http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_187/5719-Hard-Wired-for-Gaming

There was an interesting article in the Escapist this week, about how the author's child was taught how to communicate through the use of videogames.  Apparently, being able to create a creature in Spore and have it be animated helped him understand how to recognize emotions in other people.

Comments?

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Finally started.  Sorry I've been gone for so long  Had school stuff to do.

I just unearthed my old copy of gamemaker 6, and after some hours of obsessive coding I created the product below.

Basically, this "game" is not much about gameplay rather than exploring concepts, such as vector physics, "planetary" terrain, lighting, and soft camera movement.  I focused on getting a graphics style more than anything.

So, here is the game.  Left/Right is rotating the ship or moving (counter)clockwise about the planet outside the ship, up is jump or thrust, and space is leaving or entering the ship.  You can only do so if the ship has landed and isn't moving.

Download:http://www.filefactory.com/file/b63023/n/Daynight_exe

So, as you can see, it is basically polished but mainly empty.  The idea of this thread is to give suggestions to what I can add that will still fit the style I have tried to convey, such as objects, concepts, sounds, and other music (I just chose a file at random).  In the end, we can create an "art" game.

This is a comic from WR.  Updates will be posted there first.  Don't worry though, you don't need to know much about what's going in (This is a prologue after all )  All will be explained.

(Note:  In this story, I shall be using actual folklore.  So do not try and “correct” me on certain subjects without a source.  For instance, a Kobold is not a lizard-like denizen of DnD, it is the German version of the Knockers, a Cornwall goblin that haunts mines.)

Prologue:
The wind billowed around the old elderwood trees, shaking their thorny branches violently in the early morning fog.  It was a cold autumn morning, and nothing moved save for the swaying branches.  Nothing, that is, except for two small figures stealing quietly through the wood, tears of fright and exhaustion streaming down their faces.

One of these, a boy of about fifteen years, looked sharply back over his shoulders, making sure that no one was following them through the desolate glade.  He was of a thin stature with wild hair, and his gaunt eyes peered fearfully into the dark behind him.

“Never once must we speak of this.  Not once.” He whispered hoarsely to his companion, a small girl covered in ash from head to toe.

He repeated this to her, and she nodded solemnly.

“Not once, brother.  Or the hags will find us again.” She answered softely.

Naught saw them save for those that do not matter…

Yet.


1.   The village
Jack ran through the marketplace, scampering between the legs of the taller villagers, much to their protest.  Despite being of the age of seven, he was still at the short stature of 3’ 6”, and was ridiculed for this many times by his schoolmates.

He scratched at the band concealed under his black tangled hair, and thought with dread about the tasks that awaited him that day.

It was Sunday.  And Sunday meant going to church.

Oh, how he despised it.  The stiff clothes, the hard benches, but worst of all was the prattle of the priest.

He did not know why, but for some reason every time the priest gave a sermon he felt the uncontrollable urge to laugh out loud, cry, and cringe in terror at the same time.  He disliked this surge of emotions, and thus he had volunteered to get water for his family so that he could clear his head.

With this in mind, he jumped over the stile at the end of the road, an impressive 2 feet tall, and stumbled up to the river bank on the other side of town.

Humming to himself a tune he heard in a dream, he slowly watched as the rushing water filled the bucket in his hand.

Suddenly, someone finished the tune for him.

He looked up startled to see a grinning girl of four years, shorter even than he was, wearing a cloak of scarlet and prancing about on the stile.

“Oh.  It’s only you, Rachel!  For a moment I was worried.”  Jack sighed in relief.  He had heard stories of water creatures like the dreaded Peg Powler, whose sole delight was to drown and devour little children.

“Heya, cuz!  What’cha doin?” she asked, half giggling, half speaking, always prancing about in an almost hypnotic fashion.

“Getting some water to douse your silly hood with, little Red!” he laughed, gesturing the bucket toward her.

She immediately frowned severly, trying not to smile, and said with a pout, “Don’t call me that!”

He laughed, and started to prance around her, flinging water with every step.

“Little red!  Little red!”

She squealed, and started to pelt Jack with acorns.

Suddenly, a clatter from the stream froze them in their tracks.  A green head, adorned with shells, surfaced from the water.

In a dry rasping voice, it spoke.  “Hello, children.  Would you like to go on an adventure?”

It leered at them cruelly.

What should Jack and Rachel do?

"Greetings, ignorant masses!  I am Richard Von Rich, and I am here to tell you that, despite the fact that my wealth is far greater than anything you will achieve in life, I'm getting bored.

I tire of bribing governments so that they can provide me with amusement.  I tire of buying the most expensive things I can think of and crash them into each other.

So, as the massive amount of unethical moolah that I have collected over the years (And through various inheritances) is losing its interest, I will turn to you all, the human capital, for entertainment.

I am currently standing on the future site of Gamingsteveland, where all of you will be soon, attracted by the promise of wealth and being idiots on television.

In this wasteland, you will live, love, fight, and die.  The audience will enjoy your deaths.

To commemorate the fact that I'm better than you, I will now burn this money.  Have a nice day."



((Okay, so this is the planning thread for a meta-game I've been thinking of.  I was thinking, perhaps we could have a village "map", with buildings and areas.  People would sign up, and state any preferences they would have for their character:  i.e. Have them be male or female, have a crush or not on another member (chosen randomly), and a job or family.  If they don't, it will be randomized (fun!)

People will post public actions in the game thread, and private actions (Like having an affair or backstabbing a friend) would be pmed to the GM.  Just to have things interesting some people will be psychos or thieves, and once every game "day" the gm will post one private action (chosen randomly) that everyone can see.

There will be pictures, interesting conflicts, epic battles, and the game will go on until everyone tires of it, or is killed.

There you have it.  A village simulator with no win conditions, but interesting enough social dynamics and some mafia-esque ness thrown into the mess to make it fun.))