All posts by Gregory Avery-Weir

Ludus Novus 011: Written in Blood

Digital Games, Interactive Fiction, Podcasts, ,
Ludus Novus
Ludus Novus
Ludus Novus 011: Written in Blood
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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.

  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.

  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.

Execution: Changing Games Forever

Blogs, Digital Games, , ,

A nameless man, tied to a post, is visible through the scope of a gun.

A few weeks ago, Jesse Venbrux, creator of the previously-discussed Karoshi games, released a short interactive piece called “Execution.” Not really a game, “Execution” is a quick subversion of what video games typically are and a subtle comment on the thing that the form is currently obsessed with: killing.

The impact of the game will be stronger if you play it at least twice before clicking through to the rest of the discussion. It should take you about five minutes. I’ll wait.

Continue reading Execution: Changing Games Forever →

Noitu Love 2: Variations on a Theme

Blogs, Digital Games, ,

A Grinning Darn boss looms over Xoda Rap.

Joakim Sandberg has just released Noitu Love 2: Devolution and I highly recommend you check it out. You can pick up the demo for free, but it’s worth the $20 for the full version. It’s the answer to a single burning question: what would happen if you made a platformer that properly incorporated both mouse and keyboard? It gives three perfect answers. Click through for the discussion and minor spoilers.

Continue reading Noitu Love 2: Variations on a Theme →

Yume Nikki and Constraining the Player

Blogs, Digital Games, ,

Earlier this week I played a game called Yume Nikki (or Dream Diary, apparently) by Kikiyama. A post on the IndieGames.com blog turned me on to it; you can get an English translation (with complicated installation) there. The game is about a girl who refuses to leave her room and her journeys through creepy and labyrinthine dreams. The game is one of the most open and goal-less games I’ve played in a while, and it brings up some questions on the nature of goals in games.
Continue reading Yume Nikki and Constraining the Player →

Transparency on the Other Side of Agency

Blogs, Digital Games

At Grand Text Auto, Andrew Stern has reopened a discussion that ties into my last podcast. In that episode, I asked whether an NPC that ignored the player’s input but gave the illusion of reacting could still be called “interactive.” In his post, Stern asks a question about the other extreme. How can we allow the player to understand how the NPC’s mind works without blatantly exposing the logic?

Continue reading Transparency on the Other Side of Agency →

Ludus Novus 010: ELIZA Is Dead

Digital Games, Podcasts, Roleplaying, , , ,
Ludus Novus
Ludus Novus
Ludus Novus 010: ELIZA Is Dead
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Is the illusion of player agency as good as real player agency? Isn’t a video game just a simulated game master? Is the Chinese Room a good game? If the author is dead, what about the algorithm?

The music for this episode is “The Acorns. Seedin Time in The Oak Room.” by Loveshadow, and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 license.

References:

  • John Searle’s Chinese room
  • ELIZA

The Good Kind of Quick-time

Blogs, Digital Games

Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun has “a blind, silly prejudice” against quick-time events. Those are the reaction-testing interactive cutscenes that I discussed way back in Episode 001. A cutscene pops up, but (surprise!) you have to press a button or get eaten by a dinosaur.

I like the idea of quick-time events. Cutscenes usually feature the player character doing something interesting, and instead of taking that away from the player, quick-time events let you participate, even when the actions being performed are ones that aren’t part of your normal interface.

I’ll admit that the implementation of quick-time events can be a bit slipshod, but unlike Meer, I’m excited by their inclusion in a new game. In this case, it’s the FPS Aliens: Colonial Marines. There are events in FPSs that are cool, but don’t fit into the standard gameplay. Wrestling. Diving out of the way of things. Conversing. As long as the events don’t break the immersion – and I argue that it’s possible for them not to – I’m all for random button-presses to survive a cutscene. From Meer’s description of how A:CM is implementing them, I’m going to have to try this game out for myself.