Introducing: Robin!

The Path will feature six playable characters. Each represents Little Red Ridinghood in some way. They are sisters. We call them the Red Girls. Over the course of the following months we will be revealing each of them, as we finalize their textures. The first in this fortnightly series is Robin.

Robin is about nine years old. A very lively child. She loves playing in the forest. Only on the path, of course. Mother tells her to never go into the woods. She never says why. Robin thinks there may by fun things to play with in the forest. She sometimes hears the creaking sounds of what seems to be a swing! Or the howl of a wolf in the distance! Robin likes wolves. They are her favourite kind of animal!

Of course it will all end in tears.

While we are continuing production, Robin will be sharing the remainder of her young life in her very own Livejournal.

In the meantime check out the pretty new pictures in the gallery and download the brand new Robin desktop wallpaper! And if you’re really curious, take a peak at the development blog.

Press button to proceed

Eskil Steenberg, currently hard at work on a very pretty new MMO called “Love“, made an insightful comment on the tendency in contemporary game design to replace gameplay with more or less elaborate PAUSE and PLAY buttons.

I’ve recently played some MGS4 and GTAIV, and it is clear they are filled with press button to proceed, use item to proceed, honk the horn to proceed, or simply just follow the line on your map. GTAIV feels at times like a pac-man, except you don’t have to make any choices where to go.

It is clear after playing these games that what the designers really wanted to do was not a game but a movie, the interactivity is just a annoyance on the way. As someone who is also into film making I can understand this, but the problem is that it is ruining the game. Even with film aspirations, they don’t have even the basic film 101 knowledge down like pacing, avoiding exposition, to show rather then tell, tension leading to resolution, building up an event or character before not after they appear, and giving the viewer a fair chance to figure out the resolution before hand.

Reminds me of our realisation some time ago that game design was still largely considered a problem that needs to be solved rather than an opportunity that can be exploited. Rather than looking at the medium with a clear head and then figuring out what to do with it, many game developers come to the medium with the preconceived ideas and then they force the design to cater to these ideas. Even if the medium doesn’t lend itself to them very well. Even if the medium may be capable of much more interesting and spectacular things that are completely unthinkable in any other medium.

The other kind of playing

There’s two kinds of playing. There’s the competitive kind and there’s the whimsical kind.

Competitive play sets up certain boundaries and a goal to achieve. It can be done against other people or against oneself. The point of competitive play is to attempt to win, i.e. to reach the predefined goal. Sports is an example of competitive play.

Whimsical play is free-form. It involves non-productive activities that we do merely to amuse ourselves. Sometimes whimsical play is done with other people, sometimes alone. But the form of playing can change at any moment. Any rules that might occur are temporary or optional. Sex is an example of whimsical play.

Competitive play in essence is also non-productive. But through rules and goals, it creates a sensation of purpose. Whimsical play is always pointless. It is purely recreational and makes no excuses for itself.

Why is it that we see so much competitive play in video games and so little whimsical play?

Is it because rulesets are so compatible with the way in which a computer works? Is it because we want the illusion of productivity since computers are supposed to be machines for work, not play? Or is it simply because we have lost the ability to enjoy the moment, to play for playing’s sake?

Competitive computer games are often used for whimsical play. When players start hacking or modifying the game, when they start testing the game’s limits, when they do things in the game that are irrelevant to achieving the pre-defined goal. While many contemporary games allow this kind of activity and some even encourage it, very few games are actually built around this form of play. And since they are not, whimsical play in competitive games is almost always disruptive. It destroys the intent of the designer, the narrative of the game and the overall atmosphere.

The only computer game designed for whimsical play that I can think of at the moment is The Endless Forest. Can anyone think of any others?

Flower is beautiful!

At the occasion of E3 lots of new video footage has been released for upcoming games. Most of it is just more of the same. But there’s at least one exception. From our “sister company” thatgamecompany. We had the pleasure of trying out an early build of their upcoming Playstation Network game Flower earlier this year. And while that was a very memorable experience, the new clips show that the team around Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago have not been sitting still.

It’s so nice to see some designers being really creative and inventive. And not just applying the standard cookie cutter approach to whatever content comes their way. Let’s contrast the glory above with the absolute “horror” below.

It’s common knowledge that the Silent Hill series has been in decline since version 3. So why continue down the same path of “improving the combat” and adding more “cool features” when you know that the fans don’t appreciate this much at all? Lack of inspiration? Lack of love? (not lack of budget, that’s for sure…)

Crosshairs in Silent Hill? What is this a first person shooter? And that stupid blinking-on-screen-quick-hit-that-button-VCR-controls-in-disguise-whoever-invented-that-and-thought-it-was-a-good-idea interaction that nobody likes? Chasing enemies?? (Whatever happened to “RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!”?) And no, I will not mention the character design. What character design?

Let’s just forget that ever happened.
Wash it all away with more Flower.

Really love those windmills. It grounds the game firmly in our contemporary world rather than offering a simple escape. More of that, please!

The Endless Forest player survey

Together with PhD student Eva Kekou, we’re taking a survey of players of The Endless Forest. If you have ever played the game please go and answer the questions on the Community site (log in with your deer name and password). Even if you’re not particularly fond of the game, or of surveys, or even if you’re male, we’d love to hear from you!

We will publish the results of this survey at a later date (without divulging the names of the participants, of course). I think it will be quite interesting…

Long interview on GameSetWatch

We’ve been interviewed by Alistair Wallis for GameSetWatch.

Possibly one of the more interesting things that came up during this interview with Belgium based indie development duo Tale of Tales was the idea that they are, effectively, experimental outsiders in the games industry simply because of their focus on story based, artistically motivated work.

Isn’t that weird? Can you imagine what the film industry would be like if narrative works were substantially less popular than action based films?

If you have half an hour to kill, have a read!