Messages

76

Discussing Game Design / RPS: Maybe Games Just Aren’t For Telling Great Stories?

« on: June 13, 2013, 02:37:31 PM »

An interesting pair of articles from Rock Paper Shotgun:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/11/maybe-games-just-arent-for-telling-great-stories/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/12/games-are-the-ideal-place-for-telling-great-stories/

77

Discussing Game Design / Characters, Complicity and Caring: Jo Walton's speech at Wiscon

« on: June 12, 2013, 04:39:24 PM »

I ran into this article the other day on Metafilter. It's from a sci-fi author about linear fiction, but I think a lot of it has weight in games and gamebooks too.

Indeed, the main failure mode of fiction for me is if I don't care about the characters. If you ever see me nitpicking worldbuilding and pointing out plot holes they're either really egregious or else the real problem is that I didn't care about the characters and I was poking at other things. Go to somebody else to hear about what's wrong with the windmills in _Red Mars_ or the carnivorous aliens in _The Sparrow_, my problem with both books is with characters not acting like people. If I care about the characters I'll overlook or forgive almost anything else.

http://papersky.livejournal.com/589474.html

What do you think?

78

Contests / Re: Proposal for Adventure Cow Compo

« on: June 12, 2013, 04:07:43 PM »

I figure it may be at least a few weeks before I can get around to meaningfully planning something like this. August may be a good month, or perhaps even July. When we actually do it, I'd like it to be easy to get into so lots of people feel welcome to participate.

79

Workshop my Game / Re: First ever "Workshop my Game" thread - "Thank you for your cooperation"

« on: June 12, 2013, 04:05:52 PM »

Heh. It was seeing the same things come back again that made me look for a way to "break out of the matrix," so to speak.

80

Discussing Game Design / Re: Self-imposed design limitations to stimulate creativity

« on: June 12, 2013, 04:03:37 PM »

Interactive fiction, from what I understand, is actually a somewhat restrictive medium. I've played around very little with Inform7, but it seems to very much favor a rooms/objects set of metaphors. Doing something like Emily Short's Letters from the Revolution (don't remember the exact title), or that one game with the shrinking page (anyone know which one this is?), or Candy Box, would feel very unnatural in Inform.

The same goes for most specific engines - Unity, RPG Maker, ren'py, Twine. They all invite, to some extent, a fixed way of thinking. This can be good or bad, but unlike the restrictions we're talking about here, it's not a planned, self-imposed restriction (usually). Do any of you have experience with those engines?

81

Technical Support / [2013-6-10] Bug fixes

« on: June 10, 2013, 06:05:31 PM »

The new Adventure Cow reader has some fixes to bugs in the standard theme and the menu button.

82

Contests / Re: Proposal for Adventure Cow Compo

« on: June 07, 2013, 04:21:17 PM »

Awesome. Perhaps we could do a mini-workshop in a few weeks...probably a weekend would be best right?

83

Games Showcase / June 2013 News

« on: June 07, 2013, 02:22:13 PM »

The new June 2013 Adventure Cow newsletter is live, here. Features:

• Interview with creator of Math Problem Emmanuel Turner
• Discussions on story writing, future Adventure Cow contests, and more
• The latest Twine stories posted, including Axolotl Project, Demons and Deadlines, Revelations, and the SXSW Game

84

Workshop my Game / Re: First ever "Workshop my Game" thread - "Thank you for your cooperation"

« on: June 06, 2013, 11:29:05 AM »

Curious. Does it always loop around? I started trying to look for a break, as well as some connection between the different threads.

85

Contests / Re: Proposal for Adventure Cow Compo

« on: June 05, 2013, 01:50:06 PM »

Competition is good and all, but it should come second to building a creative-community that drives its members to improve their craft and have fun while doing it.

Interesting. I think we need to have a specific focused event where people have to be communicating. Game jams work well for this because they're on one site. A day-long weekend workshop via chat, perhaps?

Also, Revelations was cool. I enjoyed the twist of being on the other side of the couch from the usual perspective.

86

Discussing Game Design / Re: Self-imposed design limitations to stimulate creativity

« on: June 03, 2013, 02:07:41 PM »

While there's a lot more to this article on genre, this one part stood out to me:

Lots of gifted artists have been drawn to genre because of its formulaic nature, and many of our greatest artistic treasures are clear expressions of genre inspiration. In fact, many artists routinely hailed as pioneers in their fields - Shakespeare, Cézanne, Virginia Woolf, Miles Davis, Akira Kurosawa - each demonstrated a keen awareness of genre and produced extraordinary work situated well within genre or other formal boundaries. These artists didn't steer clear of genre "limits." They embraced them.

Artists crave freedom, but most quickly learn that limits, even apparently harsh ones, can be more friend than enemy. In 1922, the great Russian director Stanislavski was invited to stage a production in America. He was asked how much rehearsal time he would require. "Six months," was Stanislavski's reply. Startled, the American producer informed him that it would be impossible to host (and pay) a visiting theater company to rehearse for that length of time. "Not a problem," replied Stanislavski, "Give me three weeks." The production was a triumph.

87

Contests / Re: Proposal for Adventure Cow Compo

« on: June 03, 2013, 02:05:46 PM »

There are so many possibilities here that I think the challenging bit is not coming up with ideas but reducing it to just one plan!

Vhillain: What was your experience like in Mini-Ludum Dare 42? Can you say a little bit about what was fun about it?

88

Discussing Game Design / That cancer game

« on: June 03, 2013, 10:39:11 AM »

Joel Green is hysterical and there's nothing I can do about it. I try bouncing him on my knee, but whenever I stop the giggles make way for fresh anguish. I try offering him a carton of apple juice, but what little fluid he manages to swallow soon comes back up, chased by curdling screams. Many video games are power fantasies. This video game is something else. It's a puzzle without a solution. It's a game about pain, loss, fear and, ultimately, surrender. In many ways it's a disempowerment fantasy. Except, Joel Green's story is no fantasy.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-21-that-cancer-game

I ran into this article a few days ago, about a game written by a father whose child has cancer. I don't have any specific thoughts yet, just wanted to share the article.

89

Discussing Game Design / Re: Self-imposed design limitations to stimulate creativity

« on: May 29, 2013, 10:21:28 AM »

This sounds about right. I was thinking that limits can help when a project can grow in any direction and no end in site, but when a limitation starts to feel like a handcuff, that's a sign that you're ready to do something that goes beyond it.

I could use some good limits for future projects. Time is a big one for me. Perhaps a project that I have to work on for ten minutes (and only ten minutes) a day?

90

Discussing Game Design / Re: Electronic literature, games, and literary technique

« on: May 28, 2013, 12:28:23 PM »

Art is often used as a rather broad, encompassing term where architecture, music, and literature can cavort in the same room. In that sense, it makes a lot of sense to consider games art.

A game might be great literature but I would likely be primarily appreciating it for its gameplay, the same way you could appreciate a video game for its art.