Too long I have delayed writing this article, but during that time I analyzed the subject even more. Also, some interesting discussions were created because of the study.

In the previous post I tried to make you excited about why should we care about learning how climbing walls are designed.

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Popularity: 100% [?]

English · gamedesign · games connected

I found this movie by Twitter and I think it’s pretty impressive and disturbing for me. Is it the future? It could be… Play would be everywhere and dreams of some could come true: we would have just a big environment, world in which we can play many different games. Game nested inside a game nested inside a game… But then a player could just trapped himself just like with journeys in time. At some point a player could not know what he really is! But then… It’s not a game anymore, because a player isn’t in a safe environment, “magic circle”. For him it’s dangerous place, sometimes more like a nightmare… It’s like a work to reach the end… Well, I hope so that future of play will look more brightly… As I think now, I wouldn’t want to be in that game that takes place in the film. Not without the escape option.

Now I have to get and read Zimmerman’s “Rules of play”!

Popularity: 60% [?]

English · games connected · inspiring · videos

Well, I agree with guys who says that you have to look anywhere. Yesterday I read an article which sums up with: play is everywhere. I say that design is everywhere, also. That’s why every time I experience something new that feels fun I try to analyze it and learn more about designing this experience.

So as you can probably guess I was for the first time on the climbing wall. I was scared, I fell down couple of times but gosh, that was fun to do I even got an achievement: the peak man!

So first time what I did was to analyze myself afterwards and to sum up what elements as I think were important to design of this climbing wall. Then, when I got home I went online and searched more about climbing wall design. That site helped me a lot.

But first let’s see what I felt afterwards, because if games could excite as much… that would be darn cool!

1. I could start real experience really fast. Everything was intuitive. I climbed before so I knew how to do it and it was easy. –> It wasn’t hard to learn how to climb. I didn’t have to work some way just to start the fun.
2. Later a difficulty laid in finding the right way so I had a stones to reach, then even later stones were in bigger distances so it wasn’t as easy to grab or step on them. –> Difficulty was gradually increasing.
3. I was happy when I reached about half of the climbing wall – only a half to the top! –> Just by looking I could tell what my progress was. Even if I was tired at this moments I could maintain my focus, because it was so closer to the top!
4. What’s more when I reached the half I could see on line of sight a second floor of the mall. That was something, right? I could feel that I was really high already.
5. Still, that part of my journey to the top was the most difficult for me. I fell down couple of times and I had doubts about getting to the top. –> But I had a clear focus so I kept going on. Also when I fell down the guy who secured me didn’t let me fell to the floor. Instead I fell just couple of meters and I could start my climbing just from the spot where I lost.
6. At the beginning I was afraid to fell down. I was secured of course and I trusted my instructor, but I was afraid. After the first time I knew that falling is safe and even… quite fun –> It’s ok to fall down, even that it’s part of the fun!
7. It was strange to feel how my hands was sliding from the stones, because with the time I stopped, they were sweating.. –> You have to be fast. Making stops as short as possible in order to prevent too much sweating. A mechanism that keeps you motivated. Gravity prevents you from cheating
8. I learned just by playing, experimenting, i.e.: that I can catch one stone with two hands so I can climb up just by holding one stone, not always two as I did. –>  I learned by myself to be better in the future and I could feel that I discovered something (Aha! moment). I didn’t need any tutorial to make this… Just a stone that was bigger and I thought why not to try? Of course I was in the safe play circle and I knew that nothing dangerous will happen to me.
9. It was just me and the experience. My instructor, let’s call him the master didn’t interrupted me. He just suggested couple of times what I should do. He was my secure. –> I wasn’t irritated, because I didn’t feel that someone told me what to do. I was feeling free just like in good games.
10. Afterwards I felt: WOW! It was something amazing and I wanted to tell everyone about this. Couple of hours passed and I was still excited about this, just like I was still there climbing… What a powerful experience! –> But it was fun. We could easily make a game from this, but… Can a game be as much exciting? Yes, I believe it can! But I can remember only couple of games like this and… just the moments in these games that made me feel excited. Why it’s like this?

I felt I achieved something great. Why so? What was the theme of this experience? Reach the height you wouldn’t think you could reach? To be able to look from the top? And… Why we love to do so many things at the height? Even if we don’t love this we still adore this… Why?

I thought that we can learn something from this. That’s why I analyzed some articles about climbing design. I even bought this book, still waiting for it, though.

More in the next article!

Popularity: 64% [?]

games connected · new experiences · wall climbing

I just came across some videos, where Ira Glass, a man with 30 years of experience as a radio-presenter, talks about making good compelling stories. If you’re interested in making stories stop and watch it here!

OK. He is a radio presenter, but don’t you think that stories are everywhere? Whenever you talk about something to your friend you’re sharing a story with him! So let’s learn from all of the people who tell a lot stories and their stories has to be good, has to glue you to the medium, in this case to a radio.

For me the most important of what he says is:

1) Good stories share one important concept. They’re made of the same things:

1. Sequence of events which he calls the anectode. I think, for him it’s the purest form of a story – just bare bones, no flesh: one event leads to another event which leads to another event, etc. And everything has to be connected together somehow.

2. This anectode should make your viewer to ask a questions that will be, at one moment, answered in the story. These moments of answers he calls the moments of reflection. So it should go like this: One event leads to another event which leads to another… and during watching these events your viewer must have some questions that you’re going to answer as surprise in Moment of reflection. You just want to show your viewer why his watching all of the events, reward him. And the story will continue to unfold with more events and more questions and more moments of reflection.

3. When you invent these events you’re going to have questions, too. Ira Glass says that you have to answer them! It’s very important and well, I think it’s very reasonable to do this. Because I think that every story unfold itself that way or another. You just have to find these ways and asking questions every time you come up with a new event is a good idea.

2) And then in second video he makes a very important point. When you’re starting to write stories, and I’m still starting…, you think that inventing new stories is pretty easy. For sure you don’t think that just on planning one story you’re going to need a week or so. And in reality inventing stories is hard and it takes a lot of time. If in one week you will come up with a good story, you’re good or as says Ira Glass: you’re just lucky. What’s more, you have to invite many stories, so you have some to choose from. I think, that’s why good brainstorming techniques are priceless. Just watch this video, because he says many interesting, concrete things from his working field

3) You’re going to kill many of your stories. That point is also true about game concepts and every idea you will ever have. You have to choose the best and kill those that makes problem, that don’t feel great anymore. He says that they record many interviews, shows and then when they feel it’s not as good as it should be, they kill the story and then they make a new story, better one. One thing I like the most about what he says is:

It’s time to enjoy the killing, because by killing you will make something else, even better, live.

4) And again. Something really nice to know and it’s not only about making stories. It’s about creating things you love, like designing games. You started making this, because you really like what you do and you love this medium: games, books, movies… And you must have a good taste – you know what you love and probably every time you makes something your taste tells you: it could be better! I make games and try hard to make games that I would like to play and that I’m proud of. But in reality every my game that you can play now isn’t as good as I wanted it to be. And Ira Glass tells something important that this gap between making something that your taste will love it and the thing that could be better is always there. Every guy has to face it and has it. Ira Glass after 8 years of work wasn’t making good stuff – he says it openly and play us his old radio program. The only thing to cross this gap is to do a lot of work guys! And after some years, if you’re tough enough, you will make things that you will love! So don’t worry now and get to work!

Inspiring stuff, right?

Popularity: 58% [?]

English · inspiring · makingstories · videos

I’m planning to make this article mini-series, so in every post I’ll publish some techniques that I invented.

But what’s up?

We want our work to be as fun as possible, but often we get some hectic tasks. I can come up with couple of reasons:

1) Game design is iterative process. It means you have to do some things over and over. And it’s fine, because in this process, in every iteration you should have something better then before.

2) In every project you have some tasks that are really unpleasant to do. Even unrewarding for yourself, but you just have to do them. Someone has to. Otherwise for example you won’t have any content in your game. Someone has to add all of these names, numbers, etc. It’s schematic, it’s really boring, but better do this as good as possible!

3) Even if you continue something over many days you have to review you own work and work on it until you feel it’s good stuff. And you have to feel it, so if you will be tired then your won’t feel as clearly as if you would be relaxed.

And so on.

So my #1 Technique:

I’m working now at some adventure game, which storyline has to be very good and logical. And I didn’t even know that inventing stories can be so hard! Especially if it has to be told also by mini-games and some puzzles. But enough with that! Everyday I had to review and continue writing detailed story plan. I wrote it in Excel, so it would be easier to correct. But… reviewing everyday this spreadsheet became quickly very boring. So I thought and changed font to bigger size and printed a dozen of pages with my story plan. Then I glued them all together or you can staple them. You will get really long paper sheet Lay it on the floor, get some marker and read it from this perspective! In order to read everything you can slide this long page towards yourself or just walk alongs it. Every page stop and think. If you have some worries mark it with you marker and think again. Maybe you will come with the better idea Afterwards if you have some empty hooks on walls or ceiling then you can do something even crazier! Just hand this long paper on this hook. It would be even better if this hook is somewhere close to your PC. Then you can rewrite your corrections just looking at hanging paper, so you don’t have to stand up

For me it’s working. How about you guys?

Popularity: 54% [?]

English · funwork · gamedesign · mini-series · unscheme