Supervisor Meeting - 08

This week our supervisor was unable to attend the meeting due to injury. However I have decided to still set my tasks for this next week.

• Complete Event04 - Burning Orphanage
• Re-do Visual Dissertation
• Complete journal articles found
• Create First draft Dissertation
• Write up PT
• Books/Journals relating to new Vis Diss Doc

Sadly I fell a little behind plan last week so I really want to catch up on myself this week. I do not feel behind but felt I did not carry out as much work last week as I have done in previous weeks.

Audio/Music in Games

This is a review of two articles I found:

Article 01

Sonic Mechanics: Audio As Gameplay

http://gamestudies.org/1301/articles/oldenburg_sonic_mechanics

The definition of a game provided in Rules of Play is "a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome" (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003, p. 80).

- definition of a game

This article did not seem to have much on what I needed. it focused heavily on sound which might be useful later on in my project, however, I do not think I will be going that deep into audio/music.

Article 02

Subjective Measures of the Influence of Music Customization on the Video Game Play Experience: A Pilot Study

http://gamestudies.org/1102/articles/wharton_collins

Mark Grimshaw has extensively studied sound and immersion in the first person shooter genre by using sound on/sound off subjective and objective tests, arguing that sound effects contribute to immersion (see, e.g. Nacke, Grimshaw and Lindley 2010). Kristine Jørgensen (2008) has likewise shown that sound influences the functional aspects of game-play, as well as the emotional connection to the game world.

- The importance of sound

Experienced game players would typically recognize this important role that music can have in alerting them to dangers or providing other information about the game.

- Inexperienced gamers may not be aware of this

‘Katherine’ found herself getting involved with the game, yet discovered she was more anxious “like there was something around the corner that the music was building up to.” However, unlike some participants who found the anxiety unsettling and a potential impairment to game-play, the heightened anxiety was felt by this participant to immerse her more in the game

 - music setting the atmosphere and helping immersion

An important (if unsurprising) finding of the study is that altering the music in a game changes meanings, actions, effects, and emotional response to the game. By varying the songs or altering the order of the songs, players not only experienced different immersive and emotional states, but also considerably changed how they play the game.

- Shows the importance of music style and selection when composing and gettign music for your game

Personal Notes

These two articles were very much intended for focus on music/sound in games. Even though this is a bit distant from my topic, it still provided some interesting points and ideas.

Narrative, Games, and Theory by Jan Simons - Review

This was a very in-depth article regarding narrative, games and theory. A lot of it was just too distant for what I was looking for - it was leading into psychology etc. At this stage it is important for me to home in on the areas I need to look at. Later today I will be re-doing my Visual Dissertation Doc, and looking to start preparing for my dissertation.

Link:

http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons

According to ludologists, the major difference between games and narratives is that the former address “external observers” who apprehend “what has happened,” whereas the latter require “involved players” who care about “what is going to happen” (Frasca, 2003b).

- These definitions of narrative I keep findign always seem to be interesting

When we compose a narrative, especially a narrative based on memory, we usually try to represent “how things came to be what they are,” and the end is prefigured in the beginning. But when we read a narrative, even one in which the end is presented before the beginning, we adopt the outlook of the characters who are living the plot as their own destiny. Life is lived prospectively and told retrospectively, but its narrative replay is once again lived prospectively (Ryan, 2001).

- This reference makes a good example of my project and what it could be attempting

Lisbeth Klastrup argues, performances by players in interaction with each other and virtual gameworlds give rise to “tellable events,” “which would retrospectively make good stories” (Klastrup, 2003). Klastrup suggests to speak of “the experience of interaction-in-time, a series of effective interaction events that are naturally connected” (Klastrup, 2003) - an appropriate rephrasing of Aarseth’s concept ergodic - as“story-living” (Aarseth, 1997).

- This is how my game is hopefully going to work - 'story-living'

For one thing, many narratologists would object to a characterization of narrative as a “description” of traits and events. Gérard Genette distinguishes the “the representations of actions and events,” - “the properly narrative parts of a story” - from “representations of objects and characters, which belong to what one nowadays calls description” (Genette, 1969). According to Genette,narration is concerned with the “temporal and dramatic” parts of a story, whereas description “suspends time” and “displays the story spatially” (Genette, 1969).

- Genette's remark is something that helps me see the 'narrative' and 'descriptive' parts of my story

As Edward Branigan (2006) argues:
One of the purposes of seeing and perceiving narratively is to weigh how certain effects that are desired may be achieved, how desire is linked to possibilities for being, how events may proceed. In this way, perceiving narratively operates to draw the future into desires expressed in the present as well as demonstrates how the present was caused by the past and how the present may have effects in the future (p.32).

- I might be understanding this wrong but again, I think this can relate to my project

As Seymour Chatman writes: “Kernels are narrative moments that give rise to cruxes in the direction taken by events. They are nodes or hinges in the structure, branching points which force a movement into one of two (or more) possible paths” (Chatman, 1978). In order to identify these kernel events, a narratologist must identify a story’s ending and then reason backwards in order to establish which events must have occurred in order to make the occurrence of later events possible. The narratologist’s take on a story is hence retrospective (as is the narrator’s and historian’s perspective, because in order to be able to tell a story or to identify the beginning of a historical development, one has to know how it ended (Danto, 1985; Martin, 1986)).

- This is similar to how I have developed my story and events

Personal Notes

I found this article very difficult to understand at times. It seems very professional and maybe at a level a bit higher than what I am used to. It had a lot of interesting points but at the same time, I struggled with understanding parts.

Event03 - 'Death Of A Soldier' - Progress

This event has been completed very quickly and effectively. I have started to use cgtextures.com to help enhance my texturing. It has helped a lot and has really made my environment look much better. I still feel a bit uneasy using these textures as I can't then say that this project is all my work - although I was told not too worry about that, especially as that is not what I am being graded on.

Where I Am So Far

I have managed to pretty much finish this event - to a playable level. You hear a banging at the door to which you open. A body underneath a white sheet is lying on a table. Upon entering, the door starts to continually bang shut for a while. It eventually stops and the body disappears. When leaving the room, the hotel's walls and floor states to change into a 'half-state' material which is a crossover between a hotel carpet and Asylum tiles.

Event03 - 'Death Of A Soldier' - Progress

Personal Notes

I am really pleased with the speed of this event. I am managing to complete each event faster than the previous as my skills and knowledge of UE4 is improving with every step. I am going to spend tomorrow on research and Monday on practical work for Event02 and Event03. I will move on too Event04 on Tuesday. Bit of a hectic week this week but should hopefully pick myself up again next week.

Player Agency

Article 01

A Computational Model of Perceived Agency in Video Games

http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/AIIDE/AIIDE11/paper/viewFile/4083/4418

Agency, being one’s ability to perform an action and have some influence over the world,

-First line in abstract - describes agency (Very good abstract)

Many games exploit the fact that the player will see a particular sequence only once, and create an illusion of agency through carefully crafted exposition.

- Interesting remark - falls under the false pretense of "non-linear" games that have the same ending no matter what.

providing agency is wasteful if player desires can be controlled.

- Interesting remark

Article 02

Commitment to Meaning: A Reframing of Agency in Games

http://thegeekmovement.com/ktanenbaum/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/tanenbaum__tanenbaum_2009_commitment_to_meaning_dac.pdf

Without an understanding of the pleasures of play and story and the assumptions surrounding player preferences, it will be impossible to engineer a way to a solution.

- Discussing the problem with agency

proposes a shift from the notion of agency as representing choice or freedom to one of agency as representing commitment.

- This paper is taking a different approach when looking at agency

better understand game experiences where a player has limited or restricted actions, but remains fully engaged with the game.

 - Due to scale of my project, this will be very helpful to me

we are suggesting that when play and story intersect, agency is better understood as a commitment to meaning, instead of a desire to act freely.

- I am really liking this idea and approach. Much more interesting way of looking at agency

Janet Murray, who describes it as “the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices” [24].

is careful to qualify her definition, reminding the reader that “interactors can only act within the possibilities that have been established by the writing and programming."[24] 

- Worth taking a closer look at Janet Murray - 'most well known definition of agency' comes from her

Today, not only is it possible for unanticipated and emergent player actions to occur, in many games it is expected. These expectations have given rise to a shift in the notion of agency, away from choice and toward freedom.

- Moving on from agency being about choice to agency being about freedom

Gonzalo Frasca, who completely disassociates agency from narrative meaning. He writes: “the more freedom the player is given, the less personality the character will have. It just becomes a ‘cursor’ for the player’s actions.” [15]

- an interesting counter-argument for the subject

However, we need constraints in order to make interactive experiences meaningful and pleasurable.

- There does need to be some form of boundary in games

Noah Wardrip Fruin writes that this “makes conversation feel a bit less first person — sometimes more as though we’re influencing Shepard (the player character) than playing as Shepard.”[38]

- A more negative approach to Mass Effect's gameplay compared to the usual praise it gets

It is more important to provide the player with the ability to take a single, meaningful action than a dozen trivial ones.

- Important techniques when creating perhaps story elements in a game

This definition, that agency is the process by which participants in an interaction commit to meaning, is particularly well suited to interactions with narrative and story-based games.

- Suits my project perfectly

Article 03

Rethinking Agency and Immersion: videogames as a means of consciousness-raising

https://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/gallery/S01/essays/0378.pdf

When you play a game 10,000 times, the graphics become invisible. It's all impulses. It's not the part of your brain that processes plot, character, story. If you watch a movie, you become the hero - Gilgamesh, Indiana Jones, James Bond, whomever. The kid says, I want to be that. In a game, Mario isn't a hero. I don't want to be him; he's me. Mario is a cursor.î [Fullop, 1993]

- 'The more freedom the player is given, the less personality the character will have. It just becomes a "cursor" for the player's actions. - interesting argument

Article 04 - (Impact Case Study)

New Understandings of player agency used to improve digital games

*downloadable file - find via Google search: New Understandings of player agency used to improve digital games

Parsler has applied a theoretical approach to game design to better understand how the formal structures of a game create an experience that seems to the player to be ‘free’ but which – as in inherent in the medium – has significantly to be constrained.

 - Here is another definition of agency - supports previous statements

Personal Notes

For something as big as player agency, I struggled to find some useful articles however there were a few. Namely article 2 of this post - very good read and I can see myself using it when preparing for my dissertation. As for the rest of the articles, they had some bits of interesting information but no where near as much as no.2

Event03 - 'Death Of A Soldier'

This part of the story is when three young 'soldiers' bring their fallen comrade to Roseanne's house for her father to bury. Making reference to an asylum, this scene will be held in a lobotomy style room - very eerie with flickering lights.

Still carrying this project as linear (for now) this event will also trigger the hotel's transformation into an asylum by upon exciting the room - the walls and floor will transform to what I am calling a 'half-state' - half hotel/half asylum. I will create textures/materials that show both environments so it can be merged in the scene for a really interesting almost decomposing effect.

What Happens

1. Banging/knocking can be heard from behind a door
2. Upon entering the room, you see a body underneath a white bloodied sheet, in the middle of the room - lying on a table. There is blood words smeared all over the walls
3. Lights begin to flicker - noises start to happen
4. The body disappears
5. A few journal entries appear on the table - when the user leaves the room, the walls/floor slowly change 

Event03 - 'Death Of A Soldier'

Personal Notes

This event does not have too much complications too it - as for transforming the environment, I have already figured this out and tested it on the floor. It worked very well. It will be a little bit more complex as oppose to having 2 different textures, I aim to have 3 - Hotel - 'half-state' - Asylum

Supervisor Meeting - 07

Student Name: Christy McLaughlin
Supervisor: Ryan Locke
Date: 02.03.15

Agenda

• Show new Visual Dissertation Doc
• Show new Journals/Articles relating to horror techniques etc
• Show practical work

Progress Report

• He really liked the progress of my visual dissertation doc. We discussed this is detail highlighting the ares of 'player experience'. 
• We looked through the articles/journals I had found. These were specific to horror games and how to create horror and proved very interesting and brought up some interesting conversation.
• Was pleased to see more progression. Suggested that it's time to start looking at how to make the user feel uneasy - looking closer at P.T. (Silent Hill) and seeing how they achieved an uneasy visual environment

Agreed Action Plan

• For Visual Dissertation Doc look at - player experience=interaction, agency, feedback (results/progression in game)
• Methods/devices that affect player agency
• Change interactive environment to something like 'Gameworld Environment'
• Perhaps a deeper analysis of P.T. (Silent Hill)
• Look at devices for visual storytelling

Personal Notes

Was a very pleasing discussion. With regards to practical, he emphasised how important it is too make sure it is relating too my research. He was pleased that I had been doing that and wants too make sure I continue and do more of it. I mentioned my action plan of being finished by end of March - with April to polish and he is fine with that.

As for research, he is pleased with what I have - it's time to start looking more at my Visual Dissertation Doc and looking at player agency etc more closely.

For Next Week

• Complete Event03 - 'Death Of A Soldier'
• Spend one evening on Event02 (Missed out doing it today)
• Adapt Visual Dissertation Doc and research into player agency
• Research into devices of visual storytelling
• Read book: 'Horror Video Games'

I am still feeling very good about my project. Ryan was very pleased with the sound effects I had created and added to my game and this has really made me want to excel with much more. Now it's March I am going to spend my weekends purely on research/dissertation and the weekdays for practical work. - Depending on work flow, I will most likely add Friday to being a 'research day'.