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[ayearofgames]

August 4th - Falling Behind

I've fallen behind 4 days iterating on idea #8 and catching up on work. I'm determined to catch up. For the next week, I'm going to come up with an idea on the way to work, during lunch and on the way home. I'll need to brainstorm some more genres to draw on.

[ayearofgames]

July 30th - #8 Tower of the Demon King

Premise: Cooking game guised as a rogue-like dungeon crawler/deck building game. You’re an adventure come to the Demon Tower to fight the Demon King.

Phase 1: Go around collecting resources by exploring, mining and fighting minor monsters

Phase 2: Go to the workshop and spend some time crafting resources together to form an inventory

Phase 3: Use your inventory to fill out slots on your character and assign buttons to spells

Phase 4: Enter a tough boss battle where thinking matters, but also your build

Mechanics:

Movement is grid based

In Phase 1, move around by swiping in the direction you want to hop

Like Crypt of the Necrodancer, you attack things by hopping into them

Gather resources by killing monsters, mining ore, picking plants, etc

In Phase 2, there are different stations in your workshop to make items out of the resources you’ve collected

Forge to craft weapons and armor

Writing desk to study magic scrolls, books and tomes

Chopping block to combine monster essences and plants to form allies’

Gem table to combine gems, trinkets and metal to create accessories

In Phase 3, slot these items onto your character in a Lukas Pope style slotting game where different items fit differently

The better items are the more space they fill up

Your slots never grow, you just get better items and learn to craft better things

In Phase 4, you enter a boss battle where you have a random 1 in 5 boss with 2-4 randomly selected moves from a pool of 10

Boss scaling is based on you taking more damage and the bosses being vulnerable/invulnerable to different traits and magic types

Fighting is similar to Crypt of the Necrodancer where you learn the pattern and work around that

[ayearofgames]

Genre Study #4 - Cooking Games

What is great about cooking?

Experimentation through trial and error

Cooking is learned behaviors combining to form intuition and skill

Cooking IS the most easily made RPG there is

Cooking is a crafting game with an infinite solution space where every combination creates a new thing

Cooking is about doing something and being unsatisfied with good enough

Cooking is about taking pride in ones work

MAN, I just got so pumped up about cooking!

What games successfully emulate these ideas?

Dark Souls

    Combat is all about experimenting with different tools and                 ingredients to find the best fit

    Leveling system is similar to real world use of career capital             where you can garner a lot of respect then use that to cash in on     more power

    Character customization has elements of power and efficiency as     well as visual appeal and preference

Spelunky & Crypt of the Necrodancer

    All involve learning a simple set of fundamental skills

    All involve experimenting to continuously learn and observe more     about the world

    If you mess up too badly, you’re forced to restart

What properties are inherent to cooking?

Near infinite solution space

Skill is difficult to judged objectively after fundamentals

Good chefs are largely known as good chefs because of their broad knowledge and experience base

They know a lot about cooking, therefore they’re good at it

Cooking game loop:

    Choosing/gathering your ingredients

    Preparing each ingredient

    Combining all ingredients in a tasteful way

    Reap the results of your cooking

How can the mechanics of cooking be abstracted?

Skill is the combination of experience and intuition

Gather ingredients

Prepare them skillfully

Combine them skillfully

Extra: Enjoy the results

I assert that Cooking when viewed as a game, is a deck building game where you must skillfully prepare and combine cards

[ayearofgames]

July 29th - #7 Our Story in a New Place

Premise: 2D platformer with grid aligned block planting like Starseed Pilgrim, but without the forced understanding and rigidity. Focused on structure building with a mix of Tetris and Starseed mechanics as well as allowing creative interactions between players.

Mechanics:

Players have a list of the next few blocks they'll be able to drop at any point in the current world

Unlike Starseed, you don't need to harvest resources to continuously place blocks

Each block type has a set of properties and rules that can be learned as is the case in Starseed Pilgrim

Items can be found in the world that modify how your blocks work, but you can only have one at a time:

Plusser - the trail of blocks spawned will be X times longer

Widener - the trail of blocks will be wider

Rotator - the trail of blocks will be rotated 90 degrees from what they normally are

Crusher - your trail will destroy blocks instead of creating them

Burner - your path will burn a one square opening around every square

Skipper - your path will skip every other square

Colors - your path will be X color

Game is played in persistent multiplayer worlds Players are spawned somewhat nearby and given a map showing the world as it was when they spawned (no details about players, just shows blocks)

[ayearofgames]

Genre Study #3 - Emergent Games

Why do I want to make this type of game?

A lot of virtual games are about the understanding and management of systems and emergence allows these systems to interact and become more than a combination of their parts

There’s some kind of beauty in not knowing the exact bounds of possibility space within a system you create

If the parts within this complex system can be observed and understood then the game becomes a learning and skillful experience

What kind of emergent games do I admire?

Spelunky

Moderately large number of player mechanics

Large number of entities that will act on their own and react to the player

Different items modify your mechanics thereby changing your understanding of and interactions with the world

DayZ

Large number of mechanics giving the player a fairly broad solution space

Fair number of items and entities for the player to interact with

Inherently multiplayer expounding the number of ways players can interact with the game’s systems

Kerbal

Entirely based around players learning how the system of the game works

With that knowledge they must assemble the most efficient or most interesting ship which is used within a series of learned systems

J.S. Joust

Notable not a digital game in its essence

Extremely broad solution space because of its real world nature

Inherently multiplayer which allows for an insane amount of dynamism in gameplay even with only a handful of explained mechanics

Softly enforced rules allowing each player group to determine how seriously, intensely and physically they want to handle the game

Dodgeball

One of the most broad solution spaces of any game

Different player body types, psyches and play modes allow for an insane amount of variation in play

Approachable from pretty much every skill level

Mostly safe way for players to explore and learn the game’s systems and experiment with new techniques

Basketball

Similar to dodgeball in it’s broadness

Simple, but restrictive ruleset focuses players on improving at the few defined mechanics there are (dribbling, shooting, handling) while also allowing for experimentation and pushing boundaries of what players think can be achieved

Example of this: In the 70s-80s, the game was won by taller teams exclusively and players didn’t know to practice handling, but changes in the ruleset emphasized more team based play and encourage strategic and skillful handling in addition to height and fundamental shooting and offense

Why are these games successful?

Having a broad solution space allows for experimentation, creativity and mastery over long periods of time

I would argue that this can keep players engaged more than anything else (look at NorthernLion’s 1000 Binding of Isaac videos)

Each has a reasonably large selection of entities with distinct learnable behaviors that can interact with the player and each other Those with multiplayer have another layer in which players can interact with each other using the simple ruleset of the game’s system J.S. Joust and Dodgeball especially are very inclusive because playing them is open to most skill levels and body types

Main barrier of entry here is willingness to play

What kind of game fits with these properties of emergence?

Interface offers as many options as possible with the simplest interface possible

Look at Spelltower and Ruzzle as good references

Interaction in the space should be able to affect as many single entities as possible Think of the flyweight design pattern:

Most entities are cut from the same cloth and have identical base traits

Beyond that, each has it’s own details and identity

Ideally would have some multiplayer component that focuses on how creative use of entities and mechanics in the space can create player stories

How do these concepts translate into game shape?

Simple set of mechanics to control your player and interact with the world and other players

Set of toys that modify these mechanics in different ways

What kinds of interactions are most compelling in a virtual space with friends

Discovering new toys

Planning and building structures together

Testing out the boundaries of the game’s systems

Stumbling onto the unknown into moments of anxiety and uncertainty

[ayearofgames]

Genre Study #2 - Grid Based Movement Games

Games I’ve Played:

DND

Storytelling elements happen outside the actual mechanical interactions of the game -> i.e. I picture a different fight then everybody else playing even if only by a little bit

Positioning in battle or when sneaking or whenever matters and affects your stats -> this again is about considering all the entities on the field and playing them off of one another

House on Haunted Hill

During pauses you can talk to your mates and ruminate over what your best options are

Movements aren’t based on random dice rolls, it’s specific to your stats and is very observable

Your actions are modified by items you have, but you can only have one at a time

Chess

Different entities have different properties that can be used together to create strategies

At any point you can stop to consider your actions and mentally run through all possible outcomes

Corrypt

Time to observe the environment and think about my actions

All entities have learnable behaviors

Entities interact in ways that make sense and ways that define the physicality of the world

Layered element of gameplay where you have to think about the micro and macro effect of your actions

No explicit tutorial, just puzzles of increasing difficulty

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Movement is based on the rhythm of the song’s beat, but you don’t have to be continuously moving

Combat is simplified to moving in the direction of whatever you’re fighting, so battles are all about correctly timing against the enemy’s specific pattern

Goals of this game:

Minimalist gameplay

Learn without me telling you how to play

Innovative mechanic

What makes this game different from other games at a face level?

Turn based puzzle platformer inspired by Corrypt and Spelunky

Layered gameplay

Beyond the moment to moment navigation and puzzle solving, the player should be thinking about the over-arching goal

Compelling interest curve

To me, this kind of minimalist gameplay isn’t interesting for long. There needs to be some kind of gameplay hook besides just getting progressively harder over time.

[ayearofgames]

Genre Study #1 - Non Virtual Interaction Focused Games

[This post goes with game #6 which is a (not very good) attempt at making a non virtual interaction game]

Challenge: Design a game focused on the interactions between players

Why do I want to make this kind of game?

The games that I enjoy playing most with other players are ones that grow the bond between us

Games that people love to share do well because they’re easily advertised through word-of-mouth

Games as a medium are about interactions between players and either systems or other players

There aren’t enough (any?) games that focus on bonding two people

This type of game has the potential to attract non-gamers to the medium

What types of games inspire me?

Anything by Game Oven (Fingle, Bounden, Friendstrap)

The Shakedown

J.S. Joust

Why are those games successful?

Experience focused: These game's systems are focused on allowing/forcing meaningful interactions between players

Inclusionary: These games allow non-gamers to easily and meaningfully participate without prior experience

Subversive: These games standout from other games by doing things differently

Performance: Playing the game is a kind of active performance where trying hard and doing well can be appreciated by more than you and the game

What kind of game will mine be?

Presents situations in which players will interact directly while learning more about each other

Performance aspect where you and the other player are competing and judging each other’s performance?

Is free and not limited by technology or prior experience as a gamer

Has few instructions so new players can easily pickup and play

Non-traditional in format so it will stand out from other games

What do I want players to feel?

Happiness and loving feelings that come from bonding with another person

Thoughtful and nostalgic about current/past relationships and childhood

[ayearofgames]

July 28th - #6 Uncommon Commonalities

Premise: Players answer a series of true or false questions honestly, and predict what the other person’s response will be. Then for each question, each player's answers are shown and they can go into detail about their (hopefully) honest answer. At the end, you see scores comparing who know the other person better.

Game Loop:

Players choose from a list of topics and are then given a randomized list of X yes or no questions. 

Each player takes their turn swiping left for no and right for yes to answer the question for themselves and for what they think the other person will say.

For each question, each player’s answer is shown and their given a chance to explain

Why does this idea suck?

Player interactions aren’t very interesting and are repetitive

Judgement is very direct of whether the other person is being honest or not and that can be toxic

Nothing really sets this apart from something like 20 questions

What does this idea need?

Physical interaction of some sort

If the platform is mobile how can that be used to further the cause of direct, safe-but-confrontational interaction?

Some kind of hook

[ayearofgames]

Rejected Idea #1 - Waterworld Sim

Premise: 2D side-scrolling, survival, crafting and inventory management game in a setting similar to Waterworld where you have to explore the world and fight off strangers to survive.

Mechanics:

Your primary method of transport is a large skiff that you can walk around on and interact with various systems

Movement and interaction is similar to something like Starbound where you’re playing a platformer, but you can also aim your reticle and interact with things

Navigator mode: Walk and jump around your skiff and interact with various gameplay systems to manage your inventory, maintain and improve your ship and navigate the world

Fishing mode: Once you’re in the water, control changes and now you can swim around and use different weapons to hunt for fish and supplies that can be used to maintain/upgrade your equipment

Battle mode: When engaged with another ship, you can’t interact with normal gameplay systems, but only on ship weapons

In this mode, your play style changes to include a mouse based reticle to aim your weapons and fire/attack oncoming pirates, etc

Why was this rejected? - Not anything really original or interesting happening here - Survival sims have been done to death - 2D platform-shooters are pretty common - Nothing that sets this game apart

[ayearofgames]

July 27th - #5 Procedural Gardening

Premise: Grow, trim, culture a procedural garden to make your world beautiful by collecting and planting seeds. Mechanics:

Side-scrolling platformer movement with screen wrapping

Player can fly around using a jetpack to get up to the higher level of the plants (maybe limit jetpack fuel so the only way to see the sky is to climb/grow your trees)

Seeds can sometimes be found on ground level in the world

Can use the well once a day to trade your seed for a random shot at something new

Seeds can be planted in culled ground to create new flora

Different types of seeds will grow different types of trees like in Starseed Pilgrim

Over time, your tree will grow and sprout branches which will eventually spawn flowers and fruit

At any time, the player can zoom out to see their trees and take a screenshot

May need to allow for panning up along the tree depending on how tall trees can/do get

Seeds:

Bamboo: Will grow mostly straight up

Willow: Will grow out and down at a steep angle

Tbranch: Will grow in a line and then form a straight line at the end

Aesthetic:

Super minimalistic, where the difference between flora types is mostly in their color and patterns

No textures, all flat or gradient colors and alphas to create interesting patterns

Music:

Ideally, different seed types would add different notes or patterns to a soft melody to create an interesting song no matter how you grow your garden (should talk to Jake about this)

[ayearofgames]

July 26th - #4 Spelunky/Corrypt Mashup

Premise: Explore procedural caves with Spelunky style design with grid-based movement. Mechanics:

Move in any of the cardinal directions using arrow keys.

Gravity will start having an affect after one turn in the air. Each turn will drop you by one square, but will still apply your horizontal movement.

It's impossible to die in the game, but enemies can push you off ledges. You can also stand on top of/ride enemies.

Hitting the spacebar will skip your movement step allowing all other entities to take a turn

The player can pickup and hold one item at a time and it will affect their gameplay. You can pickup/swap with items on the ground by hitting down on top of them

Each entity in the world has a built in logic of how it will react to the player and other entities in the world

Entities:

Goblin: Will patrol paths horizontally. If a player is nearby horizontally, it will push the player towards the nearest wall or ledge. If the player is riding the Goblin, it will continuously patrol its platform.

Bat: Patrols the sky. If a player is nearby, the bat will approach the player to keep them grounded and push them around. If the player is riding the Bat, it will patrol as usual keeping one unit from the wall to keep from crushing the player.

Lava: Lava will continuously grow throughout the room until the player is effectively stuck. The only way out at that point is to undo.

Items:

Winged Boots: Gravity will take an extra step to start affecting your movement

Pickaxe: You can destroy certain types of environment squares by walking into them

Magic Wand: You can't move with this item equipped, instead you cast a spell in your hit button direction that swaps your position with whatever entity is hit

World:

Unlike Spelunky or Corrypt, the world is endlessly large

You can keep playing continuously until you get yourself stuck

You only have 100 undos throughout your run, no exceptions

The world you're exploring is documented on a map you carry and can be used to backtrack and retrace your steps

Unless you're actively playing, your progress will be wiped at midnight and a new map seed will be generated

Leaderboard:

Stats shown: steps taken, rooms explored, riches gathered

Sorting: friends/global

Sorting2: daily, weekly, overall

[ayearofgames]

Game Study #1 - Corrypt and Gorogoa

In order to design well and make really compelling experiences, I need to actually play games of high quality. My plan for now is to play as many IGF and indie games as I can get my hands on and continuously analyze and understand their development so I can draw on them as reference. Here's my first batch:

Corrypt - Michael Brough: This game took me by surprise more and more the longer I played it. From the get-go you have grid based movement and can affect entities based on your proximity and movement. It felt like a puzzlescript game or any other very simple puzzle type game. The first section has a number of block pushing puzzles of varying difficulty that get you to better understand the mechanic as well as your movement around the world. After playing for about an hour, I got over the hump of solving the pushing puzzles and made it to a magician who sold me a bit of magic. In the game, you can use magic to save the contents of a grid square in your room to be carried across all other rooms. This sounds complex, but it's very intuitive to understand in the context of the game. As you're collecting mushrooms and buying more magic, it becomes clear that these spells are affecting the world in unexpected ways. The first spell I cast destroyed the magician revoking my access to more magic. Luckily the game doesn't punish and can undo at any point in the game. As you use magic to save more grid spaces, you notice that the world is being destroyed and all the rooms are becoming more and more similar. This layering of the normal block pushing/puzzle solving and the completely innovative square saving mechanic allows for interesting changes and makes the game a different experience for every player.

Grid based movement

Your movement affects entities in different ways

Inherently puzzle based

Layers second to second puzzle with minute to minute

Exploration requires you to change your reality

Everything can be figured out through trial and error

Complex system of interacting entities

Continuous rise in complexity and interest

You can tell a well designed game by how simple it is for someone to understand and this game does a good job

Gorogoa - Jason Roberts: This game's mechanic is deceptively simple, but it's still very impressive even without thinking of the tech required to pull it off. In Gorogoa, you search scenes for interest points and overlay these scenes to move your character, a young boy, across the world. He seems to be interested in a large mystic creature running through his village and attempts to follow some arbitrary prophecy that will eventually lead him to meet the beast. Sometimes, the scenes become different and somewhat surreal definitely elevating my interest. I'm interested to see how deep into the world the boy will go and what interesting scene will be in the final game, although I think there's not too too much more to be explored with this mechanic.

Beautiful hand drawn art

Interconnected world with an impressive mechanic

Simple hidden item logic puzzles

Fantastic world and premise

[ayearofgames]

July 25th - #3 Tribe

Premise: Tribal culture/survival simulation with some fantasy elements. Evokes feeling of being in a tribal culture where modern tech feels foreign and offensive. Focused on the importance of friends, family and culture as well as calling bs on colonialism and destroying tribal cultures.

Foreginers and foreign tech are accompanied by light buzzing and bright lights and difficult communication

Interact with your culture through mini-games and quests

Seek/hunt/track food on the plains

Protect villagers on treks to retrieve guarded bodies of water

Craft leather and cloth into wearable, usable items

Fight back against foreigners encroaching on your territory

Pray to tribal gods for peace, prosperous harvest, etc

Tribal people are thick skinned, stocky goron or pangolin like creatures while the foreigners are closer to humans but still based on some animal

Game is played in single player, 1st person in an African savannah are between a body of water and some mountains

Over the course of the game, your tribe is pushed farther and farther back into the mountains until you have to make a long trek to the river to get water

[ayearofgames]

July 24th - #2 Human Automaton

Premise: Control another human in a live gallery space using a controller. Run into issues of the controlled player refusing to obey commands, them not knowing where they're going and bumping into things. Playing with interface and trust between anonymous players. Mechanics:

One player wears motorcycle helmet (or equivalent) with a mobile device mounted inside. On the screen commands are displayed showing what the player should currently be doing.

In an elevated location of some sort, another player has a control and is sending commands to the first player of what they should be doing. Commands include: turn left, turn right, walk forward, walk backwards, pick up, dance and others.

Hopefully, the commander won't mislead the helmeted AND helmeted player will cooperate.

[ayearofgames]

Dissecting Game Structure #2 - Real World Connectivity

- A recent trend in games is to connect the game world with the real world. There are several reasons for this:

Spread the Word: Built-in methods of sharing your game experience with others grows the world of the game, increases longevity of play and encourages players to discuss and thereby expand the player base.

Data Tracking: Having a backbone by which players interact and connect with the real world places similar hooks to tracking data about how players are spending their time. Having more data about the player helps designers.

Head in the Game: If I’m spending my time out-of-game thinking about playing your game, you’ve done a good job of designing a meaningful experience. Connecting the game with the real world makes it easier to bring it to your real life and share your experience.

-  Here are some games that currently implement this is one or more ways:

Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Destiny, Spelunky, Abyss Odyssey, Zineth, Bubsy3D

- Ways to Ground Games in the Real World:

At any time players can communicate with social media from within the game.

After making important or interesting triumphs they have an obvious opportunity to share their experience. This makes total sense because they’re hyped by the win anyways.

In downtime, show other players OR fake show other players having a similar experience to your own.

Sharing your experience with others, even in a surface way like this pulls you deeper into the experience. If it’s a sad section of the game and many others are sharing in your sadness, it feels more real. Same with happy, angry, etc.

If you want to go really advanced with this, have your players be able to interact with the other players they’re having shared experience with.

Layer in human behaviors of distraction and choice at any time:

In Zineth, you can use your phone at any time to read messages, play games, send texts and bunch of other minor useless features. Having the useful options be entwined with the rest matches real life and brings players into the game.

Having lots of fun ways to play in the world that aren’t necessarily relevant to the main quest makes the world feel like a place rather than a game. In Dark Souls, side quests, shiny objects and optional bosses allow players to explore and be rewarded for wanting to know more about the world. Useless things make the world feel more real.

Have lots of options to customize how your character looks and acts in the game. If you can make you character match you or match what you perceive yourself to be, you’ll care more about the game.

Skyrim’s character creator kept me entertained for hours and I’d go back again now if I could

Let me flesh out my character as much as I want even if all the details don’t matter so much in the world. I WANT to be immersed

Have in game ways to communicate and refresh your relationship with other players and with NPCs. If I want to hang out with a friend make it an in-game activity to communicate like in GTAIV.

[ayearofgames]

July 23rd - #1 Longworm

Premise: You're a ball shaped head to start and you roll around eating small objects which become your tail. As you collect more and more pieces, you grow in size. Mechanics: - Roll into objects to pick them up - Picking up objects adds them to your tail, just behind your head - You can roll up and around walls - Your body will follow along the path your head has taken - Eating pieces of your own tail cuts them off and they fade away Interface Ideas: - Could use Super Centipede's controls of steering with the left and right click buttons and moving forwards by continuously mashing keys - On a controller could have the triggers steer and hold a button to move - On a controller could have the analog choose a direction and hold a button to move - On a controller use analog to aim and alternate triggers to move increasingly fast

[ayearofgames]

Dissecting Game Structure #1 - Interface, Mechanics and Narrative

Interface: the actual method through which the player interacts with the game system

There can be multiple ways of interacting with a game.

The ways of interacting with a game can shift over the course of the game.

*Would be interesting to have the player completely change their mechanics over the course of the game to the point where the mechanics they originally learned no longer apply.

*A lot of devs like to play with games that already exist using this method:

Cannabalt 100, weird Nintendo mix n match game, lots of mario stuff.

Game mechanics: ways the player can interact with the simulation in the game

Mechanics must be learned by the player.

Mechanics when used in combination can create depth within a system.

Mechanics should be thought of as tools with which the player can interact with the world you’re creating.

Focus on things that feel good and NOT on things that “make sense”:

If players don’t like something then cut it out

If players expect something that isn’t there, then add it in

Too many mechanics can make your game unapproachable.

Think of the difference between Mario and Spelunky and a Flight Simulator:

Mario has maybe 5 mechanics: running, jumping, floaty flying, goomba stomping, power ups, etc.

Spelunky has a few dozen interlaced mechanics that aren’t all necessary and that can be learned by playing the game a lot.

Flight Simulators introduce the player to dozens to many mechanics instantly when they start the game.

Narrative: if your game tells a story (to any degree), the structure of narrative can impact your game

Game mechanics supporting the narrative of your game will already set it apart:

Fighting creatures in Spelunky makes sense, but killing civilians as an undercover Russian spy (in COD) does not.

Most stories are told using the traditional three act structure: setup->confrontation->resolution

Reordering your story can have dramatic affects

Telling a story with unpredictable plot structures will set you apart

Telling stories that feel honest and aren’t just power fantasies will make people care about your story

Stories should be unexpected and constantly defying expectations:

Consider how the player will feel and react to what’s happening ->Test it on people and then do what they least expect or what will affect them most

Context: the player is going to understand everything happening in your game in terms of their experience

Consider what players bring to the tables; ask them directly and then shape their experience with that information

Put what they’re doing in context of the world at large and they will have reason to care about it as more than just a game

Zineth is so successful because they give me things that are interesting and unexpected that I want to talk about AND they give me an interesting way to think about those things

___________________________________________________________________

My game will:

Allow the player to interface with the game in a way that makes sense, is interesting is innovative

Give the player meaningful ways to interact with the game world that are interesting and new

The story being told in the game (however insignificant) will be unconventional and will challenge the players expectations and make them think and feel

The story will be told in an innovative way that make sense in context of the game’s design

The game world and your actions in it will be put into the context of the larger world. The game acknowledges that you exist outside of the game and gives you ways to interact with that world from within the game.

Short version:

Innovative, cohesive way to interface with the game

Innovative, polished ways of interacting in and with the game world

The game’s narrative considers it’s audience and continuously challenges player expectations

The game acknowledges the player as an entity and the world in which she lives