Blips: Dissonant Landmarks

Source: The Red Herring of Real-Life Landmarks
Author: Ben Serviss
Site: DashJump

The 2009 George Clooney film Up int the Air was shot largely in the Midwest, with several scenes in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. As such, the act of watching the film has an extra layer of engagement for me as I attempt to pinpoint all of the shooting sites and consider how well they actually tie into the film's plot. For example, George Clooney sneaks back into his character's old high school, which is actually Affton High School, where my mom attended. I remember when they were shooting scenes at the Cheshire Inn, because I lived a couple blocks away and would drive past the production trucks on a daily basis. I was already attached to these places, but imagine they're just stock high schools and hotels to non-St. Louisans. On the other hand, maybe I was distracted from the film's story because I kept wandering into my own memories.

Using recognizable landmarks can be tricky business in movies, but also in games. Game developer Ben Serviss lays out his argument for why landmarks are often implemented so poorly and how to avoid these pitfalls. At the heart of the matter is aspiring for authenticity, but this can come at the expense of design. Do we really need a racing game that replicates San Francisco block for block? No, something that captures the spirit of the city will do just fine, and potentially work better with your game's particular driving mechanics. 100% is a bullet point that few players will be able to appreciate, and likely takes a whole bunch of time and effort (meticulous, boring work) to reproduce. All this before even touching on how and when to reveal real-world landmarks as part of a game experience. Check out Serviss' article for the rest of his thoughts on the issue.

Blips: Gender Diversity Down Under

Source: Who makes games in Australia?
Author: Daniel Golding
Site: ABC Arts (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

In the grand scheme of things, I know little about Australia. I've never been there, but would love to visit someday. What I do know is that Australia has a game development industry that's garnered an increased amount of global attention in the past few years. Australian game developers have been behind big-budget titles like the criminal investigation adventure game LA Noire and also smaller indie games like the mind-bending Antichamber. What's surprising though is that in a recent industry analysis, women only make up 8.7% of the development workforce, but almost half of the player base.

In a piece for ABC Arts, Daniel Golding breaks down what these new statistics mean for the industry and how it's leaders are and aren't taking action to increase gender diversity in the workplace. It would be pretty cool if a smaller industry workforce could take on this issue in a successful way that could then serve as a template for larger regions like the US. Golding does a great job of analyzing the issue, looking into factors that affect education down to the fact that labeling game development courses as "game design" instead of lumping them in with "IT" greatly increases the percentage of women who enroll in those courses. It makes sense that an increase of women with game design diplomas would then make for an increased percentage of women in the game development workforce, though there are still other systemic issues within the games industry that won't be fully addressed in the education sector.

Anyway, I don't want to rehash the whole piece here; it's pretty interesting though.

:image credit Jamie Keys:

Blips: Gimme Game-y Games

Source: Systems vs. Stories
Author: Dan Whitehead
Site: Eurogamer

It's not a new argument that video games should be developed around their systems, not as vehicles of cinematic storytelling. That's the crux of Dan Whitehead's stance in a new piece for Eurogamer, but his point is more salient with the comparison between two recent games that use a zombie apocalypse as a premise: The Last of Us and State of Decay. Sure there are new zombie games every week (sigh), but here Whitehead explains why he thinks State of Decay is a better "game" than the critically lauded The Last of Us, and it all boils down to story presentation. In The Last of Us, Whitehead felt like he was just keeping the main characters alive in between cutscenes where the story was told. In State of Decay, he claims that you're almost always playing the game to push the story forward, to the point where there's not even an explicit plot in the traditional sense.

Though I haven't played either of these games, I can see where Whitehead is coming from, and can hop on board except where he gets superlative with his claims in ways that restrict the narrative possibilities of various media. The topper is his closing line that refers to games as "the only truly new creative medium of the last 100 years." Cutting it pretty close to the invention of film, but I guess I can let that slide. However, let's not forget that games have existed prior to video games, and are founded on the same principles. Games in fact predate film and photography by hundreds, if not thousands of years. Furthermore, I don't have a problem with cinematic games with minimal interactivity, so long as the parts where I play aren't just there as boring filler to meet a "game" requirement.

If there's a problem it's how we lump all games under the same set of expectations. The kinds of interactivity should be what we use to classify games because they let the player know what kind of experience they're in for. If I know a game is going to be little more than a visual novel where I press a button to turn the page, so be it. I might be in a mood for that kind of game. If the story is interesting, that game could still be great. The interactivity might not get in the way and involves the player in the story just enough to be meaningful. I haven't played Asura's Wrath either, but isn't that the basic idea there? The real issue with most story-based games isn't interactivity, it's second-rate writing. By the sound of it, The Last of Us actually makes great strides on that front.

Blips: Look At Me

Source: Twilight Crossfade
Author: Dan Solberg
Site: re/Action

I just wanted to take a minute to share my first ever post for re/Action! I got to write about DJing, Proteus, Miasmata, and photography. So, it's got pretty much all of my top interests rolled up into one piece about transitions. Check it out, and be sure to look around at other essays on re/Action, which is fast becoming a hotbed of talented writers and subjects that aren't your typical video game feature fare. They're launching a crowd-funding initiative next month, so be on the lookout. Lastly, if you're wondering which songs I used in my DJ mix examples, they're Moby's "Disco Lies (The Dusty Kid's Fears Remix)" and Daft Punk's "Phoenix."

Blips: Give Empathy a Chance

Source: The Games We Deserve
Author: Michael Abbott
Site: Brainy Gamer

I'm often surprised by just how much my Communications studies in rhetoric and interpersonal communication as an undergrad have surfaced as resonant and useful beyond school. I was a double major, and always viewed my Communications track as secondary to my Fine Art studies, yet time and time again, I've leaned on those lessons as vital strategies for speaking with people in constructive and empathetic ways. Perhaps you've noticed that folks on the Internet aren't always the best at this, myself occasionally included.

In his Brainy Gamer blog, Michael Abbott lists some ideas to keep in mind as a type of checklist for speaking with people online in hope of generating a more considerate, less incendiary dialogue about video games. Think of this list as the digital age equivalent of the old "count to 30" strategy for anger management. It's easy to say "avoid mean-spirited language" and "don't be a jerk," but it's helpful on a practical level to have a more literal checklist of behavioral tendencies to look out for. Plus, as Abbott points out, if this stodgy, combative atmosphere is how the game community presents itself,  developers are more likely to create games that reinforce that behavior.

Through my work in teen education, I've also found it useful to "always begin by assuming positive intent." This is especially important when trying to cultivate communities that are inclusive and welcoming of people from diverse backgrounds. You don't lose anything by assuming positive intent, and it carries the potential benefit of broadening your understanding of a different side of in issue that you would have otherwise not been exposed.

Lastly, I wanted to point out Samantha Allen's "Open Letter to Games Media," with does a great job of laying out the responsibilities that providers of comments sections and forums have to ensure those spaces foster constructive dialogue. It's a nice companion to Michael Abbott's list that helps dissect the complexity of the issue at hand.

:image source:

Blips: Staying Home

Source: Why we are not showing Gone Home at PAX
Author: Steve Gaynor
Site: The Fullbright Company

On their website, Steve Gaynor of The Fullbright Company has announced that his team will not be showing their highly anticipated game, Gone Home, at the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. You can check out the blog for their full list of grievances, but it mostly boils down to remarks made by PA founders Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins that have been deemed insensitive, and in some cases misogynist and transphobic, by a substantial contingency in the game community. In many of these incidents, glib remarks were made under the auspice of humor, but then followed up with bull-headed defensiveness that only buried the hole deeper.

It's a shame that Gone Home won't be at PAX Prime, but I understand why. It's one of those cases where you have to evaluate how much you separate the creator from the creation. Some people won't watch Roman Polanski movies. Other people won't watch football games starring players with violent criminal records. Everyone has their own standards and limits. Some people won't listen to Kanye West's music because of the egomaniacal way he presents himself (though to be honest, Kanye's music is all about Kanye too). If PA's brand of humor or their statements on certain social issues rub you the wrong way, the option to disconnect is there and should be exercised.

It's also a shame because Penny Arcade has grown so far beyond Krahulik and Holkins, beyond just a video game-centric web comic, and other very talented staff are also effected by the actions of their company's figureheads. Now, Krahulik has issued another public apology for his most recent remarks and announced a personal donation of $20,000 to The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ crisis prevention organization. Will this sentiment change anything for The Fullbright Company or anyone else on the fence about attending or showcasing at PAX? My gut says no, but if Gaynor and company's stance had an impact on either side of this issue, it seems like an action that was worth taking.

Blips: The Other Side of the Story

Source(s): Maybe Games Just Aren't For Telling Great Stories? and Games Are The Ideal Place For Telling Great Stories
Author: John Walker
Site: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

What to make of John Walker's dueling editorials on the competence of video games as a medium for telling great stories? The two pieces represent opposite viewpoints much like talking heads on cable news shows –each saying their piece without ever actually debating topics. The difference here is that since both articles were written by the same person, they represent internal conflict, one that seems unresolved.

However, certain arguments in the pro-game stories article seem to trump claims to the contrary in the other piece. Namely there's a part where Walker breaks down three kinds of narrative approaches in games, and when he gets to the third one, open-ended narratives where players, not designers, make the stories, he really makes his strongest point. In the anti-game stories editorial, Walker lists three games that he remembers having great stories in a more literary sense of the term, but makes no mention of the open-ended narrative in Minecraft and EVE Online that he cites in the other piece. Sure, bringing those games up would have strongly refuted the points he was making, but it also paints this pair of editorials as clever for cleverness' sake.

The issue isn't that game stories are doomed to be poor; there are plenty that aren't, and quite a bit of what makes others miss the mark could be corrected with a higher level of craft on the writing and performance front (a complicated issue, I'm aware). While I don't have an inherent problem with linear narratives in games, the ones that resonate most strongly are the ones that primarily use the game's mechanics to tell the story. These stories can still make use of smart writing, elegant performance capture, and fancy graphics, but treading to closely on the tropes of cinema or literature will just make players wonder why the game isn't just one of those instead.

Blips: Free Rhythm Games

Source: Everyone Chases the Frogs: The Changing Sound of Video Game Music
Author: Jeff Siegel
Site: Red Bull Music Academy

The "music game" genre is currently comprised mostly of mechanics based on precise execution and/or recitation of existing tracks or performances. On one hand you have literal instumentation games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band where the original recordings are king, and on the other you have dance games like Dance Central and Dance Dance Revolution where the choreography rules the land. Both of these branches of music games are structured for testing, not play. You might cite console-based music creating tools like Beaterator or MTV Music Generator as genuine music production tools, but the unsharable nature of your finished tracks, clunky UI, and rise of free professional production software alternatives makes them all but irrelevent.

Thankfully, some very inspired game music composers have stepped up to blur the line between "music games" as we know them, and other types of games. In his piece for Red Bull Music Academy, Jeff Siegel speaks with both Ryan Roth and David Kanaga, whose work on Starseed Pilgrim, Proteus, and Dyad have staked new territory for music-centric gameplay. The interactivity of these games does not exist on a separate layer from the music. Your actions in the game actually make the music, but it occurs in an even more organic fashion than stylistic progenitor Rez.

I think back to this Kotaku piece on video game music as optional to the experience, and have to wonder if games produced with integrated compositions would shift opinions on the matter. I certainly can't imagine playing these games without sound, and in fact find this new emerging sub-genre to be one of the most exciting developments currently growing in the game industry.

Blips: No Need

Source: It's a Little Bit Sad
Author: Jordan Mammo
Site: Unwinnable

In his recent post for Unwinnable, Jordan Mammo wonders why we're on the verge of a new console generation when this year's E3 failed to provide any justification. I found myself thinking the same in the wake of both Microsoft and Sony's big press conference unveilings. Both companies trotted out the typical talking points about how their latest luxury devices would beget innovation, more dynamic gameplay, and, inexplicably, better storytelling. While Sony at least showed a range of games that seemed interesting, neither made a convincing argument for new hardware.

A comment on Mammo's post notes that E3 is always a bunch of ceo-speak and that the games shown at press conferences aren't necessarily evocative of the best games the console will offer. Beyond that, launch games have a reputation for underwhelming, focusing instead on proof of concepts for new ideas or simply updating existing models with a new coat of paint. This is all true, but it's also the job of companies at events like this to prove that their product is worth buying at launch. With the turbulent, unpredictable console market on the verge of a massive saturation point, that "the good games will come," doesn't feel like as much of a guarantee. I'd buy a PS4 before I got an Xbox One, but I really just hope that Sony's corral of indie games are also playable on PS3 since they don't seem to require the more advanced hardware.

Still, I would love to be surprised. I would love to be excited by a console launch, to feel like I'd be missing out to not have one. That's not the case right now, but hey, both companies still have a few months to convince me otherwise.

Blips: Against the Rules

Source: Reign in Drool
Author: Michael Thomsen
Site: The New Inquiry

Is it accurate to say that we "play" games? The use of the word "play" to describe what game participants do when operating the mechanics of a game doesn't seem wholly accurate to the historical understanding of the term. To "play" is to engage in chaos, to let your imagination run wild, totally ignorant to the constraints of systemic rules. Games on the other hand, are logic puzzles defined by their rules. While the macro activity of participating in a game often aligns with the frivolity of free form play, the act of "playing" in games often feels like anything but.

This is one of many issues brought up in Michael Thomsen in his wonderful recent essay for The New Inquiry's Games issue. He goes on to rail against gamification as taking the complacency-generating aspects of games and applying them to just about anything. Instead of using game mechanics to subversively reflect the already game-like systems workplace and political hierarchy, gamification adds a new layer of abstraction that further distances "players" from the reality of the situation. In games where you play against the computer, where the goal is to win, there is always a power dynamic between the the rules of the game (the master) and the player. Upon beating the game, you've conquered all of the challenges, but you never overtake power from the game. The game allows the player to possess enough power to satisfy, but you can never become the master. Why would we want to invite this kind of system into non-game environments?

Where I'll be critical of Thomsen is in his scope of video games. The term "game" has been going through its own identity crisis as of late with several titles of note leaning away from the traditional goal oriented structures of win/lose scenarios. Ironically these games have been chastised by vocal connoisseurs as not being games at all, but something else. In general, games are in a taxonomical predicament right now, and the most sensible solution seems to be to expand the scope of the word "game" to include all comers. "Games" really are the new "art," it seems. In light of this Thomsen also dismisses the expressive possibilities of games too quickly, which seems shortsighted at a time when developers are making significant strides in that realm.

That said, it's all too easy to get caught up in a defensive position about something that you care deeply about, so I welcome Thomsen's critical look at games and what it actually means to play.

Blips: Teaching With Games

Source: ChicagoQuest: Teaching with games in Chicago's Cabrini-Green
Author: Charlie Hall
Site: Polygon

Can games be a useful learning tool in formal education environments? Schools like ChicagoQuest certainly think so. In Charlie Hall's piece or Polygon (with accompanying video above), he shows how ChicagoQuest integrates games into their curriculum in ways that still make good on common core standards and don't abandon more traditional tools for learning either. It's all in the service of educating kids in systems thinking, so they can be critical observers of the world around them and potentially come up with feasible improvements or solutions.

It's great that ChicagoQuest was able to build so much of their institution from relative scratch because often it seems like digital media-integrated pedagogical models are tough sells in long-standing, set-in-their-ways schools. Sometimes it's a matter of funding, sometimes it's a matter of tech-savviness, and sometimes it's a matter of acceptance, but an of those factors can lead to dismissal or aversion to games integration. I'm not here to sell you on games in schools, but I would suggest giving this piece on ChicagoQuest a read and seeing what you think.

Blips: Support Indies, Buy Direct

Source: Want to support your favorite developers? Ditch Steam and buy direct
Author: Ben Kuchera
Site: Penny Arcade Report

I was quite pleased to find an article on a well-trafficked site like Penny Arcade Report about buying games directly from developers so that those teams earn more profit from game sales. And it's true, as Ben Kuchera points out, that in sales through Stream, Valve takes a certain percentage of each sales, leaving less for the actual game makers. While Steam is a pretty impressive and worthwhile service, if I already know about a game from other media and decide I want to buy it, I will always search for a direct purchase option before resorting to a middleman service.

This is part of what makes Humble Bundles so great. When you purchase a suite of games through Humble Bundle, you can choose to divide up where your money goes between developers, charity and Humble Bundle services, meaning you can ostensibly give it all to development teams if you would like. As someone who doesn't care for most of the meta-game services that platforms like Steam offer (automatic updates are nice though), I don't have any reason not to buy as directly as possible. In fact, I get a little bummed when I have to buy through Steam, as is the case with Antichamber and Kairo.

I'm not vouching for the abandonment of Steam and similar services across the board, but on a case by case basis where the option is available, it's worth the extra effort (if it actually ends up being extra) to find a developer site and purchase directly. This is a plea to the informed consumer to take action in greater support of some of the most creative voices making games today.

Assessment: E3 Day Zero

I'm not in LA for E3 2013, I'm just sitting here on the east coast absorbing all of the press conferences and demos and interviews that so many other talented journalists are out there supplying. That said, E3 Day Zero is the suite of stage shows before the show floor opens, and I don't think I'm missing all that much by simply livestreaming them on my laptop instead of sitting in a crowded auditorium. Both Sony and Microsoft came out swinging, and it made for a very lively day on the Internet. If you missed anything, you can scrub through video of the entire day over on Polygon.

So, what were my takeaways? Well, the day began with a solid block of games from Microsoft, announcing plenty of exclusive games (not just exclusive add-ons and bonuses) for Xbox One. We're getting a new Killer Instinct, which had a live demo featuring some uncomfortable humor, and plenty of franchise updates you'd expect from a new Xbox. The games that got my attention were exlcusives from indie devs Capybara (Below) and Swery65 (D4). Though they were only shown in brief, they had me pining for more details, mainly due to the pedigree behind them. Yet another exclusive was the debut game from ex-Infinity Ward folks, Respawn, called Titanfall, which is a multiplayer shooter that also has mechsuits and some nifty traversal abilities. While a game like Titanfall might not be my go-to thing, it actually looked pretty neat, at least outside of the context of racist and homophobic slurs that will no doubt spew from the game's players once it's in the hands of our lovely populace.

Oh, Microsoft also sneaked out a $500 price point for Xbox One. This is, to put it simply, more money than I'm willing to pay for such a device. Add to that, Microsoft did not further clarify some of their family sharing, and used game resale policies that have been confusing players and journalists alike since they were cryptically rolled out. I closed the Microsoft stream still feeling pretty disenchanted with console gaming. In fact, my first thought was that I hoped the game Below would find its way to PCs eventually so I wouldn't feel like I'd have to spend $500 just to play it.

In anticipation for Sony's conference in the evening, I fully expected the other shoe to drop. I thought Microsoft's new DRM policies would be picked up more-or-less verbatim, and worried that Microsoft throwing money to developers would thin the PS4's launch line-up to something more paltry than it otherwise would be. As for the price, I thought Sony would match that too. I hoped all of these expectations would be wrong, but it didn't seem likely. However, much to my surprise, Sony debunked all of them.

Removing my barrier to interest first by stating upfront that their PS4 used games and always-online policies would remain pretty much unchanged, Sony then followed up with a $400 PS4 price point, an entire $100 lower than Xbox One. To be clear, $400 is still more than I might be willing to pay for a video game console, but at least it's in the range where I'd consider it, given the right circumstances. What I mean by that is, Sony's software line-up needs to offer fresh, interesting types of gameplay, while also presenting technical leaps that justify the need for new hardware. Sony's well-courted array of indie game developers definitely fulfills the former, but The Witness aside, those games could easily run on PS3 or even my moderate-low powered laptop.

What convinced me that PS4 offered something special was, and I can't believe this was the case, Final Fantasy XV. For one, the game was a surprise reveal that got me pumped in a very primal, reactive way. Designer Tetsuya Nomura introduced a new clip for the long delayed Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which looked recognizably like the characters and action-RPG trappings from what had been shown of the game over the years. The footage looked fantastic, and definitely felt like it needed the power of a next-gen console to represent everything it had to offer. The cinematics were over the top, and the gameplay segments seemed like a fresh avenue for a franchise with staunch turn-based roots. Then, at the ending title screen, the words "Versus XIII" exploded and turned into XV; a small gesture that carries a lot of meaning. The whole presentation had an energy and an excitement that harkened back to PS1 and PS2 Final Fantasy announcements, which were all Sony exclusives. The Final Fantasy XV presentation got me excited for the PS4 because it's a game that seems to really justify its need for a new machine and also renews my interest in a franchise that needs a firm kick in the pants, and it looks like XV could do just that.

Unfortunately, I remain skeptical of the commercial viability of either of these consoles in the current economic climate, but if I must upgrade at some point, Sony has presented a philosophy for PS4 that resonates with what I'd hope to see in a new machine whereas Microsoft has come across as tone deaf, at least as far as my interests are concerned. A lot could change between now and November, and anyone declaring a winner of the "console war" is definitely calling the game too early, but hey, I'm super excited to see more footage of all of the games on display over the rest of E3. The fact that there is a bunch to be excited about is very encouraging and I hope all parties involved can keep it up and move the industry in a healthy direction.

Blips: On 'n On

Source: Don't Stop: The Game that Conquered Smartphones
Author: Simon Parkin
Site: The New Yorker

If you play games on a smartphone, odds are overwhelmingly in favor of you having played an "endless runner." Endless runners are one of the most successful genre's of games to hit iOS and Android devices, in part because of their simple control schemes that seem perfectly suited for touchscreen devices. Though endless runners existed before smartphones, they have experienced a resurgent rebirth thanks to the new platforms.

Simon Parkin's features for The New Yorker looks at Canabalt, the poster child for touchscreen-controlled endless runners. The game was the result of a time-constrained game jam competition, which pushes minimalist visual design in favor of achieving games that actually function proficiently. Canabalt's monochrome aesthetic was striking though, and the original game jam design more-or-less made the cut in the final version. In the game you tap the screen to make an always-running character jump from rooftop to rooftop with increasing speed and decreasing margins for error.

Where will the endless runner go from here? It's tough to say but, as Parkin points out, games like Bit.Trip Runner, Temple Run, and Jetpack Joyride have all iterated on the basic concept in unique and interesting ways. Hopefully the positive design trend will continue.

Blips: E.T. Reborn

Source: Fixing E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600
Site: NeoComputer

At this point, the myth of E.T. for the Atari 2600 is far more pervasive than memories of people who have actually played the game. I have to admit that I've never touched it, but have been aware of its desert landfill reputation for quite some time. However, was E.T. really that bad of a game or is its reputation undeserved?

The hobbyist(s) behind NeoComputer set out to both prove that E.T. is a perfectly decent game, while also fixing some of the bugs and rushed design choices from the original. While this project does point out some features that were legitimately broken or frustrating in the original release, they also debunk some oft cited complaints and "bugs" in the game that are simply untrue.

I found the part about collision detection and the pits that E.T. falls into particularly intriguing. Basically the original game was programmed so that if any pixel of the E.T. model overlapped with a pixel of one of the pits, E.T. would fall in. To players familiar with other games using the modified 3/4 top-down perspective, this makes little sense. The hacker(s) changed this mechanic so E.T. only falls in the hole when his feet touch the pit, making the screenshot posted above possible (never the case in the original). Oh, they also changed E.T.'s color to brown from green, an important move for the sake of filmic accuracy.

Whether or not this makes E.T. a good game is up to each player's own interpretation, but at least these new edits make it play better than it ever did before.

Blips: The Original Pro Gamer

Source: Bob Glouberman: The Million Dollar Gamer Dad
Author: Chris Plante
Site: Polygon

Have you watched the new season of Arrested Development? You know the short David Axelrod-y adviser for bombastic politician Herbert Love? That's Bob Glouberman, and he's not just a small-time character actor, he's also a game fanatic.

Chris Plante's Polygon feature on Glouberman is a story of a man with a passion for games that has ended up taking his life in some unexpected directions. For instance, Glouberman has been a career game show contestant, appearing on shows such as Last Man Standing, and Classic Concentration, taking home tens of thousands of dollars on successful appearances. He also created a hybrid scavenger hunt/obstacle course/city exploration game in San Francisco called Bay Area Race Fantastique in 1988. This was way before Survivor and The Amazing Race, a show which debuted suspiciously after Glouberman had pitched them his game as a reality show.

And the tale continues. Glouberman moves in and out of LA, brushing up against movie types that eventually spark a minor acting career (he even had 2/3 of the spoken lines in The Artist). He's trained as a lawyer of all things, but law doesn't inspire him anywhere near the level than games do. Check out the full story which really paints a picture of Glouberman's personality and leads you through his years of game-loving discovery.

Bonus Feature: Interview with Miasmata Designer, Bob Johnson

As of today, Kill Screen magazine issue 7, The Great Outdoors, is available for purchase. The various contributors have taken the intersection of video games and the outdoors in a variety of directions from the way astronauts play in space to a video game adaptation of Thoreau's Walden. It's definitely worth picking up, and available as both a physical magazine or in digital format.

I have a piece in the magazine as well; it's about the game Miasmata and how getting lost in that game's wilderness paralleled a time when I got lost in the woods as a kid. I was interested in investigating what it takes to overcome fears, particularly of the unknown, which the uncharted outdoors represents in both the game, and in real life.

To gain further insight into Miasmata and the thought process behind the game's design, I got in touch with IonFX's Bob Johnson, one half of the team behind the game along with his brother, Joe. Since only a few bits and pieces from the interview actually made it into the final piece, I wanted to share what was left on the cutting room floor. Also, Miasmata is an incredible game, and the more in-depth discussion about the game that can exist in the world, the better.

So, here's my spoiler-free interview with Bob Johnson, which was conducted over several email exchanges. I've edited certain passages for readability and my questions for length. If you want the full scoop, in all it's exquisitely designed and edited grandeur, including a somewhat embarrassing personal story, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of The Great Outdoors!

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LOW CUTOFF: There's a great tension achieved in Miasmata with regard to the Creature, and in my playthrough, I found that it manifested in an interesting arc that really made me consider the island and weather/time of day as my best defense. I've read elsewhere that some inspiration for Miasmata came from your camping experience. Was tension or fear a part of camping or did you draw that aspect from somewhere else?

Bob Johnson: Yes, certainly. Every summer growing up, the males in our family would take long trips to the wilderness of northern Minnesota. We'd be miles away from civilization and would spend our days portaging and canoeing from one campsite to the next . We'd go days without seeing other people, and that seclusion elicited a range of feelings and emotions. The thought of getting lost, or of one of our brothers falling overboard and drowning in one of the many deep glacial lakes, was persistently in the back of our minds. And as we'd hike over the slippery and craggly terrain, you couldn't help but remind yourself that the nearest hospital was a three-day's journey away.

I'm not sure we ever experienced anything akin to panic or terror, even in our rare encounters with a black bear or ornery moose. We were maybe too tired and hungry for that: or too fed up with mosquitoes to really care. But, there were often moments of building tension. For example, trying to discern the entrance to a portage trail among the overgrowth, or following an animal trail by mistake and having to retrace our steps as the sun is beginning to set.

For Miasmata, I think these camping trips provided a lot for our imaginations to work with.   


LCO: Obviously there is a fear in being attacked in Miasmata, but for me, I was also afraid of getting lost. I might die in a Creature attack, but sometimes I'd get away only to find myself in an uncharted part of the map, feverish after falling down an incline, and lacking medicine. However, finally locating a cabin and then being able to map a tiny new area, disconnected from the rest of the known space was one of the most rewarding parts of the game for me. It felt like maybe I wasn't supposed to find this spot this way, but I did, and it's exciting. How important is getting lost in Miasmata?

BJ:I think getting lost is everything in our game, honestly. It's the core mechanic, as strange as that may sound. Joe and I talked about this a lot.  The feeling of getting lost evokes something primal within us. It conjures emotions from our evolutionary past,  and I think the reward of becoming un-lost is also exciting to those same ancestral sensibilities. I'm surprised more games haven't tried to tap into that.

LCO: I found that my perspective when it came to "fear" in Miasmata changed over time as unknowns become knowns. Did you personally ever have a "fear" of the wilderness? Did that perspective change over time? If so, what you you think facilitated that change?

BJ: Sure, I definitely had a fear of the wilderness early on. I used to have nightmares before leaving for our trips: the fear of the unknown. But, I was taught how to start a fire, how to tie knots, what to do when I encounter a bear, how to perform first aide, how to use a map and compass, and so forth. 'Unknowns' became 'knowns', and my fears went away. With that said, I'm no Les Stroud. I'd be scared to death to camp in the Amazon or on the plains of Africa. But Northern Minnesota? No problem.


LCO: Any particular camping excursions or activities that you could point to as definitive inspirations for the experiences you wanted to create in Miasmata? I ask because Miasmata is an incredibly solitary affair, and while it's just as easy for a pair of people to find themselves lost, the psychology of the experience seems different than being alone. 

BJ: It's hard to point to any singular event or experience that shaped an aspect of Miasmata. I think the rudimentary sensory experiences are what were most influential: seeing the clouds finally break in an overcast sky and feeling the warmth of the sun on your face, or listening to the haunting loon calls that echo over still water on a hazy morning. Those are the types of experiences that left huge impressions, and inspired us to re-create them in Miasmata.

Yes, there were many times I'd find myself separated from the group. Not necessarily lost, but maybe a quarter mile ahead on long portage. Far enough away that the trees and dense overgrowth would mute my laggard companion's footsteps and voices. I'd stop and catch my breath and listen to the wind as it whispered through the trees above me. Those were contemplative moments, and inspirational. I think Joe and I both drew heavily from those sorts of experiences.


LCO: What's your relationship with maps and mapmaking? I came into Miasmata without knowing the first thing about triangulation, except that it's somehow how cellphones work, but I left the game with the basic idea. That said, I don't think I'd be able to actually triangulate my position on a map without learning more about the process and the tools needed. How did you come to strike a balance between simulation mechanics and a more focused, accessible set of abilities?

BJ: I've certainly always been fascinated by maps, though before Miasmata, I didn't know too much about the mechanics of map-making. I knew the basics of using known landmarks to triangulate something on a map, but that was about it. Joe is quite a bit more knowledgeable on the subject. He's the kind of guy who knows something about everything. The idea to incorporate that system into Miasmata was all him. He was actually interested in doing a more comprehensive mapping mechanic, but I think I convinced him to develop a more rudimentary system.

What led us to creating the mechanic in the first place is that we wanted to add significance to the simple act of traveling from one place to the next. In a typical game, you'd likely be spending that time mashing a button over and over again to thwart hordes of enemies with a sword or a gun. I find it both funny and disappointing when I see people ignoring Miasmata's triangulation/cartography mechanic. It's like playing Call of Duty without pulling the trigger.

LCO: A lot of games take place on islands, and I see the useful limitations of the island setting in terms of putting a natural feeling border around the world so it doesn't need to be infinitely huge, but without resorting to invisible walls or even more elegant solutions like Journey's wind gusts. However, this can also have the effect of putting game settings, and in Miasmata's case, the wilderness, at an isolated distance from civilization. Could you talk a little about the decision to set Miasmata on an island?

BJ: I think you more or less hit it on the head. Invisible walls have always been a pet peeve for both Joe and I. When video games transitioned to 3D in the 90s and the player, I fell in love with the freedom and the possibilities for exploring that they often allowed. So, I would always be a little disappointed when a game would show something in the distance, like a mountain or a building, and it would be nothing more than an unreachable set piece. Joe and I would talk often about these sorts of things growing up.

Your point about isolating the player from civilization was spot on too. In a sense, the island becomes a metaphor for the solitude the player faces.


LCO: I've read comments on forums from other players who just want to explore Eden and wish there was no Creature. While I understand the desire and satisfaction of simply filling out the map at one's own pace, I can't imagine Miasmata grabbing me as intensely as it did without the Creature. Was the Creature part of your design concept for Miasmata from the beginning? 

BJ: I think from the beginning, we were simply interested in the idea of the player having infrequent encounters with an invincible enemy or enemies. That was sort of the foundational idea we had.  We wanted the player to have moments where he could just explore and feel relatively safe. At the same time, we liked the idea of having a slowly-building tension and that really happens naturally as the player begins to anticipate the inevitable encounter with the creature. It's interesting how successful that was. We never actually set out to make Miasmata a horror game, by any stretch,  but many people seem to be genuinely scared when they play the game.

The final design of the creature itself didn't stick until the last quarter of development. We had played with lizard-like creatures and more super-natural designs as well. We even considered a human foe early on. We ultimately liked the idea of creating a creature that was fanciful, but also looked like an animal that could exist here on earth. I think the idea of a single enemy is something pretty interesting too.


LCO: Miasmata has a very methodical pace, and the mechanics, by design, require players to take stock in the graphical detail that surrounds them. Certainly it's nice to know that players are paying attention to things that probably took quite a bit of time and effort, but seeing as we're also talking about a realistically rendered natural environment, is there any kind of ecological sentiment you hope players take from Miasmata? 

BJ: With respect to the ecological sentiment, I really wanted to avoid any heavy-handed messages, although I didn't want to shy away from interjecting some of our own philosophy and areas of interest into Miasmata. I wanted to shine a negative light on ideologies and philosophies that rely on spirituality, faith and the rejection of evidence and reason. That was definitely a prevailing theme. The player has a biological plague in the game, but I wanted the plague to also be a metaphor for unreason and fanaticism: a plague that, "spreads in the minds of men."

The cure for the game's plague is discovered through the process of science, and I juxtapose that with the anti-science ramblings of the story's most unsavory character: a demagogue who combines a fascistic political ideology with religious orthodoxy.

LCO: The protagonist Robert Hughes is characterized as a scientist. He doesn't seem like an expert outdoorsman, but he has the resourcefulness to find his way around the island. In addition to mapmaking you also do some botanical research and chemistry lab work, which seem appropriately scientific. Do you have any interest in amateur science or citizen science initiatives or was that just something that fit for the character? 

BJ: No, I can't say I really participate in much amateur science nowadays. With that said, science was a huge part of my upbringing. My dad is a biologist and engineer, and we did a lot scientific exploration as kids, whether it was examining stuff under a microscope, experimenting with electronics or doing amateur astronomy. Joe and I both gravitated more towards computer science as we got older, but I still have a fondness for the study of nature and biology.

My fiance studied biology in college and in graduate school. I took an active interest when she was taking bio-chem and organic chemistry, and it shaped some of my own ideas for Miasmata early on. She actually helped me write some of the descriptions for the in-game research and medicine synthesis.


LCO: Lastly, in your own words, could you describe what you would hope for a Miasmata player's experience with the game to be? If that's too broad, how about key moments and takeaways? 

BJ: I know it's kind of become a cliché response for indie developers to give, but we really did set out to make the game we had always wanted to play. I guess with that said, we wanted a game that would appeal to the sensibilities of a contemplative grown-up. The typical AAA game has become a frantic mess, as Joe and I see it. So often, the player simply pushes forward on the controller and holds the trigger, and the game takes care of the rest. Where do I go next? No worries, the mini-map will tell me. What's my next objective? I don't know, but if I follow that giant, green, pulsating arrow, maybe I'll find out.

We've also grown a bit tired of AAA games' obsession with with re-creating the action and formula of a summer blockbuster, where the agenda is to overwhelm your senses with constant audible and visual rewards, and restrict your interactivity in favor of suffocating linearity. They compel you to play their game with the same techniques of a slick Las Vegas casino, in that they appeal to the attention-span of the lowest common denominator. Video games are the perfect medium to allow people to interact and explore on their own terms and at their own pace. It's disappointing to us that games don't embrace that more. Why a video game would ever want to have a 10-minute, fixed-camera cut scene is beyond me. Embrace the medium, we say! To that point, that's one reason why I'm so excited to see the Oculis Rift coming out. I think it might reward developers who insist on immersion and exploration over pre-scripted narrative.

I love indie games and the risks that so many of them are taking, and I see that as a counter-balance to much of what AAA industry is doing. But, there are so few indie games that try to push the envelope from a technical standpoint. Joe and I have always been so fascinated by the advancement of computer graphics, that it's been disappointing to see that the most visually stunning games are often the most conservative from a gameplay standpoint.

Blips: Ban All the Things!

Source: Apple rejects the notion that games are the place for comment, but it's built right into the medium
Author: Steven Poole
Site: Edge

Apple's tenuous relationship with games soldiers on. With the recent removal of Sweatshop HD from the App Store, Apple has proven that they fundamentally do not understand games except the part where selling them is good for business. Steven Poole argues that this lack of comprehension isn't just that Apple fails to see that games can "mean something," but that any man-made interactive product implicitly conveys meaning through "procedural rhetoric." If Apple rejects a game for espousing political, social, or religious opinions, shouldn't the rest of the App Store be held to the same standards? In which case, Poole concludes, shouldn't everything else be banned too?

What Apple seems to be filtering, other than singling out games, is message explicitness. Both Sweatshop HD and the previously banned Phone Story get right to the heart of their chosen subject matter. Sweatshop HD is about running a sweatshop and what a horrible exploitive system it is. Likewise, Phone Story presented an interactive narrative of smartphone manufacturing and certain inhumane practices that have been purportedly implemented in those processes. In both cases, it's difficult to miss the point of what the developers are getting at.

Perhaps it's time for developers to go subliminal. Why struggle past Apple's gatekeepers when you can just hypnotize your way to the store front and deep into players' brains. Why, you could even make a game that's so fun to play, it's almost like people are addicted to it, like they have a gambling problem or some other detrimental condition. But who am I kidding, Apple would never let games like that through when they don't allow socially conscious "message" games, right?