Bibliophile: Building a Better Game at Laurentian University

“You get a little moody sometimes but I think that's because you like to read. People that like to read are always a little fucked up.”
― Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides

That quotation almost, almost convinces me I should see The Prince of Tides.

This is Bibliophile.

What a week! I administered and marked the exam for my class, I finished Planescape: Torment (finallllly) and got back into dissertation writing in a big way, and a close friend of mine successfully defended his dissertation.  (Yeah, this is one of those posts that I started then finished at a later date.) It's all good. But are the books all good books? Find out, as we delve into Laurentian University, after the break.

The Planescape Papers: Crossing the Rubikon Pt 1

As I said in my previous post, I'm going to spend an indeterminate amount of time on this blog blathering on about Planescape: Torment, the Interplay game from 1999 that I've devoted a disproportionate amount of my life to. I think I'm going to limit posts to 500ish words, just to be mindful of the labor involved. Last time, I talked about what made it so different from other CRPGs at the time, that it focused on story and dialogue and minimized combat. So, naturally, a perfect place to take the discussion is a section that does the opposite. Join me at the Rubikon, ladies, gentlemen, and aspiring thief/fighter dual classes, after the break.

Game Design: You Can't Go Back

I recently had a busy Saturday morning, filled with playing videogames and reading criticism on videogames. It's vastly different from my weekday routine, where I play videogames, read criticism, and feel guilty about not writing more. With this post, I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone: a little writing on game design, and a little link sharing of pieces I find particularly worth people's attention. So: discussion of space and non-progression narratives, after the break.

Game Ponderings: Demon's Souls and Hub and Spoke

Around when I realized I'd be hitting the venerable 800 posts, I've been thinking about what I've wanted to use this blog for. One of my conclusions is that I want to get more use out of it as a "work blog"--that is, as a place to think out loud about issues relating my studies. To that end, after the break, I've got a brief piece on Demon's Souls and the important of the hub and spoke in game design.

You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Kill Things in Here

I've played through about an hour and a half of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.  And it's been... good.  I have died a lot, though many were just a matter of getting the hang of the controls.  But I've finished the game's first hurdle, and I'd like to talk about that for a moment.  It was spoiled for me by a series of "action report"-esque accounts of the game--this series in fact, by Matt Sakey.  As such, I don't feel a lot of scruples in potentially spoiling you readers in the same way.

A few minutes after you've sat through the game's prologue and played a bit, you encounter its first boss, the Asylum Demon.  It's a big, monstrous thing, with a big, monstrous hammer, and, if you play anything like I do, you'll probably die almost immediately after beholding it for the first time.  After a few attempts to do it in, met repeatedly by more death, I notice a door off to the side away from the monster, and I rush to it so quickly I leave a digital cloud of dust behind me, ala Road Runner.  And it's at that point that things start to become a little more fair.  My broken sword pommel that I had been previously wielding is traded in for an actual dagger.  I get a shield.  I even get a fancy potion-thingy that lets me restore about 3/4 of my health five times before replenishing.  And I go up against a few more shambling undead things before I get a chance to face the demon again, this time using a cheap downward slash move that happens to take half its health.  And I still die miserably.  And then I do it again.  The third time, I actually win.  The Asylum entrance is now unguarded, and I can venture into the open world.  Ah, sweet success.

The reason I'm describing all this in detail is that I really want to promote the design structure here.  The game presented me with a seemingly impossible task, then gave me the tools to accomplish it--and equally important, it gave me the practice I needed in using those tools.  It still wasn't easy, by any means, but it was doable.  I understand that, if my skill had been sufficient, I actually could have beaten the Demon with my meagre broken sword bit.  And that would have been fine.  But that mini-epic quest that I went through, that micro-training session, was what made those skills matter.  Most games offer some sort of tutorial level, but by demonstrating so vividly why you need those skills it was about to impart, Demon Souls does so much better in convincing the players that the tutorial is necessary and useful, the stepping stone to that glorious moment of revenge.

Now if only I could attack my three day headache in a similar manner...

Later Days.

Friday Quotations: It Makes Games Sound Like a Whorehouse

"My friend Eric Zimmerman likes to say, 'Games are structures of desire.' I don’t like the phrase, for two reasons. Firstly, it’s pretty obscure; it needs to be explained before you ‘get’ it. Second, it makes games sound like a whorehouse.
"But Eric is on to something here. By 'desire,' he means that games have goals, and players mutually agree to behave as if the goal is important to them when they play – the game creates a desire to achieve the game’s own goals. By structure, he means that the interaction of the game’s rules, components, software, etc. create a structure within which people play." --Greg Costikyan

Book Review: The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford

"How can SPACE INVADERS and PAC-MAN be classified as art?  How can TEMPEST or MISSILE COMMAND compare with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Michaelangelo's Pieta, or Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms?  Computer games are too trivial, too frivolous to be called art; they are idle recreation at best.  So says the skeptic.
"But we cannot relegate computer games to the cesspit of pop culture solely on the evidence of the current crop of games.  The industry is too young and the situation too dynamic to dismiss computer games so easily.  We must consider the potential, not the actuality.  We must address fundamental aspects of computer games."  --Chris Crawford, The Art of Computer Game Design

It's been a while since we've done a book review.  And yes, this is yet another game on videogame design.  And it's yet another argument that games could and should be considered art.  But this one is a little different from the others, for one simple reason:  it was written in 1984.

Oh, snap.

Friday Quotations: And Level Grinding Is the Styrofoam Packing

"Aside from the challenge, players enjoy intrigue and curiosity. This Easy Fun is the bubble wrap of game design." --Nicole Lazzaro, Beyond Game Design: Nine Steps Toward Creating Better Videogames.

Later Days.

Friday Quotations: Yeah, This Explains a Lot

"Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." --John Carmack, co-creator of Doom.

Later Days.