Author: Jackson Wong

The Evolution of Evolve’s Pacing

World Design

In Turtle Rock Studios’ Evolve (2015), the game’s pacing is largely focussed around the Hunters’ tracking, pursuit and confrontation of the Monster, designed to gradually increase in pacing the longer the match continues. Its initial tension is maintained through the simulation of the hunt – the idea of perceived danger, and through the building of anticipation that the Monster could be confronted at any moment.

Each session of the game consists of several subsets of the archetypal three-act structure. The opening scenes of the level depict the Hunters’ banter as they are deployed into the level, featuring unique dialogue that is dependent on that particular combination of characters. This light exposition in the midst of the opening scenes not only reveals some backstory to the player and establishes the scene, but also serves the added purpose of providing the Monster with time to find their bearings.

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The opening scenes of each match carve out some space for character exposition.

Once the stage is set and the players are deployed, the search for the Monster begins, in which the tension begins to rise. There is often very little anticipation of encountering the Monster at this stage due to the initial headstart that is provided to the Monster. Occasionally the Monster may trigger particular cues (such as startling a flock of birds), which assist the Hunters in their search and heighten the anticipation for the fight.

Once the Hunters have spotted the Monster, the pursuit begins, as the players must then get close enough to the Monster in order to trap it. The tempo increases, and urgency between both Monster and hunter increases, though the speed of the movement does not. While a jetpack allows Hunters to scale obstacles with relative ease, the rate at which they use it does not necessarily increase to match it. Despite this increase in both tempo and intensity, such pursuit is often not as tense as it could be, and is often at risk of being reduced to constantly trailing the Monster.

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Trapping the Monster in with the Hunters forces it to engage them in direct combat.

If the Hunters succeed in cornering the Monster, however, the final act of this structure comes to the fore. Getting close enough to it allows the Hunters to deploy a timed dome that traps the Monster within, forcing it to confront them and making the previously implied danger a very real threat. In this circumstance, the tempo of the Monster approaches an all-time high, as the gameplay becomes especially action-oriented until the dome is released, and the Monster can continue fleeing. Each encounter becomes increasingly tense, specifically as the Monster becomes increasingly stronger and hence closer to winning the game by destroying a Power Relay or defeating the Hunters.

 

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Perhaps the pacing could have been improved by increasing the difference in overall gameplay speed throughout the second phase of each match, which would aid in distinguishing the pacing of both the tracking and pursuit of the Monster. Whilst the tempo is still rather absorbing, this tension has been somewhat diminished after its recent changes to a more action-oriented focus.

The Worldbuilding of Star Control II

World Design

The 1992 DOS game Star Control II (by Toys for Bob) chronicles the continuous conflict between the warring Alliance of Free Stars and the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. Taking an outside-in approach to its worldbuilding, the game manages to build extensive amounts of lore to achieve a compelling sense of scale. This worldbuilding is further evidenced and reinforced through the game’s the open-world design, nonlinear storyline as well as its use of randomly generated events.

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Within the Starmap, the player’s position is indicated by a small crosshair, emphasising the sheer scale of the game’s universe.

Firstly, the game features an open-world during play. As a result of the game’s open-ended nature, the game’s outside-in approach to worldbuilding is made clear. After a short amount of exposition and tutorial within the first hour of the game, the player is given complete freedom to explore the remainder of the world. This open gameplay encourages exploration and discovery, as the player is not expected to uncover all of the dialogue, let alone win on their first playthrough. Triggering key events or gathering particular items will make it easier for the player, yet very few of these conditions are actually necessary in order to win the game. Hence the developer cannot easily dictate the player’s next objective, but merely influence it. By compensating for every potential action and scenario beyond the main plot, the game is able to better present a more robust world.

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Alien races are given individualised characteristics and motivations.

This modular and open-ended design is complemented by the amount of random generation that is prevalent throughout the game. Influenced by a variety of factors such as the player’s equipment and progress, the player may encounter any of the alien races at any time. Each alien race is discussed with a comprehensive history, as well as motivation, which plays a role in their relationship and diplomacy with not just the player, but also other races. These individual species also function and interact entirely independent from each other, creating the illusion of an organic universe that continuously adapts to the player’s decisions and actions.

Thus the world also serves to supporting this amount of random generation within the game. If the game were to be designed through an inside-out approach, there would be a multitude of inconsistencies in the comprehensiveness of lore between races. It is almost immediately clear that this is not the case, as seen during the early introduction and discussion with Earthling Commander Hayes. The extent of detail that is explained and addressed shows that the game’s world was not built solely around the storyline, but rather in tandem. Any enquiries relating to history, lore, species and languages, whether of actual use to the player, are accounted for and accessible.

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Extensive backstory and exposition is encountered regularly throughout the game.

Star Control II‘s outside-in approach to worldbuilding not only aids in creating a believable world, but also supporting the game’s open-world design, nonlinear storyline as well as its use of randomly generated events. By expanding beyond the immediate storyline, the game’s world truly becomes its own universe.

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The Duality, Dichotomies and Dimensionalities of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

World Design

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a game about duality, and everything in the game exists to serve this notion of opposing dichotomies. Through Giana’s dreams, the multiple facets of her personality are manifested as alternate realities. Whether aesthetically or through gameplay, the binary nature of the game’s elements convey this navigation and interdimensionality in each level of the game.

The duality of this game is apparent almost immediately, as even the main character of the game is split into two. As the dual personalities of Giana, the player is able to alternate between them at the press of a single button. Giana in her regular state is peppy and cheerful amidst a grim world that is rife with demons. Punk Giana, in contrast, can only exist in a bright and upbeat aesthetic. To further emphasise such characterisation, this switching is indicated by the change in soundtrack, where any presence of Punk Giana is accompanied by an alternative, heavy metal rendition of the usually cheery songs.

The game reflects such duality not only aesthetically, but also in terms of gameplay. By switching between these two personalities, the player is able to utilise Giana’s ability to initiate a particular set of navigational skills. When playing as regular Giana, she is able to twirl, allowing her to hover in the air. As Punk Giana, on the other hand, her loud and aggressive exterior matches her newfound ability to dash as a fireball. Thus the core aspect of playing this game lies in the player’s necessity to continuously swap and combine these two forms of navigation.

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This motif of dimensions continues to be used in the environment of each level, which exists in completely different states of these two dimensions. As the player toggles between both of Giana’s forms, her surrounding environment alternates between worlds similarly. This utilisation of swapping dimensions creates additional layers of complexity in the player’s navigation of each level. Bridges alternate between stability and dilapidation, while thorny vines grow and wilt, opening and closing the forward path for the player and creating navigational possibilities. The player is forced to use such instantaneous dimension switching in order to manoeuvre the obstacles in each level.

Throughout the game, the player is encouraged to collect gems, which appear in a range of three colours, yellow to be picked up by Giana, red for Punk Giana, and blue by both. Alongside creating incentive for collection and exploration of each of the game’s levels, the placement of gems is also used as a means of teaching and leading the player. A cluster of gems near a door, for example, instigates the player into switching dimensions to retrieve it, and therefore inadvertently open the door. In the same manner, the developers can use this gem placement to suggest a path and skills that the player should use.

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The dual nature of this game is evident through the multitude of ways in which the game’s two dimensions are represented. For every character or environmental setpiece, there is an alternative existence, whether as an ability or obstacle. Furthermore, the contrasting dispositions of these dimensions are used to teach the player when and where to navigate during play. Just as Giana’s dual personalities exhibit these dimensions, these dimensions simultaneously contextualise their navigable space.

A Velociradish Devlog – Week 10

Velociradish Production

This week, there has been continued polish added to the character, including the addition of sound effects to the punches, as well as particles to really emphasise the action throughout the game.

While we had someone compiling some sound effects, I decided to also chip in at that end in order to ensure that each animation to accommodated for. Thus I gathered most of the combat sound effects, as well as some for the title sequence. From the background music to the menu, everything is now connected to a sound, while punching enemies has a satisfying crunch to it.

As was discussed last week, I did manage to get those punch swing arcs into the game. By simply spawning the particles on top of the character, and aligning them by eye, I managed to achieve what I wanted, in comparison to trying to dynamically spawn them and trace the arm. It’s a bit of a quick fix, but it does the job – see the effect for yourself below. A fairly convincing punching arc, in my opinion.

I also managed to add a small comet-like effect to the last punch to emphasise it as the finisher of the combo.

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The combo text effect has also made its way back in, after the transition to the new character. Now it spawns with finished combos again!

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…Probably needs a second pass for the alpha.

I also made sure to add dollar signs to the score in order to better contextualise it in accordance with the theme. It fits the game much better than simply as arbitrary points. For further insanity, the amount of money has also been multiplied by a hundred or so in order to really exaggerate the big-budget feel of the film. I ended up spending a bit of time making a combo counter animation, to better emphasise the impact of the player’s combos:

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The win screen of the game was further polished, with bugs having been ironed out. Now the proper sounds and animations play in time, and the player can press a key to return to the main menu. After the programmers exposed some variables for me, I also decided to add a Highest Combo statistic, to create some interesting feedback on the player’s performance.

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I also realised that the way I had implemented the MainMenu was causing major problems to the framerate. As I used the 2D Scene capture camera as a workaround for the fact that I simply did not know how to properly draw a UMG widget, I was forced to do a last-minute reworking. With the power of hindsight, I was anow able to much better understand what I needed to do to fix the problem, as well as have better debugging ability.

I also came up with what I considered to be a rather ingenious way of solving a problem – as the 2DScene Camera was attempting to render every single frame as an image, it was consuming incredible amounts of memory. It became apparent that I needed to replace the camera. To make things more problematic, the camera was animated using a matinee, and I knew of no way to copy the original camera’s translation to a new, ordinary camera without having to redo it by hand. After a few attempts it just became too much of a tedious task, so I decided to simply disable the 2DScne Camera and parent it to the new one! This way, the new camera could essentially piggyback the old one, allowing for exact timing and placing in the animation. It also meant that I had to figure out how to place an upossessed model of the character in the scene in order for the map to properly function like a menu. Never have I been so proud to have something look exactly the same as it did before:

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While not ideal to have to run into such a problem so close to the deadline, it was a good learning experience for me in advancing my understanding of the engine, and in logic. Compared to what I knew at the beginning of the semester, my grasp on my scripting logic is already significantly better. Hopefully I will be able to further relieve pressure off the team’s programmers in the coming months.

There was an overall tweaking of HUD elements throughout as well, including some slight visual and audio cues to better inform the player about the game’s Coolness Meter. This also involves tints to the ScoreCounter in an attempt to quickly create that association between Coolness and the Score. A small sound cue is also used to tell the player that entering a high Coolness meter bears some meaning.

A lot of fixes and learnings this week – I hope my hard work has paid off in adding to the feel of the game through visual effects, sound effects and UI!e

A Velociradish Devlog – Week 9

Velociradish Production

This week involved a lot of polishing and final touches to our vertical slice. This included creating the menu screens, making the HUD functions work, as well as setting up more feedback and particle effects.

Firstly, I needed to make the HUD a bit more presentable. Now that the character was textured and ready to go, I added the new portrait to the HUD. The bullet counter is now working and ready to go as well. While not finalised, it’s still a step in the right direction. The next step is to make it match the theme we are going for:

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I also took a picture of an item from the game and made it into a quick icon. Needs some further work, for sure:

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Setting up the main menu and pause menus were probably the biggest hurdle for me this week. To make the most of the props and the level  that we had assembled in the game, I added a scene capture camera, so that the picturesque view that we have of the scene will also double as the main menu!  Here it is during the initial set up phase of this system. You can see how I had set up an additional camera to act as the scene capture camera. I was able to set up a view that draws directly on the screen, creating a kind of real-time main menu.

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After asking a teammate to dress up the scene a bit more, this is what we ended up with:

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Using Unreal BluePrints, I also managed to have the controller work with all of the buttons in the game. Sounds trivial, but it is definitely one of those things that will be noticed when it’s not there. I can also say that I learnt a lot from forcing myself to sit and figure out how to make all of this work without asking for help from a programmer. And doing the small programming tasks to take some burden off the programmers is exactly what I am striving to do.

After unsuccessfully trying to get some particle effects working on the character’s punching by using Unreal’s AnimTrails effects, I decided to just re-use some existing assets (such as those below) to create a similar result anyway. It’s at these points that you ask yourself why you hadn’t thought it doing it a long time ago. Instead of tracing the arc of the palyer’s punch (which was ideal), it just didn’t look right – so even if I must spawn an existing arc and orient it by hand, it’ll do:

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There was also a bit of tweaking to the HUD animation. Here’s the final clapper entry animation:

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I also developed a win screen for the game. This involves a ranking system in which the player’s score is divided by S, A, B, C and D, dependent on their performance throughout the level. It also requires a fair amount of balancing until the levels become something really special. This took a bit of time, as well as getting each piece of text to animate the way I wanted it to. I also found some neat gunshot noises which I felt work quite well to emphasise each score that shows up in sequence:

I also began the process of adding the necessary sound cues into the engine, beginning with some menu sounds. We’re still missing a lot of the cues for many things – so that is an important aspect that needs to be addressed! From here on, everything should be all about setting up the rest of the game polish, whether it’s animation, sound effects or visual feedback. Still a lot of things to add to as well, including things which are still not working completely:

  • The combo counter – managed to get the combo counter working, though it seems to have some animation hiccups right now.
  • Animation fluidity – such as trying to make the getting enemy animation work when the character needs to get back up
  • Sounds
  • Sounds
  • So many sounds!

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Game Studies – Possibility Spaces

Game Studies

An interesting direction (or perhaps rabbit hole) during my study into affect and embodiment involved some exploration on possibility spaces, and how they aid in engaging player of simulation games such as SimCity:

Simulation games can be seen as a culmination of these possibility spaces, rooted by their necessity of realising the possible. Conceptually, many games of this simulatory nature are in fact grounded in reality, as video games tend to represent processes that exist in the real world, such as war, sports and urban planning. In this simulacrum of urbanisation, the player is able to explore possibility spaces through the manipulation of its diegetic components within the world. These systems draw parallels to those that occur in real life, and from which the player can obtain similar context. They are a distillation of real-world experiences, if not incomplete, as information is inevitably lost during the translation and simplification from systems typically too complex to perfectly recreate.

The fact that many of these games are grounded in reality allows the player to create and visualise this narrative context without the actual embodiment or surrogacy of an individual character. Inside these spaces the player can come to understand and experiment with these cultural models and systems that reflect those of the real (Bogost, 2008). While seemingly trivial individually, the combination of these actions provide a multitude of possibilities and solutions in which each problem of urban development can be approached. By leveraging a small set of rules in order to create a multitude of combinations and variations in gameplay, a rule system can quickly become one of considerable possibility. Therefore these rules on their own are capable of creating fiction, as a substitute for story.

It may even be said that games such as SimCity do not embody a character so much as a the very experience of that which it simulates. Seen as a kind of ‘goal-directed simulations of embodied experience’ (Gee, 2008, p. 254), the player takes ownership of the experience or the ruleset itself.By controlling these interconnected elements of the city, the world itself becomes an embodiment of the player’s perspectives. It is a grand narrative about the very nature of humanity and urbanisation, just as Spore is similarly referential to astrobiology and evolution, and Animal Crossing of consumer capitalism.

Thus coming to an understanding of these rulesets create engagement with their respective discourses through the exploration of the almost-infinite possibilities. (Bogost, 2008). In the personalised cities of SimCity, the player has access to the construction of facilities, whether they be industrial, commercial or residential. Denizens of the player’s fictional city require utilities such as transport and power. The player explores and negotiates the boundaries of these rules through these systems, such as constructing a city or tearing it apart (Bogost, 2008). The game becomes a discussion of processes, in which the assembly of modular rulesets are used in creating incredible variety and in portraying rhetoric. The emergent stories that can be cultivated as a result from these rules are as proficient in creating meaning to the player as character embodiment or affect (Juul, 2011).

I hope you found that somewhat enlightening, or entertaining on some level. Look forward to next time!

References:

  • Bogost, I. (2008). The rhetoric of video games. The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games, and learning, 117-140.
  • Gee, J. (2008). Video games and embodiment. Games and Culture.
  •  Juul, J. (2011). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. MIT press.

 

Game Studies – A Quick Look at Synaesthesia in Rez

Game Studies

Originally released for the Dreamcast in 2001, Rez is an interesting game to observe in relation to affect, and it can be seen why it is used so much in this kind of discourse. It’s a game about feeling the music, and responding in kind. The plot and characters are expressed in rather abstract forms, evolving from a simple sphere to increasingly humanoid shapes. Any context that is  established simply tells us of a rogue A.I., and a hacker’s mission to shut it down.

Yet still, its experience as one of pure synaesthesia provides an example of the structured experience that systematically generates affective responses throughout each of its levels. The avatar is merely a placeholder to quite literally embodying these sensations on behalf of the player. When flying through each level, the abstract character built from lines and simple geometric shapes pulses in rhythm with the music, simulating the trance-like sensations of being at some kind of electronic dance concert or rave.

Demonstrated in the game’s music itself, the intensity of these sensations have greater affective impact on the body than the feeling or interpretation derived from it. Hence the sole focus of the game is less about hitting every target or achieving a high score than it is about simulating this synchronicity between aural and visual. It is less about attempting to communicate a particular meaning, and more about directly moving the player with intensities. Every action is denoted by the chime or beat of simulated music instruments As incoming obstacles and targets are acquired by the player, the player is cued with the crisp tap of a high-hat cymbal, while targets are destroyed in music harmony, creating myriads of visual and aural effects.

The gameplay experience then becomes an almost spontaneous exchange, focusing on how the game makes you feel rather than think. Hence the intensities gathered from the music experience is at the forefront of Rez’s design, while the embodiment of the character is used to reinforce these affects.

A Velociradish Devlog – Week 8

Velociradish Production

This week was spent on the little fixes – getting in the remainder of the HUD elements, including finalising the game’s Coolness Meter, as well as a score counter to contextualise the score a little bit.

A great deal of the week was also used in trying to connect and debug the character animations, which will be of great importance to the presentation of the game. Dealing with the animation montages, and ensuring that animations were being called and blended properly, required a large amount of collaboration with the programmers, as I needed to understand how each callable action was in fact referred to, and whereabouts in the overall scheme of the project. In addition, a lot of gameplay tweaks in the enemy spawning placement needed to be done.

I also managed to texture a clapper for the intro animation as seen from last week, this time creating an interesting chalk effect on the board. I also hope to smooth out the animation to create a really interesting transition animation from the main menu and the level screen.

An important piece of advice that was offered was to begin packaging the project for delivery – while two weeks does indeed sound like a lot of time to simply have a vertical slice ready to ship, it’s always smart to get started sooner than later. After tallying up some of the must-have features which we are lacking , some rather important things began to show, such as:

  • The entire set of sound effects that need to be done
  • A logo
  • A win screen
  • HUD feedback in response to the combat
  • Reconnecting the particle effects that were lost when replacing the main character mesh.
  • A gameplay video
  • Finalising the main menu

It does seem to feel that there is a considerable chokepoint through which a lot of the work is probably going to rely on me. Here’s hoping this next week goes well!

 

Game Studies – The Virtual and the Actual in Games

Game Studies

Here’s a quick breakdown from what I’ve gathered about the Deleuzian approach to the virtual and the actual. It seems that the realm of the virtual exists in the area that is outside our perception. The virtual is that which has not occurred, which has yet to occur, or that which we simply have not seen to occur. It is a realm of potential, in which everything that is yet to be perceived has the capacity to affect and be affected.

The actual, on the other hand, is the perception that results from the virtual. It is the virtualities that which has been organised into some form of semantics. For every actual element in an artefact, there exists a plethora of virtual images that have not become, remaining as potential affects. To perceive an object is to actualise the virtual, and to create a snapshot of its current state and position in time and space. Actualising an object unleashes its affective potentials into intensities which continue to impact the perceiver. It is a limited process however, and it is in this subtraction of intensities that an excess of virtualities exist. Everything else that remains outside of that current perception remains virtual, in that it exists in infinite potentialities, of the past and future, simultaneously. When we cannot structure these multiplicities of virtuality into some kind of social organisation, we remain unable to actualise it, and thus we cannot be affected by that which we cannot perceive (Ellis & Tucker 2015). Hence affect can be seen as ‘synaesthetic, embodied perception’ (Shinkle, 2005, p. 3) – the result of the virtual becoming actualised.

In the context of the video game, the virtual behaves within each actualised frame of the game. For each frame that occurs, the arrangement of pixels on the screen produce an image, while the speakers emit aural sounds and cues. The player is transmitting manual input and commands into through the game through a controller. From this single frame, there is already a range of potential outcomes and actions that can occur, as well as potentialities of what it could have been at that point in time. It is the ‘simultaneous participation of the virtual in the actual and the actual in the virtual’ (Massumi, 2002, p. 35), where each actual state of the game has its own range of virtual properties. This infinite range of potential has the ability to further influence the actualisation of the experience (Bertelsen & Murphie, 2010).

The concept of the relation between virtual and actual can definitely be tricky, yet coming to understand them is crucial in exploring the affective relationship that exists between them and games. I hope I did the subject matter some justice!

References:

  • Bertelsen, L., & Murphie, A. (2010). Félix Guattari on Affect and the Refrain. The affect theory reader, 138.
  • Ellis, D., & Tucker, I. (2015). Social Psychology of Emotion. Sage.
  • Massumi, B. (2002). The autonomy of affect. Cultural Critique, (31), 83-109.
  • Shinkle, E. (2005). Feel it, don’t think: The significance of affect in the study of digital games.

A Velociradish Devlog – Week 7

Velociradish Production

Now that things are starting to come together, we are working on further contextualising the theme and making the game a cohesive experience. I started the week by finishing off some dizziness particles, which would hover over a character’s head to indicate when it the player stunned or dizzied. Implementing it has been a whole new issue, however, as it was not a simple matter of attaching it to the player. Current attempts to do so have resulted the player leaving behind a trail of stars in their wake, so more experimentation is required.

Suggested solutions have been to simply make star-shaped meshes and append them to the model itself, so that may be the best way to go for now!

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The first pass on the HUD has also been completed, with a first look at the proposed Coolness Meter. This meter acts as a performance meter for the player, and therefore their health. In order to maintain a successful film shoot, the player must continue to perform well and avoid harm. While somewhat functional, the meter still needs some revision both in its design and its placement. We found that it is better placed in the corner of the screen rather than the centre as originally intended, and I will need to make it asymmetrical to reflect that. There also seems to be some serious issues in communicating the link between the player’s performance and the meter.

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Many playtesters were also asking about the theme of the game, and it became clear that we need to establish it more in the game’s opening scenes. In order to better contextualise the filmmaking theme of the game, I decided to simulate the film clapper that typically initiates the beginning of a take. In a similar manner, the clapper is used to indicate the start of the level, as well as its name.

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I even set up an animation as a way to show this off even more!Clapper

We also wanted some throwable items in the game which change state depending on their damage. For starters I made some garbage bins in order to give this a test:

With only three weeks remaining, we need to do whatever we can to ensure that the feel of the game is apparent to a player as soon as they pick up the controller!