It's time to trust the player. Tell the narrative you want. The player will either be carried along or they won't. It's not a player problem, it's a writing/presentation problem. If you're not confident in your narrative, how can you expect the player to be?

That is the problem with the mainstream game developers and even indie games. They treat the players like idiots. Of course, there will always be those who don't "get it". So what; you can't please everyone.

It's all stylization of one sort or another. We rarely think about the structure of prose, 1st person, 3rd person, etc. As readers, we are exposed to it from a very early age. But like any art, it's an artificial structure that evolved to help make it easier to follow writing. The (not)games form needs developed more when it comes to narrative and character. Prose isn't obvious. Neither is WASD or d-pad and buttons A, B. Or unusual amnesia. These are conventions to make things easier, not just on the author but the player/reader as well.

These "problems" are the same faced in any artform. Especially in scifi and fantasy. Because the settings and situations are unusual, you have two options as a writer: amnesia or extensive exposition early on. There is a third option but it is much more difficult but is much more elegant; ease the reader into the world as you tell the story.

Don't be afraid to lean on cliched conventions if necessary, they are useful tools. Trust yourself and the player.

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It is tempting to force a player to follow a strict, linear path. I know. It's something I've caught myself doing on the game I'm curently working on. Even with more or less freedom movement, I've found myself attempting to direct the player. This is not the way to do things in an open environment. How can one expect players to be intelligent if one treats them like an idiot? Developers have to trust the player. Otherwise, we are simply pandering to the lowest common denominator.

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There goes the game, right in the crapper.

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While Aquin is busy with coding the A.W.E. UI, I've been working on a sort of adventure (not)game utilizing Construct 2. Here's a little teaser animation of the main character:

Yes, she is an uplifted cat in a spacesuit. :)

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Alpha build 0.2 in action!

Shadowcast 05: http://www.indiedb.com/games/awe-alien-worlds-explorer/videos/shadowcast-05

Shadowcast 06: http://www.indiedb.com/games/awe-alien-worlds-explorer/videos/shadowcast-06

If you are wondering where Shadowcasts 1-4 are, they are on a YouTube account I can no longer log into. The videos are still there: http://www.youtube.com/user/shad0wjack/videos

I will eventually re-upload them my new account.

Alien Worlds Explorer is a 2d scifi landscape creation toy for iPad. Users will be able to add, scale, and colour scenery. Animations will bring the landscape to life. Unlockable achievements will include weather effects and other natural phenomena. Coming soon from Ghostwheel Games.

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One of the things that frustrates me in games is dummy machines. You know, things that are just decoration, like machines in a game like Fallout or Doom 3. I'd like to go up to them and push buttons, just to see what happens. But I can't! Of all the 1000s of machines in the virtual world, only one does anything and all it does is open a door. What a lost opportunity. Even if the machine just made a bunch of mechanical gibberish noises and flashed lights at me it would be something to engage in some way. I do have to give Bethesda credit though, their furniture actually does work. One of the great tragedies of the failure of Uru (the online Myst game) was a lost opportunity for engagement. And I'm not talking about the puzzles. In the central multiplayer hub space there was a rock/papper/scissors-like game and balls you could kick around. This could have been a whole new area of MMO interaction. But it was only an afterthought. I like the idea of toys and games inside the virtual world, it's a shame it hasn't been explored in any meaningful way.

Anyway, these are the things interesting to me, not finding the red card key to open the door marked "WARNING DO NOT ENTER!" People have been trained to look for the "bare metal" so to speak. The base mechanics and how to exploit them. The whole problem solving mindset has caused this. Mechanics are the enemy of immersion. The more they intrude the less the virtual world matters.

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Alien Worlds Explorer is a weird combination of inspirations. 1.) Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever". I like the idea of looking into a windows to other places and times. 2.) Colorforms. Those vinyl sticker toys. 3.) Mighty Men and Monster Maker.

I like creative toys. Unfortunately many old analogue creative toys (Lego-type toys aside) are rather limited and the enjoyment shallow. I'm hoping A.W.E. will provide a bit more depth and stimulation. I guess that's the best any toy or game designer can hope for.

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Development updates on "Alien Worlds Explorer", "Zlythy" and "COMA".

Alien Worlds Explorer is a 2d scifi landscape creation toy for iPad. Users will be able to add, scale, and colour scenery. Animations will bring the landscape to life. Unlockable achievements will include weather effects and other natural phenomena. Coming soon from Ghostwheel Games.

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My first game vlog in 18 months. Time lapse of asset creation for my iPad app Alien Worlds Explorer:

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Ghostwheel Games and A.W.E. are now on Mod/Indie DB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/awe-alien-worlds-explorer

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I got the first proper alpha code from Aquin for Alien Worlds Explorer! We have colour and landscape randomization as well as dragging and scaling. Look for video when the new website launches. This is being developed on Windows but it's all OpenGL so it should be easy to port to just about any platform.

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Posterous has been a great platform but it's time for ghostwheelgames.com to move to a "traditional" web host. This will be happening very soon and I will reveal details on the iOS toy/game Aquin and I have been working on. I occasionally drop a link to an image now and then on my Twitter account so head on over to @shanesemler and follow me if you want to get sneak peeks before the big reveal.

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Heading for GDC Europe Indie Summit today! I'll also be checking out the Notgames Fest at the Cologne Game Lab: bit.ly/qbCLlQ

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WIP asset screenshot for an iOS Zlythy demo:

The models are low poly and the texture low res by necessity. The iPad seems to be able to do 3d graphics of about PS2/Gamecube generation quality. Which isn't a bad thing at all but it's something that you have to keep in mind when developing for the platform.

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I've been working on some new Zlythy concepts. You know how art is, soooooo - it's not going to be black and white anymore. It's just to gloomy. I'm in a different place now and that look no longer reflects how I feel. Here they are:

See the full gallery on Posterous

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I realized how poorly death is dealt with in games.

I've just had the most depressing gaming experience in my life. I've been playing Fallout: New Vegas. Early in the game you can talk townsfolk into fending off a gang of bandits. Because it's early in the game, you haven't built your character up very high and you are lacking money and equipment. Unless you have the perfect character build and even if you kill all the bandits and survive, a bunch of the villagers die. Including several main NPCs which I personally had became fond of. Normally this wouldn't be too big of a deal. It’s a game. It’s a bunch of digital puppets. It’s not real. But the AI doesn't deal with the aftermath, no one comes to mourn or bury the dead.

I didn’t want to leave the bodies all over the street, especially because I would likely be visiting the town again. So I moved all the bodies. Probably a dozen or so. I dragged them out of town and "buried" them with crates and barrels. I realized that this was similar to what it would actually be like to drag away your friends and family to be buried after a violence incident. You couldn’t just leave dead bodies all over the streets. No one would do that. In reality, you’d have to move them and arrange funerals. And if that wasn’t an option, if you were very poor, you’d likely be burying them yourself. Burying these digital puppets was starting to feel a little too real.

In fact, it was incredibly depressing.

I’m not saying every game should try to run players through an emotional wringer. But, no one has even tried, unless you count Modern Warfare 2’s notorious “No Russian” mission. But that’s a blip. In all the death an destruction wrought in games, that is the best (worst?) developers can do? This is a big missed opportunity and a massive hole in the argument for “games as art.” The developers of the Fallout series had an opportunity to make a statement about life and death. It wouldn’t have to be over the top and melodramatic, it could have simply been friends crying and behaviours built in to mourn and bury the dead. They blew it.

It’s all fine and good to be a hero. And hell, it’s even fun in games. But in reality, playing a hero, doing the right thing or even the necessary thing, when violence is a likely outcome, can have awful consequences. There is mourning, there are emotional breakdowns, there are people scarred for life and there are faces you will never see again. Except when you are carrying them away to be buried. And unlike a game, you don’t get to just shut it off and walk away.

Games have a lot of growing up to do.

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Here it is, my first (not)game. There's not much to it. It was a learning exercise more than anything. Windows only. Get it here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2929782/Install-hmiad_v1.0.zip

Now that I'm done with that, I'll get back to work on Zlythy.

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Here's a non-Shadowjack instrumental piece I've been working off and on for a while now. I know it's an uninspired title but I can't think of a better one. I have no clue what to do with it. Anyway, here it is for your listening enjoyment! :)

Storm.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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