The indie scene is hardly a new thing. In fact the Indie scene was prevalent and thriving during the early 80’s. When games where being designed for early computers they were often simple games created by individuals at home. This is because there were hardly any game developing companies at the time and people were beginning to experiment and have fun with new technology.

They were distributed through magazines and “micro fairs” which were essentially trading fairs for designers to meet their player base and sell their games directly.
Shops never sold games at the time. You could either mail-order them programme them yourself or buy the tapes from the developers.

At the beginning of the 80’s there was an emergence of DIY attitude within society and people were experimenting with creating their own things. People were experimenting with home computing and the simplicity of the script language at the time meant that game development was quite accessible.

Jeff Minter is an Indie developer who started creating independent games commercially in 1981. He created games such “Attack of the Mutant Camels” and “Hover Bovver.” He has recently been working Polybius a shooting/ racing game that was released on Playstation in 2017. In 2014 he was working on something he called the “minotaur project” in which he would design games for IOS but in an old console style. This project unfortunately was an overall net loss but led Minter to the creation of Polybius.

Indie is far from new it would be fairer to say that it was the ignition for video games and due to online gaming markets that opened the accessibility for developers, is only recently making a comeback.

The development of mobile phone apps and online software such as steam has meant that Indie developers have a better chance at competing with large scale game companies. In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of available indie games on the market. I think that the term Indie has become partially meaningless as it no longer applies to any game that is created independently. Indie has also become a style, a label.

I do not think Indie is completely meaningless as the term still applies to games that are independently created. On the other hand Indie is often a trendy term used by indie developers to help aid sales. Mainstream games often try to mimic indie game style to cash in on the indie movement. I also think that due to mass influx of Indie games on the market in such a short amount of time has created varied meanings of the word Indie. It can be a style, a descriptor or literally a buzzword used to get people excited.

Sources

http://tig.wikia.com/wiki/History_of_Independent_Games

http://www.minotaurproject.co.uk/frontpage.php

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=jeff+minter&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBGB771GB771&oq=jeff+minter&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1536j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Game Concepts and narratives are often used in everyday life. Some of the best would be in Ice breakers and training for new jobs placements. Our brains are great at learning guidelines and rules if presented to us in the medium of a game.

I used to work in Waitrose and when training we often had pick your own adventure style training sessions. We were presented a situation and asked to respond appropriately. This was a great way to learn the policies and procedures of the company without any boring talks or meetings. The interaction was key in this instance. The use of games in this way also meant that people who are easily distracted or have a hard time reading and absorbing a lot of information could learn these rules quickly and easily.

Games are often used to assist in the forming of a group. When people are presented with a fun challenge they tend to bond together quickly and have fun. This means that they can each show their skills in a “safe” game environment with no consequence for failure.
With the invention of social media the gamification of the world became easier. Things like the Fitbit introduce a competitive, level based game into people lives and helps to motivate them to work out more to beat their friend’s score. This is known as Behavioural gamification, when a game is created with the intent to change people’s behaviour, another example of this is Pokémon GO which aimed to get people walking. Even in an app such as “Waze” (a popular social media sat nav) there is a level system and notification system. It actively rewards drivers for being part of the community and driving safely.

Games are not only used to entertain but also to recruit people. The U.S. Army has been using a “Virtual Army Experience” to facilitate the recruitment of new soldiers. Application forms now often feature multiple choice questions so that people can feel as though they are in a situation whilst answering.

Gamification is also used to facilitate change in the world. In 2009 a game was released by the University of Washington called “FoldIt.” This was an online puzzle game involving protein folding and uses a puzzle type interface to allow people from all over the world to manipulate and figure out various protein structures. Due to people competing with each other and a massive 240,000 player base the solution of the structure for M-PMV (Mason-Pfizer monkey virus: an AIDS causing virus) was found in 8 days. The game utilized people’s puzzle solving skills and did something in 8 days that scientists had been trying for 15 years.

In conclusion I feel that game concepts and interactive narratives are now a key part of modern learning styles and for a good reason. Games are an intuitive and fun way of learning new information and skills. They are also extremely important in a social aspect. They are used to get people to socialise and make daunting tasks seem more manageable.

Sources

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.701.4161&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Top 10 Social Gamification Examples that will Literally Save the World

Click to access gamification.pdf

A) Choose one of the indie designers / developers and outline why there work and approach is of interest to you.

Minecraft, the second bestselling game of all time, started life as a simple indie game being developed by one man. Over the last seven years the game has continued to grow in features and popularity, but I believe part of its success was down to the way it was developed and shared in the community during the earlier stages of development.

I have been playing Minecraft and following its development process for many years now and I was always interested in how open the developers were. For the most part, they stuck to a cycle in which each week they would release a snapshot of the upcoming update that would feature some of the new things they had been working on. By doing this it gave players an extremely steady and frequent stream of new content to try out on a regular basis; complimenting the creative and explorative nature of Minecraft. So of course, more content means players stick around and eventually the player base just keeps growing and growing. As well as this, by using a weekly release format, Mojang were be able to take in feedback from the community then adapt and cater to the community’s desires. As a devoted player I always looked forward to what was going to be added to Minecraft each week and, through means such as YouTube and social media, was able to keep track of each snapshot. This method of development would not work for most games, but I think for Minecraft it was vital in contributing to its long-term success.

Minecraft

B)  What do you think could be the most exciting indie projects that are in development

Earlier this year during E3, I sat through a rather dull and generic Microsoft press conference livestream only to be absolutely blown away by a minute-long trailer for an indie game. While the Xbox team were busy shouting “4K” at the world, I was left in awe at one of the most visually unique and beautiful games I had ever seen. This game is called ‘The Last Night’ and it is currently in development for a 2018 release by Odd Tales. The Last Night excites me for many reasons, the first being that it is pixel art – excellently hand drawn, highly detailed pixel art. The first glimpse of this game tells you how much effort is going into it and how passionate the artists and designers are. However, the quality of the art style doesn’t stop there; the 2D sprites of the world are generated in a 3D environment to emphasise depth and make use of incredible lighting and shaders. Another aspect that caught my eye was the cyberpunk setting; I love this sub-genre of science fiction, but it has been played out a few times. I am intrigued to see what direction Odd Tales can take this narrative in to make it unique and engaging. At the end of the press conference, The Last Night was only game to make me truly consider buying an Xbox One – it was an extremely convincing argument.

The Last Night

Sources:

https://www.polygon.com/2017/2/27/14755644/minecraft-sales-122m-copies

The Last Night on Xbox One – 4K Trailer

The Last Night: The Journey to One of the Most Beautiful Games of E3 – IGN First

https://minecraft.net/en-us/?ref=m

http://oddtales.net/

Laura Neal
09/11/2017
Question Pair No. 5:
A) Behavioural modelling is an important part of NPC development for games. Should emotive modelling be part of that development?
B) Consider your favourite video game. If it contains AI controlled agents, how individualistic are they as well as their behaviours? How might you set about improving them?
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Artificial Intelligence or A.I, similar to most current technology, is constantly evolving. It is a prospect that frightens a large sum of people and gives the media a lot of material to write about. This is due to the connection between how the media loves to fear monger and the reactions people have once they notice what is being written and said.

I do not claim to have a lot of knowledge of this subject, being much more of a games designer primarily concerned with character design rather than the programming element of the medium. This does not mean I am ignorant of A.I’s progression in gaming as I can see how it is changing the experience for players.                                                                                                          I may have witnessed first-hand several pieces of rudimentary A.I from games I have already played, but I think the best example of encountering evolving A.I I have had is through ‘Quick, Draw!‘, an online experiment initiated by Google to discover whether a neural network can recognise doodles by humans. You, as the user, are first told what to draw, and are then given twenty seconds to quickly sketch the item. Although this is not technically a game, it is still very interesting to see whether the network recognises what you are trying to draw and if not, see what it thinks an item should look like.

This brings us onto the topic at hand, whether emotive modelling should be part of NPC development in gaming. It is very noticeable that as games evolve, they are ultimately changed to make everything within them as realistic as possible for the player. With the technology currently accessible, a lot of this realism is due to the growing involvement of A.I. Games should, as much as possible, be realistic and by this, I do not mean that they shouldn’t contain magic or paranormal abilities, but that they should stay with the rules they set out initially. Emotive modelling can only make games better in this context of realism. As an example, ‘Detroit: Become Human’ is an upcoming game that tries to establish an emotional connection between the player and the events within the game, making it much more of an immersive experience.

Personally, it is difficult to consider my ‘favourite’ video game. I admit to having a select few which are the best I’ve ever played, and all have their own reasons for being so. However, one of them is the second instalment of the ‘Legend of Spyro‘ series: ‘The Eternal Night‘.
Firstly, we must take into account the fact that this game was released for the PlayStation 2, which may well have been a long way from the launch of video games in general, but here was still a certain limit to what the game’s technology could accomplish. I have noticed that several larger enemies follow the same fighting code as previous, smaller ones. This does make their combat somewhat predictable at times, and less of a challenge is presented as a result.

Laura Neal
02/11/2017
Question Pair No. 4:

A) Select one game of your interest. Explain whether it has good or bad game UI.
B) Discuss how technology augments human abilities. Reflect upon the implications of the future of H.C.I.
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Human Computer Interaction, or H.C.I, is simply how human beings interact with computers and vice versa. These studies are being conducted throughout universities and research centres in order to improve general computer use in all its forms, from laptops and desktops to heavy machinery in the workplace. In the case of using heavy machinery, Fitt’s Law is sometimes applied to make machinery safer. If a stop button has a larger surface area than a start button, the probability is that it will be easier to hit the stop button in an emergency. These investigations ultimately lead to such results as fewer workplace accidents, higher productivity and more accessibility for the disabled.

These experiments of course encompass gaming and heavily influence how the player feels about a game. If it is rendered hard-to-use computer-wise, it is not likely that the player will have fond memories looking back. There must be some form of technical connection between human and game in order for the game to succeed. Today, I will be discussing a game I have previously touched on: ‘Façade‘, (2005) which I am only revisiting because it is such a good example of how humans can and do interact with technology.

Although we are not discussing the overall gameplay of ‘Façade‘, it is a game far from perfect. Amongst other flaws, walls can sometimes be walked through and the two main characters have broken walking cycles. I mention these flaws because although the user interface is not ‘bad’, it is certainly built only for one purpose; interacting with Grace and Trip. The interface in question is a cursor at the bottom of the screen, into which the player can type any words they choose. There are no problems with this, as the cursor performs its function well. However, if the user chooses to type something Trip feels is inappropriate, he will walk over and personally remove the player from the flat before slamming the door in their face. The interesting part about this is that the player can either type something they know Trip will either like or dislike any point during the game. Some users have been found to evade or escape Trip when he chases after the them by walking through the wall. However, Trip can also sink through the wall in pursuit.

Ultimately, the user interface for ‘Façade‘ is only present so the player can communicate with the couple. As I have mentioned before, there is no clear objective. What is known is the situation of Grace and Trip’s turbulent and troubled relationship. All the player needs to do is witness what the two say and decide whether to make the situation better or worse. There are multiple endings, one of which resulting in the user being extracted from the apartment, another being either Grace or Trip leaving the apartment and thus ending their relationship or what could be considered the ‘preferred’ ending of the two asking the user politely to leave whilst they fix their broken marriage.

Laura Neal
26/10/2017
Question Pair No. 3:
> A) Choose one of the indie designers / developers and outline why their work and approach is of interest to you.
> B) What do you think could be the most exciting indie projects already in development?
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Unlike interactive narrative, I have not explored ‘indie’ games in depth. Before my research began, I always considered them a smaller branch of Games Design. However, as I began to investigate them, I realised that they have been a large part of gaming for a considerable amount of time. In this entry, I will be looking into a game that, until very recently, I had never heard of. I must note that I am surprised of this, as there is lots of varied material surrounding this game including interviews and a documentary called ‘Thank you For Playing’. This will mainly be an examination into the ideas and meanings behind ‘That Dragon, Cancer‘ by Ryan and Amy Green.

‘That Dragon, Cancer‘ is an incredibly gentle yet extremely poignant exploration game driven by the experiences and memories parents Ryan and Amy Green had of their dying son Joel. He lived a short life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer at a year old.

The game, which lasts two hours if played all the way through at once, takes the player through a series of innocent ‘activities’ with Joel, such as feeding ducks, visiting playgrounds, exploring large, beautiful woods and playing at home. It also focuses on the darker, more emotional times of the family such as visiting hospitals, seeing Joel receive his treatment and at times, witnessing the personal thoughts and feelings of both parents. As dialogue from the game is heard, pleasant white writing appears and as the player explores in-game areas, a very large collection of sound bytes can be heard. These are in the form of an almost physical ‘flashback’ of Ryan and Amy remembering their son. This is due to the decision to include sound bytes from real-life of Joel’s voice and laughter, Ryan and Amy’s own voices as they interact with him and the voices of doctors and various other people involved with both Joel’s treatment and personal life. They also included conversation about how ill Joel had become and what symptoms he was showing. These were incorporated within the game to properly simulate interactions with the young boy.

Personally, my interest in this game was due to its handling of its tragic nature. It would of course be natural to question why one would create a game based around such a morbid subject, but Ryan Green has expressed several times that he wanted to “…create a space…” to talk about the subject and added that once his son was gone from him, so were the moments. Within the game, the moments remain forever.

Another main reason for my interest is the decision to tell the story of their son by game; a medium which has only recently prospered. This could be due to Ryan and Amy’s wish to have as many people experience memories of their son with them.

‘That Dragon, Cancer‘ takes a truly tragic subject but deals with it extremely well by reflecting the positive of Joel’s short life rather than the overwhelming negative.

Explain the Grid System & its relation to the Golden Ratio

The grid system is a way of laying out text & illustrations on a (generally) 2D grid in order to make the design look aligned and “in conformity with objective and functional criteria” (Müller-Brockmann, J, 1981). The grid system would be used by many different designers including web designers, architects, typographers but also designers that you wouldn’t expect such as exhibition hosts and shop merchandisers. They would use the grid system to position product in an aesthetic way. Josef Muller-Brockmann’s book “The Grid System in graphic design” also states that items aligned in a grid system “will not only be read more quickly and easily, but the information will be better understood”. This shows us that there is also a mental reason as to why we prefer seeing items placed aligned to a ‘grid’ and not placed randomly.

This relates to the golden ratio as this is also a grid-based design system that is used to position text, images, diagrams, etc in a proportion that is considered ‘perfect’ or ‘divine’. The golden ratio is used a lot in design for architecture, logo/icon design, and illustration.

Demonstrate examples of this in game UI, UX, and design

Most video game UI follows this principle of a grid-based system as this makes the game UI visually appealing to the player, as well as giving the player an organized and structured view to the game UI. If this is not the case, the player might have difficulty finding information on the screen, such as controls, HUD, settings menu etc.

When thinking about games that use the grid system well, I feel that Civilisation V is a good example of this.

http://www.ericsbinaryworld.com/2010/09/21/civilization-v-first-thoughts-part-2

The game has a lot of information on the screen which can help the player see what is going on with their Civilisation without having to look through menus or remember hotkeys. We can also see that a lot of the information falls on to a grid, where things are the same size such as icons and warnings.  We can see that the yellow circles on the right are all the same size and that are equally spaced away from each other and from the boundary of the screen. We can also relate this back to Müller-Brockmann the designer organizes his elements “in conformity with objective and functional criteria”. We can see that the designer has created this UI with an objective in mind as everything in the UI is placed in a way that the player can easily read and all information that isn’t directly visible is visible after pressing a button in the UI. Müller-Brockmann also said that items aligned in a grid system will be “read more quickly” which the designer of this UI has followed this principle as stated previously, the elements of this UI are easy to read and key information is placed in a way that the player can visibly notice at a glance.

Bibliography
Müller-Brockmann, J. (1981). Grid systems in graphic design.

A) select one example to outline the key concepts of human-computer interaction. Reflect upon the role of the “human”, the “computer” and the “interaction”.

The main concept for Human Computer Interaction is design. The interface of the machine must be simple and easy to use in order for it to be efficient and thus successful. You can “design better interfaces from the start by knowing human limitations and easing the load on the user” (Anon, 2017). A complex and hard to use interface merely leaves the user unable to grasp and understand how the machine can be of use, and how it functions.  Design is within the physical layout of the computer as well as its programming and its layout. For instance when it comes to a laptop, its design must be appealing to the user. If the keyboard keys for example were shuffled and changed around then it would be less efficient for its users, interaction is about efficiency, the more complex it is to interact with the less efficient it is.

The human has the job to learn the functions, the tools, and the layout of the computer in order for it to have a maximized efficiency, if a designer relocated the keys on a keyboard it would be more complex and different to what the human may previously had remembered on other designs. Therefore it is crucial for designers to consider past adaptations, and use such examples to make a product as easy to use as possible. Though regardless the human has the role of being able to learn and remember how their inputs achieve desired outputs. For example one could easily learn that by interacting with the interface and pressing ‘Ctrl’ + ‘C’ on the keyboard that a highlighted image or text on screen has been copied.

(Source: https://www.quietpc.com/matias-quiet-pro-keyboards)

The role of the Computer is very simple, it must remember what inputs create which outputs and must be quick and efficient at producing the desired demands of the human. However,  although the computer has an important role, if it is poorly designed , then it may not be a successful product. “Interaction is about Efficiency” (Peter Kottas, 2017)

(333 Words)

B) discuss the relationship between games design and human-computer interaction