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arcadebroke · 1 month

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k-wame · 3 months

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lol

#hideo kojima #hunter schafer #twitter #video game design #video games #auteur

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littlethingwithfeathers · 3 months

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I'm grumpy about Silent Hill again...

TW for discussions of suicide, self harm, abuse (both parent to child and amongst peers) and general spookiness. Y'know... the usual Silent Hill rigmarole of trauma and despair. Also be warned that I'm going to spoil a lot of the Silent Hill series, in particular Silent Hill 2 and the Short Message game that just came out. ***

So... one of my most popular posts out there is this one. It's about Pyramid head and the loss of subtlety in media. And I couldn't help but feel like we hadn't moved an inch from when I posted that back in... *checks date on post* hrrk. my bones... 2017. I'm going to die soon. Anyway. Today I watched Second Wind do a run of the short, free-to-play Silent Hill: Short Message. I admittedly had a good bit of trepidation going in just because of the marketing. Which, for all of you marketing majors out there, that is called "Not a good sign." Marketing should make you want to play a game... especially if you're a fan of the series already. But this... it was a bit of a wet blanket, largely due to the fact that it spoiled a lot of the focus of the game. It basically said "this is a game about how bullying and being chronically online is real bad. We're gonna be spooky about it now." And... straining to push aside how incredibly reductive that is... why give it away? Why say it out loud? Why did you tell us what you are doing? Can you imagine Silent Hill 2 if we'd known it was about James killing his wife from the jump? We didn't. We hadn't the first clue. We knew nothing other than that he was looking for her and she was maybe dead? But we didn't know how... possibly lung cancer or TB given that she had the most pointed coughing sequence since the movie Tombstone. And hey... the last game had someone looking for a loved one too. Maybe that's the deal with Silent Hill. Who knows? No one did at that point. It was still a big old mystery for the most part. And then the E3 trailer... like there's the weird pretty lady in jail? But what's she talking about? Who the fuck is Mary? Is that... his wife? Well then who the hell is Ms. Miniskirt? No wait... is that his wife in the VHS tape? What the hell is going on? Oh look gameplay! And... a little girl? And a weird guy with a gun... This soundtrack slaps. I'm gonna go see if it's up on Napster yet. (this was 2001... again... my bones etc) I remember combing over low-res copies of that video for HOURS when it came out. Why are the nurses different? It's not snowing? Who are all these people... And why do they all sound like they put ketamine in their coffee. It was like a great big puzzle to work out and we had a ball theorizing and researching so when it came out we were HYPE. And that was largely because in short... we knew SOME things at release. Fog. Nurses. Big stick. Weird people. Banger soundtrack. Dead (but probably not) wife. And we presumed or supposed more... cult activity? New beasties? Radio maybe? But we effectively knew nothing about the plot. And the best part was, while they had a solid hook (Find dead lady who we love so huggy buggy much) and instant intrigue (Angela in the cemetery being weirder than a film by David Lynch), and a very familiar setting (we may have improved draw distance on the PS2, but we don't have to use it!), we still didn't really know what was going on. The plot was essentially unfolding out of a black box. Silent Hill 2 was quite content to be a slower burn than trying to boil the Lake Superior with a signal flare. You don't even see the main "villain" Pyramid Head until a few hours in and, as I pointed out in that other post, there's no flashy cut scene to introduce him and go WOOOOOO SCARYYYYY. He's just chillin' behind some prison bars (which that totes is normal in an apartment complex) and staring at you like I stare at the inside of my fridge when I really would like some cheese to materialize.

And then... like we're not even really sure what the hell is going on for the longest time. We meet our wife's hot twin with the key to a strip club and she keeps getting killed over and over... and things keep getting increasingly rapey and lewd in a way that's just uncomfortable more than anything... But even at the end. Even with the big reveal of "You killed your wife." they still don't ever explicitly state "And you killed her because you couldn't have sex with her anymore." It wasn't until you finished the game, and talked to someone else about it, or let your brain cook on it for a bit that you went... heyyyy... he's a horndog! (In fact... if I'm going to chide SH2 for anything it's that right at the very VERY end they tried to frame James's actions as understandable because the woman who was dying and frightened and in pain was mean to him. Yes, being a caretaker is hard. But Christ... pick a topic for discussion.) But contrast all that with Short Message. The marketing and such all said out loud "THIS IS ABOUT BULLYING" so even going in... I was already like "yep. The bully is probably us, but we had reasons because we have to be complicated and you aren't allowed to make the player feel bad" And lo was I correct. There was no... intrigue. I was never curious about the character or the people around her because I knew this story. They already told me what story they were telling so I could practically sing along, especially as a millennial that had to grow up watching little videos and skits in school about the evils of bullying. And when you are going to tell a trope-ish story, and you tell the audience what the trope is, it becomes "say the line" writ large. This isn't me advocating for super twisty unexpected plot arcs (looking at you, Supernatural). Far from it. You absolutely should tell a story in such a way that the audience understands how you got from point A to point Z, even if there are some surprises along the way (See Sixth Sense for that masterclass). Rather, what I'm missing from this (and frankly a lot of the Silent Hill games and honestly... media in general these days) is a sense of restraint. A sense of trust in their audience to "get it." They can't just plonk us in the fog with a radio and a stick and say "You're here to find your best friend/dog/cousin/wife/business partner. Good luck. Here's a weirdo to prattle cryptically at you in order to unsettle you immediately. Bye!" No! They have to tell us what kind of story they're telling and what themes are important. They can't just... give us a Silent Hill Game and trust that we know what to do with it. It's... insulting frankly. Especially as a longtime fan of the franchise who remembers when they did trust us and they did have faith in their work. I will say this in compliment to Short Message. The environment design was pretty cool. Especially the sticky-note hallways... they looked like leaves... and sometimes teeth... and like tightly packed bones in an ossuary. It didn't... say anything really. But it looked cool. And you can't go wrong with Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack. But... while I'm on the subject of design. Y'all. An animate sakura tree in an oversized hoodie is not scary. But bless you for at least having the restraint to not make her Pyramid Head.

#silent hill #silent hill 2 #silent hill 4 #silent hill short message #horror #writing #story telling #suspense #video games #video game design #horror games

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nickysfacts · 1 month

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All hail the mighty King Koopa!👑

🔥🐢🔥

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kiragecko · 1 year

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I've thought of a video game plot that I think could be cool!

You start in the usually vaguely-medieval setting. There are a lot of NPC's, and they are very clear about your objectives - you need to get to the end castle and defeat the enemy. Prove your worth. Straightforward. If you follow their instructions, it's a reasonably short game of increasingly difficult enemies until you fight the end boss, and take your place on the wall of heroes. All the heroes look similar to you, though if you look closely, they start much smaller and grow. Their expressions also get more subdued.

You start again at the beginning. Game difficulty has ramped up. A few of the paths have become obstructed. NPCs are a bit more demanding. The world has less complex visuals. It's technically possible to play through 4 times to get the bad ending. But the 4th is punishingly hard, everyone is vicious, and the whole world is grey. All the mobs are ridiculously strong, and you are weaker. When you restart for your fifth round, your character keeps pausing, keeps sitting down, and eventually the game fades out. The end screen tells you to keep going.

There are other weird things, right from the beginning.

You have a screen for objectives, and it updates when you talk to NPCs, but doesn't quite match what the NPCs are saying. If you ignored NPC dialogue, you'd think the game was about rescuing someone at the castle and saving the world. The win screen suggests you did this, and doesn't even mention proving yourself, but there isn't any other indication of a prisoner at the castle, or the kingdom in danger.

Also, the NPCs are REALLY discouraging of side quests and exploration. Their dialogue gets more and more hostile if you leave the main path, or build up stuff in your inventory. And the main path has a lot of fighting, but the rest of the world is mostly environmental puzzles.

There are blobby ghost things if you do explore. Some of them run from you, or hide behind barriers. Others give you side quests to collect sets of items, or visit random locations. A few drop their own inventory and apologize for having the items before running away.

It's pretty easy to get sets of items, or get notified that you found X location. Finding which ghost wants what is a bit harder, though. There are a LOT of ghosts. And not all the ghosts will let you approach them, at the beginning.

If you complete a side quest, the ghost transforms into a version of you. You merge. It starts providing commentary, on the side of screen. And the world transforms, slightly.

Usually it's just a cosmetic change. More trees, the buildings get more stained glass and pretty tiles, etc. But sometimes you get new movement options, or types of items. Every few completed quests, the ghosts get more detailed, until the map is populated with versions of you, doing various things. They no longer run. They're playing with their collections of stuff, sitting in scenic locations, building ridiculous contraptions. Some wave when you walk past, or follow you for a short distance, bombarding you with dialogue.

The parts of you that you've absorbed provide worldbuilding, tell you how cool various things you pass are, give you advice for completing quests. They tell you to ignore what the NPCs say. Most of the NPCs act the same, but some get worse and some get nicer. They still redirect you to the main quest. Some parts of your character think the main quest is pointless, others think it is important, but most of them don't want you to do it. Some of them act guilty about this.

Eventually, smaller castles open up. You can beat them, and the game will restart without amping up the difficulty or resetting anything. You can also ignore them, and just collect all 64 types of tree seeds. You've already done that, but you get really happy commentary every time!

There's never a way to 'beat' the main castle without making things worse. But if you sneak in with the right items, you're able to transform some of the wall of heroes. They merge with you like the ghosts, and each time you get a 'death' screen, telling you that the hero was lost and the world is going to fall into ruin. (It doesn't.)

The final state isn't an end. You can endlessly collect items. You can defeat castles. You can get alternate tilesets from some ghosts, so you play in scifi, Classical Greek, etc. settings. But every time you quit, the screen fills with words from parts of you - thanking you, saying goodbye, and telling you things are good.

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Anyways, enjoy your lives, guys. Don't destroy yourself trying to fulfill society's expectations. Be your weird neurodivergent self. Executive dysfunction is real, you aren't being lazy, and both the world AND you are probably asking to much of yourself.

#video game design #worldbuilding #neurodivergence #adhd #unreality #gaslighting #ableism #executive dysfunction #accepting yourself #I have so many game ideas that are about gamifying executive dysfunction #it is my great enemy #and fighting it is the worst option #which makes for an interesting design challenge

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holmesoldfellow · 2 months

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Props for "Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One" by Tetiana Novytska

#sherlock holmes #frogwares #frogwares holmes #sherlock holmes: chapter one #video game design #video game art #frogwares sherlock holmes #Tetiana Novytska #unreal engine

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videogamesincolor · 9 months

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When Black gamers booted up the shooter-RPG hybrid Outriders last April, only four of the 24 hairstyle options for characters could conceivably be considered a Black hairstyle. Even worse, all of them fell under the tired tropes of minifros and dreads. And even those were pretty atrocious: Textures were wrong, and patterns looked scraggily and unkempt. Then again, just a handful of years ago, programmers modeled afros on cauliflowers.

“Black hair has been bad forever in games—from the worst box braids to the raggediest of dreads to even messing up naturals at this point,” said Kahlief Adams, host of the Spawn on Me podcast, which highlights people of color in the gaming industry. “Like, you’ll see a character and think, ‘Sure, you got a close fade, but I don’t know where your hairline is fam.’”

#videogamesincolor #character design #video game design #black characters #spawn on me #black hair

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wormdramafever · 5 months

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Goodbye Volcano High character design evolution!

I wanted to preserve Lucie Viatge's fantastic twitter thread about the design evolution of the main cast of Goodbye Volcano High (a game in wich she worked as Art Director and Character Designer), for those that have understandably stopped using that site or in case it finally colapses.

Long post incoming!

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(Pic 1, Pic 2 likely from Wikimedia Commons Parasaurolophus gallery and originally made by Steveoc86)

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If you like what you see, consider going to the original twitter thread and giving it likes and retweets. You can also find more production art of the game on her website!

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tuttle-did-it · 6 months

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Yay the SAG strike has been peacefully resolved.

The video game actors may yet still strike. Other professionals, like those in animation, VFX and reality tv are still considering to create unions and/or strike. Please continue to support them if they do indeed strike.

#strikes #vfx #animation #video game actors #video game design #support strikes #strikes work #strike solidarity

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reaperb1rd · 6 months

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City for a video game concept - in progress

#game design #video game design #video game development #3d modling #3d render

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disabled-dragoon · 8 months

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hellow, quick question if I could yoink a little of your time good person.

So I am developing a game that centers around a main character who uses mobility aids. I have worked with my team to develop some game mechanics that I want to make sure are not going to end up being offensive in some way or a misrepresentation of disabled people. I am physically disabled myself but ive always been too scared to actually use mobility aids and nobody else on the development team uses mobility aids. So as the same person I am, I have gone on to tumblr (the obviously best choice for this matter) looking for opinions from people who use mobility aids. You do not have to awnser if you do not feel comfortable, or if you know of a better place to get insight on this matter that would be greatly appreciated.

So the main character is an ambulatory wheelchair user. And uses forearm crutches when not in a wheelchair. They have the super power to control metals which they use to create mobility aids for themselves on the go. One of their moves is to covert one of their crutches into a sword temporarily to attack enemys. They will also have a dash feature while using a wheelchair chair. The last main feature would be the main character having to use a wheelchair when their health gets too low.

thank you so much for any feedback that you are willing to provide I appreciate it very much!

Thanks again,

Your favorite disabled anon sibling

Oh this sounds so interesting!!! I hope it goes well for you!

I don't think I can give you a lot of advice, unfortunately, especially regarding crutches (I've used them briefly before but it's been a while), but I do have some thoughts on the concept as a whole!

So first thoughts:

Love the sword idea. I'm curious as to how the crutches turn into a sword (I'm imagining either a handheld sword, or a long sword), but I love it. That sounds amazing.

Wheelchairs can be used as a small bit of extra storage, like a little bag on the back or a basket on the bottom. It's kind like a separate storage system/storage expansion. Like in RDR2 where you can store things on the horse, but can't access said storage unless you're on/next to it.

Storage on wheelchairs is still a bit limited due to weight restrictions etc. (depending on how realistic you want to get, although I suppose that could be counteracted with the metal powers). Also, it's a bit limited when using forearm crutches in terms of being able to carry things.

Does the character travel across a world? Encounter different environments? Consider how the aids would be affected in different areas i.e. crutches don't work well on ice/slippery surfaces, wheels are slightly better but lose traction easily. Some wheelchairs don't do brilliantly in windy areas and sometimes struggle on grass and sand (unless designed for that environment).

Love the metal powers, that sounds so cool! I think, if possible, it would be interesting to see if they can upgrade/change their aids as/if their power grows over the game. I.e learning how to make different upgrades, like sand tires and ice ferrules (crutch feet).

Some people like to customise their aids to make them more personal, and crutches and wheelchairs aren't suited to every situation so it would be interesting to see how/if they could use their metal powers in this way.

What do they do when there isn't much metal, or do their aids sort of act like a personal supply? What if it breaks?

Do they have the option to use a wheelchair even when their health is not low?

Is their power affected in any way by their health and vice versa? Does it rely on their energy and/or stamina?

Because of their metal powers, can they disassemble their aids when not in use i.e. could they deconstruct/fold the crutches away when in the wheelchair and vice versa. I think that would be pretty cool. Give a whole new meaning to travel aids, and could make storage easier.

And some posts for consideration:

What wheelchair users want: Some good notes on this post. Basically being like "we also want unrealistic wheelchairs. Fast and the Furious wheelchairs. Mad Max wheelchairs." I love the dash function in the wheelchair, and if you were looking for other ideas this could be good to consider.

Accessible Wordbuilding: Some good advice on how to make a world more accessible for a disabled character.

Personally I think @cripplecharacters is an excellent blog to check out if you want more insight into writing mobility aid users, and disabled characters in general.

Writing Wheelchairs: This is a really good post (with examples!) about different types of wheelchairs, for different purposes and environments.

Crutch Pose References: A video showing different pose references for forearm crutch users.

Crutch Pose References 2 Sitting Edition: A video showing more crutch poses, sitting down this time.

Character Example: If you're looking for examples of cool characters who use wheelchairs and forearm crutches together, can I direct your attention to Charlie Webber/Sun-Spider, a Spiderman with EDS!

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If anyone else has anything to say on this please just add on.

Ahh this sounds so cool! I really hope it works out for you!! Good luck!

#disabled characters #disability representation #wheelchair #forearm crutches #crutches #video games #video game design #help and advice #disability community #disabled gamers #disability #mobility aids #ask box

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arcadebroke · 5 months

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likopinina · 9 months

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big fan of the way sam trips over a pebble and then proceeds to beat the absolute hell out of 20 terrorists while having four blood transfusions

#death stranding #video game design

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fetuswithfriends · 2 months

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I feel that every person who wants to criticize game design decisions or game developers should all be required to play The Beginner's Guide. It explains the importance of the artist/designer's intent so well and does a great job of criticizing people who don't create but feel the need to demean an artist's decisions.

It also does a fantastic job warning the player about misinterpreting what an artist is feeling/saying. So many people feel the need to assume what an artist is going through via their art, which can help elevate what the artist is saying, but are often parasocial and weird about it.

Please play The Beginner's Guide if you are interested at all in what creators deal with, game design, the relationship between player and creator, and the importance of artist's intent. It's such a slept on game and it is so important in today's age

#the beginner's guide #video games #vidya #art #artistic integrity #death of the author #game design #video game design #video game development #hello :3 #text

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finalfantasytrivia · 10 months

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Samarkand

Zanarkand (top image) was originally meant to be called “Registan”, which was an important part of the ancient city of Samarkand (bottom image), located in present-day Uzbekistan. It was later decided to be named after Samarkand itself, but with slight alteration. The city was a wealthy trading center.

Info and image source:

#square enix #squaresoft #gaming #final fantasy x #final fantasy 10 #ffx #ff10 #zanarkand #samarkand #registan #uzbekistan #video game trivia #video game #video game design #ancient architecture #ancient cities

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lumikore · 4 months

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Gun I designed from a randomized prompt!!! Getting really into designing stuff lately especially video game inspired stuff to build my portfolio n yea... anyways I imagine this gun shoots electricity kind of like the Electro Bolt plasmid in BioShock, in that it sprays out from the flanged nozzle on the end, maybe the nozzle can be switched out to a straight one for a more powerful beam too. The tank on the top is full of electrified liquid which is used to power the weapon. the switch on the front toggles between spraying and sucking mode, to charge the weapon it sucks in the electricity to charge the liquid from a power source which could be like a charging station with a battery or something. The display on the side shows how much electricity is left in the liquid and is lit up by the liquid itself, meaning no other power sources are required except the electrified liquid. The liquid powers all the mechanisms within the gun. The gear at the back is not real and is just for decoration (its made of wood and connected to the stock), maybe the lore in this world is that it was originally a steampunk world but then advancements in technology caused them to start using electricity as a power source instead, and some decorated weapons have gears/steampunk accessories as a reminder of their origins idk just an idea.

#concept art #weapon design #video game design #teslapunk #steampunk #concept design #game art

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