Interactive Narrative
Blog: 4
Week: 5
Game: The Wolf Among Us
Q: Do the choices you make in the game contribute to the sense of meaningful interactive moments?
'The Wolf Among Us' Provides the player with the interactivity style common to the telltale games. But how do the choices the player makes contribute to this interactivity. I though that because this game doesn't actually have the sort of interactivity from games with a lot of player control, but of sorts the choices the player makes still effects the interactive moments.
A later choice in the first chapter of the game is where you go first. Do you go to Mr Toad's apartment or Lawrence's apartment? If you choose Mr Toad's, Lawrence will die but if you choose Lawrence's you are given the opportunity to save him. This contributes to any interactive moment afterwards because as a player you feel these things are now happening because of the choice you just made. From 'Storyplaying' (Sebastian Domsch, 2013), "Choice situations can be either a-temporal or have a temporal dimension, which means that there might be a limited amount of time during which the options are available, or that - after a finite amount of time - not making any choices will produce an outcome that is different from the choice situation and that therefore constitutes a choice in itself." This passage is relevant to your choice if you select Lawrence's apartment. Because as you hide in the closet from the burglar you are given the option to charge out and save Lawrence or do nothing. If you do nothing the option available disappears and it is as if you have a made a choice. This also applies to the many combat scenes you encounter throughout the game. Choices appear on the screen but if you choose to do nothing the scene continues on in a different way compared to if you had chosen the option on screen.
Basically the options you see on screen from the dialogue, to the combat, and to the general run out of the closet choices, it feels like meaningful interactivity because of what the player can assume will happen from each choice. If the player can get a rough image in their minds of what will happen if they chose this or that it makes the interactivity meaningful.
Friday, 25 March 2016
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
24/03/16- Modelling left arm_X-22
Friday, 18 March 2016
18/03/16-week3Blog
Game:The Banner Saga
Blog: 3
Q3: How does morality influence the choices you make in the game?
Morality is an interesting part of games. As a person who games on a daily basis I have come across choices that bring my morality into play. Why I find morality interesting in games is because I know where I stand on the spectrum of moral choices and what I would choose in reality, so when I play games I often find myself actively doing the opposite of what I would actually do. In The Bana Saga I feel that the 2d environments and simple gameplay are not immersive enough for me, so I constantly feel detached from the game and thus am certain to do unrealistic decisions. An example from the game is during a journey from one city to another and a drunkard jeopardized the caravan and so as the leader I was given a few choices; beat the man, Ban him from alcohol, separate him from everyone else or banish him. I know morally banning him from alcohol is the right thing to do because he stays safe and so does the caravan but I banish him knowing that he will surely die in the frozen tundras. Perhaps if the game was 3d or on an oculus I may feel enough for he characters that I make decisions I would make in real life but that's not The Bane Saga. A passage (from 'Ethical dilemmas and dominant moral strategies in games' by Brandon Perdue) I really felt fit with the example above was "The idea of a moral choice often runs directly counter to the tendency of many players to make the optimal moves in the game." Basically the situation with the drunkard was I could take the strategic path and toss him meaning he could no longer cause future problems for the camp which may or may not have been very bad, or only slightly punishing him keeping my conscience clean but having that decision later on being bad for everyone else. Basically strategic decisions conflict with moral decisions and it's up to the player if they want the game to be easier or harder depending on what choice they make.
So I think morality can influence the players decisions but if the game is not immersive enough the player will often be detached enough to influence his own decision making even if it goes against his/her own moral standards.
Blog: 3
Q3: How does morality influence the choices you make in the game?
Morality is an interesting part of games. As a person who games on a daily basis I have come across choices that bring my morality into play. Why I find morality interesting in games is because I know where I stand on the spectrum of moral choices and what I would choose in reality, so when I play games I often find myself actively doing the opposite of what I would actually do. In The Bana Saga I feel that the 2d environments and simple gameplay are not immersive enough for me, so I constantly feel detached from the game and thus am certain to do unrealistic decisions. An example from the game is during a journey from one city to another and a drunkard jeopardized the caravan and so as the leader I was given a few choices; beat the man, Ban him from alcohol, separate him from everyone else or banish him. I know morally banning him from alcohol is the right thing to do because he stays safe and so does the caravan but I banish him knowing that he will surely die in the frozen tundras. Perhaps if the game was 3d or on an oculus I may feel enough for he characters that I make decisions I would make in real life but that's not The Bane Saga. A passage (from 'Ethical dilemmas and dominant moral strategies in games' by Brandon Perdue) I really felt fit with the example above was "The idea of a moral choice often runs directly counter to the tendency of many players to make the optimal moves in the game." Basically the situation with the drunkard was I could take the strategic path and toss him meaning he could no longer cause future problems for the camp which may or may not have been very bad, or only slightly punishing him keeping my conscience clean but having that decision later on being bad for everyone else. Basically strategic decisions conflict with moral decisions and it's up to the player if they want the game to be easier or harder depending on what choice they make.
So I think morality can influence the players decisions but if the game is not immersive enough the player will often be detached enough to influence his own decision making even if it goes against his/her own moral standards.
Thursday, 17 March 2016
18/03/16-Today
Today I spent my time by helping Jacob with the timing of the animatic and I also recorded sounds and received sourced sounds from https://www.freesound.org/ to apply to the finished animatic.
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
17/03/16- Dialogue
From out last meeting one of the things we discussed was the dialogue. I started to brainstorm some ideas but the one that stuck out for me was
"Revolutions are a fight between the future and the past. We are the Future! And we intend to clean out the past."
This was for the first part where the Synth overlord is on the laptop screen talking to the man. I figured that the Humans represent the past because they have at this stage had their chance to rule over earth, but fail at this and the Synths take it upon themselves as the representation of the future to clean the wrong doings of the Humans. Very much like in real life how we constantly screw things up and hey we only have one planet, but we don't do a very good job of looking after it.
Later on when we see the synth assassin come in the overlord from the T.V said
"You call us Synths, but we are so much more!"
While I was trying to figure out what he says, I had to find out what these lifeforms were called I juggled a few options such as, Golems, Automatons, Sentinels and Androids to name a few. However I felt Synths worked the best because the word embodies this idea of Techno organic forms very well.
Later on when the man opens his eyes and they appear red and mechanical I thought instead of " we will be slaves no longer!" simply repeating "We are the Future!" from the overlord is a confirmation that he is now one of them.
"Revolutions are a fight between the future and the past. We are the Future! And we intend to clean out the past."
This was for the first part where the Synth overlord is on the laptop screen talking to the man. I figured that the Humans represent the past because they have at this stage had their chance to rule over earth, but fail at this and the Synths take it upon themselves as the representation of the future to clean the wrong doings of the Humans. Very much like in real life how we constantly screw things up and hey we only have one planet, but we don't do a very good job of looking after it.
Later on when we see the synth assassin come in the overlord from the T.V said
"You call us Synths, but we are so much more!"
While I was trying to figure out what he says, I had to find out what these lifeforms were called I juggled a few options such as, Golems, Automatons, Sentinels and Androids to name a few. However I felt Synths worked the best because the word embodies this idea of Techno organic forms very well.
Later on when the man opens his eyes and they appear red and mechanical I thought instead of " we will be slaves no longer!" simply repeating "We are the Future!" from the overlord is a confirmation that he is now one of them.
17/03/16-Character Profile X-22
Monday, 14 March 2016
Storyboard-15/03/2016
Here is a final storyboard that I just completed. This was a collaboration between Gabe and myself over the last week. It is still open to change at this stage.
Thursday, 10 March 2016
InteractiveNarrativeBlogWeek2-11/03
Blog 2
Game: Prince of Persia The Sands of Time
Q1: Did linear storytelling in your chosen game engage and excite you as a player? Explain why or why not?
Linear storytelling in games is based around the idea of 'causal logic'. So the actions of the player leads to cut scenes, and those cut scenes lead to more game play. In games, game play supports story and story supports game play. Along with the standard 'string of pearls' formula, there were extra little segments during the game play which keep you focused on the story and objective of the character, for example when you enter a new area the game has cinematic shots to show you the objective or destination and enemies.I think that the game did well to create a linear story where the cut scenes and game play work well enough together to create an engaging and exciting experience.
However I was not completely engaged and excited because the story was to linear, I had to follow a carefully laid out path, fight enemies and go through rooms in a very set order. This for me creates a less engaging game as I feel less meaningful to the story and I don't have as much illusion of choice. Games are about "The satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices",(Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck, 126) unfold before us, when the game misses that effect the player feels a detachment from the game. A game can have set cut scenes, but I think at the very least the player needs to be able to experience different pathways to that cut scene each play through.
Game: Prince of Persia The Sands of Time
Q1: Did linear storytelling in your chosen game engage and excite you as a player? Explain why or why not?
Linear storytelling in games is based around the idea of 'causal logic'. So the actions of the player leads to cut scenes, and those cut scenes lead to more game play. In games, game play supports story and story supports game play. Along with the standard 'string of pearls' formula, there were extra little segments during the game play which keep you focused on the story and objective of the character, for example when you enter a new area the game has cinematic shots to show you the objective or destination and enemies.I think that the game did well to create a linear story where the cut scenes and game play work well enough together to create an engaging and exciting experience.
However I was not completely engaged and excited because the story was to linear, I had to follow a carefully laid out path, fight enemies and go through rooms in a very set order. This for me creates a less engaging game as I feel less meaningful to the story and I don't have as much illusion of choice. Games are about "The satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices",(Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck, 126) unfold before us, when the game misses that effect the player feels a detachment from the game. A game can have set cut scenes, but I think at the very least the player needs to be able to experience different pathways to that cut scene each play through.
Thursday, 3 March 2016
Interactiveweek1Blog-04/03/16
Game: Facade
Question: Does your chosen game make user input feel meaningful in terms of story direction and progression? Why or why not?
What I got from the first time I played Facade is that it is an interactive drama which you get thrown into and you are a long time friend of a married couple who are clearly having problems.
Given that this game does have many different outcomes for the story it is very clear that user input does have some sort of meaningful input into the progression of the story. I played the game through to a finish around 5 times and it ended differently each time, for example first play through ended with me being kicked out by Trip, second play through had Trip leave, third play through had Grace leave, fourth play through had them stay together, fifth time had stay together but under different circumstances. What happens depends on multiple things. Key words seem to work well with what the AI does, but at the same time, some words don't seem to compute with the AI. With the story I feel as though it often does try to go to the same point but all we can do as players is delay and direct it to that point. They all ways seem to talk about the same things but just in a different order.
The game heavily relies on the capabilities of the AI and I don't feel that it delivers for the story, because they kept getting stuck in loops (or just stuck) and glitching out. Regardless of this I do feel that the user does still feel meaningful because the user is directly choosing what to type in response to the questions and providing the AI gives a reply the user must feel some sort of interaction on a personal level.
Question: Does your chosen game make user input feel meaningful in terms of story direction and progression? Why or why not?
What I got from the first time I played Facade is that it is an interactive drama which you get thrown into and you are a long time friend of a married couple who are clearly having problems.
Given that this game does have many different outcomes for the story it is very clear that user input does have some sort of meaningful input into the progression of the story. I played the game through to a finish around 5 times and it ended differently each time, for example first play through ended with me being kicked out by Trip, second play through had Trip leave, third play through had Grace leave, fourth play through had them stay together, fifth time had stay together but under different circumstances. What happens depends on multiple things. Key words seem to work well with what the AI does, but at the same time, some words don't seem to compute with the AI. With the story I feel as though it often does try to go to the same point but all we can do as players is delay and direct it to that point. They all ways seem to talk about the same things but just in a different order.
The game heavily relies on the capabilities of the AI and I don't feel that it delivers for the story, because they kept getting stuck in loops (or just stuck) and glitching out. Regardless of this I do feel that the user does still feel meaningful because the user is directly choosing what to type in response to the questions and providing the AI gives a reply the user must feel some sort of interaction on a personal level.
Production Schedule- 04/03/16
4th - 13th of March's schedule.
Stuff in brackets isn't until the week after but is something to work on if everything is finished.
Matthew Coles: Storyboard > Rough Sound > (Clay Maquette)
Rhys McKenzie: Style Concepts > Character Concepts > Environment Concepts > Colour Palettes > (Animatic)
Jacob Knight: Style Concepts > Character Concepts > Character Model Sheet > (Animatic)
Michael Fearon: Style Concepts > Environment Concepts > Colour Pallettes > (Environment Sourcing > Character Profiles)
Gabriel Palomo: Style Concepts > Storyboard > (Modelling)
Above is schedule that the team made for the next week and a half based on our final production schedule. I volunteered to do the clay maquette as I think we can finish the storyboard a bit earlier then expected.
Below is the updated production schedule. The only things that changed were Jacob got a promotion and I got a demotion, something to do with our track records or something. Also we removed two weeks of animation for Michael and Rhys to do the matte painting for the windows.
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Production Schedule-03/03/16
We all wanted to have a part in the modelling phase so we have tried to divvy up the additional tasks among all the modelling. For example I will model one of the minor parts and at the same time begin working and researching sound for the film, just like Rhys and Jacob will be working on the animatic.
UV is not my strong point so I will help out where I can but focus primarily on the filming and acting of the live action side, the rest of the team will help me out when they can. This was a clear course of action as I have a lot more experience with acting and film then the others, this is the same reason for the editing of the footage in the following weeks.
The second term we all will take part in the animation process and around the side I will be finishing and polishing the sound of the film. However I think i can get the sound done earlier so I will help out with the other parts in the final weeks.
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