Geeky Sneeky

Making Work

2011-04-29T17:16:00.001-04:00

I figure, I just need to make something.

Fall Game Update:

2010-10-15T19:48:00.002-04:00

New FallGame Render Fun!

2010-06-01T14:05:00.001-04:00

A Moving Example

2009-06-04T12:26:00.000-04:00

Here is a little trailer I made for the game:

Illumine Game Trailer from Stephanie Frankiewicz on Vimeo.

Sodapops

2009-04-07T14:17:00.002-04:00

Hey you out there! Yeah, you. If you are actually still reading this blog, than your time has been well spent, for I am about to give your life a little more joy.

The pepsi machine in the A&D building near the bottom entrance to the Lecture Hall is dispensing sodas - for free!

All you have to do is pop in 5 quarters, watch as the machine registers them, spits them back out, make your selection, and enjoy a cool sweet beverage. The only thing is the diet soda is out.

Hope this makes your days as wonderful as it made mine!

Concept

2009-03-25T12:09:00.002-04:00

Interactive media offers its users the chance to interact within a universe outside of their own. As a religious user of such media, I have grown accustomed to many of its conventions and have encountered many of its stereotypes. The videogame genre in particular relies heavily on its own language in order to completely immerse players in its fabricated worlds. In many games, “macho” characters, hyper-realized game worlds and forced means of interaction cause the player to lose their personal identity to that of the avatar they are controlling. This mainstream lack of focus on the player’s imagination is a loss that needs to be exploited. I am creating an environment that critiques mainstream game experiences by destroying the stereotypes the genre has proliferated.

I have found that mainstream games don’t allow the players to creatively immerse themselves in game reality because the game worlds are extremely fleshed out. Videogame characters, for instance, are often highly sexualized and extremely muscled. As many individuals do not fit this description fully, their digital representation causes an immediate disconnect from reality and personal experiences. Furthering the gap between the individual and the media are the highly polished, over-realized environments that the player exists in. While beautiful and engaging, these backdrops emphasize the purpose of the game, rather than the purpose of the individual playing the game. Gameplay mechanics, (such as jumping, shooting, break-neck racing, etc) estrange the individual further by focusing the player’s attention on a decided objective and concrete result. Sound design, too, cues they player to what they need to do to proceed. With hyper-realistic explosions and a racing tempo, it is difficult, even at the distance between screen and individual, to resist the need to sprint out of danger, shooting every possible threat in sight. Forced narrative can be used to drive a player to continue to play, but other than on the rare occasion that the plot stirs up emotional resonance with the individual, many times it hinders how a player wants to interact with their digital situation.

While it seems an overwhelming task to counter over-developed and highly-accepted games, such giants are best overcome with direct simplicity. For this reason I have chosen to design a game that draws on abstraction and relies on player’s personal gaming experience. Precedents for this concept have started to appear in many underground independent games. Sony’s Shadow of the Colossus questions the trend of uncontrolled destruction. By forcing the player to painstakingly kill gentle and ambivalent giant, the player’s sense of morality is spotlighted. Music is scarce, but as the player struggles to drive their sword into the calf, forearm and skull of a pathetically floundering teddy-bear character, a slow dirge picks up. Once the player “beats the game” (by destroying the oblivious sentient creatures) they are turned into one of those gentle giants, and left questioning the purpose of their quest. Another game that challenges mainstream purpose is Mazapán’s You Have To Burn The Rope. The way to beat the game is stated in the title, as well as while the player walks through the single level. The player cannot die, and the game is very direct – instructions appear every few seconds. The only abilities granted to the player are “run” and “jump.” To defeat the “boss” the player has to jump over a few platforms, landing on a chandelier that falls on the boss (the rope burns because the player is carrying a flame). After this grueling battle, the player is treated to a 10 minute looping song about how great their conquest was, critiquing hardcore games all the while.

Using these two (among many) independent games as references, I am setting out to challenge how individuals perceive videogames. While many games ground the player in a very concrete reality, I am using abstraction to call attention to the disconnect between “real” reality and “game” reality. The player’s avatar, as the first encounter with the game world, is easily relatable and unassuming. Unlike macho gunman and scantily clad women, my game represents the player as a small, pulsing orb of light. This makes the game accessible to individuals, regardless of gender, physical fitness, etc. The player moves through the game world easily, but with a limited range of vision. To increase (or decrease) the distance they can see, the player must either pick-up or drop smaller glowing spheres as they go through the various gamescapes. If the player has not collected enough spheres, they may not be able to see a jump to clear it. Conversely, if too many spheres are gathered, the field of vision is obscured by the brightness of the player, causing the background to be blown out by varying degrees. As the player explores the possibilities of growth and decay of vision, they will notice that option of continuing on or remaining stationary (or stuck) is determined by the amount of light they have acquired. For example, if the player is too big and bright, they will not be able to navigate through narrower spaces.

Rather than have a narrative or objective that motivates the player, this game assigns no goal, but rather encourages the individual to creatively and conceptually interact with the environment. Many of the levels are natural-scapes that range in degree of detail, color, and logic. At any point the player can drop a glow to enhance the mood of a scene, change the color palette, or unleash a host of other effects. In exchange, however, they stomp down their ability to see. The tension of growth vs. decay is further explored as the player stumbles upon the ruins of other videogames. Not only can these “decayed” levels be manipulated by the player, but they also harken to their over-rendered counterparts. The player is free to create theire own narrative as to how the games decayed, or else just accept the current state and continue.

The abstracted feel of the scenes and the vague (if present) agenda allow the player to connect more intimately with their environment. When forced to a slow pace and limited range of vision, the player takes in overlooked details in other games. The connection the player has to a space depends on their familiarity with game culture. Experienced gamers may recognize, for instance, that they are treading on the remains of a “Legends of Zelda” temple, whereas a casual gamer may just acknowledge they are treading in a site of former grandeur. The untold story from whole to fragmented is up to the player to narrate or critique.

I am challenging an industry that bars individuals from bringing their own creativity to their experience. Too often players are told what to feel, how to behave, what attitude to have. Visual and aural clues engage the player in their experience as dictated by the game. In assigning an agenda, players have lost the opportunity to use a truly wonder skill-set: creative curiosity. I am giving the player a chance to explore an abstract environment, fraught with the tension of growth and decay, continuation and stagnation. This is not to say that all mainstream games are “bad” – they offer players an experience that they may not have access to in their everyday routine. This game seeks to do the same, although in reverse. By giving players a chance to slow down the pace of gaming, they can appreciate that they are, in fact, playing a game.

Things are working

2009-03-15T02:46:00.003-04:00

except for the sound

which is done, except for the fact that my computer needs to be updated

Oh, yes. A sample of the looping ambient audio track can be found here:

https://mfile.umich.edu/?path=/afs/umich.edu/user/f/r/frankies/Public/html/IllumineScore.mov

gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh

2009-03-11T20:10:00.003-04:00

Rant time. Everyone gets at least one. Here's mine:

My images are soooo large (but they're not really?) that each FRAME of the game takes up 1121mb of space. That's a hell of a lot of loading time, my friends. Additionally, the images that I fixed AREN'T registering as updated. ugggggggg.

Things to do:

re-render the sparks animations.
reduce file size of images
play audio from a cd, instead of having it load into the game. I don't even want to think about how much space those beasts will add...

holly jolly

So, there's a checkbox...

2009-03-10T17:31:00.002-04:00

...that is highly important if you want an object to reappear with its settings from the previous frame. It is easily overlooked - if you think you know where to look. It is the "make global object" box, and although I have checked this many times hoping that my objects would appear in the next frame, I found out on a forum that it must be check at the FIRST occurrence of the object, otherwise it is a good as usless. With this little realization, I have been furiously building up more levels. Thank you, Tirtza!

Most of the levels are not functional to a tee - there are plenty of tweaks and code to be written. Overall though, I am more thrilled with the project than I have been lately. I will allow myself a very un-profound moment: "it looks really sweet. wow." Ok, done, and back to the windows side. I will post next time I surface for air on the mac side!

~Stephanie

Pinwheels, Tunnels, and Webs

2009-03-05T16:13:00.002-05:00

After drawing what felt like the three-hundredth tree, I got bored. Somehow my trees turned into tunnel networks, which turned into cob-webby tunnel networks. This style is quite a departure from the other works, but it may be a nice change up. Will have to test it out later. The backgrounds are two separate line drawings, and move as the player does to create a constantly shifting backdrop.

A thesis. Again.

2009-02-19T01:12:00.002-05:00

done.

wait, maybe not.

will it never end?

no. but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

In control, with a laundry list

2009-02-13T15:27:00.002-05:00

Today I opened my mailbox to find...This!

Thinking about the players first interaction with this project, I concluded that only the most basic, un-intimidating controller would do. I settled with this classic Nintendo controller and promptly got to setting up the buttons and commands. I honestly don't know how I've lived without one of these beauties!

As shown above, I have the controls sorted out. Running a test proved that my choice to go with a simple controller spot on - the gameplay is not complex, why should the controller? In any event, I have been having entirely too much fun running around little levels, gathering and placing glows back on the screen. It is actually quite thrilling to see the field of vision (Fov) expland and contract and I have added little remnants of the old glows to keep the player company on their solo expedition. I am happy with the way the avatar responds to the controller and moves through the levels. Player control, if done improperly, can ruin a game.

Not content with this small success, I have come up with a laundry list of tweaks before I start the by level coding. I usually don't post my "to do" lists on this blog, but my sketchbook has run out of pages and space for inserts.

Glows don't stay where the player leaves them after leaving a frame.
Centers of some Fov/Sparks are way off - this is a re-render if aftereffects
Fov5 has an animated opacity issue - the screen is black...re-render
rGlows and rFov anims could be more developed
So to could the player's anim (as well as white glows)
wGlows need to be smaller and given their own wFov.

They also can't look exactly like the player - that tends to confuse even me as I'm playing.

Fov's need more black padding, and opaque ones need to be more opaque.
Lower level Fovs need animations? Maybe?
Need to update the title and menu screens now that the controls are set

Tetris

2009-02-12T19:05:00.001-05:00

Using original gameboy colors, I have tried to destroy the game within itself. Also, the screen is cut off and the smaller backdrop blocks fall as the player passes through the level.

Speaking of Deconstructing Games...

2009-02-12T15:15:00.001-05:00

Destroying Levels

2009-02-12T12:56:00.001-05:00

Pacman: blocks missing as though they were bitten off. Also, the grass is thicker and more overgrown at the bottom, obscuring the bottome portion of the screen.

Zelda-esque: tore down most of the brick work. Generally made the whole sceen darker and increased the contrast. Maybe I'll knock down a statue or two when I'm bored...

First Person Shooter: This is a new one in response to very macho games. I did not want to overwork it, so instead made it a parallax scrolling level, with 4 layers of fog. The player walks over the latest weapon models from UT3.

Creating the Library

2009-02-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

For the 2 week assignment, I opted to import all my files into a library and set their properties so that calling them in the game proper would be much neater. So far, things are going smoothly. There are a few exceptions, however:

~ I am unsure when to set the qualifiers and global behaviors for the global objects, such as the Fov, sparks, transitions, etc.

~The animations and quicktimes are not playing, or at least not that I can see. I will have to consult Katie Trent for this one.

~Lastly, but not unexpectedly, some of my .pngs are missing or not saved out correctly. Not a big issue, and it is a quick fix on the mac side. I am keeping track of such files.

At the moment, I am taking a break from the library-building and am working on my resume/show reel instead. More updates to follow.

Hybridization

2009-02-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

After reviewing the comments on my last postcard post, I've been working on resolving those and other issues I have with the imagery. Here is the latest attempt:

While it hints at the level style and "hidden" aspects of the game, the layout still feels too crowded. More to follow.

Game Face

2009-02-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

I have been working on the postcard for this game: the first glimpse many people will have of my project. I have noticed that best-selling games have over-the-top graphics and fantastic dynamism on this cover. This not only draws a viewer/potential player in, but also gives a quick summary of the gametype and narrative (if any).

This is my attempt at the "summary" cover, which I am not thrilled about. Somehow it doesn't fit with the concept I am working with, so I moved on...

...to this. Even though this may not be the final iteration, it gives less of a description of the game/gameplay proper and instead invites a player to experience as they will.

I hope whoever is involved in the printing can forgive my excessive use of black ink...

"Puzzle" Level

2009-01-23T16:17:00.001-05:00

In this level, based off of Zelda type games, the player has the option to solve a puzzle in order to continue upwards. They can, of course, always keep walking.

This is how I think...

2009-01-22T14:46:00.000-05:00

I've
somehow
managed
to
make
my
thesis
look
like
a
pixelated
person
and
or
monster
.

Ice Cavern

2009-01-13T14:43:00.001-05:00

This level is a side scroller with parallax scrolling.

Play is as follows: The player hops along, avoiding ice spikes (which take away one glow) and falling water drops (which also take away one glow)

Sonic The Hedgehog

2008-12-22T16:12:00.001-05:00

This level is based off of the Sonic The Hedgehog games. The element that stands out the most to me is the loops that the player glides around. In this level, one of these loops is eroded. Eventually, a spring that propels the player over the cliff falls from the sky.

Mortal Combat / Your Generic Fighter

2008-12-21T08:53:00.001-05:00

Transitional #2

2008-12-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

This piece can be inserted into any forest-type level. The player will scale it by way of the fungi.

Mario Fall --> Water Scroll

2008-12-19T15:56:00.000-05:00

If the player does not make the jump in the Mario 1-1 level, they will fall down a waterfall into the "WaterRock Scroller" level, posted earlier.

PACMAN!!!

2008-12-19T15:44:00.000-05:00

This level is based of the the arcade game "Pacman."

The player reaches this level if they are small enough to burrough through the mario ruins. This level will also introduce a different movement type, or else will decrease the height of the jump.

Level Revamp

2008-12-17T17:52:00.000-05:00

After the IP consultation, I have decided to address the video game culture more directly. Currently, I am implementing various artifacts from games into my levels, such as sterotypical guns (which will not be useable as "weapons"), scenery, and level mapping.

Below is my inperpretation of the first level (world 1-1) in Super Mario Brothers:

The real level looks like this:

Some notes on the play of this level: in some of the "?" boxes are fellow glows, while touching other "?" boxes triggers environmental effects and the like. Falling into the river ravine takes you to the river level, falling into the pipe takes you to an underground area, and burrowing into the staircase takes you into brick world. Entering the castle triggers a violent fireworks storm, like in the original game. Unlike Mario Bros, there is no princess to rescue. Rather, you are just teleported to a different landscape/gamescape.

Resume Work

2008-12-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday [Tuesday] I worked on my things for John Luther. I have uploaded a sample resume.

Transitional Level

2008-11-30T19:24:00.000-05:00

Dead Pixels

2008-11-30T19:19:00.000-05:00

Up and Running

2008-11-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

Today's studio time was spent activating an old copy of windows xp and installing a demo copy of Multi Media Fusion 2 on the windows side of my laptop. Why? Creating the game on the program's native os is LIGHTYEARS faster than emulating it. I can still save my files to the windows drive on the computer and access them from the other side.

While I have all my old content and code still, I am going to start the programming from scratch. I was not neat with it previously, and can now employ global variables and behaviors to lighten the load.

Hopefully there will be more pictures soon!!!

Rain/Environmental Factors

2008-11-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

I have just completed some tutorials that explain how to activate/deactivate a group of events. This will be useful and decrease the amount of coding, if done efficiently. I have used these events to program "rain" effects, which can easily be changed to simulate other effects, like fireflies, hazards, and water. Here is capture of the program at work:

Water Level

2008-11-11T11:14:00.001-05:00

So far today I have created another scrolling background/level.

Title Menu

2008-11-06T13:49:00.001-05:00

I have been working on the menu that will fade in when a player is stationary for too long (10 seconds, actually). I do not think that I will have a separate title menu, mainly because this game would ideally be able to be picked up at any point in the progress. So far I've designed a semi-transparent menu that will be visible over the existing artwork:

An example of the menu over straight black:

Website Tutorials

2008-11-06T12:29:00.000-05:00

I had recently revamped my portfolio website over the summer, but have decided to do it over yet again. I spent today following a tutorial for a mock website:

This and a plethora of other tutorials can be found here.

My current (to be made-over) page can be found here.

Introducing Color

2008-11-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

After working primarily in black and white, I was challenged to use color in a few of my levels. The resulting images added depth to the game that light sources alone did not.

Project Proposal

2008-11-06T12:14:00.001-05:00

One of the abilities of being a creative individual is the ability to entice an audience to participate in an alternate reality. I have always enjoyed being enveloped in fantastic worlds especially those created in both Jim Henson and Tim Burton’s films and sketches. Movies such as The Labyrinth, Mirror Mask, and Edward Scissorhands have always left me wanting to explore more of their worlds with more autonomy. The need to interact with a creatively fabricated environments naturally led me to the diverse world of videogames. While I enjoy games of all genres, I am dissatisfied with the mainstream lack of focus on the player’s imagination. I would like to create a game that focuses on ambient environment and the player’s ability to create their own narrative and objectives.

For this year-long project, I will be creating a video game for one player. This project is influenced by the game “Knytt Stories,” in which the avatar floats around a two-dimensional side-scrolling world collecting power-ups. These newly gained abilities allow the player to explore further, until some obscure objective is accomplished. My project will take this concept further by assigning the player no goal, but rather having them discover his or her own. The black and white aesthetic follows the silhouette style put forward by the game “Limbo Game,” although hints of color occasionally appear in the backgrounds. This style relies on visual contrast and well-choreographed motion of both the avatar and the game elements.

This game will be in the style of black and white etches simply drawn on the computer. The backgrounds will flow into each other seamlessly, even though geographically it makes no sense. The sound will be isolated and distorted abstract sounds, creating a space that can’t be placed concretely. There will be no beginning or end, but if the avatar is stationary for too long, the game will assume that the player has dropped out and display instructions for the next potential player.

The game will focus on territory exploration and item collection. The player’s avatar, a small, pulsating glowing orb, has a limited field of vision. As it travels through dreamlike landscapes, only the area immediately around it is visible. Collectible objects, which are the same glowing light, will be scattered around the various levels and will be announced by a subtle pulsing aura when they are in the player’s range of vision. When encountered, these other spheres will follow the player’s avatar around the levels, illuminating more of the playfield and allowing the player access to previously restricted areas.

The avatar cannot necessarily die, but can fall into peril. When the avatar collides with a harmful object or falls off a steep ledge, the last glow from the collection will dissolve. As glows disappear, the players abilities and range of vision decrease. If the avatar fails to evade a risky situation, and all of the glows except for the original have dissolved, the avatar will dissolve and re-materialize on the same screen. The levels will be arranged in such a way that the player will eventually encounter a screen full of humming light. The player may interpret this as the ultimate end of the game and discontinue play, or else they may collect more glows from this area and retrace their steps to unlock secrets in the inaccessible areas.

Because of the open-ended and simple nature of this project, it will appeal to all audiences, with each individual bringing their own experiences and meanings to it. The game feels like a lonely journey at some points, and a shared adventure at others. I would like players to walk away having experienced something that mainstream games usually don’t inspire – imagination as a propelling force.

Now that I have established basic design and concept, the next steps include perfecting character animation and field of vision graphics, completing level designs, mapping out level flow, and seaming them together in a coherent way. While taking these steps, I am also testing the code for the game.