Dev.log PINK

I claim no ownership and this is solely for educational purposes.

(Dev log option 2) 

   I've decided to discuss a game called 'Hellsign' by a small independent studio, Ballistic Interactive and is currently in Early Access on Steam. According to it's Steam description, it is an 'investigative action RPG'  presumably set in a dense Australian city, where players are tasked with hunting Supernatural creatures and monsters as well as cursed objects and slaughtering them/ selling for profit. (Think of Scooby-Doo; but the Mystery Inc. gang is really chummy with the local arms dealers, and it is set in one of those early 2000s action movies  where a bunch of tattooed pale guys exchange pleasantries with profanity or gunfire, and team up to shoot vampires, zombies and other generic enemies, like in Blade or the Underworld franchises.) That was a strong selling point for me. 
   The games original trailer is available on YouTube, garnering a lot of attention from streamer coverage,  sitting at nearly two million views:

   The status of the game being in Early Access allows me a bigger look at it with the MDA framework, as opposed to the post mortem of a game release, as it's frequent updates allow the designers to receive feedback again and again, so they can 'refine their implementation.'
    The game has a strong appeal to the taxonomies of Fantasy; Challenge, Discovery, Sensation and Submission, at least from my perspective. This begins with the mechanics afforded to me as the player. The gadgets I used in game are based on real world equipment that is frequently seen in paranormal television shows like Ghost Hunters (2004) and Paranormal State (2007). Using them I feel that sense of fantasy that comes from holding a thousand dollar piece of equipment I wouldn't even know where to find in real life, nevermind the firearms. 
   These gadgets include; a parabolic microphone allowing me to listen in for Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) or simply 'ghost talk', a black-light letting me chase blood trails and demonic runes scrawled across floors, a thermal reader letting me see cold spots, or places with unusual variations in temperature, something associated with death and the supernatural, although it looks like predator vision in practice,  and the EMF meter, which responds to electromagnetic disturbances. These fancy gadgets provide a great sense of discovery, letting me find supernatural or cursed objects known as 'signs' as a reward which can be used with the crafting mechanics to produce unusual gear with risk/benefits to using, or sold to buy better weapons and equipment. This, paired with the random node based levels provides a strong immersive atmosphere for me.

    I use weapons in game to defend myself from hordes of oversized fauna typical of Australia/ 'Nope' memes, demons and undead, along with the dodge mechanic. There is no cover mechanic. Groups of enemies can trigger other enemies and events, really stacking the challenge against me, and forcing me to make tactical evaluations on where and how to use my other equipment, floodlights, explosives and small EMP devices.

    Regarding Dynamics; using the gadgets provided me with reward , but also great risk, leaving me vulnerable to both physical and supernatural threats. In this the game game shares aesthetic with supernatural films, drawing inspiration from many horror and found footage genre tropes, by Niedenthal's definition. This dual nature of the mechanics along with the stern punishment for dying, losing a sizable amount of what I earned in a mission adds great challenge to the experience.

   I, as a player realized what I would see confirmed later at a Game Developer Conference video, that early access titles give more opportunities to refine a pleasing and finished product and attract attention and interested consumers. More presence on social media and free advertising from devoted players.  I also realized that those who like a game in early access may not like the final product as it may drift mechanically or dynamically from what drew them in the first place, while interacting with the user base.

(Dev.log option 1)

  This weeks readings were very comforting to me, as I've spent a lot of time thinking about what it was that drew me to certain games and what forced me away. Niedenthals writings on Pauls Dourish's work, where he describes embodied interaction as sense pleasure. Particularly the bit where he describes games as a 'lean forward' medium. I don't often get this feeling during television, only at the heights of emotional investiture and intensity. But it is fairly common in games.

   I thought particularly about what Kubovy's writing entails. I recognize the patterns of emotional investiture and payoff within my own gaming habits. When a game is difficult, but so by my aesthetic 'fun' it is a motivator to push through, to try again, to think  fondly of my next encounter with anticipation, and should I lose, if it the game is well designed...the pain of failure becomes a twisted variety of pleasure, and eagerness to return to the fray. I believe this is what Rozen means by 'integrated pleasure', in my own experience.

   Playing Hellsign, I can also see what Hazinga means by 'magic circle' gaming. In real life, If I collected firearms and went around flushing pests out of abandoned homes, I'd be cut down by a Swat team expediently. Games do act as a real life fairy ring where the rules of my life are less, if nothing. I have fond memories of the metric tons of rotten flesh I've consumed and fed to my legion of bloodthirsty hounds in Minecraft ,  the houses I've burned down to find better real estate, or the npcs I've buried in sand for their perceived lack of usefulness. Murdering villagers and consuming zombie flesh is simply part of the Aesthetic.

"Game aesthetics refers to those aspects of digital
games that are shared with other art forms. " [Simon Niedenthal]

I recognize these base acts I often perform in videogames were once considered a soiling of filmography, relegated to snuff films and splatter slashers, and before that, the debasing of canvas and tempura. But they have much to teach us about ourselves.