The Too Spooky Shopping Trip

This article has been written as part of the Critical Distance October Blogs of the Round Table. It can also be read at Digital Heaven Entertainment, here.

The scariest moment in gaming I've experienced? Accidentally saving over a near-endgame file of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I've not really played any horror games. Not because I don't want to, I've just never really gotten around to it.

Hopefully not having played the first 3 Silent Hills won't invalidate my opinions as a Person Wot Writes About Games; but until I eventually play them, there are a few times where a game has been successfully unsettling. The one that's still stuck with me is from Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.

As a series, the Shin Megami Tensei games (this is excluding Persona and other spinoffs, mind) are very thematically similar. You, a lowly human have been gifted with the technology to summon demons to fight by your side, while a ridiculous catastrophic event goes on around you. Depending on how you react to certain story choices, you gain a Chaotic/Lawful alignment (intentionally not just 'good/evil', though often it pans out to be the same).

Where Strange Journey differs is its setting - a series of twisted worlds called the Schwarzwelt. Created by demons, it represents the ills of the human condition. You play as a soldier of a global army, investigating the Schwarzwelt in an attempt to destroy it; though you quickly find yourself unable to escape.

Welcome to Sector Carina

Up to a point, each location in the game plays up a problem with humanity, with a surreal twist. A lot of these areas don't have the impact they should (which I will discuss later), but the third area, Sector Carina is meant to represent humanity's greed, being a gigantic demon shopping mall.

And you know what? It really creeped me out. Sadly, not entirely due to the game's aesthetics, but at least partially! Sector Carina was clever in being uncanny. At first look, everything does look like an ordinary shopping mall (through the filter of low-quality textures on a DS screen), but then you talk to the first NPC:

And then you look at the posters and the shop windows:

And then you pay attention to the slow, militaristic waltz used as background music:

And it settles in that this is a shopping mall with all of the pretence stripped away. Everything you could ever want is within these walls (along with a whole lot of stuff you don't), and your only company are towering urges to BUY, EAT, and CONSUME.

Relevance in a Riot

I was playing Strange Journey in August 2011, and reached Sector Carina during the time when the England Riots occurred. For those who aren't familiar, a riot broke out in Tottenham, a district of London, on the 7th of August. What had started out as a protest against police corruption and brutality in the area took a turn for the violent once someone decided to throw a bottle when the police arrived to suppress the protest. Things escalated quickly, with shops smashed and ransacked, and arson attempts. Once it started, similar riots sprang up all across London, and then into other, unrelated cities of England.

On the day they had started, I happened to already be in the centre of town, watching Croydon slowly go up in flames on BBC News. Had I not gone home when I did, the underground and bus services would have closed, leaving me stranded on Tottenham Court Road. I get home by sundown and find through Twitter that even my local high street had rioters.

While the area where I lived wasn't especially wealthy, it didn't have economic and police problems as severe as the ones in Tottenham. As I found out more about the event, it became woefully apparent that the majority of the rioters weren't causing anarchy for any kind of cause, other than their own pockets.

In a way, even though what happened is incredibly sad, I empathise. People riot in pursuit of aspirations, and ideally you'd want those aspirations to be political. However, many of us (and I'm including myself here) have aspirations that don't extend too far beyond our economic status, the next pair of shoes, the next luxury meal, the next tablet computer.

That some of us are willing to go to the lengths of destruction just to get it (along with the vague promise that you won't get caught) is actually pretty scary! It weighed on my mind, as I progressed through Carina, being told that the area was run by the demon Horkos, a glutton so dedicated, it ate an entire space craft, filled with the protagonist's comrades. Drawing a parallel between materialism and violence is heavy-handed, but it's not exactly incorrect.

It is later implied through some side-NPC dialogue that the layout of the Sector was based on a human shopping mall. This kind of M. Night Shyamalan twist made me roll my eyes, but then, the Westfield shopping mall in Stratford opened.

Retail Therapy & Theming Consistency

It's hardly likely to be the largest shopping complex out there, but I felt dwarfed by Westfield Stratford's size when I visited in its opening week. It had a casino. It had a 10-screen cinema. It had a food court that took up almost a third of the whole complex, with every kind of regional cooking speciality. It's the kind of place that would get anti-capitalists and anti-consumerists feeling violently ill, but I actually, honestly enjoy that kind of thing.

As I walk around, I recall Sector Carina and suddenly feel awkward. I make a realisation. For once, the moral soapboxing in a piece of media is about me. Funnily enough, by being very faithfully tied to the rules of what makes an Atlus JRPG, Strange Journey keeps its theme and its gameplay woefully separated. It hamstrings the entire game, really.

While I couldn't get emotionally invested with the themes of war or lust, if they'd taken the time to do something to make those ideas relevant to the player, they'd have more impact. It makes Sector Carina's effectiveness something of an accident. While the stage itself didn't do anything to make you think about greed via the game mechanics, materialistic greed is something that I can admit to having done in the past, way more than bloodthirstiness or careless environmental destruction or (sadly) wanton hedonism. Sector Carina was effective because the setting has (at least for me) some real-life parallels; not just a strawman argument of humanity.

While my experience with Strange Journey is very much down to circumstance, the aesthetic and theme of Sector Carina could still be used in other games. Commerce as Horror is something not really explored, unless you count Dead Rising (you shouldn't) or one of the stages in Illbleed (which does use greed as a mechanic, impressively). No one should experience their neighbourhood being torn apart in the pursuit of goods in real life, but they can damn sure could see it done in a game.

N.B.: You can read about the finer details of the 2011 riots at the Guardian here. The information is surprisingly extensive.

Speculation Augmented - Games & Exploring Social Impacts of Technology

Introduction

While the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is generally lauded as the yearly platform for games publishers to announce their major products, among the journalists and fans that attend and observe every year, there's a general air of scepticism as to whether we actually get any game-changing news from year to year. Nerds are difficult to impress.

So to that end, when I watched the conference for Ubisoft, I wasn't expecting the world.

Then there was a trailer that caught my attention.

YouTube:Watch Dogs E3 Announcement Trailer

What's Watch Dogs? And Why is it Awesome?

What impresses me off the bat is the strength and the relevance of the concept. The idea of a central information database for a country feels far-fetched, but your life having a digital paper trail is a very real concept. That your habits and secrets are available to those who have the access (legally or otherwise), is a little scary.

Watch Dogs is exploring that idea from the point of view of what would arguably be the enemy. The nameless hacker you play as can work out who someone is and who they're connected to at the push of a button. Imagine someone who could jam you Wi-Fi access, tap your phone, and generally ruin your day at his whim. It may be something you've never considered before; it may be something you're well aware of, and take security precautions for.

But is that kind of criminality a more difficult pill to swallow than the standard gunplay of Saints Row or Grand Theft Auto? The demonstration gameplay at its core functions in a manner very similar to the Hitman games:

YouTube: Watch Dogs Gameplay Video

Where the potential for Watch Dogs lies is not necessarily in what gameplay features it offers, but how it uses gameplay in conjunction with its theme, and how that could affect the story. For example:

- What if you are contracted to kill or gather data from an innocent person? Killing faceless NPCs is one thing, but what about once you know their name, their profession, or their family?
- What happens when there are other hackers interfering with your mission? The gameplay trailer shown at E3 has an additional scene that suggests that multiple players can play in the same game world - and not necessarily co-operatively.
- What happens if the public start rejecting the ctOS? The game will become a lot harder if certain people are outside your database, and the backlash against having their privacy invaded could end up being dangerous!
- Will there be an Alternate Reality Game element? ARGs are getting increasingly popular, both to advertise and to make a game's setting more immersive and impactful on our own world.


The game producer, Dominic Guay, was interviewed by Rock Paper Shotgun, with additional information on the project.

The novel Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is an easy read discussing the nature of Internet security and surveillance; very similar to themes to Watch Dogs; the book is free to download.

Other Games that get Speculative

It's a little uncommon still, but Watch Dogs isn't the only game to explore speculative technology in game mechanics or in story. Differing from books or films, games can explore topics like this in a way where the player can interact with it. If implemented correctly, a player can explore a concept as they explore the game world - forming their own opinion on the topic. The following games each have a technological aspect that has a factual or realistic basis, and I'll cover briefly if/how the gameplay reflects these concepts.

This is going to be the main comparison point to Watch Dogs, at least in terms of genre and setting. Human Revolution is set further in the future and more is far-fetched (no one's going to wear clothes like these in 2027, c'mon), but human augmentation isn't too outlandish. We have already achieved prosthetic limbs and cybernetic eyes - though the actual social problems that may manifest with commercial transhumanism are a while off.

In a gameplay sense, Human Revolution doesn't deal with social implications of augmentation too heavily. The opening section, which has you as a yet unmodified person makes it quite clear how easily someone can die to gunfire - interesting considering most FPS games imply otherwise. Though after this segment, you as the player don't have to struggle too much with your mandatory mechanisation other than choosing what upgrades you want. It's mentioned that augmented people have to take regular (addictive and expensive) medicine to keep their bodies from rejecting the augmentations, but this is a dilemma the player never has to struggle with. There's a plot reason for this (which I will hold out on for spoiler's sake), but it dulls the impact of such a problem for the player.


Errant Signal discusses possible flaws in Deus Ex Human Revolution's Transhumanism themes.

Extra Credits does similar, with a different interpretation (From 2:00)

Technically, all of the Metal Gear Solid games discuss nanotechnology to some degree, but MGS4 has it as a much greater focus. The game has many fake advertisements that it plays during cutscenes - one features commercial consumable nanotech as part of a fitness and weight loss scheme.

Beyond that, in the war-torn settings of the actual gameplay, all participants are monitored and regulated through their technology - everyone (and everything) is ID tagged, and nanotechnology has made sure all soldiers are administered an optimum dose of performance-enhancing drugs. Funnily enough both of those ideas are entirely achievable - anyone who owns a touch-and-go style rail card, dealt with security tags on goods or have tagged a pet in case they get lost should all be familiar with RFID tags.

That's not all though; there's also another central theme of Privatised Military Companies (or PMCs) - businesses that wage war outside of what a country's government orchestrates. Different to just mercenaries, it means that companies that dealt in weapons research now also deal in security - and every item of equipment used in warmongering is accounted for, and arguably controlled by a CEO somewhere. PMCs eventually had cheaper operating costs, and in short time, war stopped being tied to governments and became a full-blown enterprise - the most lucrative economy on the planet.

From a gameplay perspective, you're motivated to combat the PMCs primarily because the 5 largest are owned by the series' main villain, Liquid Snake. However, depending on the type of player you are, you may be motivated differently; the knowledge that the 'War Economy' is responsible for an environment where child soldiers are increasingly common, and weapons and security research are put above the likes of heath care and education is a disturbing thought. A fantasy where you can combat that kind of eventuality first hand is very powerful.

Reflecting an environment where all the PMC equipment is under heavy security, the weapons dropped by PMC soldiers require registered ID to work. These can be cracked fairly early on, but it's a nice touch. Furthermore, Snake has a head-mounted scope that can do all the traditional shooting game features, like zoom and low-light vision, but it can also identify guns and detailed health readouts of other soldiers in the field. This feels like a gameplay abstraction to begin with, but the scope is actually reading the nanomachines in subjects for their readouts; which I find intensely clever.


Sebastian Alvarado on Gamasutra has a discussion of Metal Gear Solid's nanotechnology, split over two articles - Part One & Part Two

To make it clear, there are two games that go by this name - an old DOS title, and a current-generation First Person Shooter by the same name. To cover the FPS first (since it's likely the more widely available of the two), the plot details a world economy not too dissimilar from Metal Gear Solid 4 - instead of nanotechnology; 57% of the population are 'chipped' allowing them to interface with technology wirelessly. The companies that produce the technology for this are so massively globalised, geographical nations now mean little. While neural implants feel like a long way off; globalization is a big deal; and in more than just technology.

The gameplay of Syndicate (2012) is surprisingly uninspired. Your role as a corporate minion gives a backdrop to a world where none of the big industry names play above the board; but being tasked with just shooting up everyone in an office block doesn't feel so impactful beyond how violent you can be. Your Chip activates the ability to scan your surrounding and view things in slow-motion; but it definitely feels like a firm video game abstraction, rather than any real concept we can relate to. The ability to hack into the chips of others allows for possession - the first hacking ability you gain is to force your target to commit suicide, taking the idea of digital privacy to a horrifying extreme. I'm quite glad that nothing like that will be possible for a long, long time.

The 1993 MS-DOS title on the other hand (also released in parsed-down versions for the SNES, Genesis and , um, 3DO) puts the player in the position of a corporation executive. The nature of the game world is still the same, and you still focus on completing company assassination and espionage missions; but the change in perspective lets the player experience the moral quandaries of a corporation like this in a way that doesn't directly deal in killing people. You are responsible for outfitting your agents, orchestrating their method of operation (this includes telling them to hijack the chips of bystanders), and as you play, it becomes increasingly clear that the company you represent essentially deals death in the name of profit. That can be a tricky realisation; especially juxtaposed with Metal Gear Solid above; where companies like that are the enemy!


As it turns out, neural implants are already used to treat epilepsy - so although remote interfacing with computers is definitely a long shot, brain chips are very believable! iO9 breaks down an article on recent research in the field.

Missing the Mark

Where there are games that focus successfully on exploring the social impacts of their setting, there are many who don't quite use their concept to a full potential.

The technology here isn't so much gameplay-defining, but with the unique/annoying control system the game has; utilising it made it more memorable.

Agent Norman Jayden's investigation technology - the Additional Reality Interface (ARI) - was a few years ago something fairly fantastical from the point of view of people not on the pulse of tech research. But with the announcement of Google Glass this year, the idea of Augmented Reality, and being able to have all your data quite literally at your fingertips is a lot easier to imagine.

That said; the Crime Scene Investigations done in the game are entirely far-fetched. Being able to make detailed Cause of Death analysis from just a glance from your super-glasses is definitely a suspension of disbelief. What's more it features in the story surprisingly infrequently. To compare it to Watch Dogs, both games show that their respective technologies can gather information on the fly - notice in the gameplay trailer for Watch Dogs the data stream even shows how hostile a given person might be - but the instances of ARI are very self-contained, and largely used in the safe space of Agent Jayden's desk.

I have a soft spot for the Battle Network series (Could you tell? My username gives it away a little), but it's worth noting that a world where most commercial technology has ever-improving A.I. is reasonable. On the other hand, a world where you can convert DNA into A.I., or make anti-virus use a national sport is decidedly less feasible, but that's the nature of the shounen genre for you. Despite this, the social applications for improved A.I. is entirely fascinating, and something I've mused upon in the past.

The series of course discusses the social impacts of its technology (though not in a way that believably parallels real life), but it's not reflected in its gameplay. While the game mechanics for the Battle Network games are very impressive; they work almost entirely without context from the game world (with the exception of the 'Navi Customiser', which feels very much like a modular programming tool).

On the other hand, the follow-up series, Mega Man Star Force has an unusual mechanics quirk that I enjoy. In-setting, there is a concept of 'Brother Bands' - people who link their PDAs to each other as friends. Characters throughout the series  talk about Brother Bands more or less interchangeably with the idea of friendship... except Brother Bands have the mechanical ability to give you additional bonuses in battle. As such, it's like if you became stronger in proportion to the number of Facebook friends you have.

Call me crazy, but that makes for a rather good metaphor. Why yes, of course you don't become physically stronger if you make a lot of meaningful internet relationships, but how about socially? In life, who you know can be just as important as what you know, and social networking (both casual sites like Facebook and professional sites like LinkedIn) give you access to more information and more opportunities, provided you make the right friends. As someone who's on the road to becoming a journalist, this is salient; and I'm sure this is just as much of a reality for those working freelance in game development.

What about future games?
While I refrain from talking about it; I find that art (or hell, media in general) has to mean something to be particularly impactful. This doesn't necessarily require something as overt as a life-lesson, or so cliché as to be directly educational, but to provoke some thought and discussion. One of the best ways to create some consideration is to allow links to be drawn to everyday life; and it's something video games are entirely capable of doing.

As discussed, it's not really quite enough to simply bring up a possible technological concept; or just mention in passing how it can affect us socially - integration into the gameplay itself will force a player to consider a topic. By the end of MGS4, you'll definitely have an opinion formed about nanomachines or PMCs; but Heavy Rain won't leave you with many thoughts about the practicality of Augmented Reality.

This concept need not only be limited to speculative fiction - integrating your theme into your gameplay makes the experience more cohesive as a whole, and will help a game's setting and design feel less like window dressing.


This article can also be found at Digital Haven Entertainment (Formerly PixelxCore), here. Please visit this version for better image contrasts and formatting.

Game Design - Lucky Number Thirteen

This article can also be found on PixelxCore, here.

Introduction

It's been quite a few years since Final Fantasy XIII was released. It was a big moment for Square Enix - their flagship series was entering the next generation of consoles; and needed to be designed with a new generation in mind.

And they definitely achieved that. Granted, what FF13 ended up being was an annoyance to the long-time fans of the Final Fantasy series, and something of a non-starter with those who aren't normally interested in RPGs; but the game, mechanically, was definitely revised and refined in ways that I feel deserve a little more credit; especially in comparison to the much more recent Final Fantasy XIII-2.

To go off the most common complaint, Final Fantasy XIII was linear. The stage design cut off almost all avenues for exploration with a constant focus on guiding the player to the next plot point. For some this proves to be a little claustrophobic, but thinking about it, games - and especially story-driven RPGS - being linear is nothing particularly new. While Sandbox environments are a popular game design choice recently, they're not the only way to skin a cat; and even though many RPGs through the ages have had an overworld, and the 'option' to go to places other than the next plot location, very infrequently is that option rewarded.

What FF13 is attempting to do here is lose the fat. The linearity of a story-driven RPG is recognised here and embraced, rather than disguised. The advantage of this is pacing.

Picking up the Pace

Some games have pacing come naturally come to them as part of the genre they subscribe to.Games with a heavy emphasis on Score Attack will have very quick pacing as you're encouraged to complete challenges quickly and restart often. Sometimes adding in extra content in the form of cut-scenes, or exploration segments or 'grinding' (which I'll discuss later) can end up ruining pacing, and often the amount of fun you'll have. Compare Sonic Colours with Sonic Unleashed for a good example - They both have a similarity in terms of gameplay and goals, but one is padded out with hub worlds and overly-long levels.

In Final Fantasy XIII's case, it wants to keep the story at the forefront (with a lot of the plot revolving around chasing people down or being chased); so letting you wander off and lose sight of the sense of urgency will kill off the pacing. In that light, FF13 takes multiple steps to keep the ball continuously rolling.

It's partially reflected in the general lack of towns. When you want to stock up on items, you don't wander off to the nearest town and start chatting to a shopkeeper; you can stock up from any of the frequent computer terminals found across the game (in addition to them letting you save and the not-very-good equipment upgrade system). It's even explained in-setting - everyone is in the habit of ordering goods online, so brick-and-mortar stores are a novelty. Hmm, is that an attempt at social commentary?

The most salient, and in my opinion best, pacing design is how they deal with grinding. It's my personal peeve with most RPGs - the decision to make it necessary to stay in a single area and fight the same foes over and over to be able to safely or reliably progress. Grinding a few levels is therapeutic in that inane, bubblewrap-popping kind of way, but it's also a pacing killer. None of that in FF13 (at least not in its first half). By taking on the enemies in your path, you will be perfectly well-equipped to take on the next challenge. Though in a later stage of the game the explorable area opens up (with a lot of side quests and grinding, sadly), just sticking to the story will keep you in good stead for any upcoming boss fight.

A New Paradigm

Speaking of boss fights, the battle system is the other large topic brought up regarding Final Fantasy XIII. Coming off the back of Final Fantasy XII; a title that tried to move out of the menu-based battle system all prior Final Fantasy titles utilised, and resulted in a mess of target ranges and a system built around beating battles for you. Square Enix knows that Action RPGs are a direction worth pursuing (Kingdom Hearts and The World Ends With You providing fantastic returns), but putting that into a main-series Final Fantasy game would be way too out there, so they made a compromise and took on the timing of an Action RPG.

Yes, Final Fantasy titles have had the Active Time Battle system for years, but that system has more of an emphasis on waiting your turn, rather than being responsive to the situation. Battles in FF13 are still entirely menu-based, but manage to be fast-paced and tense. And it's all down to the introduction of the Paradigm Shift mechanic.

For the uninitiated, the characters of FF13 don't have a single 'class' archetype; but instead can switch between different ones on the fly. Outside of battle you can set multiple Paradigms to suit any situation. Have a team with a physical damage Commando and two magical damage Ravagers to rack up the damage, or a Medic and Synergist team to heal and give boons to your allies.

Switching paradigms takes time, during which enemies are able to act freely. This means changing to the wrong paradigm can cost you precious time, and a good sense of the situation provides the best effects. Like a fighting game, it's all about seeing what's coming, and putting yourself in a situation to negate an attack or punish it.

To make the use of Paradigms easier, FF13 makes a concession in letting you attack automatically, and only giving you control of the lead character. Not having to worry about selecting individual attacks or micromanaging your team-mates gives you the breathing space to survey the state of fights, but on a level it feels like the game is playing itself for you.

However, unlike Final Fantasy XII, FF13's battles can't be left alone. Enemies and especially bosses are designed to force you to switch up your game to stay alive. Fights get difficult quickly, and you can't run away to grind out some additional fire-power. For half of the game you don't even have all 6 party members at your disposal.

The narrative switches back and forth between groups of characters, each group having holes in what they can or can't do. Only macho-man Snow and battle-hardened Fang have the Sentinel role, so when they're not around you're forced to think of ways to fight without a party member tanking hits. It's intensely clever, and as such a bit of a shame that inevitably all the cast get together, and on top of that gain the ability to use any role. While it would be unorthodox, if the party members were split up more frequently through the entire game, battles would feel more rewarding through the entire play through.

Out of Character

Honestly, it may be something of a fluke on pert of the design team, but the playable cast of FF13 are really rather good. Almost more than the mechanics, its the tropes that appear in the character design and plot of JRPGs that see the most cultural acknowledgement and mocking; and maybe rightfully so. Archetypes of a young and hasty but enthusiastic and brave hero, or a waif of woman with a back story in mysticism with a destiny to end up in a hero's arms are tired at best and problematic at worse.

FF13 fixes that with the simple idea of switching up the standard demographics. You would expect the efficient, driven, and socially reluctant personality of Lightning to be male, as would you the confident and mentor-like nature of Fang. You wouldn't expect Lightning's male counterpart Snow to entirely avoid being a love interest, and you wouldn't expect lesbian relationships or a black main character in a JRPG at all.

This leads up to the cast feeling rather well-rounded, with only the slightest of changes from normal design patterns. There are flaws (Vanille's general voice acting and personality, being an obvious one everyone can agree on), but my vindication of having a likeable, playable black main character who isn't the 'dumb muscle' of the group outweighs that frustration for me.

What Final Fantasy XIII-2 Did Wrong

Although Final Fantasy XIII had some great ideas, they drove it a little too far from what a lot of people expect from a JRPG, and especially what they'd expect from a Final Fantasy game. Fans were vocal and critical; and in the development of Final Fantasy XIII-2, the developers were expressly clear in saying that FF13-2 would be for those who didn't like FF13.

They were certainly right on that. The changes made to FF13's most outlandish areas were sniped with expert precision, and altered to something in line with a standard JRPG format. Unsurprisingly, it made the game dull and generic. I'll summarize somewhat here to avoid repeating myself.

First off, linearity and pacing. The time-travel plot opened up scope for the player to go to other time periods other than the one that progresses the plot, but all that's to be found are opportunities for grinding and side quests, as expected. By nature of you even having the ability to grind, bosses, and even regular enemies are designed with that in mind; and all too quickly you'll find areas where it's impossible to stand your ground regardless of how skilled you are with the game's mechanics.

Furthermore it results in situations where the location to go for the next part of the plot is ambiguous (since you backtrack even within the plot, there's no guarantee that the newest area is the correct one). This shoots the pacing in its vital organs, then buries it 6 feet underground. The lengthy loading times don't make things better.

The battle system stays intact; even improved in that fights work a little faster. The time it takes for a Paradigm Shift to complete is heavily reduced, so it's easier to be competently reactive. However, you have access to almost all combat roles from the very start; meaning that there's precious few fights that behave like puzzles to be solved.

The actual cast of characters have been reduced to two - a cocky male and a waif-ish female. At the very least they both have character interaction and romantic lives outside of each other; but they're bland and generic in all aspects otherwise. A monster-battling mechanic fills in the 3rd party slot, and DLC makes FF13 characters playable, but they're all optional, and don't affect the plot dynamic any.

These are all safe decisions for game design, but they're not interesting ones. FF13-2 struggles to offer an experience that other JRPGs cannot; which in the present gaming industry is the kiss of death. Most genres are starting to stagnate, hitting a wall when it comes to innovating the experience offered. It's what killed fighting games until Street Fighter 4 arrived, and it's what let the sandbox WRPG take over JRPGs in popularity.

So What Can We Take From This?

Even though FF13 has turned out to be a failed experiment, there are definitely a few things that can be taken on board.

- Linearity is not a bad thing, it helps define a game's rules in a clear manner, and keep a player goal-oriented; but how it's masked is important for some styles of 'game feel'. If a player is expecting to be able to go off the beaten path, than linearity can be frustrating; but under the right circumstance it makes an experience 'smooth'.

- Menu-based combat is starting to become an outmoded control method in RPGs. Those that still use it and are successful need to have another level of player involvement. It's why the Mario RPGs stay constantly fresh in their battle schemes. Winning a battle not because you have the biggest numbers but because you outsmarted your foe is satisfying to a wider audience of people than those who are happy to just grind.

- What a player doesn't have access to is just as important as what they do. When it comes to game design of RPGs, what you fight against is almost like a form of level design. It needs to put forth new sets of rules for the player that build upon what's already established. In bad RPGs this just means the enemies just have bigger numbers assigned to their stats. In better RPGs this means that they actually use status effects and stat raising/lowering competently (It's this, coupled with the monster design that keeps the Shin Megami Tensei games at all relevant). An ideal RPG knows exactly what you have access to, and will make you use those resources in creative ways to succeed. If the Zelda games can do it, so can other genres!

Character Design: Weighing in on Women Protagonists

This article can be found at PixelxCore.

Like all media telling a story, characters in video games require detail and definition - especially player characters. It's not just the gameplay mechanics that make up your digital avatar; exploration into interesting costume design, back story, dialogue/voice acting and even animations go towards making your avatar identifiable and worthy of emotional investment. It's what puts Nathan Drake miles apart from Duke Nukem when mechanically they're just means to an artillery.

However, the range of backgrounds in video game protagonists is still rather limited, when compared to books or film. While there are all different kinds of 'noble hero' characters (often falling into the majority demographic of straight, white and male) - differing in body type and personality; minority protagonists are a lot more uncommon. A black player character is rather anomalous - and have fun thinking of 5 or more protagonists who aren't straight.

Having recently observed the problematic train wreck (link is NSFW) that was Duke Nukem Forever, and the recent decision to have the female version of Commander Shepard as the main face of Mass Effect 3, I feel a lot more aware of women in protagonist roles. While they're not uncommon (an RPG without any kind of woman party member would be incredibly strange); whether they're handled well and varied is another matter.

Samus is one of the most-cited examples of a well-handled woman protagonist in games - the game design video series Extra Credits loves to cite her as an example; but I don't necessarily feel her portrayal is so cut-and-dry. In her original appearances, the hints to Samus being female are few and far between (I remember a lot of people surprised at finding out Samus was a woman - including myself).

She's cool, capable, and her battle armour doesn't fall into the stereotypical design flaws of having 'boob-plate', or an exposed midriff. On the other hand, she comes across as incredibly personality-deprived. While the very early games get an excuse in a lack of scope in animation or dialogue, with the suit on, Samus may as well be a robot - though once the suit comes off, she is suddenly svelte and sassy.

The rendition of Samus in Metroid: Other M is much worse, though the approach is different. Samus is much more notably female in her animations without sacrificing her armour style or fighting prowess. On the other hand, the attempt at giving her dialogue ended up veering wildly from what minimal original characterisation she had - suddenly losing some of her 'lone wolf' attitude, and a ham-fisted attempt at creating character relations with her commander instead came across as supplicant to a fault. My personal favourite rendition of Samus would be her appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The game's story mode is without dialogue; meaning Samus' personality is portrayed entirely through her actions, and it's handled quite well for something arguably throw-away.

Beyond Good and Evil was a very interesting game with disproportionately little advertising and press; it tried a lot of things to make itself unique - stealth segments, hovercraft racing, photography, a well-rounded female lead... wait, what's this?

Jade stands out as my personal favourite example of a great woman protagonist. It manages to straddle a thin line of a character having markedly (though socially assumed) feminine traits, but those traits not being the driving force behind everything she is. She has a motherly trait in her taking care of orphans, she wears make-up, and she is by no means unshapely; but her practical fashion reflects the action-oriented work she does, she's a charismatic leader without relying on her figure, and she's sure of herself and her goals. Her partner characters are both male (one of whom ticks all the buttons for 'brave masculine protagonist'), but they both treat her with respect (though could you imagine what the gameplay would be like if they didn't?). What stops Jade from being perfectly well-rounded is her lack of flaws. Hyper-competence is almost always going to be a factor of a playable character; but Jade's actions and interaction are unwaveringly 'the right thing to do'; somewhat ironic, considering the game title.

BG&E reminds us that the key to great characterisation is not avoiding all tropes that are part of a stereotype; but using those aspects in conjunction with other, maybe even contrasting elements to bring about someone well-rounded and likeable. Just don't be afraid to add character flaws.

Bayonetta has been incredibly divisive as a character among critics. Some find her openness about sexuality and her determination to do things only on her own terms progressive; others notice the extreme pandering to the male gaze, and find the lethality of her sexuality to ring hollow. An interview with the director, Hideki Kamiya, clears up most of my suspicions - many aspects of Bayonetta's design have been brought forth from the turn-ons of some of the design team, and Hideki's creepy stance on women (to which Bayonetta would not be the first victim...).

Design-wise, this has lead to Bayonetta being very specifically designed as fetish-bait. As her clothes are made from her enchanted hair, whenever a Wicked Weave attack is performed (which will be often, if you're playing well), her clothing gets a lot skimpier. Her proportions are entirely inhuman - accentuating legs and waist with a tiny head - why would you need to be looking at her expression when you could be looking at her ass? Everything is delicate and feminine, from the lipstick-shaped lock-on reticule to the way the damage Bayonetta takes results in explosions of rose petals and butterflies. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that direction, but its inclusion feels condescending, like nothing else would suit a woman in an action role. (It's something that also has me worried about Lollipop Chainsaw...)

On the other hand, someone on the design team realised that the character would be dead in the water if she remained nothing but a long-legged sex doll; and the gameplay and story make a good attempt to keep the pandering to a less-pervasive level. During combat, the camera is barely focused on Bayonetta herself - the game takes its battles very seriously, and is designed so attention is drawn to incoming attacks and vulnerability animations, not gyrating witch-butt. The attacks and taunts designed for showing off are actually incredibly unsafe, and the game has no qualms about sending a swift death your way if you mess about. The storyline has surprisingly little dialogue-focus on Bayonetta's assets and attitude (the camera angles do the dirty work instead), and gives Bayonetta as a character the room to grow a little. By the end of the game her attitude of selfishness and hedonism has opened up into something more caring, without losing her independence.

It feels as if the character of Bayonetta in the game and Bayonetta in cut-scenes were designed by two different people. The silent sexy dancing of the credits and against other female rivals lie in stark conflict with the flippant foul-mouthed stance she takes almost everywhere else. There have been hints at a sequel from Platinum Studios - hopefully they'll find something more to do with Bayonetta's character beyond her sexuality and love of violence.

Dead Island turned out not to be a game where children are thrown out of windows in slow motion. It did turn out to be Borderlands meets Left 4 Dead, which is enough for some people. But to go up against Left 4 Dead, consideration needs to be paid to the playable characters. The protagonists of Dead Island are not all equal in their skills, so coming up with something compelling will be required to make someone who relies on a single weapon type an attractive choice. Purna gets the longer straw by being the firearms expert; but to justify that ability, they make her a hardened ex-cop. The entirety of her character is summed up in a 2-minute biography; and the set-up is interesting. They bring up some very hefty ideas, the role of women in police, the arrangement between social classes, and an especially unusual reference to how modern Australia can treat aborigines; a topic rarely brought up in general media, let alone video games.

However, it feels like they take those raw concepts, and come out with something a lot angrier. With a past like the one Purna was given, bitterness is bound to be expected, but here it's resulted in the polar opposite of the 'extra-feminine, demure and pure' stereotype - a 'cold, rage-fuelled uberfeminist' stereotype which, in practice, ends up being just as tasteless. It still boils down to an easily dismissed character, not because she's weak, but because she's too aggressive, her power being focused not on her self and in her own abilities, but in hating others, and particularly in hating men. The biography does not outright call her man-hating, but the game mechanics bear more information.

One of Purna's abilities is called "Gender Wars", which allows her to deal bonus damage to male targets. A little off-kilter, but the punchline comes in when, in the initial release of Dead Island on Steam, one purchaser decided to look at the game code, and found that the code named the ability as "Feminist Whore". Whoops. Developers Techland since altered the code in later releases, and put out a press release saying that the coder who wrote that part of the program would be reprimanded; but it makes me wonder how deeply the attitude of 'Purna the Feminist Whore' was entrenched in the design process for the character. Like with Bayonetta, the intents and attitudes of the creator are hard to separate from the finished product, even if alternate interpretations are less problematic.

The scope of character design is massive - the potential for protagonists in games is just as large as in novels or in films, but it will take a concentrated effort from games designers to acknowledge the potential for minority player characters in their work; and well-rounded characters in general. It's not impossible to form an empathy with a character who isn't the same gender, race or sexuality as you, so tailoring character design to demographic majority would be outdated and unnecessary. However, creating an identifiable player character in the first place can be a very demanding task, so the popularity of games where the looks of the protagonist are chosen by the player makes sense. Women are getting a wider and more balanced representation as the heroes of video games; though the number of them that end up in DD Breastplate and bikini-mail need to be worked on.

Games and Fan Participation

This article can also be found at the Yorker and PixelxCore.

 

Video games as a medium have an advantage other media very rarely get - fan participation. Every so often - and especially in the current age of gaming where developers are increasingly open about their game design processes - fans of a game series or a publishing company will be called upon to offer their voice. It's a smart move on paper - it means developers can cater even more exclusively to a target audience, and almost guarantee a base number of sales. But there are many circumstances where it all goes wrong...

 

For a great example of Fan Participation gone awfully wrong, look no further than Capcom's Megaman Legends 3 project. While the Legends series are some of the most low-key entries in Megaman's history, the previous PS1 games had a gigantic following. So when Capcom announced that a sequel would be part of the 3DS' download service, the hype was intense. The main hook was that development staff asking for input from fans every step of the way - from character design, to side quests and Easter eggs.

However, Capcom had behind-the-scenes difficulties, and everything went downhill. The demo for Megaman Legends 3 was nowhere to be seen when the 3DS eShop went live, and new information on the development process was becoming more and more sparse; until one day an announcement was made that the project had been scrapped entirely. The blow to the fans was twofold - not only were they excited for a long-awaited sequel, by this point they had become emotionally invested in its design process. Some fans felt that it was as much 'their' game as it was Capcom's. When Capcom refused to give a statement in regards to why the project got shut down, things got a little heated. Some of the public shrugged their shoulders and moved on; but others still insist on making their voice heard, and are still trying to appeal to Capcom; a number of which are suffering from what can only be described as Fan Entitlement.

I'm sure this occurs in fans of other media types also; but video game enthusiasts can get down right nasty when they feel like, as the end user, they know better than the companies supplying them with media to consume. Some of the punters, jaded by the closure of the Megaman Legends 3 project closure have decided that they're boycotting Capcom as a whole, resolving to not giving the company a single penny until they get the game release they deserve, dammit.

'Operation Rainfall' is a campaign built entirely around Fan Entitlement. As Nintendo's Wii U slowly approaches, the number of big-name titles for the Wii is starting to decline. Three Japanese RPG titles - The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, and Xenoblade - had no plans for a US release, and project leader Chris Ward was not standing for that. He arranged a mass-mail session, getting Nintendo fans to write letters to Nintendo of America (NoA), pressing them for release details on these titles. The project caused quite a stir, and prompted NoA to sent letters in reply to the participants, but there is still no sign of NoA releasing these games stateside.

From a UK point of view, foreign games being delayed or outright cancelled for an EU release is absolutely nothing new. Atlus, one of the biggest-name Japanese-to-English publishers has a long list of games that were translated and released in the US, but did not see a UK release. Nintendo have been surprisingly kind about EU releases in the last few years, titles Disaster: Day of Crisis and Another Code R are Wii titles with an EU release, but no US one. In fact, Xenoblade, one of Operation Rainfall's target games was announced an EU release as far back as May! Not getting an anticipated title is annoying, but ultimately the decision is down to a publisher's sales team.

Nintendo, Capcom, and other games publishers are businesses first and foremost, and have to make difficult choices in deciding which titles will sell well enough to make a profit in a region. If the answer points to "no", then that is unfortunately that. Operation Rainfall has a large amount of numbers (8,126 on their Facebook page at time of writing; though not a patch on the 40,901 for Megaman Legends 3), but that may not be enough for Nintendo's sales figures.

Operation Rainfall's popularity (though not its success) has sparked other parties to start up their own Fan Participation projects, including the similarly-named Operation Moonfall – a petition to get Nintendo to release the N64 title Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for 3DS.

Fan Participation can even affect advertising decisions. Recently, Bioware held a Facbook poll to decide the look for the protagonist of Mass Effect 3, Shepard. In the previous games, a male version of Shepard was used in the advertising and merchandise (The gender and looks of the protagonist is decided by the player), and Mass Effect 3 would be the first title to prominently feature the fairer sex foremost. There is some contention over the most popular choice being the blond haired, blue eyed option, when there were less common and ethic options present, but the attempt at inclusiveness at all is a step in the right direction.

Fan Participation is one of the best methods for companies to gauge the interest of consumers; and in situations where companies are doing something reprehensible, a fan voice can do wonders to put them on track. But it's a matter of trust – we trust in games companies and developers to not squander fan interest, and it's the responsibility of the fans to act like sensible adults and not whining children if we disagree with a decision.

A Glimpse into Navigator

"So, what is all this Navigator business?"
Navigator is PxC's 1st publically released project, a puzzle game starring the titular Nav, a pioneer in virtual reality. He works alongside Professor Claire Nova, building the first-ever virtual reality survival puzzle game.

"Survival Puzzle game?"
That's right, the nature of Navigator is two-fold. The aim isn't soley just to rack up the highest score by creating clusters and chains of coloured blocks, but to keep Nav alive as the steadily rising tower of blocks threatens to crush him against the ceiling.

"How cruel!"
Isn't it just. But Nav isn't entirely helpless, he can move about the playing field, pushing blocks around and maneuvering over obstacles to get to a safe spot.
He's also backed up by the Block Cannon, loaded with an infinite supply of colourful ammo to beat back the cube conquest. By matching up at least four blocks of the same color, you will create a cluster that explodes after a short period of time, dropping any mass above it down to a lower level, and gaining points.
By creating clusters bigger than 4 blocks, you get bonus points, and by breaking a cluster that drops down and forms a second cluster, you create combos that add multipliers to your score bonus that double for each cluster formed in the same combo!

"And I'm responsible for both Nav and the Cannon? Sounds tricky..."
Don't sweat it. While controlling both tasks is difficult to begin with, it'll be no time at all before you're using the two in tandem. The highest scorers use Nav and the Cannon co-operatively to set up huge combos.
Higher-level players will take advantage of Nav's Block Push ability to create combos as well, since creating a cluster using the Block Push is an instant 1.5x combo multiplier!
You can also use Nav's Power Climb to continue to help him navigate to other areas.
If you're still finding it tricky, you can give up control of one aspect to a friend. Working together is the key!

"So how do I rack up the big scores?"
If you're used to games like Tetris Attack or Puyo Pop, then your skills will come in handy here. It's not just about laying down blocks quickly, being able to read the playing field, and see where the clusters are in advance is the key to making lengthy combos. The target reticule of the Cannon will match the colour of the block to be placed, so you needn't draw your eyes away from the action.
Don't forget about Nav! His ability to push blocks around can save you from a Cannon misfire, or to keep your Combo going just a bit longer. The period where a cluster is frozen and glowing is your chance to set up something big! It's a risky move, but manually raising the stack of blocks is also a possibility. Being able to see more of the field means you can keep combos going for that much longer.

"Working with my friends is one thing, but how about competing with them?"
But of course! For those of you with a bloodthirsty streak, a Vs. mode is in the pipeline. This allows you to directly compete against a second navigator in both score and survival. By creating large clusters and cluster chains, you can attack the opposing player with "garbage blocks" that clog up their field of play. This mode can be played cooperatively as well, meaning 4 players can get in on the action in teams of 2vs2!

"Do I get kickass music to listen to while saving Nav's life?"
A6: Absolutely; Navigator features completely original music for every level, each song fitting the atmosphere of the stage itself. The music is composed by Chris "Søda Meløn" King, also known as "GreenDragonXIII," and all of it is very well done. We believe the music will also be a big part of creating a unique experience with Navigator.

"Awesome. So what modes are on offer?"
A6: Navigator includes a couple of gameplay modes for many types of players; there's the Tutorial Mode, where Professor Nova herself teaches you the rules of the field, the Endless Mode, the basic survival gameplay mode that doesn't end until you lose, the 1v1/1v2/2v2 Competitive Mode, and a 1-2 player Puzzle Mode, where you solve advanced puzzles based on the gameplay mechanics of Navigator, but with unique twists!

"And lots of different stages, right?"
There will be at least six stages to play in. In Endless and Competitive Mode, each stage has its own predetermined block setup on startup, adding enhanced variation to each game, and allowing the more advanced players to set up high-level opening strategies. And if you're not the competitive type, each stage has its own graphical style. Whether you're a fan of the clean circles of Energy Cells, or the gritty industrialism of Field of Cogs, Navigator can scratch that itch.

"Nav is pretty expressive, how long did his design and animation take?"
A6: That's an interesting question. The basic idea for Nav was originally to just be a simple little guy pushing blocks around. His design is fairly simplified as well; a black-haired guy in a navy blue shirt and green pants. As development continued, I wanted to put more life and personality in both Nav and the entire game as well, which lead to the conception of Professor Nova, a cooperative design effort by myself and our digital artist, Joe Ryan. Having two characters in the game like this really allows us to explore different personalities for them and make them expressive, to give the game another layer of depth outside of gameplay, without overcomplicating things.

"What about the two characters? Will we get to see interaction between Nav and Prof. Nova? Any chemistry?"
A6: Workplace romance is strictly forbidden, especially in the lab! However, there will be plenty of conversing and interaction between the two in both the tutorial and puzzle modes. There's a little more interaction with Professor Nova personally, as well, but we'll just keep that a secret for now!

"So when do I get to play this, and on what?"
The 1.1 beta is available for PC right now! You can find it Right Here. The final release won't just be on PC, but also on Windows Phone 7 and potentially even XBOX Live Indie Games. You can fire blocks and detonate clusters both at home and on the go!

Look forward to seeing Navigator during the third quarter of 2011.

 This article can also be found at PixelXCore.

Indie Demos To Enjoy!

This article can also be found at The Yorker.

It's rare that movies and books get preview releases, and services like Spotify are making album previews more common; but in the present age of gaming, the demo is king in promoting a product. As all current-generation gaming devices have the ability to download software from the internet, putting an early build up for a free download will attract a lot of people, to the point where developers who don't are starting to receive flak from fans who insist on trying before they buy. Since hey, if their game is as good as they promise it to be, they have nothing to hide, right?

 

This new trend of demo downloads is giving independent developers the chance to spread word about their work, but not all of them end up with sudden cult status like Minecraft. That doesn't mean that they're undeserving of interest and support, however. Here are a handful of games in their Beta stages that you can try out now!

Navigator - Have you ever played a puzzle game where you accidentally misplaced a block just slightly out of place, and wish you had the ability to nudge it back into place? Navigator takes that idea and runs with it. The main aim is to keep Nav, a cute little guy trapped in your playing field, alive as blocks slowly push their way up from the bottom. You have a block cannon that can create clusters of similarly-coloured blocks, causing them to vanish, giving Nav a little more breathing room. But at the same time he's not entirely helpless; he can push blocks around too, assisting in setting up combos. Controlling both Nav and the Block Cannon at once takes some getting used to, but it's a wonderful dynamic once it clicks. The controls are designed so a second player can handle Nav duties while you operate the cannon. After that, it comes down to how much you like taking risks - do you make small, conservative drops that keeps Nav as safe as possible, or do you pile on the blocks to set up some huge score-filling combos?

Navigator (At time of writing V1.0 Beta) is available for download here.

Level 2 - The premise of this one is a little strange. A metal band, Last Chance To Reason produced an album entirely about Computers and A.I., named Level 2. An incredibly nerdy premise, and the decision to turn the album into a scrolling shooter is a master-stroke. The way that the music is used is the impressive factor - all of the obstacles and enemy movements are synced perfectly with the music. This is helped by the high quality (and somewhat creepy) art direction. Gigantic cybernetic heads that spit skulls as they scream "ERASE" is either awesome or terrifying. Definitely worth a play through, even if metal isn't your genre of choice.

A demo of the first stage, 'Upload Complete' is available for download here.

SpyParty - Any game that involves more than one player has a deep-seated element of mind games. The world champions of Street Fighter and Starcraft know their game well, but to win they have to know the mentality on their opponent. It's this aspect that's the source of thrill and excitement for some; for those people, SpyParty exists. It's the competitive mind game in the purest sense.

There's a thriving party in an apartment building, watched in the distance by a sniper. Why the sniper? Because one of the guests at the party is a spy, and he or she must be taken out before they manage to complete their mission. Only the sniper and the spy are controlled by humans - the spy must blend in with the computer-controlled crowd, assisted by being able to 'see' the paths the other guests can take. The sniper's job isn't so easy when the A.I. occasionally acts suspicious too...

SpyParty's Early-Access Beta is a paid program (But if you paid for Minecraft, this isn't so shocking). You can sign up for it here.

Article Catchup: York Vision Issue 204

This Issue is where I became the main Editor for the Games Page on the York Vision newspaper - at least partially because no one else was interested in doing the job. A bit of a hollow victory; but it meant that I now had full stylistic reign over the page; and I was completely set on changing the old ugly format that existed before.

The great thing to come out of this was that I now was having my photoshop and graphical design skills tested, along side my writing. Taking on a position with the newspaper is something that I am never going to regret - I've improved so many skills!

The order of the day was to come up with a design that was simple, modern, and clean; but also reflected the gaming aspect the page was about. I tried out a few test designs (Which, have since probably have gotten lost in the aether...); and settled on the 'node' design below. The way it was set up meant that I could change the colour scheme and the character on the right at will.

The texture at the bottom was taken from www.cgtextures.com, referred to me by an internet friend; and it's definitely helped me with various photoshoppery since.

I'm very happy with the articles in this one. Torchlight is a great game produced by a small, not very well-known company. While a lot of student gamers may be using Steam as a vehicle for playing PC games, not all of them might be aware of the hidden gems that it sells.

The interview with Tyvon Thomas is the first professional interview I've ever done, and it was a total thrill. Since then, his site has grown a lot! Head over to www.pixelxcore.net and check it out. Tell 'em GrooveMan sent you.