Sandboxes and Skilltesting

Magic: the Gathering is an omnipresent game in the nerdy gaming space. It's been around for decades and shaped multiple other major games in the field, defining what customizable card games (CCGs) look like to multiple generations of players. Many of Magic's fans think of it as the best thing since sliced food tokens. My own relationship with the game is more complicated. There's plenty I appreciate about it, but I've also come to feel that it's more of a sandbox for doing things than it is an interesting game.

Games That Clicked: History, Harkonnens, Heartbreak

I've been shaped by so many games. I wanted to make something like a "Top 5 Games that meant something to me" post, but I quickly realized that it was hard to boil things down that much. Instead, I wanted to do something more casual, something brisker, and just chat about some of the games that stuck with me over the years. Every game I've played has left me with something, no matter how small, but these are the games that captured me, games that connected with me, even for just a fleeting moment.

Playing With Pinball

Good ol' Space Cadet Pinball. How's that for a throwback?

Once upon a time, I learned the joys of a wonderful little game called "Space Cadet Pinball". I bashed the flippers, I sent the ball rocketing, I even learned how to shoot the ball up that left ramp over and over again. Then times changed, that little pinball game on my computer was no longer compatible with my version of Microsoft Windows. I had to tuck it away in the corners of my memory, but I always thought about it now and again. Then last year, I picked up a free pinball game. I quickly got enough enjoyment out of it to buy a selection of tables, and I've been playing them a lot. And I've had some interesting thoughts about how, exactly, these games build the experiences they do--including, surprisingly, storytelling.

Creating Emotion in Games: Wrapping It Up

I didn't really expect my retrospective of Creating Emotion in Games to wind up like this. It's been a while since I've been motivated to recap the next part, and there's a few reasons for that. With at least five, six more blog posts that need to be surmounted in order to finish the project, it was beginning to look intimidating, especially because they just weren't getting creatively fulfilling to me. I'm going to unpack some of that here, along with some of the other things that were beginning to make this a frustrating project.

So I think it's time to call it. Officially, this is going to be the last post in the retrospective, but I'll be talking about the things I want to write about going forward, because I have plenty of ideas ready to go!

Game Moments: an Outburst in Girl by Moonlight

There's a moment in an RPG session that's going to stick with me for some time, I think. Not necessarily for how dramatic or important it was, but for how miraculously effortless it was. I was playing a session of Girl by Moonlight, a game about magical girls in the midst of turmoil. My character, Aster, was doing physical training at the gym with her teammate Solania-Vetis when she pushed too far and collapsed. When she was advised to be mindful of her limits, Aster lashed out and said "I don't want to have limits!"

It surprised me, because it just popped out, and yet it also perfectly fit the situation, because of the way that the game set things up--it was the sort of spontaneous outburst that I hadn't really experienced in games for some time. Let's have a look at what came together for that moment...

Creating Emotion in Games, Part 5: Digging into NPCs

 In Part 4 of the Creating Emotion in Games retrospective, we had a bit of a double feature, covering the core concepts of Groups and the fundamental ideas behind NPC dynamics. This time around, we're going full-on into the meat of NPC techniques, exploring plot arcs, chemistry with the player character, and more!

Creating Emotion in Games, Part 4 -- Groups and NPC Relationships

If you're new to my retrospective on Creating Emotion in Games, start at the first post and work your way forward; it'll make more sense! If you're just catching up--in part 3, we got introduced to the book's basic ideas--how to define non-player characters (NPCs), give them interesting traits, and then add deeper texture to them. This time around, it's a bit more of a mix of content--there's still more about NPCs, but we're also going to move into some more unique (and game-specific) territory: groups and factions.

Creating Emotion in Games, Part 3 -- NPCs and Dialogue

If you're new to this series, start on the first post and go from there!

We wrapped up our introduction to this book in the last post, looking at a few miscellaneous things that the author has to say about building narratives in games, and also exploring his idea of the "deep" and "interesting" axes. While these are largely focused around presentation within the game (not surprising, given the author's background in screenwriting), I do plan on drawing this back to actual mechanical design and game structure as much as possible, in a way that builds on the book. So with that said, let's dive into the first Emotioneering™ techniques! These ones focus on non-playable characters, "NPCs".

Creating Emotion in Games, Part 2 -- Finishing the Intro

Last time in Part 1, I covered the first part of the introduction to Creating Emotion in Games, which sets up a sales pitch for "why invest in games storytelling?", introduces the author's concept of Emotioneering™, and explains some of the difficulties that professional writers from other media have when transitioning to games writing. Today, we're going to wrap up that introduction with a few miscellaneous sections that make their way in, completing the pitch and setting the stage for the actual techniques to come.

Creating Emotion in Games, Part 1 -- The Intro

Let's turn the clock back about 15 years. I was in college, I was pursuing a Communication Arts -- Multimedia degree, and I was taking a course (in my woefully underprepped department) on writing for games. It was pretty barebones, and I don't even know where my class project wound up, but I did keep the textbook from that class, David Freeman's Creating Emotion in Games. I had some misgivings about it, I had some opinions about it, but I still kept it around. I just decided to crack it back open, and do a cover-to-cover reread. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to find, but let's have a look together.

Blood At the Witching Hour

The day was ticking onwards. I had been slowly working to earn the trust of the villagers, working to seem helpful while I divulged information that I had supposedly gleaned from my abilities. Of course, I was actually a Demon who had been slowly killing them off, one at a time, and in actuality I was scrambling to make sure my cover story was accurate. Unfortunately, my alleged ability only gave me information about people who were sitting next to me, and I had unluckily been seated near my devoted minion, who I was forced to implicate early in the game. Even worse, unbeknownst to me, a mastermind had been piecing together information to great effect...soon after, I was executed by the town, and they celebrated victory. While it wasn't a fully unfamiliar experience, my first game of Blood on the Clocktower contained some intriguing surprises.

Card Counterplay: Interacting With Your Opponent

I get post ideas from some interesting places. Case in point, I was watching a gameplay video from Hearthstone streamer Firebat, which opened with some spicy takes on card design. You don't have to watch the video before you read this post (although Firebat is always fun to watch); I'll lay it out for you here. In a nutshell, he talked about cards that didn't allow for interaction, and how they reduce the game to hoping that you draw into your powerhouse cards that can't be countered. It's tied to a larger idea about "interactive cards" in card games, and while I think he has a point, hearing that bit got me thinking about where, exactly, I disagreed with him, and what you can learn about card games from it.

Loops, Journeys, and Single-Player Gaming

So, I've been thinking lately about "loops" in gaming. Not in terms of the "core loop" of a game, but in another sense. I've been looking at my gameplay habits, thinking about what it means to "complete" a game, thinking about my large backlog of games that I own but haven't finished, and thinking about where the bulk of my playtime goes. I pour a lot of hours into multiplayer games. A lot of hours. Hundreds of hours. It's got me thinking about how I spend my time, and about what I get out of that time. So, I've been thinking lately about "loops" in gaming.

Origins 2019 Recap: Roleplaying Games Edition

Well, it's just about a full month later, but I'm finally getting the second half of my Origins 2019 recap online! While I got to demo a few boardgames, where the core of my time went was the Games on Demand room, where I played a potpourri of tabletop RPGs for hours. If you're unfamiliar with the event, it features a large number of GMs and facilitators who run various tabletop RPGs that they want to see played. Players sign up, show up for a slot, and pick a game off of a menu offered by the GMs. It's a great way to try out some games you've heard of, but never gotten to the table, and I took full advantage of that. From Inception-esque therapy to a zombie drama that felt straight out of The Walking Dead, here's the adventures I had at this Origins...

My Star-Crossed Moments at Origins 2019

The Sunday of Origins 2019 was winding to a close, and I was making my way through the dealers' hall, seeing what was on sale. There I was, catching up with friends at the Bully Pulpit booth, seeing what the company had on offer. And there it was, one last copy of Alex Roberts' Star-Crossed. The final copy, almost as if it were destined. I told myself that I wanted to make a sweep of the hall, that I wanted to be sure that there wasn't anything else I wanted to buy at Origins. I made my way through the rest of the hall, but it wasn't long before an unassailable feeling took root in me.

I knew. Not two minutes after walking away from the booth, I knew. There could be nothing else, there was nothing else. But to explain this, I'm going to have to back up a couple of days...

Origins 2019 Recap: Boardgames Edition

This past weekend, I attended the one and only Origins Game Fair and had an absolute blast. It was the first Origins where I well and truly attended a slew of events, as compared with the time I went in 2014, attended a single RPG session at Games on Demand, and sorta browsed around the dealer hall before playing Star Realms with a couple of friends. I was absolutely floored by everything I got to try out, and that's even considering that (judging by other folks I'm hearing from) my "demoing things" record was much lighter than some dedicated enthusiasts' trails! So, let's have a look at what I checked out, now that I've had some time to digest! This post will be about the boardgames I played, and I'll have one up next week about the roleplaying games I played at Games on Demand.

Do You Have the Skills?

"ALL SKILL" promises the tagline of a high-octane shooter, but what does that even mean? Gamers love to talk about "skill", and which games test it. Unfortunately, what exactly they define as "skill" is one of the murkiest aspects of game discussion, and miscommunications about these definitions sit at the root of heated debates about the evolution of games, particularly when it comes to difficulty and accessibility. What is skill, and how can you think more clearly about the role that skill plays in games?

Puzzled: the Design of Conundrums and Puzzles

I've been thinking about puzzles lately. It's partly because I recently finished participating in this year's MIT Mystery Hunt, partly because I'm working on puzzles for the Galactic Puzzle Hunt, and I've been pondering the unique experience that puzzles provide, compared to tabletop RPGs and boardgames. There's an interesting satisfaction that comes from puzzles, but it can also be at odds with some of the ways that we engage in other types of play.

The Puzzle Design of Life is Strange

It seems odd to talk about Life is Strange in light of its puzzles, since it's so heavily-focused on telling a powerful story, but the puzzles contained in this game were built as part of a cohesive whole. When looking at a game, it's good to remember that every part of that game was put there with some sort of intention--so what was the intention behind the various puzzle sequences in this game? I want to look at a few different types of puzzles found in Life is Strange and explore just how they connect to its story, and what they attempt to achieve.

NOTE: this post will use example scenes from multiple episodes of Life is Strange in order to provide clear and specific examples for its points. I highly recommend that you play the game before reading this, but have avoided plot spoilers.

Life is Strange: Butterflies in the Vortex

"Do your powers include mind reading? Or did you just rewind because I tried to steal the cozy chair?"

Some of you might remember my Walking Dead review, where I talked quite glowingly about Telltale Games' feels trip masquerading as interactive adventure with zombies. This time, I'm covering something that's basically the same, sans zombies and plus the Pacific Northwest. Also, sort-of time travel. Is it as good as The Walking Dead? Is it, dare I say, better? Find out what Life is Strange has in store for you...

This review will be spoiler-free, containing no plot details beyond the basic premise that I mentioned above.

Note: I originally posted this review on The Catholic Geeks, but intend to follow up on it more in-depth here.