Heard The Word

Battles of Norghan

DrJ — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:32:49 +0000

Game Info

Game: Battles of Norghan
Game Genre: Management/Fantasy Combat
Developer: Mitorah Games
System Requirements: Pentium III 500 Mhz+, 128K RAM, Windows 98+, Direct X 9.0+, Direct 3D graphics card with 8 MB RAM
Price: $24.99

Article Body:

Magical Mystery Tournament
Review of Battles of Norghan
By Dr. J.

The marriage of a sports management-style game with tactical combat seems like a natural. To be sure, it is more difficult to accomplish than a pure management simulation, but for those of us who are control freaks, it’s extremely satisfying to actually command our ranged units (wizards, mystery archmages, and archers) on when to let their missiles of destruction fly and to order our heavy-duty (knights, black knights, giants, and minotaurs) into melee after the magical and medieval artillery have softened their targets.

Battles of Norghan (BON) offers the features I like most about Colisseum from Stormcloud Creations. Players have the chance to assemble rosters from a pool of freelance fighters and must balance the salary and equipment demands with some measure of profitability. In many ways, BON is like Arcadia that Stormcloud Creations is currently developing. In this case, players recruit fighters into a clan, manage training and equipment, and recruit temporary fighters to meet needs during upcoming engagements. Although BON does not have the quest mechanism built into Arcadia, its training and equipping systems are significantly more robust. Plus, a new clan is instantly placed into the lowest of eight divisions so that it does not have to compete with the toughest clan in the game from the beginning.

PUMP ‘EM UP: In the Training Camp, players can improve each unit individually by selecting the regime on the left side or train all fighters equally by choosing the program on the right side.

This latter feature is significant for the price/performance ratio given in the ratings. After a couple of false starts, it took me one season to become the runner-up for the Small Clans’ Cup (usually fought out between the 6th-8th divisions) and one more season to become the winner of the Small Clans’ Cup. Then, my clan (known as Cannonfodder in my own self-deprecating, anachronistic attempt at humor) was placed in the Seventh Division to begin its quest against tougher competition and try to win enough gold to recruit a bigger clan and, eventually, become competitive for the Cup of Glory, the game’s ultimate stake. It actually took close to 30 hours to win the first cup and between 10 and 12 hours to win the second. Yet, I still hadn’t closed in on the ultimate goal. Plus, with the challenges becoming greater as one’s clan moves up, the game doesn’t seem to get old—at least, to this hoary, old grognard.

The Armory (Positive Aspects)

Combat is handled similar to miniatures combat. Each unit is allotted speed points (action points as per some rules) with which to accomplish its desired actions. Speed points depend on basic character attributes as well as armor worn. They determine the distance each fighter can cover, the type of attack that can be made, and, if a magic wielder, whether a spell can be cast or not (most spells being full round actions). The tactical nature of the combat reminds me a lot of playing Dungeons & Dragons on the table-top except that initiative (a separate die roll in the tabletop game) is strictly handled in an “I go-You go” format where players move one character at a time until all players are moved.

SHOOTING THE BULL: With adequate ranged weapons and magic spells, one can usually reduce an opponent’s “big gun” (even if he’s a minotaur or giant) before he reaches your “front line.”

The combat algorithms consider such factors as reach (how long the weapon is) and range in determining possible targets, attack styles, and damage. In fact, it appears that the variety of weapons and damage ranges associated with those weapons are considerably more diverse than even those found in the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

In combat, you are always shown the percentage chance of hitting as you attempt your attacks. This not only keeps you aware of how sound or unsound your tactics are, but also lets you see that the different types of armor and terrain (grass, lush grass, desert, and dirt) have an impact on your ranged attacks.

Best of all, all combat choices can be made quickly by right-clicking the character, choosing an action from the pop-up menu, and clicking on the target. It could only be more efficient if hot keys were assigned to the actions as well as the spells.

A CLICK IN TIME: Right-clicking each character opens a menu of options (with the familiar grayed-out commands for impossible actions) and clicking on the “Cast a Spell” command opens a similar menu of spells.

Magic is point-based. Each unit capable of casting spells is given a pool of mana from which to cast. Successful casting of a spell reduces the caster’s mana pool by the full cost associated with the spell (e.g. two points for casting a Magical Punching spell, five points for casting Magic Missile, and six points for casting Firebolt or Icebolt). Failure to cast a spell will also drain mana from the individual character’s reserve, but the cost is random and never as high as the cost of a successful casting of the spell. Spells are purchased between battles and once they are learned, the only cost is the expenditure of mana.

What’s best to like about the magic is that it has a nice variety and no one type of magic user is capable of utilizing all types. It takes druids to lure animals into the battle and priests to perform the more significant acts of healing (though several character classes can perform minor healing). An Icebolt spell both does damage and slows an opponent. A Firebolt spell usually does more damage, but doesn’t slow the oncoming target. Some spells, naturally, enhance the strength, toughness, and accuracy of your own units. Others negate the positives or breach the armor of your enemies. Frankly, the spell mix is extremely well considered and adds to both the tactical playing experience and the overarching recruiting aspect to the game.

Another aspect that keeps one coming back to the game is the fact that, while the goal is to capture the Cup of Glory (the overall championship) on a regular basis, there are individual rewards for killing the most rivals, having the best kills per combat average, developing the best equipment, having the best toughness rating among the clans. It seems like every time you turn around in this game, there is a reward to be sought and something interesting to do.

Finally, even though the graphics for the tactical combat aren’t much better than those found in such games as Medieval or the original Age of Wonders, each attack does have a payoff animation (animated arrows, bolts, fireballs, etc.).

The Trenches (Negative Aspects)

Ironically, those animated payoffs that I just complimented are part of one of my frustrations about the game. As it currently exists, the player orders a character to fire a ranged attack (crossbow, longbow, firebolt, icebolt, etc.). Then, the program immediately calculates the adjustments from the base percentage chance to hit (range, armor, obstructions) and prints the result of this calculation in a text box on the screen. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate having this kind of information on-screen. I would just prefer that it not pop up before the animation depicting the missile begins. This is an incredibly minor issue to me, though, but I mention it in hopes it will altered in future designs or expansions.

ANTI-CLIMAX: The animated spell effects appear after the results are printed on-screen.

Another thing that detracts from the tactical game is that the artificial opponents invariably close on your party as rapidly as they can. To be sure, a few druids, priests, wizards, and mysteryarchs do hang back wisely while they send giants, minotaurs, and well-armored fighters as their vanguard, but that vanguard is always coming at your fighters. As a result, BON plays much better for those of us who play “defense” than for those who like to be on the offensive. I found that, unless severely outnumbered by units with massive amounts of hit points, the strategy of hanging back and letting “them” come to you is most effective.

As for drawbacks from the strategic game, there are only two that grab my attention. First, there doesn’t seem to be a mechanism to allow you to view your contracts at a glance. For example, did you hire that wizard for five battles or two? Did you actually recruit that black knight as a member of the clan (lifetime) or only for a year’s worth of competition? Since an optimal mix requires a judicious balance and you only get a portion of the equipment prices back (and none of the magical spell prices back) when the mercenary leaves your service, that can be pretty important information.

The second drawback to the strategic game has to do with the auction at the mercenary camp. Since one of the most vital parts of the game is recruiting mercenaries to fight for your clan, you can well imagine that a problem here can really destroy a potentially good game. Frankly, you won’t have many problems if you take the advice of the tutorial and left-click and/or right-click several times to “Skip Bidding” (left-clicks skip one round; right-clicks skip ten rounds) before you click to “End Bidding.” In this way, you can be relatively sure that no one has outbid you on a given mercenary.

But, there have been occasions when I thought I had the high bid and discovered upon return to the main screen that my mercenary (or mercenaries) had not accompanied me. This can be particularly devastating if you are on a tight budget and found yourself trying to beef up a weak team for one of the single-elimination Cup tournaments. I had to restart more than one game because of this problem.

The Tavern (How to Cheat (Warning: Spoiler))

Technically, you would be up a tree when this happens (or the occasional glitches I experienced where the program set up a battle without my whole team present), but there is a workaround. It isn’t pretty, but the truth is that the program doesn’t save the status of your team until after a battle is complete. So, if you click to return to the Main Menu and quit Battles of Norghan completely, you can come back to the game, load your game, and renegotiate your mercenary contracts. Naturally, this also means that when an important Cup battle isn’t going your way, you can always cheat and do this to avoid a disqualifying defeat.

The Command Tent (Tactics)

In more than one Cup battle where I was facing opponents from higher divisions, I discovered that I was undermanned and outgunned. In such cases, I would recruit strong units like minotaurs and orcs on a one-battle contract and, once the battle was loaded, immediately send them off on a flanking movement. I would leave my spellcasters, longest-ranged archers, and a couple of strong guards behind to cover the casters. This usually meant that the strongest fighters from the opposing team would chase the flanking attack.

This allowed me to accomplish two things. First, I could use long-range attacks against the best-armored of my opponents without having them close on my spellcasters because they were being drawn away by cannonfodder worthy of my team name. Second, the tactic tended to split the opposition into two forces. Third, if my spell casters needed to pass enough turns to rebuild their mana supply, they had time to retreat as the opposition regrouped.

The Treasure Vault (Conclusions)

Battles of Norghan is the kind of game for which I’ve been looking for a long time. It has just the right mix of strategic planning and tactical challenge framed by a reason to keep playing season after season. I’m still trying to figure out if Grey Dog Sports’ Total College Basketball or Battles of Norghan is the most addictive game I’ve played this year. It’ll probably take a couple more seasons of both to make the decision.

If you’re looking for state of the art graphics, sound, and animation, stay away. If you’re looking for a perfect use of terrain to reduce speed and create obstructions/hazards, you should probably look elsewhere. But, if you’re looking for hours and hours of satisfying play that leaves you clicking for just one more battle, Battles of Norghan is the one for you—a near-perfect hybrid.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 9 (on scale of 10)

Interface: 8 (Needs More Hot Keys)
Documentation: 7 (Word File)
Replayability: 10 (Lures You Back)
Graphics: 6 (Fairly Retro)
Price/Performance: 9 (More than 60-hours of play)
Reviewer’s Bias: 10 (Game I’ve Dreamed Of)

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Battles of Norghan

Gumboy Crazy Adventures: Have a Ball!

DrJ — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:23:01 +0000

Game Info

Game: Gumboy Crazy Adventures
Developer: Cinemax
Genre: Arcadia / Puzzle
System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP (SP2), 1GHz+ CPU (1.5 GHz Recommended), 256MB of RAM, 3D video card w/32MB Supporting OpenGL (128MB Recommended).
Price: $19.99

Article Body:

Bizarre Worlds and Strange Situations
By Chuck Miller

It’s hard to evaluate Gumboy Crazy Adventures without comparison to games such as LocoRoco, Gish, Wik, and even Eets, as the similarities are apparent. Nonetheless, it stands on its own as a unique title, a refreshingly challenging yet quirky side-scroller set in a fanciful, fairy-tale world. Crazy Adventures indeed!

DWARFED PERCEPTION: The world of Gumboy offers a fairy-tale style experience.

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Gumboy lacks a story element. It has no quests to perform, no worlds to save, and no overarching goals except to move from one level to the next. In fact, it’s pretty much an old-school side-scroller in modern-day garb. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. Its straightforward gameplay is an invigorating change of pace from the elaborate, overly-complex titles that too many developers are churning out these days. Gumboy is simple…and, to this reviewer, that’s good.

So, what’s Gumboy Crazy Adventures all about? Well, physics mostly. Gumboy is a rubber ball that rolls, bounces, and ricochets around his environment performing relatively simple tasks. Not necessarily simple to perform, but clear-cut in their goal. For example, one task might be successfully moving an object from Point A to Point B intact. But, there’s more to it than that. Gumboy must deal with forces like gravity, inertia, traction, adhesion and more.

The Shape of Things to Come

Fortunately, the game’s globular protagonist can change shapes and properties. Power-ups placed strategically throughout each level alter Gumboy’s appearance and abilities. Morphs allow him to change shape and composition into a sphere, cube, or star filled with rubber, air, or water. Each, in turn, affects Gumboy’s ability to reach certain locations of the landscape he’s on, and the manner in which he traverses it. Rubber is great for rolling, but won’t allow Gumboy to float through the air or dive under water. Air allows him to reach extreme heights, but is easily punctured by sharp objects and won’t submerse. Water, on the other hand, is great for floating or diving, but, like air, bursts easily.

In addition to Morphs, other power-ups include Magnetizers, providing a sort of “repulsion field” for pushing things; Hiccup Seeds, enabling Gumboy to jump; Glue Bags, to provide stickiness for rolling up walls and traversing overhead landscape features without falling; and Stoppers, which immediately halt Gumboy in his tracks. Checkpoints, Teleports and Regenerators are self explanatory in their purpose, while items like Diamonds, Luciferoids, and Crystals simply increase the overall point score. Yes, points, which brings up the matter of objectives.

BEST SCORE OR BEST TIME: Gumboy keeps track of the best score and best time for each level.

A Means of Conveyance

Basically, two objectives come into play in completing a level and opening the portal to the next: tasks and points. Some stages require attaining a set minimum score before advancing. Meanwhile, task-based levels are of the "fetch" variety. They include things like propelling star dust, escorting dew drops and conveying beans to their appointed destinations. All this fetching is accomplished by nabbing the Magnetizer (more appropriately, it’s a reverse-polarity magnetizer). Once magnetized, “repelling waves” emanate from Gumboy so that he can push objects across the landscape, propelling them from one point to another and, occasionally, forcing them through some very tight spaces or gently nudging them into hard to reach spots. It’s all part of the puzzle-solving equation.

What specific kind of puzzles will you find in the game? Well, here’s an example. In one level, Gumboy has to collect some special Forest Energy and use it to activate a series of Teleports, one at a time. To trigger the final one, he must locate a Glue Bag so that he can fall onto it from above. Then, he needs to find a Magnetizer so he can push several beans from one part of the level to another, via the Teleports, to their final destination. Of course, the kind of puzzle varies depending on the theme specific to the game world Gumboy is currently inhabiting.

Worlds of Possibilities

Gumboy’s worlds include: the Magic Forest, Bean World, Summer Meadow, the Underground and the Caves. The Magic Forest requires Gumboy to assist dwarves in locating the star dust needed to open Magic Gates. In Bean World, Mr. Bean (no, not that Mr. Bean—Rowan Atkinson makes no guest appearance) has lost, well…his beans. Naturally, Gumboy must find and return them. Roska, the fairy, requires assistance in collecting dew drops when Gumboy visits Summer Meadow. Meanwhile, the dark Underground calls for light to illuminate the way and the Caves charge Gumboy with bringing magic crystals to the dwarves that live within. Each has unique puzzle solutions and an intriguing thematic appearance.

These worlds are, simply put, a graphical feast. Surreal in appearance, the landscapes are beautifully rendered, with foreground and background elements that add depth and perspective. Dynamic lights and shadows play across their features and special particle effects abound. From the Magic Forest to the Caves, each is gorgeously crafted with award-winning visuals.

While not quite as impressive as its graphics, the game’s audio accompaniment is still extremely good. Music makes a sporadic appearance, but most levels are augmented by highly-effective and ethereal ambient sounds rather than a fully-scored soundtrack. There’s the occasional “verbal” communication, too. Though a lot of the game’s auditory cues are not so much intelligible as guttural, frequent "Ooohs and Ahhs" and "Ohhhs and Wheees" and a few "Uh uhs" are made by Gumboy and the creatures that inhabit his world. It all adds a great touch of humor.

THE NAME’S "BEAN": One of the game’s many tasks is helping Mr. Bean reclaim his missing beans.

Controlling Factors

As for controls, Gumboy is designed for keyboard use, employing just the up, left, and right arrow keys, and the control key (though, they can be reconfigured). Though this simplistic arrangement is manageable in most instances, it occasionally becomes entirely too complex to try to control Gumboy effectively from the keyboard. Fortunately, gamepads are also supported, providing a much better alternative.

Yet, even with a gamepad, some levels are extremely frustrating. In such cases, knowing what to do is not the problem. Unfortunately, accomplishing the obvious task can be nerve-wrenchingly difficult. For instance, coaxing beans where they need to go becomes arduous to the point of tedium as they bounce around like their Mexican counterparts under a hot lamp—usually in the wrong direction. The same holds true with dew drops. While simple to direct, they burst all too easily.

THAT THING YOU DEW: Roska wants dew drops, but getting them to her intact is often an arduous task.

It’s a Ball!

Nonetheless, Gumboy has a lot to offer. Its 40 whimsical levels provide ample entertainment and are worth replaying at least once. According to the developer’s rather choppy and ambiguous English, “New adventures and other levels and completely new worlds are awaiting Gumboy.” This is not an indication, as some assume, that downloadable levels are available or will be forthcoming. That’s a misconception. According to Cinemax, it means that they’re preparing a sequel. So, what you get…is what you get.

In the end, Gumboy Crazy Adventures is a highly-creative and eminently-enjoyable game, though often as frustrating as it is fun. It’s also a gender- and age-neutral title that will appeal to the entire family. Though, the youngest gamers may need a hand with some of the logic necessary to solve its more difficult puzzles. Regardless, Gumboy is a ball from start to finish.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 9 (exceeded most expectations)

Graphics/Animation: 10 (flawless, standout graphics and great animation)
Music/Sound Effects: 9 (simplistic audio ambiance and amusing sound effects)
Game Play 7: (addictive play, some levels are overly frustrating, gamepad recommended)
Replayability: 7 (good replay value)
Price/Performance: 9 (one of the best indie games of 2006 and a deal at $20)

Reviewer’s Bias: 8 (high expectations based on first impression)

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Gumboy

Dark Reasons to Like Dark Legions

DrJ — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:23:38 +0000

Game Info

Game: The Dark Legions
Developer: Mascot Entertainment
System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP 300Mhz CPU 256MB memory video card, GeForce2 or above DirectX8.0 Soundcard 300MB free disk space

Article Body:

By Dr. J.

The legions under Theodoric’s command were striking a major blow, deep within enemy territory. As the guard tower disintegrated into a dust heap, the catapults began to creak toward the evil one’s keep. Suddenly, Theodoric sensed something wrong. He had left a stout garrison behind to guard his own keep and he could have sworn that no major force could have managed to sneak by him. Yet, as assuredly as he believed the current battle was his, something was wrong back “home.”

BLOOD DIFFUSION: The artificial opponent in Dark Legions is sneaky enough that, while the good guys made a foray into enemy territory, slaves built a barracks “behind the lines” on the site of this bloody melee.

The “something wrong” described in this after-battle report from Theodoric’s perspective was that a couple of slaves (deemed too unimportant to attack as they slipped through Theodoric’s heroic troops) managed to get past the main thrust of the attack and build a barracks behind the attack. By the time yours truly (Theodoric’s supposed alter ego) realized what was happening, that barracks behind my forces was churning out advanced troops that were decimating the large garrison I had left behind. I don’t ever remember experiencing anything like this. I remember finding structures I wasn’t expecting in Starcraft, but I don’t remember the AI overtly building “behind my lines.” Truth be told, Dark Legions became ever so much more interesting when I realized how diabolical my artificial opponent could be.

In all fairness, my preference is not toward so-called “real-time” strategy games. I consider them ill-named since they are certainly “compressed-time” strategy games where frenzied hordes come at you faster than “real-time” and I will be up-front that I tend to focus on one portion of the battle or scenario and forget to keep building and reinforcing while I’m pursuing my tactical objective.

So, I haven’t played a lot of them, but I made exceptions for Age of Empires (liked the color and animation), MechCommander (let’s face it, I love the BattleTech universe), Metal Fatigue (excellent play-balance), Homeworld (I was lousy at it, but found it fascinating), Starcraft (loved the single-player campaign),and (in my humble opinion) the best-designed of all of them Warlords: BattleCry (great variety in scenario design and objectives). I would be embarrassed to let anyone reading this watch my futile efforts at playing any of the games just cited, but I admired them as games and still try my hand from time to time.

Now, I have to add Dark Legions to this list of games I love to hate, but must admire. At first, I didn’t think it was very distinctive. The graphics don’t seem as crisp as those in AoE or WBC. The play balance and pacing doesn’t seem as outstanding as in MF or MC. Yet, once I started to get past the initial misunderstandings with the interface (caused by not playing through the tutorial properly) and technology tree, I began to notice the facets of this jewel begin to sparkle.

Since I’ve already confessed to being a rather limited RTS player, please forgive me if you’ve seen these supposedly new wrinkles before. But, I hadn’t seen the trick of sending slaves behind the lines to build new installations in other games that I’ve played. Once I realized this could happen, I was hooked. I was hooked, but I need to make one more disclosure before we continue. I make it a policy to finish games and be able to win before I review them. I simply can’t win at Dark Legions. At first, when playing individual battles, I thought the game was poorly balanced (Oh, sure. Blame the design team!). Then, when I began to play through the campaign (although I’ve only successfully made it through about half of the campaign with many restarts), I realized that the game is extremely well-balanced and I’m the one who is unbalanced.

Ride the Mild Serfs (Basic Gameplay)

That being revealed, Dark Legions has very typical one-on-one scenarios that require you to start from a keep, surrounded by three resource types (wood, stone, and gold). It contains a technology tree of sorts but it is, at least originally, disjointed in that various rungs of the ladder are found in different buildings. For example, the Keep is where you train slaves (I prefer the more euphemistic “serfs” but the game uses “slaves” for your basic peasant class.) and assign them the function of logging, quarrying, mining, or building. The Keep is also where the basic technological advances take place. You must research DIY (Do-It-Yourself) before you can build the Blacksmith or Barracks or move into Drafting (allows construction of the Alchemy [laboratory] and speeds building by 15%). At the same time as you are offered DIY, you’ll also be offered the discovery of the hatchet (to increase your percentage of logs harvested) or the backpack (to speed up your harvesting of all resources). Since wood is used to develop and pay for almost every advance in the game, it is tempting to research the hatchet (followed by the saw) ASAP. But the artificial opponent is very aggressive and without DIY, you can’t build your Barracks and start training archers and infantry (later, crossbowmen and light cavalry).

TECH ROOTS: The roots of the technology tree can be found in this early decision point. The player has already researched “Do-It-Yourself” but will need the extra wood associated with the hatchet and extra carrying capacity of the backpack before building the Alchemy

Since the purpose of the Blacksmith is to enhance the capabilities of your military units, you won’t want to build the Blacksmith until after you have some military units. Plus, it’s never safe to become complacent in this game. The artificial opponent can and will attack early in most games (the exception being some of the early scenarios in the campaign game where the opponent is constrained to wait for you). The Blacksmith allows the following advances:

Bolted Bow (provides +1 range for archers)
Iron-Ball (provides +1 attack bonus for cavalry units)
Iron-Blade (provides +1 attack bonus for infantry units)
Leather Armor (provides +5% defensive bonus in ranged attacks)
Sighting (provides +1 attack bonus for archers and crossbowmen)
Wooden Shield (provides 5% defensive bonus in melee attacks).

Now, as in any good strategy game, you will now find yourself torn between the desire to increase resource production and harvesting via the mine camp and barrow discoveries, the need to increase military units for the “national” defense, and the desire to advance up the technology tree by discovering Drafting and building the Alchemy [laboratory]. The Alchemy laboratory allows the discovery of Ballistics, Curved Shot, Engineering, and Pyrotechnics. The two former discoveries allow for 100% accuracy by archers/crossbowmen versus moving targets and the ability to shoot over intervening obstacles. The two latter discoveries branch even further.

Engineering allows for building these advanced buildings:

Castle (needed for building catapults, in particular)
Dock (needed for building transports and war galleys)
Monastery (needed for training priests)
Traps (creates obstacles versus invaders).

Pyrotechnics allows

Flaming Arrows (+2 for crossbowmen)
Heated Shot (+?
Priest Attacks (adds offensive capacity to clerical healing).

Of course, all of this sounds straightforward, but if you’re the kind of player who likes to husband your resources until you’ve created a massive expeditionary force to assault your opponent, you may not welcome the fairly regular incursions from the artificial opponent. The AOs simply aren’t going to let you build up without a fight. Plus, here’s something I’m not used to, the slaves from the AI will come over and start poaching your resources if you don’t constantly watch your border for them. In one of my first games, I was blithely building up my army when I realized that my stone inventory was being depleted. I looked over and realized that the slave who was busily engaged in mining it wasn’t my slave at all. He was wearing the red breeches of my artificial opponent.

Behind the Lines (Strengths and Weaknesses)

This resource raiding experience also describes a unique tactic I experienced in Dark Legions that I don’t recall encountering in other games (although Warlords: BattleCry does a great job of targeting resource producing centers). The artificial opponent will sometimes build masses of slaves and send them on an apparent suicide mission to raid your gold mines or rock quarries. These come like human waves and, unless you have a strong stomach for slaughtering tons of peasants, it can be surprisingly devastating. Frankly, it is surprises like this and the building of a barracks as a beachhead behind enemy lines that makes Dark Legions such a challenging game to play.

Also, though I didn’t think the animation of the individual units was as impressive as the detail that went into the military appearance and cultural flavor in Age of Empires and Empire Earth, it is very clear that the bulk of the artistic effort went into the environments to be settled and fought over. The islands look different from the mountains and the weather associated with them looks different, as well. The rain effect is haunting and the snowfall really adds something to the look and feel of some scenarios.

GALLEY MATES: The coastal terrain of this scenario where war galleys escort transport ships looks very different from the snowy mountain terrain of others and the rainy forest of still others.

SNOW WHITE: It's cold out here for a serf!

PRAYING MANTIC: The monk standing by the monastery can not only heal, but attack via fire when the Pyrotechnics advance is complete.

Further, though I earlier suggested that the game seemed too hard, I was pleasantly surprised to try the campaign and find that even I could maneuver through the early scenarios. The campaign is well-designed in that it has you gather troops and resources (as well as the standard “build everything from scratch”) in an early scenario. The campaign also has a solid balance between forcing you to attack and to defend. For example, in one early scenario, you have to locate catapults to destroy the enemy’s docks. But, you’ll inevitably be attacked on the way to recruit those siege engines. It’s a nice balance of avoidance, confrontation, and recruitment—sort of your own guerrilla warfare.

From “recruiting” units, you’ll have to move on to building them. Since you’ll need siege engines to be successful, one early scenario grants you the chance to find an abandoned castle where you can construct catapults. This is important because it takes a long time to build up to where you can construct a castle (prerequisite to building catapults). Again, you must play “cat and mouse” in this scenario because the enemy will have a war galley or two, even though you don’t.

Yet, although the campaign offers a nice variety of play/strategy while scaling upward very nicely, Dark Legions has the ability to underscore the deficiencies of players like me. You can’t bleed the AOs strength by guerrilla tactics because it tends to be more efficient at training slaves and units than most of us can be. It usually took a combination of judicious defense combined with one huge offensive thrust for me to win.

The most frustrating aspect of the campaign game was the behavior of Theodoric. Yes, your on-screen hero is every bit the champion you’d expect. In fact, he is such a champion that no matter what you order to him to attack or where you order him to move, he will jump in and attack the enemy—even when wounded and outnumbered. Therein, of course, is the rub. In the campaign game, you must keep Theodoric alive in order to win, but the brave little guy does everything in his power to get killed.

The game could also learn a few things from the established RTS stars out there. Most RTS games have a means for you to rotate the buildings so you can make sure their entrances are not blocked. In Dark Legions, I didn’t find that mechanism (It may be there, but it’s not obvious and it wasn’t in the first couple of tutorials that I played “after the fact” to see what I might have missed.) and, since the path-finding routine doesn’t work well in narrow places, I could have used that feature. Many times, even when you think you’ve left a nice lane or alley between the buildings, units (whether cavalry, heroes, or slaves) will get stuck in-between them. They also get stuck between buildings and trees, but a bit of logging will eventually free the captives.

Reviewer’s Overall Snapshot 7

Graphics 7 (liked seasons and environments)
Sound 6 (sound effects only)
AI 9 (most ruthless artificial opponents, yet)
Campaign Design 8 (nice variety and progression)
Replayability 5 (except for campaign, not enough variety)

Reviewer’s Bias 2 (seldom desire to play this style)

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The Dark Legions

Hollywood Mogul 3: Award Winning Performance

DrJ — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:07:50 +0000

Game Info

Game: Hollywood Mogul 3
Developer: Hollywood Mogul Company
System Requirements: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP 200Mhz Pentium or compatible 64MB RAM (128MB suggested) 16-bit color at 1024x768 resolution 150MB free disk space

Article Body:

Hollywood Mogul 3
"Screenplay" by Dr. J.

In real-life, I listed with a Hollywood agent when I was college. I didn’t expect movie work. I was hoping for voiceover and radio work. That work never happened for me, but I was in the agent’s office long enough to hear him take other calls and use about five of the top 10 Hollywood clichés. Long after grad school, I met a disappointed screenwriter named Carey DeVuono. Carey had gotten closer to the Hollywood life than I had and he gave me a lot of insights about the “management by committee” styles that forced mediocrity on so many of the films we see today. Carey wreaked revenge on the Hollywood establishment by exposing some of the flaws and some of the process in a little Visual Basic game called Hollywood Mogul.

AWARD WINNER: Using a fan-created database, you can insert photos of actual stars in the game.

I was fortunate enough to be able to assign myself the review when I was working at the once legendary Computer Gaming World magazine. I loved the mix of customizable activities, decision points, and cute displays on the screen. I didn’t care that the graphics were crude, the screens were text-heavy, and that the program was sometimes slow. It was, in those days, our kind of game—more steak, less sizzle.

Of course, we’ve seen the bulk of computer/video games move toward the sizzle side of the continuum. But thanks to a few independent visionaries, we still see a few products that are chewy, juicy, tasty, satisfying steaks. For strategy gamers who like a simulated slice of real life (and I suppose I have to use that term loosely when I speak of the “business” of Hollyweird) and the ability to control lots of details like the control freaks some of us are, Hollywood Mogul 3 is such a steak. This sequel to that old Visual Basic game has a tremendous amount more to offer than that earlier game.

Development (Getting Started)

Hollywood Mogul 3 (hereafter HM3) is considerably friendlier than its progenitor. The original game forced you to start with a lot less money and you didn’t have the sense of competing with other studios for scripts, intellectual properties to be adapted, talent, and awards. Even in its default mode (not the most competitive way to play it), HM3 is more of a game than the original.

As with its ancestor, though, HM3 is highly dependent on successful stories to build from. In the granddaddy, you merely had an abstract “story committee” give you general impressions of how strong the stories were. In HM3, you can see how strong a story is in terms of: Intelligence, Plot Twists, Dialogue, Story Pace, and Genre Elements. You don’t have to guess where to fix it. If anything is below three stars, I highly advise that you go for a rewrite, right from the beginning.

Also, as you would expect, HM3 offers more sources for finding those stories than its ancestor. The original had a few choices: Original Screenplay, Novel Adaptation, Stage Adaptation, etc. It also, like HM3, allowed you to type in your own original concepts for a movie. In summary, HM3 lets you choose from: Comic Books, Custom Ideas, Domestic Film Remakes, Foreign Film Remakes, Games, Graphic Novels, Magazine Articles, Non-Fiction Books, Novels, Original Screenplays, Short Stories, Songs, Stage Plays, or TV Shows.

Tip: Although it is tremendous fun to adapt movies from other genres, remember that you can’t start pre-production until you have a script. Since scripts take time to write and occasionally have to be rewritten, you’ll need to buy at least one original screenplay during your first month in order to have a release by November or December. Since SFX (special effects) also delay release by expanding post-production, make sure your first release doesn’t require any SFX. If you don’t jump right into production, the rival studios will garner all of the awards at the close of the first year (very frustrating—I can tell you by personal experience).

DEAD CARPET: You don’t get a lengthy Oscar telecast in HM3, but the “Mogies” are important awards for measuring your studio’s success.

Budget (Next Steps)

Once you have a script, you’ll need to finalize the budget. Are you upgrading the production values (from a pull-down selection of multiples)? Are you shooting in Digital, Digital Black & White, Standard, or Standard Black & White? Will you be shooting on location or on sound stages? What quality staff, crew, and technical levels are you hiring at? The options on the Production Page even let you single out pyrotechnic effects versus make-up effects versus robotics. You can cheap out on the CGI or pay the highest possible price. And, of course, every decision costs you money “below the line.”

Now, you can greenlight the production and move to hiring the all-important producer, director, and cast. The quick and dirty way to do this is to click the Auto-Cast button. Of course, this will often give you star appeal, but it also gives you less control of the budget and of the focus. Casting can be incredibly satisfying. Each actor/actress is rated from one to five stars on the basis of their perceived presence or ability in action, comedy, drama, humility, sex appeal, screen presence, work ethic, composure, and ability to take direction.

You will need to be selective in those you audition because you have a maximum of 60 possible auditions per film and 15 possible auditions per role. It’s usually best to expend more auditions on the lead, love, villain, and major roles, but you’ll want to keep some in reserve for the minor roles, as well.

Tip: Each role is rated for its talent focus, one of the action, comedy, or drama foci or a combination of the two. I like to audition those with five stars (sometimes four stars) in the specific focus. Where possible, I try to match the persona listed with either the Sex Appeal, Humility or Screen Presence rating. Also, where possible, I only go with four star or five star auditions. It’s tremendously successful in garnering awards and nominations—not as successful in terms of big box office numbers.

In the game, as purchased, you only get rosters of abstracted directors, producers, and talent. The good news is that the game is so customizable that you can easily replace the folder of talent silhouettes with friends, family, and actual stars. In fact, there are plenty of databases available on the web that use pictures, names, and historical information for various real-life directors and stars so that you can actually cast your favorite stars in a movie of your choice.

Of course, you aren’t finished when you get the audition numbers you want. The actor or actress may have given you a five star performance, but that doesn’t do you any good if the performer isn’t interested, is seeking other projects, or you can’t get his/her agent to sign on the dotted line. If you haven’t played one of the Hollywood Mogul games before, negotiating with agents will appall you. The amount of waste built into the ego wars about trailers (especially their decorating budgets) and personal perks will astound you.

Naturally, the easiest way to acquire the talent you want is to accept the agent’s offer. That’s also the easiest way to create an in-game inflation that you don’t want. It takes a little longer to try to find an acceptable sweet spot in between the agent’s demand and your willingness to pay, but it will help you in more than one film deal if you do so. Of course, when you’re dealing with the top-rated talent, it’s often best just to give in.

PER DIEM, BABY!: When trying to tie down the right talent, you’ll need to consider hair stylists, trailers, and percentage points, among other details.

Marketing (Waiting for Release)

Once you’ve cast the movie and started the production process, the only thing you can really do in those long months of production and post-production is plan for the release. You can enhance your release experience by selling off foreign rights, creating ancillary products (DVD, soundtrack disc, toys, etc.), and prepare your own distinctive look and sound for the premier screenings.

When I played the first Hollywood Mogul, I complained to Carey that VHS sales were not included in the financials. That shows how long ago I first played the game. In HM3, DVD sales are not only included, but you can create a CD soundtrack to fit the styles you’d like to hear in the movie and budget the types of features you’d like to include in the film’s DVD (director’s commentary, deleted scenes, making of, SFX features, etc.). You can’t always decide when to make the ancillary products (action figures, apparel, computers/video games, fast-food tie-ins, and novelizations), but the types of properties you choose and the production values/budgets/star appeal you give them will determine who is “coming to you” in that line.

I also told Carey that I wished each “film” could have a distinctive title screen and soundtrack with it. Once I experienced the initial joy in seeing my custom studio name appear on screen and my own credit as executive producer, the release experience was very tame. In HM3, you can choose your own sound files (according to styles as provided in the program or creating your own custom files). The provided files are very good. I loved the machine-gun effect in the gangster soundtrack and the lovely orchestration of the historical soundtrack. There is something for everyone, even if you don’t create your own files.

FANTASY PREMIERE

WAR MOVIE

HISTORICAL PREMIERE: Whether using the user-created database with real actors or the default database with fictional actors, I like to create custom backgrounds for the movie titles as they show on the premiere screen.

Even if you opt for the traditional black screen with reversed-out lettering, you can still choose from a variety of fonts to display on the screen. Of course, it only gets better if you put a picture behind the title screen. All you need is a .jpg that measures 560 pixels x 315 pixels placed in the PicCreditsBG folder. I like to do this, just for variety, downloading .jpgs from the web, scanning images from comics, graphic novels, and magazines, or merely using cropped photographs from my own files.

BOX OFFICE (Moment of Truth)

As the credits roll to a close on your premiere experience, a world map appears on the screen to inform you of the gross box office in each country. If you break into the Top 10, you immediately get a headline in Daily Flix (the on-screen send-up of Daily Variety, the Bible of show business for both coasts). Of course, depending on your cost structure, even breaking into the Top 10 may not mean you have a profitable movie, so you have to examine the on-screen financials after this presentation to see what’s happened.

In the default game, you only have to have enough cash flow to keep afloat. You won’t be fired like a real studio head unless you really mess up. Not only is there plenty of money to begin with, but the studio has a big credit line to borrow against. To be sure, it’s no fun to create flop after flop, but this mode is forgiving enough that you’re sure to have some fun with HM3, even if you never play in the most competitive mode.

WORLDWIDE GROSS

BOFFO BOX OFFICE: As in every business, you have to consider the revenue against the cost of goods.

And the Winner Is…(Conclusions)

…you! That is, if you purchase Hollywood Mogul 3. I played more than 30 hours with HM3 without getting tired of trying to make quality movies without losing money. When I downloaded the user-created databases, allowing me to use the names of real talent, I played more than 60 additional hours and still resent the fact that I can’t spend even more time with the game. Even then, I lost a big gamble by doing a horror film in Digital Black and White and lost several “bets” by going against the grain of “safe” genres. It took me over 20 hours to figure out how to lead all voters in contenders for the Mogie awards (and I shared that tip with you earlier in this review). Now, I’m trying to learn how to market and release my films more effectively.

Hollywood Mogul 3 proves that, as with Godfather 2, sequels can be better than the creative breakthroughs that spawn them. HM3 is precisely such a rare sequel.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 9 (a sequel that’s better than the original)

Graphics/Animation: 4 (the only animation is when the credits roll)
Music: 9 (marvelous library of files for premieres)
Game Play: 8 (default mode may be too easy for some, but there’s more)
Replayability: 9 (lots to tinker with, plenty to customize)
Price/Performance: 9 (outstanding at $29.99)

Reviewer’s Bias: 10 (liked the original, love the sequel)

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Hollywood Mogul 3

Focus On: Adventure Games

costik — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:43:33 +0000

Adventure games, as a category, have done reasonably well for us--partly, of course, because there are few high-budget, major release adventure games any more (although Dreamfall, which we sell as an affiliate, is one such). So adventure game fans pretty much need to look around online to find good titles.

From an independent developer's standpoint, adventure games are a good place to go, since there aren't a lot of huge-budget titles to compete against--and because there are tools, like Adventure Game Studio that make it feasible to develop something pretty decent without a huge amount of effort. Of course, AGS games run the gamut from ones with graphics that approach major studio quality (like Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine) to ones with far more retro graphics (like The Shivah).

One a unit basis, The Shivah is our best-seller to date, in fact; it helps to have a subject as unique as a murder-solving Rabbi, of course, as that's the kind of thing that it's far easier to get press for than something more mundane (and indeed, The Shivah has been mentioned by Reuters, CNN online, Wired, PC Gamer--and The Jerusalem Post). The price helps too (it's only $5)--and even though the graphics are quite retro, they feel appropriate to the game.

Dave Gilbert, Shivah's designer, recently released The Blackwell Legacy, which is a personal favorite; it's got better graphics and takes a little longer to complete than The Shivah, but has the same excellent voice acting, and a stronger dollop of humor. We don't expect it to sell as well, since the subject--a medium with a ghost sidekick out of a Damon Runyon story who helps ghosts come to peace with their deaths and "move on" to the next world--doesn't have the same easy promotional hook. Which is too bad, as this is an excellent game, the kind of thing that any fan of the Monkey Island series or Grim Fandango will enjoy (though it's much shorter than those games).

If you'd like a longer game that's also reminiscent of the best of the LucasArts adventures, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine is the place to turn; indeed, the eponymous protagonist, a dweeby 40-something guy, is strongly reminiscent of Leisure Suit Larry, and a bit of Guybrush Threepwood. Good writing and voice acting, clever puzzles, from a development team that first came to the adventure gaming community's notice with excellent remakes (with updated graphics) of Kings Quest I and II--people who love adventure games beyond reason, in other words. What more could you ask?

A little older, but still games we like are the Delaware St. John series--The Curse of Midnight Manor and The Town With No Name. If Al Emmo and Dave Gilbert's games are remniscent of LucasArts adventures, the DSJ games are perhaps reminiscent of Myst--the game played on a series of nicely executed still images in a first-person view. At least, if Myst featured a paranormal investigator looking into eerie goings-on. Both games are from Big Time Games, the vehicle for Bryan Wiegele's designs--as is Inherent Evil, an older title for which a sequel is in progress.

The Witch's Yarn is an oddball title that takes an unusual tack; it's not so much about puzzle-solving, but about telling a story--and depending on your choices, the story can vary quite a lot from playing to playing. It was a 2006 IGF finalist, but it's also hard for us to figure out quite how to reach the right audience for this game--given its nature and subject (the story of a witch running a wool store), that's probably not old-school adventure gamers, but a broader audience interested in interactive stories with female protagonists. (There's a Mac version, too--we'd like to have more Mac adventures, and we understand that doing Mac [and Linux] versions with AGS isn't that hard.... Hint, hint...)

Kishi Kawaii/Cute Knight is equally oddball--and with strong appeal to women, too--and has done surprising well for us, perhaps because of a cult following in the anime community. As much an RPG as an adventure game, you play an 18-year old girl in a fantasy world who must find a life path before she turns 21. There are 50 potential endings, in fact. Graphics are anime-cute, but quite limited; it's mostly played in text, and it's surprisingly engaging for a game that hardcore gamers would probably think is primitive in its approach.

Altogether, we're quite proud of our adventure game catalog, and it's an area we plan to focus on in future. And indeed, if you know of good-quality independent adventures we may have overlooked--do let us know.

Focus On: Shmups

costik — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:00:40 +0000

One of the things we've discovered--not entirely to our surprise--is that almost nobody Googles "shmup"--which is too bad, since we have a bunch, some quite nice. Perhaps we'd be better off if we called them "games like Geometry Wars"--which is only partially correct, of course, but the surprise success of Geometry Wars on Xbox Live has revived interest in the genre, to a degree.

The one that's done the best for us is Jets'N'Guns, primarily because of what Jonathan Blow called its "Team America f*** Yeah!" attitude, bombastic heavy metal score, and finely-tuned "R-type"-ish gameplay. Patrick Dugan calls it "the riff ripping explosionary wargasm shmup fans have been waiting for!"--nice phrasing we're too shy and retiring to adopt as our own hype (ahem), but we're glad someone else put forth.

A personal favorite is Bullet Candy, a Minteresque game that produces amazingly pretty visuals during play--something you hardly notice because you're on the edge of your seat trying not to die throughout. We also like that it's a one-man effort, and the developer--Charley Knight--clearly knows and adores his subject material.

If a Galaga-style game is more your cup of rocket fuel, then Warblade may be what you're looking for--Bytten describes it as "Galaga brought into the twenty-first century. The basic game has been polished and redesigned until it shines like a golden nugget sparkling in a river bed."

Another Galaga-esque title, this one with an excellent techno score, is Xenoblast, from French developer Parallax Factory.

Then again, if something more like Defender appeals, it's hard to do better than Alien Abduction, which is tremendously challenging and was awarded 9 out of 10 points by Game Tunnel.

Starscape isn't a pure shmup; it actually has a story, and a game of resource management and tech development layered onto the fast, frenetic space combat that shmup fans expect. As a result, it's actually a much deeper game, something you'll feel like you want to finish--a rather different feel from the shorter-term gameplay of most shmups.

Which brings us naturally to Flatspace II, which, like Starscape layers an entirely different game onto shmup-like combat--in Flatspace's case, an Elite-style game in which you can play as trader, mercenary, bounty hunter, assassin, police officer, or scavenger, buying new stuff for your ship and growing in power over time.

As a genre, shmups haven't done as well for us as many others--our audience seems to gravitate more to graphic adventures, RPGs, and turn-based strategy--but we're proud of our shmup catalog, and look forward to introducing other cool shmups in future.

Strategic Command -- European Theater

DrJ — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:21:08 +0000

Game Info

Game: Strategic Command -- European Theater
Genre: Historical Wargame Developer: Fury Software
Designer: Hubert Cater
System Requirements: Pentium+ 166MHz+ Processor, 32MB Ram, SVGA Video Card (1024x768 w/ 16-Bit color), Windows compatible sound card, 50 Mb Hard Disk Footprint
Price: $9.99

Article Body:

Changing History in Strategic Command: European Theater
By Dr. J

During the Second World War, British intelligence believed that, once the Germans defeated the Polish Army, the Nazi forces would easily outnumber the combined Franco-British units on the Western Front. Estimates indicated that the German strength on the Western Front was currently circa 60 divisions to the combined 88 divisions in France (72 French divisions of regular army, 4 British divisions of land units, and 12 divisions of fortress garrisons). The combined force was not quite enough to warrant a direct assault across the by-now refortified Rhineland, but the story was to become worse with the surrender of Poland. With up to 40 divisions transferred from the Eastern Front, this would enable Germany to actually outnumber the Allies by 12 divisions. This combined with the Luftwaffe’s superiority in planes (circa 2,000 compared to 950 for the French and British alliance), had to seem ominous. [Figures gleaned from Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm, p. 480.]

POLISH REMOVER: Hitler’s gamble on partitioning Poland with the Soviets in exchange for enough time to build up materiel for his war machine proved to be the right decision. The Axis player needs Poland’s supply capacity to win in Strategic Command, as well.

As a result, it seems like the Allies should have taken the risk of an offensive while the Germans were still engaged in Poland. The odds weren’t good, but they were better than they would be later in the war. Strategic Command: European Theater gives gamers the opportunity to experiment with some of these long-odds decisions. In fact, the overall impression that this reviewer received from playing far too many hours (an all-nighter here and there in desperately trying to win from both sides at various points in the war) was that aggression will usually be rewarded. In short, the game plays like a board game on the computer. That’s good news for some of us; bad news for others.

In fact, the game plays like an easier version of the Avalon Hill classic Third Reich in that you never feel like you have enough units and you never truly feel in control. Unlike the board game, the computer game handles the bookkeeping for you (though nomenclature has changed from the classic BRPs (Basic Resource Points) that served as the medium of exchange in the board game (and later, computer game) to MPPs (Military Production Points).

The game is not as complex as the SPI classic, War in Europe (currently being transformed into its second version as a computer game by Decision Games). Strategic Command: European Theater doesn’t allow for overrun attacks and exploitation movement (continuing forward after combat), for example. As a result, you can sometimes have static lines that make you believe you’re playing a WWI game instead of a WWII game. This design decision makes the game play faster, but it certainly takes the sharpness out of the German schwerpunkt (strikepoint attack emphasizing breakthrough and exploitation).

Further, the computer model for the present game doesn’t really indicate the effectiveness of combined arms (using different troop types) or even troop strengths. Though this may simply be perception, it appears that a 6 Corps strength is just as good as a 6 Army strength and a 10 Tank strength is just as likely to be able to root a garrison out of a city as a 10 Army strength is able to accomplish the same task. Again, it is possible that the model makes distinctions in strength and type, but the on-screen presentation doesn’t offer any clues. In fact, jet aircraft seem about the same effectiveness as prop-driven planes when equal numbers go against each other. It merely seems as though an additional unit is added to the maximum combat strength number when the upgrades come into effect.

To be sure, however, it is hard to believe that a program that goes to all of the trouble of keeping track of supply condition, combat experience (as indicated by the medals colored in when you choose a given unit), entrenchment (as part of the defensive rating), and “readiness” (equivalent to effectiveness or, conversely, “brittleness”) would ignore basic combat quality. Without cracking the code, however, all a review can report is one’s perception and mine was that combat type and quality made little difference.

The good news is that use of air support, rocket artillery, and naval support does reflect the use of combined arms. Since the three types of ranged support reduce both the entrenchment factor for the defending unit and the combat total, one gets the satisfaction of softening up the enemy before flinging one’s units upon enemy lines.

Man is a Political Animal (Strengths)

By far the most fascinating aspect of the game is the capacity for setting randomness with regard to the political events in the game. When Italy on the Axis side or the Soviet Union on the side of the Allies decides to enter the game makes a huge difference in terms of deployment requirements on various fronts and the subsequent expenditures of MPPs necessary to keep a line secure on a given front. In one game where I was commanding the Allies, it was almost two years (in simulated time) before the USSR entered the campaign after the Italians were already invading France from the South. This was a huge boon for the Axis. On another occasion, Italy came very late to the Axis cause (reflecting Mussolini’s actual reticence to bite off more than he could chew).

The use of the “War Map” screen is also a welcome design feature since it enables one to examine the loyalties, military resources, and status of a country in one quick glance, as well as to declare war at will. In perusing this map to consider the status of neutral countries, we were reminded of Britain’s lost opportunity in Norway and Sweden when they were overly concerned about respecting the neutrality of the respective countries and gave key ports in Scandinavia to Hitler by default. If you respect neutrality in this game, you’re going to be in trouble, strategically.

WAR SCAN: The war map lets you know immediately how you stand with regard to hostile, friendly, and neutral nations.

Another neat wrinkle, though it is really more of an interesting feature than major tactical or strategic event, is the use of partisans. When the Axis controls either Yugoslavia or the USSR, there is a percentage chance that partisan units (which can be operated by the Allies on the Allied player turn) will appear. These units, like their historical counterparts, are not very powerful, but they force the occupation forces to garrison supply depots or resource cities in order to keep the value.

On the typical, but still very welcome, design side, Strategic Command: European Theater offers a fog of war option where one doesn’t know troop locations or strength until said enemy units are engaged; an option for increasing/decreasing the ability of the AI opponent, and a terrific recap page at the end of the game that breaks down losses, conquests, and time in terms of points allotted for victory.

WYSINWYG: Prior to engagement with enemy units or adjacency to hostile forces, one only sees a line instead of a combat strength on given counters. This fog of war changes the complexity of the game.

Another strength of the game is its capacity for allowing one to jump into WWII at several different points, initially starting at historical conditions. Named for German operations, the “fall” in each title is equivalent to our English, “case.” The game contains:

Fall Weiss (September 3, 1939) – Hitler’s Blitzkrieg vs. Poland (traditional start);
Fall Gelb (May 10, 1940) – Opening the Western Front (neo-Schlieffen Plan);
Barbarossa (June 22, 1941) – THE Huge Offensive on the Eastern Front;
Fall Blau (June 28, 1942) – Opening of the Stalingrad Offensive (from the Volga);
Zitadelle (July 5, 1943) – Germany finds Herself Bogged Down in Kursk; and
Overlord (June 6, 1944) – Usually Known as D-Day, the Allies Invade France.

As you would expect, the starting points increase in difficulty for the Axis and decrease in difficulty for the Allied forces as one moves from early in the war to late (moving down the list). Frankly, in a strategic level game like Strategic Command: European Theater, there is a tendency for some of the scenarios to blend together. For example, Fall Blau and Zitadelle look remarkably similar, except for the fact that the Soviet Union has significantly more units in reserve in the latter than it has in the former.
After-Action Report (Conclusions)

Winning at Strategic Command: European Theater requires a wide-angle approach. In general, it is useful to follow the guidelines listed below.

1. Watch the integrity of your front lines. As in any hex-based combat game, you want to limit the number of hex-sides from which you can be attacked. If you always keep your units contiguous on their respective fronts, your opponent can only get a maximum of three (and usually, only two) close combat actions along with whatever ranged attacks can be assembled. Since air units must first engage for air superiority (more later) and then, take damage from ground-based artillery before attacking, you can expect that there won’t be a lot of successful air attacks each turn. Further, rocket units (the only artillery units that act discretely from the regular army and tank units) are notoriously unreliable in terms of accuracy and naval support units can only fire at coastal hexes, those units will not be used as often as the brute force attacks by regular army, corps, and tank units.

HOLE IN THE WALL: The artificial opponent has a tendency to open up its defensive lines and give you an opportunity to surround and isolate enemy units for more efficient elimination.

2. Although the game rewards aggression, be sure not to overrun your supply lines. The game depicts the supply chain via your country’s dominant color (the terrain changes color as your “zones of control” advance. However, units can easily use up their allotted materiel (ending up in Supply: 0 status). If you allow this to happen, you will very rarely effect successful offensive actions (however limited) and can only defend with limited effectiveness.

3. Remember that your Military Production Points are dependent upon supply depots, resource cities, and ports. So, plan your offensives to take these first and your defensive stance to protect these as long as possible. The artificial opponent isn’t very smart, but it does circle around and find unprotected resource hexes whenever you leave them wide open (Exception: The artificial opponent doesn’t cross the ocean to invade the US or Canada.).

4. Remember that reinforcing units is cheaper than purchasing entirely new units. Plus, if you don’t have to rebuild too much of a percentage of said unit, you will only lose a portion of their combat experience value (whereas a new unit has no compensating value).

5. It is important to keep your air fleets close to full capacity because air superiority is important both on defense and offense. Sometimes, having air units in reserve as potential counter-air will discourage an opponent (though not the artificial opponent) from using air in an offensive.

6. Rocket artillery commands are useful alternatives to air support in that there is no provision for counter-artillery fire. So, each time you use these units, they are gaining combat experience (hence, potential accuracy) with no risk (as long as they are behind your front lines) of being reduced. Initially, you won’t feel like you’re getting what you paid for, but as the experience mounts, they are invaluable for softening up positions.

From this reviewer’s bunker, Strategic Command: European Theater offers a high price-performance ratio in terms of value and enough interesting facets to keep you playing that “just one more move” that we turn-based strategy fanatics look for. While hardcore wargamers may lament the facets of War in Europe and Third Reich that are not present in the game, the game is sufficient to offer hours of challenge and, unlike previous versions of the two aforementioned board games, an ever-ready, versatile, and challenging artificial opponent.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 6 (on scale of 10)

Historicity 8 (solid job of simulating situations)
Graphics 3 (not even board game state-of-art)
Artificial Opponent 6 (few surprises here)
Replayability: 7 (nice scenario selection)
Price/Performance 9 (terrific value)

Reviewer’s Bias: 7 (concerned about graphics)

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Strategic Command: European Theatre

Playing with Fire Without Being Burned

pdugan — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:09:18 +0000

Game Info
Game: Play with Fire
Developer: International Hobo Ltd
System Requirements: Minimum: Windows XP 1.5GHz processor 512MB RAM nVidia 5900, 128MB VRAM or ATi Radeon 9600 DirectX 9.0c or later Preferred: GFX nVidia 7300LE

Article Body:
Building PwF Fields Like A Master
One of Play With Fire's Level Designers Explains How to Use the Level Editor and Make Your Own

by Patrick Dugan

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Field Design Styles
3. Customizing Objects and Shaders
4. Emergent Destruction

Introduction

So, you've played with some fire. You might even have scored some gold medals and beaten all the Hell fields. Congratulations! You're the sort of skillful pyromaniac your parents feared you'd become. But there's a big difference between annihilating pre-made structures and building new ones laden with clever puzzles, timing traps, or whimsical unraveling. The latter requires the use of Play With Fire’s level editor, but using the editor is easier than you might think. In fact, it’s as easy as looking in the Bin directory of your Play With Fire install, sparking up the level editor program, importing a library, and dropping objects like flammable Lego bricks onto your custom level. Getting started is painless, but building your masterwork takes something unusual, a love of creation combined with an appetite for destruction.

FIERY SERPENT: Burning everything in order can leave you without a block to jump from, as in the "SnakeParadox" level.

Field Design Styles

There are many ways to craft any given item, and a game level is no different. Personally, I tend to build small esoteric fields like “Snufalufagus” or “WillWright,” or big ambitious monstrosities like “ABetterMousetrap.” Maurizio, another major contributor, started labeling his fields with women's names, and tended to make compact, quirky contraption-heavy levels, like odd doilies sold by a Haitian witch doctor in a mosquito-infested bazaar. Chris, the lead designer and producer, worked asymmetric paths and elegant concept stages, like an architect reveling in the demolition of his projects. Ian, a.k.a. RodeoClown, played with different representational themes: an amp stolen from Spinal Tapp, a WWI aerial battle, Mario-style platforms and Indiana Jones excursions.

I've heard fiction editors describe voice as the defining quality that separates undergraduate potheads from undergrad potheads with a future in creative writing. Voice is an undeniable sense that you are the distinct author of a piece of work. Though we don’t usually hear much about “voice” with regard to game design, it is something the designer should experiment with and strive to convey. I think the simplicity of Play With Fire's mechanics allows a designer's voice to shine through. Your goal in messing with the level editor can vary, but whether you're trying to impress your friends, make the levels you want to play, or build a portfolio to land that level designer job you've always dreamed of, you should aspire to design with voice, rather than merely vomiting objects in random formations. Of course, vomiting random objects might be your thing. It worked for me when I made Alea, so why not?

Here are some design styles that might bring out your personal voice.

Destructible Playground

This one is simple enough, you throw out a few trees, houses, cars, or completely abstract objects. Then, you let the player go to town. The exit is usually in plain sight or hidden in an elementary way. As a result, the depth comes from maximizing the spatial paths of the playground to get a high combo value. Examples of representational playgrounds include “Town,” “Grail,” and “Rhiannon,” while the wacky ones include “Snufalufagus,” “WillWright,” and “HarmfulWhenSwallowed.”

Trail Blazing

In exploration-based play, the engine is hidden (or distant) and requires the player to burn through the environment in order to locate it. We didn't really implement this in depth because it is simply so time consuming to build such a level. A close example is “Amazed,” where the level is a maze-like playground and you have to explore the environment to reach it, but the difficulty involved is very low. “Amazed” took me approximately five hours or so to build and it isn't really that big. This sort of field is only recommended as a project for the hardcore architect.

Revelation By Flame

Appearance is a self-explanatory field that best illustrates the “Revelation”-type level. You set up a system of fuses, typically next to the starting point, so that the fire sprawls out in an interesting or beautiful pattern. In turn, the fire changes the physical set-up to reveal the exit. Combo scores are usually hard not to max out, so this sort of field is really a one-shot pony better left for introducing the game to people.

Light Show

A more mature version of the “Revelation” level, this type of level requires one to proactively light a large structure, often to spectacular effect where all the blocks in the level burn at once. Good examples are “SayItWithLetters” or “CorporateVandalism.”

Puzzle Design Styles

Burn That Mother Down

In this puzzle style, the exit is propped in a way that the fireball can't reach it, no matter how high it gets. Thus, the structure supporting it must be totally razed. “HighAltar” is a fairly basic example.

Burn Yourself Up

This puzzle-style is a "vertical maze" where the player must find different materials to get hotter, enabling him/her to to gain access to higher and higher regions of the field. “MyConfidentStructure” is a good example.

Right Light Location

A set of flammable materials is in reach of the fireball, but only a specific section is the "correct" place to start the fire, since the fire's spread won't be hot enough to start a chain reaction except from that location. A good example is “MoltenThrone,” where the exit is propped on top of a large metal structure with coals and wood stuck into its side, as well as an ivy growth of leaf blocks crawling along its side. Only by igniting the leaf at the right place can one turn the whole thing into an oozing volcano.

Order Of Inflammations

In this style, different sets of blocks are flammable, but must be ignited in the correct order in order to reach the exit. An example is one of the earliest puzzle levels in the core game, “ThanksForTheSupport,” which has the exit propped in a cage of stone on top of four weirdly shaped leaf pillars. Three of the pillars, if burned initially, will cause the blocks supporting the cage of stone to burn, trapping the exit within. It’s fairly easy to make a very forgiving field of this sort, but extremely difficult to make one that is demanding.

ARCH SUPPORTS: In “ThanksForTheSupport,” you have to burn down the support arches, but only have a moment to reach the exit before it is completely blocked.

As such, not many of this sort were made for the original release. A much trickier example is “OutOfTheBox,” where the player must find their way out of a box (hmmm) without igniting the leaf pillars that support the top. The player must ignite materials in the box in order to escape. The trick is that some of these ignitable materials may lead to the main support being destroyed and trapping the player inside. Fortunately, there are a few ways the player can escape in time.

Too Hot To Trot

This puzzle type features a field where its possible to achieve a certain level of heat, but doing so makes completing the field impossible, or at least more difficult. “AbridgeTooShort” is the prime example of this type. The solution I had in mind while building it involved melting the bridge at orange hot level. Then, I would burn the trunk of the nearby tree; and then, I would use a branch propped up by the melted plastic as a jumping point. In this way, one could just barely reach the exit. It turned out to have three other solutions, because game design is unpredictable like that, so if you could design a puzzle field where heat is a detriment, you must be very smart.

Types of Challenge

Beat The Heat

This classic challenge field involves a mechanism where the player’s progress ignites fires which, if given enough time, would thwart the player’s progress. It sounds like a paradox but its really simple, the player ends up racing against the flame. “Race, Bridges, ElTrain, Ico,” and a bunch of other levels fall into this category.

Platform Parching

The player must ascend laterally, but in doing so the platform itself becomes hot enough to ignite the materials serving as the building blocks for allowing said ascent. Basically, this is the lateral analogue to the “Beat The Heat” type field, but with the important distinction that time isn't always a factor. “RaceToTheTop” exemplifies when time is a factor, while “Platformer” is an example where time isn't important, just the player's maneuvering.

Hot Jump Marathon

"Hot jumping" is what we called an emergent phenomena which was at first going to be nixed, but which we ended up keeping because it makes the game more forgiving and a bit more interesting. Basically, you can jump again just as you land on a block but before it burns, resulting in a "hot jump". The “Kinjutsu” and “SupaKinjutsuBonzai!” fields are based entirely off of this mechanic, requiring the player to bound up through pillars of melting plastic and metal, like some kind of lava ninja, in order to reach the exit. This style is much worth mixing in with other styles and forms.

Customizing Objects And Shaders

The process of actually building levels is pretty simple, but not totally simple. There are two editors, an object editor and a level editor. The object editor creates and edits .fof files, which stands for "fireball object file". The level editor takes at least one .fof and lets you create and edit .fsf files, which stands for "fireball something files". Software development doesn't always keep consistent or end up making a lot of sense.

Both editors have two aspects, a tray you can use to load/create object libraries and scroll through the objects you either create (in the object editor) or place (in the level editor); and a blank space. In the blank space is a checkerboard denoting the ground plane and a red cubic cursor you can move with the arrow keys. A,S,W, and D move the cursor in the cardinal directions, F and G move the cursor up and down. Space places a block or object where the cursor is located. If you create an object in the object editor that is displaced from the center of the checkerboard, that displacement will occur in placing that object in the level editor relative to the position of the cursor. If you build a simple pillar, but it’s three squares to the left of the center of the object editor's checkerboard, it will always drop three squares to the left of the cursor in the level editor.

Making objects with more than 25 blocks will cause slow-downs on most computers. Placing objects over each other will cause slow-down as well.

Wow, it feels good to get past the technical part and into wonderland.

You can get wacky abstract with your custom objects. They can laugh in the face of gravity and give the finger to structural architecture. All you have to do is place one anchor block at the bottom-most square level, and rest that block on another object in the level editor. Then, you can design any crazy floating zing-zang you want. Floating blocks make for really interesting Fun levels, complex Puzzle levels, and vertically, uh, challenging Challenge levels.

You can also edit the textures and shaders of specific blocks in specific object files. Nine sliders are yours to twiddle with, allowing you to mess with the color of a block (ever want purple leaf blocks? orange coal?) as well as two others that adjust brightness and reflectivity (I considered making a level called "APlaceInTheSun" with extremely bright and reflective Magic blocks, but I figured it'd be too excruciating to enjoy). You can also import your own textures, which is what made the “Gaza” and “Cheops” levels so interesting with their hieroglyphic laced interiors.

Emergent Destruction

In the medium of game design, content is ultimately judged not by its novelty, its appeal, or even its pacing, but by its durability. In Play With Fire, the best levels are the ones you can come back to after playing them through a dozen times and still push yourself to get a higher combo score.

The only way to maximize the combinatorial depth of your levels is to play the hell out of them and look for subtle changes, a pillar here, a fuse line there, that would increase the potential combos people might mix up. It’s emergent play, essentially emergent destruction, but nurturing your rough draft design into a really raze-able playground requires attention to detail and persistent play testing. For instance, in the haphazard mess of an action portrait that I call “Alea” (the level where all kinds of different objects just fall out of the sky) I realized after about a dozen plays that a fuse of metal would increase the potential combo score by at least a hundred, and greatly constrain the timing needed to achieve that score. The result is one of the hardest levels in the game to get a gold medal on, and there was no formula to achieve that. Other tweaks might include setting up structures made out of metal and plastic, which fall when they burn, to allow the player to set fires remotely. Building content is a craft, perfecting that content is an art.

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Theater of the Mind: Lovecraft Country

costik — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:35:34 +0000

Game Info
Game: Lovecraft Country
Developer: Skotos Tech, Inc.
System Requirements: Browser-based

Article Body:
Will the real H.P. Lovecraft please stand up? One of the following three descriptions is from an H. P. Lovecraft story. The only thing changed in that sentence was the tense so that it would read in the present tense, just like descriptions in a game. The other two are from Lovecraft Country: Arkham By Night, a text-based game--a multi-user experience, if you will--available on the Skotos Network as part of a package of games. The package may be the best monthly expenditure on entertainment this side of Netflix. But that is a decision you’ll have to make at a later point. Right now, you have to decide which is vintage Lovecraft and which is web-age Lovecraft. Is it a, b or c?

a) Obscured in twilight, innumerable slate slabs protrude at oddly jutting angles in the Old Arkham Graveyard. The uneven ground, full of holes, is treacherous.
b) An octagonal room stands at the ground level of a gloomy stair tower, beyond which a massive, black-lacquered desk stands before an open archway.
c) Collapsing huddles of gambrel roofs form a jagged and fantastic skyline above which rises the ghoulish, decapitated steeple of an ancient church.

We’ll provide the answer a little further down the page. Right now, let’s just say that the designers of Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night did not slavishly imitate the master of horror who provided their inspiration. Rather, they have achieved a sense of place within the shadowy, foreboding environs of the “mythos.” Indeed, though some of the locales seem eerily familiar for readers of the Lovecraftian canon, Arkham by Night is tamer than what most would experience in a face-to-face Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. The design philosophy seems to be to offer a mixture of MUD, RPG, and theater of the mind. What, at first blush, appeared to be an ordinary text adventure in which other poor souls were also struggling to retain their sanity became a mesmerizing sinkhole in which time ceased to have meaning.(And I mean that in the best possible sense. And if you haven't guessed by now, the answer to the quiz was c.)

Student Enrollment (Character Generation)

Arkham by Night is not your grandfather’s Adventure. There are several clever ideas that seem quite different from the typical text adventure. First, as in a role-playing game, you create a character. Instead of assigning numerical statistics to your character, however, you create your character by filling out an application to Miskatonic University. Within this application, you describe yourself physically (creating the description with which others will encounter you during the game) and delineate your background. Then, you choose the three courses you will be studying during the semester. No, don’t run away. You don’t actually have to attend classes in Arkham by Night, but the courses in which you are “enrolled” will help determine what skills you develop.

MISKATONIC MATRICULATION: The introductory screens for Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night do not have the feel of a pure text adventure.

So, your initial introduction to Arkham by Night is quite refreshing. You aren’t forced to read a strange description and immediately start typing N, S, E or W. In fact, even when you do enter Arkham itself (starting from your assigned dormitory room), you don’t have to type N. S, E or W. In addition to the familiar text description and command line at the center of the screen, you have two additional navigational options. There is a column of pull-down command menus on the right-hand side of the screen. Although they are not always consistent, the design team has attempted to create a tool where you can choose to examine an object and any objects in that location would be available to examine. You can know everything in your proximity by using the pull-down command menu.

In addition, each screen has a mini-map in the bottom right-hand corner. This map shows your location in relation to other locales in downtown Arkham. Better yet, there are arrows on this map which show all possible directions which you could go. Active exits are shown with normal arrows and impassable directions are faded out (not quite gray). You can navigate all the way around the map and inside buildings by clicking on the active arrows.

FLY LIKE AN ARROW: You cannot fly in Arkham by Night, but you can speed up travel by using the arrows on the mini-map or pull-down command menus as navigational tools.

Course Work (Game Play)

As with any other multiplayer experience, one can be as involved or uninvolved with the story in Arkham by Night as would be desired. Frankly, the design team has done a great job of integrating community tools such as bulletin boards with the fictional environment. If your character sees a bulletin board on the wall of his/her dormitory and examines it, the program takes you right to a community forum that is divided up into subject areas that are totally in character with the Arkham situation.

The designers also tend to reward the players who are truly involved with story points. And, like experience points in a role-playing campaign, the story points can be used to help your characters get more privileges and accomplish more. Story points can be earned by writing fiction based on the game or participating in various contests. Since the “school” regularly sponsors expeditions (stories limited to a certain number of participants and lasting only a limited time), you will want to move up in the story point category to help guarantee a place in some of these special events. Further, the use of story points allows you to assume nicknames, titles and extra designations to describe your character.

As noted above, you can easily navigate the vicinity of Arkham and investigate the contents therein. Yet, the problem comes with the parser. There is limited consistency in the way it allows you to examine objects. As illustrated in the screenshot below, there are numerous occasions where the description gives an adjective and noun and the pull-down command menu gives an adjective and noun, but the parser (essentially the game’s engine) doesn’t accept it. Sometimes, you can get around it by simply using examine plus the noun. Sometimes, you can work around the parser by typing examine plus (first, second, third, fourth, etc.) noun. Even then, you are likely to experience the horrible phenomena with which game players have wrestled since the earliest days of text adventures: You can see it but the parser can’t.

CURSE OF THE OLD ONES As with many old text adventures, the parser can be a pain. Here, the parser fails to recognize the wallet (after we tried the exact brown leather wallet phrase in the pull-down menu and before we mistyped “leather” below) and suitcase, both found in the description of the closet.

The strongest part of the game is its emphasis on chat. It is definitely worthwhile to engage in conversation with other characters where possible. Most players are friendly and quite enthusiastic about the 1930s portrayed in the theme.

But the best Lovecraftian experience comes when you encounter the unknown. At such point the descriptors appear in red and you are permitted to type @verb to deal with these mysterious visitors from the supernatural. Something as simple as a cloud formation or as innocuous looking as a Native American artifact in a museum can suddenly offer a threat or a promise.

DREAM WEAVER Actually, the artifact under investigation in this surreal sequence is the Lakota Dreamcatcher. These little vignettes within the game are quite interesting and really help to remind you that you are “Lost in Cthulhuland.”

Mid-Term Grades (Ratings)

To be honest, I have not logged enough hours in Arkham by Night to give it a final grade. It’s good enough that I’ll continue to play it after finishing this review. It’s good enough that I have a lot of “What if?” questions. It’s good enough that I’d like to play in an upcoming expedition. Considering that it is part of a package (and we’ll be looking at the whole package, eventually), the price-to-performance ratio is outstanding. If it were not for the parser bugs, I would be tempted to move the grade up a few points. Fortunately, Skotos (www.skotos.net/games) will allow you to try their games for a month before they even insist on capturing your credit card. As it is, Arkham by Night is in no danger of flunking and it may well be that it could be on the honor roll by the end of the semester. Let me know what you think and we’ll have a reader-reviewer conference during my “office hours.”

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 6 (on scale of 10)

Accuracy 7 (not vintage Lovecraft, but nice)
Graphics 6 (a few surprises here)
Parser 4 (too many glitches)
Pacing 5 (can spend too much time with little happening)
Price/Performance 8 (as part of a package of 11 basic games, hard to beat)

Reviewer’s Bias: 5 (didn’t expect very much)

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Super Columbine Massacre: Artwork or Menace?

costik — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 22:50:20 +0000

All right.

As you know, we include in our inventory some free games--ones we think are particularly notable. Months ago, we decided not to include the Super Columbine Massacre RPG, because there's some controversy we don't need to court. However, this pisses me off: Columbine game pulled from competition.

The competition in question is the Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition, which runs simultaneously with the Slamdance Film Festival, and along with the IGF, is one of the few events which helps to focus attention on independently-created games--which, of course, is what we also focus on. And we therefore support the festival.

I'm not going to focus on their reasons for pulling the game, nor to assign blame; if you want to explore that further, Ian Bogost has an excellent post on the subject. Instead, I'm simply going to make Super Columbine Massacre available here--and tell you why it is a work of art, an exemplary and important game, and worthy of your serious attention.

Update: Andrew Stern, co-creator of Facade, last year's Slamdance game winner, has an open letter to the festival asking for Super Columbine Massacre's reinstatement as a finalist.

Why Is Super Columbine Massacre Controversial?

Super Columbine Massacre is controversial for one reason only: Because our culture continues to assume that games are "mere entertainment," that a game based on so horrific an event must ipso facto be in bad taste. Games are fun, Columbine was a tragedy and never the twain shall meet; a game on Columbine must by nature trivialize or cynically exploit the event. Q.E.D.

Yet we do not make the same assumption about any other medium: a documentary on the Columbine massacre, or a novel, or a New Yorker essay would, a priori, be treated with respect, at least until the viewer or reader had experienced it, after which a judgment might be made as to its merits. And if the work proved insightful, somber,and respectful of its material, the world would consider it unexceptional.

I will suggest, therefore, that no one is entitled to criticize this game until they have played it--and am morally certain that those who do have not. Because those who do will find it insightful, somber, and respectful of its material.

Within the industry, Super Columbine Massacre has come in for a share of criticism as well--primarily because our industry is sensitive (and with good reason) to criticism that it is too reliant on violence and shock value for its success. The instinctive reaction of anyone within the industry when hearing about this game for the first time is inevitably "Oh god, we don't need this." But what we don't need is games even more tasteless than, say Postal; we don't need more ammunition for the know-nothings who attack games already.

What we do need is games that challenge the stereotype of games as mindless, violent thumb-candy for boys--and games that show the potential of our medium to enlighten, to illuminate, to teach, and to move. What we need is games that approach the status of art.

Like Super Columbine Massacre.

Nuts and Bolts

Super Columbine Massacre is built using RPG Maker (as was Aveyond). Color is 8-bit, and the screen is built using 16 pixel by 16 pixel tiles. Movement is in the four cardinal directions, using the arrow keys; all actions are accomplished by facing an item onscreen and pressing SPACE or ENTER. ESC brings up a menu that allows saves (in limited places), access to inventory, or quitting. Inventory can include a wide variety of weapons, as well as other items, some of which you need to give to other characters to trigger in-game actions. The whole looks like a mid-80s PC RPG, or an RPG for a NES.

Combat is Final Fantasy-esque, in that combat transitions to a separate screen and is character-skill rather than player-skill based. (Yes, Harris and Klebold 'level up' as they kill people.) It's turn-based, although most opponents pose little threat to the protagonists (a jock may get in a hit or two), at least until the Hell levels.

Cut scenes are created in-engine, although real-world images and occasional sound-clips are used at times. The game is highly linear, and completing it pretty much requires replicating the actions of the real mass-murderers. Dialog is primarily drawn from the words of Harris and Klebold themselves, and in dialog panels, they are represented by somewhat pixelated images of themselves.

Player skill is important during gameplay mainly for purposes of avoiding NPCs (particularly during the early bomb-planting sequence, but later on for purposes of avoiding combat, particularly in Hell, less because it is dangerous than because it becomes tedious and repetitive over time--a common characteristic of Final Fantasy-esque games). There is some degree of puzzle solving, but it is fairly minor; as with most such games players need to grab every loose item they can, but at least there isn't too high a degree of "hunt the pixel."

A typical gamer will find about five hours of play, though it can be completed in roughly an hour (a video of a complete run-through here).

Enough of that.

Design Choices

Perhaps the riskiest artistic decision in Super Columbine Massacre is in casting the player as the murderers themselves--risky because we expect to identify with game protagonists, take pleasure in their actions, and share in their triumph. The emotion most games strive to evoke is 'fiero,' the joy of triumph over adversity--inappropriate, in the context of a story where there ought to be no joy, there is tragedy rather than triumph, and where there is scant adversity: unarmed children pose little challenge to the heavily-armed PCs. In another designers' hands, this choice would have been crippling.

But the insight Super Columbine Massacre provides about its subject matter derives precisely from the fact that the player is forced to take the roles of the pepetrators. The player is exposed to their world: the music, the games, the heedless cruelty of high school life, the thoughts and words of Harris and Klebold themselves. Few people of intelligence and sensitivity emerge unscarred from the relentless anti-intellectualism and the cruel cliques of the American high school, and while most of us are not driven to murder (rather more to suicide), this game does a good job of evoking the thoughts and emotions of Harris and Klebold--without glamorizing or exculpating them.

Once the massacre begins, the game becomes, for an experienced player, almost routine; encounter opponent, enter combat, select weapon, collect experience and items. Yet rather than being a trivialization of the event, this in itself is a critique of the conventions of the game qua game--the way in which slaughter becomes an end in itself and a means to advancement. No Conan, nor yet any real-world adventurer (save perhaps Tamburlane) ever personally slaughtered so many foes as a typical RPG requires, and yet we do so without thinking. In Super Columbine Massacre, you can't do so without thinking, precisely because of its connection to a real-world event. Though these are still pixels you are killing, you know they are stand-ins for the real-world victims--and it's hard to avoid a feeling of nausea after a time. Indeed, it is only the low-res, retro nature of the graphics that make it possible to continue playing: the game-ness of it helps to cloak the horror.

It's an interesting tension, in fact--between evocation of the brutality of the event, and enough distance to continue playing, between the banality of the conventions of the RPG and the anything but banal nature of the material under study.

Nor will the designer let you escape into the banality of gameplay; once the massacre is complete, he exposes you to a series of images, real world photographs of the corpses of the boys--and of the grief of the survivors and their families. The sharp-edged nature of these, in stark contrast to the pixelated images of the game itself, remind the player that this is more than "just a game"; it is a harrowing replication of a modern horror.

Perhaps this is where the game should end, but in fact there is a sort of giant easter egg to follow: the Hell levels. Hell is surely where Harris and Klebold should be, but in perhaps another risky choice on the designer's part, they seem to like it there, as it's a lot like Doom. Indeed, the monsters they encounter and fight are drawn directly from that title. In the course of their journey through hell, they encounter the outer circle (per Dante, the place where those damned but not evil, such as pagans who never received the word of God, spend eternity), where people including Jon Benet and Confucius are encountered--along with John Lennon (damned for being an atheist, presumably), who sings "Imagine" to Harris. This elicits the response "If you weren't already dead, I'd have to kill you," which does sound in character. They also encounter Nietzsche, who proves to be a Nine Inch Nails fan, which also sounds in character.

There's an element of humor here, in other words--and indeed, if an accusation of tastelessness has any merit, here, and not in the massacre sequence, is where it lies.

After solving puzzles and encountering Satan comes the final cut-scene of the game: a ceremony outside the high-school, with the game putting in the mouths of the speakers a variety of the conventional sentiments the tragedy evoked. One speaker demands gun control, another a ban on violent media, a third the need to re-Christianize society. The sentiments are enough almost to make you wish you could take Harris and Klebold back to the school, at least in their game-character guise, and murder these idiots...

...because Super Columbine Massacre does a far better job of getting inside, and trying to understand, the events of that terrible day than these speakers do.

A Work of Art?

Those who deny that games can be art generally argue that games are mere entertainment, and therefore cannot aspire to that status. This is a form of category confusion; Harlan Ellison, for example, argues that being entertaining is the mininum criterion for a story, that any good story must entertain--but if it does no more, it is not much of a story. Naked Lunch, Burrough's novel of social pathology, is entertaining in its fashion--but it's also a brutal and harrowing emotional experience.

Others claim that games are not (yet) art, because of the limited palette of emotions they can evoke: tactile pleasure, fiero, and frustration, certainly, but not (or rarely) tears or nostalgia or righteous anger, the vast panoply of emotions that film and fiction evoke. To my mind, this is category confusion again; architecture also has a limited emotional palette, but we consider it art. By this standard, however, one can certainly posit Super Columbine Massacre as a work of art: it evokes emotions rare in games--pity, horror, and repulsion.

The great strength of games as a medium, the one thing games are able to do that other media cannot, is to illuminate their subject by engaging the player directly in the action. Other media can depict, but they can't bring you inside. Reading a novel or watching a film, you may identify in some sense with the characters, but you are never unconscious that you are outside, watching; in a game, by nature, you are inside, doing. Thus a game such as Zucker's Napoleon's Last Battles can help you gain better insight into the nature of Napoleonic warfare than reading Clausewitz; a game such as Sim City can lend insight into the nature of cities that's hard to obtain in any other fashion.

And a game such as Super Columbine Massacre can lend insight into the events of that terrible day that newspaper reports, or somber and thouthful essays, cannot. Not necessarily better insights--but different ones--precisely because it makes you complicit in recreating the events.

As gamers, and those who love games, our reponse to this game, and to the criticism of it, should not be to hide, or run away, or hope that it goes away. Instead it should be to say: You do not understand, nor are you attempting to understand. This is not a glamorization of the murderers, nor yet a trivialization of the tragedy; it is a work of serious artistic intent and accomplishment, based on considerable research, that in fact illuminates and reflects the horror of that day. Just as there are novels of the Holocaust, there can be a game of Columbine, and neither need trivialize a tragedy.

Further Reading

Designer's Statement

Ian Bogost's Analysis

Patrick Dugan on the Game

Super Columbine Massacre: Better Than You'd Think (via Kotaku)

Retro Super Columbine Massacre RPG a Mostly Thoughtful Take on the Tragedy (via Gameology)

Rampant Coyote has a very different view of the game

Or you could play it.

Isn't This Just Pinball?

DrJ — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:24:21 +0000

Game Info
Genre: Action (Pinball) Designer: Frameworks Studios Publisher: Merscom Price: $9.99 System Requirements: * Pentium II + * 256K RAM * 75 MB HDD footprint * 640x480 display+ Multiplayer: Yes (Hot Seat and Internet)
Article Body:
In my boyhood, the only place I remember seeing pinball machines was in cramped corners of bowling alleys and a little annex of a skating rink. The machines didn’t take tokens. You were allowed to play five steel balls for a quarter and I never saw anyone win a free game by matching or anything else. There were grooves in the boards and, sometimes, the flippers were so sticky that they would barely nudge the balls rather than sending them rebounding back for mega-points.

I blame those worn-out pinball machines of my youth (and the fact that I could never afford to spend more than one quarter (if that) on a pinball experience) on the fact that I am a horrible pinball player. I can dance to Tommy’s “Pinball Wizard” better than I can play pinball and I’m not a very good dancer. But, I can’t blame my inadequacy on Fastlane Pinball from Frameworks Studios/Merscom). In fact, my septuagenarian father humiliated me at the game when we played via hot seat.

SPEEDBALL

There are no “worn channels” or preconceived ball behaviors in Fastlane Pinball. The action, however, is so fast that, at times, you can barely see the ball.

Though Fastlane Pinball only features one board on which you can play, the game allows you to change the feel of play by shifting the camera angles slightly. You can focus on the spring-loaded trigger, site in on the bottom two flippers, or feast your eyes on two long-angle shots of the entire board. Since the developers realized that it is difficult to see the action at the top of the board whenever the ball is at the top of the screen, a pop-up camera view lets you see the ball action whenever the ball is obscured from the long-angle view.

PINBALL BEARINGS

As with analog pinball machines, there are a variety of games within the game. At one point, your ball may trigger a “jailbreak” in which you have to hit the right targets in order to round up the escapees. At another point, you need to be able to enter the fast lane chute in order to score extra points.

PIZZA JOINT

One of the internal games for extra points in Fastlane Pinball requires you to hit the pizza lane.

Since most modern machines in the pizza joints and bowling alleys of today have message boards where mini-games, prizes and high scores are posted, Fastlane Pinball also has such message boards. As with the cutaway camera views you see when the ball is obscured, the game provides a pop-up screen whenever a message appears so that you can read the screen more clearly. For example, when the slots game appears on-screen, you see a digital version of a slot machine appearing on-screen.

FRUIT CAKED

You have to be lucky to begin with in order to see this screen. Once it pops up, though, you get five spins to hit the jackpot.

Most of the play in Fastlane Pinball is just straight, fast play. You control four flippers from the keyboard or gamepad (we found the gamepad works much better) and have keys (or buttons) assigned to tilt the game left or right. The tilting is important to getting high scores, but even a crummy player like me does better with body language on the analog machines than I do with the keys/buttons for this game. It is nice to have them there, however.

Up to four players can compete (hot-seat fashion) at the same computer by switching positions after each ball has been put into play. Or, in a more interesting fashion, players can compete on the internet with other players using the game’s “ghost ball” method. The game searches the network automatically for active players and will establish match-making transparently. Unfortunately, there does not exist enough of a critical mass at the current time to guarantee that you can find an opponent. That could change with the popularity of the game.

Naturally, the game has a built-in “High Score” list for local players. However, the game also has an interesting feature where, should you score better than I do, you can send your score to the internet. When you do, you receive a confirmation email and become eligible for prizes.

Total Score (Reviewer’s Summary)

Fastlane Pinball has enough speed and stamina to keep players addicted for hours. Where I can remember past pinball games where the emphasis was on a variety of boards, Fastlane Pinball’s primary focus is challenge and performance, both in solitaire and multiplayer modes.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 7 (on scale of 10)

Replayability 9
Graphics 6 (needs variety)
Responsiveness 7 (controls sticky at times)
Flexibility 6 (in playing mode, not boards)
Price/Performance 9

Reviewer’s Bias: 5 (figured if I’d seen one pinball game, I’d seen ‘em all)

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Robot Merchant--Jack of All Trades is Rare Commodity

DrJ — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:50:06 +0000

Game Info
Game: Jack of All Trades
Game Genre: Space Trading/RPG
Developer: Dingo Games
System Requirements: Windows 98+ with Pentium II, 8 MB footprint
Price: $19.95
Article Body:
by Dr. J

Note: We've put together these useful play-aids for Jack of All Trades players:

Printable galaxy map.

Spreadsheet with market details.

Ship Upgrades spreadsheet.

The first real computer game, Spacewar, allowed players to control one of two ships in zero-gravity combat. One of the earliest coin-op video games, Lunar Lander required players to use its retro-rockets and thrusters to get to the right landing spot and drop the ship down for a soft landing. So, one of the first feelings a player will experience when launching Jack of All Trades is a taste of nostalgia. You see a tiny ship zipping across a simple field of stars and said ship is maneuvered by means of thrusters and retro-rockets. Players have to learn to handle momentum, acceleration, and degradation via judicious use of the controls. For veteran gamers, this is old news. Fortunately, the game isn’t only this delightful taste of nostalgia. Jack of All Trades also provides a bit of role-playing, a taste of space trading, a playful sense of humor, and a modicum of stock investing.

DEFENDER LIVES?: Although there is significant nostalgia to Jack of all Trades, there is plenty of game play, too.

Unlike many space trading games, you aren’t merely trying to amass enough money to upgrade your ship and weapons (though you do so), but you are serving a role in the robot resistance and engaging in both passive and active spy missions, as well. For some gamers, the Earth & Beyond style travel between star systems will be too slow. You must jump to each system in a linear fashion. None of my pilots reached a point, as we did in later levels of Earth & Beyond where we could wormhole from system to system by skipping some.

The mechanics for quantum space in Jack of all Trades are relatively simple. The ship must be pointed away from the system’s center and must physically be far enough away from said center to allow for the jump. One needn’t “refuel” in the game, so it is possible to pop into a system, immediately point away from the center and restart the ship’s velocity so that an immediate jump can occur. You miss the chance to check the stock market and commodities prices on a given planet, but you can keep on task and stay out of trouble in that way. In fact, if you pop into a system populated with the red dots indicating hostile activity, it is probably best to turn and jump immediately. In fact, since you won’t see anything on the screen that specifically indicates how far away from the system center you have to be before jumping, I tend to hit the key continuously as I’m trying to outrace the bad guys.

MULTI-VERSE?: Travel through star systems named for celebrities (including poets like Virgil and Shakespeare, designers like Meier, Bakula, and Molyneaux, and PC pioneers like Wozniak and Gates).

Of course, the heart of the game, as you might expect from the title, is playing a trader. As a robot pilot, you captain a trading vessel and advance yourself through the game by increasing your available funds and upgrading your ship (through improvements or purchase of bigger, better ships). Initially, you own a small trader (an all-purpose shuttle) with enough cargo capacity to handle 30 units of whatever cargo you choose. It is possible to extend the cargo bay slightly (the first upgrade, Extended Cargo Bay, adds 2 units of cargo to your capacity at this level, but 9% of whatever you have on other ships that have some cargo capacity) or add to it (External Cargo adds 3 more to your expanded 32 or 18% to other ships), but if you really want to become a power trader, you’ll need to get a bigger ship.

Personal, All-Purpose Shuttle 30 unit cargo capacity

Achilles (Fighter w/ cargo) 25 unit cargo capacity

Astro Transport 100 unit cargo capacity (no cannon)

Circus Cruiser (Passenger) 0 unit cargo capacity

GI Cargo Transport 500 unit cargo capacity

Space Car 0 unit cargo capacity

T-5000 Transport 200 unit cargo capacity

Of course, the bigger the ship, the more expensive the upgrade becomes. For example, adding reaction control thrusters to enhance acceleration by 11% will only cost 600 credits for a personal shuttle, but the same feature increases with the size of the ship to 1,650 for an Achilles fighter, 3,450 for an Astro Transport, 3,720 for a GI Cargo Transport, and 6,000 for the T-5000 Transport. Going for the second strongest hull plating, Ditanium, requires 2,000 credits for the personal shuttle, 5,500 for the Achilles fighter, 11,500 for the Astro Transport, 12,500 for the GI Transport, and 20,000 for the T-5000. So, the bigger the ship, the more transport missions (civilian missions) you can undertake and the more speculative cargo you can carry. So, you can accrue credits faster. Of course, then you spend credits faster as you improve your ship. To examine all of the ships except for the large Muterran capital ships (Gun Boat and Destroyer), download the Ship Upgrades spreadsheet.

NOTE: One oddity is that your cargo moves from ship to ship as you upgrade ships. This is well and good, but it creates a logical anomaly when you move from a T-5000 Transport loaded with civilian cargo to a Saucer that only has, allegedly, 30 units of cargo space. You can actually travel about with more than 100 units over capacity until you’ve delivered the missions you’d already accepted when you had the larger ship.

I Just Want to Speculate (Trading Mechanism)

Traders can carry two types of cargo: consignment and speculative (missions designed by the game and free trade handled by the player). A consignment load means that the pilot receives a set fee upon delivering the cargo (often consisting of tons of items that have no rational purpose in such quantities—just for humorous effect) to a specific planet, but makes no up-front investment to purchase the load. A speculative load is where the pilot purchases units of bizarre cargo items to resell on other planets. The latter is a gamble because it ties up existing funds and cargo space until one can resell the loads, but the game could have been nastier and given you loads that expire or charge you extra fuel to jet around the universe. As it is, the risk is totally tied to opportunity cost—no expiration risk or fuel costs with which to bother.

JACK BE NIMBLE: The trade goods screen in Jack of all Trades offers guidance in whether the commodity is priced low or high, allowing one to buy low and sell high without detailed bookkeeping.

Plus, the game is quite friendly in the way it handles the speculative loads. If your goal is to buy low and sell high, the game facilitates this. At every market (planet), you can go through the list of commodities (everything from baseballs to saxophones with space whiskey and robodogs/cats in between) and highlight the ones in which you are interested. When you highlight the commodity, you are given a range description of the market environment on that planet for each commodity (low, below average, average, above average, high, and very high). By only purchasing commodities at low and below average range, you can always be sure of making a profit--eventually.

NOTE: Noting the famous Chris Crawford’s penchant for illustrating his speeches and writing with anecdotes and illustrations about his cats, I thought it interesting to find that you could get 'Robocats' at a below average price on Crawford I and II.

Naturally, the trade-off is tied to whether you want to make money without additional investment or with additional funds. The latter allows for greater reward in the long run, but the former is more of a sure thing and requires less effort to monitor. For example, if you are in a system like Virgil where everything is priced above average, you are almost always better off taking cargo from the “Mission Board.” Once you know the “Low” or “Below Average” source and the “High” or “Very High” market for goods, though, you’ll want to create your own cargo manifests. For more detailed information about the general market demand on all non-pirate planets, download the Trading Markets spreadsheet. (In addition, I like to track my progress off-line using the Galaxy Map available for download from Manifesto Games.

The problem with the trading mechanism from one perspective is a bank error in the player’s favor from another. The price ranges listed on our spreadsheet (or on the trading screen pictured above) stay almost the same no matter how much of one type of cargo you dump on a planet. There appears to be a small supply/demand mechanism after you’ve made several milk runs using the same cargo. This makes play easier, but reduces the challenge for experienced gamers.

The stock speculation mechanism isn’t quite as helpful. It does allow you to buy single shares (in fact, you have to click the “Buy” button to purchase every share—no round lots) and it does provide a graph of past performance. Jack of All Trades also provides a guideline to general market conditions, noting whether it is a market in “Recession” or “Expansion.” If you are a good chart reader in the “real world” stock market, you’ll find a few familiar patterns that, on the whole, tend to reflect general tendencies. But, since the game provides no fundamental information on the companies (amount of float, price-to-earnings, # of consecutive quarters with increased earnings, debt retirement, etc.), this market mechanism is pure gambling—not investing. The only way this is different than craps is that your investment isn’t tied (basically) to one throw of the dice. You don’t usually crap out or seven out during the jump from one planet to another.

GREED IS GOOD: Maybe it is in the film, Wall Street, but it isn’t in Jack of All Trades where the marketplace is decidedly chaotic and unpredictable.

Robot Rebel (Role-Playing Aspects)

Of course, Jack of all Trades would be very routine if there wasn’t a role-playing aspect to it beyond merely upgrading ships, ship systems, and weapons as one amasses the maximum number of credits. Fortunately, without time constraints, one can join the Freedom Alliance and begin one’s life of covert and overt missions at will. Unfortunately, the series of missions that you undergo are hard-coded so that the mission path for the first few missions reads something like: courier, psychological operations, rescue, armed rescue, diplomatic mission, use of force, and rendezvous with pirate.

One word of warning, though, the entire game heats up once you’ve successfully accomplished a few missions with the Freedom Alliance. Each system suddenly generates lots more pirates and the in-system space navies no longer swarm onto the pirates and take them out in they way they did previously.

LEAFLET TO ME: The second Freedom Alliance mission in JOAT is a propaganda mission where you drop leaflets on a major planet.

Where Many Muterrans Have Gone Before (Conclusions)

Jack of All Trades is not primarily about exploration. The trade routes exist, as do primary loyalties and pirate havens. Role-players who are all about advancement will find their levels/ranks/skills by advancing their ships and armament rather than their characters. JOAT even provides enough variety in the upgrade paths for one to choose a pirate/combat route over a safer merchant/rebel route.

Where the game falls short is in its pacing. Need to travel across the galaxy? There is no way to automate your trip. You must perform a hyperspace jump in and out of each system. Want to purchase 100 shares of stock? You must click 100 times. Want to load 100 units of cargo? You must click 100 times. Dealing with such simple issues would have added pleasure to the gaming experience. [Note: When selling stock, it is possible to sell all of one stock with one click of the button. You can also buy that way, but you can’t control your spending that way.]

Where the game is exceptionally friendly is in the way it handles death. “Reload Pilot” is tantamount to resurrection. No cargo is lost, your ship comes back in the same configuration, and missions remain constant. The good news is that may encourage some of us reflex-challenged folks to try our hand at bounty hunts without assuming real risk. The bad news is that without risk, some players will feel like the “challenge” is meaningless. Since some of the battles, particularly early on, were difficult for me, I was thankful for the “grace” of the current design. I know a lot of purists who will hate it. Maybe there should be a toggle to let you turn “grace” on or off.

Quite frankly, I came into the game looking for something I had tried to create in my Traveller pen and paper game campaigns. None of my trading models ever quite worked like I wanted them to function. I can honest say that I enjoyed playing space merchant in Jack of All Trades. I just got bogged down at various times because of the lack of short-cuts and the piling on of enemies near the end.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 6 (on scale of 10)

Documentation: 4 (in-game clues okay, but needs more)
Graphics: 5 (extremely retro, but certainly functional)
Design: 8 (lots of options, but not enough short cuts)
Pacing: 5 (too much time with little happening)
Price/Performance: 8 (less than 30 cents per hour of game play)

Reviewer’s Bias: 7 (wanted Traveller--found part of it)

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Battleship Chess Makes Waves Over Tradition

DrJ — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:23:33 +0000

Game Info
Game: Battleship Chess
Developer: ApeZone Inc
System Requirements: 300Mhz processor 64MB RAM 50MB free disk space DirectX 8.0 3D graphics card
Article Body:
Sinking Ships Sinks Time
Battleship Chess Makes Waves Over Tradition

by Dr. J

Neither Hasbro’s trademark Battleship in playing style nor merely a chess board using naval platforms as the traditional pieces, Battleship Chess is a fascinating challenge that combines some elements of miniatures battles with a few strange mechanics that creates a bizarre stylized form of play. In terms of naval tactics, Battleship Chess models some aspects more realistically than the Strategy Light Series (1939: Battlefleet, Battlefleet: Pacific War, and their space battle counterpart, Space General: World War IV). Yet, there are some overarching strictures that undermine any sense of verisimilitude and force one to think in terms of artificial tactics rather than realistic ones. So, Battleship Chess has this capacity for pulling you into a fascinating, stimulating game and then, jarring you out of your suspended disbelief with certain extremely artificial mechanics.

CLOSE ACTION: The "map" for Battleship Chess shows all friendly ships, enemy ships that have been spotted (along with possible target squares), and upgrade squares.

Battleship Chess begins in the pre-Washington Naval Treaty days and allows would-be admirals to command small fleets for both the pre-dreadnaught and post-dreadnaught eras. The game spotlights the great era of surface combat prior to the introduction of naval air warfare. (Yes, there were aircraft carriers in WWI, but they didn’t dominate like they did in the WWII Pacific Theater.) Then, one is upgraded to the era of battlecruisers, challenged to use destroyers wisely, and finally, to the tactics involving submarine warfare.

Each campaign features five chapters: early years, era of dreadnaughts, evolution of battlecruisers, deployment of destroyers, and years of submarine warfare. There is some marvelous naval detail within the game to be cited in my Commendations section, but as will be detailed in my Reprimands summary, there is also some very frustrating abstraction and limitation. At times, one feels some of the flavor of playing General Quarters or Command at Sea miniatures. At others, it seems more like playing with a toy in the bathtub. After all, the “chess” in the title refers to the fact that you can only move one ship per turn. This restriction actually provides for some really interesting tactical trade-offs, but it simply doesn’t allow for authentic doctrine or maneuver.

Each turn, you have the option of playing a card from your strategy hand (if you still have any in inventory), moving one ship, upgrading (if you land on one of the upgrade squares), repairing (if you land on a repair square), or resupplying (if you land on an ammo square), and then, firing the moving ship’s guns. The only exception to the latter is if the moving ship is out of ammunition, out of range, or if a friendly ship is directly adjacent to the moving ship. The last exception does allow for some combined vessel action, but it is a definite challenge. Players earn points for causing damage to enemy vessels and bonus points for sinking ships and guiding merchant ships to safe harbor (random waypoints).

When a player sinks enough tonnage, the player is promoted. With each promotion comes more power to upgrade ships between chapters of the campaign and more power to assign ships from the larger fleet to the active battle fleet prior to each battle. In addition, the ratings for each ship’s commanding officer factor into the ship’s effectiveness in combat, so it is significant that your captains get promoted when you sink a lot of tonnage, as well.

Commendations

Frankly, I’m impressed with the actual firing functions of the ships from the animating turrets and algorithm for armor penetration to the firing angle of the torpedoes. Battleship Chess rewards you for crossing the T (positioning your ship horizontally across the bow or stern of an enemy target so that your shells run through the length of the ship rather than attempting the narrower landing across the width of the ship). I appreciate knowing both the probability of hitting the target as well as the probability of penetrating.

TURRETS SYNDROME: The ships may look alike, but the broadsides animation looks credible.

It is great that the ship has to be in a broadsides position (where all the turrets have an angle to fire upon the target) before the full effects of one’s full firepower can be felt. It is even better to realize that a ship can split its firepower between the forward turrets and the aft turrets at times when it cannot perform broadsides fire. Not every game allows for splitting the target.

I was intrigued to see (when playing U.S. versus Japanese) that the torpedoes acted realistically in that U.S. torpedoes were extremely inefficient until the middle of WWII. It was great to see destroyers using a deck-based launcher to fire their torpedoes and that submarines fired from forward and aft tubes. The game even simulated the extra reloading time for torpedoes over the proverbial “nine yards” of normal ammo.

It was amusing to hear the non-naval breech of an ordinary shotgun whenever the ships were reloaded on the ammo squares, as well as to hear the sound of a household ratchet wrench whenever a repair was being attended to via a repair square. The bubble effect representing the diving and surfacing of submarines was also a clever, but not very realistic touch. The musical score was reminiscent of “Victory at Sea” (the theme to an old television series produced by the U.S. Navy) crossed with a college fight song and the sound effects definitely added to the atmosphere.

Ironically, one of the most artificial game elements in Battleship Chess adds significantly to its replayability and sustainability factors is the use of upgrade squares. Normally, war at sea is about overall naval superiority. One needs to control the sea in order to be able to move troops, munitions, supplies, and naval squadrons from one location to a more strategic location. Once we were past the era of fighting sail where gaining the “wind gauge” was a primary tactical consideration, tactical decision-making was largely reduced to range, deflection angle, armor, and speed considerations. Battleship Chess adds an intriguing wrinkle to the map—even in an open sea encounter—by giving both sides mini-objectives—special upgrade squares with a colored background. If one can get to the propeller icon first, the warship can gain a speed upgrade. The first warship to get to the shield icon gains an armor upgrade. In the same way, reaching the binocular icon adds to a ship’s spotting capacity; the compass icon allows a weapons range upgrade; the earphones elicit a sonar upgrade, and the turret icon provides a weapons upgrade.

The advantage of these special upgrade squares is that they entice you to risk a capital ship in order to gain the particular advantage. The squares are like hills in land battles with advantageous lines-of-sight and defensibility. And, as the hills provide objectives in a land battle, so do these squares in Battleship Chess. So, you find yourself asking if it is worth breaking a battleship out of its line abreast formation to fortify its armor or expand its firing range. It bears no authentic resemblance to naval tactics, but it sure works in the game.

In addition, the use of “permanent” (at least for a given battle) squares (with no colored outline) for reloading ammunition, providing a temporary speed burst, allowing a one-turn boost in spotting range, or repairing one critical hit (the wrench icon) gives additional tactical options. Do I maneuver to put out that fire or get reloaded? Can I move such that I improve my spotting range and allow multiple ships to fire?

And, a ship atop a special or permanent upgrade square must move on its next turn. This means that taking two turns to repair a ship and then, move it on may allow an ailing enemy to slip away. It may mean that reloading one ship’s ammunition may keep you from having other ships fire on the appropriate turns—even if your other ships are in optimal positions.

What was particularly worthwhile to me was the upgrade path in ranks. As one began one’s progression toward Fleet Admiral, more and more decision points were added. Each promotion allows you to specifically designate which ships will get individual upgrades and eventually, you get to select which ships you want in the battle fleet. You’ll need to know something about your enemy’s tactics, as well as where you are in the five chapter campaign, in order to create the most effective fighting units.

PICK UP TRICKS: As you rise in rank, you can improve your ships with upgrades at the start of a campaign and select ships for the battle fleet for each scenario of the campaign.

The card deck (you get additional cards as you progress in the campaign) is also a nice wrinkle. The “Ammo at Sea” card lets you reload all of your ships simultaneously. The “Repair at Sea” card lets you repair critical systems without having to actually go to the square with the wrench icon. When you have the enemy forces trying to flee, it’s wonderful not to have to surrender momentum and let them go. The “Clear Skies” card lets you see the position of every enemy ship for one turn. Another card lets you salvage a sunken ship and another card gives an extra ship.

Finally, there is a merchant ship card in the card deck. If you play this card, a merchant ship appears at the base line of the map on “your” side. A waypoint will appear at the base line of the map on your opponent’s side. Like maneuvering a pawn to get a queen in chess, if you can wend your way to the waypoint without allowing the enemy to sink you, it’s worth extra points for you. Again, I like this addition to the game’s strategy because it gives you “escort missions” in the midst of a battle.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE: The wagon wheel represents the waypoint that the merchant ship must reach in order to gain bonus points. Here, a U.S. merchant ship is ready to move into the waypoint.

Reprimands

The biggest problem with Battleship Chess is tied to the very mechanic that makes it unique, the movement constraint. It is exceedingly difficult to move ships in Line Ahead or Line Abreast formations when you can only move one ship per turn. Yet, it is of optimum value to do so because it means that when one ship encounters the enemy, there are other ships in range to close on the enemy. In Battleship Chess, there were many occasions where I simply left all formations to the four winds in order to prosecute one combat or another. Realistically, it would have cost me. In this game, it did not.

Of course, some gamers may prefer the role of frigate commander (even when commanding a battleship or battlecruiser) over the discipline of flag rank. Yet, there are significant tactical problems with the way this particular game works. For example, you only get to fire multiple ships if the ships are adjacent to the ship which has moved. You can have the enemy blocked and surrounded, but if you move a ship somewhere else on the map, you won’t get to fire those ships which are at close range and prepared to fire. Part of the challenge of Battleship Chess is the ability to place your ships so that you can continually move the phasing ship into adjacency with one or more other ships. In this way, you can fire multiple times at the same target. Otherwise, you won’t sink much tonnage.

V FOR VICTORY: Here, the battleship Oregon moves onto the ammunition square, reloading in time to fire at a German capital ship. The other two warships in the V will get to fire, as well, because the Oregon moved into adjacency with them on this turn.

After Action Report

Frankly, the game is a challenging, unrealistic, delightful, frustrating, experience. I love the idea of facing the Dresden, Emden, Gneisenau, Leipzig, and Scharnhorst of Germany’s famous Kreuzergeschwader (WWI cruiser squadron in East Asia) as well as playing the pseudo-history of naval warfare as the five chapter campaigns unfold. If you had asked me about the game before I played it, I would have said that it could never hold my interest long-term. Yet, I’ve played it and played it and played it some more. Like the old Solitaire’s Journey from QQP, I’m afraid Battleship Chess has become one of my guilty little pleasures with a “just one more game” component to it.

Reviewer’s Overall Snapshot: 7

Graphics: 7 (nice animation, crude ships)
Realism: 5 (strange mixture)
AI: 6 (opponents occasionally surprise)
Game Design: 8 (hate the mechanic, love the game)
Replayability: 8 (just can’t stop playing it)

Reviewer’s Bias: 4 (prefer realism, like this weird mix)

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Battleship Chess

Laser Dolphin

DrJ — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 18:53:04 +0000

Game Info
Game: Laser Dolphin
Developer: Dingo Games
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP Pentium 500 32MB Ram DirectX 7.0 or later OS 10.2 or above
Article Body:
Laser Dolphin
Finally, a Dolphin with Some Frickin’ Lasers!

By Matt Forbeck

[Matt Forbeck is the author of Queen of Death, Road to Death, and Marked for Death in the Eberron line of Dungeons & Dragons novels, as well as author of the first Blood Bowl novel and designer on Marvel Heroes: Battle Dice and author/art director on the award-winning Redhurst: Academy of Magic Student Handbook (d20 role-playing game supplement.]

Dr. Evil famously griped about the lack of dolphins with lasers in Austin Powers, and the team at Dingo Games finally answered the call. In Laser Dolphin, you play the eponymous animal: an intelligent, bottlenose dolphin with a massive laser mounted on your back, ready to blast evildoers off the planet.

You do not lack for targets in this 2D scroller. The tissue-thin plot, which unfolds in a few spare comics panels, informs you that aliens have kidnapped the Prime Minister. Only Laser Dolphin (that’s you) can save him!
Ignore the cheeseball excuse for character motivation and jump into the water with your laser blasting away. Forget that punk Ecco, always bumping into things with his nose. You’re armed!

You have three ways to play: action, stunt, and race.

All Action, All the Time

In the action levels—the main part of the game, the “story” if you can call it that—you start out in the oceans of Earth, where you spend 20 levels fighting your way past lasers and mines, plus suicide-bombing turtles, missile-firing fish, and bomb-dropping gulls. Later, you encounter even nastier foes, including electric eels (who try to shock you to death) and invulnerable robotic sharks (who can swim through walls).

THE PLOT: Story? We don’t need no stinkin’ story?

All you have on your side is your laser and your moves, so practice with both. Shooting is easy. The mouse’s pointer shows up as a targeting reticule, and Laser Dolphin turns its nose to follow it wherever it goes. Click to let loose a shot. The faster you click, the more you shoot.

You can also unleash a more powerful shot. Hold down the mouse’s left button to power up, and then let go to fire. Master this soon, as it comes in handy against the more powerful enemies later.

The first few levels of the game encourage you to move with your mouse. You hold down the space bar to go forward in the direction of the reticule. As you get accustomed to this, though, the game recommends you use the standard WASD keys to move, employing the mouse to direct your orientation.
If you’re no ninja with the controls, don’t fret. You can set the difficulty level in any of five stages, from Very Easy to Extreme. As you progress through the game, too, you automatically unlock related cheats that allow you to indulge in your best power-dolphin fantasies

INCOMING! You’re the hero on the right. Those other technobeasts? Your targets!

In each level, you wander around the open sea and tunnels deep beneath the waves until you find the exit, leading to the next level. Along the way, you try to find the five golden dolphins hidden on each level. Besides being the greatest thing in dolphin collectibles, these also restore the health you’re bound to lose while battling your foes. The game keeps track of how many dolphins you grab in each level, and any time you get all five, it slaps a golden dolphin icon on the action overview map.
As you work your way through the levels, you also find a number of different power-ups you can use to make your attacks more deadly. Each of these only last for a short time, so get ready to release a barrage of attacks as soon as you grab any of them. They include quad damage, machine-gun fire, guided missiles, and—coolest of all—a laser sword (ahem, lightsaber) that stabs out from the end of your laser.

Give me that lightsaber floating over there. It’s the one that says, "Bad-ass Laser Dolphin" on it. Or it should!

Once you complete the first 20 levels, you find an alien spacecraft and rocket off to Conglacio VI for another 10 levels on a vibrant blue planet. From there, it’s off to the crimson Volcan II for another 10 levels of hunting. Then you finish everything up with a final 10 levels on the Alien Homeworld.

Along the way, you never see the actual aliens who have so horribly modified all the creatures of the sea to fight against you—no matter which world you may be on. However, you do get to confront your ultimate foe: Evil Dolphin. You might expect your opposite number to sport a well-trimmed goatee. Instead, you can know it by its glowing red eyes.

Send in the Stunt Dolphin!

If action’s not your thing, you can hone your movement skills in the game’s ten stunt levels. In these, you move Laser Dolphin through a series of jumps, doing your best to get as high into the air as you can. You score extra points for flips and turns, but watch those landings. A good landing gives you a bonus, but awful ones can ruin all your hard work.

Each level has a set score for which you can earn bronze, silver, and gold medals. You start at the first level and cannot move on to the next until you manage at least a bronze in your current level.

Go, Laser Dolphin, Go!

Perhaps you feel the need for speed. If so, then the game’s ten race levels should work for you. There’s no head-to-head action here, or even racing against bots. It’s just you against the clock.

The levels end up like lice racetracks and more like obstacle courses. If you meet each level’s bare minimum time, you earn a bronze medal and can move on. Or you can stick around and try to improve your time until you pick up a silver medal or even a gold.

Do It Yourself

If these 70 different levels have just whetted your appetite, don’t despair. The game comes complete with a level editor you can use to whip up your own challenges. You can save, trade, and load these at will.

The editor is a bit complex, but those with design ambitions should be able to ramp up the learning curve fast. The designers at Dingo Games have already covered all sorts of different levels—including one that involves tumbling down a long, dry cave—but here’s your chance to create something new too and add to the fun.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 8 (retro, silly fun)

Graphics: 7 (well done for a 2D scroller)
Sound: 7 (the laser sword is fantastic)
Game Play: 9 (good variety of challenges)
Pacing: 8 (getting killed means starting a level all over)
Replayability: 7 (find missing golden dolphins or beat old times or scores)
Customization/Design Toolkit: 6 (effective, although nothing fancy)

Reviewer’s Bias: 5 (low expectations for a surprisingly fun game

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Laser Dolphin

Serious Games Summit '06 Part II

DrJ — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:34:42 +0000

Teaser:
Is the Department of Defense Serious About Games?
Part II of Manifesto Games’ Serious Games Summit Coverage

by Johnny L. Wilson

In 1976, an officer on the USS McKean (DD-784) began running a series of games aboard ship built off a game called NAVTAG. NAVTAG was an official U.S. Navy game that used classified data. This was good because it provided “validated” data and algorithms so that participants did not receive “bad” information, but it was bad because there could only be one copy of the game per ship and that game had to be locked away with other classified data when not in use. This limited the possibilities for using the game for ongoing training. To remedy this, the officer began working on his own set of rules, using realistic but non-classified data. In 1980, that rules set became the Harpoon game of naval miniatures rules. That officer, Larry Bond, became a best-selling author.

Body:
Is the Department of Defense Serious About Games?
Part II of Manifesto Games’ Serious Games Summit Coverage

by Johnny L. Wilson

In 1976, an officer on the USS McKean (DD-784) began running a series of games aboard ship built off a game called NAVTAG. NAVTAG was an official U.S. Navy game that used classified data. This was good because it provided “validated” data and algorithms so that participants did not receive “bad” information, but it was bad because there could only be one copy of the game per ship and that game had to be locked away with other classified data when not in use. This limited the possibilities for using the game for ongoing training. To remedy this, the officer began working on his own set of rules, using realistic but non-classified data. In 1980, that rules set became the Harpoon game of naval miniatures rules. That officer, Larry Bond, became a best-selling author.

Yet, to this day, there are significant difficulties in getting useful games into the hands of the military and using them effectively. This portion of the report will cover the general problems, as delineated in one session, and the use of Harpoon as delineated in another.

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: After several successful missions, the U.S. Department of Defense is still undecided about the ultimate efficacy of Harpoon.

When Worlds Collide (DoD and the PC)

Bob Bates, formerly CEO of Legend Entertainment (an entertainment company with majority ownership belonging to a defense contractor), and Brian Williams of the Institute of Defense Analyses (a major think tank) have been working on a report for the defense establishment. Though they could not present actual data from that report at the conference, they did share some of their personal observations gleaned from collecting such data. The following is a presentation of those personal observations that we found relevant.

Hundreds of academic studies have proved that games are effective in terms of learning and training. Yet, there is no clearing house for providing this information to prospective purchasers within the defense establishment.

Games are not a panacea for every training problem. Yet, some advocates act as if they are. Both game developers as vendors and government agencies as purchasers need rigor in terms of methodology and both sides need to be willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, at the present time, it appears that game developers are more willing to pay more for graphics than for verification, validation, and evaluation [that protection from “bad” information we mentioned in the introductory anecdote about Harpoon].

Gaming is at the threshold of turning into a real media. Being part of real media has the good news flavor of making a medium more acceptable and accessible to everyone. Yet, this is one of the discomforts at DoD. If media is participatory, that provides a potential for exposure for one’s own systems. This is dangerous.

Legal issues make it impossible for buyers to meet sellers and for the governmental/defense contractor institutions to share information as a community. As a result, it is hard for those seeking game developers to find the right developers for a given project and it is hard for developers to learn about potential jobs, contact the right agencies, or complete contracting vehicles. Something needs to be done to provide for a competitive marketplace beyond the traditional restrictions of defense contracting.

Game companies typically don’t know about www.fedbizopps.gov nor tracking RFPs, BAAs, MURIs, SBIRs, STTRs in order to get through the maze of government contracting regulations. The contracting cycle itself is too resource-intensive and lengthy for most small developers.

Most contracting officers often have to arrange for acquisition and development of games by “creatively circumventing” the current acquisition apparatus.

Development culture within large, cost-plus-oriented prime contractors is different from that of small game developers. Game industry has settled on agile development as the most effective way to create innovative and fun projects. This involves little prototypes, rapid iteration, and many cycles.

When government project managers fund this type of development, it must be funded as research. This means it comes from a different pocket than the money assigned to training.

Finally, governmental standards requirements are a roadblock to rapid and effective implementation of serious games. Whenever government mandates interoperability, it slows process and levels quality. Industry R&D standards are ahead of the government process by years. This means that the costs of creating the standards are no longer worth it.

The takeaway was that DoD needs to embrace the medium, acknowledge its validity, use it, invest in it, and challenge it to reach its potential as a medium.

Harpoon

Now, in the light of these observations, consider the checkered history of Harpoon. Designed as a training tool by a naval officer, it has had to be used “under the radar” for most of its existence. Though many Surface Warfare Officers have found it to be an invaluable training tool, the U.S. Navy spends the bulk of its time on its own systems. Any officers who want to utilize this tool are forced to learn it on their own time. There is even a sense among many that it is unprofessional to game on a PC, even for training.

The Australian Department of Defense has taken a more positive approach, calling Harpoon 3 Professional a low-fidelity simulation and analysis tool. Unlike the high-fidelity approach insisted upon in the U.S., the Australian DoD believes that the lightweight model allows:
1. The analyst to make more passes at the problem space in an operational/tactical level;
2. Provides for rapid and direct application of analyst skills to a broader set of scenarios without exhausting vast computational resources;
3. Features a significant reduction in the setup time over the high-fidelity model;
4. Allows for multiplayer involvement—hence expanding training efficacy;
5. Validates at the macro level, the logic and tactical employment options as reconsideration of seminar wargames; and
6. Explores, at the macro level, potential tactical employment of current and future groups, platforms, and weapons mixes.

The good news for gamers is that these applications provide for the survival and development of the game. We know Harpoon will be around in the future and will become even more sophisticated and, hopefully, interesting. The bad news for the U.S. citizen is that it doesn’t look like our own defense complex is quite as tuned into the possibilities of gaming as those defense establishments outside our shores.

Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional

DrJ — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:53:47 +0100

Game Info
Game: Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional
Developer: Klei Entertainment
System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
500MHz+ CPU
128MB of RAM
21.2MB HD footprint
Video card w/32MB of RAM
DirectX 8.1 or higher
Price: $19.95

Article Body:
Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional–A Mouthful and More
By Chuck Miller

Bearing a name that sounds more appropriate for a diner than a game, Eets: Hunger. It's Emotional (Eets) lives up to its branding. Forget about reading the latest novel, put that overdue report on hold, and continue to neglect the kids. Once started, this level-based strategy game will eat away the hours—big time!

It’s clear from the title screen that Eets is not typical puzzle-game fare.

Born of Past Delicacies

Unmistakably influenced by two classics of yore, Lemmings and The Incredible Machine, this highly addictive, just-one-more-level, well-maybe-two puzzler has received an enthusiastic response from press and gamers alike (not that they’re mutually exclusive). With across-the-board accolades to its credit represented by statements similar to “Lemmings on crack” (www.grrlgamer.com) and “Innovative, brain-twisting gameplay” (www.gamezebo.com), it’s clear that Eets does indie gaming proud.

What makes Eets a standout? Numerous factors, actually. A whole string of adjectives come to mind when describing the game. It’s quirky, unique, offbeat, challenging, creative, humorous, inventive, addictive, exceptional, and just plain fun! Eets is, in many ways, akin to an interactive version of a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s fun to watch and the player, largely, gets to direct the on-screen action. Unsuccessful attempts at solving Eets numerous puzzles are as much fun as actually discovering the solution.

While gameplay is the single most crucial element in a game’s design, presentation is Eetsdefining characteristic. Gameplay is definitely engaging, but visual and aural production values, as well as off the wall humor, make this game a delectable treat. Graphics are snappy and bright, music and sound effects are crisp and entertaining, and humor is wonderfully wacky. It’s all so appealing, in fact, that the property could successfully be expanded into other markets, an animated Eets cartoon or sitcom, Eets promotional items (t-shirts, plush toys, and action figures), and even Eets eats (cereal and candy). Had a major publisher truly comprehended the potential of Eets and snapped it up, it could have happened by now. Unfortunately, the big guys simply aren’t very willing to take on “risky projects” these days, even when based on solid concepts. But, that’s another story.

And, speaking of story, here’s Eets’, a simple one. All the world’s puzzles have been bamboozled and only Eets can make things right once more. How? By collecting the missing Puzzle Shards and putting them back together again.

Built on Successful Recipes

Eets, the game, is comprised of over 100 built-in puzzles spread across seven madcap worlds such as Smore Land and Kaboom Desert, each adding new props and elements of play to keep gamers challenged and amused. Eets, the character, resembling an over inflated marshmallow with feet and antennae, is a sensitive little guy whose emotions and behaviors are easily manipulated, in Lemmings-like fashion, via food and other objects deposited in his path.

Seven unique stages comprise the Eets world.

Actually, the basic mechanics of play are based around altering this little blob’s emotions so he can be maneuvered safely through his surroundings. Employing Eets’ various bits and pieces, players guide the game’s namesake from a level’s beginning to its conclusion where a special glowing Puzzle Shard awaits.

Each of these levels varies in difficulty and commences in a paused state, a suspended animation of sorts. This pre-action phase allows one to visualize the conundrum’s potential solutions and strategically place various props, à la The Incredible Machine, in place. When ready, clicking “Play” sets the machinations into effect. If Eets reaches the Shard intact, the game advances to the next puzzle. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board.

Common between puzzles are the platforms Eets must traverse, though, direction of travel, up or down, changes along with placement and barriers (some must be destroyed). Shifting from one puzzle to the next, however, are the objects that populate it. A few are simple window dressing; others require interaction. Plus, some are already placed, while “extras” need to be added by the player. As a preface, nonsensical tends to be the rule with regard to the game’s diverse props.

Brimming with Unique Ingredients

What are these bizarre props? Objects with which Eets may interact include edibles like Happy, Scared and Angry Marshmallow Buds, along with other consumable confectionaries. These directly affect Eets’ emotions making him respectively happy, scared, and angry (hence, the game’s tagline, “Hunger. It's Emotional”). When happy, Eets trots along and jumps short distances, even off the edge of cliffs. Eating a Scared Marshmallow Bud will cause him to tread more carefully, tremble lightly, and even turn around lest he plummet to his death. If he’s angry, though, Eets will stomp off quickly and jump greater distances, sometimes much too far. The player’s task is to determine when each is required and to feed Eets the appropriate snacks to effect the desired behavior.

Other props that come into play are inanimate items such as Bomb and Ejection Carts, Choco Pumps, and Static and Ginseng Lights (Eets is afraid of the dark). An array of peculiar critters must also be managed like Prankster Whales which inhale and expel objects, Sneezy Sows capable of firing exploding Superpigs out their butts (the little caped swine shout “Freedom!” as they rocket away), and merciless Marshomechs that thwack anything in their vicinity and send it flying. A combination of the above is necessary to make the whole mechanism work. Thankfully, the game’s puzzling pieces are introduced gradually with sufficient instruction on their use.

Wacky props, like Sows farting little Superpigs, give the game its uniqueness.

It isn’t always essential, however, to employ every prop provided. In some cases, it’s possible to use only a portion and still succeed. Doing so has benefits—Goodie awards viewable from the Trophy Room. These include Young Grasshopper, for solving a puzzle without using one provided item; Puzzle Commando, when two objects go unused; and Ninja Skillz for completing a level without using three props. Other trophies are awarded, too, for performing feats such as eating 100 Marshmallow Buds, shooting 1,000 Choco Chips, and collecting all Puzzle Shards.

But, that’s not all. A few of the Eets props require activation at just the right moment, such as turning a light on or off and changing the direction of an object in flight. Thus, a degree of precision is required. Some conundrums will have multiple solutions, too. It’s possible that a simple explosion will clear the way, or send Eets flying to the exact spot necessary, in place of a more complex multi-prop series. And, don’t worry about getting stuck on a level. The more difficult ones, usually not required to complete a stage, can be bypassed until later. Nor is solving every puzzle a requirement for completing the game, though most players will want to do so. They’re just too much fun to skip!

If all of the 100-plus levels in Eets are still not enough to satiate one’s hunger for quirky conundrums, there are over 150 additional levels, created by staff and fans with the included Puzzle Maker, that can be downloaded from the Eets website. An extremely user-friendly tool, using the built-in Puzzle Maker is a completely drag-and-drop affair. Choose a background, foreground, time of day, ambient effects, music, and puzzle type. Then, add individual components like platforms and props. When complete, the level can be tested, saved, and uploaded for others to enjoy. A simple level takes but a matter of minutes, 15 or less. Of course, the best will require substantially more time to design and refine. There’s also an Eets community for true fanatics with contests, puzzle reviews, chats, and a weekly column on the latest Eets-related news.

A built-in Puzzle Maker adds significantly to Eets replay value.

Baked to Perfection

Most games have several weaknesses that usually stick out. In the case of Eets, only one “flaw” really deserves mention. An overabundance of requesters gets in the way. Every time a menu selection is made, a second “Okay” or “Cancel” confirmation is required. It’s a bit of overkill that becomes annoying.

Otherwise, Eets is a stellar example of excellence in design. All elements come together for an unforgettable experience, one well worth the modest investment. It’s bizarre, entertaining, and brain-teasing from start to finish. One can only hope that gamers respond favorably enough in support of Eets to allow the talented folks at Klei Entertainment to create a sequel as offbeat and innovative as the original. Although it won’t appeal to everyone, it should be experienced by all. Then, as the saying goes, “To Eets his own!”

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 10 (significantly exceeded expectations)

Graphics/Animation: 9 (near flawless graphics, great animated humor)
Music/Sound Effects: 8 (simple catchy tunes and sound effects)
Game Play: 9 (highly addictive just-one-more-level play)
Replayability: 8 (highly replay value due to fun factor and downloadable levels)
Price/Performance: 10 (one of the best casual games on the market)

Reviewer’s Bias: 8 (high expectations for this game)

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Eets: Hunger. It’s emotional.

Serious Games Summit '06

DrJ — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:19:54 +0000

Teaser:
Breaking news on the next version of Harpoon and good news for those who see games as educational, analytical, and training tools highlight this year's confab for those who not only play and take games seriously, but build games for serious reasons.

Is Manifesto "Serious?"
A "Gamer's" View of the Serious Games Summit

By Johnny L. Wilson

HOT NEWS from the Serious Games Summit: At last week's Serious Games Summit, Don Gilman (developer/programmer on all of the PC versions of Harpoon and current CEO of Advanced Gaming Systems) revealed that Larry Bond and Chris Carlson have been updating their database to allow future versions of Harpoon to mix and match vessels from different eras.

Body:
Is Manifesto “Serious?”
A “Gamer’s” View of the Serious Games Summit

By Johnny L. Wilson

HOT NEWS from the Serious Games Summit: At last week’s Serious Games Summit, Don Gilman (developer/programmer on all of the PC versions of Harpoon and current CEO of Advanced Gaming Systems) revealed that Larry Bond and Chris Carlson have been updating their database to allow future versions of Harpoon to mix and match vessels from different eras. Going back in time to pit modern platforms against WWI and WWII ships is only part of the future fun. [More on Harpoon will appear in Part II of this report.]

Although the Serious Games Summit is more about educational, health consciousness-raising, and training games (both for corporate use and the defense/intelligence establishment), its “manifesto” is important to Manifesto Games. First, the “Serious Games” movement is important because it keeps gaming from being marginalized. In spite of mounting evidence that gaming facilitates education and training, there is still a large majority in our country that identifies games as, at best, trivial and, at worst, harmful. The success of “serious games” provides breathing room for all of us involved in the games business (table-top, PC, and console). Second, many of our developer partners are involved in the making of “Serious Games.” For some, these special projects allow them to stay alive. For others, entertainment and the accomplishment of serious aims are intertwined. Third, yours truly and many like me have liked games that touch on serious subjects from the earliest days of Jim Zuber’s Millionaire and Chris Crawford’s Balance of Power through the era of Will Wright’s SimCity, Sid Meier’s Civilization and Larry Bond’s (as well as Don Gilman’s, Gordon Walton’s, and Chris Carlson’s) Harpoon.

Manifesto in the Keynote Address

Although our recent IRC chat with Henry Jenkins treated him to the kind of anarchy you’d expect from both IRC and from any group named “Manifesto,” we’re delighted to share that Henry understands what we’re trying to do. He’s a believer and comrade!

His keynote, “Serious Games in the Age of Media Convergence and Collective Intelligence,” was just the right touch for opening the conference. Though we were excited to see Manifesto Games (and our own Greg Costikyan) as the poster child for his slide on the independent games movement, Jenkins’ address was considerably more significant than many Serious Games Summit attendees would have realized. Here are some salient points that I noted.

First, convergence is more cultural than technological. Convergence is much more concerned with the metagame, the culture around the game than the game itself, the platforms on which the game is played, or the carrier/distributor of the game. According to Jenkins, this is rapidly becoming true of all media. The web is making a participatory culture possible which Jenkins argues is analogous to the 19th century folk culture. He suggested the modding community and machinema (sometimes spelled “machinima”) community are both forms of participatory culture.

This leads to the second point. Participation, for Jenkins, is a product of culture—particularly reworking the content to serve personal and collective interests—technology designed to enable our interactions. The modern era is an intriguing period when the mass market is being transformed by participatory culture and, in a kind of biofeedback mechanism, the mass market picks up the products of the participatory culture. He specifically cited a trend I had noticed—the battle replays on History Channel using simulation machinema (or “machinima”).

Third, this phase in the evolution of games and culture should protect against the unsophisticated and naïve assessment of Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, a federal judge who ruled on a St. Louis, Missouri ordinance restricting the sale or rental of video games to minors. In his infamous decision (May 6, 2002), Judge Limbaugh asserted that video games were not entitled to any form of constitutional protection as free expression because they conveyed no ideas similar to speech. As Henry Jenkins responded in a 2003 editorial, it seems strange that if video games conveyed no ideas (as Limbaugh suggested) that anyone would want to outlaw them. The very law attempting to restrict them indicated that there was something being communicated—for good or ill.

Jenkins suggests four very good reasons why the “Serious Games Movement,” games that teach, inform, and inspire, is happening at this juncture in our cultural history.

Why is there a Serious Games Movement?

1. Super Mario Generation Comes of Age (reaching positions of power)
This gives us a critical mass of potential supporters, patrons, and consumers.
2. Growing Research on the Pedagogical Value of Play
This gives us an ideological basis for claiming that there is authentic expression in games.
3. Rise of Games Studies Programs (provide alternatives to mainstream)
As both a viable art and industry, there is now a growing demand for instruction,
training, and recruiting for the future of the art and industry.
4. The Push Towards Indie Games (Manifesto Games headlined)
There is now a recognition that just as many different forms of entertainment are
well-served by boutique producers, so also are games likely to benefit from producers who pursue a “different” vision.

After establishing his justification for such convergence, Jenkins gave some concrete examples of what he meant by this participatory culture, this gaming convergence that deals more with the metagame than technology. He made an interesting comparison between spelling bees and the classic board game, Scrabble. In a spelling bee, participants learn a lot of words they are not likely to use in real life. Further, if they make a mistake, there’s no feedback about why it is wrong or how it could have been used in speech. In Scrabble, on the other hand, the entire structure is one where challenge and risk is welcome. Part of the interaction is likely to be arguing/debating about what you’re playing with very little penalty for being wrong.

He elaborated upon this principle of feedback, interaction, and structure by noting that Will Wright wishes there could be a Game 2.0 where games are marked up with little tabs that could bring up additional pages and pop-ups of additional information whenever the gamers desire it. As Web 2.0 forces us to think of handling media differently, such a procedure would help us consider the game as the beginning point of the process. We would be free to enjoy the game, but not be locked into the game designer’s concept.

Other illustrations of this approach included Second Life and Whyville. According to Jenkins, Second Life is not a serious game, but is a serious space built around gaming. In Whyville, the economy within the site drives the science experiments.

A Strange Lesson

PEDAGOGICAL CONSPIRACY?: Some “educators” felt this logo (that appears at the start for the Neverwinter Nights engine so resembled an occult symbol that they refused to use the Revolution mod in their classrooms— even after school.

As powerful as modding is, Henry Jenkins shared a sad anecdote about Revolution, a mod about the War for American Independence using the Neverwinter Nights. The game worked remarkably well and was rated highly by students. Teachers, however, refused to use it because the logo that appears as part of the Neverwinter Nights splash screen looked too occultic.

In summary, Jenkins’ “manifesto” is that the important concept in gaming is not just delivering culture, but delivering a culture that can be participated in. Modding, creating new background stories for familiar intellectual properties, and augmenting reality (through games that use real-world data for gaming uses like the GPS games that use real space to solve fictional problems).

World of YourCraft

Do massively multiplayer online games assist learning or detract from the educational enterprise? In what seemed the most stimulating session of all, Constance Steinkuehler, an assistant professor in the Educational Communication & Technology program at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), touched base with some of the pedagogical legends concerning games and debunked them with evidence from her ongoing research on World of Warcraft and Lineage 2 players.

Speaking about the charge that electronic games in general and MMOGs in specific are responsible for reducing literacy by somehow seducing teenagers away from books and school, she pointed out how these social games create inducements for reading and writing. She told a marvelous anecdotal story of a young man who was “suspended” from his WoW account because of his poor grades. This gave him incentive to improve his grades so that he could get back online. When he got back online, he wrote a short story for everyone to explain his absence. Asked if he liked to write, he answered that he didn’t. But, for his character and his guild, writing was a vital means of expression.

Another factor in terms of pedagogical legend is the idea that people just play games. They don’t learn anything from them unless they are reality-based simulations. Ms. Steinkuehler shared how gamers not only work with the game materials they are given, but how they customize user interfaces and build elaborate code to provide reporting tools. The latter is definitely a real-world tool. Learning to aggregate, filter, and analyze data is becoming ever more important in many workplaces. It is particularly important for those trying to use authentic science. As Steinkuehler remarked, science is often taught in very unscientific ways in modern classrooms. Authentic science requires continual collection of data, analysis, and reconfiguring of hypotheses. These user-developed tools serve a similar function on a lesser scale.

On the social level, she offered details on the way cognitive apprenticeship took place such that gamers who had already accomplished certain rites of passage or mastered certain skills within the game are ready to teach others. Since we all know that you always learn more by teaching than you originally learn as a student, this seems to be a beneficial lifestyle that is being affirmed in this style of gaming.

Perhaps, the most salient point in this presentation was identifying social capital. Players in massively multiplayer online games are discovering that information, skills and strategies are valuable social capital. Virtual cultures are being established that follow established sociological guidelines concerning the “third place,” the Cheers style neighborhood bar or barber/beauty shop where old-style neighborhood patrons would hang out. Now, online is becoming a third place. It is the place where much social acculturation is taking place and, as such, may be where modern cultures learn to find alternate solutions to human problems. [This presentation was so full of information, insight, and inspiration that it received my vote for “Best of Show.”]

What’s a Control Group?

Before I share some of Nick deKanter’s presentation (Nick is a principal in Muzzy Lane Software, developers of Making History: The Calm and the Storm.), I need to share one of my pet peeves. I really dislike people who think that there is a valid “scientific” method of studying human behavior. Let’s be honest. I don’t care how big your sample is, how carefully you attempt to set up your control (the group that we are supposed to be able to measure more precisely because we aren’t changing any variables on them), or how thoroughly you’ve analyzed your methodology, it will always be imperfect. We cannot control all the variables surrounding human behavior. Even if we could create a sterile, protected environment where experimentation would be reliable, we wouldn’t be modeling authentic human behavior. All social scientific studies (which, to paraphrase the old canard, are neither social nor scientific), including psychological studies, are suspect.

That’s my bias and I’d be willing to debate it with anyone--if it were relevant. So, I was tremendously amused that Nick deKanter shared about his WWII game where diplomacy, economics, and military strategy combine in a marvelous educational experience. As an anecdotal reference, he shared data from one high school teacher who taught seven simultaneous sections of a unit on WWII. He initiated that portion of the presentation by stating that the sample size was too small to be meaningful and redundantly suggested that the data was unscientific. In the sample, four sections used the game as part of the unit study and three sections studied the unit in the traditional way.

The teacher used both a pre-test and a post-test for the unit. Understanding of historical causes and effects of WWII increased significantly among those who used the game while staying flat between pre- and post-test for those in the traditional class. Geographical knowledge increased significantly (particularly among females) in the four sections that used the game, staying flat for the traditional method. The improved understanding increased across the board for all students—D and F students, as well as A and B students.

But no sooner had the presentation ended than “professional educators” began to challenge the data. Sure, maybe all three of the non-gaming classes were made up of remedial students? Maybe the non-gaming classes deliberately sabotaged the post-tests because they wanted to play next time? Maybe the teacher subconsciously tried to help the gaming classes? But yet, in spite of the sample size being too small and the possibilities of contamination described here, we have seven classes taught by the same teacher in the same local school, drawing (presumably) from the same basic neighborhoods and demographics. It isn’t like some studies where Palos Verdes High School in a wealthy middle class neighborhood had a computer lab and the students in lower middle to lower class Compton High School didn’t. The data isn’t perfect, but it should make people think—and think about more than challenging the data.

Based on Muzzy Lane’s experience with Making History, a template for educational games was suggested. A game for education should have all of the following characteristics: Accuracy, transparency, multiplayer, always-on capability, reporting capacity (e.g. letting students export to Excel for slicing and dicing, as well as teachers exporting for evaluation), customization options (allows one to meet standards across educational systems), consumer quality (don’t want the “this is lame” capacity), and classroom integration materials.

In terms of budget, note that game production costs must be in line with market size and its ability to pay. In terms of scope, note that the game must be a complement to what the teacher is doing.

In terms of accuracy, deKanter observed that absolute accuracy of historical detail is both unrealistic and costly. For example, uniform details and vehicle details, while interesting for the military hobbyist, are not that useful for the Making History design. [NOTE: While this is generally correct, I believe this depends on the scale and purpose of the game. Since Making History is more concerned with the causes and general flow of the events than the actual tactical fighting of the war or individual battles, it may not be that relevant. But the minutiae can be very valuable when drilling down to the individual unit in a specific battle. Not showing different vehicles or attack platforms in a given situation may be a missed opportunity for learning. You can learn a lot about the morale of a Napoleonic Era army by looking at the historical uniforms, for example.]

The efficacy of the game as an educational tool is dependent upon two important roles. The teacher’s role is to set the context, facilitate participation, induce critical thinking, and lead discussion. If the teacher is involved with the learning process, you’re going to have a successfully learning experience. The student’s role is to learn the issues faced by countries in a given historical period.

One common question from educators about using games as educational tools is what happens when counter-factual and alternate histories emerge because the game diverges from history? The simple answer is that the teacher can fix that. Classroom discussions are a significant part of the experiment and, in early tests in actual schools, students who had not performed well on traditional assessments did very well in leading the class in discussions afterward.

Those who are worried about students getting a warped perspective because of the open-ended nature of gaming should take heart from this datum. At Salem State College, students recognized that they did better in the game if they went back and read the textbooks.

In fact, since decisions about the future are usually based on weighing up the potential consequences of alternative courses of actions, the game prepares students for an active future better than linear media. Further, this works against the hindsight bias, the assumption that what has already happened is relatively inevitable and obvious. It forces players/students to consider reasons why the results might have turn out differently.

[Check back with “The Word” for Part II of the Serious Games Summit report to find out more about Harpoon’s present and future, as well as about the future of military use of games for training.]

Are Games Art Chat Log (or: Miyamoto: Our Chaplin or Our Winsor McCay)

costik — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 23:06:01 +0000

Teaser:
On November 1st, Henry Jenkins, Eric Zimmerman, Jesper Juul, and Santiago Siri were asked to debate the question of whether games were art. In a somewhat chaotic, typically IRC-discussion, with interjections from the peanut gallery (including developers Rich Carlson [eel_rich] and Patrick Dugan), they danced about the issue, and provided some interesting insights, perhaps came to the conclusion that, as Eric put it "Yes No No No Maybe Yes No Sometimes."

Read on for more.

Body:
On November 1st, Henry Jenkins, Eric Zimmerman, Jesper Juul, and Santiago Siri were asked to debate the question of whether games were art. In a somewhat chaotic, typically IRC-discussion, with interjections from the peanut gallery (including developers Rich Carlson [eel_rich] and Patrick Dugan), they danced about the issue, and provided some interesting insights, perhaps came to the conclusion that, as Eric put it "Yes No No No Maybe Yes No Sometimes."

Their initial charge:

Hideo Kojima says "“If 100 people walk by and a single person is captivated by whatever that piece radiates, it’s art. “But videogames aren’t trying to capture one person. A videogame should make sure that all 100 people that play that game should enjoy the service provided by that videogame. It’s something of a service. It’s not art."

And Roger Ebert says "To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers... for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic."

Contrariwise, Henry Jenkins says "Computer games are art—a popular art, an emerging art, a largely unrecognized art, but art nevertheless... The time has come to take games seriously as an important new popular art shaping the aesthetic sensibility of the 21st century."

Are games art? If not, why not? And if so, why? Is thinking of games as art useful or actually a hindrance for game developers? If games are art, what should our aspirations for the form be?

Invitees:

Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He is the author and/or editor of nine books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including the recently published “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.”

Jesper Juul is a video game theorist and an Assistant Professor in video game theory and design at the Center for Computer Game Research Copenhagen. He is the author of “Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds” and numerous articles about games, and his prestigious and influential blog is “The Ludologist.”

Santiago Siri is an Argentinean game designer whose work includes Football Delux and Utopia. He works for Three Melons, an advergaming firm that offers innovative branding through games. He is also a writer and theoretician, and his blog, “Games as Art,” is a resource for all members of the game community.

Eric Zimmerman is a game designer and academic exploring the theory and practice of game design. He is the co-founder and CEO of gameLab, a game development company based in New York City; games include the popular Diner Dash. He is the co-editor of several works in the field, including the critically regarded “Rules of Play.”

The conversation was "moderated" (if that's the right term), by Johnny Wilson (DrJ), Manifesto's EVP of Content and Community, and curator of The Word.

==============================

<DoctorJ> Well, let's bring this conversation to a crawl and take time to listen to our special guest.
<DoctorJ> Dr. Henry Jenkins is the director, coordinator and visionary behind an interdisciplinary
<DoctorJ> program in media at M.I.T.
<Egglet> Hello Dr. Jenkins!
<DoctorJ> So, why don't we let Dr. Jenkins share some basics with us about HIS philosophy of games and art.
<DoctorJ> So, why don't we start with some definition of what we even MEAN by art.
<HENRYJENKINS> I have written an essay which draws on Gilbert Seldes notion of the lively arts. for him, the function of art is to enliven human experience
<DoctorJ> So, I think enlivening the human experience is a good start.
<Egglet> It's certainly better than not enlivening the human experience.
<rex_m> as a def of art?
<DoctorJ> I think focus and perspective have a place in the definition, too.
<DoctorJ> But let me leave room for Eric to respond before I harangue you.
<Eptin> How about accessibility? Is art something that can strive as a mainstream object?
<eel_rich> Something created that moves you in some way.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For me, art is a category that can be framed in many ways.
<Eptin> By strive, I mean thrive. Oops
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The question of "games and art" is really about jostling for position within a hirearchy of cultural categories.
<Egglet> I think art is anything that has less than four explosions per minute.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a former art student, and "artist."
<HENRYJENKINS> absolutely art can and should be accessible. that was Seldes's point. art isn't just what happens in museums. it is what happens when everyday people are encouraged to play with the materials of their culture
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So I'm not getting down on the category or art.
<DoctorJ> Ah, so on some level art MUST be participatory, right?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But "art" for me really means the institutions and audiences that engage in the culture of the "high art" world.
<HENRYJENKINS> Seldes was arguing well before his time that comics, jazz, cinema, were art and we don't question that conclusion today
<Mckee> Thats actualy a pretty good definition of art that encompasses all mediums
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Visual art as it is today is largely as it was several centuries ago, which is home furnishings for rich people.
<rex_m> the danger of defs of art that attempt to be inclusive is that they widen the category out so much it takes in everything and becomes meaningless
<HENRYJENKINS> eric, i don't think we should accept the art world's judgements at face value.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But most people that use the category "art" in questions of "games and art" are really talking about culture that can produce meaningful experiences.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Which is an important question.
<Mckee> True, but we can look to Installation, Performance, and conceptual art to get a better representation.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But my beef with the whole topic of this discussion, is:
<HENRYJENKINS> that's what art means in art school but if we accept that definition, then most of us have little or no exposure to art.
<eel_rich> Art is about the artist's process and inward journey. After that, the finished product, and who can say what the response will be?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Why posit "art" as the category of meaningful experiences.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> ?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It is such an overdetermined and misunderstood category.
<HENRYJENKINS> yet for that reason, there is cultural power behind the category.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> There are better models for what kinds of meaningful cultural ecosystems popular culture can take.
<DoctorJ> Of course it is a misunderstood category. Art cannot be measured.
<AJ_Flowers> So what you're asking is, why do we have to define something as 'art' before we say it's allowed to be meaningful?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And that is where I agree with Henry's point of departure in his investigation of popular arts.
<HENRYJENKINS> i would argue that claiming for games the status of art offers some protection for the creative integrity of game designers
<eel_rich> Cannot. Agreed.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I would say, as a game designer who is looking to shore up the cultural category of games -
<DoctorJ> Claiming games as art also suggests the need for reflection and discourse about them.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That the category of art does as much damage as good.
<HENRYJENKINS> i don't think calling games art is the only meaningful defense of the medium. clearly i see it also as political speech, as an educational platform, etc.
<JesperJuul> That something is "art" signals that it has cultural acceptance, and since we all love games (I assume) we strive for cultural acceptance.
<rex_m> so calling games arts validates connoissieurship about them?
<HENRYJENKINS> but why cede the category of art when it clearly has a value within our culture.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Because it is like the term "serious games."
<HENRYJENKINS> in some contexts, rex.
<eel_rich> Much of art is not "culturally acceptable" to the mainstream.
<Mads> What we all want is not to be geeks, but to be art appreciaters...is that it?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It somehow tries to eschew the pleasure of games, their popular roots.
<JesperJuul> So to say that games are art means a) that they are on par with other "fine" cultural forms and b) that what we are doing personally is really important.
<Mckee> There is pleasure art isn't there?
<HENRYJENKINS> i have no problem with being a geek. geek is one subcultural identity. but i think much of what geeks like is art.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is usually what journalists mean when they ask me the questions.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Well, Henry, I feel like we are chasing each other around in a circle.
<Tulsi> there is "fine" art and there is "non fine" art also
<HENRYJENKINS> that's why i see Seldes' term, lively art, as valuable. it allows us to acknowledge that the popular arts operate according to different aesthetics and in different institutions than high art
<DoctorJ> I understand the objection to the pretentiousness of art, but I think there is a necessity to elevate the conversation beyond speaking of "just games."
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I just feel like, first, that the category of "high art" is ALREADY today a problematic and somewhat dead category.
<ScottJonSiegel> What if we were to define "art" as "any craft"?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It's not pretentiousness.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Pretentiousness is great!
<HENRYJENKINS> keep in mind that i see comics as art, cinema as art. the question is whether we see Shigeru Miyamoto as important an artist as Alfred Hitchcock? My answer is yes.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I'm really talking about strategic deployment of cultural categories.
<JesperJuul> "High art" does sound like "boring" a lot of the time - there is a lot of energy in the feeling of being a "geek" as Henry says, and being not-art.
<Mckee> Yes the idea of high art really ended in the 60's
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> OK, Henry.
<Mckee> I would agree with that.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Why do you see those popular media as art.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Or, in what sense are they "art" for you?
* SantiSiri has joined #gamesandart
<Eptin> I think that part of what makes high art "the other persons" art is the inaccessability; that is to say, that only the artist and a few others truly appreciate multiple depths on that particular piece of art
<Mckee> Didn;t most art foms, that have been elevated start as popular media?
<HENRYJENKINS> because they provoke strong emotions, because they encourage the imagination and playfulness, because they teach us to see the world in enw ways
<HENRYJENKINS> new ways
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So that is the "meaningful experience" angle on what "art" means.
<Eptin> Good point, Mckee
<HENRYJENKINS> because they address core concerns
<rex_m> heh -- some would say that is what _separates_ them from the high art tradition!
<DoctorJ> See the world in "new ways" is what I meant by focus and perspective at the beginning.
<SantiSiri> Hello Everybody (sorry I'm late)
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, I agree that games need to speak more about the human condition.
<HENRYJENKINS> as long as we don't reduce meaningfulness to a literal level. purely abstract works can be meaningful.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (abstractly or otherwise)
<WhiteRbbt> it seems to me that art is often valued on the depth of the intellectual experience it provides, and games appear -- to many people -- to be shallow in this respect. maybe because there aren't enough experts dissecting these games and telling us philistines why they're important
<Mckee> I think thats why its important to elevate games to and art status.
<DoctorJ> White Rabbit, I think you're on to something. We don't take matters seriously without criticism.
<HENRYJENKINS> so far, for me, games have come closest to arts when they haven't been driven towards photorealism. but then i suppose i have a bias towards the fantastic and the expressive in media.
<HENRYJENKINS> can you have art without good critics? is that like a tree falling in a forest...
<rex_m> part of Seldes's project was to take apart the idea that art had to be 'sublime'
<Mckee> Photorealism comes with alot of restrictive baggage.
<AJ_Flowers> There are some games that are quite visually realistic but still very artistically executed, though.
<ScottJonSiegel> I think when games are overly focused on photorealism, they lose focus in other areas
<Mads> But what exactly is "intellectual level" - is it the amount of information you need in your head and the amount of thought requirred to put together an experience inside?
<rex_m> but the idea that playing games gives someone that jolt of sublimity seems to be reintroducing it
<Eptin> Photorealistic games seem to be the action-special-effects-laden movies of our time
<rex_m> in a concealed form
<DoctorJ> Photorealism takes us back to Renaissance painting in a post-Impressionist era.
<HENRYJENKINS> in other arts, realism is an aesthetic choice. if it were so in games, i could admire game realists. when it is a technical imperative, it can be a straight jacket.
<Mckee> Exactly
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> OK, let me try and make a connection here between the discussion of the definition of "art" and the photorealism issue.
<AJ_Flowers> Well, then again, I am unsure even how to tackle the topic of 'photorealism' because it depends on the experience you're trying to convey as being like real.
<HENRYJENKINS> i often argue that high art is defined by the desire for emotional restraint, popular art by the desire for emotional intensity
<ScottJonSiegel> Where does consumer demand fit into this?
<SantiSiri> Have you heard about the "Immersive Fallacy" spoken by Frank Lantz in this year's GDC rant?
<Eptin> Has anybody heard of the film-makers pact called "Dogme 1"? It is to create films with no articifial lighting or additional music. It thereby focuses soley on the story
<Egglet> Most games are the action-special-effects-laden movies of our time. Whether they're photorealistic or cel-shaded.
<DoctorJ> However, I think we've veered off the question of art and started speaking of artistic representation.
<Dugan> Yeah Santi I remember that
<Dugan> that idea is key actually
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> What happened in the art world in the 20th century, among other things, is that art gave up its role as a literally representational medium.
<DoctorJ> Is the ART the experience of playing the game and reflecting on it or how the subject is handled?
<Mckee> both
<AJ_Flowers> Eptin: this seems like a judgement call saying only the story has meaning and value but the music does not
<WhiteRbbt> "intellectual level" -- i don't know -- games often appear to engage participants on a strictly visceral level. play doesn't seem to be as closely tied to personal reflection of the experience as, say, reading a book does
<HENRYJENKINS> Dr J, I am not sure how you seperate the two
<DoctorJ> You can't. It's organic.
<SantiSiri> Photorealism has nothing to do with the core beauty of games as art... Games are About INTERACTIVITY in its core, NOT about visuals
<AJ_Flowers> Sometimes the way things come together creates that sublime moment, particularly with music.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The trend towards thinking of computer graphics as on a quest for increasing realism is related to a naive understanding of "art" as based on the Renaissance window of pictorial representation.
<Eptin> It's not necessarily my view; mainly it's a venture taken on by Danish filmmakers as of late
<HENRYJENKINS> i think games more often achieve art through shaping our emotional experiences and through play but i would love to see them reflect a bit more deeply on their content.
<SantiSiri> we should talk about Realistic Interactions NOT realistic visuals
<Egglet> HL2 was pretty well received for a game that was mostly visual.
<rex_m> yes I mean, art 101 here -- there's nothing 'realistic' about realism.
<Dugan> realistic interactions are problematic too
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So a discussion of games that tries to bring them into the realms of "art" for me is a parallel naive track.
<Mckee> Agreed Eric. Could games be more baroque?
<Dugan> character AI seems to depend on suggesting things to the user that aren't actually being simulated
<AJ_Flowers> Realistic interactions are great, much harder to get than realistic visuals though, particularly realistic interactions with a story.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I'm not disagreeing that the approach Henry takes to defining art is an important one.
<SantiSiri> a baroque games is a game with complex rules?
<Dugan> even in Facade where the AI is complex much of hte experience is crafted by idiom
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But most people's associations with art - particularly game developers - is quite flat-footed.
<DoctorJ> Santi, you're right. If we focus too much on realistic interactions, we can become obsessed with the physics of the transaction as opposed to the motivation of the transaction.
<Dugan> I don't think its in the rules, but the approach to content creation
<ThomasRobertson> Eric, what do you mean by 'flat footed' here?
<HENRYJENKINS> check out Angela Ndlianis on games as a baroque art. it goes much furtherthan just complex rules.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> In the 20th Century, most media and art forms spoke about their own status as constructed images and experiences.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Painting became about paint, among other things.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> After Duchamp, it is difficult to hang onto pre-20th Century ideas about art.
<SantiSiri> Abstraction
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I'm not saying Henry is, but
<eel_rich> That's a pretty broad generalization there, cowboy.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> a discourse about "games as art" tends to go in that direction.
<Mckee> Isn't that what you and henry are kinda doing in a sense?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So in that sense, "art" as a cultural category becomes an impedement.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Not because art in the philosophical sense is a wrong way to think about game design
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But because people's associations with the concept of art are so old-fashioned.
<HENRYJENKINS> that's why i am trying to seperate our notion of art from our notion of realism. games may be an expressive art like dance or architecture which has nothing to do with reproducing the real world
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, and I will give up this line of ranting for the sake of the conversation.
<Mads> indeed, but a lot of games are not
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Apologies for making my point too strongly.
<rex_m> henry: yes.
<Mckee> I think the art market is more to blame for art for art's sake than artists.
<HENRYJENKINS> nope -- Eric, you are making an important point. to call for games as art is precisely to challenge the category of art as it is widely understood
<DoctorJ> I thought the art market was about art for money's sake.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The art market has been around since the notion of "high art" formed in the early Renaissance.
<HENRYJENKINS> i simply think we should build on the way other popular media have been defined as art.
<rex_m> dude Romanticism as a whole is guilty for that one.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, I more or less agree.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But that's a subtle meme to get out there.
<eel_rich> There is so much art.... Highbrow to lowbrow. It's all happening at once. Art is actually in pretty good shape I think.
<HENRYJENKINS> the danger though is that the narrow definition of art will get imposed on games. that games will become pretentious and lifeless. that the only games regarded as art are done so because they are novelistic or painterly. etc.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES!
<Eptin> I think the point about architecture and dance as art is an important one. They resemble nothing of what the layman thinks of when he hears "art".
<rex_m> I think that most people _still_ don't think of hip hop or The Sopranos as art.
<ScottJonSiegel> Exactly, "art" games are art because they are recognizable as such
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Another beef with the category is that it often means games imitating "art" forms.
<HENRYJENKINS> or for that matter, cinematic or literary
<rex_m> only professors who have been disabused of these pretensions think that
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a modernist, in a sense
<HENRYJENKINS> if games are to be an art, it has to be on their own terms, because they do what games do well.
<JesperJuul> I think there was a big "games as art" moment with the interactive CD-ROM games of the mid-1990's.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That I feel there are forms games can take that are more game-centric
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That owe more to the essential nature of games.
<SantiSiri> ok, games imitate other arts due to its infancy... Just like movies imitated theater
<HENRYJENKINS> that's why I always raise Miyamoto. What makes him an artist is what makes him a great game designer. it is hard to read him through standards from other arts.
<JesperJuul> Where games tried to be many things that they weren't in order to be more highbrow.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Jesper, good reference.
<eel_rich> Games are art because a game designer is an artist. Just like in filmmaking, we say that the director is the artist.
<Eptin> Good point, SantiSiri
<DoctorJ> Eric, I don't know of anyone who is trying to design games AS ART. ART is recognizing a vision once it's been expressed.
<Mads> Myst?
<ScottJonSiegel> it's also hard to read Miyamoto as a game designer in the traditional sense
<AJ_Flowers> Myst is what came to mind for me too, heh
<Egglet> Misappropriation of the word aside, isn't the concept just made irrelevant by your definition. When people rightly establish that art is not just something that looks like a painting but also basically anything and everything you want to apply it to, what are you saying when you say games are or aren't art? Not a lot, it seems.
<JesperJuul> Yes, Myst...
<DoctorJ> MYST isn't a game. It's a semi-interactive explorative experience.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Actually, many developers talk about wanting to make their work more like "art"
<AJ_Flowers> But I like Myst anyway.
<HENRYJENKINS> myst was reviewed in the NYT book review, praised by literary critics. it is the game most loved by people who hate games.
<saraid> What would it take for Myst to be a game?
<ScottJonSiegel> but it IS a game
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I'm going to a workshop on game design this weekend in Austin, and the idea of games as art has been all over the pre-workshop email list.
<HENRYJENKINS> what they were responding to was its literariness -- that and it's Rembrandt lighting and texture
<eel_rich> How can it not be art? Games are full of art.
<DoctorJ> And most hated by people who love games. <grin>
<SantiSiri> lets confess something: everyone wants to be an artist... It feels so damn good
<rex_m> I think they were responding to the low learning curve
<ScottJonSiegel> do we have to debate the definition of game as well?
<SantiSiri> so meaningful
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am a reformed artist.
<rex_m> the same way people respond to the Impressioninsts, e.g.
<Mckee> Workshop on game design in austin this weekend?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I do not hunger after the category of art or being an artist.
<AJ_Flowers> I kind of see Myst as influential, however, there are a lot of games that did things AFTER it that reminded me of it. And that's not really damaging.
<eel_rich> As am I.
<DoctorJ> Sorry, I was being provocative. Didn't mean to disrupt about MYST.
<HENRYJENKINS> and i am a reformed art hater. nothing like a convert...
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I am much more comfortable as a designer.
<JesperJuul> I am a reformed literature student.
<ScottJonSiegel> well, designer's just a modest term
<ScottJonSiegel> at least as I see it
<Ubu> A broad definition of art is not as bad as broad definition of games I think. Art will not get meaningless by saying that cooking is art or building houses are art.
<HENRYJENKINS> i got tired of the art students kicking sand in my face and insisting that what they liked was art and what i liked was crap
<Egglet> You can only be an artist in the same way you can be a thinker. To be one all you have to do is say you are one. It has no palpable effect on anything though.
<SantiSiri> eric, what defines a difference between DESIGN and ART?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I got tired of the conventions and neuroses of the art world.
<joshleejosh> "Design" is another broad and vaguely defined term that gets tossed around pretty loosely. :)
<Mckee> Oh thats just us being insecure.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> There are many ways to frame such complex terms, but...
<saraid> I think design is a subset of art.
<WhiteRbbt> design doesn't necessarily have cultural significance?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I would say that as someone that has inhabited both categories.
<JesperJuul> Henry, so there is a question of having our personal tastes be accepted?
<Egglet> Everything is a subset of art. That's the problem.
<saraid> Design has, if anything, more cultural significance.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Being an artist is more about expressing ideas, or expressing aspects of the artist's self...
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> while design is more about problem solving.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> These are not hard and fast categories.
<rex_m> yeah. Ever tried writing a fugue?
<DoctorJ> So, design is a methodology and art is a statement?
<Mckee> good point Eric.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Clearly no to both, Dr J
<WhiteRbbt> saraid: i disagree. as a programmer, i design programs for a living, but i don't count that design as art
<joshleejosh> But look at what Target has done with the word "design." Those Michael Graves potholders aren't just problem solving.
<ScottJonSiegel> but couldn't methodology be directed into statement?
<HENRYJENKINS> but isn't it dangerous to think of games as design, then, if it means that designers don't aspire towards expression
<saraid> I consider my code to be artful.
<DoctorJ> White Rabbit: You mean you've never spoken about "elegant code?"
<SantiSiri> what do games resolve then? from a design perspective
<Mads> So, Art as an acceptance of games. Isn't that almost exactly why we're having this chat?, finding some excuse or way to get games accepted?
<ScottJonSiegel> can't we reason that methodology is a process by which reason and meaning can reach an audience?
<WhiteRbbt> sure i have. i just don't attach cultural significance to the code i design.
<Egglet> There is an aspect to design in games, obviously. Because games are incredibly difficult to make. And until they aren't it will always be a more complex combination of the two than anything else.
<HENRYJENKINS> for me, it's more than just about acceptance. it is about creative freedom on the one hand and artistic responsibility on the other
<Egglet> You have to wring this 'art' out of an inherently logical and structured process.
<saraid> WhiteRbbt: the cultural significance is the weight of culture on your creation.
<DoctorJ> Henry, how can defining games as art or speaking of them as art help us with such things as the Limbaugh decision?
<AJ_Flowers> And also, granting to games the political protection that a form of art is granted, I'd say
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I guess as long as we talk about "art" in a vague and broad sense, as "meaningful" or "elegant" cultural expressions, then certainly there is art in everything, potentially.
<HENRYJENKINS> limbaugh's core argument is that games are not protected by the first ammendment because they do not express meaning.
<eel_rich> I have no interest in cultural significance. I just want to make games with more disgusting aliens. Artfully, of course. ; )
<HENRYJENKINS> he can make this claim because most people do not regard them as art or for that matter meaningful on other levels
<DoctorJ> So, if there was more dialogue and criticism about games as art, it would undermine that decision?
<saraid> Disgusting aliens are culturally significant. =P
<Ubu> art benefits by including as much as posible but games benefit by drawing a line (somewhere). Games can therefore be included in the art definition but not the other way around
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That's why I prefer to think of it in terms of the sociological or demographical or economic or institutional manifestations of "art"
<HENRYJENKINS> many reformers feel that even if they are wrong about games causing violence, they can subtract games from our culture without loss.
<AJ_Flowers> I recall that discussion in Michgian vividly, heh
<Mckee> Games express tons of meaning. Unfotunately, right now, it tends to be very base.
<HENRYJENKINS> that because the games industry is not asserting a positive value for games. they are simply arguing that games aren't as bad as you think they are
<eel_rich> McKee, yes.
<ScottJonSiegel> It also seems like "games as entertainment" conflicts with "games as art"
<AJ_Flowers> The one about 'if I'm wrong more kids will play outside, if you are wrong MEN DIE'
<Egglet> Popular games are base because that's what sells, of course.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, here I totally agree with you that games should be considered on par with other forms of media, art, entertainment, and expression.
<eel_rich> Scott, it shouldn't.
<HENRYJENKINS> the first ammendment doesn't require profound meaning. most media start out with base meanings.
<SantiSiri> One thing I wonder a lot is if game designers are worried or feel the need to protect their rights for freedom of speech.. if games are art, and have cultural relevance.. it should be because they can speak about powerful things... Yet Not many games talk about social changes, patriot act or whatever
<JesperJuul> How about the flip side to the discussion: What would we lose if games were more widely sconsidered "art"? Street cred?
<ScottJonSiegel> eel: exactly
<HENRYJENKINS> at some point in the history of cinema, people were arguing they were just chases and pies in the face.
<Egglet> Like I say. Eventually those base impulses will be burnt into insignificance and that's when people will start demanding less obvious things. The usual process.
<SantiSiri> Do we see games speaking about social issues? Speaking "for the people"?
<Egglet> Decades.
<SantiSiri> or is it just plain entertainment?
<saraid> I don't see why art can't be entertaining. I think Shakespeare is wildly entertaining.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> One difference between games and cinema is that games are ancient.
<HENRYJENKINS> sjs, no art and entertainment are not in conflict. not if your definition of art includes the idea of stimulating the emotions.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thousands of years old.
<saraid> The comedies, anyways.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is one thing that complicates these categorical discussions and comparisons.
<Dugan> and play is much older than that
<HENRYJENKINS> again it is because our inherited notions of high art come with a degree of emotional distance that these categories are so often placed in opposition
<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: I think cinema is the wrong comparative term there.
<JesperJuul> "High art" also has a retrospective quality to it.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, you study games qua games.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Do you think that considering them as art affects their scholarship?
<ScottJonSiegel> the theatre, and even simply fiction can be viewed as the ancestors of cinema
<HENRYJENKINS> games as games are ancient. games as a mode of expression through digital media are new. we are back in a category confusion here.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Unlike Henry, you are not coming at games from a training in another field.
<DoctorJ> Scott: There are two reasons why cinema has relevance. One, it has been transformed by technological shifts. Two, it is driven by the bottom line and built by studio efforts.
<HENRYJENKINS> i am certain that the expressive potentials of games are well established but we are still learning how to play games through this medium.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Henry, that is a great point.
<DoctorJ> Scott: Maybe even a third--cinema didn't get much respect until recently.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The main thing about trying to define games, art, or design, is that
<JesperJuul> I think the outsider status of games makes them interesting - how can we discuss the potential of games _without_ trying to frame them as "almost as good as movies"?
<SantiSiri> Let us remember something very important:
<eel_rich> Game development is closer to the evolution of cartoons than of films I think.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The definintion depends on the frame we consider them, which depends on the point we want to make:
<SantiSiri> Cinema got to wait 40 or even 50 years till they got mature technology such as color and sound film
<JesperJuul> So trying to use the "art" category forces us to make comparisons that may not be helpful in describing what games are best at doing.
<Egglet> And we are still using a mouse and keyboard to interact.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> defending a medium to congress, or solving a game design problem, or doing comparative scholarship
<SantiSiri> As an art strongly dependent on technology, games are facing that same need of technological maturity
<HENRYJENKINS> I am not saying games are almost as good as movies. Take this back to my claim that Miyamoto is as significant an artist as Hitchcock.
<Egglet> Game evolution will come in how we interact with them, not visual stimulus.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That's why the question "art games art" can't be answered without better defining the question.
<JesperJuul> Or perhaps: What type of answer would we like?
<ScottJonSiegel> OK, so should we narrow the definition of games to "digital games"?
<eel_rich> 42
<saraid> A binary one.
<Leedar> heh
<WhiteRbbt> are we asking "are games art" or are we asking "why aren't games considered art"? is there a single person here who disagrees that games are art?
<JesperJuul> OK: 011011
<HENRYJENKINS> as a medium, games has as great or greater potential than cinema. yet it is fair to say that artists are still learning core properties of their medium and may not have yet fully achieved its potential
<eel_rich> lol
<Egglet> I think games are about 6 art, personally.
<Dugan> I'm playing Cost Of Life right now and I'd have to say that the game is art - its art because I'm FEELING it, thats a quality beyond words, this coming from a guy whose undergrad is in English
<Faith> most social questions cannot be answered without defining the question to specify the answer we want given
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thank you Faith.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I feel like someone got my point.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Just that a comment like Dugan's illustrates what I mean.
<Mads> indeed
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We can say that art = good.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But I don't think that furthers the dicussion.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Not that Dugan's comment isn't great
<HENRYJENKINS> art as a category is good. not all art is good.
<Eptin> Also, we can further define the question:
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> becuase it demonstrates the depths of game experience.
<eel_rich> "good" is subjective
<SantiSiri> good point henry, finally someone said it
<Faith> and 'good' is still an incredably subjective measure
<Mads> art is good is just a bend of art is sublime...
<Eptin> Not just "Are games art?" but also "Are games currently art, or will they be art later?"
<Mads> it's the same thing
<Dugan> well, to further things, lets talk about the simulation gap
<ScottJonSiegel> "are games good art?"
<saraid> I would much rather say "games can be art".
<Mckee> You have to seperate out the determination of taste somehow.
<SantiSiri> is art defined by the process of making games or by the final product?
<Mads> which is the renaisance definition, and we're back at the beginning...:P
<Dugan> simulation's edge on passive media is the embodiment of feedback loops and dynamics
<DoctorJ> Saraid: I agree. Games CAN be art.
<AJ_Flowers> Well whether or not you think any particular piece of art is good may also be a matter of your aesthetic
<Egglet> I think I'd be a pretty good twist if it turned out that art was games all along wearing a Scooby Doo style mask.
<HENRYJENKINS> no -- games are an art form. some games achieve the potential of that art form better than others.
<JesperJuul> We could also try to discuss specific games: Myst is clearly a pretentious game that aspires to be "art". I think Galaga is a much better game, that does not aspire to be "art". How do we deal with the question then?
<saraid> Point, Henry.
<ScottJonSiegel> I like Jesper's direction.
<Eptin> Feedback loops? talk to DXarts about that, they know it's art.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, are you saying the game aspires, or its author?
<joshleejosh> Perception counts for more than aspiration.
<WhiteRbbt> Henry: what do those more-artful games do that the less-artful ones dnot'?
<HENRYJENKINS> Myst is a pretentious game because it aspires to an artifical notion of what art is that is imposed on games from the outside
<Dugan> the gap between a dynamic and its representation is profound, and its within this gap that the play can be coaxed into an emotionally (in the art = good sense) and cognitively (in the sociologicla sense) significant experience
<SantiSiri> Art lies in the intention of the author
<Egglet> Has anyone played Pathologic?
<JesperJuul> The authors - "the intentional fallacy" speaking.
<Faith> and is aspiring to be art thus pretentious
<Egglet> Long shot but it might just work.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry: and Galaga?
<HENRYJENKINS> you can't evaluate something without understanding the aesthetic context in which it operates
<SantiSiri> great art, is defined by its authors: Beethoven, Shakespaere, Kubrick
<SantiSiri> the intention matters
<Dugan> auteurism is another important sub-topic
<eel_rich> Games are art if the designer and crew create it with artistic sensibilities in mind (in practice!) rather than commercial ones.... There's going to be a trade off though.
<HENRYJENKINS> i don't know Galaga well enough to speak definitely but my bet is that it acheives art by being true to its medium and by making sense to the community that it is addressing
<Faith> I'm fairly sure some of those didn't define as art but as 'what will get me paid this week'
<Mckee> Intention is key.
<Egglet> Galaga is definitely those things.
<ScottJonSiegel> Galaga was a further exploration of the "Space Invaders" style of games, or the shooter genre
<SantiSiri> Galaga is beautiful design
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Actually, intention is a fairly outmoded way of defining cultural categories these decades.
<ScottJonSiegel> Galaga is evolved design
<Mckee> Is it?
<Dugan> I'm finding in the development that I do that the real quality develops through collaborative sharing of the creativity
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES.
<HENRYJENKINS> in some cases, as Eric's games demonstrate, simplicity and clarity may trump pretension.
<WhiteRbbt> Faith: games that aren't done for play's sake, but rather for money's sake, aren't art?
<Mckee> How so?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Damn! I'm trying so hard to be pretentious!
<HENRYJENKINS> all art is produced in an economic context. being made for money doesn't disqualify something as art.
<ScottJonSiegel> At its core, it's capitalizing on a successful template for game design
<Faith> I wasn't saying that - I was responding to the suggestion that whether they were art or not depended on the intension of the author
<saraid> Not all art, but most art. Paradise Lost wasn't written to be sold.
<JesperJuul> I saw someone playing Galaga today and I was struck by the beauty (I would use that word) of the movements of the aliens, and by how it manages to generate memorable and unique play sessions in the very tight space that is the arcade format.
<Leedar> Art is in the eye of the beholder. :-]
<Faith> Or the historian ;-)
<HENRYJENKINS> my sense is that most artists/designers work with a mix of economic and aesthetic motives.
<eel_rich> Art is more about the artist's inward journey. The way an artist thinks and gets lost in the art he or she is creating. Beyond that, it is out of the artist's control, and the artist usually doesn't care about it anyway.
<WhiteRbbt> Or the pretentious academic :)
<Egglet> The arcade format isn't all that restrictive.
<Faith> have to keep us fed somehow
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> This group has proposed easily 50 definitions of art so far.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Perhaps one question is:
<eel_rich> lol
<JesperJuul> So to push a traditional idea of "art", Galaga is an amazing work within the restrictions it faces. (The arcade format being very restrictive in the time it can allow the player to play.)
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> What is at stake in defining games as art or in comparing the two.
<HENRYJENKINS> I can't speak to Milton but much religious art was shaped by a system of economic patronage. researchers looking at the contracts discovered that Mary's dress was a particular shade of blue because this was an expensive pigment and the patrons wanted to see their money on the canvas. they also stipulated when the paintings had to be completed -- i.e. a ship date
<SantiSiri> good question Eric
<Egglet> Government funding.
<Egglet> That's about it.
<Dugan> what is at stake? call me a souless husk but I think it boils down to marketing
<Dugan> and thats my god honest opinion
<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: Nothing? Everything?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Part of it is legislation of culture.
<eel_rich> lol good one
<saraid> Context of Paradise Lost was Milton's government getting demolished.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry has taken part in those debates.
<saraid> I don't think he had funding.
<Dugan> much of this function's aim, overall, is to help build momentum for a market for "art games"
<ScottJonSiegel> we're playing the same game that's been played with every new medium of expression
<HENRYJENKINS> actually, dugan, it is also about giving designers greater clout in dealing with marketing.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Another is the growth of the game industry.
<DoctorJ> Dugan: Freedom of expression is definitely at stake.
<AJ_Flowers> It can be fun to watch a skilled player execute a good session of a well-programmed game and that in and of itself is a kind of performance art
<ScottJonSiegel> Even your question is a broad one.
<ThomasRobertson> Eric, I think that part of it may be simple realm of possiblity.
<HENRYJENKINS> cinema for example produces prestige films which don't make as much as blockbusters but generate other rewards for the studios.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Expanding how games are funded, who plays them, and how they are considered within cultural history.
<HENRYJENKINS> there is no such thing as a prestige game.
<Dugan> true, I believe marketing starts with design, so if you set out to make "art" you should have specific audience needs in mind
<SantiSiri> Maturing games as a medium
<ThomasRobertson> I know that in some discussions it has been suggested that art is that which is aesthetic. So, if games are art, then that is a claim that games can be aesthetic.
<ScottJonSiegel> By questioning game's role as art, we also question the freedom of expression within games
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I wish that there were the equivalent of film grants, festivals, and investors in games.
<SantiSiri> to let games communicate powerful ideas
<Egglet> Or maybe you just don't hear about them because there is no audience for it.
<WhiteRbbt> *ahem* macarthur grant *ahem*
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The fact that film is considered fine art means that people with money will fund films they know will probably make no money.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That in pat allows for the independent cinema industry since the 70s.
<SantiSiri> that's true
<Mads> ahah!, that's useful
<Faith> Changing the perception - games still suffer from the 'games are for children' (and 'art is either for adults or otherwise good for you TM')
<JesperJuul> Yet, there is already a hierarchy of game taste. It often begins with various Japanese games on top and ends with First Person Shooters and matching tile games at the bottom.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I have spoken to many of those people about investing in games.
<HENRYJENKINS> the french government has started to embrace games as part of the national culture.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> They don't play games.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Canada too.
<HENRYJENKINS> and they are starting to fund them as part of their creative industries policy.
<HENRYJENKINS> of course, the french also think jerry lewis is an artist so that may not be much of an indicator
<SantiSiri> movies, in their origins where an superficial entertainment focused on fancy visual FX, just like games today
<Mckee> Eric: That will change in time.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So that is one concrete set of concerns that might result from considering games as art or not.
<DoctorJ> The Republic of China is also investing heavily in game development.
<Dugan> what about casual games as a way to wedge open the market, thereby creating more niches for art?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But is is not about abstract philosphical discussions defining art.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> In that case, art is a cultural category defined by money and institutions.
<Dugan> so Eric
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But I guess the two overlap...
<SantiSiri> casual games as haikus, beautiful small games
<HENRYJENKINS> China's investment is more complicated -- they are interested in games as a political and educational tool more than as a form of art
<Dugan> I'm very interested in funding from the indepedent film community
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> If the investors and goverment officials didn't think that games were art, which is meaningful beauty, or whatever...
<Dugan> how receptive is that sector?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> they wouldn't invest in the first place.
<eel_rich> Art has always been used as a persuader. Propaganda for example. Advertising. Religion.
<Eptin> better defining games as art will further our enjoyment of them
<DoctorJ> Henry: I was speaking of RoC, not PRoC. They are certainly building plenty of incubators.
<HENRYJENKINS> i don't mean to say art can't also be propaganda or education, only that the discourse is different.
<JesperJuul> So "games as art" _and_ government funding will likely come from some hierarchy of game genres. The governments will usually not put money into games they are assured are not like the violent games they heard about.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Eptin, better defining games will do that.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You can leave art out of it.
<Mckee> Agreed.
<Egglet> Since we've already, inexplicably, discussed Galaga in the context of art, what about Fahrenheit. In a way it is a good representative for the French view of gaming. Visibly striving to be art.
<JesperJuul> (Sorry: I mean that governments will usually _only_ put money into games they are assured are not like the violent games they heard about.)
<Mads> so we risk that, once we define games as art, what we will get is a myrriad of high quality japanese shmups?
<ScottJonSiegel> isn't part of the solution simply pushing the medium forward through design?
<HENRYJENKINS> in many parts of the world, governments are funding games to build up digital industries, which is again different from funding them as part of their arts policy
<eel_rich> Samorost.
<Eptin> It was more of a response to the comparison of "Casual games as haikus"
<ScottJonSiegel> and isn't part of the solution merely a time game?
<ThomasRobertson> So, here's a question that I think we've touched briefly on above: what are the consequences and advantages of defining games as not-art?
<ScottJonSiegel> Games will become more and more accepted as younger generations grow into adulthood.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, Henry, it's important to note that governments have many interests in games that do not overlap with the "games as art" question.
<Egglet> I don't think casual games are haikus at all.

<Dugan> has anyone played the "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!"?
<Mckee> So, should a developer apply for an NEA grant?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I think I'm responding more to the US independent film investor situation, in which the glamor of the industry and the idea of funding significant culture are the main moticators.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (motivators)
<SantiSiri> casual are to big games, what poetry can be to novels
<Dugan> so there is potential there?
<eel_rich> Casual games are "fast food" games.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I agree with Eel.
<Mads> but...what is significant culture when it comes to games?, games that are like Myst?, or the japanese games Jesper speaks of?
<WhiteRbbt> novels are read by geeks in their basement, and poetry is read by middle-aged moms?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Unfortunately.
<joshleejosh> Casual games:"Big" games::Short stories:Novels, not Poetry:Novels
<Mads> or what?
<SantiSiri> well, yes, most of casual games are quite lame
<Egglet> Poetry implies that you are creating a short experience that can be just as powerful as something drawn out.
<Eptin> Not all things that are quick are not-beneficial
<SantiSiri> different versions of big macs
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But fast food can be DELICIOUS!
<AJ_Flowers> Casual games are however accessible to people who don't understand 'big' games
<SantiSiri> (big macs = tetris bejeweled, etc=
<eel_rich> lol True.
<Dugan> I like the short story analogy
<Mckee> most console games are quite lame...
<saraid> But is fast food culinary art?
<saraid> =P
<eel_rich> aha!
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Great analogy.
<Dugan> since providing a good content spine is essential to presenting the $20 value for a casual game conversion
<Eptin> Why is a cup of tea (same amount of time as fast food) so highly rated in comparison? Casual games have simply not matured yet
<AJ_Flowers> Though a lot of people don't understand that casual games are games. Like a parent who plays 4 hours of solitare a lot but finds his son's 4-hour WoW habit harmful
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the high culture chef, fast food is not art.
<Dugan> I find the crunchwrap makes for excellent munching
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the cultural historian, absolutely.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For the consumer who has had a sublime Big Mac experience, why not?
<JesperJuul> Well, is food art? What ideas does it express?
<joshleejosh> I guarantee you that the team that came up with the Chalupa poured months of design work into it. :)
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It depends on why and how you ask the question.
<Eptin> After all, doesn't Galaga take up the same amount of time as any modern day Casual Game?
<HENRYJENKINS> and for a cultural studies type, the question is to understand the criteria by which we judge a Big Mac as opposed to a Whopper
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, always the meta-question...
<ScottJonSiegel> Eptin: good point
<HENRYJENKINS> or as opposed to beef orange
<ScottJonSiegel> have casual games replaced arcade games, in a sense?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> as opposed to clockwork orange
<Eptin> Someone said the arcade format was restrictive because of its time constraints
<ScottJonSiegel> In terms of the "pick up and play" appeal
<Eptin> Casual games have the same constraints
<HENRYJENKINS> whether games are an art is not a yes and no question. it depends on whose asking from what framework in what context for what purpose
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
<Eptin> If Casual Games are too large, they are no longer casual
<Mckee> hehe
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Thanks, Henry, for stating that so well.
<DoctorJ> So, let's skip beyond the abstract question and move to examples. Henry: What games have you played that you MOST consider art. Then, let's let Eric reply.
<ScottJonSiegel> they come midway between solitaire card games and the arcade
<eel_rich> Games are art because they are made up of graphics, sound design, animation, writing, architecture, music, acting, all of which are "arts." Many would say that programming is an art, and there is a common notion that design is an art. So, art + art + art + art = art. ; )
<Egglet> Is the core of the issue not that rather than sitting around wondering whether games are not art or are art or are 63% art, the only way you can actually answer the question is to locate and hold up the Kubricks and Shakespeares and so forth as examples rather than wait for someone 40 years from now to look back and say "Hey this was pretty good but nobody cared!"
<Mads> finally something concrete ;D
<Egglet> I'm not sure Galaga is it.
<SantiSiri> art, marketing, industry, design.. are just lenses to perceive the same thing, games..
<HENRYJENKINS> i have already suggest Miyamoto. Super Mario Brothers remains the work that got me excited, really excited, about games as a medium
<JesperJuul> Casual games don't have to end in three minutes so someone can put in the next quarter. That's the difference. There is no economic pressure towards making the play sessions be very short.
<eel_rich> Actually, I think what I said was silly but hey, go for it!
<ScottJonSiegel> but there's economic pressure to extend a play experience.
<HENRYJENKINS> for me, it explored unique possibilities of games -- the idea of spatial exploration, of expressive architecture, of an immersive microworld, of imaginative desgin
<Egglet> Miyamoto does not exactly need holding up. And the problem with Miyamoto is that while his design and structure are impeccable, he doesn't say a whole lot.
<Egglet> Nor does he care to.
<DoctorJ> Henry: How specifically did SMB affect you and influence you?
<ScottJonSiegel> beyond the first hour of Diner Dash, I feel economic pressure to pay PlayFirst a tenner
<Eptin> No economic pressure for casual games, but they often resemble each other (in amount of time to consume them)
<AJ_Flowers> 'say' a whole lot meaning the game has no deep message?
<eel_rich> What he does say is airy and nebulous, I love that guy. (Miyamoto) ; )
<HENRYJENKINS> It taught me a way of feeling, a way of moving through digital worlds that i have never experienced before.
<SantiSiri> miyamoto is our Chaplin
<Egglet> Meaning that he fails the definitions of art thrown around here except in the basic sense of I am playing game gosh isn't it exciting.
<HENRYJENKINS> it isn't about making a comment about our reality -- it's about teaching us what it would be like to inhabit a different reality.
<Egglet> Mario is the train coming at the screen.
<SantiSiri> even the moustache of mario looks like Chaplin´s vagabond
<HENRYJENKINS> miyamoto is our Winsor McCay.
<eel_rich> lol
<eel_rich> yeah
<AJ_Flowers> That's a good comparison
<saraid> Heh
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> For me, perhaps the most "beautifu" game is Go. But it defies many of the categories of art that we have discussed this evening. There is no author. It is a folk game, rather than a designed experience. And it' status as art comes more from the ways it has existed within culture, and built up cultures and rituals around it, than from the rules of the game itself.
<HENRYJENKINS> in that case, comics achieved some of their greatest work within the first decade of their existence.
<HENRYJENKINS> and games may have done the same.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Sorry, Henry - didn't mean to step on your discussion of Miamoto.
<Egglet> In some senses they have. People are working backwards all over the place
<ScottJonSiegel> Eric: but of course, that's only one lense of looking at it, right?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I thought that had ended.
<HENRYJENKINS> no -go for it, eric
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes, SJS.
<Dugan> I don't think that's true, elegance is interesting from a design perspective, but art and design are different in subtle ways
<ScottJonSiegel> Okay. Good.
<joshleejosh> If we're talking about the contexts in which art "happens," then folk art is just as interesting as "high" art.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I'm not sure I think of games I like as art.
<HENRYJENKINS> absolutely
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Go is a good example of that.
<Egglet> Doom 3 is worse than Doom because rather than single-mindedly setting out to create the most powerful experience games are now hampered with needing to be legitimate.
<SantiSiri> do most people regard comics as art?
<joshleejosh> after a while, does all art just become material history?
<ScottJonSiegel> comics artists do
<Dugan> I think Alan Moore's work is art
<ScottJonSiegel> some more than others
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> How about you, Jesper? What game would you consider art?
<SantiSiri> just like game designers regard games as art..
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I mean, "art"?
<HENRYJENKINS> so do comics readers. so do the french, who keep poping randomly into this conversation
<Eptin> Material history? You mean no effect on the current culture (looking backward through history here)
<ScottJonSiegel> true. the french truly love their B.D.
<Eptin> ?
<ScottJonSiegel> OOH!let's go there!
<Faith> I suspect it depends on the comic - it again splits into the 'casual' comic and the epic
<saraid> No.
<ScottJonSiegel> Bandes Dessinees are HUGE in France
<SantiSiri> lucky luke, asterix
<ScottJonSiegel> in a way that comic books are not in the US
<DoctorJ> Speaking of DOOM, Egglet, the main rationale for the content was that they had gotten a lot of complaints from gamers about killing the DOGS in Wolfenstein. They tried to figure out what people wouldn't criticize killing and came up with demons. People still criticized.
<SantiSiri> manga in japan... anyone?
<HENRYJENKINS> many of us regard Jack Kirby to be a great popular artist, too, SJS
<JesperJuul> Eric, in a personal perspective there are some games that I pick up and say to myself "yes, that's the stuff" - I had this experience recently with New Super Mario Bros or, say, Super Monkey Ball. That is not "art", but art in a very craftsmanlike way.
<eel_rich> I like lowbrow, It's a movement. It started in the 60's and is still going strong. Here;s an older example by Robert Williams. Is it art. Yes! http://www.digital-eel.com/blog/images/enchilada_xl.jpg I want to make a game that looks like this.
<DoctorJ> For me, Wolfenstein 3D was art because it was the first game that put a gun in my hand and made me look a 2D guy in the face while I pulled the trigger.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So Jesper, you also seem to want to resist the cultural category of art/
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> But why?
<Egglet> To be perfectly honest it'd have been better if they hadn't made Doom at all, if the legacy of it is anything to go by. But at least it's a lesson learnt. An obstacle passed.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (I share this instinct)
<Dugan> Facade, Planescape: Torment, the Columbine RPG, Ian's airport security game in a slapstick kind of way, all register as art to me
<eel_rich> Doom is art. Gorgeous. Moody. Strange. It looks like dog poop now but it was arty in its way I think.
<JesperJuul> Eric, I used to study literature and show off quoting T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland ("April is the cruelest month"). In a way I find it very refreshing not trying to pose as an "educated person".
<Faith> Planescape: Torment definately - but that had a very cinemagraphic feel in how the story played out
<AJ_Flowers> It seems unfair to say a certain work shouldn't exist because it spawned bad imitators.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I've got some bad news for you, Jesper.
<Egglet> Planescape as art?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You're not fooling anyone.
<WhiteRbbt> how related are the ideas of games being "art" and games being "fun"?
<AJ_Flowers> ( and some good imitators )
<JesperJuul> Games are a way out of pretentiousness.
<BillFolsom> Go Jesper!
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Damn!
<JesperJuul> A man can only hope.
<Mads> :D
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And I thought I was entering a pretentious field.
<DoctorJ> Jesper: Just because you're like a patient etherized upon a table. ;-)
<HENRYJENKINS> so the reason so many gamers resist a discourse about games is art is that they want to remain primatives.
<HENRYJENKINS> but isn't that just another artistic pose?
<saraid> You are. It's just that there are the pretentious ones and the less pretentious ones.
<Mckee> Coming from the "Art" world I feel that games tend to have the same level of pretentiousness.
<Egglet> Whoa now hang on. That's a horrible generalisation.
<Faith> bit surely that is one of the points of placing games in the 'art' sphere - it gives us leave to be pretentious about them ;-)
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> It's because people have very idiosyncratic and personal ideas about what "art" means, Henry, both positive and negative.
<Iconoclast> What about art and immersion?
<Egglet> A lot of people resist talking about games as art because they feel there are a whole boatload of more pertinent issues.
<HENRYJENKINS> i am just responding to this fantasy of escaping art, escaping pretension.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> That is why I try and stay away from the term.
<Mckee> They just pwn it more.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, just so you know - I embrace pretentiousness.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> So I don't fall into that camp.
<DoctorJ> I think people who think there are a whole boatload of more pertinent issues are like my pretentious friends who don't "read fiction."
<Mads> isn't that a little dangerous?
<Mads> Eric, I mean
<HENRYJENKINS> but the reason i like this question is that it forces us to re-examine our assumptions about what we mean by art and also to re-examine our assumptions about the cultural status of games.
<Egglet> I'm not saying games as art is not a legitimate question. But it isn't really one that is going to directly impact the quality or content of games. It's a question for people who study games, not people who play games.
<AJ_Flowers> I suppose in a way it can be liberating to not 'have to be art,' if, for example, you just want to make a game about blowing things up and don't feel like you should be held to artistic standards.
<saraid> Immersion happens in a lot of artistic forms, true.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Henry, which question?
<JesperJuul> The "I don't care whether my music is art" is just as well-defined a pose of course. (Sometimes means: "Please say it's art. Pleeaase".)
<HENRYJENKINS> are games art?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Ah.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Yes.
<Eptin> Good point Egglet. Defining games as art will have little initial impact on the gamer
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Of course.
<JesperJuul> That question.
<Egglet> People will make games and they will put their souls into them. Before the commercial industry got going they were doing it much more honestly than now.
<SantiSiri> games and music... united by the word play
<HENRYJENKINS> Egglet -- no. I think the discourse of art impacts consumers when we have critics who can help people develop an appreciation of innovation and experimentation within games
<saraid> And theater, Santi.
<Dugan> hah, Santi, you've hit on something significant
<SantiSiri> right saraid
<Egglet> You can only develop an appreciation of innovation when you know what is not innovative.
<Dugan> I think play is the universal medium
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And games were always commerical, just like all forms of mass media culture.
<HENRYJENKINS> i think that having cinema studies classes helped to create the market for independent cinema by exposing people to a broader range of what cinema can do
<SantiSiri> the pure proof that games are Art Patrick :)
<Egglet> And until everyone plays enough games, that won't happen. The cycle.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Dr J, I need to go soon.
<DoctorJ> Henry: Well, since that was our goal at CGW in the old days and we lost out to the PC GAMER mentality, where can this criticism REACH the consumer?
<HENRYJENKINS> me too
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> How do we wrap this up?
<DoctorJ> What IS the forum for criticism?
<JesperJuul> We vote.
<SantiSiri> play, such a beautiful word... and not as bastarded as art
<Egglet> Until there is enough experience to form cliche, how do people know what is cliche at all?
<Mads> lol
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We vote on, "Are games art?"
<ThomasRobertson> Jesper, that's a great suggestion. A vote will surely solve the debate for all time.
<Leedar> lol
<HENRYJENKINS> right now, blogs are probably doing the best job. I've said before that the folks at Penny Arcade are doing the best criticism to date of games as a medium
<HENRYJENKINS> Can I put in a write in vote for Mickey Mouse?
<SantiSiri> fuck yeah! GAMES ARE ART.. they where meant to be played with the soul, just like we play music
<Dugan> recently Jerry suggested that Television has been displaced as a dominant medium
<Faith> although then we get back to the 'are online cartoons art' ;-)
<DoctorJ> I'll be Diebold. The votes are in and games are art.
<Dugan> I vote YES
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I vote NO NO NO NO YES NO NO NO SOMETIMES NO.
<saraid> I vote for Zimmerman.
<SantiSiri> hahaha
<Dugan> Eric, you've voted for Pat Buchannan
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> My chad is hanging.
<DoctorJ> Thank you, Henry and Eric. This was a stimulating free-for-all and I hope there are no bruises.
<HENRYJENKINS> this balot is just too confusing.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Excuse me!
<Egglet> Games are pwonkenfojel.
<AJ_Flowers> The way the PA guys write also influence at least my personal play/purchase decisions way more than any magazine review, because the critique is stronger
<JesperJuul> I think that the amount of academic criticism coming out is helping establish games as something at least worthy of discussion.
<SantiSiri> good point jesper
<DoctorJ> This concludes the "formal" discussion.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Discussions like this one...
<WhiteRbbt> why are discussions like this one important? (real question -- i'm not trying to be an ass)
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Wow. I was waiting for a formal discsussion.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Did it happen?
<ThomasRobertson> Eric, you blinked.
<HENRYJENKINS> for a formal discussion, it was certainly informal.
<AJ_Flowers> Oh wow, has it been an hour already?
<Faith> and there is a strong incentive to study games in academia because then we get to play games at work
<Egglet> PA write incisively but they don't represent anything but they don't forward any particularly unique view. They are very much commenting on their own flow down the river rather than resisting it with regard to WoW and such.
<SantiSiri> was this discussion art?
<JesperJuul> But are we just discussing the inevitable? Is this discussion just a symptom of an unstoppable tendency of games becoming more and more high brow and in the end, "obviously art"?
<Egglet> That sentence sort of exploded. I'm too tired to think.
<DoctorJ> The "" were supposed to indicate that I wasn't serious. ;-)
<Leedar> heh
<Mads> most likely
<saraid> This discussion was important because it helps the people who are trying to support games understand what the hell they're talking about.
<Mckee> I think so jesper.
<Mads> the votes show games are art, don't they?
<HENRYJENKINS> see ya, folks.
<Dugan> incidentally, South Park is now on in the EST time zone
* HENRYJENKINS has quit IRC
<eel_rich> Later Henry.
<JesperJuul> We, the people, declare games to be art.
<ThomasRobertson> Thanks for coming by Henry, Eric, Jesper.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I thought this discussion mattered because it gives Manifesto games some marketing content.
<Leedar> :-]
<AJ_Flowers> Heh
<eel_rich> Well there's that.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> And we ALL are putting our stamp of approval on Manifesto, implicity.
* ALR has quit IRC
<Egglet> A lot of games are not art. Some games are art. I reckon about the fastest way to make more games art is to point out the ones that are art.
<JesperJuul> Are games art
<DoctorJ> It would have, but Henry said Penny Arcade did better criticism. <grin>
<JesperJuul> garfunkel?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Hello, fellow pawns.
<saraid> Heh.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Jesper, you never said your big joke!
<joshleejosh> carney?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> You missed it!
<SantiSiri> Gentlemen, it was a real honour.. let me invite everyone for the after-chat at GAMESAREART.COM !
<DoctorJ> Ees gud revolutionary deescussion for Manifesto.
<Dugan> I'll be fielding a comment
* DrKL has left #gamesandart
<JesperJuul> Art games art?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Arf.
<AJ_Flowers> Thanks to everyone for the discussion
<eel_rich> Games are art because the designer is the artist. As I said afore, like in filmmaking: the director is the artist. The vision=holder, the shaper, the ultimate crud filter.
<Egglet> No I invite everyone to disagree at GAMESAREACTUALLYNOTARTATALL.COM.
<JesperJuul> Arrrr games arrrrt?
<Dugan> sometimes its best not to take oneself too seriously
<DoctorJ> Thank you for your tacit approval, Eric.
<Faith> only pirated games arrrrr
<Mads> *lol*
<AJ_Flowers> (Although I wasn't sure if it was over I'm saying that now since some people are leaving!)
<eel_rich> arrr
<JesperJuul> Puzzle Pirates is definitely arrrrt.
<Egglet> I think the only real constant is that games are art unless they were designed by the programmer in which case god help us all.
<SantiSiri> hahaha kind regards from argentina to all! cheers
* saraid wonders if /me works.
<JesperJuul> Cheers!
<eel_rich> later Santi
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Good night.
<Dugan> so Eric, you never answered my question about indie film financeers being interested in game projects, I'd appreciate your take from your experience
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Great talk!
<saraid> Good night!
<DoctorJ> Egglet: No, games are art unless they were designed by the MARKETING department.
<Mads> Cheers for this
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> Is that Patrick Dugan?
<saraid> Marketing isn't art?
<Dugan> yes sir
<JesperJuul> Games are art if they have been selected by a curator.
<saraid> Who else would it be?
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> The one I inadvertently dissed?
<eel_rich> Marketers will says its art.
<Egglet> I'd agree but you clearly haven't played enough freeware.
<Dugan> haha
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> (sorry about that!)
<Faith> and the possibility always exists for them to be used to make art after they have been released
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> We can talk about that offline...
<Dugan> hey we're in the same business
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> THe investor question I mean.
<Egglet> After your fifty seventh inexplicably awful platfomer you might rethink your opinion.
<eel_rich> I have an "s" problemsss.
<ERIC_ZIMMERMAN> I have to go finish my laundry and pack for a trip...
* Lady_Stereo has quit IRC
<JesperJuul> Good discussion, though we had some issues with the turntaking.
<Faith> SIMs may or may not be art but it has been used to create art
<saraid> It's IRC.

The Shivah

DrJ — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 19:29:26 +0100

Game Info
Game: The Shivah
Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
System Requirements: Windows Pentium II+
Article Body:
Heart of Stone
The Shivah Is a Miracle
by Dr. J.

Cast a Walter Mattheau sound-alike as a world-weary rabbi in Manhattan. Surround him with the chain-smoking detective that sounds like he has a tumor in his lung, a guttural street criminal, the quintessential yiddish-speaking rabbi, and the shikse Indian widow of a former synagogue member. Then, wrap it all up in a mystery mixed with theological crisis. Animate it in the style of one of the classic LucasArts (nee Lucasfilm) games from the glory days of adventuredom (e.g. Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and, later, Grim Fandango). Think of The Shivah as a miniature (because of its duration) edition of one of those classic games.

Reminiscent of early LucasArts adventures, The Shivah is a well-written short-story compared to those earlier “novels.”

Although my classmates in seminary called me, “The Rabbi,” I am not Jewish. I have read from the Torah for a Reformed congregation, but I preceded my reading with the request that my hearers, “Pardon my Southern Baptist accent.” So, you can well imagine that I was excited about The Shivah. From the first melancholic strains of the violin solo to the careful and honest homily at the conclusion, I was hooked. In between, there were moments when it seemed like I was playing The Secret of Monkey Island except that the story was more serious than comical.

The Story So Far…

Rabbi Stone serves a congregation that appears to have dwindled to one somnambulant widow and an idealistic cantor. In the midst of the opening lines of a sermon built off Rabbi Harold Kushner’s work, he finds that he can no longer speak in any terms of authentic faith. It doesn’t take long to find out the source of Rabbi Kushner’s problem. It is the kind of depression that comes when one believes that God should have intervened and yet, all one has is failure beyond the most pessimistic expectation and obligations one is expected to meet beyond the most optimistic hopes. Then, as so often happens during a crisis of faith, circumstances get worse. After all, it wouldn’t really be faith if you could see all the answers and all the reasons behind the answers.

So, this honest rabbi finds himself to be a suspect in a murder case. The game doesn’t make him quite as hopeless as a character in a Hard Case Crime Novel where things start out desperate and get worse, but he does seem to be in a bad situation where only his own resources can help. The story suspends disbelief when the protagonist has no mechanism to go to the police for help once he has unraveled some of the clues or when the suspect gains access to the crime scene (and more importantly, its computer) after merely reading about the murder. Further, hacking into computers is ridiculously easy in the game. However, that probably isn’t any less probable that the way Interplay’s design team handled the whole hacking issue in Neuromancer. If the hacking mechanism was too difficult, it would no longer be a game. It would be an exercise.

Players will have to decode passwords for three different PC accounts in the course of gaining enough clues to solve the mystery in The Shivah.

At first, I was annoyed that the cantor didn’t merely give the new password to Rabbi Stone. Later, I discovered that solving the initial password was a key to solving the two later passwords necessary to gain access to various clues in emails and other directories. Use the search function, virtual rabbis! It will empower you.

As you converse with the characters that you meet (using the “select from multiple possible responses” method) or read emails, this will unlock additional locations to explore. As with many graphic adventures, there is a strategic map to use in moving from place to place and only those locations relevant to where you are in the story will be displayed. In fact, I went to one location so often that it disappeared so I would know that I had gleaned all the clues possible from that venue.

As in The Secret of Monkey Island, characters in The Shivah use a dynamic, strategic map to teleport from one locale to another.

Speaking (or in this case, typing) of conversations, one of the things I really like about The Shivah is that it offers emotive hints as to how to respond rather than the actual line that the rabbi would say if you picked a response. Naturally, you know from the outside that you will get a question whenever you choose “Rabbinical Response,” but the others are not quite so predictable. There are some places in the game where the response you choose affects the way the scene plays. At other times, the response will loop right back into the same spot in the conversation or story (of course, you have to replay the game to know just what I’m talking about, so it isn’t a huge problem).

Atmosphere

Though some may disagree with me, I think the dialogue is crafted extremely well. It seems like each character is consistent (with the possible exception of the shikse widow changing her demeanor with Rabbi Stone rather too quickly. There are a few typographical errors to be found if one reads all of the emails in every relevant account, but those might be considered verisimilitude—considering the state of email and text-messaging in our current culture. The voice-actors, however, are quite uneven. The gutter snipe comes across as harsh-sounding rather than hard-bitten. The Indian widow has a little too much energy for the role (to my taste), but the rival rabbi has just the right stereotypical demeanor for me to believe that he and Rabbi Stone come from very different traditions.

Some may not care for the musical score. The music is tied to the venue. As a result, the melancholic violin strains are tied to the dilapidated synagogue. In Manhattan proper, one gets a minimalist bongo beat out of a more vintage Greenwich Village. At the pub, one hears the violinist transform into an Irish fiddler. It’s simple. At times, it may seem more journeyman musicianship than virtuoso performance, but it works.

em>The Shivah begins with a question to answer a question. In most conversations and particularly in the final confrontation, be rabbinical!The Shivah begins with a question to answer a question.

As for the graphics, let’s be honest. These take you back to EGA and Commodore 64 graphics. The characters are pixilated and minimalist in their basic forms (more care is taken with their dialogue portraits). That nostalgic feeling about the LOOM and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade era is partially based upon the graphics.

Fortunately, the story works. There was a reason for Rabbi Stone to be uneasy about his past relationship with the murder victim. There was a logical reason why Rabbi Stone didn’t know that, before the victim died, the deceased had changed his mind about his former rabbi. There is a credible reason for the deceased to have changed his mind about Rabbi Stone. It’s an honest story, even if the plot was somewhat predictable.

Death

One matter that stood out with regard to many of the nostalgic Lucasfilm Games of which we have written was the philosophy that characters didn’t actually die. In The Secret of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert and Tim Schaefer used a wonderful series of deus ex machina to keep Guybrush Threepwood from dying. The Shivah doesn’t have that inclination. It will let Rabbi Stone die, but it has an extremely philosophical conclusion that prepares you for trying again (probably loading from your AutoSave position).

I particularly like the way the death soliloquy was written and performed. It gave meaning to the rabbi’s death without suggesting that it was enough. In fact, the speech wished he could have another chance which, because it is a game, is possible. It suggested that our choices do have meaning.

As for that final scene, let me offer a few words of counsel that shouldn’t serve as spoilers. First, don’t be afraid to do the same thing more than once. Second, pay attention to what the ultimate bad guy does—his position and focus of attention are important to your success. Third, even though Rabbi Stone is a former youth league boxing champion, you cannot rely of fisticuffs alone to get him out of the spot he is in. It will take a combination of rabbinic dialogue and solid punches to set him free. What questions would make the “bad guy” most uncomfortable, uncomfortable enough to drop his guard and allow successful punches?

Theological Aside

If you aren’t interested in theology, skip ahead to the ratings below. If you are, let me note that The Shivah doesn’t really contain much theology. Rabbi Stone is obviously familiar with the work of Rabbi Harold Kushner and he takes Kushner’s tack with regard to why bad things happen to good people. It is more the idea that God allows evil and problems to fall across the board, but provides strength for His people to endure them. I find Rabbi Lawrence Kushner to be more convincing when he speaks of religious experiences as being times of transformation, noting that only sometimes do believers step into the sea to find that they are walking on dry ground (The River of Light: Spirituality, Judaiam, and the Evolution of Consciousness, pp. 115-116) or to discover in some mystical sense that “In the same way that God can be anywhere and anytime, so too any act may be historic.” (God was in this Place & I, i did not know: Finding Self, Spirituality, and Ultimate Meaning, p. 117)

Rabbi Stone proves himself to be a “compassionate conservative” in the true sense. He holds to the old traditions and rules for he believes that to betray them is to betray all Jews. But he is true to himself as a human. He acts, ultimately, in love and preaches, ultimately, of faithfulness. That is why I believe that, even though the religious aspects of The Shivah may be more for atmosphere and setting than the center of the story, it is significant, meaningful, and a welcome addition to my list of important games.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 7 (short, but significant)

Graphics/Animation: 4 (So retro that they may cause many to show disrespect)
Music/Sound Effects: 7 (just right, not virtuoso)
Game Play: 7 (relatively short and simple)
Story: 7 (generally true to characters and reality)
Price/Performance: 10 (the best deal around)

Reviewer’s Bias: 6 (wrongly thought it was just an adventure with Jewish veneer)

Article Sort: 1

Parents
The Shivah

Massive Assault

DrJ — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:08:59 +0100

Game Info
Game: Massive Assault
Developer: Wargaming.net
System Requirements: Windows 98+
600 Mhz processor +
256 MB RAM
HD Footprint: 650 MB
8x CD-ROM or DVD drive
32 MB Direct X 8.1+ video card
Price: $19.95
Scenario Editor downloadable at www.wargaming.net
Article Body:
BattleTech Meets Panzer General
Massive Assault Better Than MissionForce: Cyberstorm

by Dr. J

Each step of the massive machine caused dust to cloud around its lower extremities. To the LAVs, light assault vehicles, looking up at the robotic monstrosity, the Ostrich appeared to hover above a cloud of its own making. As the missiles rained down upon them, an explosive lightning that left charred debris and smoldering flesh in its wake, the gargantuan engine of destruction must have seemed like Baal, Rider of the Clouds—storm god of the ancients. But that was mythology, this was real.

Smaller LAVs surround an Ostrich armored "vehicle" to peck away at the larger machine and bring it down.

The smaller units converged at the base of the Ostrich, tagging it repeatedly with their lasers in hopes that they could apply the mortal sting to its Achilles Heel. The larger machine turned one of its antlike attackers nearly to ash before an ally, a Smallfoot that was a virtual mirror of the LAVs, performed the laser surgical coup de grace on the blackened LAV. Still another LAV took the place of its annihilated compatriot. This time, the stings added up. An internal blaze signaled the demise of the machine and its structure imploded. Achilles’ fall may have been mythology, but this was real.

This review begins with two paragraphs of story in an attempt to make a point. When speaking of space opera (in novel, film, or television format) or considering a thin fictional background story for anime, comic, graphic novel, or game, reality is relative. Yet, regardless of approach, such a universe requires certain conventions to have any sense of credibility. We only seem to be able to suspend our disbelief when we posit monolithic power structures fueled by centuries or millennia of hostility and/or suspicion in order to fund the building and deployment of these armored armies massed for futuristic Armageddon. Massive Assault neither spurns nor expands upon these conventions. The game merely offers a tedious slide-show and timeline in place of the typical cinematic introduction and then, moves to its strength—well-designed scenarios with a variety of explosive weaponry, ranges, and challenges.

Frankly, the thin background material is more than sufficient for Massive Assault. Since players are required to assume command of units on both sides of the meta-conflict during the scenarios (campaigns?), there is no need to have a high sense of loyalty to either cause. In the one case, one serves the noble cause of a consortium of free nations, and in the other, one serves the ambitious aggrandizing of a power-mad empire. In both cases, success depends on annihilating the enemy as efficiently as possible. Doesn’t sound very innovative? Much of the game isn’t, but the designers have found a few new tricks to confound and intrigue its players.

But first, a disclaimer...

To be honest, some of you won’t understand my enthusiasm for this game if you don’t know something of my preferences. During the midst of the so-called real-time revolution, the dark ages (for people like me) when "accelerated time" games took over the strategy market and sycophantic producers tried to turn every strategy game into an RTS (even those originally designed to be turn-based), many of us went into our gaming bunkers to play the Panzer General and Steel Panthers series of games (or adjusted our genre preferences to play Heroes of Might & Magic or, eventually, the Age of Wonders and Disciples series). My personal lethargy was broken by a much-maligned and overlooked game from Sierra/Dynamix (pre-Vivendi) called MissionForce: Cyberstorm (I have to confess playing the campaign through once again in 2005 of all things). Finally, it seemed, for a time, like the end of an era with a couple of valiant attempts from Accolade (pre-Ubisoft) called Deadlock and Deadlock II.

If none of the games mentioned in the aforementioned paragraph managed to bring at least a brief intent to “"lay 'Insert Once Favorite Game Here' again sometime," you probably aren’t going to be interested in Massive Assault. It builds upon the turn-based heritage of which I speak and adds a new wrinkle or two that you won’t see in stunning animation or sophisticated voiceovers. To be sure, the animation isn’t bad. It just isn’t beyond what we’ve already seen. The voiceovers have a sensuous-sounding Eastern European female narrator. Sometimes they are delightful and clever. It is certainly entertaining to have an unseen female with an intoxicating accent pronounce that the other side has “crossed the Rubicon;” urge one to kick the asses of the enemy; or offer some suggestive personal reward at a later time. At other times, as with most voiceovers in games with lots of playing hours, it becomes annoying.

Yet, the play balance between large, slow gargantuan units mixed with fast, lightly armored units, weak but long-ranged artillery, amphibious craft, air forces, and personnel carriers seems to be the most flexible that I can remember. Who can resist monstrous, robotic-looking missile launchers and armadillo-like, amphibious flame-throwers? Anyone interested in aircraft with a vague pterodactyl shape? They’re here!

And now, the main event…

Massive Assault offers a series of 31 scenarios, five (5) campaigns (three for the Free Nations Union and two for the Phantom League) composed of four or more “steps” (scenarios) for each campaign, and a World War mode where blitzkrieg is the name of the game and the secret allies dynamic (one of the twists which will be explained later) can often make or break you. Players take the role of either imperial commander or leader of the democratic consortium. The variety is amazing. Sometimes, you must defend an objective when totally surrounded, while at other times, you are required to defend against a double envelopment of forces. You may be required to breakthrough an enemy defense or perform an end run via amphibious landing vessels. Some engagements are heavy on naval vessels. Other engagements require effective use of artillery bombardment (from land, sea, or both) or close air support. I played straight through the list of 31 scenarios and don’t ever remember the same type of tactical challenge to be found in more than two scenarios in a row.

In many ways, the game is more reminiscent of The Perfect General (and The Perfect General II) in that it offers combined arms (a variety of units with varying ranges, purposes, and advantages) in a strict movement/fire sequence. That is to say, you em>always move and then, fire. Even with armor, you cannot move and fire. While it keeps things simple, it also removes one of the basic advantages of fast units.

In many ways, Massive Assault feels like a miniatures game. You are moving individual vehicles across interesting terrain, obstacles, and line-of-sight problems. Yet, miniatures usually have some model for armor penetration while every unit in Massive Assault can penetrate any other unit. Further, Massive Assault functions such that if your vehicles are in range of their targets, they automatically hit and perform their requisite damage. There are no shells bouncing off armor and no near misses. So, in a sense, the battles are logistical problems and do not rely on the dice rolls that some of us board wargamers are prone to lament.

With one dot left after the naval bombardment from the Firestorm (red rectangle), the Heavy Bot (green oval) will explode when the bomber completes its carrier-based (red oval) mission against it.|

Of course, those wargamers who are used to playing hexagon-based games (even when the on-screen hexagons are not drawn on the map), will find that the way post-combat movement is handled makes it exceedingly difficult to get units on all six hex-sides. In general, it was my experience that most melee attacks (where you are in immediate contact with the target as opposed to firing from a distance) end up with a maximum of four melee units surrounding as opposed to the optimum six.

In addition, the three settings for the artificial opponents provide for huge differences in competition. It is not so much that the AI changes the way it operates. It doesn’t really. It is much better on the offensive than on the defensive. Instead, the artificial enemy merely gets more resources to work with as the difficulty level goes up. The great thing is that this enables you to familiarize yourself with each unit’s capabilities at the Easy and Average levels, but lets you know that you’ll have some serious competition on your hands when you ratchet it to the most difficult level.

Use of secret allies…

But the most interesting addition to the familiar turn-based game play is the use of secret allies. This is most important in the World War competitions, but it has some play in the campaigns and scenarios. Within the game, there may be secret allies in various countries. These allies are not revealed until the player or the artificial opponents decides to do so. As a result, you may plan both tactics and strategy based on the assumption that you have neutral countries on your flanks. Then, all of a sudden, the carpet is pulled out from under you and you discover that one of those alleged neutrals is jam-packed full of hostile units. Wow! That changes things in a hurry.

You can take some slight consolation in the fact that the artificial opponent tends to reveal these very quickly—often on the first turn. That may not be the most optimal use of such an opportunity. I personally like to disclose my allies when the artificial opponent is stacking its units on another border. Then, I can bring about some panic by invading myself.

The yellow-coded countries on the southwest corner of the global map (upper right) shows potential allies to reveal and put the Phantom League (red dots) in an untenable position.

If placing surprise forces upon your enemy’s borders were the only consequence of the secret allies mechanism, that might have been good enough to raise Massive Assault to another level. Yet, like most strategy games that offer a variety of scenarios and campaigns, there is an economic/military production component to each country on the map. Each country has a basic army level and a revenue level. Revenue is collected (and spent) each turn whenever the player completely controls a country. Any enemy presence in the country negates revenue. Note that the right-hand console lists both “Revenue Per Turn” and “Revenue Turns Remaining.” The income is not indefinite.

The basic level works differently. When an ally is disclosed, there is a secret army fund to spend immediately in deploying the home forces. An undisclosed ally builds revenue in its “escrow” account until such time as it is disclosed. After disclosure, it provides revenue each turn (assuming the player still has complete control of the country). If an enemy conquers an ally’s country that has been disclosed, the basic funding becomes an indemnity payment to the conqueror when said enemy has complete control.

If an army invades an undisclosed secret ally, the basic fund (listed as Secret Army fund on the right-hand console) is immediately used by the defender to build a guerrilla army to fight and stall the invader until reinforcements can be sent to the defender’s aid. The bad news is that there is no revenue to buy reinforcements within that country until the defender can regain control by destroying all of the invaders. This puts a premium on being able to move units efficiently from one section of the map to another (as if there are many strategy games where that isn’t true). In short, the existence of secret allies adds to the tactical and strategic challenges of the game..

Detriments in Design

In terms of minor quibbles, I personally find that the default perspective from which one views the map is far enough away that some units look the same as others. It can be pretty bad for a Phantom League player to move a Bio-T (essentially a tank unit that must be adjacent to its target to fire on it) into a position where he expects to use it as an Annihilator (long-range artillery with very low defense value) or vice-versa. Fortunately, this is truly minor because the designers created a “Rewind” feature that is invaluable (to be covered in the “Doxology of Design” section) for gamers who have trouble with these distinctions. More frustrating is the fact that the painting of the Bio-T as it shows up in a Turtle (naval transport vessel) or UPS (land transport vehicle) looks almost exactly like the Annihilator. On more than one occasion, I messed up my logistics chain by thinking I was sending one type of unit when I was sending another. By the time I realized my error, the error had cost me multiple turns.

Impatient as I sometimes may be, part of the last criticism must fall on my own head for not paying sufficient attention. Yet, I have another quibble tied to my impatience. While I appreciate the ability of the bombers to fly individual missions (they are invaluable for killing that last dot of defense on isolated enemy units), there are times when I’d like to be able to group those bombers for one three-dot strike on one target. I can find no way to speed up the game on this (even though the game does play at faster speeds if you desire). This isn’t something that would stop my from playing, but it would be nice to see addressed.

Another minor problem had to do with AI switches. In Version 1.2.214 that I was playing, I had a problem when going from one scenario to the next whenever the scenario design called for me to command an FNU army as opposed to a PL army. It is very frustrating to get the briefing as the PL commander and then, have to move the FNU units. Usually, when going from one scenario to another, I found it better to back out to the main menu. Then, I could choose the next scenario without “confusing” the AI.

The most serious problem with the design, from my perspective, is the inability to move into cleared areas after destroying enemy units. Perhaps, there would be a fictional basis for this. After all, these are futuristic weapons and the debris remaining in the space might be radioactive hot. Of course, even using this fictional logic, one would think that the heat sinks and shields would allow units to enter the cleared spaces without suffering from that. The problem with this is that it means you can create choke points with very inexpensive units. As long as you keep LAVs or Smallfeet on every space of your border, you can keep your territory free of invaders. Even if the enemy destroys your cheap-o units right away, they cannot enter that space until next turn. By that time, you can replace the LAV or Smallfoot with another one and the process begins again.

In this early scenario, it is possible for the smallest units on the map to hold off superior forces for multiple turns.

In a similar vein, there are many times when the last unit in a country is defending the capitol. You need the capitol to gain control (as well as indemnity and revenue) but you have to wait a full turn to enter the capitol after you destroy the defending unit. This just doesn’t seem appropriate to me, but it is the way the rules for Massive Assault work and the same rule applies both ways, so it isn’t unfair—just annoying.

Doxology for Design

One of the best features of the Massive Assault interface is the Rewind feature. If you discover that you have moved a unit to the wrong place or fired on the wrong target, you can hit the Rewind button and cancel out the move. This is only relevant on the last unit given orders and it is expressly welcome when you aren’t sure how far a unit can move or what it’s potential range would be at the conclusion of that movement. Although the interface does feature circles showing each possible movement, it isn’t always possible to see the circles because they often get camouflaged in rough terrain. The interface also provides a range circle showing current range, but it is much more efficient to try out potential targets by moving the units than mentally extrapolating the final range.

Naturally, allowing the retraction of moves and attacks means that it is possible to abuse the system, essentially reconnoitering by force. This would be a bigger problem in a game where the enemy had hidden strength points and units. In Massive Assault, however, the only hidden units are the secret armies in neutral territories (that form guerrilla forces against you) and within the countries of secret allies. The game does not allow you to see the results of an invasion and then, rewind. You must complete your full turn before you see the guerrilla army pop up. So, this potential to perform reconnaissance by force doesn’t really offer an advantage like it would in games with limited intelligence with regard to specific units rather than aligned countries.

Massive Assault’s main strength, however, is scenario and campaign design. Obviously, these are not dynamic campaigns where the next step (stage) is determined by your progress and your forces consist only of the units you have remaining and the few reinforcements you can purchase. Rather, the campaigns are put together as progressively more difficult scenarios. And, should you completely foul up one of the later scenarios, you don’t have to begin from scratch.

The scenarios (and campaign steps) do a great job of encouraging, almost forcing, you to use different types of units. Some require judicious use of long-range artillery. Some require logistic maneuvers to get bombers into the right position (the artificial opponents are particularly good at this). Some require wave attacks by the smaller units. Others require alert use of logistics. Others require time sensitive disclosures of your secret allies. And, as noted earlier, some allow the player or the artificial opponent to use specific terrain features to special advantage or force an army to consider terrain conditions when planning logistic moves.

Finally, although the timeline/slideshow introduction to the game isn’t very interesting, the game does a good job of providing color. The use of propaganda language in the pre-scenario briefings for the Phantom League is delightful. The Phantom League briefings read differently than those for the Free Nations Union. And, though one could wish the soundtrack had slightly more variety and was more context-sensitive to game conditions, the music is interesting throughout the first several play sessions. It certainly doesn’t encourage playing the music beyond one complete campaign, however.

Victory

If you liked The Perfect General, any of the Panzer General series, or Missionforce: Cyberstorm, you would be making a great mistake in avoiding Massive Assault. In fact, if you liked playing BattleTech or Heavy Gear on the table-top, you will probably want this game. If your preference is for a solid, historical war game with lots of tactical and strategic nuance, you might pass on this one. It teaches no history and the lack of consideration for morale, flanking, armor penetration, and randomness will make Massive Assault seem more like chess than a war game to the “purist.” For those who want great value and an intriguing, dependable strategic and tactical challenge, however, Massive Assault is a jewel—an award-winning jewel before we ever discovered it, but a jewel nonetheless.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 8 (on scale of 10)

Story/Creativity: 6 (older than the Cold War)
Scenario Design: 9 (near perfection)
Replayability: 9 (variety on a multitude of levels)
Graphics: 6
Artificial Opponent: 8 (credible, but unimaginative)
Price/Performance: 9

Reviewer’s Bias 10 (expected much and enjoyed much)

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Massive Assault

Personal, All-Purpose Shuttle	30 unit cargo capacity
Achilles (Fighter w/ cargo)	25 unit cargo capacity
Astro Transport	100 unit cargo capacity (no cannon)
Circus Cruiser (Passenger)	0 unit cargo capacity
GI Cargo Transport	500 unit cargo capacity
Space Car	0 unit cargo capacity
T-5000 Transport	200 unit cargo capacity