At Scoopcamp, Hamburg and Gamified News
I’m at Scoopcamp in Hamburg to talk about GameTheNews.net. I did an online interview with the NextMedia Blog in the run-up to this event:
Next Media: You bring a new twist to journalism and present news and events as games. How was the idea developed? Can you give a quick explanation of your approach / how you do it?
Tomas Rawlings: Through producing game jams, we knew that the technology existed to rapid-prototype games so we’ve been experimenting with both form and business models. We tried making games in less than 2 days with our longest development cycle being 3 months. In the 10 months since the project started, we’ve produced over 20 games. We’ve tried free and paid approaches and we’re still figuring out the best route. So our key approach has been one of experimentation.
There is also a really good article about our work on Escapist Magazine. It’s a really well written article that gets into the guts of Endgame:Syria:
Endgame centers on the political complexities Syrian rebels face. Players serve as both the Rebels’ chief military commander and diplomat, trying to survive the war without destroying the country in the process. The game itself is a digital card game with two phases – the Diplomacy phase and the Military phase. In the Diplomacy phase the player has to choose two cards from a randomly generated hand. Those cards might be endorsements from foreign countries that raise the Rebels’ Support – the points you use to buy units in the military phase and that track which side is winning – or diplomatic maneuvers that provide a tactical advantage in the military phase.
And I also did a bit for another site on gamification. If you are at the event, say hi! (Two of the above articles have big pictures of me on them – it’s odd to see images of yourself blown up like that, eek!)
Speaking at @Scoopcamp on 13th September!
I’m going to be speaking at Scoopcamp on the 12th September in Hamburg about our work on GameTheNews:
11.15-11.45 – How to use decision making to engage readers.
And also I’m co-running a workshop on playing with reality later in the day with Dr.Martin Burckhardt of Ludic Philosophy:
14:45-16:00 – Reality distortion fields.
Should be fun! It’s a great line-up of other speakers, so if about why not join us?
Scoopcamp logo
Renewed Interest in Endgame:Syria @MuzzyLane #EndgameSyria
Not surprisingly as the crisis in Syria has grown and grown, we’re seen a renewed interesting in Endgame:Syria.
I also talked about the game and its content a lot with the very interesting Muzzy Lane. You can find the post cast over on their blog.
We’ve also had a couple of other articles about the game go up. One by The Escapist magazine:
My first two playthroughs I was aggressive, doing my best to win the war militarily while building international support. The first few turns I made gains using Infantry and Syrian-Kurdish YPG Units, tying up the Regime’s Infantry and destroying their Shabiha militia. When I got the option to use Militants and Mujahideen, I avoided them – who wants those nut jobs, right? I’ve got plenty of International Units comprised of Arab Spring veterans that’ll serve just as well without burning the country down.
That worked until the Tanks came, and the Artillery, and the dreaded Republican Guard. Any one of them could pound my poor Infantry into the ground and buzzsaw through my International Units. The Regime was schooling me every phase, killing my support abroad with diplomatic maneuvering while stomping me on the battlefield. When the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Choppers appeared on the horizon, I finally caved – I sent in the Militants, just this once.
Also on Pop Matters:
Then I tried to duplicate my victory. Then I tried to duplicate any victory. The play sessions after that minor breakthrough over the next few days were a string of crushing, “burn the land behind you” defeats. Several games in a row, I suffered from a string of random events that stripped all support for the cause. In one game, every single turn had me losing support for one reason or another. Assad’s regime didn’t kill me, the international press did. Infighting, clashes with the Kurdish militia, blame for bombings and fires, all of it drained support for a less than stable cause. In reality, I don’t think it is the rebels’ survival that is the most indicative of victory. It is the support of the people, both domestically and abroad, that matters most. A government showing its support is all fine and dandy, but it isn’t worth as much as the people not losing faith in your cause.
There are numerous ways you can donate to the civilians suffering as this war drags on – for example UNICEF Children’s Fund. I just have. Also worth following Syria Deeply.
Endgame:Syria Screenshot
The very talented Force of Habit have released a game created as part of Gamify Your PhD:
Tuesday 27th August 2013, Bristol, UK – Wellcome Trust’s Gamify Your PhD contest winner Dysbiosis released today.Dysbiosis is an intestinal-tract based shoot-’em-up supported by Wellcome Trust as the winning entry into their “Gamify Your PhD” game jam event, developed by Force Of Habit in collaboration with Clockwork Cuckoo.
View the release trailer on YouTube:
Play for free in your Web Browser (Unity plug-in required): http://www.kongregate.com/games/forcehabit/dysbiosis
The intestine is a safe haven for trillions of good bacteria that live in symbiosis with it. They form a delicate community, known as the intestinal microflora. Changes to the intestinal microflora – such as the expansion of bad bacteria or the loss of essential good bacteria – are called Dysbiosis.
Fire antimicrobial peptides from the intestinal cell wall at oncoming bacteria. Use antibiotics and absorb vitamins. Maintain a healthy balance inside the gut!Features:
- 3 game chapters — Healthy, Inflamed & IBD/Crohn’s Disease.
- 3 enemy types — E-coli, Salmonella & Campylobacter.
- Play with Keyboard, Mouse or Game Controller.
- MUCUS PARTY bonus event.
- Online Highscores.
- Game designed around real intestinal immunology studies.
- Links to learn more about the specific scientific concepts featured in the game.
For more information about the game, including screenshots, visit the press kit: http://forceofhab.it/press/sheet.php?p=dysbiosis
I’ve written a bit for the Wellcome Trust blog on the game.
The Story of Games and Narrative
This is a big topic – really big. I’m not planning to write a full account of it here in this post. But it is key to say that there are a few things people interested in games and narrative need to understand. I’m writing this in reaction to comments George Lucas about games and stories:
A member of the audience asked what the panel thought of Lucas and Spielberg’s comments, made during a separate USC School of Cinematic Arts session in June this year this year, where Spielberg in particular claimed player interaction meant games had little to offer in terms of telling stories, saying “The second you get the controller something turns off in the heart, and it becomes a sport.”
This echoes and idea that came up during Nine Worlds about Cyberpunk and how it was working as a narrative form:
They were further joined by Wagner and Deus Ex: Human Revolution writer James Swallow, who issued the bold challenge: “Maybe cyberpunk dead to literature but it’s not dead to video games because what we can do is a different form of experiential storytelling that you can’t do in books. We can take the audience to a different place that books and films can’t do.”
Games are fundamentally different story telling mediums to both film and books. Not better, not worse – different. I love all three and think that a world without any one would be a poorer place indeed. That said here’s where I start from:
- Games do not need story to have a narrative. The player forms their own journey though the game, which forms a set of connections all their own and so a narrative is born.
- Games are not films. Don’t expect linear forms of story to emerge from a game and be as good as those emerging from film – a form designed for linear story.
- Games are still not films. When we want to be told a story we can watch a film or read a book. When we want to take part in, or create our own story, we can play a game.
- Games are really not films. When you tell a story via a game we don’t expect it to be experienced by the player the same way we as the designer imagines it will.
- Don’t tell gamers and game designers how games are rubbish at story. There a loads of examples of great games with great stories. If you’re not playing games and making this point then you need to play games before you wade in. If you are playing games and making this point then I suggest you make a game that shows us how you’d do it in that form. Else I refer you to point 2, above.
That’s all for now, I think… PS. Games don’t do story? My reply – Last of Us.
Censoring the Net – What Does Not Work, Won’t Work
We’ve had a lot more talk of this in the UK. At first is was adopting the ‘three strikes you’re out’ law that France used. It’s been dropped now, I suspect because it practically unenforceable without hitting major issues of people right to access information. It’s a blunt tool that assumes those using an identified IP are the right people to target.
I’d written before that such schemes can’t work in non-authoritarian countries. It won’t stop people from trying and sadly before they go often a number of people are caught in the dragnet before it collapses.
We’ve also seen the ban on sites like the Pirate Bay here, which are comically easy to get around. Practically it delays you by a few seconds from accessing such a site. The battle does not end there:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, The Pirate Bay has released a new download called PirateBrowser. It’s effectively a functional web browser that will allow users to bypass ISP filters that typically block access to the site, as is found in countries such as the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
The software is built on Firefox 23. TorrentFreak reports that a Windows version is available now with Mac and Linux versions soon to follow.
Upon booting it also offers pre-programmed bookmark access to a host of Torrent providers.
The Pirate Bay is reportedly working on new tech that would allow users to store and distribute entire websites, such as The Pirate Bay itself. The idea is that these sites will exist without a public facing website, thus making their blocking or enforced closure nearly impossible.
I should add, I make some of my living from selling content online and have had loads of my work pirated. This is not a post questioning the rights and wrongs of piracy (that’s a bigger debate) but simply stating what works and what does not.
We should be wary of those suggesting that censoring the net will somehow solve societal problems. It does not work and so won’t any more than the War on Drugs has stopped people from taking them.
#NineWorlds in Tweets
Nine Worlds Geekfest was great fun – a huge well done to the organisers and those attending for making it such fun. The sessions I was part of went really well and we’ll have video of the soon I hope. For now here’s a picture from the event of 3 major cyberpunk game devs:
Left to right: Antoni Strzalkowski (Cyberpunk2077), Jan Wagner (Shadowrun Online) and James Swallow (Deus Ex:Human Revolution)
And also some of the tweets I liked…
Don’t Forget… Some Things of Interest
Firstly this weekend sees Nine Worlds Geekfest with some amazing panels (and I’m chairing 2 of them). Be there or be square and miss out on amazing stuff. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (and thanks to the Wellcome Trust for their support here!)
Secondly Call of Cthulhu:The Wasted Land is part of the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G Cthulhu Lovecraft Transmedia Bundle which has been doing really well. I’m proud to say I curated this thing of tentacled beauty, so buy it asap. Or again, be square.
Thirdly NarcoGuerra is now out on lots of PC sites – GamersGate, IndieCity and ShinyLoot. Get your copy now!
And you want a forth? OK, you asked for it… Chiptune cover of Get Lucky… (Nothing to do with me, just amazing!)
Gimme Shelter (The Game)
I’ve spend some time this weekend playing a new card-based strategy title called ‘Shelter‘:
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The game uses a comic styling and has a solid strategy mechanic in it. It’s really well done. Great title from a promising indie studio and I totally recommend it! (And it’s made here in Bristol!)
A Great Becoming... 