Warframe Co-op Part 5

I finally got around to uploading part 5 of the Warframe Let's Play my brother and I were recording. This time, with two friends!

Words

A word cloud for this blog, created with http://www.wordle.net/.

I kinda want to do one for my site now.

Quick Update

This is just a quick update on some new stuff I've been working on.

Real-time Non-Eucldiean Raytracer

Short Demo

Level Editor

Ray-tracer Experiment

I was experimenting in PyGame, and I created a simple raytracer based off of this video. I'm glad how it looks, although I wan't to test it out in GLSL to see if I can create a real-time ray-tracing engine. The ultimate goal is to be able to render non-euclidean space interactively - something not possible with rasterization. The end result would ideally be something like this.

In the same way that Fez and Portal challenge notions of space, It would be cool to have a game that takes place in R'lyeh - described in The Call of Cthulhu as non-euclidean and alien in nature. What would it actually be like to explore the resting place of Cthulhu? With computers, its actually possible to visualize and experience what Lovecraft described as "all wrong."

I also made a quick fractal test. It never ceases to amaze me how something so intricate could arise from a few simple rule definitions.

Update

I was able to create a real-time ray-tracing demo with GLSL - it runs surprisingly well. Next up, I need to figure out how meshes are going to be loaded and rendered, and how the game will be structured.

Generic MMO - The Quest for Grinding

I recently started playing a few MMO's, specifically the original Guild Wars, and World of Warcraft. I made a basic game to represent my frustrations, and serve as commentary on perceived design tropes in the MMO genre.

It's a very simple game with no actual goal ending - you just keep on grinding. Use right-click to move and attack. The further you move from the spawn point, the stronger and larger enemies become. The game auto-saves your current level and experience.

Download

I Want My Rollercoasters to Have Plots

How does one tell a story? Oral recounting, of course, represents one format. Performance Art? Music? Poetry? All these forms of storytelling have one aspect in common – they constitute direct depictions of events and emotions of the author of the work, to be read and understood by an audience.

But more “indirect” forms of storytelling exist. These forms tell the story of an environment through clues and hints, making the audience participate in its articulation. These types force the reader to exercise creativity and become a detective - such stories rely on the induction of the player. These works aren’t read, watched, heard, or played – they’re experienced.

Perfect Example: The Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios Los Angeles. Anyone who’s ridden on it knows exactly the meaning of this rant. Although the ride is most certainly a roller coaster (splashes, drops, etc.), the ride strives to be a much more memorable experience. Through voice clips, recreated scenery, and strategically placed items (ponchos, wires sparking, etc), the ride tells the story of a trip gone wrong through a theme park. After a dinosaur derails the ride and sends it off course, riders are nearly crushed by cars and pipes, squirted at, and directed into the Environmental Systems Building. Learning that the life support systems are failing, the ride narrowly escapes through the emergency evacuation exit, just as a T-Rex lunges at them.

The story in this ride is not “told” explicitly like it would be in any other medium. Instead the story happens, and It’s up to those on the ride to actually piece together the cohesive picture of the entire event.

It takes a special kind of storyteller to recount events indirectly - to create a sort of puzzle with clues and hints intended to be pieced together.

Rides With Plots:

Plot of the Jurassic Park Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park:_The_Ride_(Universal_Studios_Hollywood)#Ride-through

Plot of the Revenge of the Mummy Ride at Universal Studios Florida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Mummy_(Universal_Studios_Florida)#Summary

The Perfect Game Engine

Does not exist... Like any craft, designers need to learn the limitations and strengths of every tool they use - and consequently, how each tool fits into the production pipeline. Once all the technicalities are dispensed with and interfaces internalized, only then can deliberate and intentional artistic vision begin to shine through.

But sometimes a tool can just "click." As in, the tool itself conforms to your way of thinking. Maybe it was made by someone like you. Maybe you made the tool. Those tools can be enjoyable to use and efficient. But those tools are nearly impossible to make.

Or at least that's my perspective on the subject.

A much more well documented tool design concept is the trade-off between flexibility and complexity. By sacrificing features and flexibility, the tool can become much easier too use. This is because, when strict guidelines are imposed, more parts of the process can be automated, and interfaces can become more intuitive as excess options and possibilities are removed. Official game editors tend to resemble this.

But that restricts creativity and innovation.

As more options are added, more and more burden is placed on the creator to handle the complexity of the environment. Because so many different combinations and single-use cases can occur, the designer is tasked with performing what could be automated in a simple system. Licensed game engines tend to be like this.

In my opinion, the Creation Kit does an excellent job of balancing both parts of this spectrum. Limiting itself to modifying existing archetypes in Skyrim, it still allows for a remarkable amount of flexibility and scripting in quests, item design, and location creation. Simple modifications are extremely easy to form, while complex ones are proportionally difficult. It really is, probably, one of the best official game editors released. I'm having almost as much fun in the Creation Kit as I had in Skyrim itself.