Fun. What is it? Is it really so important that we can’t consider a game that isn’t fun to be a game with any value at all? With the emergence of video games as an artistic medium, do games have to lose any of their fun to become more of an art?

No and No. Both with a capital N.

Extra Credits wrote a fantastic episode emphasizing the importance of the artistry entering our medium. This doesn’t mean that games are going to become less fun just because they have a purpose larger than “to pass time”. But I also think that this doesn’t mean all games have to be fun.

In an exchange with freelance writer and journalist Nathan Hardisty, he mentioned “Artgames which don’t practice fun tend to have a message, but not any real expression.” According to Hardisty, Fun is a strong foundation for any game. We discussed the subject further, and he changed my mind.

In a way. I agree with him that video games are entertainment—they are meant to entertain us. But I also would say that I’ve still found meaning in books and movies that I didn’t necessarily find engrossing while I was actively engaged with the work, but the meaning stuck with me after the experience.

Games like FarCry 2, Bioshock, and Witcher 2 tell very rich and layered stories while retaining the fun that keeps players engaged in less wholesome works. However I have also played The Path, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat and Arma II. These games aren’t focused on being fun, but still deliver meaningful experiences in whatever way the developer saw fit, and I have still been able to take thoughtful, introspective journeys through them.

So, ultimately, I guess that whether or not you play a game focused on being fun, or a game that was more focused on the experience that the developers wanted to share with you. Sometimes, I think to deliver an experience true to the reality that it’s intending to portray, it should be hard. It should be frustrating. But this doesn’t make the games on either side of the spectrum any more or less meaningful.

And games should mean more.

-E

I’m not a bad person. I think.

I awoke in the middle of a snowstorm, wearing little but tatters of clothing. My memory is gone and a hunger gnaws at my stomach, even now. The world is a cold and dangerous place, and even then I knew that whether I was destined for something special or not, I would take the world on my own terms.

Taking a life isn’t something to be taken lightly. Yes, I’ve taken things from people. I wouldn’t be alive now if I hadn’t. But… life. It shouldn’t be so easy to rob someone of that.

Yes, I have killed. Almost always in self defense. Almost.

I am… different. I can feel it in my boiling blood. As I walk through the forest or more inhabited parts of Skyrim, I keep myself separate from others, usually identifying with the weaker and more oppressed minorities. Maybe I should’ve been born a Khajiit. At least then they wouldn’t be so suspicious of my sympathies.

However I’ll never forget Shahvee, an argonian woman working in the stressful trappings of East Empire Company. She told me, “being happy or unhappy is a choice you make, and I’ve chosen to make the best of things that I can”.

I’m currently looking for something that was stolen from her. Maybe I can repay her for the kind words she shared with me.

They’ve changed my life.

____________________________________________________________

Here’s an idea: if games give the player the ability to write their own stories, then shouldn’t games be judged on their ability to tell stories?

I will be reviewing games by sharing narratives I’ve made from playing games in a non-linear way. Hope you enjoy!

Yes, that’s right.

You can play act IV scene III of Shakespeare’s Othello. No need to thank me.

For an English paper I decided to recreate a short scene from a different character’s point of view (Emilia).

This short, five minute “game” was just a way for me to have a little fun with a school project. As a side effect, I ended up feeling very productive and even gained a little insight on the play Othello and felt that I understood it a bit better. Staging a scene makes a lot more sense than reading the lines.

I chose this scene because, during Emilia’s final moment with Desdemona, they both have a sort of realization that something terrible is about to happen. Desdemona even makes hints about realizing that her death is near.

I was able to combine staging with music to make something sad, or at least I hope it is. My brother, Thomas, was kind enough to say that he felt sad.

Although he then continued to say that he enjoyed reading Shakespeare. I didn’t know that, but it could’ve had an effect on his judgement.

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with liking Shakespeare. I would even say that I like him. It’s just, I need to see it acted out. It is a “play” after all. Reading lines without context just isn’t my thing.

I hope to release it soon and hope you enjoy!

At least, I’ll release it after I write a short paper on it.

-E

Wow. I’ve been gone for too long. Let me give you a quick update on Akeldama and my life right now.
 
Akeldama is still in development and turning out to be a far deeper experience than originally planned. This is in no small part due to Jonathan Blow.

 
This year I attended my first game conference: Indiecade. There I met a lot of fantastic people and I can’t even begin to list them now. To name a few: Sam Farmer and Asher Vollmer of http://colabgames.com/, Alexander Bruce of www.antichamber-game.com/, Phil Fish of http://polytroncorporation.com/, Paul Sottosanti of http://interestingchoices.com/, Jonathan Blow of http://number-none.com/blow/, Anton Riehl of http://antonriehl.com/ and Aaron Jacobs (I don’t know if he has a website. Sorry Aaron!!!). It’s an injustice to list anyone because I know I can’t name them all but I hope that if you haven’t heard of them you would check out their fantastic work.

 
Anyways, after submitting my game to Indiecade, getting rejected and receiving my criticism, I only became even more convinced I was on to something.
 
Jonathan Blow gave an excellent lecture titled “Designing to Reveal the Nature of the Universe”. Once again, by only mentioning his discussion I feel that I’m not giving the other speakers proper praise because the whole weekend was excellent, it’s just that I felt I could apply what I learned from Blow’s speech more directly to what I was immediately working on.
 
Jonathan Blow gave eight main points, or what he called “virtues of game design”. They were as follows:
1) Aim toward the richest space (or the space with the most consequences)
2) Completeness of Exploration (are there consequences I missed? Always aim for completion, even when not fun)
3) Surprise (maximize the information packaged in what the developer delivers) by combining game mechanics
4) Lightest Contrivance (to both mechanics and level design)
5) Strength of Boundary (around the space of consequence)
6) Compatibility of mechanics
7) Orthogonality of mechanics
8) Generosity
 
Blow emphasized that to design good puzzles (because the talk was related to puzzle games but could be applied to any medium in general) you must “look for truth; illustrate it with the puzzle. The resulting puzzle will be more interesting”.
 
So, don’t force it but remove arbitrary portions and build up the information in the player’s head.
Solution implies higher levels of understanding and,
“the space around the truth is more important than the truth itself”.

So what do all of these words I’ve thrown at you mean?
 
I’ve simply gone back to my game and all of the stuff I toiled over, all of the battle systems, stealth systems, blah blah blah — it’s gone! I’m getting rid of it. It’s over!
 
What I was praised for in my critique from Indiecade was the only thing I really cared about in the first place: what my critic called “reactive storytelling”.
 
My entire game is comprised of choices made by the player involving simply the space he/she moves around in and the dialogue options he/she chooses. Sounds shallow, I know, but here’s were the depth comes in (another amazing panel at Indiecade by Paul Sottosanti and Chris Hecker) : the depth is in the characters.


 
I’ve researched and created real characters and the purpose, originally and now refocused, was on them the entire time and the way that decision the character made would affect them.
 
I was always inspired by Aaron Reed’s interactive novel Blue Lacuna because the character’s seemed to react in a way that was very human and very real. This is what I wanted to acheive in Akeldama and Jonathan Blow helped me see that I was trying to make it “fun” by adding in meaningless mechanics that didn’t uphold the true story I wanted to tell.
 
So now, instead of implementing meaningless silent-hill-esque “find the wall plate and put it in the wall” type puzzles, the puzzle is the dialogue. How can you keep a fragile alliance between so many fundamentally different people with their own hopes, goals, dreams, motivations.
 
That’s what Akeldama was created for and that’s what it’s going to be.
 
Thank you for being patient. Now, it’s on the right track.
Thank you Dad for all of your support and helping make sure I was able to follow my dreams this far and thank you for continuing to be behind me every step of the way.

-E

The videogame industry is currently becoming saturated with my least favorite paying method: micro-transactions. I have simply refused to buy a game that requires me to pay regularly to enjoy the game. One of the major reasons I purchased a PS3 over the Xbox 360 was because I don’t want to pay for online access.

This post is just as much of a review for a specific game as much as it is praise for the way this game handles monetary transactions.

Battleforge, a title in EA’s ‘Play4Free’ micro-transaction plan, was released in 2009 but has a evolved and addressed many mistakes since its original release and has become the best micro-transaction game of all time.

In Battleforge you purchase cards that serve as your in-game units in a way that can be best compared to Magic: The Gathering. Cards require monuments that you build in one of four types: Frost, Fire, Nature and Shadow and a certain amount of resources that Power Wells generate autonomously until they are emptied.

Those who enjoy a deep set of base building tools like those featured in Battle for Middle Earth II won’t find anything of the sort here: in Battleforge the best defense is a good offense.

Micromanagement of troops and resources play a tremendous role in the outcome of the battle in-game but the greatest strategy lies in the deck building.

A recent feature added into Battleforge is the ability to earn one BF (Battleforge) point by playing a game for at least fifteen minutes, redeemable once per day. While most booster packs are close to 300 BF points, you can now purchase 1 random card with that 1 point so you could potentially have a completely new deck if you played for fifteen minutes each day for twenty days.

On top of all of that it’s just a good, solid rts game. In fact, it’s my favorite real-time-strategy game of all time.

With several different campaigns for single-player, two-player and four-player plus randomly generated single-player and co-op maps there’s no lack of content and no reason you shouldn’t check this excellent game out right now.

-E

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started playing Krystian Majewski’s  Trauma. What I found was a unique blend of point-and-click adventure puzzles and narration by “a young woman who survives a car accident”.

After watching the opening cutscene I was presented with four vignettes, or “dreams”. Each dream begins by stating what your objective is. For example “this is the dream where I am chasing a ghost” would hint that maybe you should be following the ghostly trail.

The interface is easy to navigate and the environment assembles itself like a bunch of photographs. When you hover your mouse over an area that you can move to you see a ghostly outline of where the next image will be.

Each dream introduces a specific mechanic, like using drains to slurp up whatever obstacle is in your way or lifting giant seeds(?). Reusing these mechanics I sometimes found myself finishing one of the four vignettes right as I started it so I went back and tried to find another way to finish it.

There seems to be one “right” way to finish each dream that will reward you with a short cutscene of the narrator conscious in the hospital and talking to her doctor.

Trauma does not challenge your skills as a puzzle solver and instead takes you on a journey. The puzzles are simple and straightforward. The real beauty in Trauma is the way it blends gameplay and narrative to create this industry’s equivalent of an interactive poem. There is a real sense of discovery when you return to earlier vignettes and realize that mechanics you learned in later levels still apply there.

Majewski has created a work of art and I look forward to seeing what she contributes to this medium in the future.

-E

Also, don’t forget to check out the official website and remember the game will be available for purchase on Steam later today!

For those of you who don’t know, Kairo is a first-person puzzle game being developed by Richard Perrin. You can visit his website here and check out Kairo’s website here.

I’ve been watching the development of Kairo ever since Perrin first posted information about it online so after I got my hands on the alpha build I burst with excitement.

Kairo is exactly what I had hoped: this isn’t a game that gives you objectives, super powers or rules.

You simply appear in the middle of nothingness and begin to explore.

The puzzles can be hard to figure out from time to time for exactly this reason but it’s never impossible, and a helpful hint system can lead you in the right track if you have absolutely no idea what to do in the next room.

The alpha build I played was centered around a central hub. Five tar-like teleports send you to other parts of Kairo and contain their small loop of puzzles that bring you back around to the hub. As you solve puzzles the hub will be altered (for example the beam shooting upward between the rings).

You really do feel like you are bringing these machines back to life. There is a large, ominous mystery to where these monuments came from, who built them and what purpose it has which I assume will be answered in a vague, ambiguous fashion that Perrin tells the entire tale with.

And that’s just what makes Kairo so powerful. It tells a story without any dialogue or narrative — the entire journey is narrated by emotion.

Every room has a unique feeling that is joined with the overall oppressive atmosphere.

To understand Perrin’s design process before the game is released the best possible place to go, other than Perrin himself, would be to his two articles on IndieDB: The Kairo Process and Kairo: Puzzles and Obstacles.

Kairo is without a doubt a fascinating, raw indie game that deserves your attention.

To try out the alpha now, head on over to the Kairo website and preorder or get it when it’s released later this year!

-E

Now, I know I haven’t finished the game yet but I can’t hold it back any longer. I absolutely love this game and just have to tell you about it.

By now you already know that The Witcher 2 is a gorgeous game. All of the pictures I’ll be posting are screenshots I took on my laptop. You can check out all of my screenshots here and I’ll be updating them as I play through the game. You have been warned, there will be spoilers if you go there.

Because I haven’t finished the game and don’t know the whole story I’m going to focus on the mechanics that make it such a compelling game — even though the story is reason enough.

The Witcher 2 features a world with dynamic characters and an open-world style of exploration that is carried by a linear progression. It works very well and keeps the narrative at the front.

The whole game is organized by chapters. Within each chapter are boundaries that keep you within the specific environment. The first chapter restricts you to the small town of Flotsam, the outer camp Lobinden and a dense forest. Each has it’s share of interesting people and locales. In each area you’ll meet different characters and slay monsters, living your life as a witcher.

The game does a good job of establishing Geralt, the Witcher, as a character and not the player. In popular games like Mass Effect the game focuses on the character putting himself in Shepherd’s shoes. You are not Geralt. Sure, you control him and play the game from his perspective but he is not you. This makes him an interesting character and keeps the player from imposing too many of his/her own assumptions on another character.

This plays out in the entire game — including dialogue options.

You still make choices that drive the plot. Geralt answers in his gruff, cold voice and tries to appear to be an emotionless monster killer but has many layers as a character, making him just as interesting as any of the other personalities you meet through the experience.

The combat is quick and merciless. Geralt is not bulletproof: fight three armed guards can quickly become a struggle for precious life.

Geralt has quick and heavy attacks that he can use with his iron and silver (monster) sword. He can combine these with his spells and side weapons like throwing knives and bombs. A good example of this would be a gas bomb that releases flammable gas. Geralt can then use his Igni sign and light the gas, burning any nearby enemies.

Instead of good or bad choices to make during dialogue CD Projekt RED keeps the entire game within a grey area, fashioning Geralt as the perfect ‘Inman’ for this journey. Other characters may judge Geralt for his actions but it’s up for the player to decide what is the best decision. More often than not all of the “wrong” decisions seem to be the best and for the “right” reasons.

At certain moments in the game dialogue options will be timed. These usually appear during cutscene moments and the player has to make quick decisions that can easily change the tide of the game. The Witcher 2 wants for you to decide based on instinct and necessity instead of cold and calculated thoughts. Characters will die if you can’t think fast enough, adding tension to almost every encounter.

Every character is doing something for his/her own reason. It’s difficult to find a character helping you just because they like you. As Geralt you’ll have to find some sort of way you can help them in return and build trust before they will open up and be completely honest with you. That or they just aren’t honest people.

You’ll have to watch out for people that need you or who are just using you as a tool.

The Witcher 2 is an excellent game that stands solidly on both its mechanics and story. I’ll talk more about the latter once I’ve completed the game.

Just know for now that it’s extremely recommended. Just don’t go into it expecting it to be easy. You’re in for a challenge — a wonderful, rewarding challenge.

-E

P.S. There are two reasons I made this post: because the game is so friggin’ awesome (stated in the post title) and because 3dCube was interested in my opinion of Witcher 2. It’ll be a while before I complete it because I’ve made it my mission to complete every side quest and because of the game structure that isn’t something I can do after I finish the main story.

You should check out some of 3dCube’s stuff. He’s doing 3d modeling and I’ve gotta say, his work is pretty sweet!

In most modern games there is a moral choice system. Depending on your choice the game may or may not change. You’ve seen it in Mass Effect, Infamous, etc.

Today I’m going to talk about the way Infamous has taken this seemingly arbitrary system and given deeper choices that the player could be making subconsciously.

First and foremost, this article is about the first Infamous. Due to the PS3’s Welcome Back program, I was able to get my hands on a copy for free.

Throughout the game the player will encounter points where the game will freeze and explain a certain scenario that will affect your morality.

An example of this would be at one point fairly early in the game when you reach a group of riot cops barring the path to the bridge. Cole, the protagonist, is trying to escape the city. The gameplay freezes and pans around the scene as Cole narrates. He tells the player that he could fire electricity at the guards from inside the crowd so that the cops won’t be able to find him but warns the player that many innocent civilians would die. He also adds that he could try fighting them from outside the crowd — but that would be risky.

The main idea I want to focus on is simple: it’s easy to be evil.

The game seems to go out of its way to tell the player that if he makes all of the easy choices the game will literally become easier.

There’s a mission in which Cole has to knock the canisters pumping a black sludge into the city’s water supply. You have a choice: you can either shoot the pump off, overloading it with electricity and causing it to chug a large amount into the water before falling off or going up and knocking it off manually, causing the sludge to fly into your eyes. If you take the higher road and decide it would be better for the civilians if you knocked it off manually then the sludge will make Cole hallucinate for a few seconds and you’ll lose some of your power for the rest of your mission. Or you could overload the pump and have no direct affects.

Also, co-founder Bruce Oberg claims that “you don’t have to be good and evil the whole game. You can go back and forth between it. And depending on whether you’re good or evil at any particular time, you can actually choose to upgrade your powers in different ways.”

While this is technically true, I found that to get the stronger upgrades you really have to go down one path or the other. If you don’t you’ll never reach the most powerful attacks.

This makes it so that whatever choice the player makes, they feel they have to continue in that direction. Or become evil because the whole game is easier if they’re evil.

I found this to be a very interesting way to incorporate such a binary system into the gameplay. If we’re going to have to deal with more choice systems like Paragon/Renegade then let’s at least have something more compelling choosing a side just so we can hear the badass one-liners or have the cool, scarred face.

-E

You can watch a clip of the gameplay below.

PS: The Witcher 2 is the future of choice-based story telling. You can bet I’ll make a blog post on that!!!

Thanks a lot! It always means a lot to hear from people that are interested. I’ve let some people play it and gotten a lot of good feedback. Maybe after IndieCade, I’ll upload a demo to IndieDB.