Seth Gorden

Seth: “What if every bullet you fired hits the floor & spends 10 minutes evolving into a fast paced creature that will chase you down for revenge?”
Brandon: what?…..
Brandon: no…
Seth: it’s from petermolydeux… the twittering molyneux impersonator
Brandon: ahhhhhh
Seth: amusing, because they’re all like… “what? noo…”
Brandon: but instead of it chasing you it will hit your dog, because that will be more emotional and powerful
Seth: yeah
Brandon: but then later you can choose to save the world or your dog
Brandon: or get some cash
Seth: there’s one that says “Pong had a superior interface and clean controls… but did you have a dog in that game?”
Seth: something like that, I already closed the page
Brandon: isnt the ball a dog?
Seth: I always thought so. Game industry founded on animal abuse.
Seth: The paddles are of course, representative of harsh words, which hurt the dogs feelings, and she runs away.
Seth: Looking for a new master.
Brandon: I thought it was each paddle was calling the dog
Seth: To find only a world of harsh humans with no conscience and noregret
Brandon: and you had to be there to pat the dog or else he would run past you and run away
Seth: haha
Seth: that is a more cheerful
Brandon: indeed
Brandon: happy pong

It all goes back to Dungeons & Dragons. Never played? If you’re reading this article, odds are that you have. You may never have rolled dice and filled out a character sheet, but if you’ve ever played a video game RPG, you’ve played some variation that was once inspired by D&D. Everything from Ultima to Mass Effect bears with it an influence of dice-rolling, attack and defense stats, and special enumerated abilities. But I’m not writing to discuss numbers. This post is about role play. At the table, much of the experience and plot progression is shaped by improvisation of its players and group leader. Historically, this has not been a strong point of video games.

By necessity, video role playing is nearly always defined by a class or job. Class determines what actions are available to you, and very often it defines your avatar’s appearance. Dialog, where available, is prescribed by designers and writers who have already played and prepared this game for you. And this brings me to the heart of the matter. As a player of RPG video games, what do I get to create? There are a number of talented developers and studios working on this problem from a variety of angles. Herein, I will discuss the obstacles I see, and propose a few ideas on how to address them. I have no complaints today, but I am attempting to accurately identify constraints that can help us discover undeveloped terrain in our role-playing landscape. Let’s explore!

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As some of you may know, Octodad is a clever game where you are a secret octopus, living the life of a human. Not just any human, but a good human who loves his family. How many games are this humorous and kind-hearted in premise? Very few.

I am privileged to report that Octodad’s project director, Kevin Zuhn, also works with me every day as an environment artist on our super-top-secret arcade game. He’s a smart designer, casual comedian, and an all-around good fellow to work with. Also, he hooked me up with an Octodad t-shirt. It is rad.

If you haven’t done so already, go play Octodad here. It is rad.

Seth: Last week I had two lunches that were bread.
Seth: Didn’t feel like having more than that. And I stayed alert all day, got stuff done.
Rob: lunch - meat = saved $$
Seth: yup
Seth: that too
Rob: I just cannot break the desire to have something die for every meal I consume
Rob: I feel that I am not doing my part in the food chain if I allow an extra animal to live
Seth: Believe me, I take comfort in knowing that you are remaining vigilant on this point. It pains me, sometimes, knowing that I let one escape.
Rob: don’t worry, I am willing to consume two animals, one on your behalf
Seth: you are a true friend

On Gamesauce, I recently watched a video about motivating casual players in online games.

The  term ‘casual players’ has seemed a misnomer

to me for some time, and I’m starting to figure out why. At first, ‘casual’ described a kind of play, moreso than a person. But as we love our labels, soon we assigned it to people, deeming them casual whenever their play style did not reflect a thorough knowledge and comfort with the history and mechanics of video games and how to play them.

There is a particular passage in the video linked above that talks about player grouping in online multiplayer games. Apparently ‘casual’ players don’t do it. In the examples given, this refers to clicking a ‘Group’ button from a very accessible user interface. Most of their players never click this button, even when instructed to do so. It turns out that their casual players assume that when they sign on to a game with their friends, that believe they are already grouped. Some make their avatars stand close together in the game when clicking the ‘Group’ button, and timed their clicks so that they pressed the button simultaneously. This, of course, has nothing to do with how grouping works in the game. The presenter in the video spoke about this only long enough to describe their observations and how it affected development of their online game. But let’s dig a little deeper.

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