Live. Play. Design.

I played a bit of Fable 2 last night and I was unimpressed. It really bothered me because I felt like the developers were really trying to get me to have an emotional connection with all these characters. The weird thing was, I just didn't feel it.

Comparing Fable 2 to Fallout 3, which is a game where I found myself caring a lot, I found several core issues with Fable 2's design.

Who are these people?

In Fable 2, the camera is pulled so far back that you can barely see any of the characters' faces, and even if you do, they aren't animated very well so they end up feeling very lifeless. In Fallout 3, the game is played in first-person, so you can see people up close.

...with this one from Fallout 3

The characters are small onscreen, but their faces are very prominent.

There's already so much press about this game, so i'll try keep this short.

Braid is awesome.


Maybe it's the way the game is told, having text upfront for those who choose to read it, but not forcing others to have to.
Maybe it's the many philosophical undertones that the gameplay provides.
Maybe it's the fact that each world is truly a unique experience.
Maybe it's how each puzzle is unique, and uses the time mechanics so cleverly.
Maybe it's all the subtle things, like how the music slows down, or how the background warps when you start to distort time.
Maybe it's the awesome ending!

Maybe some of these, maybe all of these, maybe even more.

But yeah... awesome.

After 20 years, it's still so good.

The one thing I can say about this movie is that it feels very honest. In a time where every movie out there has to be "cool" or "awesome," it could have been so easy for the writers of Back to the Future to come up with a cheesy story that exploited Hollywood special effects. I'm glad they didn't. Because what they ended up with was a great story about people you can really relate to and cheer for.

EDIT: I just realized that one of my favorite things about Back to the Future is the music - I really love how they have a single theme that gets rearranged to fit different situations.

This is game design elegance.


Two ships - red and blue.
Red ship kills red enemies.
Blue ship kills blue enemies.
Add two players. Stir lightly, serve.
Genius.

It always amazes me when a game with such simple rules can provoke such strong emotion. The key in this game is cooperation, of course. Teammates need each other to survive, and are therefore forced to communicate with each other. The simple control scheme helps too (left thumbstick to move - that's it!) - since you're not busy thinking about which button does what, you can concenrate on working together.

Yes - I played it. No, it didn't steal my soul.

Overall, I found the game to be boring-ish. I add the "ish" because there were some redeeming qualities:

The quest system (from the little I played) is very well paced, making sure that I'm never in short supply of things to do. Couple that with a well paced leveling system and you end up with a lot of "oh, but if I just play a little more..." moments. Unfortunately (or, fortunately), I'm not the type of person who succumbs to such ploys.

What I did enjoy was the feeling of just hanging out with your friends online. There's something about the combination of the slow paced combat (which I presume also helps keep their servers from dying) and the addition of party chat that really made me feel like it was "just another day" with my friends in Azeroth.

The game is easy enough for anyone to pick up and play, which is a good hook. Now I understand how so many people bond over WoW.

There's a lot of hubub around the office about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I find it very interesting that a bunch of nerds, who in no way would take time to go see a musical, end up gushing over and making references to the show.

So I thought about it some more and realized the secret - the theme! Just as games such as Diner Dash and Peggle managed to capture females who would have otherwise not even gone close to a video game, Joss Whedon has managed to create a musical out of something that geeks could relate to - the world of super heroes and super villains.

There's also the dimension of being easily accessible: Peggle and Diner Dash had machanics and goals that were simple and familiar. In the same way, Dr. Horrible was written with a more pop sound than, say, a Sondheim musical (though Joss Whedon admits to having been inspired by Sondheim). What's important is that the media retains the qualities that sets it apart from others (musicals tell a story primarily through song, video games through interactivity).

Can you say "too many cutscenes?" Seriously. It's too bad too, because the story is actually really good. That is, if you have the patience to sit through it. During one cutscene, I was even able to stand up, cook dinner, and be back just in time for the gameplay.

But when the game isn't busy being preachy and overly wordy, it gets pretty tense. I enjoy stealth+action gameplay a lot more than traditional stealth games (Splinter Cell, boo!). I mean, if I'm a super spy, I should have no problem killing henchmen!

There is something to be said about the dated mechanics, though. The top-down view is both less immersive and more frustrating (I just want to see what's in front of me!). I found myself looking at the radar a lot more than I should... and I really wanted to be able to move and shoot at the same time.

I haven't played MGS4, but it's supposed to have improved on a lot of the mechanics. Too bad they have even longer cutscenes. Hideo Kojima needs an editor...

This movie reminded me a lot about my Blue Repertory days, back when we didn't have big budgets, and we had to make do with whatever we could find lying around. Granted, this movie was probably made with a bigger budget, but the spirit of the movie is all the same - a small community creating something wonderful just for the fun of it.

Intense.

I think that would be the word I would use to describe this movie. I was on the edge of my seat 90% of the time. The ferry scene was probably the most gripping - just because you knew that Batman couldn't save them, and you know that put in the same situation, making that decision isn't easy.

In fact, this movie is filled with all sorts of moral dillemas. Would you kill one man to save an entire hospital? Would you sink a boat full of convicts? Would you kill someone to save the city?

Difficult questions, some of which we don't know that answer to. That's what made the movie great.

Neil Patrick Harris is funny.

Really.

Act 1 was probably the best, just because a lot of the jokes were still fresh. In fact, I think the whole blog entry scene was the funniest for me. That, and the first song. "With my freeze ray is will stop... the world..." Diabolical and yet sweet.

Joss Whedon was very brave to write something that he wouldn't earn anything from. Just shows what you can do when you have nothing to lose (and when marketing doesn't get in the way).

On a recent trip to New York with Carren, she and I met up with Bea and her cousins to catch Spring Awakening. In the midst of lunch and chit chat, Bea handed me a flyer for a musical called "In the Heights." The image on the flyer was simple enough - a group of people dancing by a bridge. But there was something about it - maybe it was the title, "In the Heights" or the way everyone was dressed like they were just hanging out - but I felt like I had to watch it.


So I did some research and I found out that it was nominated for best musical, best score, best choreography, etc - which was a good sign. I listened to the tracks posted on the website and I began to hear subtle hints of hip-hop in the opening number, and then even more in 96,000. I thought, "Could it be? Did they really make a hip-hop musical?" I was excited.

I watched the show and it did not disappoint.

The reason I love this show so much is because it's my show. No, I didn't write it or anything like that... but I remember one fine day during Forum auditions - I made an offhand comment about West Side Story not really being West Side (insert gang sign here). That was the day I envisioned remaking West Side Story with a hip hop theme - all the singing, dancing, and even culture: all hip-hop inpired. Of course, that didn't work out too well, since having listened to West Side Story, I realized that it would be impossible to rewrite those songs with a hip-hop feel.

Other things I struggled with was the fact that Philippine theater was so engrossed with jazz dance. Now don't get me wrong, jazz dance is great and all, but i couldn't stand how hip-hop was looked down upon. I was convinced that you could still tell a story with hip-hop, and that it required just as much dedication as jazz to perfect.

Of course, it also helps that the show is so well crafted. I especially enjoy how the choreography helps tell the story instead of just being something pretty to look at.

Watching In the Heights made me want to run onstage and join the cast right then and there. It made me want to go up and thank Lin Manuel for creating something that I've been waiting for since I got into theater. And I guess in a way, it helped reinforce the fact that I wasn't crazy - that what I envisioned could be achieved. I just wish I could have done it first.

Someone once told me that game designers don't just design games - we design experiences.

The purpose of this blog is twofold: the first is for me to be able to remember things that I have experienced. I will not recount the entirety of the experience, just the parts that I feel are most significant.

The second is for me to be able to practice my writing. Writing has not always been a strong suit of mine, as I have always preferred to talk about my feelings. But if I wish to be able to design better, I must be able to write better.

So, if you've stumbled upon this blog, please note that these entries are not for you - they are for me. You are welcome to read and comment on whatever you like, but just know that this is simply a recounting of my feelings, and as a wise person once told me, you can never be wrong about the way you feel.