Ludus Novus

In Episode 5, I discussed the difference between short form and long form video games and interactive fiction. I compared certain games to short stories and novels, but I didn’t discuss the third well-known form of artistic writing: poetry. A poem is a work of language where the properties of the language itself — rhythm, sound, and imagery — are as important (or more important) than the words’ literal meaning and the narrative content of the work.

When I think of “poetic” games, where the form is as important as the content, I think of Tetris. Tetris is a game with a very simple narrative: pieces are falling, and must be organized or else the game ends. The story isn’t very important. What stands out about Tetris is its feeling and gameplay: the imagery and form of the game. The excitement of the race against time, the satisfaction of clearing a row, and the imagery of building a wall and tearing one down, where any hole is a flaw.

“Phyta,” by Abraham Parangi, is a poetic game.

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In this podcast, I discuss the player-author contract. An interactive work sets up a trust between the player and the work’s author. This takes the form of a contract which, when violated, can cause the player to reject the work.

The Player-Author Contract
1. The work can be played by the player.
   • Violated by games which are unexpectedly incompatible with the player’s system.
2. The entire work can be played by the player.
   • Violated by “game-breaking” bugs as in Battletoads and Pac-Man
3. Through playing the work, the player can affect the progression of the work.
   • Subverted by “Rameses“
4. The events in the work are governed by a set of rules.
   • Violated by some Choose Your Own Adventure games
5. The rules of the work do not change without warning.
   • Subverted by Karoshi 2.0
6. Any player failure can be avoided by player actions.
   • Violated by really hard games.
   • Subverted by I Wanna Be The Guy and similar games and custom levels.
7. The author provides some goal that the player can pursue.
• Violated or subverted by Noctis.
8. The player can evaluate progress toward a provided goal.
   • Let me know if you know a game that violates or subverts this!

Also see Without a Goal: On open and expressive games by Jesper Juul.

The music for this episode is “Broken (DURDEN version)” by DURDEN and featuring Trifonic & Amelia June, and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 license.

 

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Length of works: is a given game most like a short story or a novel, and how can length affect content?

References:

• Morrowind from Bethesda Softworks
• Jigsaw by Graham Nelson
• “Slouching Toward Bedlam” by Daniel Ravipinto and Star Foster
• Grim Fandango from LucasArts
• The Myst series from Cyan Worlds
• The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series from Ubisoft

The next episode will be a new segment called False Narrativism.

 

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Difficulty and completeness: Why do games have to be hard, and how is finishing a game separate from completing it?

The music for this episode is “Big Bad World One” by Jonathan Coulton, and is available under a cc by-nc-sa 2.5 license.

This episode, unlike most, is available under a cc by-nc-sa 2.5 license.

References:

• Doom by id Software
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within by Ubisoft
• The Craft of Adventure by Graham Nelson
• Adventure by Will Crowther and Don Woods
• Pac-Man by Namco
• The Legend of Zelda by Nintendo
• World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment
• Prey by Human Head Studios and published by 3D Realms
• The 7th Guest by Virgin Games
• “Rameses” by Stephen Bond
• “Photopia” by Adam Cadre

The next episode will be about the length of games and how that relates to game classification. Is there a distinction between an interactive “short story” and an interactive “novel”? If you have comments or ideas, contact me at gregory@ludusnovus.net.

 

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Variable player experience: What do we mean by interaction, and how can two players have different experiences with the same work?

The music for this episode is Enrique Granados’s “Spanish Dance n. 2” performed by Mario Mattioli, and is available under a cc by-nc 2.5 license.

This is the first episode in which I’ve talked much about table-top roleplaying games.

References:

• Doom by id Software
• Hamlet on the Holodeck by Janet H. Murray.
• “Rameses” by Stephen Bond
• Dungeons & Dragons currently published by Wizards of the Coast

(Note: I’m going to start putting the titles of IF pieces from the IF Comp in quotes, as that competition is intended for short works, so participants presumably intended their pieces to be analogous to short stories.)

 

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I made a series of notes as I played the games in Introcomp 2006, so that I could score them appropriately. They’re after the break. Keep in mind that these are just running notes, so sometimes they’re grumpy and sometimes they’re wrong. I’ve added a final thought to each one in italics.

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The unreliable narrator: how do you use this technique when the narrator is usually the player character?

The music for this episode is “Noite de Carnaval” by Code, and is available under a cc by-nc 2.5 license.

References:

• The Silent Hill series from Konami
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem by Silicon Knights and published by Nintendo
• LASH by Paul O’Brian
• Spider and Web by Andrew Plotkin
• Glass by Emily Short
• The Space Under the Window by Andrew Plotkin

I will be out of town for a week, so the next full episode should appear on August 19, 2006. There may be something put up between now and then, though.

 

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Cutscenes: when are they appropriate, and when do they take away from the game?

Correction: In the original version of this episode, I attribute Nothing But Mazes to Stephen Granade, but it is actually by Greg Boettcher. Stephen Granade wrote Child’s Play, which is also part of IntroComp 2006 (and does some interesting things with the voice of the narrator). I should have a corrected version up shortly.

The music for this episode is “Babylon Bring Me Down,” by spinningmerkaba, and is available under a cc by-nc 2.5 license.
References:

• Half-Life from Valve Software
• Shadow of the Colossus from Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
• “First Timer Foibles” #7: Encumbering Exposition by Michael Coyne
• Nothing But Mazes by Greg Boettcher (part of Introcomp 2006)

 

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