Done

It's over, finally over. It had a few hiccups but nothing game-breaking. On my end, while me and my friends (other wild-boys) were waiting for the players, one of the balloons decided to pop out of nowhere, sending the QR code flying. I thought it was lost but we found it five minutes later, about a minute before the players came outside. So now there were three balloons, and one QR piece just chilling there, so I just wrapped it in a leaf to be presented to the players upon their arrival (shamelessly inspired by Lembas bread in the Lord of the Rings). Once Maggie, Gabe, and Roy got to us, we spoke in some wordless language that I now realized was really completely made up of a laugh we heard on a Skype Laughter Train video on youtube. They didn't quite get that they were supposed to shoot the balloons with the bow and arrow, which was mostly my fault because I popped one of the balloons with an arrow to show them when I should have shot it instead. Gabe did attempt to shoot the last balloon though... I'll just leave it at attempted. Fitting the QR code together took a bit of finagling as well, and the smart phone didn't read it until after the game was over causing me to attempt to communicate orange flower without words in a flowerless environment with only a turn signal on a car for orange. My part was extremely fun, mostly due to my friends participating with me, so a special thanks to my flat mates Zach Oliver and Rob Lee for the help. As for the rest of the game, the map wasn't extremely clear on where the orange flowers were located so they went the wrong way, leading them to the shady fisherman Emile. It was supposed to be clear not to follow him by his shadiness, but in hindsight he wasn't all that out of place in our reality so I don't blame them for following him. I really liked the idea of having a cryptic warning earlier in the game about him, but we left it out unfortunately. I think it would have helped the player stay away from him as well as put maybe a hint of a narrative to the game, something that we were definitely lacking. That could have been a piece that held the game together better. All in all though, it was fun from beginning to end and it was great to see how the team had changed since the first project. I'm really happy with the end result and on the chance that I don't come back next year I'd be proud for it to have been my last project.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/290074361019564/ Our facebook page, basically a continuation of our cerebral tempest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p32OC97aNqc Optional and purely for laughs, the third guy in was what we based our wild boy language on. Heeyaw heeyaw

Are We There Yet?

Well it's about that time again, I hate the end notes of projects. I'm much more about the journey than the destination I think. The last few days we've been in high gear making all our props and getting what we're doing straight. I didn't realize how many things we've actually made and collected, and I still have yet to make my slingshot, though I think it may end up being a bow just because I already know I can make one that works correctly. Without further ado, here's pretty much the final arsenal for our experience tomorrow.

What's that in your pocket?

Alright, so we got the ball rolling today by getting something physical that we can actually hold. Emile and I were discussing how we could work digital means into our game. QR codes work quickly and would keep the pace of the player quick, which is what we want. I think the game should be as flowing as possible to reflect how fleeting a child's attention can be. We went to the 3D lab and made up a QR that is split into four sections like a puzzle. It reads perfectly... once you get it together in the right way. We thought about marking the back so that they would be easier to put together once they got them but I thought that would make it too easy. It isn't an impossible task and it isn't even frustratingly hard, so it should be all good. We're going to put the pieces in balloons that the player will have to pop with a slingshot in the trees. The area will have to be pretty safe to shoot pellets at but I have a couple places with some trees and walls in mind. At first I didn't think putting something as modern as QR codes in a "wilderness" setting, but thinking about it more

, it might add to the odd atmosphere. Maybe in this kid's reality tribes had technology but chose to use it sparingly, who knows we can always add a deeper story in later. Emile and I also went through some
other possible artifacts and decided on a hidden message and telescope. We're thinking it'll be really wonky looking, slightly bent. We'll also be staying with our cardboard theme for this one. It definitely feels good to have something concrete to hold though, makes me feel better about it coming together.

DO SOMETHING!

I did some research today during one of our lulls in activity and found an article written by Jean Piaget in 1955 about the construction of reality in children. Now, he definitely writes in circles with a lot of superfluous speech, but I did pick out something interesting that supports a thought I had when thinking about the game mechanics. "In our first study of the beginnings of mental life we analysed the origins of intelligence in children and tried to show how the forms of intellectual activity are constructed on the sensori motor level" (Piaget web). This corresponds directly with my thinking that physical activity lends itself more to a child than a script based game. I think that making the player actually do something will make them feel less like an adult (as we rarely would perform the activities we have planned), and in doing so will immerse them more. By engaging the player's motor skills, they are being forced to focus on their surroundings and what is at hand, placing them in a different track of thinking which I believe is the first step towards immersion. I attempted to read more but to quite honest, the language is incredibly boring.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/piaget2.htm

Remember That Time...?

FINALLY, we've settled on an idea. Another talk with Maggie led us to a more personalized game. At first we were leaning towards putting the player in the shoes of one of the group members, but we decided against that relatively quickly. Personally, I think it could have been a great experience provided that one of us would be comfortable delving deep into ourselves and sharing, otherwise it wouldn't work. It would need to be done pretty deeply to make the game a genuine alternate reality. Instead, we like the era of childhood; a nostalgic look back at the fun we had while in our own childhood realities. So far this is my favorite idea just because of the room for creativity and imagination. We don't have to worry about whether other people think the reality is foolish or incoherent because that's the essence of a child's mind, they don't care. From what we discussed though, it might be a bit of an odd experience for me because I was REALLY not planning on doing any character work, but I suppose it'll make for a much stronger player experience and will hopefully suspend disbelief for at least a second if we do our jobs correctly. BUT, if nothing else it will be fun, which is what I keep taking from Gabe every time we talk, and I'm not about to complain about a fun project at this point in the year.

Cerebral Tempest

The very first thing we did to try to get all of our thoughts out on the table was to jot down a brain storm or in our case cerebral tempest, on a large white board. It turned out to contain ideas for everything from game mechanics like a class system for the players, to themes and concepts for the reality itself. The bottom board contains our thoughts from the start while the above board was after speaking with Maggie. In talking to her we were shown that we lacked a reality, but had all the underlying themes and everything that we needed to make that reality sound. We knew we wanted something that wasn't far off from our typical reality, yet surreal in some off-kilter way. For instance one idea we keep coming back to is for a little girl (placeholder, I think we're being too influenced by the creepiness of little girls in media) to be saying cryptic and odd sayings that don't make sense unless broken down, along with odd artifacts like a radish. So far we've been a lot better at listening and criticizing each other's ideas constructively than the last time we worked together, but the reality setting is still an issue that we can't come to terms on.

Installation

These are the final audio files used in our sound installation. The first is the backdrop soundscape we created in an attempt to conjure the idea of a battlefield. It's purposely experimental and are created sounds as opposed to realistic sounds. The second file is a voice recording done by Cory Beduhn meant to illustrate suffering. These two were played in conjunction in the Audio Foundation's store room on a loop, the voice aimed at the door while the soundscape played ambiently. The point was for the listener to mostly hear the soundscape and faintly hear the voice, and hopefully they would be intrigued enough to put their ear up to the door (which was locked). Unfortunately I think presenting it singularly may have mucked this up a little, as it was meant to be inconspicuous and catch the listener without them seeing.

http://www.badongo.com/audio/25706882

http://www.badongo.com/audio/25718568