Blast Theory exhibition

This weekend me and Allie went to Exeter to have a look at the Blast Theory exhibition. After twenty years Blast Theory have created some great projects. The exhibition covered five of their best from stampede to can you see me know. It's the first time I have been to Exeter and it's a bit bigger than I thought so there were to delight of Allie some vintage shops to have a look in (she recommends them to anyone if you go there).



Anyway back to the exhibition. I am not going through all of the pieces but basically I loved them. I think there is something about Blast Theories work that they have done everything you want to do. They inspire you to go out and try something which I think can only be a testament of the pieces. I also really liked the way it was exhibited in Space X. I think what was also really interesting is looking back at how technology has allowed them to do new things but fundamentally the artistic nature and idea of what they were seems to have been there right from the start.



I think the thing that most stood out from the projects shown was the idea of the individual experience. Which for me personally is an ongoing issue with us trying to create games that have narrative and a mass participation nature yet feel individual. And above that again can make them to be sustainable. There is always going to be a debate about how games and story do or do not work together. And games such as everwake for us are experiments to see how this can work. slipping between technology and the physical. And this is what I felt Blast Theory was really investigating in an exciting way.

So that was it, a great day a bit cold but brilliant day. And then just as we decided to go home we chanced upon the sixth blast theory experience of the day. While walking around the museum in Exeter we saw the below. Allie had in the back of her mind that she had seen the name and we decided to give the number a ring. And we were taken through a very different tour of the museum.

Coming of age

While the game itself is still very much the lowest common denominator of a game, the basic shoot'em up. Does the trailer now begin to recognise it's plight? is this an very poignant moment of realisation? will the shoot'em up always be successful? Who knows.

But it is nice that the producers have begun to provide some form of humour instead of the mainstream movie trailer. Hey maybe it was just a blip!!!!

playARK - christmas game

We have a great christmas game in store for people. If you are interested you can find out more and buy tickets at http://jokulfrosti.eventbrite.com/

everwake part 2

Well this week it begins. All over again. The plan was to have a break, however recent events have pushed part 2 of everwake forward. I am personally really looking forward into developing the second story of everwake and most importantly how we can get the game at the heart of it all. I think I have always wanted to use everwake as a huge experiment in terms of pervasive gaming. Trying to serialise it like you do with tv shows such as LOST. But I think for a game this is harder. How can people be kept abreast of what has happened up to that date and then not feel out of the loop? Well that's the challenge, plus seeing where and if there should be online content for the game.

But before that, I think it maybe time to put on a seasonal game for all of you guys getting a few withdrawal symptoms. We should be announcing it this week so keep your eyes peeled.

when are you role playing? and when are you just being you?

The pervasive game genre, is an interesting paradox for me and one I have been wrestling with for the last year or so. What I am struggling with it the idea of role play and being yourself.

For me I really got interested in pervasive games because in my mind you did not 'play a character' you were just yourself within the rules of the game given to you. But the more and more I get involved in this there are as ever more shades of grey than there is grey shades. So is there a difference? are there pervasive games that you can be yourself in? and are there games that you have to be a character, and are both of these pervasive games?

So lets go through it and see why I have been thinking about this recently.

Last summer myself and Allie were lucky enough to get to London for the groundbreaking game Conspiracy for Good The game was created by Tim Kring of Heroes fame. The game itself was huge encompassing four weekends around London town. NOKIA sponsored the game and so there was a load of technology involved in the game. For such a big game I was a bit disappointed by it, but I think now a year or so later, I am wondering if it was because I was given a 'fake' character name with certain character traits. So in essence we were asked to roleplay a character. During the game I think there was always an element of detachment, and I wonder now if it was because of the role play element.

In contrast something like 2.8 hours later where you are merely yourself and are asked to interact with the world as yourself feels real and immersive. I am still not sure. Yet it seems like it maybe a mix of both. i.e. the game itself needs to be something you get into so then maybe roleplay doesn't matter? and you have to believe in the story.

Allie's 31st

After last years birthday I thought the another treasure hunt was in order so Allie could go out and find out clues for her birthday. You hopefully get an idea from the image above as to the game. Very fun making it.

what's in a genre? apparently a lot.

Since finishing the first episode of everwake we have been looking at ways of developing it for the future. In time we hope to develop it's complexity and make it of equal complexity of some tv series but across different media channels and obviously through games.

Now this is not an easy thing and we are aware it will take along time to bring this to the players but we think the different levels and complexities will make a truly brillant game and experience. But there are two points that have been nagging me about the project. Firstly the argument that games are not stories and indeed stories are not needed to make a game work, and when people say this to me I always think about how I skip through the story of contemporary games such as call of duty which further re-enforce this in my mind. Yet is this the case when it comes to pervasive type games that have real world elements surrounded by a theme.

A really quick way of describing this is thus. If we describe a game through a story or more importantly a cultural understanding then instantly there are rules, fears and all manner of information that people instantly recognise. So as I am talking about stories I will give you two examples:

example one - You are the survivor of a zombie apocalypse, you have to stay alive and make it to safety.

example two - The population of earth has been infected by a virus. billions of people have died from the virus with some people coming back from the dead but having a lust for blood and a desire to kill anything that is considered alive. Among the billions of people who died there are some people who seem to be immune from the virus and are looking for join together for safety reasons. You have to try and find these people are get to safety.

So through your cultural knowledge of zombies through books, films and general myths and legends you understand the who premise of the game and in someways a number of it's rules (such as run from zombies), in a single line. In contrast example two says the same thing but is so hard to understand and also more importantly 'get into'.

So this is a very simple example and I guess you could argue that the game can still be separated from the story. But I think the question is for the pervasive gamers. Is does the story add to the game? but more importantly does the story change the way you play the game? if yes then surely the story is hugely important to the game?


So on to the second part of the blog. The issue of making a story and how it is classified. I was having a conversation a week ago with Kev and allie about how everwake could develop. Looking at if it could have sci-fi elements in it or should it turn more into a thriller or simply stick to a ghost story? while we made no decisions what became apparent is that all three of us had a totally different view point of what stories and films fit into genres.

So as a test what genre would the following films/series fit in for you?

- X MEN
- Misfits
- Heroes
- LOST
- BATMAN
- 28 Days Later

So Sci-Fi, Paranormal, fantasy, thriller what would they be?

I think what I am getting at is that just as things are converging within the media, could that mean that generes are becoming twisted together?