- This topic has 19 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 11 months ago by
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A first look at an uinque video game, The Movies, which puts the player in the position of making a movie from pre-production to distribution.
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I’ve been following the progress of this game for a good while now. It should be great, looking forward to it. It will also be released on the big three consoles.
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Didn’t Dancing Dave design that at the Ernest Adams workshop? :)
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Didn’t Dancing Dave design that at the Ernest Adams workshop? :) [/quote:210d3b9044]
Thst’s right, Dancing Dave did design something similar to that at the workshop. :)Ernest Adams has an article up on the best concepts people have come up with through the years at his workshops. Check it out… http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040402/adams_01.shtmlhttp://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040402/adams_01.shtml
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I love the fact that he’s now “Dancing Dave” and not Skyclad!!! ;)
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And Ian, we’re overdue a few pints….
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Deffo Pete!!!!
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Get out the handbags!!!
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where have you been hiding, Ian? the hostelries of Dublin yearn for your custom!!!
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Hi Ian,
The link: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/2…/adams_01.shtml
appears dead to me. Can you check it out or perhaps mail the article to me if you have it?
All the best,
Paul Mc -
Sorry about that Paul, this here should work. :)
or
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20040402/adams_01.shtml
If they don’t work for you I’ve posted the article below.
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Be a Viking
I gave this challenge to a group of Swedes: be a Viking! Naturally, they knew quite a lot about the subject. But the game they designed surprised me extremely, and was one of the most fascinating I’ve ever heard about.
The object of the game was to develop and maintain a strong Norse community, and in that respect, it resembled a construction and management simulation, –Sim Viking, in effect. You build a village, raise grain and pigs, and go on raiding expeditions to other countries for loot and slaves. (I never realized Vikings had slaves, but apparently they did.) You also have an avatar, a Viking chieftain who leads the raiding expeditions. Your avatar must engage in fierce personal combat while on these raids–that increases your honor and strengthens the village. Honor is a critical resource. It pleases the gods in Valhalla, who bestow their favors on you.
The most interesting thing about the game is that it is multi-generational. One of the objects of the game is actually to die–to die in as bloody and violent a manner as possible, with your avatar surrounded by the bodies of the enemies he has slain. He’ll be buried in a wooden longship, and his soul will go to Valhalla, where his honor creates more strength and support for the Viking people.
When your avatar dies, you take on a new avatar, one of his children. It is imperative, therefore, that you find a mate and have children before you die. If you don’t have a child, then you can’t go on to the next generation when your avatar dies. The game just ends. Similarly, if you play conservatively, and hang on to your avatar until he’s old and feeble, eventually he’ll be killed without much honor, and the village will suffer. So for maximum benefit, you should die in the prime of life, in true berserker fashion.
The game has one more twist. Christians keep coming to your village and trying to baptize people. If someone is baptized, they’re no longer a Viking, and are lost to the community. If the Christians baptize your own children, you can no longer carry on the game when your avatar dies. And finally, the Christians bring influenza, which kills your population and can even kill you–a most dishonorable death. So part of the challenge is to kill off the Christians whenever they appear. The problem is that, like an old arcade game, it’s unwinnable. More and more Christians keep coming into the village. In the end, the Viking way of life is doomed.
As indeed it was.
Conclusion
It’s a truism of the game industry that ideas are a dime a dozen–everybody’s got a brilliant game idea, and no publisher or developer will pay you for an idea alone. Execution, not innovation, matters most if you want to get your game published.
And yet… in spite of the vast number of ideas swirling around, we do see an awful lot of them over and over again. The same gameplay mechanics. The same plots. The same victory conditions: drive the fastest, shoot the best, accumulate the most. I’ve never heard of a game in which the object was to die in glory, or to soothe the troubles of the mentally ill. That’s one of the reasons that giving these design workshops is such fun. I find it exhilarating and inspiring. And I really hope, for the sake of the industry and even the medium itself, that some of the people I’ve taught can get into the business and bring some of these ideas to life.
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Thanks Ronny,
Unfortunately I misread the preamble and thought that the design similar to “the Movies” was mentioned in the piece.As I’m closely involved with the development of The Movies I thought I should have a look at it.
All the best, and thanks for the biggest reply I’ve ever had on a forum :)
Paul Mc -
where have you been hiding, Ian? the hostelries of Dublin yearn for your custom!!![/quote:fb96bced84]
They need fear not! I’ll see you tonight for a few Tony !!!! ;)
Also, sorry there Paul about the confusion, Dave didn’t actually design the movies…eh hem! But something similar which unfortunately did not make through to the Best of the Game Design Workshops article ;)
Cheers,
Ian -
Well, we got 8/10 for our efforts :) Lets see what the real game gets from Edge :)
Dave
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lol ;)
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Well, we got 8/10 for our efforts :) Lets see what the real game gets from Edge[/quote:70c8a42dc8]
Ah, so Dancing Dave and Co were the other team that got 8/10. We came joint first. :) -
Now that’s fightin’ talk Skyclad. I’m gonna have to tell the boys to buck up a little; no more sunbeds and pies in the office from now till alpha. :mad:
Paul Mc -
Paul, good luck on the up coming milestones. I feel your pain.
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