Teaching: Thoughts on My First Semester
Part of me has always wanted to be a teacher. I am not sure exactly where this desire comes from, though. Perhaps it is wanting to impart knowledge to other people. Perhaps to help create an understanding of how I view things in the world. Perhaps it is just hoping to spread some of the enthusiasm that I have around to people who would be interested in hearing about it and help them learn the skills I have obtained over the years. Or maybe I just inherited some of it from my mother who was a teacher for many years.
I have joked that I would retire from making video games when I made millions and then become a teacher. One always hopes that they will do really well in their profession, and there are definitely people who are making lots of money in this one, but realistically I will likely just slowly build up enough of a nest egg to retire comfortably in forty years or so. So that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for teaching in my twilight years, unfortunately. However, by a stroke of luck I suppose, I was contacted by Tribeca Flashpoint Academy on LinkedIn about a potential teaching opportunity. So I decided that I should take this chance and pursue it and a few weeks later I was signed up and slated to teach Intro to Game Programming. (Side note: I am actually working for a former boss, so let that be a lesson to not burn bridges folks!)
I view teaching as an extremely vital and noble profession, and unfortunately it is one that I feel is not supported enough in our country. I believe that one should try to give back to the greater community at some point in their lives, and this is an area I feel I have been neglecting as of late. I have been very busy with my family and work plus I am not exactly a “people person.” I give to charities, but beyond that I don’t give much of my time to helping out. So I feel that by teaching I am giving myself a little bit in that way. Plus it just happens to be in an area that I am good at and enjoy!
This will be no surprise to any teachers reading this, but teaching is hard. Especially since this was my first time doing it. I was teaching to a class of mixed abilities, so not only to students who would want to become programmers, but students who would want to pursue art, design, or production as well. So I needed to find a way to teach programming to those who have never encountered it before while still keeping engaged those that have several years of it under their belts. The way that I ended up doing this was by peppering in slides that I had as their first bulletpoint be “Advanced Topic,” and would often explain that this was supplementary knowledge that wouldn’t be tested on but was tangentially related to what we were covering. A few of the more “programmatically”-experienced students said this helped keep things a bit more interesting and relevant, though I worry that it took away time that I could have used to explain in more detail the topics that were going to be evaluated. Something that I will likely take a second look at if I end up teaching this course again in order to find a balance I am more comfortable with. I also invited the students to hit me up for ideas that I could use to help supplement the teaching by assigning readings or projects to be doing outside the class curriculum, but while there was some interest initially I ended up not having to do much of that. Likely they were soon swamped with work from other classes 🙂
Another idea that I had for catering to a large gap in skill-sets is to focus more on projects instead of simple homework. We had one big project at the end and the students had the option of just simply following the directions and doing the minimum criteria or they could work in extra stuff. A few students also decided to write the project from scratch (some base code and an example was provided). This led to a few rather impressive projects (though looking at the code showed there was still much to teach, but I gave examples and suggestions to improve that aspect) and really kept the students engaged. I think focusing more on projects will allow the students to scale them to meet their wants as well as get in valuable programming that leads to more critical thinking on their part.
Most of my lectures were fairly one-sided, with me presenting the slides and talking through them (but allowing the students to ask questions at any time). There were a few times that I tried to work in some quick group activities, but generally ran out of time to do these. I recall one time that we did do one, and overall I think it worked fairly well. The class was divided into four groups (based on classroom layout), and each group produced good results, but they were definitely dominated by the more ambitious students (and I had to ask a student to stop playing games on their laptop twice while this was going on). So while I think it was good to break up the usual routine, I will need to give more thought on how to better engage all the students and get them to participate (smaller groups maybe?).
Another thing that I started to do more often was to actually do examples in the IDE (Integrated Development Environment, where you can write and build all the code). This was something brought up to me by a few students, but since the IDE wasn’t installed on the computers in our class (long story, but it took me a little while to make it happen) it kept me from being able to do so and I think that made the class more difficult for students. In the future I will definitely take more time to show use of the tools and explain more stuff about ways to use them and their importance. I did this more near the end, but I think it would be beneficial to start off doing this and also to incorporate all the assignments and quizzes into using the IDE primarily (this was also done more as the class progressed).
I eventually worked in some examples using video games and then posed a problem that we could solve using the techniques we covered in class and then worked through them (time permitting). I would also call on students to give me ideas of how we could approach the problems while working through them. I think these worked fairly well, though by covering lots of material in class (including optional stuff, though I wouldn’t spend much time on those) oftentimes I would not have sufficient time to work through these at a comfortable pace, so a lot of times I felt rushed. Hopefully with more experience (and maybe less quizzes) I will better be able to judge how long it will take for me to cover certain material and leave adequate time at the end.
All in all, I would say that I really enjoyed teaching. While I was really nervous at first, I eventually got much more comfortable and started to get a hang of things. The work was a bit more than I expected, but I was able to make it work and found it enjoyable. I definitely got the notion in my head that the harder I worked the better off my students would do, which is a nice motivation (as long as you don’t go overboard). As I am sure is obvious, I have a lot of ideas of things to improve upon (and many more that I didn’t touch on in this post) and new stuff to try. I would definitely say that I would love for an opportunity to teach again and am glad that I made the decision to teach in the first place.
Quick Impressions of Dead Space 3
I just recently wrote my review of completing Dead Space 2 and it was around the time that Dead Space 3 was being shown off at E3. One of the big new features that they were touting was co-op. I explained in my Dead Space 2 review my thoughts about the relationship between power and horror. While many horror movies do employ a group and it works well in that context by having the character’s fears play off each other, I don’t think the same effect extends to games. While games can be a very social environment and playing together is something I think games should allow more of, I think that with horror it runs into some major roadblocks. Typically in games in order to keep people engaged when playing together there is a simple revive mechanic when one player goes down the other player can walk over and get them back on their feet. I don’t know if this is the case for the newest installment, but I would imagine there would be something similar. In horror movies, it is scary because once a character dies, they generally remain dead, and so the overall group has lost power. In a video game setting, it would just be a temporary setback (though I suppose that thinking could also be extended to the notion of reloading a save game). Not to mention that I find when playing with someone else it gets a lot harder to be truly immersed in the game, which makes it hard to convince yourself that what you are seeing is something to be afraid of.
In addition, Dead Space 3 also appears to also take place on a planet with some wide open areas and feature more in the way of gun play which is more typical of a mainstream action game. I think this focus on action over horror will diminish the potential fear and terror that the game. While I will wait and see and read several reviews before making up my mind as to whether to play this game, the impression that they are giving about the direction of the franchise is not giving me much confidence.
Game Review: Dead Space 2
Note: Game reviews will contain spoilers.
Platform Shift
I played the first Dead Space on 360 awhile ago, and enjoyed it, but not so much that I felt that I needed to play the sequel once it came out. During a rush of Steam sales (a newfound weakness of mine) the sequel was discounted to just $5, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I have to say, it was well worth the money. I was a little worried at first about it being a console game first and playing that on the PC. Typically, games ported over will feel like they were rushed and their control schemes won’t feel suited to a mouse and keyboard setup, but it seems like a good amount of care was put into this version as there were no serious issues and I didn’t feel hampered or wanting a gamepad instead. There were a few default key bindings that felt a little awkward at times, but it didn’t bother my enough to change them. It seems like PC is starting to become a well treated platform again, as the consoles are definitely showing their age so more people are opting to play on PC again so they can start seeing additional effects that some developers are using with PC DX11 versions of their games. I also find that I am starting to prefer playing PC games due to the fact that it is away from the kids’ room near the TV (and I don’t have to compete for screen time as much if they are up).
The Setup
The basic gameplay twist that Dead Space has is that instead of the usual “shoot them in the head” strategy that most games employ, in this one the point is to shoot off the limbs of the enemies (shooting them in the head generally just makes them mad). It is an interesting approach and I am glad to see games experiment with new approaches. It helps that the enemies are hideously disfigured humans with splayed limbs to make your job a bit easier. They were transformed this way by an alien virus that graphically configures human flesh into bizarre, twisted abominations that you get the joys of fighting through.
The plot also deals with religion, “markers”/artifacts, and government plots a little to give the plot some weight and context, though it isn’t entirely crucial to understand all of it. A lot of this is revealed through text and audio logs found throughout the environment. While I can appreciate that littering these throughout the environment helps put them in a context within the world and makes them optional for people that want to skip them, it does make everything hard to follow and a little hard to piece everything together as to what exactly is going on outside of what your next objective is. But perhaps that is a weaker point of doing the story that way instead of a linear, cutscene-based approach (which has its own weaknesses).
The Horror
The Dead Space series is supposed to be all about horror, and I think they accomplish this to a pretty good degree. I would definitely describe the game with words like suspenseful, intense, and scary. Granted, as an adult who knows that all this is just polygons, textures, and lighting effects at its core, I wasn’t exactly kept up at night with nightmares. But I did have to take a break after an hour or so to calm down my nerves. Granted, as the game went on I suppose I got a bit more used to it as I was able to play for longer stretches without it bothering me. Perhaps I slowly got desensitized to it. Or I just acquired enough of an arsenal that I wasn’t too worried about what lurked around the corners.
That brings me to a point that I want to make when it comes to the idea of horror and how some games try to be scary but then undermine the atmosphere and enemy design with their gameplay balance. The true enemy of horror is having too much power. This power can come in a variety of forms, such as too much information about the enemy or too powerful of weapons, but regardless of the source it will lessen the terror that the player could feel. In order for this to work, the player needs to have a feeling of helplessness and fear of the unknown. Some of the most anxiety-inducing moments in games comes when you only have three bullets left, no health, and there is a big monster between you and the next safe room. If you could just waltz in and blow everything away, then you don’t have much reason to be afraid. If you know that enemy X will spawn at location Y every time then you don’t have much reason to be afraid (of course, if it takes almost everything in your inventory to get past it that could be pretty scary).
I am reminded of a time when I was playing the Resident Evil remake on GameCube when the game surprised me in a very scary way. In old Resident Evil games, you have a variety of rooms that you go through. An unstated rule of the game is that enemies don’t go between these rooms. However, one time when exploring around near the end of the game there was a common but strong enemy (a hunter for those familiar) in a room that I decided to just avoid for some reason or another. I went into the adjoining room and looked around for a moment until the enemy that I skipped broke through the door I had just used. I remember being rather afraid at this moment since the game broke what I perceived to be an unbreakable rule. While I was able to dispatch the enemy, the moment still stays with me.
That actually reminds me of another good horror technique that the Resident Evil remake introduced (sorry to drone on about it, but they made that game rather scary). The regular zombies, once killed, stayed dead on the floor (no disappearing when you left the room), but then after an undetermined (by me anyway) amount of time, then could come back as a stronger, faster zombie. You had a way to counter this by burning the downed zombies with oil and fire, but then you had to have additional stuff in your inventory (and a limited amount to boot). I remember that there was even a zombie that was left outside a safe room that started dead, so you had to decide to if you wanted to use some of your limited resources on it. I believe that I decided to leave it on one playthrough to see if it would ever get up (it didn’t), but that didn’t stop me from cautiously stepping around it whenever I wanted to go past it.
Which brings me back to Dead Space 2, and something I am glad they added in. Near the end of the game, you are introduced to an immortal enemy (at least I could never figure out a way to kill it). This actually helped offset the complacency that I was starting to feel with the game as I was to the point where I had a pretty strong offensive so I could blast through most of the enemies without too much of an issue. They first introduce you to the enemy by itself, so naturally I sent a long time blasting it with everything I had before I realized that it just wasn’t going to die (you could incapacitate it for brief moments while it regrew all the limbs you blasted off). This was then followed by a quick attempt at an exit (which was foiled by me be too slow and prompted a quick load to get my health and ammo back). The enemy is then introduced again and again as it chases you to the end of the game, along with scads of other strong enemies that you have to deal with. I didn’t even bother killing most of the normal fodder once the black invincible one showed up, and attempted to quickly exit any area that I was currently in. This turned the endgame into a scramble towards the finish, blasting anything that got in my way and rarely affording me a chance to catch my breath. So now even though I was brimming to the teeth with strong weapons, I was still unable to get comfortable since there were always too many enemies to deal with and then it would show up and I’d have no choice but to get moving if I wasn’t already. So that introduced some of that horror back into the game at the point where you felt that you were finally safe.
The Signoff
Ending felt a little forced, not entirely sure what was going on, I’m not a horror-buff but had a good time, would recommend
Dead Space 2 ended fairly well as far as horror games do. The rush to the end was met with a fairly unimpressive boss fight that led to a Isaac (your main character) pretty much sitting down and accepting his fate to die while the credits scroll by. “Just kidding!” says the game as it bursts into the solemn moment with the other main character busting in and you are off on a quick, escape from the self-destructing facility end sequence before you manage to get away safely. It was a little jarring at first, but the fact that it ends up with Isaac actually saving the girl (and in turn her saving him at the end there) actually ended the game fairly well. Naturally, with all things horror, you find out that the facility and marker that were destroyed were only one of many, meaning that your job is far from done. Good for sequels as well, of course.
I admit that I am not a huge horror buff, but I appreciate the interesting dynamics that they tend to employ from the usual “just blast everything in sight” that accompanies most action-based games. Overall, I enjoyed Dead Space 2 a lot and would recommend it to other people. I don’t believe it sold too well, but there was enough of an interest for a sequel (I have a few impressions about it that I will talk briefly about in a later post) and several other media spinoffs. So here is to seeing if they can keep the horror genre fresh in the coming years.
Moving Away from Web Projects
Writing for the web is hard. That’s likely coming from my lack of experience with web related technologies more than anything. Perhaps I have been dealing with consoles and PCs too often, but that has definitely shaped the way that I think and the way that I approach things. It could also be due to the fact that web related technologies (as least when it comes towards games) are still not entirely developed enough for someone like me to easily work with them. I admit I am likely spoiled in this regard. There are very powerful compilers and debuggers that I have a lot of experience with and am very comfortable using. Granted, part of my goal with my personal projects is to try and do things that I am not doing at work so that I can expand my skillset, but I feel that I also should be enjoying myself while doing it. And after several months of trying, I am finding that I am just not enjoying myself when it comes to attempting to write games for the web.
First I attempted to work with Google’s PlayN architecture. This was an exercise in futility as the instructions were complicated and I was constantly getting lost in the myriad of tools that you had to deploy and configure in order to even get the simplest of builds working. Likely not too big of a deal if you are used to being in that style of development (thinking of all the tools I work with on a daily basis in my normal job and I would imagine they are comparable), but very difficult to get used to when you are approaching it as a newbie like I was. Over time it seemed like things got simplified a bit and I was able to work around several of the issues and get some basic stuff going. But ultimately I was still a stranger in a strange land and just couldn’t handle juggling all the processes in order to work effectively. Maybe things are better now, but I haven’t looked at it for months.
Next I decided to try to strip things down to a simpler toolset and just approach it using HTML5 and Javascript. One of the reasons why I wanted to attempt using PlayN was to avoid the pitfalls of development in Javascript (ie it sucks from the best I can tell), but I figured that I would eventually learn the traps and get used to it. I had decided to just go with a simple text-editor approach using NetBeans and downloaded a JSLint plugin to help me spot dumb errors. I was using Firebug for Firebox in order to have some sort of a debugger, but even that proved to be not sufficient enough for my tastes. I kept running into issues where the script would just abort, without any reason or direction given as to the cause of the termination. It got to the point where I just wasn’t enjoying programming any more, which made working on my personal projects take a backseat to just playing games and having fun.
So I have decided to return to the world of compilers and pick up where I left off with my personal projects in C# and focus more on the tool development like I was originally. This still allows me to branch out and try new things, just a few less so it is a bit more manageable while still balancing everything else that I am in my life. In the spirit of ditching other tools, I am also planning on scrapping my work with WinForms and just building a new UI framework from scratch. This will allow me the flexibility to be able to implement what I want, plus I really enjoy messing around with the guts of systems like this (and I doubt there is a huge demand for game programmers with WinForms experience).
Hopefully this old dog will still be able to learn a few new tricks, I just realize that I don’t have to take on everything new all at once as I just don’t have the time to jump in headfirst like that any more. So I am going to stick with stuff that might not branch out quite as much, but that I would enjoy working on for the long haul. If nothing else I’ll be able to experiment and try out things that I wouldn’t have the time or permission to do in a normal work environment. For example, another project that I want to do is to mess around with writing a DX11 ray tracer and see if I can play around with compute shaders some (no idea if this would even be sensible yet, but it is something I’d like to look in to). Plus I think it would be fun to optimize and see how fast I can make it. Now I just need to somehow find the time…
Game Review: To The Moon
Note: Game reviews will contain spoilers.
Stories Without Pages
To the Moon is another piece that I would file under being an interactive story as opposed to a game (to recap, my definition of a game is something with rules that has win and loss conditions). It is a very linear experience where you only really participate by searching the areas for objects of interest that allow you to progress to the next story point. It also doesn’t appear to have any sort of branching story or a way to get different endings. This does give it a strong and consistent narrative experience, but I feel that it does limit itself a bit by doing so. I’d like to see interactive media of this type use the power of the medium a little bit more in order to expand the art, but overall I was satisfied with how the story was presented.
The Mind is Malleable
The basic premise of To the Moon is that technology has discovered a way to view and alter the memories of people. Instead of using this for some nefarious purpose, the application of this technology that we see is to alter the memories of people to give them more happiness about their lives. Apparently this memory alteration is permanent, and so to be kind to the patients, it is typically done while they are on their deathbed and are unconscious. This particular story follows a man who wants to go to the moon and the two specialists who arrive to fulfill his wish. You get to see them attempt to go about this by gradually stepping back through his memories and looking for his reasoning for going to the moon in the first place.
It unfolds at a fairly predictable pace, with a few twists thrown in that make the story compelling. Perhaps it is the Chrono Trigger inspired graphics that hearken back to some fond memories of mine that kept me glued, but I could easily see others wishing rather to read a book instead. It is obvious this was done with minimal production values, as the movement is very grid based and confining, plus the “find objects of significance before moving to the next area” gameplay element feels a bit contrived, but the look is consistent and the music lends itself well to the emotion that it is trying to convey. The banter between the two specialists is amusing, but there wasn’t really anything that I found to be particularly noteworthy with the writing (not that many games really do).
An Inbetween Experience
I’m still not entirely sure where To the Moon occupies in my head. It was an emotional story that was presented in an interactive entertainment environment, but there was nothing that really made us of the medium. It could easily have worked in a TV/movie just as easily, but the creators decided to use an interactive method instead. However, I enjoyed the story and effort was definitely put into the areas that mattered most to enforce that. I found it to not be particularly accessible (I played it with a gamepad), but it was serviceable. It feels like they added some “game”-type elements to it in order to have it there to gate the players progression, so any exploration that you get feels like it is forced as you hunt down what you need to advance the plot. There is also a simple puzzle component that you need to do between each segment, but after a few I figured out the trick and it wasn’t very challenging or interesting after that. So overall I would have to say that it was a good story that you felt like you were a bit more of a part of due to the slightly interactive nature, but beyond that it left me feeling like I wanted more from it.
Game Review: Journey
Note: Game reviews will contain spoilers.
It’s not a Game, It’s an Experience
First off, I would like to state that Journey isn’t a game so much as it is an experience. I think this is an important distinction when it comes to entertainment media. To me a game has a collection of rules that must be obeyed and a definite win and loss condition. I have only played through Journey once (though I plan to again), and as far as I can tell, there isn’t a way to lose. There are enemies in the game that when they hit you it causes you to lose some of your scarf (more on that later) but I didn’t really notice any way to actually die or fail (and searching the internet backs me up on this).
Short and Sweet
Journey is an odd but beautiful game. You are a wanderer clad in a red cloak with a black mask, no apparent arms, and legs that end at a point. You start off walking up a dune in a desert and upon reaching the top you notice a large mountain in the background with a bright light emanating from it. This is your destination and the only hint the game gives you about what to do to proceed. You can slide down steep hills (and there are several segments of the game solely devoted to sliding) and soon you find red pieces of fabric floating around as if they have a life of their own. You learn that you can “talk” to these pieces of fabric and they will propel you upward. There are also glowing pieces of fabric that you can collect that will give you a scarf and allow you to jump as long as you have the energy to do so (represented by a pattern on your scarf). As you collect more of these your scarf will grow, representing your ability to be in the air more often.
The world of Journey is very beautiful. The environments start out as sand swept dunes that are littered with ruins of an old civilization. There are stone monuments that remind me of gravestones littered throughout. In addition to the smaller pieces of red scarves, you eventually find larger ones that help guide you and occasionally give you a ride. You also come across some stone monuments that come to life and float around, their one eye sending out a spotlight that illuminates any loose scarves before they are devoured. It is these stone monsters that represent the only enemy type in the game. Even without their ability to actually kill you, their presence evokes some fear and caution, as the music changes its tone and you feel small and helpless as they scour the area looking for you. Eventually you move into snow, where your ability to jump is gradually drained by the cold, and finally the sky as you soar to your final destination.
Along the way, you can come across other people experiencing Journey. You can only communicate in the most primitive of ways, using the same method of talking (which is just a single tone emitted with a button press) as you do with the other inhabitants (if you can call them that). You can also recharge each others energies by standing close, as it appears the rule is that being close to any of the red pieces of cloth in the game will grant you this power. It is a nice touch that you can do so with a fellow player, giving you incentive to stay near each other in order to help out. I have to say that I enjoyed this form of simple multiplayer, with no chance of “griefing” as any person you encounter can only help and never hinder.
It’s not the Destination, It’s the Journey
Along the way you complete each section by activating several pillars next to a stone tablet. These conveniently have spots at their base representing the pieces of scarf you can collect in the level, and illuminate for each one picked up. After the pillars are activated, you kneel down in a sense of prayer and get a vision from a much larger figure dressed as you are but in white. These visions represent the only thing that counts as an overarching story for the world and they seem to detail the past that lead to your summoning and eventually what you will have to face in the future, as if ordained by a prophecy that you are carrying out. You also find additional pieces in the forms of wall carvings throughout. I am not entirely sure what all transpired (there is no actual text at all, which I’m sure made localization a breeze), but it seems to suggest that a civilization harnessed some sort of power from the skies that eventually led to their downfall. Obviously somewhat cryptic, but I think it gives it a bit of extra mystery to the strange, wonderful world you are traveling through.
Each segment has a particular game play style, though there isn’t anything drastically different between them. The main thing you do reach the end by navigating through the environment, but there are segments that concentrate more on sliding or flying, and you have to avoid the flying stone monster in some areas which gives it some stealth type gameplay as well. Ultimately, it keeps it different enough that you never really get tired and it is always a new experience. And once you finally reach the end after your 2-3 hour journey, you get transported back to the beginning to experience it all over again (culminating with a list of the people you met along your way). Due to its short length, I would highly recommend experiencing it in a single sitting.
I have to say that I greatly enjoyed my time playing Journey and will likely pick it up again at some point (which is rare for me to do). If nothing else but to gaze at the environments some more or spend a little more time exploring them. Definitely a good place for relaxation and contemplation and I think something that helps expand the realm a little bit of what constitutes electronic entertainment.
Back in the Saddle
So I haven’t updated this blog at all this year, which definitely breaks my goal of posting at least once a month. I had been busy teaching and hadn’t been much in the mood for writing. But I’ve decided to start doing some game reviews for games that I finish, which I think will help me maintain some momentum and will give me something to go back to if I ever want to remember what I liked or didn’t like about a game. Anyway, life has been busy and I’ll try to post a little bit more about what is going on with me as well. So hopefully this place will have a little more life on it soon.
Game Review: Heavy Rain
Interactive Drama
Heavy Rain is the third game from Quantic Dream and the second from their new genre of “Interactive Drama.” Personally I like the idea of Interactive Drama since it puts you in the control of the story as one (or more) of the main characters and your decisions have weight and consequence. I always thought it would be interesting to have “game movies” where you can occupy the characters or bystanders or just are able to move the camera around (though some might argue that we already have this with games like Metal Gear Solid 4) and I think the direction that games like Heavy Rain are going are a better implementation of that idea. However, this all hangs on the premise that you have a good story and believable characters that fit in with the world. And I don’t think Quantic Dream is quite there yet.
*** Warning: As with all my reviews I don’t skimp on the spoilers and discuss any aspect I feel like ***
Indigo Prophecy
Their first genre-defining game was Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit in Europe). This starts off fantastic and sets a lot of the new conventions that they will use, like multiple camera views, when it puts you in control a character who has just murdered someone in the bathroom of a diner. You are now free to do as you please, though chances are that you want to try to clean up the evidence and escape as you get a shot of a cop at the counter who starts meandering slowly to the back where the restrooms are. This begins a frantic race against the clock as he slowly approaches. You eventually get put in control of a detective who is investigating the murder and get to play a fun cat and mouse game where you are in control of both sides. Do you create an accurate police sketch of your other character which might help track him down? How actively do you look for evidence? As the murderer you try and figure out what compelled you to kill the victim in the first place and unravel the mystery.
However, about halfway through the game the plot starts taking a completely unexpected course and veers off into insanity that really ruins the story. Once you start throwing in Mayan cults, rogue AIs, the world freezing over, and your character becoming a zombie of sorts (and then having sex with the detective who was investigating you for murder?) it is really hard to take the game seriously. So I enjoyed the beginning parts and both my wife and I agree that it would be better if it just stuck to the basic murder investigation in the beginning for the duration of the game. And that is what Heavy Rain sets out to do.
You Don’t Always Need to Save the World
I think one of the traps that Indigo Prophecy fell in to is that it wanted an epic story and it seems that in order for games to do that everything needs to be at stake. The problem is that this happens so often where the entire fate of the country/world/galaxy is at stake that it starts to lose meaning. I once joked (and partially designed) a game that would be nothing more than a character trying to get back their one missing shoe precisely because of this tired trope. Just as in other forms of media, you can find tension, excitement, and motivation in the simple and commonplace. I think it might even work better because in order to truly grasp the weight of having an entire world’s fate in your hands you need to truly respect the scope of what that entails. But games generally have you follow a (mostly) linearly path and the NPCs that inhabit the world are generally forgettable so you really don’t have much emotional investment in what happens to the world other than as a basic plot point to drive the story along.
Heavy Rain fixes this by having the characters connected through the actions of a serial murderer named the “Origami Killer” due to the paper arrangements that are left by the victims. No world-saving feats are required in the playing of this game, which addresses my biggest complaint of the previous one. Plus adding the additional muscle of the PS3 to this game really helped give you lifelike characters to convey emotion necessary to get the player invested, but the unintuitive controls made the characters lurch around in directions you didn’t intend and it diminishes the immersion. Lastly, the story still doesn’t quite hold up well under scrutiny and the number of plot holes and inconsistencies throughout still leave a lot to hope for.
Driving a Bus Through
One of the first “twists” that they try to throw at you is that you think that the father you control might actually be the Origami Killer. Or at least that he is acting as a copycat because he finds himself blacking out and waking up in the middle of nowhere holding origami figures in his hands. He is convinced this might be the case since he is so overcome with grief at losing on of his sons that he is subconsciously punishing himself by making himself go through trials in order to find his remaining son, who has gone missing and is presumed in the hands of the Origami Killer. The problem becomes when they never explain the blackouts really (though they could be explained due to head trauma he received earlier) or where he would get his hands on origami in the first place. That plot thread is just left unresolved.
Another interesting twist they have is that you are actually controlling the Origami Killer who is posing as a private detective investigating his own case. The problem with them doing this is that I would imagine most players would play him as a good guy and so take actions to reinforce that belief. The detective also accuses another person of being the killer and goes through the trouble of trying to trying to investigate him when it would make no sense for his character to do so. This appears to be precisely done in order to throw the player off the scent, but makes the story’s revelation that he is the Origami Killer less believable because of it. Also when you get to the final confrontation, I wasn’t able to really accept that the detective would fight to the death (his own in my case) with the cops. Since I played him as a sympathetic character, it would make more sense to me if he ultimately turned himself in since the father successfully completed the trials and the Origami Killer was faced with someone who actually loved his son enough to go through that pain in order to get him back. Especially when the final trial where you drink poison that will kill you in an hour turns out to be benign. But I suppose that is the risk you take when you give control of your characters to someone else.
For more examples of the numerous plot holes check out these articles:
http://www.gamesradar.com/heavy-rains-big-plot-holes/
http://gamewit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/11380/heavy-rain-plot-holes/
One Small Step
I don’t mean to be entirely harsh on Heavy Rain. There were several moments that were done exceptionally well. I think they are definitely on to something here and I am eagerly hoping they release another game in this franchise (and that other games are developed in this style). Some scenes like where you need to chop off a finger are truly horrifying (especially to one who can be a little squeamish at times). The voice acting and expressions are top notch (though now that I am playing LA Noire I’d love to take a look at them again, though I doubt time will permit me to do so). I think it was because everything else was done well that the shortcomings glare out even more. But here is to hoping for a bright future for this genre!
Creating Games Online
Introduction
The web is an exciting place as of late in terms of video games. With exciting new technologies like HTML5 and WebGL coming online and joining cool stuff being done with browsers like Chrome and Firefox (IE always seems to be a few steps behind) with optimizing for Javascript and even running native code from your browser, games are really starting to push to the forefront online even more than before. Previous technologies like Flash and Shockwave used to dominate the scene, but now are on the defensive or largely forgotten. Though Flash is really trying to keep relevant, and with its latest release boasting 3D GPU acceleration support and Unreal and Unity porting their engines over gives that some serious mettle. And recently Google just announced its PlayN library, which gives you a good grounding to build code once and have it work on lots of online platforms.
My Game Projects
Over a year ago I decided that I would make some games in my spare time. I decided on a racing game in homage to Rock and Roll Racing, which is one of my favorite games. I decided that I would use XNA and C# and went about creating some tools and the basics of a game. I admit that I haven’t spent a lot of time on this project as I find that I rather spend the little free time I have either with my family, watching movies, or playing games (and after programming all day, I tend to get a little burned out). Some of my lack of motivation likely also comes with the feeling that I am treading a lot of the same ground that I have before with my normal job and previous hobby projects. Plus having to work in Windows Forms primarily for UI is a bit of a bummer (I didn’t spend much time researching other UI options, I admit). So there hasn’t been a whole lot of progress since I started it.
Accessibility
Part of my thought process with going with XNA (outside of the fact that I get a good game engine to start with) is that it is a technology I have had experience with before and it is tailored towards games. I also have the pipe-dream of finishing a game and possibly playing it on the Xbox360 (which XNA allows with the member subscription) and publishing it in some capacity for my friends (and other people) to play. I am building my tools with the idea that I can release them and other people can build levels or cars or anything else that in the same way that I will for the game. Granted, the chances of people actually doing that are slim, but I think it is good practice and a useful learning tool for myself.
But I find myself thinking that it would be neat if people could check out my work and give feedback (if they are so inclined) while it is in progress. Doing so now would require them to download and install the program, which can be a bit of a pain especially if I need to worry about removing old versions or data. It would be a lot easier if they could just go to a webpage and mess with things there. And if I make the game and tools available online and through a webpage then pretty much anyone on the planet could check it out with ease.
Online Games
So as you can likely guess, I am going to explore the possibility of moving my personal game development online. I think this will be doable since UI is what the web was made for. And with the recent push for more game friendly technologies, I should be able to make simple 2D style games without too much hassle. Here is an example of an XNA sample that I came across that is done in the web browser: XNA-Platformer. This also gives me ample opportunity to try and learn new technologies, though I imagine that will make things take a little longer since I will be new to a lot of this. But I am excited about this idea and I look forward to seeing what I can do to make this happen.
Further Info
On Running (A History)
Foreword
In celebration of achieving a personal goal of running a half marathon in under two hours, I thought I would post up here an old Facebook note (revised and updated) since it seemed appropriate. I’ve written about running before in a previous post, Why I Enjoy Running, that you can also check out.
The Beginning
Running has always been a bit of a love/hate relationship with me. I’m not entirely sure why I first started doing it, my earliest memories were doing one mile fun runs some time in elementary school. I remember that I was always fairly quick whenever we had to run a mile in gym back then (not anything impressive, but usually one of the first few to finish). I joined cross country in 8th grade middle school and decided to stick with it throughout high school. I was usually in the middle to back of the pack, but still managed to finish a couple 5K races in under 20min (my best time was 18:55, which I got on the Manchester course my senior year).
After graduating high school, I went on to college and didn’t do much running anymore. I didn’t join the cross country team, because I wanted to focus more on school and didn’t want to compete at the college level. I instead opted for fencing with my time there in order to stay active and just because hitting people with swords is fun (sadly don’t have the time to continue with it these days). I doubt I really went out and ran more than a few times my first two years in college. The final two years, when I was living off campus, I tried to go out and run more often, but even then it was pretty sporadic.
After College
Moving down to Florida after college led me back to a more sedentary lifestyle. After about a year or so, I decided I needed to work on being more physical. I believe this revelation came after gaining several pounds during the alpha period of the first game I worked on. Let’s just say that pretty much all you can eat buffets being served daily was rather nice for a recently graduated college student (who still hasn’t outgrown the ability to turn down free food). So I splurged a bit and helped myself to my fill of cheap catering. After the realization that probably wasn’t the best course of action, and the fact that there was a world-class gym literally across the street from my work that we got great discounts at, I tried my hand at a decent workout routine. I wasn’t the most consistent (with work being what it is, and now having young children, I never really am), but it was a decent effort. Sadly, in that area at least, I decided that I was done with Florida and was going to move north to Chicago.
I was determined to stick with running upon moving, even though I realize that it is rather tough being in a climate that actually gets a decent amount of snow, ice, and all around cold weather. However, I was moving to a much more urban area so had plenty of residential roads (instead of all the highways I was near in Florida) and living on the side of the lake that didn’t get hit with all the snow, so it wouldn’t be too bad. So I tried my best to get out when I could and run the same mile or so that I was doing down in Florida. And for the most part I was successful. However, I didn’t really have a goal to work towards, so I just went out and did what I felt was good enough and that was the extent of that.
Motivation
It wasn’t until that I started talking with a few of my coworkers who were planning on running in the Chicago marathon that year that I think my running started to actually get some outside motivation. I ran a few times with them, and shortly thereafter my usual running distance jumped to 2-3 miles at a time. I finally had a decent goal to work towards (wasn’t planning on running in the marathon, but it was good to be running with people that were a bit more serious than just by my lonesome).
Shortly afterwards, my dad had a heart attack, and as part of his recovery he decided that he should take up running and was going to do a 5K race in a few months. My father even joked that he was training to beat me. My mom decided to sign up for the 10K and I joined her. This would technically be my longest race ever as the races in high school CC were only 5K. It turned out to be pretty good motivation.
After that was done I planned on doing a half marathon with my ultimate goal of running in the Chicago marathon. My original goal was to run the marathon in 2010, but sadly I didn’t feel that I was ready with with having young children it was difficult to adequately train myself to what I wanted to do. But I stuck with doing the half marathon each year and have finally completed it in under two hours, which was my goal.
Next Steps
I continue to enjoy running and often take my son with me using my jogging stroller. I still have the goal of running in the Chicago marathon and want to get a time under 4:30 (which works out to a ten-minute mile pace). With the kids I find it difficult to run long distances since I need to keep them happy and don’t want to strand my wife with them for too long. But I suppose that my performance in my last race shows that I can still accomplish much as long as I keep my pace and don’t push myself too far. These long races are definitely a test of the mind, just putting one foot in front of the other for many miles, slowing going towards my goals.