Project Update – Benevolent Blue

The biggest news is that I’m currently working at the University of Calgary-Qatar, managing the library and Learning Commons.  Yes – Qatar – in the middle east.  On the Persian Gulf.  I’m here for a couple of years – so what does that mean for the Hardplay lab and our game, Benevolent Blue? Not much – since Jerremie and I are still working on Benevolent Blue and exploring other concepts around gaming and learning (Games as Book, Age of Mythology in the classroom, etc.).

We’ve spent some time on workflow issues, considering the 9-hour time difference, working through Skype and other tools to collaborate.   It’s been challenging – especially the time difference and I’m currently working without Internet access at my apartment (don’t ask) but this will hopefully be sorted out in the next few weeks.

Needless to say – work on the project will still continue and we still hope to have aspects ready for beta testing sometime late in the fall.  Lots still to do but our storyboards look cool.  One of things is the lack of really good FREE visual collaborative tools (like whiteboards) where the content remains persistant AND allows multiple access and editing.  Special thanks to Quantunet for their tips on creating post-its within Word.
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CT

Interesting stuff from the GDC

Just cleaning out the in-box and wanted to point out a couple links.   The gaming world is always a twitter when the GDC rolls out – especially with announcements of new products and the like.

I’m primarily a PC gamer mostly since I’ve always needed a PC for work have never had the motivation to buy a console.  I know that consoles are pretty close to PCs now but after playing Rogue Squadon on a PC with a full flight joystick in surround sound – that sealed the deal.  (i know, i know – this ain’t the 90s anymore).  That being said – the potential for OnLive is really exciting – “the world’s highest performance Games On Demand service, instantly delivering the latest high-end titles over home broadband Internet to the TV and entry-level PCs and Macs.”  Essentially – server side computing.  They’re still in beta but if they can provide the connectivity- fantastic.

The second is a presentation on game design from Scott Rogers, Everything I Learned About Game Design I Learned from Disneyland.  He used the lessons of Disneyland to inform level design in Pac-man World  (which I have not played).  Very good stuff here.  You can also read Cory Doctorow’s notes from the session too.

ct

The State of ‘My’ Gaming

I’m still crafting a reply to Paul’s questions about the State of Academic Gaming so in the meantime, I’ll examine the state of MY gaming.   The first thing – one needs to play games to be a gamer and I have NOT played any video games in the last two months!  Frightening!  No specific reason other than lots of RL (that’s real life for you noobs) getting in the way.

So what was I playing?  Well, I’m almost through BioShock – and it was everything that Jerremie described it to be.  Rich texture, intriguing story and entertaining game play.  Challenges are pretty good and walk-throughs haven’t been needed which tells me that this is well-designed game.  My major only major gripe is about 3/4 of the way through – WAY too much exposition – completely destroyed the immersion.  Just too long.  http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/

I’m also working my way through Neverwinter Nights 2.  This took me some time to get into this since I had finished NWN last year.  The AI is almost too good and for awhile I had troubles adjusting.  Combat flows much more smoothly – not requiring the player to set ALL combat actions for the NPCs after each round.  There were times that I missed this but without it, it really does move the game along.  The story is interesting (big bad evil) but really does provide some interesting choices for the story.  These don’t ultimately affect the outcome but do change how future interactions might occur with the NPCs.   By the 3rd chapter, you get to manage a keep which allows the player to explore different styles of managing.  I’m always curious to know immediately what the future impact will be without waiting.  I have avoided looking through walk-throughs to see how the different paths turn out.  I’ve just started the third chapter so am in the midst of making alliances with a number of NPCs.  My major gripe is that the party is set to 4 (I know – there are cheats to change this) so I can’t always get the NPCs that I want into the party.  Sometimes the dialogue is a little long and in some places pretty lame.  Had a bug on a side quest – annoyed the hell out of me but didn’t really come into play.  http://www.atari.com/nwn2/

I also have been playing Left 4 Dead, which uses Valve’s Source engine – the same one we’re using for Benevolent Blue.  This is a fun game and I love looking at the props and the layouts – very familiar.  Basic premise – kill zombies, and more zombies, and even more zombies.  Oh yeah, and more zombies (this does get tedious).  It mainly designed to be cooperative – four players can take on the roles of the survivors and fight your way out of the city.  You can also play multi-player with one group playing the zombies and the other playing the survivors.  http://l4d.com/

I guess I should mention that I also sojourned back into the land of the MMORPG – most specifically, World of Warcraft.  But I will save that for another post…  ct

Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium (GLLS) – Day 2 & 3

I’m going to lump the next two days together since my memory of these two days is coming in bits and pieces.   I attended the session, IL Challenged? which comprised three presentations.  The first was a Second Life IL game, SLIL Information Literacy Quest: The Search for Prof. Tba from Nassau Community College, which I thought was a creative use of SL.   Getting the cooperation of other SL spaces was a great idea (something to think about when teaching within a discipline – using knowledge from that field).  I haven’t played this game – mostly since I’ve only spent a brief time in SL.  I had an opportunity to speak with Richard and Marsha later that afternoon (after the panel session I participated in) – mostly on the creation aspect, such as programming and the time required – comparing the challenges that Jerremie and I face with Benevolent Blue.  Willingness to learn the programming side (as well as the time to do so) is a big challenge to these types of projects.

Karen Markey spoke about Hidgeon, a web-based board game to teach undergraduates about research.  (I have yet to finish the report…ugh).  I think the most telling part of this was the nature of competition and motivation.  This was a voluntary activity with prizes being awarded for the most successful teams (I think these were bookstore gift certificates).   One aspect of this game was capturing and holding monastaries – teams could challenge those teams and try and take them.  What happened though – is one team raced out and captured the majority of the monastaries before anyone else pretty much entered the game – and no other teams really challenged the first team.  I think the effort for reward was too high – too much time for not enough reward for the remainder of the team.   Especially in a game that many may not have found engaging.  I was disappointed that the conclusions did not address game play and game design and their potential influence in determining whether the game was successful or not.   Karen mentioned her next project – a collaborative web-based citation game.   (Personally, I wonder about motivation and engagement with this sort of game.  From her description, it seemed to weight far more to the education side than the game side).

Attended a couple of other sessions, not as noteworthy for a variety of reasons (one was really poor – Lindsay and Lori will know what I’m talking about).  I sat in on the Wizard of the Coast session since I was curious to see what money-making scheme they were going to roll-out.  (Just kidding – being an old TSR supporter – old prejudices die hard).  I have to give WOTC credit though for finding creative ways to engage both new and old players of their products.  They have made a serious effort to provide a balance of profit and interest – finding ways to attract new players without bankrupting them, providing library level support for their products, and appear open in finding different models.  (all to create a continuous revenue stream – I know, I know, but I couldn’t resist).    Although a little too much on the products, not on the value to libraries.

The final part of the symposium was the Closing Keynote from Jon-Paul Dyson.  Apart from the cool pictures of the neat stuff at the museum, Jon-Paul talked about play.  I wish I could find the file with my notes – because he had a really excellent quote about play.  He said something along the lines of “the purpose of play is to keep playing.”  I think that this describes the passion and motivation of much game playing.   This is most likely one of the reasons why online gaming is so successful – MMO games are designed to keep the player playing – there is no end to the game.  The challenge is to keep the world engaging enough to keep players playing (and generate revenues).  One of the biggest disappointments from playing games or just playing in general is when it ends!  The goal of playing is to keep playing.  Simple.  Definitely fits my gaming style and might explain why I still have a couple of games that I haven’t finished.  Back to play though – I constantly argue that Second Life is not a game – it’s a virtual world where one can play games.  Heck, one can do nothing at all if they wished.  I like to compare SL to a sandbox – a place where one can play.  This can be tied back to Salen and Zimmerman and the relationship to games and play, which Jerremie and I discussed in our paper.

I should mention that I went to a Dine-around at Tuscany of Oakbrook (food was pretty good but service was a little disappointing).  This was ‘hosted’ by Liz Danforth.  Interesting conversation – and reminded me of the influence that pen & paper games have had on video games and pen & paper games are still relevant.

All in all it was a good symposium.  (thanks for the invite Paul)!

Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium (GLLS) – Day One

Considering it took place in November – why write about it?  Well, the conference materials have sat piled up on my desk just demanding that I reflect back on my time in Chicago (well, Oak Brook).   So here is my best recollection of what actually transpired (although I no longer make any claim to it being the ‘truth’).  <pause>  hmm, just flipping through the program – I realize that I might even have difficulty remembering which sessions I attended!  I do remember that I missed Dr. Kutner’s talk on violence and video games (but am waiting for his book, Grand Theft Childhood, to arrive).  Looking back, I seem to have missed both morning keynote addresses.  Coincidence?  Perhaps not.

Alright – I flew in Saturday afternoon which gave me lots of time to relax and make sure that my Internet connection was working.  Met Paul Waechli for drinks (and caught the end of the Texas/Texas Tech football game).  Oh and played a bit of WoW.

Sunday sessions were the ‘big’ sessions – all held in the ballroom.  Marc Prensky spoke first – interesting but nothing new to me.  Everything was pretty much out of his books.

The next speaker was Amanda Lenhart from the PEW Internet Project talking about their recent project, Teens, Video Games and Civics .  Interesting stats but again – had already skimmed the report.

Scott Nicholson spoke next about his annual census on gaming programs in libraries.  Nothing new to me – again had skimmed the report.

Next up was Chris Harris, Brian Mayer, and Paul Waechli dicussing games and IL standards.  I had heard Paul’s piece on this but Chris and Brian had a refreshing look for me at the role that board games play in education as well as the work they are doing.   Much more information @ SLS Swift6 Games of Genesee Valley BOCES.  BTW, great site guys!

Also heard from Eli Neiburger about GT System – Ann Arbor District Library’s game tournament management system.  Interesting but not applicable.

(I do have to confess that I was multi-tasking during these sessions – I was monitoring the NFL games.  At that point I still had a slim chance of making the playoffs).

LESSON LEARNED FROM FIRST DAY:  Don’t read things before going to a conference – you’ll diminish the $ value of your registration!  (Okay, I was a speaker and my registration was generously covered by ALA but I still had to sleep somewhere)!

The evening ended with open games session.  I had an opportunity to play some of the board games, like Ticket to Ride, and finally got to play Mario Kart on the Wii for the first time.  Definitely a different challenge using the wheel – still accostomed to the GameCube controller.

Where has the time gone?

I would love for this to be a post announcing a finished game but it won’t be today.  The game is still progressing – much more slowly than anticipated (where have I heard that one before).  The fall was a write-off for Jerremie and I for the project – too many things on the go (including courses and additional income streams – err, other work).  The real challenge is finding the concentrated time for both of us to work on this game together – this includes story boarding and programming.  We’re also in the process of writing another article about games but not related to this topic.  We’ve still been able to do some reading but nowhere near as much game playing as we would like.  (I haven’t played anything in about a month – for shame)!  I’m going to try and put out a series of posts over the next week – commenting on BB, our recent gaming reading list,  playing games (including my sojourn into WoW), GLLS, and a response to Paul’s questions on the State of Academic Library Gaming and Learning.

So I begin my eight months of pent-up ramblings…SECOND LIFE IS NOT A GAME!

Game status

Well, as with just about everything else at the moment, I haven’t been able to get as much game playing in as I had wanted this summer.  Vacation, in-laws, yard work, house stuff, all take away time from games.  (Notice that sleep isn’t on the list – something that needs to get caught up on soon).   I’ve finished Portal and have been working through the Neverwinter Nights expansions and completed both expansions, Shadows and Hordes, and completed two of the Premium Modules (or commercialized mods).  This has been good to get these finished since NWN has been used for educational modes (Revolution, Altered Learning, etc.)  Of course, my mind wanders while playing, thinking about how it can be converted to a library setting..!

Playing the Kingmaker modules has been a good playing experience as well – seeing how something has been altered and different ideas take shape.  Of the three, Kingmaker is the most interesting because of its storyline – there are nine factions, you have to convince a majority that you’re the person to be leader – of course, accomplished by completing tasks or uncovering useful or harmful information.  Bit much exposition to start but interesting to see how others have modded.  I’m thinking of taking a look at a couple of other modules as well.

So, that leaves me to finish Kingmaker: Witches Wake, and Sacred Rings (in which, I’ll just probably use a walkthrough because some of its tasks and puzzles are just lame and have no consistency with the story).  Then onto BioShock – it’s loaded and ready to go on the laptop so hopefully will get a chance to play some on the weekend.  Then it will either be NWN2 or Elder Scrolls, or any other myriad games lying around the office that I’ve never played (or waiting for the launch of Good Old Games).  Also, downloaded Syberia II last week so the fiancee and I are playing that too.

play hard
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Chris

Benevolent Blue Update

It’s been a tough go this summer – trying to balance our vacations and the other demands of work to get some concrete work accomplished on Benevolent Blue. We did some major work on the story arc and it looks like Benevolent Blue will be comprised of an introduction and five chapters. We’ve tightened the story line significantly and have a good story hook to start things off. We still need to storyboard each chapter and revise the introduction (and will be slightly different than the one we demo’d in June especially since we;ve made an alteration to the story). One of the challenges in this project is developing the technical skills to do the modding which has also influenced how parts of the story might occur. Some ideas work because of the genre, or require technical expertise that just is not practical for its limited use, regardless of how cool it might be.

During a stretch from about Feb. to the end of June, neither of us spent a lot of time playing games – we talked a lot about games but did not play a whole lot. Once we started playing again, we found that the story ideas flowed much better – we were much closer to a game mindset. By playing video games more frequently, we can much better discuss the feel of a game and how and why it works for us as individuals. And makes ‘writing’ the story that much easier.
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CT

COD 4 and Narrative

Chris and I have talked a fair bit (and even written a little) about narrative. I just finished the single player campaign in Call of Duty 4 (COD4), which had great pacing, but it was short (maybe too short) and often the music seemed too loud. What I wanted to comment on was the narrative. A narrative isn’t strictly necessary, but it does tie the campaign together. This game was historical (as in WWII), but it did feel revisionist. I don’t want to spoil it for anybody (so you might want to stop reading now) but a middle east leader (who lives in a palace), who controls the news media and HAS weapons of mass destruction, setting off a nuke and (spoiler here) killing some U.S. marines the player has probably developed some sort of attachment too. The narrative is interesting, as it justifies the fighting and killing in this middle eastern country due to a WMD, its use, and even gives you a taste of the horror. So I wonder, is the narrative there to tie the story together or justify the violence (or both) and if it is to justify violence they seem to be making a political statement about U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, that WMD’s are justify it, but maybe not economic interests and/or civil reconstruction (like Afghanistan). Interesting use of narrative in a FPS, to not just tie the campaign together but justify the violence (when the villain isn’t obvious, i.e. Nazis).

Jer

Physical Space, Learning and Games

I just wanted to do a quick post on a delightful little discovery I made yesterday.  I was playing at bit of Call of Duty 4 (good pacing, I don’t think we will get Benevolent Blue with the same level of urgency but who knows) and I got to a level that takes place in Chernobyl.  I really wasn’t paying attention to the game narrative so I missed that part, but when I saw the ferriswheel I knew it was Chernobyl, I had seen that before, in both Stalker and in our WILU handout (comparing the virtual with the real).  Soon as I saw the image in COD4 (knowing up till then all the SAS missions had been in former USSR) I knew instantly it was Chernobyl.  So I guess without really intending to I did learn something about real world geography, maybe not very much, but at least I can recognize Chernobyl from a picture of its ferriswheel.   It is nice to confirm with my own experience what already thought/assumed to be true.

Strange,

Jerremie