Liquid Crystal

To anyone who wishes to become a master of their craft: take a step back and examine the basic fundamentals of your art.  Understand why things work the way they do.  In this particular case, I took the basic element of computer graphics, the pixel, and studied its division.

Pixels can be divided into three sections: red, green, and blue.  Each of these colors can hold different values (0 to 255) and use the illusion of color vibration to create new colors.   In the example, I’ve created an enlarged example of subpixels, showing off complex colors such as green, orange, and pink.  If you blur your vision for a second, you get a better sense of how color vibration works.  Note that all of these colors are created using red, green, and blue set to different values.  In other words, the colors are all pure and there and all the mixing is done with your eyes.  Due to the fixed layout of these subpixels, a bleeding phenomenon can occur in certain cases.  On the right, you’ll notice a blue line.  This is an artifact of the pink color.  Since the green is muted, the blue is out by it’s lonesome self.

It turned out to be a pretty thought-provoking study, though I’ve struggled to figure out how to apply this knowledge.  Maybe someday I’ll come back to it.

When choosing your favorite games of the year, what should the criteria be?  Is it about innovation, refinement, or the emotion it brings out in you?  Each title I’ve selected is easy to get into and lures you into a deeper, specialized concept such as precision coupled with continuous improvement, tension, or discovery.  Enjoy!

Mario Kart Wii - Simple, fun, yet hard to master.  Casual racers will have fun just learning to drive, but more “professional” drivers will be thrilled as they successfully pull off precise maneuvers and juggle multiple threats.  In Mario Kart Wii, you’re not just driving; you’re aligning yourself to the next boost pad, performing a trick in midair that will give you another boost, landing near an opponent and slipstreaming behind them, and then finally throwing your vehicle into a corner with a power slide.  Oh, and don’t forget to watch out for others who will try tirelessly to knock you off course.  And then there are the environmental obstacles…  Mario Kart Wii is an addictive adrenaline rush that gets away with its flaws because of its core gameplay is tested, tweaked, and proven.  In addition to the gameplay, the online ranking system and ghost races help bolster the “just one more” mantra.  The game is packaged with a plastic wheel; thankfully you can choose to play it with a number of alternatives such as my favorite, the Wiimote and nunchuck.

Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice - The Ace Attorney series is more of a visual novel than a game, but they cleverly dish out a little information here and there, doing a superb job at building up tension through storytelling.  When you finally present the damning piece of evidence, the limited interactivity proves its worth in a thrilling climax in the courtroom.  And then there are the characters…  While some are overly cheesy and make a total mockery of the courtroom, the characters are memorable and their dialogue is filled with witty (and some objectionable) humor and allusions.

Dragon Quest IV - By today’s standards, Dragon Quest IV is a limited adventure.  Your options are few and the world is relatively small, but these are also its strengths.  By leaving out so many extras, Dragon Quest IV engages the player through their learning and mastery of its simple mechanics.  The world might be small, but there are plenty of secrets to be found.  The storytelling is still phenomenal in how it divides the the quest into small, digestable chapters, only to come together in a grand finale.

Galaga

Two years ago I captured some photos of various videogames using the long exposure technique. I was mainly interested in the idea of light painting and the patterns that would emerge from all the dancing pixels. In addition to the dazzling array of lights, I noticed that each shot told a story.

The intensity of a boxing match in Mike Tyson’s Punchout! is captured in a way standard screenshots and movies cannot. While we can feel the impact of the blow from a well shot photograph, the barrage of punches in a long exposure shot turns the bout into a supernatural feat.

Galaga transformed more into a traditional light show.  Many of the graphics remain firmly planted in 2D, though the legions of sprites toward the top of the image begin to give the illusion that they are breaking into the third dimension.

The ghosts in Ms. Pac-man begin to take on a more see-through, apparition-like appearance with eerie colored trails of light filling up the pathways.

I apologize for the image quality, this was more of an experiment for me.  In addition to these, I took a photograph of Bubble Bobble, but it’s not quite ready for display at the moment.  I would like to do Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight in the future.  Are there any games you’d like to see shot?

Here’s a game designed around the simple joy of experimentation.  In Eets, the player places these little creatures around the screen in order to set up a chain of reactions to reach the always seemingly near goal.  Eets uses a colorful backdrop that not only features creatively designed puzzles, but pays considerable attention to the effects of the player’s actions.  Even a mistake can be satisfying to watch.   A miscalculation in placement could change a single explosion into a massive catastrophe that destroys the entire stage.

As I was playing it, I couldn’t help but think that the gameplay would be well-suited for the iPhone or iPod Touch.  A perfect match?

Eets by Klei Entertainment

The original artwork for Dragon Quest

While there are many who will fight over detail, perhaps we should take a step back and look at the benefits of ambiguity.  We sometimes get too involved with painting the picture that is in our head and forget that our audiences have a tool that can build worlds out of our foundations—their imagination.

Screenshot from Dragon Warrior

In 1989, the original Dragon Quest was released into the United States amid a number of changes.  Along with a new title, Dragon Warrior, the localization team took advantage of the game’s primitive graphics and changed the art that came packaged with it. While this was done to cater to western audiences and hopefully add to sales figures, it goes to show how Dragon Quest’s ambiguous graphics allow for several points of perspective.

I don’t want to advocate the complete reversal of the show, don’t tell mantra, but I believe authors of any media should pick their battles and think about where their viewers’ imaginations can fill in the blanks.  Ambiguity adds mystery and can allow for customized settings.  In addition to these benefits, a story can be re-examined years later and infused with new elements based on the new thoughts and memories of the viewer.  The words “ball of light” could illuminate like a glow stick to a child, but shine with an indescribable brilliance to an adult.

The revised artwork for Dragon Warrior

In the coming weeks, I will continue along these lines with articles about information hiding and division.  Until then, think about this—how do we add ambiguity to our work in an age of advanced graphics and where words are sparingly used?

A description would be missing the point—this is a game about discovery.  The minimalistic design approach keeps everything very focused and raises the player’s level of sensitivity to the environment.  If you have access to a Windows XP, you have to give this a try.  It’s short, brilliant, and one of a kind.

Illegal Communication by Cactus

Exploration is less about physical travel, and more about the mind.  It is not only about discovery, but the emotions involved.  While our natural instinct is to link a scene to exploration, Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario, Legend of Zelda) gives an example of exploration coming from within,

“Imagine the Spirit—the state of mind—of a kid when he enters a cave alone.  Going in, he must feel the cold air around him.  He must discover a branch off to one side and decide whether to explore or not.  Sometimes he loses his way.  If you go to the cave now, as an adult, it might be silly, trivial, a small cave.  But as a child, in spite of being banned to go, you could not resist the temptation.  It was not a small moment then.  This feeling must be realized in the game.”

So as designers, we must reevaulate what we see, and learn to understand what brings out these raw emotions.  Think of words to describe the scene.  For the aforementioned cave, we could say it is forbidden, unfamiliar, cold, dangerous, dim, and isolated.  What other words does the cave description bring to mind?

We’re a new indie game development team looking to push the concepts of exploration and creativity in interactive entertainment.  This blog will serve as a public document of our growth and development.  We’ll be sharing our tales of studying “the Nintendo difference,” art creation, and the finer points of game development along with specific game observations we discover.