analysing video games.

Author: Doug Church

Article Name: Formal Abstract Design Tools
Article Year:  1999

Address: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3357/formal_abstract_design_tools.php

Checked: 2nd December

To reinforce what I said above, I'm not at all sure I'm on the right track with the review so far.

I would greatly appreciate feedback on what I've done right, and what I've done wrong and need to change.

If I've completely missed the point of the assignment then I still have time to re-write it from a different perspective.

Thanks for reading my WIP review, hopefully I'm on the right track.

Guest Speakers John Wagland from BBFC and Johnnie Ingram on Machinima

Last Wednesday I attended two different talks from two different guest speakers. Below I will recount my experience of listening to the talks, and discuss the issues they raised.

Intro on the British Board of Film Classification Talk

The first talk was from John Wagland one of the examiners from the British Board Film Classification (BBFC), and was about their purpose, methods and how they classify films and video games. The BBFC have been around a very long time, the organisation was set up in 1912 under the original name of the British Board of Film Censors.

The talk focussed mainly on film classification, but did briefly talk about games.

The BBFC is composed of 16 examiners from wide ranging backgrounds. These are split into two separate teams, one team examines films, and the other examines video games.

Film Classification

Near the end of the talk, Wagland showed us clips from various films, and asked us what age rating we would classify them as, based solely on the clip.

One such film clip was from Disney’s Rocketman film, which was aimed at all audiences (U rating). The clip we were shown was the original intro to the film, in this intro a child is pretending to be an astronaut… using a washing machine as a fake spacecraft. The washing machine starts and the child gets slightly knocked around before it opens. His parents seem to think it’s perfectly normal for him to be doing this.

The BBFC felt that this scene could be harmful to children if they copied the actions from the film. Some of the examiners felt it might have been suitable if the parents had reprimanded the child for the behaviour, since children watching would realise it was a “bad” thing to do. Part of the problem then was that the parents treat the incident so normally, barely even commenting on the child’s dangerous behaviour.

The BBFC ordered Disney to remove the footage, in order for the film to be re-assessed and later re-classified as a U rating. I wholeheartedly agree that child safety must come first, but I also think its a shame they had to cut such a humorous scene. Almost every person in the room seemed to be laughing at this particular clip, which shows that the humour did in fact appeal to all ages.

Game Classification

John Wagland also talked about games and how they are classified.

When examiners play through any game, they are given access to cheats/save states that allow them to easily and quickly experience everything the game has to offer. In this way, they do not play through the entire game from start to finish; instead they sample the mechanics of the game being examined.

Wagland admitted that games sometimes seem to receive harsher examination than film. He attributed this to parents being very concerned with the interactive nature of games. He also cited the repetitive nature of games, since this allows the player to freely repeat violent or offensive sections of the game, whereas in a film, a specific violent action will likely only be seen once in a single sitting.

Interestingly, the BBFC will lose their authority and ability to classify games on April 1st 2011. This change was prompted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, after they ruled in favour of solely using the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) system to rate games and other types of software.

Intro on the Machinima Talk

The second talk was from Johnnie Ingram and focussed on machinima.

The word machinima stems from, machine & cinema. machinima uses games as a tool to tell a story, in this way machinima is essentially the act of making a film within a game world.

Sometimes machinima is created directly within a game engine, with game players acting out different characters in the film in real time. An alternative is for machinima to be created using developer tools such as Half Life 2's model viewer, to view and manipulate character models. A limitation of this method in the case of the HL2 model viewer, is that anyone that has played the game will know all the original HL2 characters being used in the machinima, and so it may feel odd when they see the same character models, acting completely differently to the role they played in HL2.

Brief History of Machinima

The initial machinima videos took the form of recorded instructions within a game, such as a replay. This greatly limited the potential audience for initial machinima, since only those people who owned the game the machinima was made in, could recall the recorded instructions and thus view the film. The very first machinima movie was Diary of a Camper. http://machiniplex.net/classics.php?id=6

In the present day machinima is usually saved as an ordinary video file such as a AVI file. This allows any computer user to view the file as long as they have downloaded the latest media plug ins for their chosen video playing software.

Examples of Machinima

After explaining what machinima was, Ingram showed us two lengthy examples of it in practise.

Firstly we watched "A Warriors Dream", which according to Ingram, was filmed entirely using in-game footage from World of Warcraft (WOW). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5JuypAbBH8

The films premise is that a WOW warrior character falls asleep and has a dream that they are in fact, a shape shifting shaman character. The shaman travels across the world, shape shifting each time he meets a new enemy. Eventually the dream ends, and the warrior wakes up and continues his day to day business of killing monsters.

The second example we watched was a film called Clockwork, which was created using the HL2 model viewer and HL2 assets. http://machiniplex.net/?id=22

Clockwork was made in the style of old black and white films, this really gave it a film noir vibe. The film focuses on a group of gangsters and how one particular gangster decides to attempt to redeem himself as a human being after sinking so low. To say much more would spoil the plot of this excellent piece of machinima.

Moviestorm

Machinima can also be created using specialist software such ash, Moviestorm, Iclone, Muviu, Voovees, Xtranormal and Zencub3d.

Ingram gave us a quick demo of his Moviestorm software. Firstly he loaded up a basic park-like scene, and then created a quick character to be the 'star' of the film. Next he used a microphone to record a basic sentence for his character to say in the software. When Ingram tested the sentence, he demonstrated that Moviestorm featured automatic lip syncing of recorded voice lines. Next Ingram used the Moviestorm interface to make the character give some simple gestures such as waving. Finally Ingram modified the camera settings to create two shots, the first shot shows the character from a distance, the second shot is a close up and allowed us to see the character speaking.

This brief demo showed us that basic scenes could be created very quickly and easily using Moviestorm.

Career of Johnnie Ingram

The final part of the talk focussed on Ingram's career. By his own admission, Ingram has had a very interesting career path. He began by studying Drama and English, dropped English, and then abandoned drama and decided to study films and media. Eventually he applied to a local company via email, and worked with them for a number of years, before applying to Moviestorm. He joined Moviestorm as a software tester, and ultimately he worked his way up the company to a very senior position. One of his new duties is to give talks about; machinima, his career and Moviestorm to universities and students.

Conclusion

I'm glad I attended both events. Each event offered something different, the BBFC talk taught me a lot of interesting information about movies, games and how and why they are rated.

The machinima talk was also very entertaining. Ingram's method of timekeeping was amusing; since he kept overrunning the set period of time each segment of the talk was supposed to last.

Before attending the talk I knew almost nothing about machinima. I'd watched a few episodes of Red vs. Blue a Halo machinima, and a few other random videos online, but that was my entire experience of it. I left the talk with more knowledge than when I entered it, realising that some videos I've watched in the past were actually machinima without me realising it.

This concludes my recount of both talks. Thanks for reading. :)

Films Referenced

Rocketman (Walt Disney Pictures, Caravan Pictures).

Machninema Referenced

Diary of a Camper (United Ranger Films).
Available online at: http://machiniplex.net/classics.php?id=6

A Warriors Dream (Slashdance).
Available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5JuypAbBH8

Clockwork (Amorphous Blob Productions).
Available online at: http://machiniplex.net/?id=22

Red Vs Blue (Rooster Teeth Productions).
Available online at: http://redvsblue.com/archive/?id=88&v=trending