---
informal abstract:
writers often approach their novels from the conventional narrative sequence- inciting incident, rising action, climax, denouement, and resolution. this model is conducive to the authoritative mode of the author, but this method is incompatible with media in which the audience actively constructs this narrative. it is my attempt to envision a flexible narrative that anticipates a plurality of actions. furthermore, it is beneficial to explore how the narrative structure informs the underlying code imposed by the game programmers- how an educational objective can translate into hard-coded behaviors or actions enacted by the programmers. these models might improve the effectiveness of game development teams and build consensus between educators, planners, and programmers.
my method was applied to a graduate project in its early stages- an educational game developed around the domain of computer network security. this resulted in the:
non-linear narrative model
in this model, we set about to identify possible scenarios afforded by this domain- task management, adware/spyware, and physical intrusion. we divided these scenarios into particular events along a primary timeline. these events are further broken into tasks and plotted into a series or sequence. supplementing each primary task is a contingent or underlying task. the player might fulfill the primary task, but neglect the contingent task necessary for further narrative advancement, causing them to re-evaluate their initial assumptions. the amount of capable guidance or AI assistance is gradually faded, as the player must rely on their own independent reasoning skills to advance- facilitating deeper learning and knowledge construction.
our next task was to identify all the possible player decisions or actions that a player might take and how deep into the decision tree they can go before they must go back and fulfill the neglected task. successful player actions result in a decision being 'true.' this resulted in the:
decision tree
a final effort was made to synthesize the narrative model, the decision tree, and the specific preconditions, actions, and effects that entail successful completion of a decision. you can see this document here:
final symposium poster
this includes the formal abstract and a summary of each integrated model.
---
process/concept sketches:
at an early stage in the game's development, it was a detective noir/cyberpunk theme- a hybrid of phil marlowe machismo and william gibson dystopia.
unfortunately, the department was dead set on using the default game engine from "Unreal"- a first person shooter, so the end result was a little less of this:
...and a little more like this:
---
in game/level design:
i was responsible for developing some in game heads up display (HUD) assets as well- an icon system to relate various programs to their processes, an inventory system affording user interraction w/ processes (inspect, move, nice, kill, delete) and a minimap relating the virtual environment to its corresponding 'real world' computer equivalent (each file directory has a corresponding 'room' in the virtual environment).
the icon assets can be accessed in their entirety here---
tedious supplementary projects:
i was initially assigned design assets for an in game HUD for a previous project. the design was already finalized by a previous group so i just had to fill in some of the blanks- photoshopping buttons and in game menus that looked like this:
this required/afforded limited creative input on my part.
---
sometimes i made silly brochures like this.
---
in the off time, i explored north carolina, which is like a woolier version of the midwest. i also played a lot of piano. an original raleigh-inspired composition can be heard here for anyone interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment