Not, in fact, dead April 14, 2009
Posted by Ian in Creative Agenda, Simulationist, Small Idea.add a comment
Nor even taking a break from nerdly endeavors like game design. I’m just quietly trying to put together a game that operates as much as possible within the confines of the game’s fiction, that incorporates ‘mechanical’ elements into the fiction, ideally in a kind of non-disruptive way.
If it keeps shaping up nicely, I’ll start to talk more about it.
Comedy / Romance February 19, 2009
Posted by Ian in Personal Reflection, Small Idea.add a comment
As I toy with what I want to do as a mock-up for Uns, I realize that there are plenty of games that focus on delivering the drama, where drama equates to tragedy and disaster. When I start to think about design, my instincts go in exactly the opposite direction. I want the hope of happily ever after.
It’s kind of obvious, really, but I want a game that does romance, in the Greek Romance sense Bakhtin talks about in The Dialogical Imagination. I want a game where, yes, there are all these occurrences between the story’s beginning and it’s happy ending, but I want the ending to be happy.
I know, it is sort of a simple thing, but I want to affirm it, because it’s easy to lose sight of that, and easier to still to realize that there has to be something in the game that facilitates that. This is where the computer game comparison comes in since plenty of computer games are structured to produce this sense of satisfaction and happily ever after.
Anyway, enough rambling.
Simulation CA and Modules February 6, 2009
Posted by Ian in Creative Agenda, Game Design, Methodological, Simulationist, Small Idea, Theory.add a comment
You’d think there would be cobwebs over here! It seems like forever since the roleplaying mechanics part of my brain has been turned on.
Anyway, there is this little idea that has been tugging at my sleeve, so I figured I would dust off this old blog and post it here. It is a pretty simple one that combines me thinking about module play in light of the recent discussion here about setting and oracles; that old Myst-style of computer play; and my youthful days of playing D&D modules.
