Saturday, 22 October 2011

Bibliography (BA4: Focus 1)

Books

Livingston, Ian. (1983) City of Thieves. Puffin books

Internet Sources

Meer, Alec (2009) Grue-some: Zork Remake Live, Horrible. Available from: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04/02/grue-some-zork-remake-live-horrible/
(Accessed 05/10/2011)

Zork gameplay timeline. Available from: http://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/00-timeline.html
 (Accessed 04/10/2011)

Zork Library resources. Available from: http://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/00-resources.html (Accessed 04/10/2011)

Zork: Grand Inquisitor gameplay image. Available from: http://www.cdaccess.com/gifs/screen/zorkinq4.jpg
(Accessed 04/10/2011)

Legends of Zork gameplay Image. Available from: http://images.macworld.com/images/news/graphics/139768-legendsofzork_original.jpg
 (Accessed 04/10/2011)
Zork Zero gameplay Image: Available from: http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/img/2009_08_26/zorkZero.jpg (Accessed 04/10/2011)

(Accessed 06/10/2011)

Various Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective gameplay images. Available from:
(Accessed 06/10/2011)

Hotel Dusk Gameplay image. Available from:
(Accessed 13/10/2011)


Games Referenced

Professor Layton (Level 5, 2007 - Present)
Ace Attorney Series (Capcom, 2001 - Present)
Hotel Dusk (Cing, 2005)
9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (Aksys Games, 2009)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Capcom, 2010)
Mass Effect (Bioware, Microsoft Studios/ Electronic Arts 2007)

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Sell Sheet updated


The sell sheet had to be a small attention grabbing document so I made it similar to a postcard (with the aim of making them into small postcards for the pitch). On the front there would be glossy concept work and a question posed from the perspective of the “Dungeon Master” to entice the viewer to turn over and read the details.
The details on the back are brief but cover age, platform, number of players and all of the core gameplay mechanics – which are the unique selling point of my concept. Hopefully with the details, imagery and different nature of my sell sheet, it will serve its purpose of being attention grabbing.
At the moment aside from the physical production of the postcards, I am hugely debating whether or not to purchase several small red envelopes to put them in due to the link with my narrative. I could also include the ransom like instructions from the Dungeon Master that the player would read in game. However I think while this would be a nice touch – from the perspective of pitching to the games industry I don’t think they would really accept having to open a envelop and reading two documents if they are having to quickly browse several Sell sheets at the end of a pitching period. Due to that reason I probably will not do this.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Gameplay Storyboard

- A simple storyboard depicting key actions which make up a small part of an Investigation segment of my game. In the storyboard, step by step the player searches for a light switch to the room, attempts to switch the light on via reaching before standing on the bucket and switching it on. This however causes the lockers to fall, pushing the cardboard box over, revealing a person (the warden for the area). This "puzzle could have been solved in several different ways and the person could have been discovered earlier - just showing how each investigation has different ways it can be approached (tailoring for the multiple playthroughs).

Monday, 17 October 2011

Examining the Narrative of my concept in relation to Propp’s “Spheres of Action”

The Villain – Dungeon Master/the Player
The Donor – Wardens/ Locations within “Underground Empire”
The Helper – Wardens/ June/ Syo/ Dwanholf
The Princess and her father –June/ Syo
The Dispatcher – Dungeon Master/ Detective Dwanholf
The Hero – The player
The False Hero – The player/ Detective Dwanholf/ June/ Syo
Due to the complex nature of my game there are many overlapping and multiple characters acting through each role because it is dependent on the choices the player makes so it is very difficult to apply roles to each character strictly. Still if I was to analyse my choices this is why:

The Villain
Dungeon Master: He/She placed everyone in the life and death situation they are in and because of it they would be seen as the antagonist even if they weren’t included in the situation. The stipulation that the player must discover who he is to save everyone who is innocent also makes them the villain and makes the role almost the same – the player must “defeat” the dungeon master by discovering his identity and leaving him in his own game when they win.
The Player: Two choices the player has (whether to pick up the gun in an area (not decided where yet) and whether to save the player they are paired with) can determine whether or not they themselves are the Dungeon Master and in turn the antagonist. If they let June fall, or push Syo into the falling debris, it will switch the game ending immediately to “Antagonist” whereby the player themselves was the dungeon master all along, which would then be tied together by a number of smaller cut scenes at the end of the game. This isn’t the true ending of course given the that Dungeon Master is in actuality the Warden in the theatre so an exchange between to two would hint at that but not explicitly show it.
The Donor
Wardens: If the trust is high enough on a Warden at the end of an investigation segment, they will give the player an additional clue or hint – acting as Donors of information.
Locations within “Underground Empire”: They are the places of which the Player will receive their clues from.
The Helper
Wardens/June/Syo: Whoever is present with the player in their chosen location can act as a helper to aid investigation segments should the player so wish
Detective Dwanholf: More of a plot related “helper”. He brings June, Syo and the Player together at the beginning of play and keeps everyone more or less together as the plot progresses via radio contact. Of course this isn’t necessarily helping because he has his own motives but for the sake of plot progression until the final stages of the game he plays the role of the “Helper”
The Princess and her father
June/Syo: Purely for the option to save them in the game. Technically this could be seen as the player because they would be progressing through the game to ultimately save their own life. The other innocent NPC’s could be included in this also.
The Dispatcher
Dungeon Master: The Dungeon Master sets the player on their initial “quest” via the rules of his game.
Detective Dwanholf: Acts as a plot pushing device in that he will urge everyone to keep going and where they could look.
The Hero
The Player: The player ultimately is the only possible catalyst for which an outcome where a hero could immerge (aka: Saving everyone and defeating the dungeon master) so he takes the role of hero in the “True Ending”. All other endings he would either be saved, killed or be an antagonistic character so he wouldn’t fit that role.
The False Hero
The Player: If you solve your mystery and become the dungeon master you are given a conundrum in that you cannot save everyone for one of them is the dungeon master and all of you will die but at the same time if you choose to save the only people your certain about (which would be yourself) you are essentially as bad as the original Dungeon Master. Both of those choices paint the player as a False Hero.
Detective Dwanholf: The Fourth Player who will stop at nothing to kill the dungeon master. His tactic for this is simple – by feigning his status as a warden and directing the players to collect all the clues, he can simply eliminate the one which has His Clues, solve his mystery and use his power as Dungeon Master to only allow his escape – which would kill the dungeon master and anyone else in the process. While he understands most of them are innocent, he cannot allow the Dungeon Master to escape. Depending on choices made, he will either Kill the Player, June or Syo, be killed by the player’s pistol or be restrained in the true ending by Syo and June.
His sense of Justice (admittedly twisted and cynical) makes him a false hero rather than an antagonist as he is only trying to do the best choice in the long term.
June: Again like Dwanholf, her sense of Justice is misplaced and leads to the death of everyone. If she solves her mystery then she will let everyone free, which includes the dungeon master – activating his stipulation that everyone is killed.
Syo: Will only save himself and maybe the Player if your trust with him is high enough – not because he wants everyone to die but rather to save himself. Picking people is too risky in his eyes, especially for a bunch of strangers.

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Presentation -first two slides

"Morphology of the folktale" lecture

The lecture today discussed the ideas and theories of Vladimir Propp (1895-1970), a theorist of the last century who decided to analysis the core narrative structure of Fairy-tales and Folk Lore. In his influential work ‘Morphology of the folktale’, he states that folk tales can be analysed; according to the functions of its dramatis personae’. He then gives a number of small examples, each sharing a basic structure where in a Hero is given an object by another narrative element (be it character or inanimate object), which then acts as a means of transport to another world.  In each example the characters change from princesses to eagles to rings, but never the less their function remains the same.
 This makes reference to his previous statement; analysing the folktale in regards not to the characters but rather the actions that are taken – stripping the narrative down to the pure components.  He continues in his book to explore this and lists several different “Spheres of action” for the “dramatis personae”:


The Villain – Main Antagonist
The donor – a giver of an integral item for the hero
The helper- helper of the protagonist
The princess, and her father – (only role that was difficult to explain)
The dispatcher – Sends the hero on a quest
The hero (seeker-hero, victim-hero) - Protagonist
The false hero – Beginning as a “hero”, is proven to be false by actions
These spheres of action can be applied to many modern narratives, be it film, novel or Video game and so I decided to break down a few contemporary games and their characters into these roles:
Fable
The Villain – Jack of Blades
The Donor – Maze
The Helper – The Guildmaster
The Princess and her father – Albion? (Not sure of meaning however if it is the idea of what needs to be saved then it would be between Albion and Theresa)
The Dispatcher – Guild Map
The Hero – The player
The False Hero – Maze / The player
Maze and the Player character - both examples of how more than one Sphere of Action can apply to the same character


Dragon Age

The Villain – Arch Dragon
The Donor - Duncan
The Helper – Party Members
The Princess and her father -
The Dispatcher – Flemeth
The Hero – The Player
The False Hero – Loghain

But for a more complex narrative such as Nine Doors Nine Hours Nine Persons for the Nintendo DS, this model falls away slightly and those spheres of action do not fit. However the role of the lecture, and the exposure to Propp’s work was not as to give a definitive structure for which all narratives should be based but rather show an example of the useful nature of the pure act of stripping a game or narrative down to its core. By identifying “spheres of action” in characters, objects and settings in a narrative, one can then identify it within their own worlds that they are aiming to create. In doing this the roles of a character can be defined and it can then be worked out what elements are working/ aren’t working, what needs to be changed and what keeps the narrative progressing. There is no use in having a set of characters or objects which look aesthetically pleasing but don’t have any role in the narrative – especially if they were to be the central figures of a plot.

http://images.wikia.com/fable/images/2/2b/Hero_And_Maze.jpg (accessed 20/10/2011)

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Protagonist Sprites/ Dwanholf poses

A concept for how the protagonist might look (neutral emotion) in the top screen plot/ trust dialogue segments of my game next to the bottom screen investigation sprite. The dialogue sprite would likely contain a similar level of detail on the Nintendo DS screen - as Sprites are often used in stylised DS games in place of low poly 3D models - one such notable example being Cing's Hotel Dusk:

In game DS footage - an example how sprites can look excellent on the DS screen
Additionally another concept I worked on earlier but hadn't had time to upload untill now:
These are just a few of the bottom screen Sprite poses for Detective Dwanholf. To demonstrate what the dialogue screen and choice system would play like I am aiming to do a few mock "dialogue" screens with the protagonists neutral face talking to either June, Dwanholf or Syo, when I begin to create concepts for his character.

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Contextual Studies: Fairy Tale Elements within video games


To be able to answer this question, understanding of what elements make up a fairy tale and what a fairy tale actually is must first be understood. These two quotes describe a fairy-tale quite succinctly – with the later by Fantasy writer J.R.R Tolkien perhaps digging into the Coherent world’s side of a fairy-tale:
 “A tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses." The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: princesses and goose-girls; youngest sons and gallant princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions” - The Folktale, 1977, Thompson
"It is at any rate essential to a genuine fairy-story, as distinct from the employment of this form for lesser or debased purposes, that it should be presented as 'true.' ...But since the fairy-story deals with 'marvels,' it cannot tolerate any frame or machinery suggesting that the whole framework in which they occur is a figment or illusion." – Tolkien (On Fairy-stories, 1947)

The Folktale’s list of individual elements is extensive and this additionally covers many archetypes of a video game plot – be it modern or old. The concept of having a princess in peril in a fantasy land was the core narrative of the video game Super Mario, where the plumber “Mario” would have to travel through various worlds, fighting various minor adversities/ creatures before having to fight the evil Koopa overlord “Bowser”. Despite the lack of more identifiable features like ogres or fairy god mothers, the game can still contains core elements of a Fairy Tale.

Similarly with the Nintendo classic Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, the player must overcome many obstacles in order to save the Princess Zelda from the evil clutches of Gannondorf. The game’s locations are much more archetypical of a fairy-tale, featuring Castles and enchanted forests in the world of Hyrule that the player must explore to complete their quest. Furthermore magic and magical beings are an important part of the Zelda universe, with a magical Fairy, Navi, acting as Link’s guide and magical aide, while at points the Princess Zelda will use magic in order to aid the player in overcoming obstacles that are beyond the realm of the player’s abilities. Additionally, should the idea of transformation be considered an element of a fairytale (Frogs turning into Princes, Cinderella’s Carriage) then Ocarina of Time also addresses this in that the character Link, is forced to undergo a transformation to become an adult from a child in order to truly be able to fight the evil that has swept across the land.

A much more modern example of Fairy-tale elements in a game is Fable. While the narrative of the Fable franchise always can be heavily linked with fairy-tales (becoming a “Hero”, fighting Trolls, Hobbes (goblin  like creatures), wielding fearsome magic) an interesting factor about the Fable games is how alike the game is stylistically to what one might consider a fairy-tale in video-game format to look like. In the first game, crafted storybook like panels are displayed as crucial plot narration happens. The players character is spoken about in the third person (referred to as “the boy” or “the hero”) much like a fairy tale character, while in the second game just by initiating a new game, Theresa (a wise sounding female voice) states “And so our story begins…”. The game characters appear to be chronicling the player’s adventures as the way one would if writing a fairy-tale.
There are many more games that include elements of a fairytale, be it the adventure of the boy Sora in Kingdom Hearts as he attempts to flee his island (prohibited action) before getting swept up into saving a number of fantasy realms – often directly from fairy-tales, from the forces of evil, with the ultimate goal of saving kidnapped princesses and reuniting with lost friends. Or even the parody occurrences such as in Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, where on a particular level a frog enemy will defeat the player leaping onto and kissing Crash, before subsequently turning into a prince.
I think there are likely to be many reasons why Fairy Tales are often influences upon the video game worlds we experience. One such might be due to their inclusion of so many sought after narrative features which would be at home in any game (mythical worlds, dangerous conflicts, magic and positive yet succinct endings). Another reason might be as they are something we ultimately experience as we grow up; they are a safe area to explore – something which we subconsciously tie ideas of fantasy down to and thus react positively when given a chance to explore these worlds in books or video games. Returning to Tolkien’s initial quote as a further reason, perhaps, from the point of creating a coherent world, the Fairy-Tale offers a blueprint of how it can and should be done. In a Fairy-Tale the audience is presented with a world that cannot be true, creatures that do not exist and a narrative which is almost too unbelievable. Yet that world is coherent in that the audience do not reject a fairy tale world but rejoice it, and ultimately become immersed in the world until Happily Ever After ends the relationship between the two agents (that ending itself acting as a clever closing device as most would not be able to ask any internal questions and demand more).
  
http://www.slashgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/super-mario-bros.jpg
 http://www.brendanyoung.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/zelda_ocarina_of_time.jpg
http://www.360magazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/fable-2-bread-crumb.jpg
(12/10/2011)

Monday, 10 October 2011

Mock Screenshot - screen management


Basic Controls for Zork game on DS during "investigation gameplay"

When designing for the DS there are several important aspects that need to be considered:

- Screen Management: The screen on the Nintendo DS is not the largest and as such means that space is crucial. I tried to keep the icons down to a minimum (only camera control and Inventory) although I am contemplating the inclusion of another icon in the bottom centre of the screen which highlights all available objects for pressing called "Look". This will mean that players will be able to see the objects they may interact with much easier.

-Using the features of the Console (Touch Screen, Microphone): The touch screen is an integral part of the investigation stage as the player uses this to select objects, operate mini games, in some cases move objects and when browsing inventory the touch screen once again plays an integral part. For dialogue choices the player would select one of three options on the bottom screen, whilst viewing the outcome on the top screen. Otherwise the touch screen is used to progress text and choose a location to visit when that option arises during play. The microphone as of yet does not feature in my concept (which in turn keeps the option for a PC port open).

Left hand/ Right hand issues: With one hand pre-occupied with the stylus, the other hand the player must use to hold the console and press the buttons. Because of this I mirrored the controls on both the direction pad and A, B, X, Y buttons so that no matter which hand the player is more comfortable with, they will still be able to play the game comfortably.


For the presentation I still need to illustrate the controls during dialogue/ trust sequences as well as the inventory screen. 

Notes about what needs to be covered more in-depth with my pitch

Things my pitch needs to cover:
-Game Mechanics: Point and click exploration and puzzle solving, choice based dialogue system, robust choices and consequences, multiple endings dependant on what you do.
-Game story: You are a person who wakes up being a player of a game. In this game you must explore the town you are in and discover the clues missing from your start point to solve the mystery and be able to escape in 12 hours. The person who placed you there is among the other nine people so you must discover his identity in addition to this or you will be killed.
-Aesthetic style (simple basic blocks of colour for the environment, stylishly lit 2D/ 3D side scroller) for dialogue slightly eastern influenced characters/ simple western comic style.
-Music style: instrumental, suspenseful pieces – given lack of dialogue music creates tension.
-Controls: Investigation, Dialogue, Inventory
-Technical overview: general overview, engine description, hardware
 -Competitive Analysis

I think that I am going to research the Technical Overview and Competitive Analysis (games out currently that would be suitable rivals for my game) firstly because I think that these will form an important backbone to my pitch, showing that I understand the business side of the pitch (that ultimately the game will be there to make money and by identifying a gap and interest in the market then it will be a much more persuasive pitch due to the viability of my concept in todays market)

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Contextual Studies: Creating Coherent Worlds (lecture 1 notes)

One undeniable fact about a video game is that the player will be entering a world upon simply deciding to play it. The game space will have its own rules, its own setting and environments and its own history – all of which has been created from scratch and can often completely differ from the world for which the player has “escaped” from. But despite this the player will completely accept that which is presented to them and proceed to be completely immersed in this world. This is what it means to have created a Coherent world.
Coherent (Dictionary definition):
1.
logically connected; consistent: a coherent argument.
2.
cohering; sticking together: a coherent mass of sticky candies.
3.
having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious: a coherent design.
4.
Physics, Optics. of or pertaining to waves that maintain a fixed phase relationship, as in coherent light.

Often a game world can be described as being broken down into the Narrative and the physical world that the player experiences, but in actuality it can be viewed in a much different way:

The two crucial elements; Environment and Gameplay Mechanics, must remain ultimately connected (coherent) in order to create a complete world. The task itself is not a simple one and if it is executed well the work that has gone into creating the world can be completely overlooked due to how it flows as a singular universe in its own right. The environment plays a large part in this because the world that is created will often act as an active entity within the story.
The example of how this is that was given was the sentence: “A long time ago an old woman lived in a forest”.
Immediately connotations are created between that statement and a traditional fairy-tale – which in turn might tell the audience to expect conventional events of that genre (happily ever after, etc.). Furthermore the inclusion of “forest” and “old woman” indicate that both of these elements will feature in some way into the narrative, be it the forest as the main location of the story, or the old woman as an integral plot character.
To further illustrate the more immediate impact of the environment into drawing the viewer into a complete media world, a number of films were listed:
Brazil and Twelve Monkeys:  A director (Terry Gilliam) creating a specific Auteur style in face of pressure to conform to conventional styles. In both of these films, complex issues about human nature are explored – not necessarily to the liking of a conventional audience due to the light it shows our race in. These films show that coherent worlds can be created that show the world in a negative light, but still act as a complete universe.
Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow: This time the director (Tim Burton) has created two uniquely coherent worlds that are different but at the same time could be said to continue the predecessor. This can be seen through most of his work.
Unforgiven and Dangerous Liaisons: Films tasked with historical accuracy and authenticity in order to remain coherent in the eyes of the audience.
Amelie and Micmacs: Using and celebrating culture as an active element to the world that is created.
In addition to that the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner was mentioned. Having never seen Blade Runner, I briefly analysed the opening 2 minute segment to understand the techniques used by the director in creating the audiences state of disbelief (immersion into the film):
Beginning with a short description of the rise and subsequent fall of a cloned race called replicants (which gave birth to the titles namesake: Blade Runner units), a Los Angeles cityscape fades in. The cityscape is immediately considered to be futuristic due to the date displayed before the fade in (2019) and due to the unrecognisable nature of a real life location; Los Angeles. At 1.20 a flying car flies towards the screen and disappears out of view. This is yet another representation meant to create connotations in the audiences mind (Flying Cars – Science fiction/ the future) and further immerse them into the world they are seeing on the screen. Every so often, fire erupts from the towers in the cityscape – at points a close up will happen to reinforce this. Fire is associated with words like dangerous, uncontrollable, and damaged and the fact that this is happening to a number of buildings throughout Los Angeles might be a metaphor for the state of the futuristic world, that it is a dangerous world that is fundamentally damaged but uncontrollable in its growth.  However by presenting the audience with these ideas of conflict within the world, it undoubtedly draws them into the world and in turn the plot.
In addition, by first presenting the audience with a brief timeline and a reference point (calendar/ real life location), before dropping them into the long shot of the cityscape, the director Ridley Scott has given the audience the information that allows them to be immersed before the visual world is shown. They would know that it was set in the future and not only that but it was a future relative to our planet. They would also know the current state of affairs and the central organisation to the plot (Blade Runners). Should the Audience not have had the information that was given, they would not be able to distinguish what the world in front of them was (whether it was another planet, dimension or timeframe) and what the narrative focus would be – and in turn their state of disbelief would be broken.

Friday, 7 October 2011

Simple location concept



Simple concept for a location the player visits (final segment of the game as paired up with June, another "player" in the game).

Visual Notes:
-While the main dialogue of the game happens on the top screen, exclaimations, reactions and small remarks during investigation are made on the bottom screen via speech bubbles. 
-Due to the graphical restraints of the DS visuals will most likely remain this simple in the actual game, with more detailed character sprites appearing during the dialogue sequences.
-Final Clues of an area are going to be highlighted in some way (in this concept by a Red Glow).

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Ghost trick Reseach: 2D Sidescroll or To Not Sidescroll, that is the question...

One aspect to my concept I am still unsure of is the Investigating part of gameplay – or more specifically the best application of camera angle. To try to find the best solution, I played several successful “point and click” / puzzle titles.
The first game leans more on the puzzle side of things in Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. In the game you are placed into the world of a new spirit who does not know who he is or how he died.  A mysterious figure begins to tell him that he has until end of the night to answer these questions or he will disappear forever. To aid him in his quest he has the ability to go back in time four minutes before someone’s death and possess and “trick” objects to help them avoid their fate.

The game itself makes use of the touch screen feature of the Nintendo ds, with the player having to scrape along the surface of the screen to travel between objects and manipulate them. The game operates as a puzzle in itself. The player can only stretch a small distance to travel between objects and otherwise must make use of correctly timed actions to move further (for example by activating a blender and a table top fan, and then travelling to a nearby scrap of cloth tied to a pole, the fan then creates a wind which blows the cloth up the pole like a makeshift flag. At the top of its flight the player can then move across to another item that would have otherwise been unreachable). The game operates like this throughout, with the four minutes before death sequences adding a level of suspense and quick reactions to play – while still offering a player certain routes at certain times (ie: going through a large portion of the scene not being able to move before at the final countdown, three seconds before death, something will move and the player will have to execute very quick actions in time).

Aside from the innovative gameplay mechanics, the style and camera angle was something I picked up upon. The game is stylishly presented for the low pixel restrictions of the Nintendo ds system and is essentially a 2D side scroller. Yet in every environment there are a number of individual objects available for easy access to the player.  Furthermore, by allowing the horizontal panning system to be controlled by the directional buttons and not be restricted to the player, it allows for panning around the screen (at points being Essential to the success of a puzzle) which is something I might consider for my own game.

Note:  the platform of the Nintendo DS is looking increasingly suitably for my concept – with many games that offer much more substantial plot for lack of graphical power residing in the Nintendo DS library. Furthermore successful similar games clearly equal a market and audience for that within the DS gamer.  Furthermore, if the type of gamer demands for a next generation console like the PS3 or Xbox 360 are considered, those are that which my concept would simply not meet (photorealistic graphics, multiplayer, an established brand, “shoot-em-up” or “action RPG” gameplay).  Finally Point and Click is just not suited for a conventional controller, and touch screen/ mouse controls would offer the player a much more fluid experience.
One issue with the designing for the DS is that it would undoubtedly have to be almost exclusively for that console due to the Dual Screen and touch screen features of a DS title.
http://cdn-thumbs.viddler.com/thumbnail_2_7af97228_v1.jpg
http://www.vgchartz.com/games/pics/ghost-trick-phantom-detective-675716.jpg
http://www.gamepad-dojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GhostTrick02.jpg (06/10/2011)

The Players - initial concept

This was just a simple idea for the "players" in my concept. Each one of them has an item marked with a Z in red on their persons to identify them as a player, while everyone except Bill and the Protagonist ("you") has a trademark item of clothing (Syo's hoodie and Junes jumper tied around her waist).
For the names of the characters I made reference to the Novelisation of Zork, with the protagonists in the book being called "June" and "Bill", while the Ruler of the mythical land is called Syovar ("Syo"). I haven't entirely worked out the personalities and in depth designs for these characters, but as a basic template I think the concept works well. My next step will be to concept the key areas of my game:

-The Trust System
-The Investigation Screen
-The Action Wheel
-Controls for the Platform

In addition to this, I will elaborate more on the plot and characters.

Rough game concept

Zork:
There will be 4 “players”. They will each be marked with a special item (clothing? For example;  t-shirt, hoodie, cap and neckerchief). Each player will be placed at the centre of a mystery. They each have 12 hours to solve the mystery that has been set for them by the “dungeon master”.
There will be 6 “Wardens”. The wardens will be the only other people the players may interact with in the “dungeon” aside from each other. Each knows something that could solve the player’s mystery but they do not directly know it themselves.
 Around the “Dungeon” there are 12 locations to be explored. However a player may only visit 4 of these places. If the players fail to solve their mystery they will die. If any of the game “assets” attempt to flee the dungeon they will die. If they visit more than 4 places, they will die.  However, the first person to solve their mystery will become the new “dungeon master”. The Dungeon Master may choose to let whoever they wish leave – including themselves.  But among one of the assets of the game (be it the “Wardens” or “Players”) there is the original Dungeon Master. Should he escape – then everyone will be killed.
Without trust in the other game assets the players will undoubtedly die. But if that trust is misplaced, the same can be said. There is only one safe way to play the game – only one safe route to discover the truth and the true Dungeon Master – and you “The player” must find it.

                                                -Rough idea for the “Scenario” that the player is placed into (I wanted to keep a few references to the original Zork game in there so I used terms like “Dungeon Master” to refer to the antagonist)

Gameplay
I wanted my gameplay to be split into three distinct “layers”:
-Investigating/ Puzzle solving: As “a player” you have to explore and solve the mystery that is given to you by exploring 4 out of the 12 locations. This puzzle solving would be very much similar to the basic concepts of Zork –with basic actions like: “Take” “Drop” “Use” “Climb” “Examine” “Look” “Throw” “Combine” “Burn” and “Kick” being available to the player (Maybe through a selection wheel of some kind)

A command wheel from the Action RPG Mass Effect.

By exploring and solving the puzzle in the room, the player will find One Clue about a mystery – whether it is their own or not is up to the place they chose (there would be hints as to where they should go in their initial room if they look hard enough and in the subsequent items they find but it is not obvious).
I have yet to work out which perspective actions will take place in (3D 3rd person perspective, 2D side scrolling, and First person)
-Trust and Dialogue: Given that there are a potential 9 other “game assets” in Zork, the player can interact with any one of them. But none of them completely trust each other due to the admission that the person who placed them in the situation is among them. In rigid dialogue selection menus during, before and after the investigation side of things, the player can use the “talk to” function to talk to whoever is present. By talking to and responding accordingly the player can become more trustworthy in the eyes of the other person. This will be shown by the removal of shadow over the faces of the people as an impromptu “trust level”. When they completely trust the player, a change in music will happen and the face will be clear to see.
When this happens, new information will be given or a new area to investigate will be uncovered. Only by gaining the complete trust of certain people will the player gain the true ending as the “true mystery” of why they are there and who is the dungeon master can only be discovered by piecing together information given by fully trusting characters.
-Critical Decisions: At around two points in the play through, the player can make “Critical Decisions”. These are quick reaction events where they must make a decision which ultimately could end or save a life. Depending on these the ending could vastly be altered,
The system of having multiple endings often complicates things but the system in Zork will be simple. Each Decision the player makes, leads to certain discoveries and in turn ticking an invisible box on an internal checklist over what they should know. Depending on which boxes are ticked at the end of the game (after 4 locations are visited) it will lead to a particular ending. Other factors will alter this (Critical Decisions/ who is trusted). Depending on how complex this makes things, having complete freedom over which areas you can choose, the structure can be “linearized” in that a new rule could be added:
“Only one “Player” can visit one location. No other players may visit this location once it has been visited.”
By doing this the number of options available to the player will be reduced as play continues and other “players” block off areas, which in turn reduces the number of possible endings massively.

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Additional Zork Research - how has it been reimagined previously?

Zork was not simply a game but rather a franchise that had spawned many sequels:
GAME TIMELINE (PRODUCTION ORDER)


Dungeon
1977~1979
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, Tim Anderson
Zork I
1980-11-XX
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
Zork II
1981-11-XX
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
Zork III
1982-08-18
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
Enchanter
1983-08-10
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
The Forces of Krill
1983-08-XX
Steve Meretzky
Malifestro Quest
1983-09-XX
Steve Meretsky
Cavern of Doom
1983-09-XX
Steve Meretsky
Sorcerer
1984-01-31
Steve Meretsky
Conquest of Quendor
1984-10-XX
Steve Meretsky
Wishbringer
1985-05-01
Brian Moriarty
Spellbreaker
1985-09-16
Dave Lebling
Lurking Horror
1987-05-06
Dave Lebling
Beyond Zork
1987-09-15
Brian Moriarty
Zork Quest I
1988-04-XX
Elizabeth Langosy
Zork Quest II
1988-08-XX
Elizabeth Langosy
Wishbringer (novel)
1988-08-XX
Craig Shaw Gardner
Zork Zero
1989-03-23
Steve Meretzky
Enchanter (novel)
1989-04-XX
Robin W. Bailey
The Zork Chronicles
1990-06-XX
George Alec Effinger
The Lost City of Zork
1991-01-XX
Robin W. Bailey
Return to Zork
1993-08-20
Eddie Dombrower
The Philosopher's Stone
UNFINISHED
Nino Ruffini
Zork: Nemesis
1996-02-29
Cecilia Barajas
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
1997-08-28
Marc Blank, Mike Berlyn
Zork: Grand Inquisitor
1997-10-31
Laird Malamed
Legends of Zork
2009-04-01
Jolt Online Gaming
Zork Trilogy
1986
COMPILATION (Zork 1, Zork 2, Zork 3)
Enchanter Trilogy
1986
COMPILATION (Enchanter, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker)
Zork Anthology
1994
COMPILATION (Zork 1, Zork 2, Zork 3, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero)
Zork Collection
COMPILATION


I wondered looking at these how Zork had evolved throughout the years – how the basic premise had been taken and moulded – if at all.
Beginning as “Dungeon”, due to legal issues over naming infringement with “Dungeons and Dragons” it was reborn as Zork – and for the subsequent games it retained the text based adventure nature of its gameplay. In Beyond Zork traditional roleplaying elements were an addition to the gameplay, allowing for character creation and skills for the player to learn and utilise.

Zork Zero, a release nine years after the original, removes the RPG elements of Beyond Zork but instead offers players full colour images of a number of puzzles that adorn the game – a first for the series. The game itself involves collecting over twenty items for a magician’s cauldron by solving the mentioned puzzles, keeping to the tradition of having a well written but otherwise slim narrative feature.

Beyond Zork was the next release and this time completely switched genres – moving into the point and click genre. Whereas the previous games focus around mazes and dungeons (with navigation proving to be sometimes inaccurate (ie: Move North, Move South – you will not be in the same place)) Beyond Zork removed this, with the games designer Mark Long stating in an interview: "navigation is always correct; if you move north then south, you are always in the same place. Solving mazes was overdone, dull, and annoying." The game also boasted multiple methods of completing the game and solving the puzzles. Unlike the previous Zork games, the player was not necessarily restricted in what they could accomplish with certain items and character – to the point where they could destroy crucial quest items or non-playable characters, making the game “unwinnable”.

Zork Nemesis and the subsequent games; Zork; the Undiscovered Underground and Zork: The Grand Inquisitor continued down the point and click route set in Beyond Zork, making improvements with each game. The graphics were much more advanced, offering realistic 3D looking environments for the player to explore with their arrow, a full three hundred and sixty degree camera (called “Z-Vision”), for the time State of the art motion capture and much clearer sound – both through the voice acting and soundtrack. The games furthermore maintained the focus of puzzles and solid choices for the player to make. If they chose to trust particular characters it could lead them to ruin or success.

The final game on the list (not including the Compilations) was Legends of Zork – which took the series into a completely new direction – the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Genre. The game itself ran from 2009 until May 2011 where it was shut down without warning. It began as free to play – allowing the casual gamer 30 “action points” a day, while for small payments, the player could purchase more, prolonging their play experience. This in itself is a very common strategy for a Free to Play MMO – with other such titles as Spiral Knights adopting similar strategies to raise funds. However, due to the lack of quality in the game, Alec Meer in a “rock, paper, shotgun” review stated:
It’s honestly as though someone designed a micropayment system then awkwardly shoved a very crude game on top of it”

So from the initial 1977 game to the ill-fated Legends of Zork in 2009, the franchise evolved from a text based adventure game, to a detailed point and click, to an internet based MMO – which if what was popular around the time is considerers then makes sense. At the initial switch to point and click, Myst had became massively popular, and likewise with MMO’s and Kingdom of Lothering.
But though the reinventions and reiteration of the brand, was there any stand out points to the series?
-Humorous and well written story
- Choices and consideration of elements such as NPC’s
- Freedom to explore and experiment with items due to the acceptance of a wide variety of words and actions (perhaps overdone with beyond zork but nevertheless an intriguing option)
- Well executed puzzles for the player to explore
I think all of the above points would make for excellent goals for my own reinvention of Zork, but my thoughts at the moment are to move away entirely from the Zork mythology built up by the franchise and take those points – what made the games good, and apply them in a much more modern method. As forementioned with the Zork 1 playthrough I felt that narrative is an important structure but at the same time having a basic scenario and allowing the players to make their own choices is an invigorating element that could also be considered given the joys (and sometimes sorrows) of the adventure game books.
Points of future research: The Point and Click Genre – modern games which have gained success from this: (Ace Attorney Series, 9 Doors 9 Persons 9 Hours, Hotel Dusk).
(Alec Meer review sourced from) http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04/02/grue-some-zork-remake-live-horrible/ (accessed 05/10/2011)
 (Timeline sourced from) http://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/00-timeline.html (Accessed 04/10/2011)
(Other useful information) http://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/00-resources.html (Accessed 04/10/2011)
Images:
http://www.cdaccess.com/gifs/screen/zorkinq4.jpg

http://images.macworld.com/images/news/graphics/139768-legendsofzork_original.jpg

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/img/2009_08_26/zorkZero.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjq0JAHcqBAADshT9XYBikLlPIPPrCOfKB3P_VE-m5ifM6Yn4QtFlbkE3HIIPQvAhtCVz1uDEiRAJVBeW_hEqWTYxNR2SbtDCWjIElzfuEB_u5kfziDsLdu20U84lBljOeWcP851Fqpg/s1600/won.GIF

http://www.emuparadise.me/GameBase%20Amiga/Screenshots/Z/Zork_III_-_The_Dungeon_Master.png