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cellerityweb · 6 years

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Serious Games Indeed – Raising Awarenes, Changing the World

Games have the power to entertain us and make us forget our everyday routines, if only for a moment. They also have the power to change our mindset as well as the world … even if only a little.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

A girl is lying in bed, all dressed in white. Her pale skin shivers occasionally. Her lips are red as roses. I comb what little is left of her smooth black long hair as she looks at me and whispers: »I love you, don’t worry.« Irit, my sister, died of cancer at age 10.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

I’m in elementary school. It’s the fifth grade. I’m walking by my class and suddenly I hear a loud brawling sound. I turn around the corner by an old classroom structure that’s made of bricks, cracked asbestos and iron – only to see my good frail friend getting beaten all bloodied and gasping for air. I shout out »Stop this!« with all my might. They stop for a second to look at me and return to the beating. I decide to act. I break a wooden branch with sharp thorns and wave it in the air, whipping the two bigger boys to tears. My friend looks at me, covered with dirt and blood and whispers: »I’m ok man, don’t worry.«Zeev, my good friend, died at sea, caught in a whirlpool he couldn’t evade, age 26.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

I’m standing on a steep hill in the South of Lebanon. The outskirts of Bint Jbeil. I gaze upon troops firing bullets at each other. A tank is heading deeper into the road surrounding the village, only to move on top of a powerful landmine. A heavy hand touches my shoulder, startling, holding it tight. A bearded reserve soldier, named Rami, whom I just met an hour ago, an observer in the intelligence core, is being accompanied by his squad behind him. We joke for a minute about how all of this is just like a scene from »Age of Empires« game – »We will win this game bro, don’t worry«. They go over the hill to the other side for their mission. 30 minutes later, a Katyusha rocket hits them directly. Rami, age 30. Killed while serving his country.

Having experienced the ugly face of war first-hand, Tsahi is on a mission – with video games now being his weapon of choice.

My Road for a Gaming Chalice Begins

14 years ago, I was on the verge of leaving my job as a Cyber Security Expert. I loved my job but something in my day-to-day routine was missing. I felt I was missing my true calling and knew that I wanted to do something far more influential. I wanted to change the world with my knowledge. My passion can be blazing hot when I truly put my mind to it. I decided to be a game developer, and with that, my life changed completely.

My first job was as a game programmer at probably the best TV channel for children in Israel, called »HOP!«. How appropriate it was, as my games carried this very sense of hope that I wished to plant in every single one of the titles game I made. Each one carried a fracture of my wounded but slowly healing soul. Soon enough, I became the CTO of the company and carried multiple campaigns for children with disabilities, phobias or just children who wished to know more of the world and learn through playing. After hundreds of games and campaigns, I finally started to work on projects with Sesame Workshop and it was love on first sight.

As a delegate visiting foreign planets, the player’s focus in ‘Quandary’ lies on ethnical decision-making.

Other brands soon followed, including amongst others: »Carebears«, »Strawberry Shortcake«, »Garfield«, »Pocoyo«, »«Justin Time«, »Maya the Bee«, »The Smurfs«, »Fireman Sam« and »Lazytown«. Every moment of my time was filled with color and sweetness. But I wanted more. I moved from company to company, trying to find my own salvation as a sleepless paladin roaming the land on a quest for the Holy Grail, to create a game that not only teaches but also educates, and makes you truly understand someone or something completely different. I established a game studio from scratch for »BabyFirstTV«, creating hundreds of games for toddlers to teach basic English, math, colors and sounds. I led a huge project for Compedia, one of Israel’s eldest Edu games companies, where I taught Hebrew to children abroad. I worked in Tabtale as their game designer, and created games as a freelancer for BBC, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network and countless others. But what I was looking for was much deeper. I was looking for a place to help me create serious games.

Serious Games – Why so Serious?

By definition, a serious game is a game whose objective is not solely or purely entertainment, but which is also meant to teach, and raise awareness for the said topic, and in many cases to shock and provoke thoughts. I never liked that name, however, I agree that it is one of the names that are most suitable for the cause, and at the very least, differentiates it from other pure entertainment games. But what makes a good serious game?

‘Bury My Love’ is a story about Nour, a Syrian migrant who is trying to find her way to Europe.

The first time I was playing »This War of Mine« by 11bit Studios, I was hesitant. I knew already that this is not going to be a pleasant experience for me. I understood this is about war, and war is filled with pain and casualties. But I never thought that I would find myself completely frozen after playing the game for two hours. I lost my first team member – I lost Katia and immediately stopped playing and needed some fresh air. It took me four additional times to start again and play the game to the very end.

What I found quite unique about This War of Mine, is that it was extremely realistic, and would not make any discounts for the player. You need to be responsible, but every decision you make is hard and you know it will affect someone. You play people who have a face, a history, a name and personality. This is more than just a bunch of pixels on the ground bleeding the same way as all the other bodies. This is, or was, Katia. And it was because of me. And because of them.

Damn these wars.

After that version they released another expansion, »The Little Ones«, which was even harder to play. I’m the father of Tamar, my almost 6-year-old daughter, and I can’t even imagine spending time with her under such harsh conditions. It’s a fact that I will defend her under any circumstance. But in this game, I, as the player, saw how my method of playing changed. I walked the thin line between risking too much while also getting more food and supplies for two people. Facing the questions from the children in the game, this was wicked and hard to read and respond.

One other game that was giving me a punch in the stomach was »Valiant Hearts: The Great War« by Ubisoft Montpelier. The game is a puzzle-based game with four chapters, that is inspired by letters written during World War I and has several characters who help a young German soldier find his love in this story about survival, sacrifice and friendship. The story is woven through all characters and their grave sacrifices, courage, values of comradeship and love. Emotionally, it had such a huge effect on me, even weeks after I played the game. The game reminded me of my grandfather’s stories and that I was be able to visualize his stories through the eyes of the characters, making them more reliable and memorable.

‘The Enemy’ is a VR experience created by former war photographer Karim ben Khelifa.

Additional games that left a huge impression on me: »1000 Days of Syria« is a text-based game that is played from three different points of view, using three very different characters. In »Nanu Planet«, you play Parchi, an explorer that was separated from his love Puchi. You guide him through puzzles and riddles, in order to find each other through the use of metaphors and allegories, telling the player the story of a divided Korea, its history and reasons for separation. »Bury me, my Love« is a narrative-driven interactive fiction about Nour, a Syrian migrant who’s trying to find her way to Europe. »Insight Spark – Journey to the Fire Mountain« is a digital adventure describing two tribes – the mountain men and the forest men – who are hostile towards each other. The players select their avatar from the forest men tribe, and define traits that effect the outer visibility – not inner! – and its powers. When a dark force aims to take over their world, they embark on a journey to find a magic gem to save the world. When the game starts, the players are rewarded for behaving according to their tribe rules and culture, which makes the rivalry between the two tribes remain. As the game progresses, the rules change and the players are rewarded for thinking outside the box through, breaking through different stigmas and thereby encouraging social interaction with other groups and cooperation. And then there’s »Quandary« which provides a thorough playing of a delegation to a new planet, a framework for how to approach ethical decision-making without telling players what to think.

But not all serious games – or games for change, as the marvelous Asi Burak named his association – are painful and harsh. Some aim at creating hope, connecting people and changing how we treat each other, no matter our differences.

Games for Peace – And What’s Next?

Living in Israel was never easy or simple. This place, that some may say is holy or unique by its history and relationship with the surrounding countries, had always been a complex Pandora’s box, and no one wants to really open it wide and look it straight in the eye. Israelis and Palestinians – they look the same, eat the same food and almost speak the same language. But for the love of it, we can’t stop quarreling about land, rights, future plans and who is stronger, or who has suffered more. My generation wants peace. Not just a lip service but a true companionship. Not with the extremists. This is never a good thing, not in religion, not in politics and not in any field of life – extremism is dangerous. My generation plays games. We see this as a way of life, especially those of us who work in the gaming industry. We use games to help us shop, navigate, compete, learn and live in an easier way. So why not deal with conflicts using games as well?

‘1000 Days of Syria’ is a text-driven narrative played from three different points of view.

Four year ago, I joined the board of an interesting nonprofit association, called »Games for Peace«, where the idea was simple but very clever: we would make Israeli and Palestinian children meet in a computer game. We used the Minecraft engine as a basis for our platform. Then we let the children build together, defeat obstacles as a team and learn to get to know each other. No one knows if the other side is Jewish or Muslim, since we show all messages to each side in their own language (yeah, we made that as well). Eventually, after playing together for several months, they met in the real world and their bonds have strengthened. This model has been tested in several other places around the world, and is now nominated for two awards and entered the final stages of two glamorous competitions. There has been a change in the children’s attitudes towards their conflicted rival! But along the good, there is also the bad. All it takes is one incident of terror, one fight to regress this process backwards. Eventually, if not maintained, the great achievements gained in the game process are lost.

My own take on this was always to think of the long run. Touch the delicate fibers of the conflict, not just the popular, politically correct corners. In order to solve a problem or conflict, both sides need to expel all the rubbish inside in order to confront each other, learn about their false conceptions, start to build a connection with the rival side and start creating together.

Additionally, as we’ve seen at Games for Peace, this is not an isolated environment. The teacher must be part of the process, since sometimes, the great unbelievers are the teachers. And what about the parents? What about when the child gets back home, back into a different reality it has to deal with. So, the parents needs to be in the game, involved as a character with its own objectives. And what about my friends? And my Rabbi? My Imam? Yes, the road is long, but at least we are leaping forward in great bounces, with great courage and open eyes.

Serious Games and AR \ VR

We mostly discussed PC and mobile games, but we can’t ignore a huge revolution growing right under our noses. It’s the most common buzzword nowadays: AR\VR. Some will even dare to say Mixed Reality, but it’s a great way to make your player feel empathy, immerse in a world of imagination or realism, and understand more than ever the consequences of a player’s actions. Having a gamified layer on top of your reality or watching it with added game objects through your mobile phone or Meta Glasses is fantastic, but what other use can it bring to the serious games market? Well, instead of watching monsters popping out of sewer holes or defeating flying saucers, or even checking statistics of buildings around you, one could use it as tool to view real statistics on homeless people. Or how about using your mobile device to see how other people around you would look like after not having eaten, slept or washed themselves for days or possibly weeks? And what about conflicts? Could we simulate bullies at school, being the one having to stand up to them? Can we simulate a battle between two religious rivals only to try to pacify them using our game tools?

Indeed, the options vary, but VR is even mightier. Despite the side effects, one can assume a role of a general in an army, a foot soldier, a drug dealer in the Brazilian favelas, a Palestinian Citizen in Gaza, or an orthodox Jew in Jerusalem, and grow empathy towards that character, with actual emotional response and almost the ability to touch the world. One such good example is the VR experience »The Enemy« by Karim ben Khelifa, who has been a war photographer for many years, and decided to create an emotional experience, where each side is one part of the conflict, trying to understand and grow empathy towards each other by playing the rival character.

Will the future tacticians or soldiers fight their wars only in VR? Or is this a tool that must be embedded into the curriculum as part of a grand peace study, hence building a young generation of sensitive, empathic, non-wearing people?

Serious Games as a Business – But What About Funding?

Let’s face it: making games is awesome, right? Making serious games and social change game experiences is noble. But values can’t help you keep on going. In order to fund your growing game company, serving more players is crucial. Game developers need to think from the get-go about their business model and how their game would be funded. When we speak about serious games, the situation is even more delicate. One needs to explore grants by the European Union, like the »Horizon 2020« program or other governmental grants. But grants are a slow, bureaucratic, require tedious work and the developers need to be prepared in advance. Only a small amount of projects is selected, so this goose won’t lay any golden eggs. Of course, we mustn’t forget crowdfunding, although it shows that only 10% of the funds for serious games are crowdfunded by campaigns on Kickstarter, fig, indiegogo and the likes. It’s necessary to remember that a good campaign requires qualified and dedicated personnel with a good funding back-up to make this a quality run.

The secret lies within mixing possible solutions, addressing governmental as well as private grants such as the »McArthur’s Foundation«or the »Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation«, and combining all of this this with meeting with Angels or VC’s that are into serious games, and trying to think on how this game can fund itself. Is this going to be using the Humble Bundle model, so it could fund charities and drive more traffic to your game? Are you teaming up with a big brand without damaging the game’s image and using their marketing resources and well-known name? As always, the funding of games is difficult and you need a great combination of a good game, a great cause, lots of luck,and a heart that’s in the right place.

Conclusions

The campaign ‘Games for Peace’ had one goal: bringing together Palestinian and Israeli kids by having them play together, without them knowing about each other’s heritage, language or religion.

Life is a wonderful game. It has its own rules, actors, and varied objectives. But in order to keep on living,

we must at the very least have our conflicts under control. We first need to challenge our own inner conflicts and then try to solve bigger ones.

But games are a great tool for facing our greatest fears, whether it is black people, refugees from Syria, homeless people on the streets or people who speak Arabic. We are all born the same way as infants, and as such, our society poisons us slowly with varied misconceptions. Games can be the antidote to that poison and this is true especially for serious games. Let’s try to use our skills to change this world and the people around us. If we can develop a serious game, let’s do it. Not just because it’s popular to say that this is what we do, but to really make a change, touch those meridian points within people that are aching, looking for answers, and crystal clear them. Games are great, but their social element – the ability to compete and to learn from each other – is priceless. Without learning or education, no conflict would be solved. So learn how to create games and make games that matter and don’t be afraid to inflict pain and empathy with it – because it’s the way to a better future!

About the Author:

Tsahi Liberman VP Foreign Affairs, GameIS Headmaster, Titan Game Dev & Design School

Im 42 years old, raised and born in Israel. My entire life revolved around games. Basketball games, Comodor64 games, playing »Golden Axe« and »Rampage«, staying over night to play »Meridian59«, »Ultima Online« and »Everquest« with my friends. I ended up developing games and meeting people I adored, putting a smile on the face of children playing my games, as well as learning about math, languages and science in a fun way. Im father to my 6-year-old daughter Tamar, and husband to Noa, my beloved partner in this life, a gifted illustrator. I love martial arts, extreme sports and making an impact on this world by using games of any kind. Contact: [email protected]

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namgwen · 7 years

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Some Ideas

The new crossover that I’ve been thinking of is, as you probably have figured out, Destiny and Touhou. While I wouldn’t claim to be an expert in the lore of either setting, I am drastically more familiar with Destiny’s setting. So, should I make a mistake feel free to correct me.

It does get a bit long and doesn’t go into as much detail as I wanted.

Part 1: Set Up

The first and biggest obstacle for combining these settings is getting them to interact. For reference, Touhou takes place in a pocket reality in Japan during modern times and Destiny takes place across the solar system in the distant future.

The first question to consider is whether or not the Earth for Touhou is the same as the one in Destiny. Depending on the answer the setting would change and how the crossover is explained will change, for the sake of future details it will be assumed that Destiny would be Touhou’s future.

Next, you have to consider what event would cause the crossover to occur. I personally would go with someone messing with Vex or Golden Age tech (explanations on what they are later).

Then you have to consider when and where Gensokyo would appear. There’s no shortage of potentially interesting times, but I’d go for shortly before the events of the base game. As for where, Gensokyo staying in Japan wouldn’t actually do much to isolate them but would make them less immediately interesting to The Last City. Conversely, if Gensokyo was suddenly in Russia then it would be quickly noticed that something is wrong and they’d have the attention of The Last City and The House of Devils.

Lastly, the Hakurei Barrier. For those unfamiliar with Touhou, the Hakurei barrier separates Gensokyo from the outside world. While the location would make little difference for the ability for the major players to find them, the barrier would make it more difficult for interaction to occur. Keeping it around would probably help with focusing on singular characters. Conversely, if you wanted the Touhou characters to interact with Destiny’s characters sooner/on a larger scale you’ll have to get rid of it.

Part 2: Magic

This would probably be where the combination of the settings would start to have major effects. Magic within Touhou is, to my understanding, flexible in its origins and how it functions. For example, enough belief and worship can turn anything into a deity or how fairies are personifications of aspects of nature. There’s also how the study of magic is relatively uncommon.

Comparatively, magic for Destiny tends to originate directly or indirectly from either the Light or the Darkness. Additionally, the Darkness is fully sapient and actively malicious making use of it potentially dangerous. The most alarming aspect of both is the fact that with enough strength (intensity? quantity?) individuals and objects can start being outright paracausal. For example, the Traveler managed to turn Mercury into a garden world (yes, really). It stayed like that until the Vex showed up.

Light also has three forms; Solar, Arc, and Void. Solar is exactly what it sounds like. Arc is lightning. Void is... hard to describe, it’s more dangerous than other forms of light.

As the scenario would inherently mean that considering how these systems would interact is vital. In Touhou scientific development drove magic into obscurity necessitating the creation of Gensokyo to survive. Conversely, Light and Darkness aid scientific development.

Part 3: The Last City

The most immediate group to deal with is the Last City. They, as the name implies, the last city left. They are comprised of three species in the games however, due to the nature of the crossover introducing a fourth species would be necessary. These species would be:

Humans: I’ll take the liberty of assuming that the readers of this are human and do not require an explanation about the nature of humanity.

Awoken: easily differentiated from humans by their blue skin. Their origin is unclear beyond that involves colonists attempting to flee the solar system during the Collapse.

Exo: humanoid and sapient robots, at least some of these (potentially all) are human minds uploaded into machines. They have numbers in their name that demonstrates how many times they’ve been rebooted, they typically lose all memories when this happens.

Lunarians: in Touhou Lunarians are (if I recall correctly) a race of moon rabbits that are immortal because of the absence of life and thus “pure” (no I don’t understand how this works). In terms of appearance, they look like humans and some have rabbit ears. Their presence would definitely raise a few eyebrows among Gensokyo’s inhabitants.

The City’s reaction to the sudden appearance of Gensokyo would undoubtedly be to investigate it. However, the subject of Yokai and some of the groups present would be a significantly more divisive subject. They would certainly be opposed to any yokai eating any humans, however some individuals are somewhat xenophobic. For example, the Guardian Saint-14 believed that the Darkness was actually a collection of alien species rejected by the Traveler. Rumia alone would probably cause some worry, being the yokai of darkness in a universe where the Darkness is a sapient and hostile force.

Part 4: The Fallen/Eliksni

What makes the Fallen so dangerous isn’t the unending numbers and dark magic like the Hive, sheer size or military might like the Cabal, or incomprehensibly advanced technology of the Vex. What makes them dangerous is savagery, fanaticism, and sheer desperation. They were the previous species that benefited from the Traveler’s presence. They had a peaceful, prosperous, and advanced civilization. At the height of their power, they were beyond even Golden Age humanity, and that was when they were snuffed out.

An event known as the Whirlwind occurred that destroyed many noble houses and scarred the rest. Sheer desperation forced them to perform increasingly ruthless actions and fall further from grace. The houses left becoming little more than pirates. As a whole, they wouldn’t care about the presence of Gensokyo, with the potential exception of the aforementioned House of Devils.

The House of Devils would probably investigate and raid Gensokyo (probably to little success) but wouldn’t care unless Gensokyo/it’s inhabitants encroached on their territory or gained advanced technology.

Part 5: The Hive

At one point the Hive was a small short-lived species known as the Krill living as the weakest species on the gas giant Fundament. When they encountered the Darkness they went from such a frail species into one of the most powerful species in the setting.

Their ultimate goal is simply to kill everything until only one thing is left.

While they probably wouldn’t have any particular interest in Gensokyo they would undoubtedly be interesting to Gensokyo. Why? Their main base in the solar system is Earth’s moon. Which they hollowed out.

Part 6: The Cabal

Short story: giant, highly advanced, militaristic space turtles.

Long story: as a society, they’re split between following Emporer Calus or Dominus Ghaul. Calus’ followers desire to conquer to ensure that their people have a safe place to live, while Ghaul’s forces want to conquer so that they can conquer more.

While they demonstrate less supernatural (less not none) than the other factions they should not be underestimated. Their main strength is the sheer brute force that they can bring to bear.

Until the events of Destiny 2, they mostly were located on and around Mars and thus have little interaction with Gensokyo.

Part 7: The Vex

The Vex are, paradoxically, both the most dangerous and least dangerous faction present. They managed to turn Mercury into a machine world in a matter of days and almost rewrote the fabric of reality to ensure their dominance. At the same time, they typically stick to their own territory.

Even before they worshiped the darkness they had access to complex simulations, teleportation, and interdimensional travel. They’ve only grown more powerful since then. The kicker? All of their units have combat as a secondary role. Goblins are meant to build, Hobgoblins communicate, and Minotaurs plan.

They probably would figure out Gensokyo’s presence whether or not the Hakurei Barrier is up. Admittedly there’s little chance of them actually charging off to Earth because of Gensokyo. Still, the mental image of Patchouli complaining about Marisa stealing some of her books only for the Vex to steal the entire library is amusing.

Part 8: Guardians

Guardians are people chosen by Ghosts. Typically this means reviving them (usually they’re skeletons at this point) but living individuals can be recruited. Their use of Light tends to cause them to act oddly (dancing in odd places or being obsessed with loot for example). There are three classes and each has four subclasses.

Titan: focused on sheer strength and combat capability. They tend to focus on either defending the city or destroying its enemies

-subclasses: Sunbreaker (solar), Striker (arc), Defender (void), and Sentinel (void)

Hunter: more eccentric than the other classes. They typically are loners and somewhat obsess over capes.

-subclasses: Gunslinger (solar), Bladedancer (arc), Arcstrider (arc), and Nightstalker (void).

Warlock: the mage of the three classes. They usually obsess over knowledge and ways to obtain it.

-subclasses: Sunsinger (solar), Dawnbringer (solar), Stormcaller (arc) and Voidwalker (Void)

Additionally, Guardians revived from the dead tend to be missing most of their memories.

Part 9: Story Ideas

Honestly, any ideas I come up with would probably pale in comparison to what others would come up with. Still...

-a slice of life of the Touhou cast trying to deal with Destiny’s weirdness (ex: Reimu finding a crucible match going on outside of the shrine)

-A tragedy/horror where Marisa goes to the moon to try to get her hands on Hive magic and ends up corrupted like Dredgen Yor.

-A story based on Osana Reimu where a ghost revives Reimu’s mother

#Destiny the game #destiny (game)#Touhou #touhou project #crossover #Destiny 2

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