What's the Happy-hap?
VFS and money complications. Pray that if this is where God wants me, it'll happen.Awhile back I commented on Tylor’s article Race and Gaming over at The Restless Ones. I thought perhaps I’d write in a little bit more detail what I brought up.
It’s pretty obvious that white males are the norm in video games.
The obvious question is why. Perhaps a majority of gamers are white. Perhaps most of the game designers are white. While these may or may not be true, I think the problem goes a little deeper. Perhaps it’s because white people don’t care.
My point is this, white people are also often the villains as well and no matter how depraved they are, nobody speaks out against it. Nobody says “Hey, you’re not portraying white people in a good light.”
Now that being said this is not an excuse to not use other races within games, I’m just trying to point out that game designers tread on a very slippery slope when adding other races to games. It shouldn’t be that way but it is. The problem? Voices from two very different camps. Lets explore them.
MTV Multiplayer interviews N’Gai Crowl and one of the main topics is portraying black people (and other minorities as well) in video games. Cole Train from the Gears of War series is brought up. I have to admit that 
Cole Train was my favorite character of the series since he brings some brevity and smiles to an otherwise incredibly grim world inhabited by some very dull and stoic characters. But they’re marines…what did we expect?
Now this is where we run into trouble. Over at Kotaku they interview Fergus Mills who has a problem with his avatar because even though it’s black, it has white body language. There are others too (not in this article) that Louis from Left 4 Dead is too white washed for a black guy. THIS is the problem. Game designers hear from two different camps, each one verbally asking for the polar opposite of the other.
Because of this I think game designers are very wary to use other races within their games (or gays, transgenders, etc.), instead playing safe with white characters. Can you blame them? What we need is to not be so vocal about other race characters unless they truly are a racist portrayal.
Tikyle says it the best over at The Koalition, when talking about Valve’s decision to place Left 4 Dead 2 in New Orleans.
How is it racist either way? Insensitive….maybe? But racist? I mean what major city could you set the game in and black people wouldn’t be in it? Hell if you set the game in any major US city and no black people were in it that would be racist.
Let’s leave the term ‘racist’ for things that are truly racist. A videogame with a white guy in black face or a black character shuckin’ and jivin’……that’s racist. A game set in a black or urban community with zombies…..not remotely racist. Just like RE5 how the hell you gonna have zombies in an African village and most of them NOT be black? People are going overboard with this racist shit.
In other words the less of a big deal we make race in games, the more free game designers will be to explore different races within games. And I think we can all agree that that’s better for everyone.
Because it’s damn time a Samoan saved the world and got the the princess…or prince. 
In my last post I shared my absolute frustration with the online gameplay of Halo 3, but by no means is Bungie the only ones that allow griefers to run free (I’m looking at you Valve). Let us not focus on the negative, for that was yesterday. Today I want to talk about what makes Halo so great.
Freedom: The halo games have always allowed a great amount of freedom. They give you a world to run though and you get to choose how you get there. This is, I think, one of the most pivotal designs of the Halo game that makes it so great, and yet few people copy this model. While you are restricted to how high you can jump, their system in play still allows for a great range of emotion. The more ways you give a player to pass or conquer an object, the more the player will like the game. Why do designers punish players who when there is only one answer to a puzzle? The more openings there are to completing the task, the better the player feels beating it your their way.
An example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbBw7g8r_Fw
See how the player, in order to get an achievement, thinks outside of the box in order to sidestep the enemy. This sort of play doesn’t have to become “breaking” the game. (unlike Left 4 Dead survival…which I sometimes think was a secret way for the community to find all the bugs on the maps so Valve wouldn’t have to)
What also allows for a great amount of freedom are the various guns. The weapons don’t need hokey two types of firing. Instead they expand upon what the weapon can do. For instance the gun most seen is the plasma pistol (and most used by the weakest of the Covenant in campaign) . In most games the pistol quickly becomes obsolete. In Halo however the plasma pistol can take out an enemy shield in out hit. For me that means one hit to Brute with plasma pistol and shot to their now soft cranium with my regular pistol. Down in two counts. The gun can also stop vehicles dead for a few moments. Again, empower the player but do so through simplicity.
Artificial Intelligence: It’s hard to mention Halo and not talk about the amazing AI. Even back in Halo 1 the AI was great. I feel like I’ve shared this link before but here it is again just in case. http://aigamedev.com/open/reviews/halo-ai/
Here they show you some of their tips to making the AI better. Read them because they are very clever. What’s great about the AI is it is always different. I can run into a room and have a big battle, only to die, and retry and have a totally different experience. The great appeal of playing online games is having other humans to fight against, because humans are not bound by logic and a human will always surprise you.
Solidity: I don’t know if this will make sense to others but I’ll try my best to explain it. The world, vehicles, and characters in Halo are solid. In other words everything interacts. If I jump into a banshee (the flying purple thing) and fly down, I can run over an enemy, which will send him flying (as opposed to a death animation).
Example, my friend and I were playing Halo together the other night and while were driving around in the warthog, a guy shot us with a brute shot (explosive). The impact of the explosion pushed our warthog over the edge of the cliff and we fell. We couldn’t stop laughing as we tried to jump out in time.
I’m always disappointed in games when things don’t react as they should. I’m aware that because of restrictions a designer cannot make everything interact (and I’m perfectly fine with that…though all the doors in games you can’t go through get annoying) but they can put some meat to their creations. Another example, a lot of World of Warcraft is hollow and when I say this I mean characters, player, and that sort, not the gameplay. You can run through other people and it works for that game but in action games especially, all the characters need some substance.
That’s about it for now. I could write more but you know all the other reasons the games are great. I think I’ll stick with writing about a few of the overlooked ones. Till next time…
I recently bought Halo ODST. Money being tight and me having to pay for master’s classes, I didn’t expect to play it right away but the promise of playing with my friends got me going and I bought. For the most part I am entirely glad I did.
After playing some of the campaign game (which I’ll talk about in a moment) I put in the second disk which allows you to play with all the maps on Halo 3 Multiplayer. It had been over a year since I played it, mostly because I had sold my 360 to pay for classes but also because I wasn’t a huge fan. Now by all accounts I should be a fan because the Halo games are games that I continue to come back to. But the designers on Halo have decided to stick with some fundamental and crippling game flaws that ruin the multiplayer experience.
Dbags and teabags- “You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” I feel the same way as Obiwan when I play Halo multiplayer. The community I have experienced are comprised almost entirely of griefers and trash talkers. I can handle the trash talking to an extent because I can mute them but why on earth is there friendly fire?! I’m sorry but there just is no excuse for it. The designers might be going for a more realistic approach to fighting but instead have created a threshold that keeps many people from playing their game (at least online).
Case in point. When I bought ODST I tried some online maps. My first map I was a bit rusty but still managed to get the enemy flag. As I ran it back to our base a few of my team members covered me which I thought was awesome…and then…one of MY team members stuck me with a grenade and took my flag. WTF?! I waited for a kick command to show up, but no such thing. So in essence when I decide to play as a team I am punished for doing so. I’m sorry but that is garbage. I will NEVER play Halo multiplayer again unless it is just with friends. Between the rampant team killing (for flags, weapons, or sometimes just the hell of it) and all the teen trash talking, it is not worth it on any degree.
What makes this pseudo middle finger from Bungie to the players who follow the rules is not only do we not reap the rewards, but the multiplayer could be fixed incredibly by one simple game fix. GET RID OF FRIENDLY FIRE. If hurting team members was gone I wouldn’t have to worry about some random schmuck killing me for a better gun. I’d be able to play with the team and not feel like the outcast for being courteous. It’s safe to say until they fix this within Halo multiplayer I’m going to keep away from it like the plague…or the Flood…your choice.
Its that flaw that destroys the game for me (though I’ll be playing Firefight with my friends). Not for some nitpicky stuff that doesn’t need explanation.
Nitpick
- AI in ODST is flawed when it comes to sneaking. They know exactly where you are and on Legendary anticipate when you are behind them which makes the fragility and stealth part of ODST not work
- in ODST most of the game is either too light or too dark for visor, making the game
- in ODST Bungie opts to have invisible barriers for a lot of the climbable areas as opposed to the freedom they give you in all the other Halo games
Of course I don’t want to leave on a sour note. The next post will be on all the things Halo gets right, and there’s a good amount
While listening to Michael Abbot (Brainy Gamer) and his guests for the Summer of Confabs and doodling (I’m somewhat of a habitual multitasker) one of the guests (Chris Dahlen and Manveer Heir) or Michael were talking about The Path. Though I haven’t played this game myself, they talked about the subtext of the game and how the story doesn’t always spell out for you what happens but might imply it.
I had just recently finished a master’s class in postmodernism (The Death of the Novel, Crash, The Crying of Lot 49, and Slaughter-House Five were the books we focused on), an era in literature where the story almost never means what you are reading and instead focuses on an entire subtext story that the reader has to go digging for. It was hard work and proved to be very difficult if you did not know the context of the time and thoughts of the author of the era these books were written in.
Now both of these moments got me thinking, well what about video games? Can games every have a dynamic subtext that brings across something much deeper then what is seen and played? But more importantly, can mainstream games (with video game projects costing millions of dollars) achieve such?
I’m not entirely sure to be honest. My first thoughts were that games in this era (unless a smaller affair or put on by independent designers and developers) is just not possible. With such a demand for mainstream games it would seem these same mainstream games cannot afford to travel too far away from “what works”. However that doesn’t mean those of us looking for more are totally starved.
Bioshock made such a big impact on players because of this subtext (and because it was so accessible). The gameplay wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t great either. But the world, writing, and subtext of power, corruption, and choice were incredibly strong. Besides that blockbuster I can’t think of many others, but perhaps I haven’t been looking hard enough.
If you have any games that you think meet the criteria go ahead and leave me a comment. It would be great discussing what exactly some of us players are looking for.
Until then I suppose playing various Independent games (which are getting more popular and bold, because of their shying away from the mainstream) will have to do. Along with The Path mentioned up top there is Braid. I’m afraid I haven’t played much else but feel free to suggest something.
I want to start this article with a story…the story of a little alien named Tiny Tim.
Our friend Tiny Tim
I have always been sympathetic to my teammates in video games. If we’re all in the fight together then that means nobody gets left behind. On many occasions I have come across my friends killing their comrades in arms for anything as low as they needed more ammo to the shear novelty of it. On these occasions I have asked them to stop and if they continue I stop playing. It sounds a bit ridiculous but when I’m engaging a form of storytelling (books, graphic novels, movies, games, etc.) I have a rich imagination and completely immerse myself within the story. Therefore when I see “my” friends being needlessly slaughtered I simply won’t stand for it. There has been a great many times I have died over and over again to make sure a friend survived the battle. Tiny Tim is one of those stories.
My friend and I were playing Halo 2 some years back. As the Arbiter and his nameless friend we fought the Brutes, decimating their forces. While fighting I came across a grunt who joined the battle. Being so small and cute I deemed him Tiny Tim (his true name unspeakable in human tongue). My friend and I played each section of the level dozens and dozens of times making sure Tiny Tim would stay alive. We even gave him the most powerful gun (the fuel rod cannon I think is what it’s called) and we, the three of us, crushed our opposition. However most times we would see our brave battle brethren Tiny Tim fall in the battle, having very little armor. Sometimes he would kill himself, the fuel rod cannon proving to powerful for such twitchy trigger fingers. Other times we were so engrossed within the moment of the battle we would bask at the mountains of dead bodies we had produces, only to find Tiny Tim had at some point joined them.
We fought and fought and fought. Until eventually Tiny Tim survived and we completed the level. Our feelings of accomplishment had been great. We had one, but more importantly, we (my friend, myself, and another nameless meat fodder grunt) had survived, working together through thick and thin to make sure we would one day return to our families.
* * * * *
I began with the story of Tiny Tim not because it amuses me or because we were able to make something deeper out of nothing. I tell this story because we have, in the gaming community, seen countless of nameless soldiers die…and for the most part we don’t care. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but could we drive the immersion deeper and farther by trying to get the player to care about his comrades? A definite yes! Below I want to explore just a few ways we could go about this.
BRAVE OR RECKLESS?: Most allies you meet within shooters and action games are nothing more than bodies to give the illusion of a bigger battle. The other service these nameless men, women, and strange creatures fill is that of meat shield. Don’t know what a meat shield is? It’s basically a sack of meat (in this case a human) used to distract that machine gun nest. In other words they are created to die. Now I don’t want to get into a huge philosophical debate over the nihilism about these meat shields, but I do want to point out the reckless abandon to which these characters will throw themselves. Like Tiny Tim these characters often throw themselves against impossible odds. Brave? Hardly. Insane? You bet!
POSSIBLE FIX: Instead of loading these characters on PCP and letting them die by the score full perhaps we could design them to engage various threats differently. Most just shoot, some vying to go melee despite fighting a monster six times their size with a chain gun. Lets use Halo as an example.
The marines in Halo are just a little more effective than grunts. They drop down in a level to help you for about three minutes, which ends in all of them being dead and Master Chief carrying on. Wouldn’t it feel better if the marines knew they were taking on too large a threat and they cheer you on as their champion? “Go get em’ Master Chief.” “Wipe that smug smile off his face.” “Kick his ass!” They all go for cover while you kill the threat.
If you fall during battle they respond. “No…not a spartan.” “It can’t be.” “I’ll kill you for that you !$@#.” Perhaps one of them is so angry he charges in trying to avenge you. Another might check to see if you really are gone. One marine hides, not wanting to die.
Now imagine killing the stronger alien. They praise you, shooting into the air, hootin’ and hollerin’. “You did it!” “Sure showed him.” “That’s how Spartans do it!” This would lead the player into a much deeper sense of immersion. They are linked to their battle buddies. If they are victorious they reap the cheers of their friends. If they fail they realize how much their life and effectiveness affects the team. You grow as a team, a unit. Instead of being one unstoppable soldier you become something more. No longer a group of men you are almost one being. Sure their would be players that don’t care but I think you would find more players retrying certain sections of the levels, trying to make sure their squad makes it out, together.This is perfect for Halo because the game has an amazing save system (which I wish more games utilized) that saves a different chunks that aren’t too frustrating to play over and still offer enough time to go back and make sure you really look out for the battle buddy that fell.
Want to make it even more heart-wrenching? Add some backstory to these characters. Lets explore…
CLONE WARS: As I played Arkham Asylum it became distracting how there seemed to be only two guard skins (in other words they all look the same). I understand that there’s a limitation within a game and making mass copy versions of marines is easier. But seeing the same guy over and over again breaks the immersion. Instead the player begins to see them as not real (related to the other characters). How can you expect the player to care about the other characters (his allies) if they look like a bunch of clones and have no names or no story?
POTENTIAL FIX: As Arkham Asylum did so well, there were a great many character bios. The player was not forced to read them, it served as an added extra for those players that were looking for more. What if we added not only individual personalities and skins to the battle buddies, but we also gave them some backstory? How about a quick bio delving into their story some more. Through these stories you could come to realize why they fight and what they have to return home to. It could even explain the way they fight.
The Colonel is a long time marine who lost his family in the war some thirty years back. He’s brash and the first to charge but he’s effective when not out manned. Then there is Garret. He hopes to see his son and daughter after his service ending in the next month. He is often more reserved when fighting but is very sneaky when it comes to subterfuge. The bios would be longer than that but that’s just a taste. Now these characters could spread their backstory even further within the various levels. Even just quick voice over when moving in a momentary non-hostile area.
After an intense firefight, the squad moves in to check for ammunition and supplies before they move out over the next crater.
The Colonel: “Hey Garret, you heard from that peach of a wife of yours?”
Garret: “Ya, she tells me Celeste lost her first tooth yesterday.
The Colonel: “No kidding.”
Garret: “I can’t wait to get back and see those big brown eyes of hers. I’m gonna take them all to the beach, we haven’t done that in-”
The Colonel: “Cut the chatter. We have enemy hostiles inbound.”
That whole dialogue took only a few moments of down time within the game and I think (when built upon the bios and more talking between the soldiers) will lead to a greater investment in your team, instead of paying them no mind. What if at some point (and not bound by an in game cinematic like the end of Call of Duty 4), you get to a save point but its nigh impossible to save one of your team members? You’ve played over and over again and can’t save everybody. What if you had to choose? As the leader you need to decide what the acceptable loss is. The lone Colonel who is a better fighter or Garret who has a family back home.
These kind of moments (especially with the random chance of battle as opposed to a scenario programmed into the game) elevate the pathos within the game, and greater pathos almost always leads to greater immersion. Greater immersion leads to an overall better gaming experience. I think these are just a couple of many things that can be done, and I don’t think they are out of the realm of possibility. The amount of voice over recorded for Arkham Asylum was massive (and incredible ta boot!), so the added dialogue can be done, and the short bios are not particularly hard.
If players are going to pay a good sized wad of cash, we should make sure that we are delivering the best entertainment and immersion for their dollar. And sometimes this better entertainment isn’t better graphics but something as simple on building what we already have.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Okay here’s a quick review of Arkham Asylum. Why quick? One, I have a little free time and I want to enjoy it but more importantly (the game is incredible).
check the very bottom for a short synopsis
First off this is one of the best action games I’ve played in awhile. What makes the game even sweeter is its a game based off an IP and it doesn’t fall short of what it is based upon. Anybody out there play any other batman games? How many of them were fun? Most of them (an dalmost any game made after a movie or show) are pretty bad quality wise, but Arkham Asylum puts to rest that stigma.
The mechanic of the game (picking off thugs one by one) really works well. You actually feel like you’re batman and not playing some Splinter Cell or MGS clone. Watching the thugs begin to lose their confidence as I (Batman) take them out. Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill, just as brilliant as the cartoon show of the 90’s but a bit more sinister) calls through the PA system to remind the thugs that they should check to see if everyone is there, often berating them at the same time or flat out telling the thugs he hopes they lose.
The story of being stuck inside a mental health institution (which is nothing like the real thing but who minds?) with some of the craziest people is a blast. All the Batman characters you know and love are here (for the most part) except they have a darker tone to them. I remember succinctly the Riddler telling the famous riddle “What has four legs at birth, two legs in life, and three legs near death.” When the psychologist retorts with the usual answer (a human) he tells her she got it wrong. It’s a baby with its legs sawed off. When the psychiatrist tells him that’s horrible he replies “Well it’s not my baby.” The darker tone was welcome and not too over the top (as portrayed in the movies).
Unfortunately not a huge amount of Batman villains are met, most are heard through various tapings of their shrink sessions.
The Riddler is never seen but he sets up little collectible games in which you can to solve (if you want to). I never do extra collection quests but the puzzles were actually fun, made easier by a map that told you a general location the riddle’s answer was at. On top of all that, they opened challenges you could play, either fighting multiple inmates in several rounds or a round where you hunt them down like a predator.
So overall it is totally worth your time and money. Now I only have one big complaint, the rest are very small nitpicky stuff.
- The huge let down of the game were the boss fights. I don’t want to give any of the surprise boss fights away but be aware that in beating the first boss you have learned to beat every other boss in the game. Sure a few things will change between them but they are small. It also gets very annoying when you’re trying to fight the boss and half a dozen lackeys run in to fight you as well. It’s not so much fun as it is annoying.
With a game that got almost everything right (which is incredibly hard for any game) it was disappointing to see the boss fights (especially with such epic villains) fall flat on itself and take away from the game.
Okay now to mention a couple lifts and tummy tucks here and there:
- More varying bad guys please. There were in the entire game only two types of “henchman”. There are the inmates who often dress in clown makeup, and the full on crazies. Sure the inmates can pick up guns, pipes, and knives but it gets old pretty quick.
- the art style leaves something to be desired. It was too grimy and the textures were odd. Batman looked good but other characters (especially the Joker, his picture above this article) seemed out of place.
- the Scarecrow experience was amazing but instead of embracing the experience (an almost nod or passing of the torch from Psycho Mantis of MGS) you do these platform levels. They were boring, enough said.
- does every character need a six pack? I mean really? EVERYBODY has a six pack
- The enemies reacting to being hit felt strange and took away from the moment. People don’t cradle their head like that when hit, especially when hit somewhere other than the head. Those animations could have been a lot better.
Okay, so here’s the breakdown:\
Well done!
- voice acting, writing, game design, all around great game.
Meh
- boss fights, aesthetic choices
Consensus
- Go buy it!
One of the hardest parts of writing for a good many authors are making characters, especially ones that stick out and are not cliche. Without the right characters to motivate the writer or come up with the plot, a story can easily crash before it has started. I want to share just a couple of tips I currently use to make the process easier and ultimately more fun for yourself (the writer).
Don’t Be Afraid to Borrow Character Analysis: Now that I’ve written that I’ve got to give what I’ve just told you a huge preface. I am not talking about copying your character outright. That’s just reprehensible and lazy. What I am saying is don’t be afraid to read/watch/play your favorite characters and sit down, contemplating what it is you like about them. Is it the way they act? The way they dress? Is it the quips they come up with? The ability to break down a character is an important skill that all writers should know. Lets go through an example.
Darth Maul is a character that I think was beloved by most Star Wars fans. So lets break down just a couple reasons why he is seen as so cool or intriguing.
- his face resembles that of a skull like war paint
- he has a two sided lightsaber (something unseen in the story till now)
- he’s much more nimble and fierce than Vader or the Emperor
- because his face is visible we get a good look at how angry he is when he fights
- barely speaking at all gives us (the viewers) the thought that he’s a raging tempest about to blow
Okay so that was just a few. Now when coming up with your characters don’t be afraid to pick something from this that you find interesting and add it to your own character. Another example, it would be a wise choice not to make another clown super villain as the Joker form Batman has already got the corner marked and your chances of creating a more memorable character (who has already been worked on by several great writers) is pretty slim. That doesn’t mean your character can’t make jokes while he or she fights. Perhaps that don’t take fighting seriously at all. Everybody else is fighting to survive but perhaps this character fights because they think its fun. Cool trait, totally new character.
The Questionnaire: When I was doing theater in highschool and college the directors would often give us character questions, in an attempt to build our character. I never felt they helped my acting and always did them in a great hurry. However I think character questions are a great way to learn more about your character. If you can visualize your character (assuming you’ve come up with some details about them) or even pretend to be them and fill out a sheet of character questions, by the end you will be surprised at how much more in depth you know your character.
You can make your own character questions if you choose. They are all over the internet. Here’s one by Beth Kinderman and Nikki Walker. It’s 100 questions long but gives a great look at your character.
http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/100questions.html
Instead of just answering the questions, try writing as the character. Write answers the way the character would answer. Now I know some of the questions are repetitive and some have nothing to do with your character. Instead of this being a bad thing, make it a good thing. One character I wrote for was a relaxed bad guy who didn’t care for people much. Instead of answering some of the questions outright he would mock the “interviewer” and sometimes even threaten them. While another character I wrote was a good guy but liked being mysterious and kept to himself. Sometimes he wouldn’t answer the question at all. Other times he would ask if he could skip that one. The whole point of this is exercise is so you know your character more. As you go through the questions you’ll continue to build upon them, making them deeper and deeper. Hopefully by the end you have a major better grasp on the character. I’ve even come up with storylines, backstory, and what not from this exercise.
Make Thespis Proud: Another tool for the writer, which I have found almost essential, is acting. I’ve done theater my entire life and still keep my hand in it when I can. It’s not my passion but it is a love of mine. My favorite part by far (because I don’t really care so much for doing the performance, especially a bunch of times) is coming up with the character. All the little nuances and ticks they have. The way they speak. With acting you learn to make choices for your character, defining how the character acts but even more importantly doing theater allows you to live the part. Think of who your character is and what makes them the way they are. If you can act try thinking or even physically becoming that character. How do they walk? How do they talk? How do they act to people they know? People they don’t? If you can become the character, the writing of said character is made all the more easier. You don’t need to make stuff up. Simply delve into that character with your imagination and see what they do. It’s much easier than you think. As writers we tend to imprint a little bit of ourselves with the characters we make. So somewhere inside that magical toad the size of a barn, who is terrorizing the kingdom because he has not been given his sacrifice…is a little part of you, the writer. It sounds weird but it’s totally true. Not only will acting make character creation sharper but it will also help with improvisation (coming up with ideas…good ones…on the fly). This skill is good for any walk of life, so get out there and try your hand at it.
Sit and Watch the Show: Okay this is going to sound crazy unless you’re a writer who has experienced this. But a well thought out characters dictate the story to you. Sure you have to watch that the story is not sporadic and adheres to the rules of literature and storytelling, but for the most part you are just a casual observer that documents what the characters are going through. You see, if you know your characters and have a decent imagination, you can visualize what the characters are doing. Lets look at an example.
I have done extensive work on my characters and flushed them out, and with the help of a questionnaire (what we worked on above) I have made Mr. A and Mrs. B. Now all I need is to think of some context for them. How about they are downtown. Because of my time with the characters I know Mr. A is mute (as in he can’t make sounds with his voice). He has been watching this woman across from his work (you guessed it, Mrs. B) who works at the fruit stand. All day long she cuts exotic fruit on the hot summer days for people passing by willing to pay. At the end of work Mr. A has reservations about telling her he likes her, mostly because he can’t say it. While trying to work up the nerve to talk to her Mr. A sees her cross the street. Afraid of blowing his chance he begins to pursue but she does not see the car barreling down the street. He yells out to her but she cannot hear. She is hit and he runs over her.
Know what happens next? I do because I know how Mr. A would react to such a situation. Storytelling isn’t always this collosal guessing game, trying to move puzzle pieces into places that don’t always fit. Instead of the frusturating puzzle approach spend more time working on your characters. I can almost promise you that the writing of your story will be much smoother.
PS. Mrs. B ends up okay and they eventually get married.
Draw it Out!: Another tool I find essential to almost every character I have ever made (and there’s a lot) is drawing them out on one of my notebooks. My notebooks serve as a sort of epicenter for ideas and drawings. They are what I carry with me in my backpack so when I have a few free minutes I can open it and write ideas as they come to me. Each notebook has several story ideas within them. And never be afraid to rehash (change) your idea. Most my story ideas change multiple times before coming to fruition.
Now some authors will be abject to drawing out their characters. “But I’m writing a novel, I don’t need to draw them”. True in a novel you don’t need pictures and your readers will probably never see these drawings, but you have to describe the character don’t you? The more you know the character (including the way the look, which greatly dictates the way they are and act) the easier the writing process is. I’m not a horrible drawer but I’m certainly not great. It takes me 45 minutes to make an okay drawing and my friend 2 minutes to make something ten times better. Does that matter? For writing, no! This exercise is just for you the writer. There’s no need to show others your drawings if you don’t want to (I don’t usually unless I’m working with an artist on a graphic novel).
Well that’s about it for now. Hope you can use these tool and exercises to help your writing. If you have any other helpful tools and what not don’t be afraid to leave a comment. The more helpful advice the better. Better writers = better stories = happy consumers = you get to keep writing and not go back to bagging groceries, or in my case being Big Bird from Sesame St. at Sea World.
Why is it that most game genres continue to build upon themselves, fixing the sections that don’t work, while RPGs continue in the same pitfalls that started the genre? It’s ridiculous and RPGs are hurting because of it. RPGs used to hold a special place in my heart because they were one of the few game genres that actually had a story to care about. Now most games need this to draw the player in. RPGs, instead of acknowledging that times, they are a changing, have continued with their tired stories of when RPGs first came out, simply repackaged.
I want to go over several rules or guidelines that RPGs should take into deep consideration before creating another mindless clone.
* * * RPG KEYSTONES * * *
1. No More Amnesia: The list for RPGs (and games in general) that use this tired excuse for bringing the player in is beyond overdone. It’s tiresome, weak, and pretty boring. If you’re a halfway decent writer I’m sure you can come up with something way better.
2. No Turn based combat: While I’m sure there are a fair amount of die hard fans that would argue against this, the fact remains that most players want a game that flows, hence why action and first person shooters are so popular. As the player we want to be in control of our party and character. Why the hell wouldn’t my character move out of the way of some terrible beam the boss is about to shoot at me? Random numbers determining whether I hit the boss is lame. My ability should be measured on my skill, not mathematics. Take a page from Bioshock, Fable, Fable II, the Tales series (though they aren’t much better), and the various Kingdom Hearts games. Turn based gameplay is, like the dinosaurs, dead and gone. Stop living in the past like John Hammond and move on!
3. No Mindless Grinding: When we play games, we more often than not play them as escapism, to leave the world we live behind and be someone else for awhile. What we don’t want is what we get in real life. There’s a reason they call work the daily grind. So why on earth would I want to grind levels in a game I’m playing?!?! It’s absolute madness. Does it make the game longer? Oh sure, by a lot. Is that time being well spent? Goodness no! If you want the player to grind so they can beat some uber dragon who is more powerful than the end boss and who is hidden unless you find the four glowing fruit baskets scattered throughout the world…you know what, go for it. Because the people likely to play that optional boss who has no storyline purpose are the same people that will probably grind. But for the rest of us…the majority…don’t force us to grind. The game should level up just fine as you progress. Some notable examples being Fable, Kingdom Hearts, and Super Mario RPG. Never when playing these games did I feel I needed to fight endless monsters so I could beat the next boss. This causes interruptions for the story and for the gamer, retracting them from their immersion…a big “no no” in games.
4. No More Cliche: Sweet molasses, if there is a series who founds itself completely on cliches, it’s RPGs. Why? I suppose those in power don’t want to put in the time to try something else, fearing it might not do well. Why must our main character almost always be this youth with undying hope and determination? Why must our last boss have more than three forms, each progressive one adding more wings?
Just to show a few...
There are enough character types out there to make more interesting characters (I’m looking at you especially JRPGs).
5. No More Forced Exposition: While story is one of the reason I play RPGs, that doesn’t mean everybody wants it. There should always…ALWAYS, be a skip the dialogue button. Especially…ESPECIALLY when we have to sit through it multiple times. Example, I was recently playing through Tales of Vesperia. I kept fighting this boss and losing, which is fine, but forcing me to go through the same cutscenes and dialogues just before the battle…inexcusable! Here are some super easy fixes. 1) Have a button to skip all the exposition we’ve already heard. 2) Let the game have multiple saves (one before the battle), that way if I want to just fight again, I can. If I feel I need to change things around I can go to the other save. Making a player sit through the same cutscenes when being continuously beaten is just adding salt to the wound.
We know, we know. Now stfu and let us fight the boss.
6. No More Random Battles: This lends itself to grinding and adds nothing to the story. Worst of all it is absolutely frustrating when trying to get somewhere. The very least you can do is make the monster visible when we’re trying to travel along the map. Oh and lvl 2 creatures shouldn’t even bother fighting us at level 75. Its just a waste of time. Doing random battles is like if our current medicine bled people like they did in the medieval times (doing more harm than good).
* * * That’s it for now. If I think of more I’ll add them * * *
My last post I wrote briefly how a little mini game of TF2 zombies would be fun. I made some pictures in Garry’s Mod just for the fun of it.
Scout L4D Hunter anybody?
TF2 Balancing for Next Update
As an avid player of TF2 I thought I would try my hand at some possible balancing fixes for the next update to the game. If you have something substantial to bring to the discussion then by all means comment. If you want to offer no solutions and just flame and troll, please do so elsewhere. J
SPY
SPY Update#1: The recent update made it so the engineer can hit either of their teleports to knock off the sapper. Now I understand the plus side of it because if you are able to sap it all the way, they lose both. This however isn’t conducive to the spy play style. Most engineers protect their machines with a very watchful eye (exit). Opposing players are pouring into the entrances. It was effective for a spy to sap the entrance because it broke up the flow of the enemy’s reinforcements. Now if the spy can’t get near the engineer’s mini-base (often protected by other classes, if the team is working well together) the spy must stand at the entrance and continuing sapping hoping that within the time is takes to continually sap, a opposing team member won’t come to the entrance and notice the spy blatantly sapping it. This has overall made the spy even less effective against engineers (which are supposed to be his bread and butter…no? well besides heavies). I often used the strategy of sapping an entrance and if the engineer decided to leave his base, then was the time to attack his mini-base. Now it makes more sense for the spy to destroy the teleporter with his gun because that stops the flow of opposing team members outright (at least till the engi goes and builds another one). Thus making the sapper somewhat pointless.
Some possible fixes to this could be:
- Rollback: change the sapper back to the way it was before the Classless Update
- New Sapper: Instead of the spy having infinite sapper, make the sapper into a onetime use item (like the Razorback, non-rechargeable). When set this sapper cannot be lifted and it will destroy whatever engineer part it was placed upon. This will cause the spy to decide where their sapper would be best placed to better benefit their team. This is great for engineers too because for those that already protect their units madly (as a good engineer does) then the engineer will be ready for any upcoming players, regardless of what team they may appear to be on.
- New Sapper #2: The same as sapper #1 (one use) except instead of being destroyed outright the sapper will destroy the parts except for the gun. Instead if placed on the gun it will stop it from firing for an allotted amount of time (5 seconds perhaps…not sure). That way the spy can be helpful by “sapping” the turret (using his one sapper) but it will hopefully buy his team enough time to launch an offensive on the gun. This will of course require coordination and teamwork…but isn’t that what TF2 is all about?
SPY Update #2: Another fix about the spy that might be worthwhile is playing with the noises his various watches make. Each makes a distinctive noise when coming out of cloaking. On a server with people that have played this game for a solid amount of time, the sound is unmistakable and often ruins an otherwise good stab.
Some possible fixes for this might be:
- Invisi Watch: A few updates back this was made to recharge when picking up ammo. I would drop that (because getting way behind enemy lines is what cloak and dagger is for). Now the trade off would be that the watch would no longer make a sound (to the opposing players) when coming out of it. This means if a spy wants to be effective with this watch he must always be in the fray, stabbing right behind the front lines. Great risk but also great rewards.
- Cloak and Dagger: This watch is all about sneaking behind enemy lines and either disrupting engineers, getting those pesky snipers, to getting the back lines of the opposing team running off to the front lines, causing panic amongst the team and hopefully catching attention so the front lines thin out, giving an opportunity for your team to push through with less resistance. Because this watch is about getting behind enemy lines I think it would be beneficial to lessen the sound. There’s nothing worse than sneaking all the way across a map (barely evading several enemy groups) when you’re about to stab that pesky sniper and he hears you decloak and the next thing you know you’ve got a kuriki through your head. It too would lessen the sound (or just no sound at all). But with every great thing must come a negative. Instead the cloak and dagger would take a few more moments to decloak than the other two watches. (not sure on specific times yet) This gives the opposing team a moment or two longer to check their back before being backstabbed, perfect for a watch for behind enemy lines spies (taking out snipers, engi installations, etc.)
Dead Ringer: I’m not sure much needs to be changed with this item. If there is perhaps the sound of coming out could be damped a bit. It’s like an alarm going off. Overall though I think it’s pretty good. You get the ability to avoid significant damage but your chances of stabbing are much harder. I’m no good at it and are not sure how to use it but I’ve seen other spies really use this well. Chasing the same damn spy for a few minutes was a perfect plan to keep us distracted.
DEMOMAN
DEMOMAN Update: The demoman is a great class. Perhaps too good. For quite some time he has been able to explode his stickies in mid air. This essentially makes him much more versatile and better than the soldier. Instead I think stickies should be made to explode only when they have touched the ground. This balances out the class so the soldier is more effective as well and the demo isn’t such an unstoppable force. The stickies are perfect for laying defensive traps and when attacking (if they have to land to explode) they make great “walls” that stop the other team from rushing in.
SCOUT
SCOUT Update: Before this last update it seemed the scout was very rarely effective. Too frail to last on the front lines. However after the classless update he seems much more effective. If I could change one thing it would be his pistol ammo. The engineer has 200+ shots. The scout has (don’t quote me on this) around 36. The pistol is perfect for scouts when they can’t get close (which their other two weapons need to be to work effectively). The pistol does little damage so I think upping the scouts ammo so he can use the pistol more would be most beneficial. Perhaps half what the engi has?
Bonk Update: The update to the scout bat was a welcome addition since it seemed that very few scouts were using it. Another of the scouts items that needs updating is the bonk soda. It simply is rarely used (at least on the servers on frequent). I understand its use and if used effectively it can be used to distract turrets or even to guard fellow team members. However this does not score you any points on the scoreboard, and if you’re on a server that kick the lowest scoring player, you most likely won’t end up using it. Either bonk should change or the point awarding system for it should change. If changing the points perhaps the scout could get a point for however much X damage is done while bonk is initiated. This will make bonk effective for a support type scout and give him some points for defending his friends. If that is not ideal then perhaps bonk should be changed. Here some random ideas for it:
BONK alternative #1: When using bonk it will cause the scout to take greatly decreased damage, and a turret’s pushback would be greatly decreased as well (and cannot cap or take intel while on). He runs the same speed but is not able to fire at all during this allotted time. This would help the scout being able to run past a defense and run to a point or even to get behind enemy lines (though somewhat damaged) in order to attack opposing players trying to get to the front lines.
BONK alternative #2: Have the bonk do exactly what it does right now but put more emphasis on it distracting turrets. Scout runs out, yells something cocky “Look at me!”. Now while bonk is being used the closest sentry will automatically home in on him, distracting it for the time bonk lasts. This would give the scout’s team some time to try and attack the turret, and the scout has to hope his team destroys the turret before his bonk wears out, or he’s toast. It would only distract one turret so as not to be too overpowered. Should the scout run out of firing range, the sentry will ignore him. If that sentry is destroyed while distracted by his bonk the scout gets 2 points. (get this poor fella some points!)
PYRO
PYRO Update: The pyro is pretty good all around (thanks to an update long ago). However that backburner is lacking in effectiveness. Often I’m right behind someone and it doesn’t register the crits. Instead it might be easier (especially since pyros can unlock that axe that does insane damage to people on fire) if the backburner (perhaps with a name change) did the same damage but like the flare, keeps people on fire much longer. So no extra damage upfront but should the enemy try and run away (and be lacking in attentive medics) they are more likely to die. These pyros would be perfect for hunting spies and people who are far off from their medic. If this is too much then here are a few other ideas that can be mixed and matched:
- perhaps it has a longer reach than the regular flamethrower (in exchange for having no air blast). Perfect for warding off offensive attackers.
- shorter reach but it does minicrits while the flame is on the enemy (no minicrits when running away on fire).
- fix the back crits issue?
- shoots out gusts of flame (around 16 shots). These reach father than the flamethrower but do little damage on the forefront. Instead while on fire the enemy takes significant damage (minicrits, reg crits?)
HEAVY
HEAVY Update: The heavy is pretty awesome all around. However seeing them use Natascha (the gun that slows down the attacker in exchange for doing less damage) is a rare sight. I’ve had several medics refuse to heal me because they deem it horrible. Horrible or not the weapon could use an update to make it more appealing.
Natascha: Instead of making the 25% less damage here are a list of other negative side effects for choosing it:
- No crits
- less life (25…50?)
- no secondary (shotgun, sandvich)
- slower startup (to make it fire)
- less range (but better closer range)
Well that’s about it. If you read it all the way through, you’re a saint. If you have any alterations, suggestions, thoughts, ideas, let me hear them. Just be respectful in doing so.
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PS. The new losing team animations, besides just being hilarious (especially running away and slowed down) are just begging for a zombie game. Especially when their eyes are pure white. And the scout scrunched up in the fetal position…Left 4 Dead witch? That might be fun. J
Perhaps I’ll post some ideas for a zombie mini game later on.
