nongames.com

Interview with Jeremiah Alexander

2011-12-27T21:44:00.001-02:00

Interview with Jeremiah Alexander :Click here to read it!(In Portuguese)

New book: Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide

2010-09-29T09:49:00.005-03:00

From the same publisher of Unity Game Development Essentials (that we have reviewed earlier), comes another book on this engine: Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.

Now, this cannot be considered a proper review, since I've worked on the book as a technical reviewer and, therefore, biased. But I think the author did a great job, so I'll post some info on it anyway.

Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, as the titles says, is aimed at the novice programmer, or even at the beginner / intermediate designer/coder. It's perfect for Flash users, as it often compares concepts from that software to the ones in Unity.

You might already have acquired their previous book in Unity. Why would you want to get their new title as well? Some reasons:

If you are a total beginner to programming, I would say this book has a gentler learning curve - specially when it comes to general programming concepts.

If you are an intermediate user, this book still contains some tricks involving layers that you might not know (I know I didn't), and that were not included in their previous title.

Plus, GUI design and 2D capabilities are much more explored in this new book.

Overall, this book is ideal for the total programming novice, while the previous book is better suited to the beginner / intermediate coder. As biased as it may sound, I think they should get both (and in this case Packt even has a special eBook discount offer).

Check the book out here.

non-game - wikipedia entry

2010-05-30T20:53:00.002-03:00

Hey, I am in Wikipedia (sort of)!:

From Wikipedia:

" The main difference between non-games and traditional video games is the apparent lack of goals, objectives and challenges.[2]
(...)

2 ^ Francisco Quieroz: Insular, Critical Appraisal. September 2005"

My name is misspelled, but still kind of neat, uh?

SBGames Art Exhibition photos!

2010-01-17T14:16:00.004-02:00

Sorry you all for taking so long! Here are some photos from SBGames Art Exhibition - Game & Art. Again, thank you artists so much for contributing with such great games and art for it.

I'll try to write more about it later.

Metaplace is closing

2009-12-23T09:33:00.002-02:00

This is sad news. From their email:

Today we have unfortunate news to share with the Metaplace community. We will be closing down our service on January 1, 2010 at 11:59pm Pacific. The official announcement is here and copied below, and you can read a FAQ guide here. We will be having a goodbye celebration party on January 1st at 12:00noon Pacific Time.

Over the last several years, we here at Metaplace Inc. have been working very hard to create an open platform allowing anyone to come to a website and create a virtual world of their own.

Unfortunately, over the last few months it has become apparent that Metaplace as a consumer UGC service is not gaining enough traction to be a viable product, requiring a strategic shift for our company.

We’re sorry to announce today that Metaplace.com will be closing to the public at 11:59pm on January 1st, 2010.

This is a bittersweet moment for us. Metaplace Inc the company will be continuing on – in fact, we have big plans – but what you the users have known as Metaplace will be going away. We are also losing some friends and colleagues here as part of this strategic shift.

We’d rather dwell on the good than the sad. You, the users, have done amazing work here, and we want to celebrate it. We may not have managed to reach our goals with Metaplace.com and Metaplace Central, but we still had a lot of fun, watched creativity flower, visited amazing places, and made a lot of friends. We’ve had amazing guest speakers, more parties than we can count, live concerts, movie premieres and art shows; we’ve seen you make adventures and schools and churches and games and countless other sorts of worlds that would otherwise never have been created.

In that spirit, we want to treat these next two weeks more as a celebration of the good times. We invite you all to come back to see all of the amazing worlds that you have made. Registration will remain open, so you can show off to your friends. Remote embeds will remain active until the last day as well.

We’ll be turning off billing immediately, and refunding everyone for all purchases in the month of December as well as subscription payments that apply to December and future months. This month is on us. We are suspending regular customer service, but the support site will remain open for now in case there are any critical billing issues.

We know many of you have done work here that you would like to preserve. Please do use this time to capture screenshots, data, scripts, movies, and assets. We have a FAQ that explains how to retrieve assets from the service.

When other worlds have reached a sunset point, people have lost touch with each other. We’ve made a lot of friends here and we’re sure that you have too, so we don’t want that to happen. We have created a forum site athttp://www.metaplaceveterans.com that will be operational soon, so that you can all keep in touch with one another.

Finally: we want to treat the 1st of January as a celebration, rather than a sad moment. Please join us on that day for a party, starting at noon Pacific time. If Metaplace.com has to go, we want to go out with style, with joy, and with the same sense of fun that we have always had. Let’s celebrate the journey, not the ending. There will be meeps – count on it.

We’re sure you have many questions about all of this – and there’s a detailed FAQ that we hope answers them. Click here to read it.

In the meantime, we want to thank you all for your support, your effort, your creativity, and your loyalty. We know that many of you will be disappointed by this outcome. We are too. We are embarking on a new and exciting direction, and it feels strange not to have you all along for the ride.

It has been a privilege to have had you here with us on this great adventure, and we hope that this community – this wonderful, engaged, passionate, friendly community – lives on and on.

We’ll miss you -- and we hope to see you again.

Metaplace Team

It's a shame, really.

Anyway, Raph Koster and his team should be proud for having delivered a truly participative and user-centered experience.

Any comments on why this happened?

Review: Unity Game Development Essentials

2009-11-09T12:18:00.006-02:00

Unity 3D is becoming the engine of choice for several independent game developers/designers. Reasons for that include:

- It runs on (and deploys to) both Mac OS and Windows environments.
- It publishes for the web, and the plugin is becoming very popular.
- It's cheap (in fact, the Indie version was made free a couple of weeks ago).
- Wii / iPhone / iPod Touch possibilities (there's a specific license for those).
- It integrates very well with 3D packages - importing models can be quite easy.

Plus, as I am finding out:

- It's not that hard to learn if you are a designer coming from Flash and Director

So I got the Indie version, and I was really keen on learning it, but there was a couple of obstacles on the way such as: (a) you can't find as many tutorials as there are to Flash, specially for beginners; (b) The documentation seems to be very complete, but not very welcoming for newcomers.

So I've found a book on it. So far, it seems to be the only book dedicated to this particular engine. And it's a good one.

Unity Game Development Essentials, by Will Goldstone, does a terrific job introducing the engine's main concepts and workflow. By essentially following a very long tutorial, the reader progresses throughout the eleven chapters of the book, each presenting a set of features that make a game. Importing assets, generating particles, managing collisions, designing GUIs, sculpting terrains, generating folliage, placing sounds ... I would say this book covers a lot of ground - maybe more that just the "essentials".

Here is a sample chapter, by the way.

This is not the first development book I buy (I've purchased titles on Flash and Director), but it is one of the best, for sure. I was not familiar with Packt Publishing (and to be honest, was a bit skeptical about them), but I became very impressed with the quality of their material. Overall, the reason I like the book so much it's because the author seems to assume you don't know anything about the engine - and that's often the case with new users, right? Anyway, by the end of the book you'll have a pretty good idea on how to improve the game you've made by following the lessons, but also have a notion on how to implement game mechanics and ideas of your own. As far as introductory books go, this is a big deal. This book could (should) be made the official introductory guide to Unity.

Any shortcomings?

As a development book, no. But I really wish they could make a second book: one that I could use as a scripting reference guide - a bit like Gary Rosenzweig's Using Macromedia Director MX. That would be the perfect complement to the excellent Unity Game Development Essentials. Packt Publishing and Will Goldstone, if you're reading this, please consider the idea!

Unity 3D (and, finally, a good book on it!)

2009-11-04T09:47:00.003-02:00

I've been looking for an affordable 3D engine for a while, and Unity 3D has become my favourite one (and now you can get the indie version for free on their website). I've been away of game-ish projects for a looong time (except for a interesting multitouch application I've worked on recently), and hope to fix that soon. And Unity 3D seems a good tool/platform for that.

Although it helps to have a Flash and Director development background, I've found the documentation not so welcoming to newcomers. Luckily, I've found a book on Unity 3D (perhaps the first on the subject?) that is really helping me to get familiar with the tool.

I am still studying and learning from the book - and not so close to finishing it. But, so far I have nothing but good things to say about it.

The book in question is called Unity Game Development Essentials, and it was written by Will Goldstone. You can read a sample chapter here.

The Art Exhibition was a success, thank you all!

2009-11-03T17:40:00.002-02:00

Thank you all who have submitted your work. I'll post some images of it as soon as I have them.

Again, thank you all so much for the support. I'll send you individual emails as soon as I can. Time has been short lately. For good reasons, always!

Maybe this month we can resume the posts on games and game design? I hope so!

Approaching Deadliine for SBGames 09 Art Exhibition

2009-08-19T06:39:00.004-03:00

SBGames 09 Art Exhibition deadline is just around the corner (23 of August).

We already have got some wonderful pieces of work (thank you all participating). But why not submit your art-game, in-game art or art made with games here, under Parallel Events > Art Exhibition?

We have a follower!

2009-07-29T14:07:00.003-03:00

I didn't even know about this blogger feature!

Wow, now I feel like we should update more often

Thanks, Jonas ;)

PS: oh, we still need more submissions for the Art Exhibition, by the way? isn't anyone working on a indie/college game project? Or creating art with games? or making an artistic game?

SBGames 09 Art Exhibition

2009-06-28T22:04:00.002-03:00

I've got some interesting games/art pieces offered since my last post, and now is official: The CFP is online now (under Parallel Events > Art Exhibition. Spread the word!

Here's the CFE, by the way:

Art Exhibition

About the Event
The Arts Exhibition is an experimental laboratory for new digital art concepts, interactive immersion, character creation, storytelling, digital music, and innovative interfaces in games, virtual worlds, and digital entertainment environments.

Game development involves high qualified people and big efforts in arts and design. Nowadays, the amount of artists and designers in a game development team represents more than 70%. In this context, SBGames has been organizing, since 2004, the Art Exhibition aiming to motivate new talents in the field of games development and digital entertainment, as well as publicizing artworks of professionals, artists, and designers.

You are invited to submit pieces of digital artwork in any form: printed, video, audio, interactive installations, virtual reality, augmented reality, … .

The exhibition will be held in a charming neoclassic old mansion adapted to the tropical environment: “Solar Grandjean de Montigny” – the residence of the French architect Auguste Henri Victor Grandjean de Montigny who came to Brazil in 1816 as a member of the French artistic mission commissioned by D. João VI.

Call for Participation
The SBGames 09 is now accepting entries for its Art Exhibition, to be held at the Solar Grandjean de Montigny, located at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), from October 8th to November 6th 2009.

This year, the connection between video games and art will be approached from several perspectives at once, celebrating the diversity of uses of art in games and vice-versa. This is an opportunity to witness how videogames mature as an artistic media, and how they increasingly support several creative expression forms.

The entries are divided into four major categories:

Character Design:Promoted and organized by the Story Design Lab (LADEH), a lab within PUC-Rio's Art and Design Department, the Character Design Competitive Exhibition will be held in conjunction with the other SBGames 09 Art Exhibition features. More details on 'Parla! LADEH First Contest and Exhibition of Character Design', including its Call For Entries, rules and procedures will soon be available.

Art Games: A showcase for games addressing game art and design in innovative and poetic ways. This category embraces games from experimental webgames to fully-featured standalone commercial games that look at new directions for video games in content, themes, gameplay and interaction. Please note that we cannot support games requiring network or internet connection.

In-game Art: A display for a diverse range of artistic material made for a game. These forms include, but are not restricted to, 3D models, 2D sprites, music, cinematic cut-scenes and matte painting. Please note that some entries may be adapted or translated into non-electronic illustrative forms to better suit the exhibition.

Games as art tools:A section dedicated to all sorts of expressive, thought-provoking user-created content that go beyond the boundaries of the game universe to explore new relations to our culture and new forms of self-expression. These art forms include, but are not restricted to, films made with games (machinima), sim-fiction, game mods, game-generated music, character and level design. Please note that some entries may be adapted or translated into non-electronic illustrative forms to better suit the exhibition.

Submissions should be sent to sbgames09-art@puc-rio.br and should contain:

Name of the submitted piece of work.

Name of the artist(s) or group of artists.

Brief description of the work (up to 70 words).

Year of realization.

System requirements (hardware and software) for games or other digital media.

Image Attachment (or text) up to 10mb (largee attachments will not be processed).

Link for downloading reproduction or original works (larger than 10mb).

COMMITTEE
Art Exhibition Organizer
Chico Queiroz (PUC-Rio)

IMPORTANT DATES
Submission Deadline: August 23, 2009
Selected Works Announcement: September 15, 2009
Exhibition: October 8 - November 6, 2009

looking for art-game, game-art or whatever we should call this...

2009-05-05T09:47:00.003-03:00

- Have you seen/worked on any interesting independent game/webgame/mod with an artistic approach?

- Have you seen/worked on any interesting piece of art (film, pictures, hypertext, fiction, music etc) made with videogames lately?

If so, could you please drop a line (and a link, if possible) in the comments section?

I'm doing research for an exhibition on these subjects, and it would be great if you could help me find some new material.

Thank you all very much!

4 years of nongames.com / Art Exhibition

2009-04-07T07:24:00.000-03:00

Today, nongames.com is 4 years old.

I know, I've been neglecting the blog for some time, now - not to mention feature content, such as my last paper on game as creative tools, which is over a year old now and hasn't been translated so far.

Partially, I believe this is due to the fact that I've been busier than ever this last months(years), working both as a undergraduate professor, teaching virtual modelling and image treatment for design students, and also as designer at a computer graphics lab at the same university. And although I've been dealing with computer graphics and some interaction-based projects, they are not games (nor nongames).

However, I feel my participation here will increase very soon: I've been appointed curator for a game-related art exhibition, to be held at the university, being launched during a game symposium. I'll give more details as soon as I have a final version of the CFP in my hands, but you can expect a CFP for indie art-games, art made with ganes (machinima, elektroplancton music, Sims fiction, etc.), concept art and more.

So I guess there will be more to talk about around his blog, and maybe my participation here will be renew.

But for now, happy birthday nongames.com!

Game design and authorship

2009-03-18T14:21:00.000-03:00

This post is a response to February's Round Table:

About the Author: This month’s topic turns the literary focus from the medium, to the author. If you submitted a post to either the January or February topics, feel free to write about the process you underwent in converting literary themes into gameplay. Did you struggle with anything in particular? Are you satisfied that your game design(s) communicated what you intended? Have subsequent comments or idea made you wish you could go back and start he process over? And how much does your design say about you and your own interpretation of the themes of the source material?

Alternately feel free to turn your focus to another game designer, or to game designers in general. In literature we frequently “hear” the author’s voice in their work. Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Tom Robbins–these are excellent examples of authors whose voices are quite recognizable. Through reading their works, we feel we come to feel we know them, to understand their philosophies. There are a handful of games where the “author” can clearly be heard through the work. How closely tied is this to the thematic content of the games and how exactly did they communicate these themes to their audience? And should they have, or should video game designer try to remain out of their work, allowing the player to establish their own themes through gameplay?

A lot has been said about game videogame authorship, the role of the player and the interplay between them. I don't suppose to convey something new here, but rather comment briefly on the topic, hopefully making itself clearer to myself and the ones reading this.

Calling a game designer an "author" is usually a way to acknowledge the originality and excellence of his body of work. Will Wrigth, Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima and Sid Meyer are example of designers who have a very distinctive voice and whose style can be identified within any game they have produced.

Now, I believe two branches of game design have become increasingly popular lately: auteur art-games and (for the lack of better term) user-creativity-centred games. These art-games are not necessarily made by high-profile studio game designers (with few exceptions), but rather by newcomers attempting (and succeeding)to approach game design in a more artistic way. For instance, think of The Passage, The Marriage, The Majesty of Colors and Graveyard. Their games discuss subjects that are usually distant from mainstream commercial game industry - and they often involve a very clear storyline (or sorylines). This kind of authorship is, I believe, truly artistic and very welcome.

On the other hand, as it has been discussed many times, we should not imagine that game authorship should only gravitate around its story. That's where, I think, user-creativity-centred games come in to complement the scenario, as they allow the player's artistic expression (as well as the designer's). Both game styles, as I see, are great and complement each other. But maybe it should be said that both styles are authorship-friendly. The point is: in game design, the author's voice has more than one way to be heard.

Will Wright is probably the most popular example. The strongest aspect of his authorship is how he allows players to exercise their own sense of authorship. Players are free to create their visions and that doesn't leave Wright "out of his work". In fact, his presence as an author is even stronger. Molyneux, about whom I have written more extensively, is another good example, with his "The Movies".

Ok, so how does that fit within the game I described in my previous post for BOTRT? Well, when "designing" The World of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I was worried about building the game as a tool that could be used by players to create their own stories, where a player called Robert Pirsig would come up with his book, not by re-writing the game into prose, but using his experiences, notes and impressions of it.

The game would be, genuinely, a setting. The story would be the player's own. In fact, that notion facilitated my design, which I felt to make justice to the book it was based on, expressing much more of it than a direct translation would.

Comments I got about that post included a very good suggestion to something that could be added, rather than changes to the design. So yes. To answer the original question proposed by this Round Table, I was satisfied with the game design and the way the it communicated the books message.

Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries.

Tiny remark on Spore Mobile

2009-03-13T09:40:00.001-03:00

I haven't got the time to post, lately, but here is a quick impression on Spore for mobile phones.

Although I've been struggling with the lack of "Save Game" (I have to play the game from the start every time), I really enjoy one aspect of gameplay:

In order to survive, you must eat smaller creatures and escape bigger ones. As you eat, your character gets bigger and bigger, and there is a point - and that's the part I like - you are not so sure the creature next to yours is prey or predator.

This transition (prey -> predator) is, I believe, rare within the same game level, and most of the cases I remember involves power-ups (as in Pac-man) or some kind of warning, letting the player know that he has changed his role. The "transparent" transition we find in Spore mobile is, I think, much more elegant and interesting all around.

Troubled Avatars

2009-02-09T16:36:00.000-02:00

While reading Ian McEwan's novel Saturday, I was very impressed by a chapter narrating a squash match between the protagonist (a middle-aged neurosurgeon from London) and his friend and colleague. Here's an excerpt:

"Half a dozen times the ball travels up and down the left-hand wall, until Perowne finds the space on his backhand to lift it high into the right-hand corner.They play that wall in hard straight drives, dancing in and out of each other's path, then they're chasing shots all over the court, with the advantage passing between them.
They've had this kind of rally before - desperate, mad, but also hilarious, as if the real contest is to see who will break down laughing first."

From: Saturday, by Ian McEwan.

McEwan does an amazing job describing the psychological state of his character during play: the lack of focus from out-of-court worries, that "flow" feeling after prolonged rallies, the balance between competitiveness and camaraderie, etc..

In my last contribution to the round table, I've suggested ways of designing for the player's, say, lateral thinking (in a desirable way). But why not extend this mental state to the characters - and then to the player?

Let's keep the rackets and think of a videogame of Tennis, for instance. Suppose you're playing with Roger Federer against a CPU-controlled Rafael Nadal. Now, usually the only match-unrelated concerns of between the player and full control of the game are the (real world) player's concerns. Federer's avatar might be more or less capable in game fundaments (serving, backhanding, forehanding, lobbing, etc.), but his psychological state is neutral.

Now let's remember the last Federer Vs. Nadal match, when they were playing for the Australian Open. Judging from Federer's reaction, visibly upset to the point of crying during the prize ceremony, there should be some psychological unbalance going on. Was his mind somewhere else during the match? I don't know, but that's a hypothesis.

So, how could this kind of mental state be reflected in the game (and gameplay)? Overlapping images? Unresponsive control pads? There's a number of options that could be tested.

Sport games might not be the best example of use for that. RPGs, 1st and 3rd persons could benefit from this kind of "troubled avatars" to add depth to the story and gameplay. It could be a way of levelling the character's and player's experiences.

(Note: I remember a football videogame where the controller rumbled, as to indicate mental distress, during penalty shootouts. Was it one of FIFA series?)

The World of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

2009-01-30T18:00:00.005-02:00

Ok, so this is my contribution to the Round Table:

The World of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

WoZAMM (even the acronym sounds appropriate!) is a Road-trip MMOG with a philosophical twist.

Enjoy your ride along miles and miles of open roads and highways.

In this MMOG, you are free to take you motocycles and your thoughts wherever you want. To be played on your own or in massive-multiplayer (cooperative or competitive) mode, WoZAMM allows you to explore the roads, the mountains and their risks.

Features:

Mantain and upgrade your vehicle

Race against or along up to 256 players open to chat

Explore thousands of miles of roads of every kinds and conditions

Relax riding in Zen Mode (keep reading for explanation)

Follow quests or wander freely.

Food for thought: on-screen display quotes and topics for your reflection.

Access and enjoy WoZAMM Philosophical Encyclopaedia (and add / share notes) (read more for explanation on that one too).

This game is designed to give players that free-roaming feeling some miss about games (hey, do you remember Elite?). Although players can accept quests and missions (available at gas stops, restaurants and motels, if so they wish), they can also just enjoy riding and riding and riding...

And that's where Zen Mode, our main USP, comes in.

After a long period of continuous riding (a couple of minutes), Zen Mode will become available for the player to activate. Once it's on, it will progressively make motorcycle control easier (the Motorcycle will run by itself, at its peak), slightly increase speed and add soft-blur visual effects to the surroundings. The smooth-to-automatic controls will give the player a chance to reflect.

USP number 2 - Food for Thought: Every now and then, specially when in Zen Mode, philosophical quotes and topics will be displayed on screen for further reflection. Once the player is off the road, he can also access WoZAMM Philosophical Encyclopaedia and read more on topics previously displayed. Notes can be added by the player and upload to the users forum.

=============

On a side note, I should add that I've always wanted to make an introspective long-distance driving game. This Round Table was a great opportunity to re-work, however briefly, that idea.

Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries.

Learning from the digital Library of Babel

2009-01-30T14:31:00.000-02:00

Note: this started a warming up to my Round Table post. Although my game of choice is not the one discussed below, I think this is still a valid contribution to the panel. Since the panel is open for two contributions per blog, I thought I should publish it on a separate post.

Some literary works beg for a digital translation.

In my last academic paper (yet unpublished in this website - shame on me, since I've finished it more than a year ago), I suggested that some literary work (in that case, specificaly Borges' short story "The Library of Babel") could be as natural to digital media as to the printed form it was first imagined for.

Here's some of its initial paragraph (translated by James Irby, available here):

"The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors. The distribution of the galleries is invariable. Twenty shelves, five long shelves per side, cover all the sides except two; their height, which is the distance from floor to ceiling, scarcely exceeds that of a normal bookcase."

This infinite library holds every book that could be possibly written (every character combination). Although this fantastic, imaginary building cannot be physically re-created, a digital representation - including its rooms, books and book's content - it's not only possible, but also done, and released in CD-ROM (back in 1996). It's called Biblioteca Total, made by Nicolás Helft and published by Argentinian group La Nacion.

The universe imagined by Borges was, in essence, a mathematical wonder. One that can be expressed in computational terms and virtual representation.

But what about the game? I am not sure Helft's CD-ROM was not limited to the exploration of the library's infinite space (although I have seen it in action, many years ago, I can't remember if there was more to it than navigating from gallery to gallery). However, the short story goes on describing searches for sacred, meaningful books among the infinite amount of available books. A game among that lines could be designed (maybe an adventure style-game, or even RPG).

So you get the idea: some literary works are more naturally translated into digital works.

Anyway, that's not the book-to-game translation I want to present for this panel. That will be on my next post.

Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries.

The Global Game Jam

2009-01-02T07:44:00.003-02:00

Willing to spend a weekend making a game? Meet the Game Jam:

(from their website):

What is a Game Jam?

In a Game Jam, participants come together to make video games. Each participant works in a small team on a complete game project over the course of a limited time period, usually over a weekend. With such a small time frame, the games tend to be innovative and experimental. The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the first of its kind: a game Jam that takes place in the same 48 hours all over the world! The global Game Jam will start at 5:00PM Friday, January 30, 2009 through 5:00PM Sunday, February 1, 2009, (all times local). All participants in the Global Game Jam will be constrained by the same rules and limitations, with each time zone having one distinct constraint.

Why is it global? Because It will happen simultaneously all over the globe (including Brazil). Here's the list of locations:

* Albany, USA
* Ankara, Turkey
* Athens, USA
* Albuquerque, USA
* Atlanta 1, USA
* Atlanta 2, USA
* Angouleme, France
* Austin, USA
* Baltimore , USA
* Boston , USA
* Cape Town, South Africa
* Caracas, Venezuela
* Charlotte, USA
* Chicago, USA
* Copenhagen, Denmark
* Dallas, USA
* Detroit, USA
* Glasgow, Scotland
* Hamar, Norway
* Hamilton, New Zealand
* LA, USA
* London , UK
* Madison, USA
* Madrid, Spain
* Newport, Wales
* NYC 1, USA
* NYC 2, USA
* Orlando, USA
* Ottawa , Canada
* Paris, France
* Perth, Australia
* Pittsburgh , USA
* Raleigh, USA
* Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
* Rockville, USA
* San Francisco / Silicon Valley, USA
* Santa Cruz, USA
* Sao Carlos, Brasil
* Savannah, USA
* Sault Ste Marie, Canada
* Tel Aviv, Israel
* Thurles, Ireland
* Toronto, Canada
* Vancouver, Canada
* Waco, USA
* Utrecht, The Netherlands

If you want to join Global Game Jam, you can find more info at their website: http://globalgamejam.org/

The last poll of 2008

2008-12-17T09:39:00.004-02:00

It was a very busy year - things have changed a lot in many, many aspects (all for better). The only thing I am sorry for is how this blog was neglected, and how I walked away from game design most of the time. It was not a deliberate choice, but a combination of factors (new job(s), a certain lack of return for game-related things I've done, etc.). I don't know how 2009 will be in terms of Game Design. But I do hope I get to work in interactive projects more often next year.

It's weird how nongaming is mainstream right now. It's really great.

Anyway, here's the last poll of 2008: Should I submit a re-worked version of Flora to Kongregate?

Short news from Brazilian gaming universe

2008-11-04T09:31:00.004-02:00

- Here's a link Link to "Estamos Pensando" (We are thinking), interesting brazilian indie art game by Daniel Martins Novais.

- And here's a link to job opportunities at Ubisoft Brazil.

More Frasca in São Paulo

2008-08-26T06:57:00.002-03:00

Gonzalo Fasca has confirmed a talk (in Spanish) about politcal games and simulation theory in São Paulo, as part of the FILE festival:

Where: Avenida Paulista no 1009, 21 andar
When: Thursday, 28th from 19h30 to 21h30
Admission: Free
Lecture in Spanish language
Título: Videojuegos Políticos y Teoría de la Simulación

If you are interested in videogame studies and happens to be in São Paulo, this should be mandatory for you.

A Leap over Uncanny Valley?

2008-08-20T09:58:00.003-03:00

Whenever the talk is about the development of more human, realistic plotlines for video games, there always might be an objection regarding how characters graphics and animation wouldn't keep up with the required level of realism. Well, as you can read (and watch) in this post by Jonathan Richards of the Times Online, we could be approaching the end of that excuse.

What kind of games should we expect from now (or from a couple of years) on?

Frasca in Brazil

2008-08-15T09:18:00.003-03:00

Here´s something I would really like to be able to attend to: Gonzalo Frasca will be giving two lectures in São Carlos, SP, Brazil. From his website:

"I'm invited by the Federal University of Sao Carlos, and I'll be giving a lecture on Videogames and Communication at the CECH amphitheater at 20h on the 25th. The 26th, I'll give a one-day seminar on Contemporary Game Studies."

More information, in portuguese, here:

http://www.ies.ufscar.br/geminis/eventos.htm

Update: Here´s the info in English (via Jonatas).

I hope they publish powerpoints, notes, or something later.

flora on abragames

2008-06-27T10:07:00.005-03:00

Abragames, Brazilian Game Developers Association have posted a note on JogosBR winners. In case you don´t know, JogosBR was a contest organized by Brazilian Ministry of Culture (Department of Culture? Culture Bureau? you decide) to finance games and demos. Flora was one of the selected projects.

It took some time until someone publicized the demos, which were delivered on January 2007. Well, better late than never.

Reminder: you can play Flora online in English and Portuguese. Standalone editions are available in English and Portuguese.

Spore Creature Creator

2008-06-18T17:51:00.002-03:00

Brilliant. Here´s the video of my first creature made on SCC:

The editor is great. They could have allowed us more body parts to try on, though.

Casual Games Whitepaper / Spore Trial

2008-06-18T17:09:00.003-03:00

On a double post after a loooong time away, here are two interesting things elsewhere on the net:

A casual games whitepaper on IGDA´s website on the subject. (via Artur Mittlebach through a games mailing list).

Spore Creature Creature Trial is now available for download.

I still want to publish, sooner or later, an english version of my last paper.

More and more regular posting would be great too. I do have subjects in mind. Finding time is the tricky part.

Spore Creature Creator as a standalone product

2008-04-29T09:31:00.003-03:00

I still haven´t posted my lecture on Games as Creative Tools. At least I´ll have time to revise it, since this happened:

"SPORE CREATURE CREATOR AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE JUNE 17
(...)
Redwood City, CA - April 25, 2008 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Maxis today announced that a free downloadable demo, and complete retail version of the Spore™ Creature Creator will be available starting June 17, 2008. The Spore Creature Creator gives Spore fans, and those who are creatively curious, the first hands-on opportunity to design their own species and share it with their friends.
(...)
A complete retail version of the Spore Creature Creator will also be available in North America for $9.99 and most European territories for €9.99, which gives players access to all the creature-making parts in the game."

Arguably, the creature creator is one of the best parts of the game - if not the best (just look at how many videos there are on the internet about this single feature). However, selling this editor before the game makes me wonder:

1 - Will players have to pay for the tool again, once they buy the full game?
2 - Would the selling of the Creature Creator be a financial necessity for EA? Why not give away the full version for free?
3 - Will it be useful for anyone who has not the full game to place the creatures into?

I really agree that populating the Spore MSOG (Massive Single Player Game, as Will Wright puts it) universe even before the game is released is a good move. Plus, I love to see how games are transforming tools into something fun. But there´s something about charging players for the creation tool - when they could buy the full game with all editors a few months later - that strikes me as odd.

Air traffic upcoming game

2008-04-17T10:00:00.005-03:00

From Gamasutra, via Water Cooler Games:

"New Jersey based Majesco has announced Air Traffic Chaos for summer 2008, a game in which players take on the job of an air traffic controller, managing flights at busy airports around the world."

.

As someone who lives in a country where air traffic chaos is a reality, I wonder if Majesco could pull out something that actually conveys the several forces and conditions behind this situation that makes air traffic controller such a complicated job.

That is, of course, if the game takes a more serious take on the subject.

Anyway, it looks like it could be fun.

EDIT 29/04/08: And who says only serious games can open spaces for discussion, anyway?

long, long break + poll

2008-02-15T09:16:00.002-02:00

Almost two months since my last post. That´s quite a while.
Too many different things going on (all good) keep me from writing, but I´ll try to post a series soon on games as creativity tools.

Which reminds me, here´s a new poll:
Which upcoming product will be a good creativity tool? and which one will reach a broader audience?

You might need to access the page to see the flash poll.

Inkball: Vista's new interface learning game

2007-12-20T23:10:00.000-02:00

I often remember a former boss telling me how games are used to teach Operational Systems interfaces in a fun way. That's the case with Windows Solitaire (click, double-click, drag and drop) and Minesweeper (click, right-click). PDAs have also used games to teach peculiarities of their handwritting recognition software.

Well, it seems that Microsoft, through Vista, is betting on Tablets and Tablet PCs increasing popularity (I personally work better with a tablet than with a mouse). And to support entry-level tablet users, Inkball is the game to be played.

The game is quite simple (maybe too simple, but that's part of the deal, right?): draw lines that bounce and direct balls into their respective holes. With more production value and options, this could have been DS launch title.

A handwriting recognition game would be interesting too.
Hum... and also an educational handwriting game for alphabetization classes, I guess...

PS: More than two weeks without posting! I wonder if that's a record. And I am still quite busy. I guess that's the way it is as we approach the end of the year. Anyway, it's good busy.

PS2: I am just guessing, but I think nongames.com should change significantly in 2008, content-wise.

PS3: My presentation on games as creative tools turned out nice. I'll post more as soon as I translate it.

PS4: In case I don't post again in 2007, I wish a happy new year to everyone.

Busy

2007-12-03T08:24:00.000-02:00

No, I'm not devastated about our less voted poll ever (3 votes??), I'm just terribly busy at work and finishing a presentation.

I Hope I can get back to nongames soon, next week.

Games as art tools

2007-11-22T09:50:00.000-02:00

As I might have said before, the use of games art artistic tools is something I would like to investigate on a deeper level (PhD?). Meanwhile, I´ve found that Flavio Escribano, from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid has produced a very complete, thoughtful and polished publication on the subject. If you can understand Spanish, you should check it out.

(Via Mushroom Coorporation)

Poll - Have you ever started something in real life because of a game?

2007-11-21T20:10:00.000-02:00

Weekly poll (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll).

Feel free to post information about your own experience on the comments section.

Will Wright on Games and Imagination

2007-11-19T09:58:00.000-02:00

While researching for my presentation, I found out that Wired.com has a great article entitled "Dream Machine", by Will Wright, where makes a very similar point to the one I intend to.

I'll probably come back to it later next week. For now, here is a passage from it. There are gome good things that should be referenced later.

"Like the toys of our youth, modern videogames rely on the player's active involvement. We're invited to create and interact with elaborately simulated worlds, characters, and story lines. Games aren't just fantasy worlds to explore; they actually amplify our powers of imagination.

Think of it this way: Most technologies can be seen as an enhancement of some part of our bodies (car/legs, house/skin, TV/senses). From the start, computers have been understood as an extension of the human brain; the first computers were referred to as mechanical brains and analytical engines. We saw their primary value as automated number crunchers that far exceeded our own meager abilities."

Even the McLuhan analogy is there. I need more tricks :)

Anyway, I think my research is coming out fine. Most of it was already done, and it feels more like putting the pieces together with some coherence. Although all I have is a loose structure, I am already moving from "how can I make it last 15 minutes" to "how can I make it fit 15 minutes". I hope I don't get lost.

Google Gadgets as game platform

2007-11-14T10:54:00.000-02:00

I don´t know how many iGoogle users there are (a lot, I guess), but since Google has been trying to attract and support google gadget developers, I was wondering if this couldn't be a very interesting game platform.

I haven´t really researched the dev guide, but I have no doubt that some original games could be made, taking advantage of iGoogle´s user base and structure.

The idea of browser-accessible, script-embedded games and activities is very attractive. Metaplace seems to be a much stronger player in that area. In fact, Metaplace seems to be so ahead (hum... Metaplace Google Gadget!), that maybe Google Gadget Games should embrace alternative features, such as text games, parallel gaming, etc.

Of course, there are several successful GG games, such as Sudoku, Chess, Tetris, etc. But I´m willing to bet that something new could come out of it. It could be an interesting niche, anyway.

The Endless Forest

2007-11-12T10:10:00.000-02:00

I have no idea how could I overlook it for so long: The Endless Forestis a (non)game from Tale of Tales that is not only highly original (just check out their list of game verbs!), but also beatiful.

From their website:

"The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game and social screensaver, a virtual place where you can play with your friends. When your computer goes to sleep you appear as a deer in this magical place. There are no goals to achieve or rules to follow. Just run through the forest and see what happens. (Emphasis mine)"

(What about my emphasis?)
When your computer... Endless Forest is a screensaver - which is a brilliant idea, I think.
There are no goals to achieve... See? It is a nongame, I was not pushing too far.

More from their website:

"You are a deer. So are the other players. You meet each other in an endless forest on the internet. The setting is idyllic, the atmosphere peaceful. You communicate with one another through sounds and body language."

This could be very interesting. And I wonder if it wouldn't work even better within a goal-driven context.

Well, for those who are interested, here's the download page.

Digital Games as Creative Tools - submission accepted

2007-11-06T22:52:00.000-02:00

That abstract I posted here sometime ago was accepted, and now I have to prepare a 15 min. lecture about it. So here is a list of things I want to remember during the presentation (please, feel free to contribute)

Magic circle and wider view of the impotance of play(Huizinga), possible interventions using games, simulation as training and evaluation tools, "between fictional worlds and real rules" (Juul), technologies of information (Levy), "learning semiotic domains" and "the insider principal" (Gee), videogames of the oppressed (Frasca), freedom of play, open-ended worlds, confronting challenges, free from oneself by binding to another (Sutton-Smith), a place to interrogate (Mcluhan). the Sims, elektroplankton, mods, the movies, second life, etc.

(here's the abstract, by the way):

Digital Games as Creative Tools

Chico Queiroz

Within the debate on the role of imagination and the imaginary in design theory and practice, there is a correlate issue that should be addressed. An issue within the scope of that debate, but that subverts the original perspective: the role of design in imaginary and creative practices. The objective of this analysis is to identify and discuss aspects and features that enable virtual ludic environments, such as electronic games, as catalysts for imaginative and creative processes. In order to investigate such connections, both terms that incorporate the definition of our subject must be taken in consideration: The ludic qualities, or sense of play, that makes them games, and also the elements that differentiate them as virtual, system-based, electronic. Digital tools have been used for all kinds of purposes. They are routinely used as extensions of our memories, via databases and storage spaces, and our senses, through the use of communication devices such as webcams. What is being proposed here is an investigation on how new technologies, more specifically video games, can function as extensions of our imagination and creativity - and how playfulness, inherent to such cultural artifacts, could relate to this technology, lending and borrowing qualities capable of amplifying their potentials, resulting in a successful and powerful combination that insufflates the creative process. This analysis takes in consideration perspectives presented by contemporary game and new media studies, and also by studies on traditional games and play.

DS - natural nongame platform

2007-11-06T09:21:00.000-02:00

It's amazing how many simulators, training and freeplay games are released for Nintendo DS every month. Some of them:

Flash Focus: Vision Training

Imagine: Fashion Designer

Anti-stress game by Mindhabits

Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day

Hannah Montana: Music Jam

Facial Training game

etc, etc.

I have mentioned that before, but I believe some of the reasons for that are:
a) Portability and Individuality - an independent system that you don't have to plug into anything else and that can be played discreetly anywhere.
b) Price - much cheaper than a next-gen console.
c) Dual screen featuring a touch screen - more screen space for instructions and buttons that can be accessed using the stylus equals less need for memorized control schemes.

Am I forgetting anything?

Scariest videogame moment

2007-10-31T19:00:00.000-02:00

Joining the debate (here, here and here), I think the list should include the Nightmare level in Max Payne (here's the link to a YouTube video that didn't support embedding, in case you don't remember it / haven't played it).

Poll analysis - Gaming hours per week

2007-10-26T09:00:00.000-02:00

We get less and less votes (maybe qualitative is the way to go - this time we've had an extensive individual report), but our poll results seem to indicate a strong niche of busy gamers (as does the website gamerswithjobs.com).

Myself, I would like to play daily gaming sessions - meaningful ones - that take as long as it took me to write this post.

Does game design practice improves your fairness?

2007-10-25T18:07:00.000-02:00

Bateman's post on Justice and subsequent comments reminded me of how I often wonder if the contact with game design can help us to improve our sense of fairness. After all, it's also about balancing asymetrical sides and giving fair conditions to players, taking in consideration several factors involved - player skills, difficulty level, etc.

A pratical example: Teachers might find better ways to test their students, for instance, considering their ability (and willingness) to improve their work after initial correction and evaluation.

After all, from a game design perspective, fairness is always necessary to avoid frustration from the player - and that includes giving them less or more than needed.

Poll - How many hours per week do you play videogames?

2007-10-23T13:09:00.000-02:00

(Late) weekly poll (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll). Still on "too busy" mode.

Poll analysis - Wii Flash Games

2007-10-19T11:09:00.000-02:00

We haven't got a significative number of votes to really judge the state of Wii Flash games market, but I wonder (and poll results might support this):

Aren't flash wii games a reallity in terms of commercial success, of even as an alternative field for creative games?

Is it possible that they become so?

Episodic games - a key to succesfull flash wii games?

Are there more potential FWG developers than players out there?

Is there any company working on 3D-enabled wii compatible game devkit? I know Unity3D should work in the near future, but are there any PCs alternative? (Unity3D is just for Macs).

Sitcom-esque episodic game

2007-10-18T09:39:00.000-02:00

I have just found this link on the comments section for an interesting post by Bateman on EAs creative IP.

From the article:

PlayStation 3 is to get its first episodic game - and will be the first console to boast an original such type of game - thanks to the Super-Ego Games' upcoming Rat Race.

A sitcom-styled narrative game set in an office, the game charges players with making through a day's work and is designed to give players the feel of playing an episode of a TV show.

The game is being written and voiced by a cast and crew that have worked on the likes of South Park, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, and the excellent Flight of the Conchords.
“We believe that next-gen gamers seek new and innovative game titles, and Rat Race is just that,” said Greg Easley, co-founder and president of Super-Ego Games.

“Rat Race represents a completely new take on the adventure genre, combining it with living, breathing characters and TV-quality comedy writing.

The game delivers what action gamers want, but it also has funny, engaging dialogue, well-conceived characters and a comedic story that really hooks people.”

The studio has been teasing and hyping Rat Race's existence for the past few months, saying it's narrative-driven approach to games will 'revitalise' the industry.

In a statement released at the end of July, Bob Welch, CEO and EP at the studio said: “Our goal is to create games with engaging characters and storylines that appeal to mass audiences, while taking advantage of next-gen technology. We know, and our market research has proven, that both casual game players and traditional gamers are looking for something new, accessible and enjoyable.”

It sounded really interesting, so I decided to look for their website. This is something from them:

Super-Ego’s core engine has been optimized for games that run on PCs and next-generation consoles. The engine is ideal for titles that share the following features:

• Personality Simulator: Creates motivations, idiosyncrasies, and interests that drive behavior for all in-game characters.

• Conversation Creator: Delivers real-time dialogue with lifelike timing, consistent with character personalities; dynamic conversations generated on the fly based on character actions and needs.

• Listening System: Makes navigating a world in which many characters converse easy and pleasurable for the player.

• Scene Scripting System: Allows for TV- or film-style cinematography and easy creation of high-quality cutscenes.

• Expression System: Drives lip synching and appropriate facial expressions for thousands of lines of dialogue.

• Information Inventory System: Allows player to gather information and develop tactical knowledge by overhearing conversations, examining in-world objects, and asking questions.

• Animation Engine: Brings characters to life with complex, life-like animation sets; ensures that animations are rarely repeated.

• Script Creator: Moves from screenplays to flowcharts to non-linear game scripts that recreate feel of the original entertainment franchise; allows for the simulation of myriad TV, movie, and book properties.

• Small Download Footprint: Allows for rapid downloads of files for direct digital sales to consumers.

• Action System: Allow for integration of diverse gameplay modules: stealth, chase/race, puzzles, shooting, and fighting.

It sounds amazing, but I really don't know anything about actual gameplay and mechanics (keybords + joystick) or business models (monthly fee?). Still, I think it would be great if a product like this actually succeeded.

Poll - Wii Flash Games

2007-10-16T20:14:00.000-02:00

Weekly poll (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll). I'm too busy to post anything serious, but there are so many visitors looking for Flash Wii Games that I have to ask something about it.

Wii Flash webgames...

Poll analysis - Visual styles

2007-10-11T08:35:00.000-03:00

As I write, those are the numbers for our latest poll:

The visual styles of your favourite games are...

3D Photorealistic (1 votes)

3D Cartoony (3 votes)

3D Stylized (something between cartoon and photorealistic) (6 votes)

2D Photorealistic (0 votes)

2D Cartoony (4 votes)

2D Stylized (6 votes)

other (0 votes)

TOTAL VOTES: 7

I wonder if this preference doesn´t reflect the current state of gameplay and game themes much more than game graphic capabilities. I think it was Chris Crawford who, in his book, advised designers to downgrade graphics in case gameplay didn´t match its level of realism. I could be wrong, though. In fact, games that achieve for realistic, sophisticated gameplay, such as Façade, often use stylized graphics paradoxally reinforcing the game´s verosilitude.

And of course, there is that Uncanny Valley issue, when photorealistic characters look repulsive.

Eliza and direct text input in games

2007-10-10T07:40:00.000-03:00

Once a tutor of mine wondered why there weren´t more experimentations with direct text input in games (that was before Façade, I believe), and why so few games tried to develop something like Eliza. I guess that´s because graphics got all the attention in games. Would there be any other reasons?

For you who don´t know what I´m talking about, here´s a description from Wikipedia:

"ELIZA is a computer program by Joseph Weizenbaum, designed in 1966, which parodied a Rogerian therapist, largely by rephrasing many of the patient's statements as questions and posing them to the patient. Thus, for example, the response to "My head hurts" might be "Why do you say your head hurts?" The response to "My mother hates me" might be "Who else in your family hates you?" ELIZA was named after Eliza Doolittle, a working-class character in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, who is taught to speak with an upper class accent."

For you who want to try it, here´s a web implementation.

Crossing borders

2007-10-09T08:03:00.000-03:00

Very busy weeks ahead, but must keep thinking about present and future projects.
It´s a little bit strange that these short-to-medium-term plans do not include designing games (at least commercial ones) but other kinds of products that are, somehow, related to games. It could be a necessity (no real industry around where I live) but also a sign that video games, as a medium, are spreading their qualities across other fields. Fields where I can try to apply what I´ve learned from game design and culture.

Poll - Game visual styles

2007-10-08T19:56:00.000-03:00

Ok, our third poll (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll). Nothing too elaborated, just something to keep us going. Again, you can choose as many options as you like.

The visual styles of your favourite games are...

Poll analysis - games and art

2007-10-05T07:00:00.000-03:00

Ok, so I asked:

"Which kinds of game-related art do you think are more interesting?"

Results so far:

Art created within the game, for in-game use (think Spore) (3 votes)

Art created within the game, for external use (think The Movies, The Sims albuns) (1 votes)

Art created trhough hacking the game (think super mario cloud, nullpoint, etc) (1 votes)

Art created using the game engine (Machinima, etc.) (2 votes)

Art created using external tools (think all kinds of mods) (2 votes)

Art about games (fan fiction, paintings about games) (1 votes)
Games are the work of art themselves (6 votes)

Other = "Stories created by players inside game worlds" (Corvus vote? :))

Ok, 7 voters are not that much, but there is a point becoming clear to me (specially when I take out my own biased votes): players may want a game to serve as a creative tool, but they will always want it to be a game - not only a tool.
Corvus makes a good point: it´s all about the world that is given to the player. If the atmosphere is right, there will be a good reason for players to join in the creative process. They usually want the setting, the look and feel, the plot, etc., so they can build something on top.

Random thoughts for today

2007-10-03T07:00:00.000-03:00

Some time ago Gamasutra featured an article entitled Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games. It analyses 20 games designed around an open world, extracting design lessons from each one of them. The article is quite interesting. However, I really, really missed one omission: Elite is not on the list. Maybe the authors have had a good reason for that, but I think Elite should be on the top of the list when it comes to open worlds.

Some (most?) of our CSS-less readers end up on this page looking for information on homebrew Wii games or Flash Wii games. Now, I don´t own a Wii, so I have no idea, but does anyone know if there´s any real appeal to this games? If you have a Wii, please let me know, do you play webgames on it?

There are two recent games I would have loved to work on. They are Metaplace (I know I haven´t really seen it yet, but still...) and Jam Session (some of you might remember I´ve tried - not very successfully - to explore the DS as a musical instrument before).

Metaplace

Jam Session

I´ll be quite busy this month, so it´s not very likely that I will be able to update this website on Thursday (focus day), i.e. tomorrow. It´s a shame, but duty calls.

Art project

2007-10-02T09:10:00.000-03:00

Although I´m already commited to several jobs and tasks, I´m also developing an art project alongside a fine artist friend of mine. The idea is to add remote user participation to one of his previous works, or at least create an online version that can be interacted with (which doesn´t mean it will become a game, although it could be played, in a way).

This week, as you can imagine from our yerterday´s poll, is sort of dedicated to games and art. I hope I can gather some opinions on how this relationship could work, and maybe apply any knowledge obtained from that discussion in the project.

Other than that, I still have to finish a 3d video at work and prepare material for my other job. It seems that I´ll be quite busy during a week or two...

Games and Art question:

2007-10-01T07:56:00.000-03:00

Ok, now that we´ve briefly commented the results for our first poll, here´s the second one (you might need to access the original post in order to access the flash poll). This time, you can choose as many options as you like.

Which kinds of game-related art do you think are more interesting?

Results and comments by Friday. Join the discussion!

Perfect timing

2007-09-28T09:50:00.000-03:00

Great. Just because I´m managing to update this website regularly, Feedburner - my feeds provider - seems to ignore my latest posts. It´s probably just a lag, I hope.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Poll analysis - Character Upgrade

2007-09-28T08:29:00.000-03:00

As I write, the majority of votes (80%)for our first poll clearly indicated that most prefer to use experience points to reinforce existing skills of their characters.

the question (and the answer) might sound trivial. People will invest in their best skills and strengths. Most people at least.

As a player, I tend to buy every sorts of skills before seriously investing in one. My favourite D&D class was, of course, the Elf - the one who can quickly become a second rate fighter and a second rate wizard. The general ideia behind this behaviour is that my character will adapt better under different conditions, enhancing my chances of survival. Guess what? It doesn't happen that way.

Fig 1. No wonder he hides in trees!

That's because, as I've learned recently, this adaptation-to-survival works to a certain degree. There comes a time when it's hard to develop specific skills, your true skills, just because you are diversifying so much. Sure, adaptation is good - but it's not a good main skill.

That's why it's good to find out which skills you really want to develop.

(PS: No comments on my first focus day? Come on, people. I need some advice here.)
(PPS: Thanks Patrick for introducing me Polldaddy)

(Image taken from www.wizards.com - no copyright infringement intended. Will take it down if necessary)

Digital Games as Creative Tools

2007-09-27T11:47:00.000-03:00

(An abstract. Warning: WIP carelessly translated from Portuguese)

Digital Games as Creative Tools

Chico Queiroz

Within the debate on the role of imagination and the imaginary in design theory and practice, there is a correlate issue that should be addressed. An issue within the scope of that debate, but that subverts the original perspective: the role of design in imaginary and creative practices. The objective of this analysis is to identify and discuss aspects and features that enable virtual ludic environments, such as electronic games, as catalysts for imaginative and creative processes. In order to investigate such connections, both terms that incorporate the definition of our subject must be taken in consideration: The ludic qualities, or sense of play, that makes them games, and also the elements that differentiate them as virtual, system-based, electronic. Digital tools have been used for all kinds of purposes. They are routinely used as extensions of our memories, via databases and storage spaces, and our senses, through the use of communication devices such as webcams. What is being proposed here is an investigation on how new technologies, more specifically video games, can function as extensions of our imagination and creativity - and how playfulness, inherent to such cultural artifacts, could relate to this technology, lending and borrowing qualities capable of amplifying their potentials, resulting in a successful and powerful combination that insufflates the creative process. This analysis takes in consideration perspectives presented by contemporary game and new media studies, and also by studies on traditional games and play.

Mindhabits self-improvement game wins contest.

2007-09-26T10:30:00.000-03:00

I've read this monday on Gamasutra:

At VIDFEST, one of Canada's biggest annual digital content events, Telefilm Canada announced the winners of its Great Canadian Video Game Competition. MindHabits took the top prize with its MindHabits Trainer DS title, picking up a total $1.5 million prize package from Telefilm and private financiers for the game's commercialization.

The winning entry is described as a "suite of fun and easy mini-games designed to help players focus on positive social feedback and adopt a more positive attitude toward themselves and others, increasing what scientists call 'social intelligence'." MindHabits says the game is intended for 10 minutes of play a day, and hopes to "help reduce players’ stress level and boost their confidence."

Now, do you remember Mindhabits, right? I've posted some time ago something about their self-help game (you could even play it in that post, but now it's gone. I guess they have removed the flash file).

You know what? It could work. I guess the DS, with all its nongames, brain this, cuisine that, is the best platform they could wish for. Congratulations to them!

New blog structure and schedule

2007-09-25T07:47:00.000-03:00

Ok, some good people are doing what seems to be an excellent idea: organizing better their blog activities. Nongames was originally a tool for helping me to develop a personal project, and I guess I´m not using it properly. Adopting the new scheme will, hopefully, help me to organize my thoughts and increase my productivity. Updating it as it is right now often feels to me like a minor waste of time. Let´s change that.

So here is a first outline:

Monday: Poll day. This is when I post a new question (have you answered yesterday´s question, by the way?). Discuss among yourselves!

Tuesday: Plan day. A day for organizing my plans and bringing up ideas. Like this one.

Wednesday: Random day. It could be a short game review, it could be a gameplay video. It could be a couple of interesting links, or just some random thoughts.

Thursday: Issues in design day. This should be the day I enter a more in-depth text on game/digital media issues I´m working on. This could be a work in progress for more extensive analysis.

Friday: Poll commenting day. When I comment monday poll results.

This could change in the future, but let´s see if it works. I might skip a day of the week every now and then, but will try not to do so.

Hypothetical in-game question

2007-09-24T08:31:00.000-03:00

(forget about the game context, just answer whatever crosses your mind)
ps: if you can´t see the flash poll in your news reader, try accessing the original post.

Metaplace - interaction design for the masses

2007-09-19T10:19:00.000-03:00

Everyone´s talking about it (here´s a decent description and information on it), so just let me bullet-point some thoughts on it.

It´s designed by Raph Koster - someone who really knows his stuff.

It´s open-ended and very, very open to user created content (in fact, it works around this very concept, as far as i can see).

It can be approached as a game, but it doesn´t need to.

The idea is absolutely brilliant, and Areae should be proud of actually building it.

It could be the next Myspace, Orkut, etc.

It could do for interaction design the same that HTML did for interface design.

It could do for game designers the same that Youtube did for filmmakers.

It could do for world builders the same that Myspace did for bands... ok, you got the idea.

It sounds amazing. Will it succeed? I could bet it will.

-if you have no idea what I´m talking about, here´s some info from their website:

What is Metaplace?
Our motto is: build anything, play everything, from anywhere. Until now, virtual worlds have all worked like the closed online services from before the internet took off. They had custom clients talking to custom servers, and users couldn't do much of anything to change their experience. We're out to change all of that.

Metaplace is a next-generation virtual worlds platform designed to work the way the Web does. Instead of giant custom clients and huge downloads, Metaplace lets you play the same game on any platform that reads our open client standard. We supply a suite of tools so you can make worlds, and we host servers for you so that anyone can connect and play. And the client could be anywhere on the Web.

We hope there will be millions of worlds made with Metaplace. It could get hard to find stuff if we're right, so the portal lets you easily search, rate, review, and tag worlds and games of all sorts. You also get a user profile so you can find each other.

Can I make my own world?
That's sort of the whole point. You should be able to stage up a massively multiplayer world with basic chat and a map you can build on in less than five minutes. It's that easy. Inherit a stylesheet -- puzzle game, or shooter, or chat world -- and off you go! Building maps and places is as easy as pasting in links from the Web, and dragging and dropping the pictures into your world.

What's more, you can link your world to someone else's world. Put a doorway in your virtual apartment that leads to Pirate Vs Ninja-land! Stick your world in a widget on your Facebook or MySpace profile. Mail it to a friend and they can log in with one click.

What sorts of worlds can I make?
You can make pretty much any sort of game or world you want. You can decide whether it's massively multiplayer or not (it's MMO out of the box, but you can set it to a lower size if you want). You can decide whether to have physics or not, you can change the keymappings and the interface, the sort of stuff there is in the world, the maps... basically, it's all up to you. Game logic is written in MetaScript, which is based on Lua. So it's easy to make whatever kind of game or world that you want.

Metaplace will support everything from 2d overhead grids through first-person 3d. However, right now we only have clients that do 2d of various sorts, including grid view, 2d isometric, 2.5d heightfields, and so on. We expect to keep working on the 3d client support.

user created content is king

2007-09-17T17:12:00.001-03:00

... in Drawn to Life, a game for Nintendo DS that looks interesting to me (in fact, it reminds of me of a more goal-oriented Insular). Here´s a gameplay video:

The Ultimate Gaming Survey

2007-09-13T09:57:00.000-03:00

I just took it. Here´s my game profile (can I spread that? if not, just let me know)

The Way You Play:
Your preferred pattern of play is Playful Vertigo (Paidic Ilinx).
Some of the ways you enjoy games include:

Hard Fun: 50%
Easy Fun: 50%
Serious Fun: 87.5%
People Fun: 50%
Happy Fun: 50 %
Achievement Fun: 37.5%
Scary Fun: 50%
Mischievous Fun: 50%

Gaming Skills:
You are an Expert Player

Your strongest Skill Set is Diplomatic

I was too undecided about my Myers-Briggs Typem, so I left that out.

You can take the survey here.

Play The Restaurant Game

2007-09-11T23:55:00.000-03:00

It will take you an hour or so, from download to finish a session (which is not much time, anyway), and it will be time well spent.

From their website:

The Restaurant Game is a research project at the MIT Media Lab that will algorithmically combine the gameplay experiences of thousands of players to create a new game. In a few months, we will apply machine learning algorithms to data collected through the multiplayer Restaurant Game, and produce a new single-player game that we will enter into the 2008 Independent Games Festival. Everyone who plays The Restaurant Game will be credited as a Game Designer. It's never been easier to earn Game Designer credentials!

(...)

The Restaurant Game takes about 10 minutes to play. It is a two-player game that will automatically find partners for players once you join a server. You are welcome encouraged to play multiple times. In order for this project to be at all successful, we will need to collect a lot of data -- data from over 1,000 10,000 gameplay sessions. Play early, play often, and please spread the word!

This project attempts to address two frustrations I experienced as a professional game developer. 1) Convincing human social behavior is difficult to model with existing hand crafted AI systems. 2) Play testing by people outside of the development team typically comes too late to have a major impact on the final product. This experiment aims to generate AI behaviors that conform to the way players actually choose to interact with other characters and the environment; behaviors that are convincingly human because they capture the nuances of real human behavior and language.

Gameplay video from youtube:

I am too tired to post right now, in detail, how the game goes and what I thought of it. I'll try to do that later. I'll just say that I can assure you it is quite an interesting experience.

(via Play This Thing)

Reading List

2007-09-06T09:29:00.001-03:00

While I´m still waiting for my copy of Persuasive Games (Amazon is taking quite a long time to send it), I plan to get into:

- A new online publication entitled Eludamos Journal for Computer Game Culture. (Via Ludogist)

- Raph Koster´s Designing for Everywhere and Nine Mass Market Tips. (Via himself)

- George Backer´s Designing Drama, on Gamasutra.

And also

- Greg Costikyan´s new website, Play this Thing, for daily gaming doses.

Infamous warning haiku for game designers

2007-08-31T09:57:00.000-03:00

Stil on that casual x hardcore debate:

Forcing a blend between
mass market and niche
makes "medio-core" games?

Lessons from other media: addressing different levels of literacy

2007-08-30T11:57:00.000-03:00

For this round table, I´ll adopt Bateman´s suggested terminology and discuss casual and hardcore in terms of levels of literacy. This terminology, I believe, makes easier to approach videogames as part of a large group of different media - and that´s is pretty much what I´ll try to do here. I´ll not, however, directly compare films to games, music to games, etc. The intention is to discuss how other media manage to please and attract heterogen audiences comprising varied levels of literacy.

I am not suggesting that a designer should necessarily aim at a varied public - there are niche products and genres, and that´s fine. But you will notice that most examples have been quite successfull in both short and long terms. Here they are:

TV: The Simpsons

The longest running animation in history is capable to please children and adults of all age. It is no secret that part of its success is due to its allusions and references to works and characters that should be familiar only to a parcel of the audience. Still, it also has a very strong, straightforward, comic verve, that does not depends on sophisticated levels of literacy and can please anybody.

Literature: George Orwell´s Animal Farm

Again, a very clear piece of work that can be read and enjoyed by children, but that also is very interesting to adults for its political message, which is about Orwell´s strong critical view on the communist regime.
(It seems there´s a film adaptation)

Music: The Beatles

Or even just Sargeant Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band, for that matter. The Beatles successfull fusion between catchy pop tunes, avant-gard art and classical music (this one, thanks a lot in part to producer George Martin) took rock music to a new degree, earning even more respect and credibility for their work. In a single album, sometimes in a single song, they could add elements that would please the ears of people with different musical background and taste.

Web: Google
Its front page is still a single form line with two buttons. However, in the hands of experienced users it can trasform into a all-in-one online center.

In the end, it seems that it all comes to what the reader/player/listener chooses to pay attention to. It´s about giving not only variety, but depth. Taking care of 'casual' and 'core', to bring back these terms.

Ok, so what games would you say that have this kind of quality? Well, I would start a list with Sensible World of Soccer. Very simple to play (one button!), and several levels of micro-management that could be safely ignored, if so the player wished to. What games would you add to the list?

Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries.

Flora on FILE 2007

2007-08-13T09:23:00.000-03:00

FILE SÃO PAULO 2007

Net-Art, Video-Installations, Interactive Works, Games, Robotic Performances and Beyond. Hypermedia Works, Telematic Actions, Artificial Intelligences, Interactive Cinematics, Expanded Realities, The New Culture Of Interfaces, Tangible Immaterialities.

FILE - Electronic Language International Festival was held at Sesi 10-Paulista's Cultural Space, in São Paulo, Brazil, from August 13th to September 09rd,

For the second consecutive year I´ve got something to show at FILE (Electronic Language International Festival), which is a great pleasure and honor. This year, Flora is being exhibited along with other experimental games. Here´s the list.

Check their website for more details.

Musical / Visualization game for iPod

2007-08-09T17:12:00.001-03:00

This is Musika, developed by NanaOn-Sha and created by Masaya Matsuura, the designer who gave us PaRappa the Rapper:

Musika can be either be played or simply watched, so it´s pretty much a non-game too. Its spirit feels a little bit like those Llamasoft synths, although I think this one has more rigid rules and goals. Here they are (EDIT 24/11/2008: from apple's website):

"Your music is your game! 'musika' is a ground-breaking music visualizer game for your iPod that uses the songs on your iPod to create original game play.If you see a character that is in the song title, just hit the Center button!Faster reactions will earn you more points!"

It´s good to see interesting alternative games on the iPod. This could be a very interesting platform for, well, any kind of game really. As long as you can play with one button and a wheel (hey, have they ported Rally X already?).

(via Gamasutra)

The DS has been drinking (not me)

2007-08-06T12:51:00.000-03:00

The WiiWii website has a post on alcohol-related non-games being released for Nintendo´s portable console. Apparently, there are at least 3 titles in development:

- Sakeshou DS, which seems to be an encyclopedia on Sake (Japanese spirit made of rice).

- Bartender DS, edutainment about drinks tp be published by EA.

and

- Sommelier DS, its counterpart for wine lovers.

There has been a number of cooking titles released for DS, so this is a logical step. Any guesses on how much it could sell and how it could be received by the press/public opinion?

ps: it´s good to post something after such a long break from here. Due to some news I might slightly change the focus of this website in the near future. stay tuned.

Molyneux on Emotions in games

2007-06-30T09:14:00.000-03:00

Watch the video below to hear Molyneux talking about emotions in games:

Maybe I'm being too critical, and that's the sort of feature you can only evaluate by playing the game, but isn't the dog thing less impressive than what you expect from an interview like that? What do you think?

(via New Scientist Tech Blog, thanks to Hugh)

Apply Serious Games conference 2007

2007-06-22T10:02:00.000-03:00

Got this by mail:

"Do attend the UK’s leading serious games conference Apply Serious Games and dedicated AI Innovations conference, all running 28th June in London. Focus is on virtual worlds, web 2.0 and brands.

Attendance at any of the conferences allows free access to the very first open consultation of ‘Games for the London Olympic Games’ - a lunch-time session as part of the conference where you can express your views on how serious games and games should be used to support the London Olympics, hosted by South East Media Network (SEMN). Whilst the first academic serious games network is also launched at this event."

If I were there, I would like to attend to:

"Peter Molyneux of Lionhead (Fable, Black & White) show-casing emotion and realism in games"

I wonder what is meant by "realism" here. Believable NPCs, maybe? Could he be talking about his project nicknamed Dimitri?

The website for the conference is:
http://www.applyseriousgames.com/

Flora reviewed on Gameology.org

2007-06-11T22:56:00.000-03:00

Zach Whalen was very kind to write a short review on Flora. Here is a passage I really like:

"Similarly, I've found that playing Flora affords the most pleasure by striking a balance between the generative chaos of frenetic play and the order of strategic play. Maybe we could call that a balance between ludus and paidea, but I like the gardening metaphor because of its spatial connotation. From a design point of view, Chico has done a nice job of making that balance available by creating tools and actionability in ways that encourage balance, but because this is a nongame, the player is the one who ultimately gives structure to her play."

Read the whole article.

The Marriage - A Review

2007-05-29T00:09:00.000-03:00

(cross-posted at Gameology.org)

The Marriage, a game developed by Rod Humble, has ignited a very welcome discussion on games as art, and their capabilities to convey more complex and delicate matters. In case you are not familiar with the game, you can download it and read about its background, rules and interpretations on Rod's website. Here are some passages explaining the game experience:

Background:
"The Marriage is intended to be art. No excuses or ducking. As such its certainly meant to be enjoyable but not entertaining in the traditional sense most games are. This means I am certain to be perceived as being pretentious by some who read this, my apologies. This is also a very difficult game to understand, again my apologies, I have tried to assist those who are interested but frustrated with the rules summary below."

Rules:
"Initially you have two squares a blue and a pink, on screen.
Soon different coloured circles will enter and leave the play space.

You have two controls.

1.) When you mouse over the blue or pink square the blue square reduces in size and both squares move towards each other.

2.) When you mouse over a circle it disappears and the pink square gets smaller."
(...)
The general game flow will be balancing the need to have the pink & blue squares “kiss” to insure the pink square does not fade from the marriage versus the blue square needing to touch the circles to insure it does not fade."

Meaning:
"The game is my expression of how a marriage feels. The blue and pink squares represent the masculine and feminine of a marriage. They have differing rules which must be balanced to keep the marriage going.

The circles represent outside elements entering the marriage. This can be anything. Work, family, ideas, each marriage is unique and the players response should be individual.."

Having played the thing myself, and having read some comments on several websites, here is some of what I think of the game:

The Marriage is art. Although I spoiled my experience by reading the game meaning before actually playing it, I was delighted to see how Humble managed to express his views, in a elegant way, on such an intricate subject as marriage.

Apparently, the economy of possible actions within the game has upset some players, who argue that a handful of variables cannot handle the complexity of the relationship it tries to simulate. I can understand it does not illustrate the total experience of being married. But at the same time, it is enough to express the author's view, if not in its totality, at least regarding a specific feeling he must have had at some point about a personal issue.

The Marriage feels, to me, like poetry. On a personal note, it fits within my interest in unorthodox game modes and non-games. The Marriage is an auteur game, for I've seen, through playing, how Humble perceives marriage and - maybe that's the point - how Humble perceives his personal experience of being married. This is not something we see everyday in games.

New blog on games - Ludonauta

2007-05-28T20:12:00.000-03:00

Ludonauta, by Diogo Ribeiro, is a new blog on game critique and analysis. From Portugal, the website is written in Portuguese, although Diego has made an exception for his current entry for the Round Table.

Check it out.

Two more Wii flash games website

2007-05-28T19:43:00.000-03:00

An anonymous comment tells me that there´s a new Wii flash games website around: Wiiscape (http://www.eiksoft.com/wii/index.htm)

Plus, here´s the link to a Brazilian Wii flash games website: WiiClube

Goals (and yes, I like them)

2007-05-26T10:40:00.000-03:00

Judging by the name of this very blog, you could imagine I would open this post stating that goals are an overrated, unnecessary, passé elements of game design. Truth is, I've held this vision for quite some time, but I must admit I am re-working that.

There are (roughly speaking) two different ways to describe a goal: (a) an in-game state desired by the player, made possible by his/hers actions; or (b) an in-game state desired by the designer, made possible by the player's actions.

Now, it could be hard for a game designer to avoid (a) doing the player's job (by not giving him time to breath or make his own path, regardless of the game's main flow), or, on the other side of the spectrum, assigning his own job to the player (by not giving enough guidance and/or stimulus). The second set of sins are not, as I could have thought before, qualities.

There could be interesting games (can they be called games?) without goals (some are listed around nongames.com, here), but this is not a reason to say goals are not important. They certainly are central to games, electronic or not. Take a look at Bateman's entry to understand better why. That other forms of digital entertainment, in spite of video-gamic influences, move away from explicit goal-oriented action, that's a related story. In some cases, I would say goals are still there, only less celebrated as the epicentre of the experience. In fact, I guess that, lately, more and more games follow this approach. Non-games does not equal non-goals.

"Buddhist" approaches to game design seem to look out for a balance between old-school goal-orientation and fashionable sandbox style. Two other Round Table posts develop this subject:

"You can starve yourself without goals, or you can bloat up and choke on goals. Siddhartha Gautama to the rescue in the form of the middle path. The good news is you can find a hybrid between a total lack of goals and a ridged structure that never changes." (from Inverse)

"Goal-orientation plays on sequential logic, I must do A to get to B to find C to get to D - all the way down the art asset laden alphabet. Freestyling relies on pattern recognition, messing around and finding the form(s) you like. The closer you get to the perfect union of the two, the more these fundamentally different orderings of nuerons (sequential vs. parallel) interact. When that happens, you get subjunctive thought, which is the "what-if" cognition that dreams are made of. Thats where the money is. Thats where the art is. Get deep in the middle." (from King Lud IC)

This balance, I would say, is a safe bet on how large, successful games could (should? would?) be designed from now on. Although I have a feeling that money and art could on the extremes as well.

By the way, there is an extensive list on the right column of this blog, entitled "TO READ ABOUT PLAY/NONGAMES". If you really are into the subject, you should check some of the links out (not to mention, of course, the other articles of this Round Table session, listed on a drop-down menu by the end of this post).

I could not finish this post without promoting flora, could I? It's a free-form, creative play style game, after all. You can play the online demo here. And if you are into the GreatGamesExperiment, why not check its page over there?

Check out other Round Table posts on the same subject:

Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries.

The Importance of Being Boring

2007-05-23T11:35:00.000-03:00

Gamasutra has an excellent article by Ian Bogost about the need of more boring games. From the title only, my cynical self tells me I´m already giving a fair contribution to this field.

A quote:

"As a medium becomes more familiar, it also becomes less edgy and exciting. This is what Marc Ecko means when he refers to movies as demystified. Over time, media becomes domesticated, and domestication is a mixed blessing.

On the one hand, it allows broader reach and scale. It means that more people can understand and manipulate the medium."

The article is very good and makes a point I could really stand for. Check it.

Flora: play it NOW on this very post!

2007-05-19T12:17:00.000-03:00

Here is the online demo:

The "Can You" feature may be unavailable. Other than that, that's the full demo. Enjoy!

If the window is too small for you, try it on its proper website.

(also available at the Great Games Experiment. If you enjoy it, don't forget to rate it.

Flora Online Demo - direct link

2007-05-17T10:01:00.000-03:00

For you haing trouble with flora´s website (I hae no clue on what´s going on), here the direct link to the online demo:

English version
Portuguese Version

flora - Atitude.com

2007-05-16T20:29:00.000-03:00

Se você chegou aqui por causa do programa Atitude.com, aqui está o link para flora.

Obrigado.

flora - play online demo version now!

2007-05-15T16:47:00.000-03:00

Here´s the link to the website:

http://www.flora-game.com

No downloadable install program available. Instead, a playable flash demo.

Thanks a lot to everyone of you who helped me making this demo.

48 hour research - game addiction

2007-05-14T16:48:00.000-03:00

Ok, here´s my problem: I have (less than) 48 hours to learn more about game addiction. Apparently, I will be taking part in a debate about it. Not sure if that´s about online-gaming only. I have found:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_addiction
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070105/clark_01.shtml
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060228/clark_01.shtml

Edit:
http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/#1105
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/27

Overall, my current position is that game addiction is a reality and, although overinflated, exageratted by sensationalist media, is not taken seriously by part of the industry and researchers - something that actually harms the reputation of this field.

I know about the de-tox clinics, death cases (mostly in Asia for some reason). I also know about the positive effects of online gaming - or most gaming for that matter - socialization, participation, development of cognitive skills, etc.

What else can be said? What kind of clarification can anyone give me?

Thanks a lot!

Slowly coming back...

2007-05-14T13:40:00.000-03:00

After (close to) a month without posting, I´m trying to get back to nongames.com. I´ve got a thinking blogger award (a courtesy from Pensar Videojogos´ André Carita), but that will have to wait for a future post.

I could have news on Flora this week. Fingers crossed.

And since I haven´t got much time to develop any interesting idea, I´ll just comment some interesting things I´ve seen in blogs I follow.

a) A discussion that seems perfect for nongames.com is going on at the round table this month: "How crucial to game play are goals?". A first submission is already online - Marcus Riedner, from Inverse, has a nice, critical post on the dark side of the lack of goals, and the importance of achieving balance.

b) I would love to see Bateman´s Nine Basic Players applied to that discussion, by the way.

c) King Lud IC´s Dugan has created a MySpace account for his creation CuttleCandy (check it), featuring a playable flash demo. So far, its gameplay feels to me like a mix of fl0w and Zuma. I´m curious to see how it develops.

More DS non-games, new blog around

2007-04-17T11:00:00.000-03:00

As reported by ComputerAndVideogames.com, there is a new batch of DS nongame software approaching. The list includes (not sure about the titles) DS Yoga Lessons You Can Start Today, Why Not Listen To Classical Music On DS and (ouch!) Flower-Blooming DS Gardening Lite. A series of travel guides for the handheld is also planned.

Personally, I think this kind of software explains why the DS user base is so broad - and why it could een expand a little bit more.

Although I can see how they could fit some game-ish look and feel to Yoga and Gardening, I´m curious about the music listening one. Some kind of "Wii Maestro" mode?

(via comment by Kevin (also check out his new blog))

"Bang goes another year...

2007-04-09T09:32:00.000-03:00

...In and out of one ear."

Two days ago nongames.com turned into a two year-old blog. Instead of a retrospective, let me just punctuate this moment with some random comments:

a) My new day job is, so far, unrelated to games or interactivity. Is this affecting my posts in quantity and quality? Possibly. This same job could deal with simulation and serious/persuasive games in the future. My fingers are crossed.

b) On the other hand, I keep freelancing, making quick, simple webgames. I guess I need, apart from financial compensation, some contact with games and game design.

c) I feel I cannot even make my latest game project (flora), available, as I still wait for comments from the ones financing it.

d) My last article on game design/theory was written more than a year ago. This is something I would like to change at some point in the near future. Even medium-size observations are disappearing from this blog.

e) I haven´t played games, even some I really wanto to, in a while - who has the time?

f) Still, I must be doing something right, as I´ve noticed a link to us from Jeff Tunnel´s blog, Make It Big In Games - I must say I feel honored about it.

g) Although I haven´t noticed a significant increase in numbers of readers, this weblog still serves it´s function of helping me reflect on games (and, of course, make my ideas on the subject available to those who are interested in the subject), in great part thanks to the help of those who still make comments on that - specially Chris, Patrick, Corvus and Kevin.

i) Finally, for the third consecutive year, let me finish this post saying that "I am stil not sure how the website will evolve and how often it will be updated, but everyone is certainly welcome to keep coming back."

You certainly are.

Networking for Game Developers and Players

2007-03-31T12:25:00.000-03:00

the Great Games Experiment is the name of the social networking community website made by people at GarageGames for game players, developers and publishers. Looks like a good place to promote indie content, discussions and team building. Check it out.

Another interesting virtual garden application

2007-03-27T11:20:00.000-03:00

It´s Packet Garden!

"Packet Garden captures information about how you use the internet and uses this stored information to grow a private world you can later explore.

To do this, Packet Garden takes note of all the servers you visit, their geographical location and the kinds of data you access. Uploads make hills and downloads valleys, their location determined by numbers taken from internet address itself. The size of each hill or valley is based on how much data is sent or received. Plants are also grown for each protocol detected by the software; if you visit a website, an 'HTTP plant' is grown. If you share some files via eMule, a 'Peer to Peer plant' is grown, and so on."

(from their website)

Looks like Flora meets Darwinia :), and it´s available for Mac, PC and Linux.
(via Ludologia)

flora website preview

2007-03-19T13:10:00.000-03:00

Still apprehensive from the lack of communication from sponsors, I´ve uploaded a website preview for the demo. No install downloads or press release material are available, but you can check promotional videos, screenshots and some info on the project. Here is the link. Comments are welcome.

Experimental / Free gameplay stories: LEGO and Jeff Minter

2007-03-06T08:53:00.000-03:00

The World of Lego? Independent studio NetDevil has confirmed the development of a MMO based in the LEGO franchise. I must say I´m curious to see how it will turn out, and if they will privilege the freeform creatiity over the puzzle-solving. If they get the balance right, this could be a very interesting game. I also wonder, given traditional LEGO demographics, what kind of business model will they adopt. Can you imagine a 10 year-old paying monthly fees?
(Gamasutra original story here)

Jeff Minter keynoted GDC(!) I think this illustrates how independent, alternative gaming is trendy right now. A favourite quote:

“I can’t do this stuff where you write your design spec first,” (...) “It’s the feeling I’m going for when I’m making a game these days... there don’t even have to be any animals in it anymore!”

That´s the organic approach to game design I would love to adopt myself - only if I had Minter´s skills. Another interesting quote:

“[American publishers´] were going to follow the herd, and the herd didn’t include any of my beasties.”

I´m not sure about that. I think Minter´s creations could be hitting mainstream very, very soon. Just for the record (and personal sense of pride), I would like to point out that I was already celebrating his creations in this blog two years ago.
(Gamasutra original story here)

Flash API for Wiimote

2007-03-03T08:19:00.000-03:00

Wiicade, a Flash/Wii games portal, has announced the Wiicade API, which allows flash game developers to access Wiimote functionalities.

For flash designers/developers, this could be huge. I still haven´t tried it, though (all I get are broken links).

Does anyone know if the DS browser also has Flash capabilities?

(via Man Bytes Blog)

Still waiting... (screenshots included)

2007-02-22T21:58:00.000-02:00

Still waiting for responses on Flora demo. Until that happens, I won't even dare to setup a hot site for the game.

But I guess it's ok to show some screenshots (in English, this time):

Self-help game - play it now.

2007-02-08T13:41:00.000-02:00

Mindhabits.com is a company that promises to deliver "Stress Relief through Simple, Daily Games". At first I thought this discourse could resemble my own intentions with non-games experimentation, but their purposes and methods are, in fact, quite different. From their website:

"MindHabits produces computer software designed to help people reduce their stress levels and boost their self-confidence, using games that automatically retrain the way the mind responds to social stress. This patent pending technology is the result of a decade of research by scientists at McGill University, one of the world’s top medical research centers. The software – based on the emerging science of social intelligence – helps you practice the mind habit of focusing on positive social feedback, which in turn reduces stress levels and improves self-confidence."

The best thing is: you can try the game for yourself right now. (I´m not sure the flash will be displayed on feeds readers):
Host this game on your own blog: Visit http://www.mindhabits.com

Any comments?

'backup' FILE

2007-02-06T20:25:00.000-02:00

I've just been informed that Insular, my MA non-game project, will be present at the Rio de Janeiro edition of FILE (Electronic Language International Festival). So, if you couldn't figure out how to play it back in São Paulo, here's another chance for you :).

Some info on the event:

"The FILE electronic language international festival has the pleasure to inform that the second edition of FILE RIO will occur on March 2007. The content of the event will be a slice of the FILE 2006 realized in Sao Paulo, in August of 2006. (...) The opening of the event is going to happen in March 19th, 2007 and it will be on
screen until April 22nd-, at the Oi Futuro Cultural Center, at Dois de Dezembro Street, 63, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

Games on gardening and flowers

2007-02-05T10:06:00.000-02:00

Since I´ve previously posted some comments on Plantasia and Cultivation, here´s a list of gardening/flower-themed games I´ve found (most of them, today - which shows I might not researched competitors properly :)). Plus, some comments on how they relate or not to my own project.

Cultivation (experimental game)
What I like the most about Cultivation is how it uses procedurality (is that a word?) to create new plants. The social aspects are great too - but that's something I haven't planned at all for my game. They share the 'genetic thematic', though.

Plantasia (web / casual game)
Plantasia is more like a management game. Fun to play, good use of flower theme, but much more managerial than Flora. It made me think of including pests and bugs - which I didn't do. The game point of view is somewhat similar to Flora.

Enchanted Gardens (casual game).
Haven't played this one. Judging from the screenshots, seems to be a matching tile game.

Plant Tycoon (Pocket PC).
Also haven't played this one, but it sure looks interesting: It´s a gardening sim (tycoon-esque, as far as I could tell), but also invests in genetic manipulation, as flowers can be cross-pollinated.

Blooming Garden (webgame).
"Align rows of five" kind of game.

BBC Virtual Garden (not a game)
Non-game(?) for players to exercise their paisagistic abilities. Interesting. As in Flora, it tries to be a relaxing experience.

3D Garden Composer(gardening sim/encyclopedia - includes a game).
Much more of a learning tool (making use of games to do so) than the other titles on the list.

Flower Shop (casual game)
A sim/management, "keep customers happy" type of game, as far as I could tell. Looks very well done - great production value.

Cbeebies Gardening Webgame.
Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

US governamental/educational gardening webgame.
Very similar to Cbeebies. Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

Zen Puzzle Garden (casual game)
Not really on gardening, but I really liked this puzzle game. Zen gardens reminds me of my previous project, Insular.

Plant Maker (web activity).
Like in Flora, you can make your own flowers in this web activity. There are not too many possible combinations, though - just 4 options for each category (below ground, stem, leaves and flower).

Maggie the Gardener 2 (casual game).
Focused on garden decoration, another very well polished gardening game.

The Flower Garden Game (webgame).
Puzzle webgame.

Geffrye Museum Design a Garden (web activity).
Simplified garden design.

Garden with Insight (garden simulation).
Free garden simulator. This one is probably the more complex of them all - it looks very accurate. It can be used as a educational tool.

PlantStudio (2D/3D plant illustration tool)
From the same company that makes Garden with Insight, this is an illustrations tool where you can design your own flowers. Looks very interesting too.

Well, that´s it for now. You can expect more news on Flora any day!

Wii programing tools for indies / Are Goals and Art incompatibles?

2007-01-29T09:20:00.000-02:00

Two interesting links to start the week with:

- Winning as a Goal is Incompatible with Art, (via Raph Koster)

- Nintendo to offer original game downloads for Wii - great news for indies! (via Man Bytes Blog)

Spammers keep using my domain, although i´m pretty sure they´re not using my mail server (different IP). Let´s hope it ends soon.

Still hijacked by spammers

2007-01-26T08:39:00.000-02:00

Spammers are still using my domain [at} nongames [dot} com to send spam, generating huge amounts of returned email (and even some complaints) sent to my mailbox.

If anyone has any idea of what to do, please help.

What do you do when spammers use your domain?

2007-01-24T14:03:00.000-02:00

Opening my nongames(dot)com mailbox (which I never use), I noticed a large amount of returned email messages - which is odd, since I don´t use those mail accounts. It happens that someone (or a large group of spammers) is sending spam using my domain.

I´ve already contacted my host, and they should reply soon, but does anyone know what can be done in cases like this?

Thanks in advance.

Low-risk, fast-paced, instant gratifications

2007-01-23T11:57:00.000-02:00

It´s weird how the finished demo has become different from the original idea. The greatest contrast is in the intended rhythm of the game: I had in mind a very slow-paced, zen game. Instead, it is now close to an "instant gratification" game. Not so much of a challenge - it´s very difficult to get a game over screen - but still fast paced.

I´m not sure that´s better or worse than the initial intention, but maybe that´s what a "casual non-game" is supposed to feel like. Almost like gardening for the Popcap generations.

flora gameplay video

2007-01-18T01:48:00.000-02:00

You might need to access the page (and not the feeds reader) to watch the video:

2 minutes - more than enough to learn how to play and start creating.