The quarter is almost over, what have I learned?
I feel like I've only scratched the surface of game development. I've stuck my toes in and actually worked on game play, collaborated with players on design and come out excited by the possibilities. I think we'll take the Vampire principle game and try to run it this summer, and work on developing more ideas. I'm also going to invite other friends in for collaboration to see what kind of creative ideas we can get.
I learned I don't hate World of Warcraft, and that I will lose a lot of my free time if I indulge in playing. I can look beyond the hype and see value in the design. I can see the asset of the infrastructure
I fell head over heels for free browser game that changed all my expectations for free games. No ads, not aimed at kids, and real time based actions. I'm running 6 games on the site now, pillaging towns and taking no prisoners.
I'm still fascinated by MMOs and virtual lives. I want to get deeper and dig into the pschology of Second Life. I want to understand peoples action, the ability to disassociate yourself from your identity while still dwelling on real life attritbutes.
I'm eying the game industry more closely, wondering what part I could play. Could I turn my interest into game development? Could I find a role in project management? could my next career path be tied to the work of play?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
On Designing a Game (Entry 9)
Games are hard, let's go shopping. While I consider myself a gamer and have toyed with the idea of creating a board came at one time or another, I never really appreciated the amount of work that goes into actual game creation. The two weeks put into our super secret project showed the complexity involved. With our initial product we chose to not to create original intellectual property, and instead focused on marketing and product differentiation.
With this second product, the experience is completely different. We developed our own product line, a storyline that fit one product, and filled in the game play in between. And much like birthing a baby we felt ownership over it. This was our project, our pet.
Distancing myself from the process, I see two paths, one where you work on many projects, with some succeeding and some failing, or you put all your creative process into one project and are devastated when it fails. I can see how developers and designers might get to close to their products that they can't see their flaws. It's a balance though, there has to be ownership and enthusiasm but also some distance. Moving ahead I think I would cultivate a couple of great ideas, diversifying my options and funneling my enthusiasm into a couple of great projects, that way if one failed it would be less heartbreaking.
With this second product, the experience is completely different. We developed our own product line, a storyline that fit one product, and filled in the game play in between. And much like birthing a baby we felt ownership over it. This was our project, our pet.
Distancing myself from the process, I see two paths, one where you work on many projects, with some succeeding and some failing, or you put all your creative process into one project and are devastated when it fails. I can see how developers and designers might get to close to their products that they can't see their flaws. It's a balance though, there has to be ownership and enthusiasm but also some distance. Moving ahead I think I would cultivate a couple of great ideas, diversifying my options and funneling my enthusiasm into a couple of great projects, that way if one failed it would be less heartbreaking.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Chocolatier as a Girl Game. (Entry 8)
As I've discussed in the
past, I enjoy a variety of games. While I am quick to name the big games, I'm not always quick to name the smaller games that suck up my time in smaller doses. Last summer I bought a play pass membership and dove in head first.
I quickly learned the allure of time management games. Farm Frenzy and Chocolatier rose to the top as favorites with Chocolatier 2 quickly joining them.
Analyzing Chocolatier as a property, I can see the carefully constructed storyline. An image has been built for the Baumesiter family. It is a stately family, a little stodgy , but close to each other. The basic storyline is that the business has run into some trouble. They need someone to step in and assist them in innovating/renovating/restoring the business, and thats you.
In the game the characters refer to you in the first person, and a fair number of the characters you interact with are women. It occurs to me now, that the female quotient and being addressed so directly with my name and having my "persona' integrated into the play are what make it appealing. And while the game wasn't customized to make it girly, it still held a special gender appeal for me. I wonder if it is because of the type of game, the character interaction , or something else. Or maybe girls just like chocolate?
I'm going to see if I can get one of the guys at home to try it out to see what they like.
past, I enjoy a variety of games. While I am quick to name the big games, I'm not always quick to name the smaller games that suck up my time in smaller doses. Last summer I bought a play pass membership and dove in head first.
I quickly learned the allure of time management games. Farm Frenzy and Chocolatier rose to the top as favorites with Chocolatier 2 quickly joining them.
Analyzing Chocolatier as a property, I can see the carefully constructed storyline. An image has been built for the Baumesiter family. It is a stately family, a little stodgy , but close to each other. The basic storyline is that the business has run into some trouble. They need someone to step in and assist them in innovating/renovating/restoring the business, and thats you.
In the game the characters refer to you in the first person, and a fair number of the characters you interact with are women. It occurs to me now, that the female quotient and being addressed so directly with my name and having my "persona' integrated into the play are what make it appealing. And while the game wasn't customized to make it girly, it still held a special gender appeal for me. I wonder if it is because of the type of game, the character interaction , or something else. Or maybe girls just like chocolate?
I'm going to see if I can get one of the guys at home to try it out to see what they like.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
( Entry 7 )The human element.
I gave up. I deleted EVE online .
I'll give it another try at some point. Maybe over the summer when I have more time to play around. I never got out of the tutorial. Two things frustrated me. One, I never got out of the tutorial. Perhaps if I had put more time in, it would have happened, but when I switched characters to try a different one out I had to start from scratch again.
Second was the lack of human element.And I can even compare the experience to my first walk on in Ultima Online. I got in, figured out what I was doing and then felt like I was in a void. I didnt know anyone who played, I didn't know how to meet people, and just felt lost.
I began thinking of other game/community experiences and what engaged me and what didn't. In the end for non puzzle games it's the human element that ensnares me and keeps me playing. I can pinpoint when this happened in Second Life. In Sims Online I came in with friends premade, In There I had difficulty with this connection.
I suppose it all comes down to the purpose of the game. With sim games and empire builders I'm happy to do my own thing. In games where there is interaction between players, even through characters, I want to be part of the community.
We did a lot of community building at the vines, welcoming committees, messages, newbie groups etc. I wonder what kind of retention rate those activities get. If I'd been contacted by a member of the corporation or bloodline when I first started Eve? Not an automated request
I'll give it another try at some point. Maybe over the summer when I have more time to play around. I never got out of the tutorial. Two things frustrated me. One, I never got out of the tutorial. Perhaps if I had put more time in, it would have happened, but when I switched characters to try a different one out I had to start from scratch again.
Second was the lack of human element.And I can even compare the experience to my first walk on in Ultima Online. I got in, figured out what I was doing and then felt like I was in a void. I didnt know anyone who played, I didn't know how to meet people, and just felt lost.
I began thinking of other game/community experiences and what engaged me and what didn't. In the end for non puzzle games it's the human element that ensnares me and keeps me playing. I can pinpoint when this happened in Second Life. In Sims Online I came in with friends premade, In There I had difficulty with this connection.
I suppose it all comes down to the purpose of the game. With sim games and empire builders I'm happy to do my own thing. In games where there is interaction between players, even through characters, I want to be part of the community.
We did a lot of community building at the vines, welcoming committees, messages, newbie groups etc. I wonder what kind of retention rate those activities get. If I'd been contacted by a member of the corporation or bloodline when I first started Eve? Not an automated request
Saturday, May 2, 2009
(Entry 6) Separation of Character and Player.
Separation of Character and Player.
In the past I've had difficulty keeping character and player seperate.In fact one of my earlier relationships was largely based on the character roleplay, that fell apart when I realized the player was an asshole who could wear the face of a good guy. Funny that.
I've gotten better though, and now strive to keep my game playing and personal life in separate boxes. To facilitate that when I joined Second Life I didnt tell my friends who I was. I wanted a pure character playing experience. Catherine was her own person, joined clubs in second life, participated in parties, even had the random one night stand. Then she developed a "relationship" It was someone she met early in the game, who decided she was innocence embodied. He too had strict rules on the person/character barrier, so it seemed like a good fit.
Somewhere the relationship crossed the line. It became pretty clear that the player on the other end was no longer "playing" and had become attached to the character I created. I explained some vauge rl constraints. "I'm busy." "I am a student and my available time varies greatly" Finally after fall quarter I did what any other passive aggressive Pacific Northwesterner would do. I dropped off the grid.
For an entire quarter I stayed out of Second Life. I still had email forwarding on, and the emails kept coming. "Where are you?" "Why did you leave me?" "I bet you were a man"
I gave it another chance. I logged back in at the beginning of spring break, and attempted to recconect with firm boundries in place. I explained that I was a student, and class work came first. Particularly spring quarter where I'm logging game time for one of my classes. He never let up though. And a few weeks ago I began the progress of deactivating that avatar completely.
-----
Passive aggressive approach? Sure. But how do you tell someone "Your attachment to this character I created is smothering me. "
Relating it back to my experience in The Vines (A lot of my character experience ties to this time in my life. ) I can't help but wonder how much of the character development that happened after becoming involved with Mike was designed to please him. Much like the creation of the original Catherine in New York Qunn Stuyvesant had approached me, in another avatar "Come to New York " he said. "We can rule this colonial oupost and have great adventures"
Instead of turning the character to another destiny I created a new character that was ultimatly shaped by the realm that I played in and the characters that played with me. For the ambassador she was a hostage, for the pirate king she was a buccaneer, for Quinn she was a loyal bureaucrat. In real life we do learn and grow from our interactions with others, in a virtual character it may mirror it, but the challenge is to not let others feed overwhelm the character.
Anyway I I feel bad for the player behind the character but I've moved on.
In the past I've had difficulty keeping character and player seperate.In fact one of my earlier relationships was largely based on the character roleplay, that fell apart when I realized the player was an asshole who could wear the face of a good guy. Funny that.
I've gotten better though, and now strive to keep my game playing and personal life in separate boxes. To facilitate that when I joined Second Life I didnt tell my friends who I was. I wanted a pure character playing experience. Catherine was her own person, joined clubs in second life, participated in parties, even had the random one night stand. Then she developed a "relationship" It was someone she met early in the game, who decided she was innocence embodied. He too had strict rules on the person/character barrier, so it seemed like a good fit.
Somewhere the relationship crossed the line. It became pretty clear that the player on the other end was no longer "playing" and had become attached to the character I created. I explained some vauge rl constraints. "I'm busy." "I am a student and my available time varies greatly" Finally after fall quarter I did what any other passive aggressive Pacific Northwesterner would do. I dropped off the grid.
For an entire quarter I stayed out of Second Life. I still had email forwarding on, and the emails kept coming. "Where are you?" "Why did you leave me?" "I bet you were a man"
I gave it another chance. I logged back in at the beginning of spring break, and attempted to recconect with firm boundries in place. I explained that I was a student, and class work came first. Particularly spring quarter where I'm logging game time for one of my classes. He never let up though. And a few weeks ago I began the progress of deactivating that avatar completely.
-----
Passive aggressive approach? Sure. But how do you tell someone "Your attachment to this character I created is smothering me. "
Relating it back to my experience in The Vines (A lot of my character experience ties to this time in my life. ) I can't help but wonder how much of the character development that happened after becoming involved with Mike was designed to please him. Much like the creation of the original Catherine in New York Qunn Stuyvesant had approached me, in another avatar "Come to New York " he said. "We can rule this colonial oupost and have great adventures"
Instead of turning the character to another destiny I created a new character that was ultimatly shaped by the realm that I played in and the characters that played with me. For the ambassador she was a hostage, for the pirate king she was a buccaneer, for Quinn she was a loyal bureaucrat. In real life we do learn and grow from our interactions with others, in a virtual character it may mirror it, but the challenge is to not let others feed overwhelm the character.
Anyway I I feel bad for the player behind the character but I've moved on.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Entry 5 (I'm just not into it : A game report
When I started the gaming class I decided I would try out a few new games to see what they are like. So far I've fallen head over heels with Ikariam, I'm spending time in Second Life again . I decided to wait on Eve Online until I was near payday so that I could reup when the time came.
I've got five days left and I havent even made it out of the sandbox. I've been playing casually swapping between the three avatars I created, trying to get my bearings, learning to fly a ship. Starting over from the beginning of the tutorial when I tried out a different character.I can't seem to get the camera controls right, I'm having a hard time shooting and wonder if i should have an actual controller for something like this.
Now my trials almost up and I'm not sure its for me. And we don't want to have another Ultima Online incident **And maybe it's not for me. I'm not sure it is going to catch my interest enough for me to tackle the learning curve.
And I'm not the only girl to not get Eve Online .
In some ways this makes me feel like a lame player. The games I seem to connect with seem to be "gamer lite" at this point. It's not that I dont want an immersive gaming experience to rock my socks off, its just that I havent found one. I want the costumizabiity of second life with more community. I'm not sure that outright questing appeals to me. So the question is , what do I want out of a game? I'll admit I loved the idea of blood lines int he game. Different corporations and different polticis inspriing political moves. To groom a character to fit her blood line. Maybe there is hope for me, perhaps there is a game i just havent tried yet, a game that hasn't been made yet.
So what am I looking for?
I don't know the answer yet, its going to take some more looking.
**I paid for Ultima online for 6 months before I canceled. Total game time logged? 30 minutes.
I've got five days left and I havent even made it out of the sandbox. I've been playing casually swapping between the three avatars I created, trying to get my bearings, learning to fly a ship. Starting over from the beginning of the tutorial when I tried out a different character.I can't seem to get the camera controls right, I'm having a hard time shooting and wonder if i should have an actual controller for something like this.
Now my trials almost up and I'm not sure its for me. And we don't want to have another Ultima Online incident **And maybe it's not for me. I'm not sure it is going to catch my interest enough for me to tackle the learning curve.
And I'm not the only girl to not get Eve Online .
In some ways this makes me feel like a lame player. The games I seem to connect with seem to be "gamer lite" at this point. It's not that I dont want an immersive gaming experience to rock my socks off, its just that I havent found one. I want the costumizabiity of second life with more community. I'm not sure that outright questing appeals to me. So the question is , what do I want out of a game? I'll admit I loved the idea of blood lines int he game. Different corporations and different polticis inspriing political moves. To groom a character to fit her blood line. Maybe there is hope for me, perhaps there is a game i just havent tried yet, a game that hasn't been made yet.
So what am I looking for?
I don't know the answer yet, its going to take some more looking.
**I paid for Ultima online for 6 months before I canceled. Total game time logged? 30 minutes.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
(Entry 4) Gender Roles
I've never played a male character.
There I've said it. Even though I've had the ultimate freedom of internet anonymity, I've never taken that step to create a character of the opposite gender Talking with Scott about this, I tried to dig down a little deeper.
Much of what I do is not gaming. I engage in virtual worlds, explore online communities, and some times play simulation games. Talking with a fellow SL player, I was discussing my gender issue. This friend expresses himself in SL as both a male and a female avatar, and often finds it easier to express himself as his female avatar. When approaching an avatar for the first time, I think about the purpose of the avatar. In something like Neopets the name of my avatar means little. Little interaction happens between players so I don't feel like much of a connection to the created character. I don't feel that I have to take on a role, and that I don't have to create a plasusible character.
In other arenas like SL, I've been able to create multiple characters, but feel ackward creating a male character. The characters I create are always an extension of myself, different parts of me that I explore. Perhaps its the social interaction that something like SL has/is. I've never felt the need to explore my masculinity through a game character. I don't know if I could adaquetly play a male character. Yet if the game doesnt have a social interaction why does it make a difference? If it is goal oriented, and the character is secondary would it make a difference if I rolled a different gender?
I'm not sure where I stand, I just know that it is difficult for me to play a different gender.
There I've said it. Even though I've had the ultimate freedom of internet anonymity, I've never taken that step to create a character of the opposite gender Talking with Scott about this, I tried to dig down a little deeper.
Much of what I do is not gaming. I engage in virtual worlds, explore online communities, and some times play simulation games. Talking with a fellow SL player, I was discussing my gender issue. This friend expresses himself in SL as both a male and a female avatar, and often finds it easier to express himself as his female avatar. When approaching an avatar for the first time, I think about the purpose of the avatar. In something like Neopets the name of my avatar means little. Little interaction happens between players so I don't feel like much of a connection to the created character. I don't feel that I have to take on a role, and that I don't have to create a plasusible character.
In other arenas like SL, I've been able to create multiple characters, but feel ackward creating a male character. The characters I create are always an extension of myself, different parts of me that I explore. Perhaps its the social interaction that something like SL has/is. I've never felt the need to explore my masculinity through a game character. I don't know if I could adaquetly play a male character. Yet if the game doesnt have a social interaction why does it make a difference? If it is goal oriented, and the character is secondary would it make a difference if I rolled a different gender?
I'm not sure where I stand, I just know that it is difficult for me to play a different gender.
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