Dev.log Blue

Dev.log Blue

Option 2B

   This week I picked up and played Okami for the first time. One of the things that struck me as I played was how annoying having too much dialogue in a game is. The plays an ultra annoying jumbled  talking sound effect over textboxes to simulate conversation as text boxes on screen fill. Hearing this noise nonstop for the first 20 minutes of gameplay makes it dreadful to talk to an npc or read any sign. I would rather a game have no dialogue than whatever that is. I understand this is a feature with many retro titles, buts it's one feature that games do not need. At least I would consider a sound effect that isn't annoying in rapid succession. 

   In future games I hope to include some sort of graphical processing that keeps the frame rate of the game a bit higher. While the games art style looks great years later, if a little irritating as cell graphics always are, the frame rate leaves a lot wonting. During the opening cinematic it's noticeably slow. During gameplay I have to often stop what I'm doing to make out distant scenery or middle distance objects away as they appear blurred. It's hard to figure out where I'm going while in motion. The great camera options give a bit of relief as I can orbit the camera far away and follow from a scenery view.

I    hope to avoid giving the player larger affordances than they need during the tutorial as Okami does. The game requires us to draw a single point on canvas by use of a magic ink brush, but it's UI implies we should create a whole line by dragging the brush. It takes me a while to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to draw in each required ink 'puzzle' to advance in game. I'm also unsure of the meter that appears on top of the screen when I jump into water, but I suppose I'll have to consult the digitally external manual, as players would have had to in the original release for the PS2. I'd also like to include a variety of camera angles that let the player choose their 'speed' as Okami does and find a favorable spot.

Option 3 alternate

In light of the #scholarstrike (Links to an external site.) on 9/8 and 9/9, consider how game designers can address social justice issues in their games. What does an antiracist game look like?  Brainstorm a game that teaches about racism explicitly or implicitly. What meaningful actions and choices would the player make in such a game? Can playing a videogame really do anything to combat racism or implicit bias? Remember to reflect on this exercise for your dev.log

My reflection:

   I feel after doing the assignment it's really less than fruitful to attempt to sell a game as antiracist. No one who is actually racist is going to pick it up, because they'll assume it's biased against them, or whatever other mental gymnastics are required to comfort their fragility. I did realize it is feasible to attempt to sell antiracist games and media as a complex metaphor for the systems we encounter in real life, much like what is described in chapter 5. There are rules to racism as a systemic problem just as their are ways to bypass them and get away with things like hiring practices and calling them police on people unjustly. These can be gamified essentially such as in Black Simulator (2018) but they are better presented as complex fantastical racism like what we might see in Disney's Zootopia. 

   For the assignment I had a difficult time writing since the subject is rather uncomfortable, but I eschewed the 1:1 ratio of taking real life conflict, avoided the problem of metaphors going over peoples heads, by making a game about, purchasing games. Where the player is unfairly recommended games based on what others think they like because of their physical appearance, and charged differing amounts based on their shopping habits, who they buy from, and the existing biases of the staff at each establishment. It's not very delicate on the matter, but for starters it can do. I imagine it can be expanded upon by making a full game about shopping while black, including various stores. Another way to improve this design I thought of would be to have the player in game, discuss with other npcs about reviews for the games they have been waiting for and playing, and get the players thinking about bias among reviewers.

   I think an antiracist game would have to appear not so, giving players a fantastical metaphor, but then having a real world tie-in, perhaps by having their actions in game affect their actions as another playable character outside of videogames in their 'real world setting' such as playing a game, about someone playing a game, but using that experience to connect to others within the setting. 

My writings for the Assignment:

   I imagine an antiracist game would confront issues in the real world without use of metaphor or dressing it up. For example games and movies can address fantastical racism, but many participants may miss the underlying message. An antiracist game would confront these issues 1:1, such as Black simulator (2018). 

   I conceived of a game where someone has a choice of three different videogame stores to buy from, and they browse videogames to buy. One store charges a lot for a wider selection of less mainstream games, and the offer a lot of games with diverse protagonists, but the storeowner will secretly overcharge players who choose a certain race for their character. Another store has less variety and features typical AAA games and charges less, however the storeowner will only recommend games they think a player of their chosen race will enjoy, and offer them discounts for them. The third store sells everything, but the owner is openly discriminatory to anyone who isn't the same skin color as them. The player can haggle over games with the store owners and threaten to take their business elsewhere/ leave bad reviews in order to get better deals towards what they like, while looking for things on their Wishlist and trying to make room for sudden impulse buys with a set amount of money.

    I don't think truly racist people will play anything that looks like it confronts racism in the real world, and others will ignore anything outside their narrow interests anyway.