Less Talk More Rock...

Not sure exactly how much rock it is but here's how my game is going so far:



Credits:
Music is "Fallout 3 'The Fallout of Eli'" by Brynner Agassi, Mazedude from OverClocked ReMix (http://www.ocremix.org)
Everything Else: Me

Babylon 5 - A Lesson for Game Designers

In a break from talking about games I'm instead going to talk about my favourite science fiction show. I started watching Babylon 5 late at night on channel 4 when the show first aired, I can't remember a time or day of the week it used to air but I remember much of the show. I caught episodes here and there on Bravo when it was re-run years later. What sticks in my mind most from those early memories is Londo and G'Gar, their arguments with each other but yet the camaraderie between them both. I was young when I first watched it(about 8 or 9 I'd guess) so my memories from then aren't as clear as I wish they were, that's why earlier this year I started watching the series again.

To fill people in on the series; it was created by J Michael Straczynski(JMS) and first aired in 1993, it was set aboard a space station, Babylon 5, designed to bring peace to the galaxy by getting the major races to talk. Babylon 5 creates excellent characterisation and a real sense of diverse alien cultures. The show has massive plot arc's which spans from season 1 all the way through to season 5, although the majority of the action occurs in Season 4. By the time the end comes the viewer feels like they've been on a journey, that they've experienced part of this amazing universe. JMS recently spoke at new york comic con and hinted at a new series or movie for the 20th anniversary.

I saw the last episode tonight - all 5 seasons, 22 episodes each and 42 minutes an episode or about 2 working weeks in all. I won't say it was always brilliant, I won't even say it was always good but when it got things right it was perfect. "The Fall of Centauri Prime" towards the end of Season 5 is probably the highlight of the entire series for me. I think the reason why the episode appeals to me so much is because by this stage in the series I was heavily invested in Londo's character. In it he is broken, forced to make a decision that no one should have to make, its believable and genuine. I felt empathy for his situation, I questioned what I would do, how he would cope, what it would mean for his people, I genuinely cared. I cared more about Londo and the Centauri than I have ever cared for anyone or anything in a videogame. It's not that I believe games can't express such complex emotions, in fact I believe games should be a better medium for exactly this kind of scenario, purely because I would have some agency, some say in what happens. It will happen in a game someday, and soon I hope, the technology is there just not the will from the major studios it seems.

Now if you don't mind I've got a date with Costume Quest and Tim Schafer will be pissed if I miss it... interesting designer to bring up in this post perhaps!

Neptunes Pride - Galactic War in a Persistent Online World

Neptune's Pride is multiplayer strategy game set in a persistent online world, a single game will generally take in the region of 2-6 weeks. I played a game that lasted just over 2 weeks and finished at the end of last week so after taking some time to gather my thoughts I figured I'd share them. The game has a set of starting resources for each player: Economy, Industry and Science. Economy produces credits which in turn can be used to buy upgrades for your stars, Industry produces ships, although you'll need to pay for a super carrier to travel between worlds, and Science develops better, more powerful technologies. That's essentially the entire game- no ship classes, no population, no space stations.

In a confrontation a defender has initiative and +1 to their weapon skill which makes it difficult to defeat even weaker players who have stockpiled sleets at a few key worlds. The game removes much of what's expected from modern strategy games to provide a simple game that forces strategic thinking and player collaboration. Initially the game can be slow moving due to a lack of starting resources but factions seem to reach a critical mass after 3 or 4 days when they start having enough resources to test their neighbors and explore further from their space. After the first week players are at each others throats; forming alliances, attacking nearby stars and trading technologies.

In the game I played the map was a spiral galaxy with 8 players which was good and bad- it was perfectly balanced as everyone has the same relative positions, however this had the effect of creating an initial stalemate as no one was backed in a corner or had fewer resources than others. We had 2 players that were less active than the rest which was a big obstacle in the end due to the sheer amount of ships built up on their homeworlds. Myself and the blue player took the initial lead and vied for first place for most of the game, despite my larger fleets. In the end it was the two of us left but he was expanding at a faster rate, he almost had it won until I launched the attack shown below which he couldn't manage to repel. It took a day from launching the attach to winning, we were both quite closely matched so launching that attack allowed me to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. Overall the game allows for a lot of strategy given a simple set of rules, however it can feel slow at the start. Its a great game to play with your friends- especially when you wake up in the morning to find that you've been double crossed and you must now exact your revenge. A few of us agreed to play in a few weeks and a few more friends who had been following along with the game said they'd join in next time too which is a great sign of the game, I'm looking forward to it!

Blue Lacuna Presentation

Blue Lacuna: A Lighter Take on Interaction Fiction

Blue Lacuna is a work of Interactive Fiction(IF) created by Aaron A. Reed and is freely available at lacunatory.com. The game starts gently with a tutorial, using prompts and hints for the first chapter to allow beginners to get to grips with how the game works. The game places an early emphasis on decision making, initially you have to pick a gender for your character, a gender for your partner and finally must must chose to either make love or art. The text informs the player that they are a wayfarer, someone who must travel to new worlds and can never come back to one they have left and that when they hear a call to a new world it is irresistible. After a quick exploration of the starting house players must decide between answering the call to wayfare or staying with their partner. If the player chooses to go they are taken to the island where the game plays out, if they decide to stay they receive a stream of text scenarios requiring player input, however the player can say anything without affecting how this plays out. Eventually the game forces the player to leave this world and answer the call. At the end of the chapter the game asks the player if they want to play in story mode or puzzle mode, the differences between each is the complexity of the puzzles. After this the player arrives on an island and is presented with numerous puzzles to figure out. To play the game interactive nouns and verbs are displayed in blue and green text respectively to make it easy to pick out the action items within a 'room'.

Objectives – The game never poses an objective to the player but through exploration and contact with the sole NPC inhabitant of the island players gain an understanding of their objective. While the overall objective is obscured, the very act of exploring the world will be an objective for some players.

Rules – Players type context sensitive text commands and receive further information on an item or move to another 'room'. While objects that can be interacted with are normally highlighted it is possible to examine other items within the world. Actions can be carried out on the many items and there are a wide variety of verbs that the game will understand when typed within the right context.

Conflict – The main conflict within the game comes from the very nature of the puzzles and the mysteries presented to the players. The conflict comes from finding the solutions or hints to the solutions of these complex puzzles.

Outcome – The outcome of the game and many aspects of it can be altered or changed by the players input. Breaking your leg restricts certain actions, numerous puzzles interact with each other and how the other NPC on the island views you is affected by your actions. In comparison to linear story driven games such as Uncharted 2 this is a vastly different approach, made possible by the choice of a text only interface to the game.

Procedures – The game proceeds by using either nouns or verbs for objects or areas to explore or interact with. During conversation sections the player generally responds to the NPC but may sometimes lead the conversation.

Resources – The only resource within the game is information, to solve the puzzles the player has to explore different areas, the first puzzle requires players to explore and discover the island before they can figure out the solution. There is one item you can pick up but it is just a compass which changes the directions given from object based(Cabin, Forest) to directional based(North, West).

Boundaries – Play is limited to the rooms within the game world. Each room has a set amount of information or items that can be explored before moving on to other areas. You can return to an area later to try find more information if you think you missed something the first time round. A map of the game world is provided in the download.

Blue Lacuna is a difficult game to come to grips with for a player of my generation(SNES onwards) as I've always had the benefit of at least being able to see game worlds and choose what to interact with. Truth be told I came to it with a negative view, seeing interactive fiction as something that isn't really a game, from Blue Lacuna I realised that if you treat it as a game it will return the favour and provide rewarding and often enjoyable experiences. One of the most interesting aspects of this style of game is the branching story and player agency within the world, most objects I could interact with and I never got too frustrated at something that I couldn't interact with in the way I wanted to(Generally in the hopes of breaking the game or exploiting the system). Triple A titles can't manage to compete with a game like this in terms of gameplay outcomes and the repercussions from player actions, the amount of time to program it and to create the art assets required would be insane for the amount of gameplay created. This game leverages the power of your imagination to create vivid and interesting spaces within the game. Overall Blue Lacuna offers something different and very digestible to someone new to the genre and is worthy of its status as a game.