Dev.log Teal

dev.log Teal

Option 2A

About the game:

This week I decided to check out the Autumn Sale on Steam, and came away with Falcon Age. It is a Single player game, with some neat rpg elements and looping map structure by Outerloop Games. You play as a girl raising a falcon to fight robots interested in carting her people off world to mine the planets resources. There is a lot of sociopolitical subtext and it puts you into the shoes of people having their culture and land taken from them.

My Reflections:
   The Mechanics of Falcon Age are fairly diverse, seeking to give a cute recreation of traditional falconry. You may call you falcon to rest on your arm at any time, feed or interact with them. Additionally you may combine commands to have the falcon grab things in fly by and deliver them, or bring them to you. A UI 'glow' always ensures you know where the bird is overhead. Players must pincer attack enemies as they are not able to defeat some enemies alone, and only the bird can hunt animals for you.

   The dynamics of Falcon Age are rather impressive. The player can order their bird to grab objects for food even as they leave the area or pursue other goals. The bird will carry it for you, and you may order to toss it to you or land. Hidden objects, foodstuff and more can be 'tagged' this way. While hunting, animals may spot your falcon coming and hide, and the bird may choose a different, similar target or pursue the target at a later point unbidden, making it seem as if they are bringing you gifts at times. Different food items yield different bonuses when combined and cooked for the bird, including HP as the player does not have a health bar, but enemies can 'capture' the player without the birds help. In combat, this seek and grab mechanic plays a critical role, flying enemies can be knocked down by the bird and or pulled down by the players whip at shorter range as the player can only melee enemies within range. Enemy turrets attempt to shoot down your falcon, and the player must dispatch them. Other robots will attack the player, but can be distracted by the bird, picked up and thrown at breakables or on other enemies to explode. Additionally, helping other npcs yield bonus carrying rewards for the falcon, that can changed future combat encounters.

   Falcon Age's aesthetics come from hunting and fighting together with the falcon gives me a friendship 'bond' with the creature, terror upon seeing it's health decrease when swatted by an enemy I should have distracted, and joy at healing it by pulling darts out of it's wings  and feeding it. Working together to knock down and wreck robots is satisfying. the playable character comments on feeling at one with their falcon, and I believe here the game achieves what Paul Dourish talks about in the DIGRA document on aesthetics, that my action as player have a meaning within the games world as a growing union between this girl and her noble beast. Changing the color of it's feathers or giving it different gear creates a sense of ownership within me. Reclaiming the indigenous peoples land and resources from the 'evil colonizers' gives me a sense of a righteous cause , and lets me put on the shoes of people in the real world that have their culture and home taken by industrialism, giving me narrative and fantastical sense of anxiety. Discovering that sending the falcon off to attack a distant enemy isn't a great idea because multiple enemies may attack them, and that carrying them in arm, and splitting up briefly to challenge enemies stealthily is a fun challenge. The bird saving me from being captured by a drone open creates a sense of desperation to avoid being overwhelmed. Even the droll activity of collecting resources is made better my asking the falcon to pick up distant peppers, while I dig for potatoes.

Option 3

Exercise 5.7: Information Structures
What type of information structures are present in Unreal Tournament, Age of Empires, Jak II, Madden 2004, Lemmings, Scrabble, Mastermind, and Clue? Do they have open, hidden, mixed, or dynamic information structures? If you do not know one of the games, pick a game that I have not mentioned and substitute it. (Fullerton's Game Design pg 149)

My Reflection:
   While doing this exercise I realized what it is I like so much about Uno: Flip, that makes it better than the original. In normal Uno, what cards a player has is concealed, but in Uno flip, you are aware of the opposite sides of all players cards, in addition to your own fronts. It allows you to double up your scheming and if you can remember what the last dark side card was, you can essentially seal opponents off from winning, unless you incorrectly guess the color on the light side. It makes the information structure much more dynamic, and the game much harder. 
I realized that even dynamic information, is technically hidden if players don't take notice of it. I remember while playing Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, that one team will constantly attempt to foul you and score more points, only by passing nonstop can you avoid this. Another team is programmed to be so good, that the only way you can win is to steal the Golden Snitch before the time runs out, and attempt to foul them. Another team has incredible offense, but their goal keeper is gullible. International matches are so intense that players may not notice this until they've lost twice already.

   I noticed that hidden information is key to keeping the game unpredictable. You can't know what weapons your opponents are carrying in some games, only attempting to mitigate it through staying out of the range of their shotgun, or taking an erratic path to throw off a sniper. Where an enemy is how they will get to you can be one of the most thrilling aspects of a game, such as when you can hear them but not see them. I now realize this relates to the reason I hated Scrabble as a child, I had no way of knowing how much better other players vocabulary is. The information of other players distinct advantage is always hidden from you.

My writings for the exercise:
   I'm familiar enough with Unreal Tournament to know that it has a mix of dynamic and hidden information. You can't always know where other players are, or which direction they will come from, but after a time players will memorize map data, and places where players respawn. 
I'm more familiar with Age of Mythology, so I'll surmise that the fog of war works similarly, and that once you've uncovered it, information about your opponents whereabouts becomes always available, making it mixed. players are usually given visual cooldown timers for manufacturing units, and resources are also hidden by the fog of war.
I don't know many sports games, but I do remember Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. The Golden Snitch might appear at any time after a certain amount of time, but when is a mystery. The chance to turn the game in their favor makes it a must have, especially on some of the harder international matches, where the opposing team has expert AI, and scoring is doubled or tripled in their favor.
I'm not familiar with Lemmings, but having watched a large developer interview on Prince of Persia classic, I know that the enemy, Shadowman was designed as a perfect match for the player, and he cannot be beaten in combat, information that the player must discern for themselves, by figuring out he will only mimic their violence in response. To defeat him, they must put away their weapon and walk past him.
Scrabble has mostly hidden information, as you can't know what is in your opponents hand, only what letters they give up.
Instead of Mastermind, I decided to go with Battleship, where players are completely blind to one another's positions, until they make a blind hit, and must then narrow it down. This would be hidden information. 
I don't remember Clue enough to talk about it, but a board game I liked as a child was Kerplunk. All information is readily available to both players, and it comes down to , strategic taking, chance and observation when drawing stick from the core.