Achieving "Rooot" and Meaning
polycounter lvl 18
Usually I'm creating production artwork and recently, I have felt the anguish from what I can only describe as a slow burn. The industry folk call it burning out. It had definitely been affecting my productivity. After a long tired nothing period, I picked up the Wacom yesterday and better still, just for the purpose of creating for pure enjoyment and nothing else.
I don't have the fortitude required to be a real game designer, but it looks fun, doesn't it? I'll admit, I attempt to do something creative in the area every now and again without official permissions. Not being a know-everything, myself, it requires some bravery in humility.
What I made yesterday I named Broken Game Ideas. They have a certain special significance to me, representing again finding my smile and standing balanced. I'm partially hopeful, that with some more iteration, they may become something more.
More directly, these represent generalized game ideas and try to introduce game element ideas and concepts visually. In the past, I've downloaded game design document templates, opened them and starting pluggin in my information but usually would stop halfway through, if that. Reading back through the info I'd type, I wouldn't even have a clear idea of what I wanted to describe and would get discouraged, again and again. I have attempted a good amount of times, and will most likely never be able to fully create one. I tend to think differently, being an artist all my life, and using a visual approach felt to be much most natural and less daunting for drafting game ideas.
The first incomplete game concept I call, "Rooot". With an extra "o" in the name, just for the hell of it. The idea all spawns from my desire to play a Hacking Game. This, coupled with the an idea, to push the risk and punishment of the game, so far, as enabling the a game to effect your hardware, by powering down your Monitor or PC, or even further, corrupting game files, forcing you to have to reinstall a portion of the game. I would want this to be understood by the player. My thinking is that this would create a greater sense of reward and this is what I associate with a hack. Granted, it might really suck if it happened to you, but to successfully do it to someone else? That'd be pretty awesome if you were able to achieve it.
*Uploading Virus to User* ...
"User: Disconnected"
All this within a controlled environment. That, in my mind, would be fun! So, with these ideas in mind, I intentionally allowed the specific realities of computer hacking fall to the wayside. I don't want to be researching hack techniques, famous hackers, or reading white papers on the subject, I want to be creating something, so I allowed my ignorance to influence the creation.
I made some honest attempts to add reasonable associations, although sometimes I'd make obscure relationships between the elements within the stew I've made (Such is the nature of day dreaming), but it was still fun and that's all that mattered.
I came to a stopping point where I ceased to be to bloat the elements anymore than I already had left much to be explained. It was that familiar feeling I'd get from not finishing a game design document.
Once done, I had the need to show a particular friend of mine who tends to get excited with creative concepts like these. I wanted to leave him to interperate the meaning, in the hopes he'd reasonably be able to fill the voids.
He was excited to try. His validation prompted me to doodle another. I had the idea of designing a game of the after-life. It could teach people about the religions of the world, taking all their believes' as truth and attempt to tie them together into a coherent vision. I thought it would work as a great idea for an MMO. This spurred by my annoyance of a common approach for MMO's in that they usually use a popular Intelligent Property. Using this approach is obviously a smarter thing to do with one's investment, but I'm only day dreaming. Recently, I've been listening to college lectures regarding the understood history of the Big Bang and it's theories. Based off these thoughts, the second incomplete game idea I created I called, "Supreme"
In showing my friend this new one, he felt he had a good direction for it. I'm excited to see what he is able to create and will share his results if, in fact, they become a reality.
I hope you've enjoyed my playful musings. Feel free to share your interpretation of my Broken Game Ideas if you feel so inclined.
I don't have the fortitude required to be a real game designer, but it looks fun, doesn't it? I'll admit, I attempt to do something creative in the area every now and again without official permissions. Not being a know-everything, myself, it requires some bravery in humility.
What I made yesterday I named Broken Game Ideas. They have a certain special significance to me, representing again finding my smile and standing balanced. I'm partially hopeful, that with some more iteration, they may become something more.
More directly, these represent generalized game ideas and try to introduce game element ideas and concepts visually. In the past, I've downloaded game design document templates, opened them and starting pluggin in my information but usually would stop halfway through, if that. Reading back through the info I'd type, I wouldn't even have a clear idea of what I wanted to describe and would get discouraged, again and again. I have attempted a good amount of times, and will most likely never be able to fully create one. I tend to think differently, being an artist all my life, and using a visual approach felt to be much most natural and less daunting for drafting game ideas.
The first incomplete game concept I call, "Rooot". With an extra "o" in the name, just for the hell of it. The idea all spawns from my desire to play a Hacking Game. This, coupled with the an idea, to push the risk and punishment of the game, so far, as enabling the a game to effect your hardware, by powering down your Monitor or PC, or even further, corrupting game files, forcing you to have to reinstall a portion of the game. I would want this to be understood by the player. My thinking is that this would create a greater sense of reward and this is what I associate with a hack. Granted, it might really suck if it happened to you, but to successfully do it to someone else? That'd be pretty awesome if you were able to achieve it.
*Uploading Virus to User* ...
"User: Disconnected"
All this within a controlled environment. That, in my mind, would be fun! So, with these ideas in mind, I intentionally allowed the specific realities of computer hacking fall to the wayside. I don't want to be researching hack techniques, famous hackers, or reading white papers on the subject, I want to be creating something, so I allowed my ignorance to influence the creation.
I made some honest attempts to add reasonable associations, although sometimes I'd make obscure relationships between the elements within the stew I've made (Such is the nature of day dreaming), but it was still fun and that's all that mattered.
I came to a stopping point where I ceased to be to bloat the elements anymore than I already had left much to be explained. It was that familiar feeling I'd get from not finishing a game design document.
Once done, I had the need to show a particular friend of mine who tends to get excited with creative concepts like these. I wanted to leave him to interperate the meaning, in the hopes he'd reasonably be able to fill the voids.
He was excited to try. His validation prompted me to doodle another. I had the idea of designing a game of the after-life. It could teach people about the religions of the world, taking all their believes' as truth and attempt to tie them together into a coherent vision. I thought it would work as a great idea for an MMO. This spurred by my annoyance of a common approach for MMO's in that they usually use a popular Intelligent Property. Using this approach is obviously a smarter thing to do with one's investment, but I'm only day dreaming. Recently, I've been listening to college lectures regarding the understood history of the Big Bang and it's theories. Based off these thoughts, the second incomplete game idea I created I called, "Supreme"
In showing my friend this new one, he felt he had a good direction for it. I'm excited to see what he is able to create and will share his results if, in fact, they become a reality.
I hope you've enjoyed my playful musings. Feel free to share your interpretation of my Broken Game Ideas if you feel so inclined.
Replies
I wonder if with the last idea, it doesnt have to be about specific religions, but the player takes on a role and simply by the choices they make they recreate their own religion? Maybe it would actually help people play together without the instant 'this is my territory' mindset that might occur from setting down boundaries- people might work together and when they log off, it suddenly clicks how that applies in the real world.. dunno
edit: that kind of happened to me in medal of honor actually. playing as a russian soldier, watching comerads get mown down and just praying to survive- and the sobering realisation that this actually happened, people really saw what I'm seeing.. a much more literal lesson but very striking, and it gave me a much better appreciation of the horror than any history lesson
either way it was nice to hear some ideas, especially some that one might consider fun.
I'm not sure how many would try the hacking game if it could cause real problems with the pc but if it was all controlled (maybe just shutting the 'game' down itself, or the game could have a virtual pc being used in it?) it sounds like it has potential.
nice musings.
This would be way cooler.
Well, right, this was the original idea. I didn't explain any of this to the friend I'm hoping will define the meaning of the game ideas. I just showed them to him and said, "They're broken game ideas. Can you fix them?" I don't expect my original intentions to fully be realized at all.
The natural life of filling up and describing a system is by actually using it. That is what Jon Blow does with his experimental games, and the result is something like Braid. I think if you play Braid it is obvious that many of the individual puzzles came from experimentation with, and within, the rules.
Successful games also always have really strong details. Even the smallest aspects become important. These images I think get across a lot of detail really easily.