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VR Project: Week 2

I have made solid progress in the project

Content-wise, I have completed inputting data into the spread sheet for the timeline to project the title, content, and photo of each historical event.

I had to spend most of my time trying to figure out photos on which website allowed to be displayed on the spreadsheet as I finally came to a conclusion, Flickr was the only website that allowed the photos to show.

But because Flickr only offered a handful of selection of photos, I was forced to make an account on Flickr and download photos from elsewhere and upload it into my new Flickr account, and then use it on the timeline spreadsheet.

In the following weeks, I will be adding more parts and content to the timeline and try to figure out a way to play around with the design aspect of the timeline (having a different background color, font, etc). Although it is said on the tutorial that further designing the timeline can be limited and be done with a profound knowledge on programming, hopefully I can find a way to make minor alterations.

Finally, I have continued to talk to Pasan and came up with a date to talk more deeply on what is technologically possible and the locations to set up the timeline within the VR world of his and test out prototypes and trial runs in the next day or so.

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1sIJhYaJpWrAcop-AwGpMQJz_yztHkxEsHEeusyEbXjQ&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

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Jeremy Bailenson’s Academic Journey in VR with “Experience on Demand”

One of the interesting questions Bailenson made during his podcast was the question on empathy, and more specifically, ‘does having more or less attractive avatars in virtual reality cause different reactions from other users or would you become more aggressive and confident having an attractive avatar?’ and ‘do people adapt to their habitats’. The question itself is nothing new and have been considered a strong possibility for people to act according to their electronic avatar. If one were to have a blood hungry berserker character, the user is more likely to show aggressive actions in the virtual reality and even continue to do so in the real world after exiting the virtual world. The concept was first introduced as the Proteus Effect by none other than himself, Jeremy Bailenson, and his colleague, Nick Yee.

From the name of a Greek god, who was able to take on many different forms, the Proteus Effect “expect that our avatars have a significant impact on how we behave online. Users who are deindividuated in online environments may adhere to a new identity that is inferred from their avatars. And in the same way that subjects in black uniforms conform to a more aggressive identity, users in online environments may conform to the expectations and stereotypes of the identity of their avatars. Or more precisely, in line with self-perception theory, they conform to the behavior that they believe others would expect them to have” (Bailenson & Yee, 2007).

And through an experiment done in 2007, Bailenson and Yee concluded the following:

“Across different behavioral measures and different representational manipulations, we observed the effect of an altered self-representation on behavior. Participants who had more attractive avatars exhibited increased self-disclosure and were more willing to approach opposite-gendered strangers after less than 1 minute of exposure to their altered avatar. In other words, the attractiveness of their avatars impacted how intimate participants were willing to be with a stranger. In our second study, participants who had taller avatars were more willing to make unfair splits in negotiation tasks than those who had shorter avatars, whereas participants with shorter avatars were more willing to accept unfair offers than those who had taller avatars. Thus, the height of their avatars impacted how confident participants became. These two studies show the dramatic and almost instantaneous effect that avatars have on behavior in digital environments” (Bailenson & Yee, 2007).

With virtual reality becoming more commercialized for everyday life, the possibility and strength of effect of the Proteus Effect will only be greater. In other words, with the availability of a virtual world that is highly reminiscent to the real one, people will have the tendency to act more extremely based on their avatar, and most likely have an effect in the real world. The old argument of violent video games give impressions to players to become more violent might become true. As a game designer, I did not believe and thought the argument was invalid and thought of the argument as an close-minded, conservative explanation for people to scapegoat video games. However, now considering how the gap between virtual and real worlds are getting thinner, it just might be a possibility and makes me wonder how would the human mind differentiate what is real and what is fake. 

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Holodeck

Holodeck was a concept that was first seen in Star Trek the animated series, followed by Star Trek the Next Generation, and introduced by Gene Dologoff. At the time when it was first introduced to the public in the 70s, the technology seemed a far fetched futuristic technology, however with technological advancements, this concept is now within humanity’s grasp.

As I had the opportunity to watch the episode of Star Trek that showed the Holodeck (also called the recreation room in the series), the idea struck me as something familiar, yet new. With VR technology starting to take on a major part of our everyday lives, VR equipment can be easily seen in arcade scenes and in some cases, in our homes. As VR gear develops so did the augmented reality technology. From time to time, I would come across articles that describes what kind of AR equipment are now being developed. One example being the HolodeckVR project (http://www.holodeckvr.co/start), it shows that technology is almost able to recreate the holodeck seen in Star Trek, meaning AR projections not being limited to person to person’s view but being able to project it throughout a whole designated area. However, one key element is still missing: the artificial intelligence.

Being a user within a virtual reality, having the possibility to interact with objects and people is most important to make the user accept the VR world as real, and which ultimately blurs the border between what is real and what is not. So far from my understanding there is not a holodeck-like equipment with a compelling AI. However, there is some talk about creating one within a podcast interview on Nvidia’s Project Holodeck (http://voicesofvr.com/623-training-ai-robots-in-vr-with-nvidias-project-holodeck/).

Omer Shapira, NVIDIA’s senior VR designer on this project, explains that they had an experiment introducing two AI, one being new to the game of Dominos and the other being knowledgeable on the rules of the game, to play each other. He continued to explain that it was truly inspiring to see the less knowledgeable AI to develop to further understand and learn from its mistake and its counterpart AI’s movement and was excited to share to prospect of further working on the AI aspect of the project.

Shapira later explained that with the technological advancements, there would be less social interactions and AI and robotics would fill in the roles of social interactions. I, too, believe this to be true. I remember hearing Rogue’s presentation on creating VR programs that is all about interacting with other players in a shared environment, like Flock, and also Ken Perlin’s presentation that in the future, a new form of entertainment will take place to go out with your friends to play VR games in groups. I think the future would be the contrary. With advanced AI that will hear everything what you have to say, and say everything you want to hear, and also with the stress from conflicts within social interactions, people will shun human to human interactions more and look towards AI interactions in a secluded environment. Even the idea of using a holodeck would prove to solely recreate a artificial environment for the user to escape from reality. Why bother being stressed out from being reprimanded by your boss and judged by your friends, when you can run away from everything and be at a place where you want to be, act like the person you want to be, and hear only the things you would please you?

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VR Project: Week 1

After deciding to create a virtual reality timeline about the history of virtual reality with the aid of Cynthia,

I had been playing around with the TimelineJS timeline creator and discovered the following about the creator,

- the order how each slides are projected are by the dates that are inputted rather than which row it was inputted - by altering the display date, one can change the order of the slides to show up manually -  the functionality of media thumbnail is questionable when using a photo, only useful if one would want to change the original thumbnail of a video - using vimeo and flickr seemed most convenient, as it allowed to include the description of the media that was being used - changing the type to era, creates a indication within the timeline that shows below, for those who want to see the grouping. era type does not create a slide.

Now that I am comfortable with the tool, I will start to begin creating the early part of the project.

Regarding meetings, I had the chance to talk to Pasan to ask about the possibility of projecting the timeline within the VR realm. Although the chance of importing the interactive aspect of the timeline (dragging and clicking on the timeline) is dim, having the timeline as an auto-playable slideshow/video seems more realistic as Pasan and I agreed to work on the timeline as just that.

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Future Reality Lecture with Ken Perlin

-- Ken Perlin's background : 

Kenneth H. "Ken" Perlin is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, founding director of the Media Research Lab at NYU, and the Director of the Games for Learning Institute. He developed or was involved with the development of techniques such as Perlin noise, hypertexture, real-time interactive character animation, and computer-user interfaces. (Wikipedia)

-- date of lecture : February 9th, 2018

-- summary and opinion on lecture : 

The key words that would best describe the lecture would be imagination and sociability. Professor Perlin began his lecture on showing his dinosaur collection he had as a kid and asked us to remember that time when each of us had a collection of toys and would create endless tales of adventure, romance, and comedy. Then he continued on asking us where did all the innocence and imagination have gone. Would we still be able to pick up a simple toy and come up with fun stories like we once used to? 

I have been feeling and thinking the same idea as Prof. Perlin. As someone who is interested in video games and entertainment, I too sometimes question the whereabouts of my old self. The feeling of everything being new to me is a feeling that I have long forgotten. As I have reached my mid twenties, all my question have been answered and accepted the facts about the world we live in. The usage of the word ‘why’ in its purest form have been declining as I grew older. Prof. Perlin’s lecture gave me the opportunity to rethink and reflect about my passion for designing video games and as a person.

Later Prof. Perlin showcased a couple of his virtual reality projects. One of the similarities they had was that they were based on social interaction with other players. Flock was about interacting with 5 or 6 other players depicted as fellow birds, flying around in a shared playable area, being surprised by each other’s actions and flight path, everyone would laugh with one another, creating a pleasurable time.

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Pygmalion’s Spectacles

Author: Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

Date written: 1935

Synopsis: 

“But sensations are mental phenomena. They exist in our minds. How, then, do we know that the objects themselves do not exist only in our minds?" He waved again at the light-flecked buildings. "You do not see that wall of masonry; you perceive only a sensation, a feeling of sight. The rest you interpret."

“But listen—a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?"

Dan Burke, a man from Chicago staying in New York, comes across a mysterious man named Professor Albert Ludwig that shows passion about an alternative world he says that can be accessed with the help from his invention. Skeptical and unsure of a world that can be real that is unreal, Dan tries out this invention and finds himself surprised.

Analysis:

Weinbaum’s Pygmalion’s Spectacles is a science fiction written in the early 20th century, imagining about a device and a world, as we know now as virtual reality. Like H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, the fiction takes on an interesting imaginative interpretation of the future in the eyes of someone from the past. Immediately reading into this literature piece, I came across numerous astonishments and questions, one of them being whether or not to consider Weinbaum’s invention as VR device, as we call it nowadays. The VR device and VR world we have today consist of unimaginable amounts and lengths or codes and are bound by the limit of technological advancement, putting the user in a loophole of pre-programmed sequences of scenes. Unless we come across a more developed prototype where the VR program has a artificial intelligence that can generate deeper and more profound worlds, characters, and even dialogue options, our concept of virtual reality cannot be compared to Weinbaum’s.

Professor Ludwig’s device requires electrolysis and liquid rectifier to be the user in a dream-like state, meaning the events and characters created in the virtual world may be dependent on the user’s mind or brain. In other words, since there is not a pre-programmed ‘program’ or any other machine evolved in this device, each user may experience something quite different from one another. Sure, it is possible for us to create a device that can access our brains in the future to create a more realistic world based on personal experience and needs, but the concept of virtual reality that we have right now is quite different from Pygmalion’s Spectacles.Even from the fact that Dan fits right in to the world, and the characters knowing dan and feeling comfortable around him shows that Weinbaum interprets Ludwig’s future technology as tool that can be used to access into one’s dreams at their disposal. Dan’s world, personally, can be seen as a dream state that we, as human beings, sometimes can remember, but soon forget. There are times that I wake up from a dream that was so real to me and that I can recall every event that happened and get emotionally attached to.

Stanley Grauman Weinbaum’s Pygmalion’s Spectacles was definitely an interesting science fiction piece, and a greater literature piece to read when trying to grasp the idea and concept of the modern virtual reality technology. I do hope that there come a day when we can access our dreams with ease and recall them and remember them with a more advance artificial intelligence, but I am also wary of the consequences that it may bring. But that is another tale for another time.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum

–  Date Game published: August 25, 2009

–  Developer/s of Game: Rocksteady Studios

–  Creator/s of Game: Sefton Hill

–  Publisher of Game: Eidos Interactive, WB Interactive Entertainment

–  Synopsis: After the Joker assaults Gotham City Hall, he is caught by Batman and taken to Arkham Asylum, which temporarily houses many members of the Joker's gang, who were transferred after a fire at Blackgate Prison. Believing the Joker allowed himself to be captured, Batman accompanies him into the asylum. The Joker's plan is revealed as Harley Quinn takes control of the security and the Joker escapes into the facility, aided by a corrupt guard who kidnaps Commissioner Gordon. The Joker threatens to detonate bombs hidden around Gotham City if anyone tries to enter Arkham, forcing Batman to work alone. Tracking Quinn to the medical facility to rescue Gordon, Batman is exposed to the Scarecrow's fear toxin and hallucinates, seeing Gordon's death and the corpses of his parents talking to him. After fighting off Scarecrow, Batman finds and subdues Quinn before rescuing Gordon. The Joker then directs Batman to the captured Bane, who has been experimented on by asylum doctor Penelope Young. The Joker frees Bane and Batman is forced to fight him, during which Quinn escapes. Afterward, he goes to a secret Batcave installation he had hidden on the island, where Batman restocks his gadgets.

–  Analysis: It’s a rare, if not impossible for a game that is based off of a movie to be a huge success. The heads behind the game would think that with the name value it already has and the earnings from the film, the game version would soley serve as a marketing technique to promote the franchise or the movie. Moreover, they would also expect the game would sell at a stable rate, knowing the consumers would want a bit more from just the movie. It has been an unfaithful marketing technique that the film industry has been using. The players would buy these games to play as their favorite superhero, but would end up disappointed on how shallow the game actually is.

B:AS has everything in the equation that I just explained: a game that is made based off of a comic book and film series and a superhero themed game. I would have originally thought of the game no less than a failure. Probably a game with a shallow storyline that is copied from the original series, the combat system would be lighthearted, no real thoughtful reason why the good tries to confront the bad, and etc.. But, B:AS was different. The way the story starts out, as Joker is captured by Batman isn’t just because he was caught like any other day, but was part of a greater plan by Joker that was planned over an extensive time period. I found myself having goosebumps how thorough the plan was planned out and how the developers game such thought on creating the plot. Even the combat system reminded me of other games such as Assassin's Creed and Deus Ex on how diverse the player can approach the fight. B:AS is a prime example that shows the potential of games that is based off of films and comic book series. Every game could have outstanding qualities with just thought and effort put in developing the game. Effort on creating games never go unanswered. Only if the developers would put in a bit more effort, they would come out with a great game, which would mean the players would appreciate it and help with the sales, which would ultimately benefit the company and to the playerbase.

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Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc

–  Date Game published: November 25, 2010

–  Developer/s of Game: Spike

–  Creator/s of Game: Yuichiro Saito, Kazutaka Kodaka

–  Publisher of Game: Spike, NIS America

–  Synopsis:  Danganronpa takes place at an elite high school called Hope's Peak Academy (希望ヶ峰学園 Kibōgamine Gakuen), which accepts talented "Ultimate" students (超高校級 chō-kōkō-kyū, lit. Super High School Level) of the highest caliber in various fields each year. Makoto Naegi, a fairly optimistic but otherwise average student, is selected in a raffle and chosen to enroll into the academy as the "Ultimate Lucky Student". However, when Makoto arrives inside the Academy, he loses consciousness and wakes up locked inside the school, where he meets fourteen other newly picked Ultimate students who are in the same situation as him. A sadistic, remote-controlled bear named Monokuma appears before them, telling them they will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives, and that they will be put to death if they violate any of the schools rules. He offers only one way for students to "graduate" from the academy: murder another student and not be identified as the culprit.

–  Analysis: Although it being original, the story itself shows similarities in other works of arts, such as the movie, Cube and Saw, in a way that the main characters are locked up in a restricted and limited area competing and cooperating (but mostly backstabbing) to free themselves. But the main reason why this game is interesting is because of the skillsets that the characters have. Unlike Cube’s or Saw’s characters that have “realistic” occupations and realistic qualities, Danganronpa’s characters are supposed to be the elite in their field of expertise: Top-tier expert athlete, programmer, gambler, and etc.. This is particularly interesting because how the setting gives the possibility to create an compelling story. Having the characters use their set of skills to carry out the murder and to mask them to be impossible for a normal person to do, any player would think that there was a lot of effort, thought, and dedication put in behind the game.

While playing the game, I also found the developers witty. As I played the Japanese version of the game (I always play the game in its original language as I find playing a translated version destructive to its original content, like trying to eat a vegetable raw as possible as cooking it will destroy nutritious contents of the original vegetable, not to mention the horrible voice overs) , the title of the game being 弾丸論破, which can be broken and roughly translated into 弾丸+論破, bullet + Denial of an argument, and how the trials in the game have effects of bullets shattering people’s arguments was notably fascinating. Also how the evidences are called 言霊, or koto-tama, but the developers specifically used this word for its play on word, koto-tama’s tama have the same pronunciation as bullet in Japanese.

Also another element I appreciated was the hidden easter eggs on other famous video games and animations. I came to realize only a few being parts of the dialogues referencing animation series Detective Conan’s ‘there is only one truth’, Ghost in the Shell’s ‘and my ghost is telling me to-’, Evangelion’s ‘Are you stupid?!’, and finally Slam Dunk’s ‘the left hand is just there’. Also there were items that resembled the Spaceship Yamato and a sword from Lupin the Third series. I could only imagine there would be many more references and omage to series I am unfamiliar with and it is great to see nicely placed references.

The game mechanic that is presented in the game, searching for clues during free time and interrogating classmates prior to trials seemed okay without anything standing out. Like Detective Grimoire, I would argue that the gathering for clues solely served the purpose of Danganronpa being a mystery game. To me, the setting and dialogue choices had a greater importance to the overall structure of the game and I would consider the game to be a excellent visual narrative game with the extra element of crime solving.

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Cuphead

–  Date Game published: September 29, 2017

–  Developer/s of Game: MDHR Studio

–  Creator/s of Game: Chad Moldenhauer, Jared Moldenhauer, Marija Moldenhauer, Ryan Moldenhauer

–  Publisher of Game: MDHR Studio

–  Synopsis: On the fictional Inkwell Isle, Cuphead and his brother Mugman are two fun-loving kids who live under the watchful eye of Elder Kettle. Against the elder's warnings, the brothers wander into the Devil's Casino and play craps. When the brothers go on a winning streak, the casino's manager King Dice calls upon the Devil, who raises the stakes. If Cuphead and Mugman can win another time, they will own the entire casino; if not, the Devil will have their souls. Cuphead rolls snake eyes and he and Mugman must give up their souls. The brothers beg for mercy, so the Devil makes a deal with them: collect the contracts that signify his ownership of the souls of his runaway debtors by midnight the next day, and he might let them off the hook. They visit Elder Kettle, who gives them a potion that allows them to fire blasts from their fingers to aid in their quest. (Wiki)

–  Analysis: The game plays on the art style of American cartoons in the 1920s. Playing homage to pop 1920s culture, the game also incorporates jazzy and ragtime tunes to create a more nostalgic atmosphere. While I was playing the game, it felt as if I was watching a motion pictures in that era. Even the loading screens had the typical white noise and statics you would find in old films. The details that the developers oversaw was damn fine impressive, also considering that this was their first project as an indie game studio.

The choice of creating a 2D platform shooter was an interesting choice as well. As many indie game developers would choose a RPG title over other genres, it makes me wonder how the game would have played out if it were created as an 1920s-ish RPG game. But I am also glad how it came out. Like a mixture between Metroid and Castlevania series with Don Don Pachi’s bullet hell style, the game can be unforgiving from time to time. Understanding the enemy characters’ attack pattern and movement is key on playing the game and approaching the game without trying to understand it will result it numerous deaths and frustration, like my original experience with the game.

The game cameout of nowhere and became an instant hit. And you would know the game is an instant huge hit, if there are other games that are cloning the original game. The art and graphic is detailed and nostalgic and the soundtrack and sound effects are so well designed that I wouldn’t mind listening the game background music on its own. But, I personally wish if there was more depth to the story and the lore.

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Mobile narrative games: Ticket to Earth & 80 Days

–  Date Game published: March 2017 / July 31, 2014

–  Developer/s of Game: Robot Circus / Inkle

–  Creator/s of Game: N/A / Joseph Humfrey, Jon Ingold

–  Publisher of Game: N/A / Inkle

–  Analysis: This time, I wanted to experience how mobile games use game mechanics and narrative storytelling, given its limitation in program memory and against a completely different audience. The video games that I have played during this course, which were mainly console and computer games, does not have a limitation to how creative the developers can be (with the exception of hoping to create a highly sophisticated virtual reality so advanced that players would feel physical stimulus and etc., in other words, a technologically advanced game that is impossible to create given the time we live in). The player pool of console and computer games are highly passionate and knowledgeable with the willingness to input long gameplay hours to experience a thorough narrative story. However, mobile game developers are limited to create a game that is executable within the technological boundaries of a smart phone. Furthermore, the core audience only have a limited amount of time to spend gaming and have a lower tolerance in story progression. Short sessions of gameplay and visually stimulating reward systems are key in creating a mobile game.

Ticket to Earth is a science fiction game that follows a character who becomes a law keeper (half willingly), despite her conflicts in moral issues due to the imminent threat she was faced. The game plays as a turn based combat with dragging characters through specific types of tiles, which give the character specific powers depending on which tiles the character passes through. My first impression of the core game mechanic was a mixture between strategic turn based combat like Banner Saga and the generic match-3 type puzzle games that can be easily found in mobile games nowadays.

The story in the grand scheme of things was refreshing and fascinating compared to what other mobile games had to offer. As the game is set on an off world planet that was mined to the core by bureaucrats and capitalists, the game addresses questions on social statuses, morality, and value of lives. It is not a setting that has been shortcoming, but definitely a great setting to use with the tactical combat gameplay mechanics the game offers. The game also makes an attempt to expose players towards deeper into the story and its lore with short episodes that occurs every post-battle. Compared to the main storyline, these side stories provide little to no depth or lore to the overall expanding story and had me question its function.

One of the things that I have realized is that the tile generation is completely random. I was able to recognize this as in one of the missions, as I was given a bonus objective to kill an enemy in my first turn. As I spawned, I realized this was impossible due to the tiles spawning in a pattern that did not allow me to get a kill in my first turn. After restarting the level 5-6 times, I was able finally finish the bonus objective. I understand that match-3 gameplay rely heavily on luck rather than skill as the player can be given a single “god-like” move depending how the tiles spawn. But, as this game is a fusion between a match-3 game and a tactical turn based game, I have been expecting a more controlled spawn of tiles due to the nature of the game being tactical and strategical. Especially in some missions maybe if no in all of them. For example, Candy Crush Saga is another game that relies heavily on tile spawns. Nonetheless, the tiles spawn are controlled in the early part of the game as part of the tutorial to teach players of its gameplay. I would have hoped Ticket to Earth also had a controlled tile spawn system to challenge players to think critically on puzzle solving, which is definitely one of the stronger selling points of this game. However, it was a nice touch in design to have four different tiles that ties in with the player's expected damage and skill activation. Having more or less diverse tile would have left the player either bored or overwhelmed due to the diversity of tiles.

80 Days is another different take on mobile games. Based on Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days, 80 Days is about a wealthy gentlemen and his valet traveling around the world in 80 Days to fulfill a bet, as the title of the game suggests. The game only borrows the main characters’ names and the idea of the story, and takes on a utterly different approach on the story. The world is portrayed slightly different than our own timeline. With the threat to an imminent war approaching, humanity experiences a sudden advancement in technology and the player can experience this by different means of transportation throughout the game; from moving cities to underwater submerging trains.

Over 5,000 pages of text, the story of the game is expansive and requires multiple playthroughs to travel through different cities and witness all the possible events. From my experience so far, many episodes have strong ties to artificiers, a group of people who specialize in robotics and have a strong color of revolutionist minds. While investigating in larger cities, I usually trigger an event confronting an artificer and options to either befriend or stay away from them, as the game teaches the player that they are a flamboyant and controversial group of people. Also there are more lengthy scenarios that plays through the whole journey that becomes accessible after clearing the game a couple times, which adds more replayability value to the game.

Rather than just being a narrative adventure game, 80 Days also challenges the player to manage resources throughout the game. Time, money, and items are the three resources that is given to the player to manage. Within surplus of these resources, the player to expect to keep both main characters alive and gather information on travel routes, as there are infinitive possible routes to take.

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Kingdom Hearts II

–  Date Game published: December 22, 2005

–  Developer/s of Game: Square Enix

–  Creator/s of Game: Tetsuya Nomura

–  Publisher of Game: Square Enix

–  Synopsis: Kingdom Hearts II begins one year after the events of Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. The game's setting is a collection of various levels (referred to in-game as "worlds") that the player progresses through. As in the first game, the player can travel to various Disney-based locales, along with original worlds specifically created for the series. While Disney-based worlds were primarily derived from the Disney animated features canon in the first game, Kingdom Hearts II introduces worlds that are based on Disney live-action films as well. Each world varies in appearance and setting, depending on the Disney film on which it is based. The graphics of the world and characters are meant to resemble the artwork style of the environments and characters from their respective Disney films. Each world is disconnected from the others and exists separately; with few exceptions, players travel from one world to another via a Gummi Ship.Some worlds featured in the previous games reappear, but with new and expanded areas. There are also new worlds that are introduced, including the Land of Dragons, a fictionalized version of ancient China from the film Mulan; Beast's Castle, an 18th-century-style French castle based on Beauty and the Beast; Timeless River, a past version of Disney Castle that features Steamboat Willie-style animation; Port Royal from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Pride Lands, a great savannah from The Lion King; and Space Paranoids, a digital world based on Tronwithin Hollow Bastion's computer network. Twilight Town, an original world first seen in Chain of Memories, has a greater role as the introductory world. The World That Never Was is a new world that serves as the headquarters of Organization XIII. (Wiki)

–  Analysis: Kingdom Hearts is a game that I am personally biased about. I am unsure why and what makes me biased about the game, but I find the game cringy and dull. If I think about it, the game has a large lineup of Final Fantasy and Disney characters and worlds that is well designed and collaborated. Not only that but, the game has a combat system that follows the roots of JRPG combat system.

I had friends who were really into the series and offered me to play, but every single time I tried playing I would lose interest within the first minute of gameplay. I guess there are some games that just don’t click and everyone has a few, and this is mine. But I really do hope to try the game without my bias and there would be one day that I would appreciate the series.

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Fez

–  Date Game published: April 13, 2012

–  Developer/s of Game: Polytron Corporation

–  Creator/s of Game: Thomas Scott, Phil Fish

–  Publisher of Game: Trapdoor

–  Synopsis: Fez is a two-dimensional (2D) puzzle platform game set in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The player-character Gomez lives peacefully on a 2D plane until he receives a red fez and witnesses the breakup of a giant, golden hexahedron that tears the fabric of spacetime and reveals a third dimension. After the game appears to glitch, reset, and reboot, the player can rotate between four 2D views of the 3D world, as four sides around a cube-like space. This rotation mechanic reveals new paths through the levels by connecting otherwise inaccessible platforms, and is the basis of Fez's puzzles. For example, floating platforms become a solid road, discontinuous ladders become whole, and platforms that move along a track stay on course. The object of the game is to collect cubes and cube fragments, which accrete to restore order to the universe. In search of these cubes, Gomez traverses the game environment by jumping between ledges. Other platforming elements change with the level themes, including crates that activate switches, bombs that reveal passages, and pistons that launch Gomez airborne. (Wiki)

–  Analysis: Fez is a game that looks like a simply puzzle game at first glance, but once you start playing it, you would soon realize its a sadistic, maniac game. The first hour of gameplay was pretty easy. But after unlocking a couple of stages and entering new ones, the idea of perception starts to become confusing and hard to keep up at times. Also, after reading some articles and watching gameplay videos, there seems to be levels that require you to scan QR codes and require you to decode hieroglyphic letters unlock and understand commands on what you need to do next. Except for the comprehensively challenging level of entry that might keep you up for days to clear a single stage and the impressive idea of using 3D perspective to solve puzzles, there isn’t much more about the game itself.

[jackjinlee-blog]

Dragon Age: Inquisition

–  Date Game published: November 18, 2014

–  Developer/s of Game: BioWare Edmonton

–  Creator/s of Game: Mike Laidlaw

–  Publisher of Game: Electronic Arts

–  Synopsis: Dragon Age: Inquisition is set in the continent of Thedas, the fantasy world in which the two previous games are set. The game covers more geographic territory than its predecessors, with one map being described as four to five times the size of Ferelden, the setting of the first game in the series. The setting overhaul allows the players to go back and forth between Ferelden and Orlais. Following the events described in the supplementary novels Dragon Age: Asunder and The Masked Empire, a civil war between the loyalists of the ruling Empress and a powerful noble faction led by her cousin, Grand Duke Gaspard, broke out in Orlais. Simultaneously, the Circle of Magi has gone rogue, in part due to the events of Dragon Age II, and the Templar Order seceded from the Chantry to wage their own civil war on the mages. (Wiki)

–  Analysis: DAI had its ups and downs for me. The story, as the player is given the center light of importance as he/she is caught in the midst of a grand campaign, does feel cliche from time to time. But it is understandable that one of the most important player psychology from playing games is the “feel good” mechanic, where players seek attention and pleasure from taking part on an important role throughout the game. Also, the concept of taking part on an inquisition was intriguing for me and gave me some food for thought as I thought of the witch trials of Salem and the Spanish Inquisitions during medieval times.

What I found most disappointing about the game was the sub contents and the balance between the sub and main contents of the game. As a WRPG and an open world game, sub quests and side stories are one of the most important cogs as a whole. Players will most likely seek out the sub quests before following the main story. But in DAI, the difficulty setting balance for the main story may have been overlooked as the developers concentrated more on the sub part of the game. After playing through most of the side quests and following through the main story, I found myself progressing at a unbelievable pace. I was breezing through without any challenge. On a similar topic, the sub content felt hollow most of the time. The reason I felt the need to finish them all was my curiosity and natural instinct to the need of experiencing the whole game, like most other players. With most quests being repeating fetch quests, the sub quests seemed to me like a desperate precaution the developers took to boast the game had an extensive gameplay time and contents. For a game to have full of contents and an impact, there should be more meaningful things to do within the world even if the game world have to feel smaller, than having an enormous game world with half of it being empty.

[jackjinlee-blog]

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

–  Date Game published:

Original Release: May 17, 2007

Leifthrasir Remake: January 14, 2016

–  Developer/s of Game: VanillaWare

–  Creator/s of Game:

George Kamitani

Kentaro Ohnishi (Leifthrasir)

–  Publisher of Game: ATLUS

–  Synopsis:  The game consists of five individual plots, that tell the story of five protagonists who are all tied to the fate of their world. Each protagonist wields a weapon known as a Psypher, it is a powerful crystal based weapon that can absorb Phozons (life force) from fallen enemies. The stories are all connected to one another but each one takes a different course. It is also possible to meet another protagonist in one story either as an ally or an enemy. (Wiki)

-Analysis: Odin Sphere was one of the hidden gems during the end of PS2′s reign in the console market, and the model RPG for the PS2. Like SEGA’s Princess Crown, Odin Sphere’s predecessor, Odin Sphere is narrated with a more deep and depressing fairy tale-esque plot, accompanied by dreamy orchestraic soundtrack. But out of what made this game a model RPG for the PS2 was because of its revolutionary 2D graphics at the time. Electronic Gaming Monthly, or EGM, called Odin Sphere at its release, the “final form of 2D gaming”.

The remake version of Leifthrasir was announced in 2015 and took many people by surprise, but a pleasant one. The Leifthrasir remake updated the old graphics to a modern crisp feeling. Nevertheless, many of game mechanics that were dubbed as troublesome and laggy were changed. The game was overall well received with a staggering 9.5 on IGN and 87 on Metacritic.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir was my second game from Vanillaware, playing Dragon’s Crown previously. With a pleasant experience with Dragon’s Crown, I was looking forward on trying Odin Sphere Leifthrasir and was not disappointed. Aforementioned, the graphics and story was beautiful, but what compelled me the most was the RPG elements within the game. Like Dragon’s Crown, Odin Sphere was reminiscing of the games I played in arcades as a child. On top of that, it had a deep skill set system and level system that kept me up for days on end. It was like having an arcade machine home of a game I played during my childhood, but only I can keep on playing and had a system where it saved my progress and gameplay.

[jackjinlee-blog]

Bioshock

–  Date Game published: Aug 21, 2007

–  Developer/s of Game: 2K Boston, Australia

–  Creator/s of Game:   Ken Levine, Paul Hellquist

–  Publisher of Game: 2K Games

–  Synopsis: In 1960, at the start of the game, player character Jack is a passenger on a plane that goes down in the Atlantic Ocean. As the only survivor, Jack makes his way to a nearby lighthouse that houses a bathysphere terminal that takes him to Rapture. Jack is contacted by Atlas via radio, and is guided to safety from the Splicers and the perils of the run down city. Atlas requests Jack's help in stopping Ryan, directing him to a docked bathysphere where he claims Ryan has trapped his family. When Jack encounters a wandering Little Sister and its fallen Big Daddy, Atlas urges Jack to kill the Little Sister to harvest her ADAM for himself; Dr. Tenenbaum overhears this and intercepts Jack before he harms the Little Sister, urging him to spare the child and any other Little Sisters he encounters, providing him with a plasmid that would force the sea slug out of her body. Jack eventually works his way to the bathysphere, but Ryan destroys it before Jack can reach it. Enraged, Atlas directs Jack towards Ryan's mansion through Ryan's army of Splicers and Big Daddies. At times, Jack is forced to travel through areas controlled by Ryan's allies that have now become deranged, such as Sander Cohen, a former musician that now takes enjoyment in watching the death and misery of others.Eventually, Jack enters Ryan's personal office, where Ryan is patiently waiting for Jack by casually playing golf. Ryan explains he fully knew of Atlas' plan, and explains that Jack is his illegitimate child, taken from his mother by Fontaine who placed him out of Ryan's reach on the surface, and genetically modified to age rapidly. Fontaine had planned to use Jack as a trump card in his war with Ryan, bringing him back to Rapture when the time was right; Jack's genetics would allow him to access systems such as the bathysphere that Ryan had locked out long ago. With no place to run, Ryan is willing to accept death by his own free will, quoting one of his own principles: "A man chooses. A slave obeys." He asks Jack "would you kindly" kill him with the golf club, and Jack is compelled to do so. As Ryan dies, Jack becomes aware that the phrase "would you kindly" has preceded many of Atlas' commands as a hypnotic trigger forcing him to follow Atlas' orders without question; a flashback reveals Jack himself was responsible for crashing his plane near the lighthouse after reading a letter containing the trigger phrase. Atlas reveals himself as Fontaine, having used the Atlas alias to hide himself while providing a figure for the lower class to rally behind. Without Ryan, Fontaine takes over control of Ryan's systems, and leaves Jack to die as he releases hostile security drones into Ryan's locked office.Jack is saved by Dr. Tenenbaum and the Little Sisters who had previously been rescued. Dr. Tenenbaum helps Jack to remove Fontaine's conditioned responses, including one that would have stopped his heart. With the help of the Little Sisters, Jack is able to make his way to Fontaine's lair to face him. Fontaine, being cornered by Jack, injects himself with a large amount of ADAM, becoming an inhuman monster. Jack is aided by the Little Sisters in draining the ADAM in Fontaine's body and eventually killing him. (Wikipedia)

Analysis:  Bioshock is one of those games that draws the players in not by the gameplay but by its interesting narrative story and idealism behind the game. ‘Omage’-ing Ayn Rand, Bioshock visualize an underwater city built by Andrew Ryan, an objectivist. Through the conversations the player have with Ryan and by keeping track of the collectibles, the player gets to know the ‘real’ Andrew Ryan. Ryan believes in minimalistic governmental involvement with the idea of ends justifying the means. With the result of Ryan Consenting on human experimentation and other immoral actions, the player often encounters Little Sisters, Big Daddies, and Splicers. One story involving Andrew Ryan’s objectivism ideas  that I found amusing was that he created a prism, Persephone, and looked anyone who went against his beliefs. For someone who wanted to become free from Capitalism and Socialism, it was an ironic action of his, let alone using the Greek goddess’s name who was imprisoned by Hades. The game itself is a work of art that ultimately questions Ayn Rand’s Libertarianism and the only way of redemption for Rapture is through showing compassion and philanthropy to the Little Sisters and flagging the ‘good ending’, which Ayn Rand mentions in her book as ‘irrational ideas’.Even though I would give the game a two thumbs up for storytelling, the game itself has some flaws that held by the game on becoming a better one. One of them is the hacking system. Having to connect the pipes before the water makes it way to end, the hacking system becomes a tedious task throughout the whole game. The mini game is not even interesting or clever, but just a time consuming event. Moreover, whenever the player is in the process of hacking, time is stopped and the player is safe from any incoming attacks from enemies, which ultimately kills the excitement and tension.The player should be making calculated decisions, considering if it would be a better move to hack the turrets or not through trade offs. But when the time stops, there is no reason not to, but at the cost of playing through the annoying pipe game. Another flaw is the plasmids usually being pointless, making the player put his trust in his/her bullets rather than their diverse plasmid collections. Except for Big Daddies, most enemies can be easily mowed down by raining down bullets. This gameplay mechanic takes away the critical thinking and coming up with strategy with using different plasmids at different encounters. Personally, the electro bolt plasmid was the only one that had a consistent damage output, and it was my only plasmid I used from start to finish. Lastly, the vending machines and the missing inventory system. When the player can pick up any saleable item without the limitation on how many they can hold, with vending machines showing up often to replenish their ammo, there is really no reason to have a limit on how many ammo the player may carry. This flaw also ties in with the underpowered plasmids, as the player can rely more on their weapons than their plasmids.The game may have been a better adaptation as a film or as a piece of literature in my opinion. The ideas behind the game inspired me to read more about Ayn Rand and her beliefs on objectivism. But the execution on developing the game was a bit of a disappointment to be honest.

[jackjinlee-blog]

Night in the Woods

–  Date Game published: Feb 21, 2017

–  Developer/s of Game: Infinite Fall

–  Creator/s of Game:  Alec Holowka, Scott Benson, & Bethany Hockenberry

–  Publisher of Game: Finji

–  Synopsis: “Margaret "Mae" Borowski is a 20-year-old college dropout, who relocates back to her hometown of Possum Springs, which has been struck by the closure of the coal mines and the stagnating economy. She meets up with her old friends, including gloomy but intelligent Beatrice "Bea" Santello, hyperactive anarchisttroublemaker Greggory "Gregg" Lee, and Gregg's quiet but modest boyfriend Angus Delaney. Mae also learns that another one of her old friends, Casey Hartley, has mysteriously disappeared.Mae spends several days exploring Possum Springs and spending time with her friends, but she also begins to have strange and vivid dreams. At the town's Halloween festival, Mae witnesses a teenager being kidnapped by a mysterious figure. The four friends begin working together to figure out what is going on, with Mae's mental health slowly deteriorating with every one of her dreams. After intensive searching, the four stumble across a strange group of cloaked figures in the woods, who chase after them; Mae ends up falling and lapses into a coma.Mae eventually wakes up and returns to her friends, and she reveals that the reason she dropped out was due to her increasing dissociation from people and the world (it is implied that Mae suffers from some sort of dissociative disorder), seeing everything as merely shapes. Mae's journal, in which she draws pictures for each major event in the game, was given to her by a doctor to write down her emotions after she bludgeoned a student with a baseball bat six years ago as a result of a dissociative episode. Due to this incident, the townsfolk became wary of Mae and caused a financial and emotional strain in her family. As her dissociation worsened at college, Mae mustered up the strength to leave and return home, hoping that being back in Possum Springs would help her return to normal.Still wounded, Mae decides to venture out into the woods alone to find the group who chased her and the others, only for Gregg, Bea, and Angus to refuse to let her go by herself. The group enter the old mines and meet the mysterious group, who are revealed to be a cult. The cult turns out to be behind the kidnappings of several residents, including Casey, taking those whom they deem useless to society and whom they say will "not be missed" into the mines to sacrifice them to a god-like entity called the Black Goat in exchange for keeping the economy of Possum Springs afloat. The cult's leader allows the group to leave, threatening them never to tell anyone about the cult - however while riding up the mine's elevator, a member of the group attempts to kill Mae. The others manage to save her and the elevator falls, collapsing the mine and presumably trapping the cult underground.Depending on who the player interacted with the most throughout the course of the game, Mae will sit down with either Bea or Gregg and talk about the events of the previous night, and all the things that have happened in Possum Springs. The others join them shortly after, and Mae tells them that although they will all be forced to grow and adapt to life as it goes on for better and for worse, they can still enjoy their time together now. The game ends as the four decide to forget about their problems for the time being and have band practice.” (Wikipedia)

Analysis: As a game from a small group of developers, the game has a high degree of completion. The story, gameplay, art, music all falls into the same melting pot, creating this mysterious yet friendly experience. Even the characters have strong individuality and characteristics to love and remember.

But what is in the game that makes the player find themselves emotionally invested in the game? I think that comes from the events and characters being realistic and relatable to ourselves. From creating embarrassing moments while being drunk in front of your ex, Being sarcastic in front of the mirror about your looks and then becoming ashamed, coming back home to catch a glimpse of one of your friend’s face only to find him/her with worrisome rumors, finding another friend who used to grow up thinking that you both would act as kids forever only to find him/her planning their future and acting all grown up, and reminiscing the past with friends over a hot slice of pizza. Night in the Woods have all these sympathetic episodes. And ultimately like Mae, the game tries to reach to us to tell us that we all live with scars from hurtful memories and experiences from life.

[jackjinlee-blog]

Future of Storytelling

USC Shoah Foundation’s Holocaust Testimonies

The project was to create a electronic database of testimonies from Holocaust survivors. More and more Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans are passing away and it is a concern to have fewer people who saw the history first hand. USC’s Shoah Foundation did just that to keep the history alive and intact. Taking a step more, they were able to create in a augmented reality, AR, form. When addressed with a question, the program searches and matches keywords that was asked and play a video feedback from its archives. Rather than reading through hard text books, the AR video gives the audience a more friendly illusion as if they are actually having a conversation on a couch.

The first thing that came to mind for me is the scene from Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence, 2001. As the mechanical David finally reaches Dr. Who, a holographic answer engine, David asks how he could become a ‘real’ boy. When I was in the theater watching the film at the time, the film represented an advanced future that felt unreal to me. But experiencing a similar holographic AR program at Future of Storytelling from a film that I considered as an ‘advanced future’, it was surreal. I can only imagine now that there will be less and less information recorded through books and on paper, and more as holographic information, which is quite concerning in its own way.

White Noise

White Noise 

“ White Noise visualizes online Twitter conversations happening around the topic of climate change. Using AR tech combined with Twitter API, different 3D visualizations are triggered by various hashtags that then augment a 3D-printed coral sculpture in the center of the room. The aim of the project is to visualize the discreet ripples of information that permeate online and influence our society. By visualizing these data points, viewers experience how these online perspectives affect the natural world. “ (Future of Storytelling)

While I was asking the developers about their time developing the program, they told me that trying to create an artificial intelligence that can tell the difference from a ‘good’ tweet and a ‘bad’ tweet. There could be a case where someone tweets how they brought their own mug to Starbucks to save waste. The question was can the A.I. tell that this person did a good deed to help the environment? Or would it categorize this tweet as something harmful judging by keywords Coffee and Starbucks. The execution to create a AR screen was truly impressive, but in honesty, it can be argued that it lacks to serve practicality.