Month: February 2015

#YitzLives – Proposal and Call for Comments/Suggestions

Inspired by Celia’s “Tiamat Media” pervasive game experience at DragonCon, I would like to do something similar regarding the Shillman Cat (who, I found out, is modeled after a [now-deceased] stray cat from Haifa named Yitz). Hopefully this will include a Tumblr blog with regularly scheduled updates, an ad or two taken out in the Huntington Times to build interest over time (perhaps even with a fake letter to the editor or column), and perhaps a Twitter account as well (though @shillmancat already exists; a conundrum, to be sure). All  this to convince people that the cat has a sinister purpose, ulterior motive, or some other dark secret, and only with the combined belief of the student body can it be stopped and Yitz laid to rest once and for all.

I am currently researching not only the cat and Robert Shillman (the man next to the cat statue on that stone slab), but also various social media platforms to use with this. Tumblr, Twitter and the school newspaper seem like the easiest to access in a short period of time, but I feel like doing a scavenger hunt as well would be fun for adding more “game-y” aspects to the quest to stop Yitz. If I could get Mr. Shillman on board with this as well, that would be absolutely amazing.

For this particular post, I am seeking comments relating to possible sinister plots, ideas on how to spread the message further, (as well as activities students can do to get more engaged in the game), methods of tracking and logging the adventure, opinions on the validity of this project for the assignment, and any other advice that you feel may add to this experience. Please comment below, or message me privately via social media or email with your suggestions.

Thank you in advance!
-mepstein73

final appropriation

title; Not Ping Pong

equipment;

ping pong table with net

two players

 

rules

regular ping pong rule applies.

game of three, players that win 2 game wins

at start of first game, players will both take out the most expensive belongings that he or she is carrying at the moment, use that item as bat for the current game. when the current game ended, both player will discard those items.

at the start of the second game, both player will take out the second most expensive belongings that he or she is carrying at the moment, use that item as bat for the second game.when the current game ended, both player will discard those items.

at the beginning of the third game, both player will take out the third most expensive belongings that he or she is carrying at the moment, use that item as bat for the third game.when the current game ended, both player will discard those items. a winner is therefore announced. both players may withdraw all their belongings.

 

idea and concept;

unlike regular ping pong, not ping pong is a competition game of both skills and pride. there are 2 games going on when playing not ping pong, the first game is the competition of ping-pongsmenship, the second game is the competition of the wealth. the second game begans when the moment that both player see the other player’s choice of alternate bat occurs.

by using items as bat, the function of that item has changed completely, and therefore creating a brand new function. now the question are 3,(there are 3 questions)

 

1. do expensive items gives the player an upper edge in the game of not ping pong?

2. will the player be willing to put the their most expensive items at risk?

3. how do player define expensive?

below are 3 scenarios that corresponds with the question;

scenario 1.

player 1 takes out a 800 dollar worth of i phone 6 ,

player 2 takes out a 30 dollar worth of shoe.

scenario 2.

player 1 takes out a fragile laptop computor,

player 2 takes out a fancy purse that can easily get dirty,

scenario 3.

player 1 takes out a Porsche car key,

player 2 takes out a photo of him and his family,

 

in any of the scenarios, audience and the player will experience fun and joy and envy and doubt and jealousy and hatred and realization, just like in real life.

 

Final Appropriation With Rules And Documentation

Kevin_Running With Scissors Appropriation

Running With Scissors (Appropriation)
Materials/Setup

Eight participants are needed, and two people with stop watches.

Find two pairs of scissors, preferably of similar or equal ability.

Procure four different samples of materials that can be cut with said scissors (paper, tin foil, plastic, etc.).

Cut each material into equal halves so that you have eight total, with two of each material.

Find one reasonably long hallway.

Get enough tape, tacks, or other fixatives which can be used to hold all of the materials to the wall.

Along one wall, set up one of each material so that they are all equidistant away from each other and one end of the hallway. For example, in a 40 foot long hallway, place the first material 10 feet from the entrance of the hallway, the second material 10 feet from the first material, then third material 10 feet away from the second material, and the forth material 10 feet away from the third material (This should be the other end of the hallway). Try to set them in order from weakest to strongest materials.

With the other four material, set them up on the opposite wall, parallel to the materials that have just been placed.

Rules

Split up into two teams of four.

Have one timer assigned to each team.

Have each team choose which of the walls in the hallway they want to use – left or right.

Each team gets a pair of scissors, distribute the scissors however you see fit.

Have each team assemble into a line respectively with both teams at the end of the hallway that does not have a material by it. Give the person at the beginning of each line that teams pair of scissors.

The game starts when the people with stop watches agree and say “Go.” They will both being their stopwatches simultaneously, and the people with the scissors must begin from the starting point at the entrance of the hallway where their teams are, and go to the first objects that have been attached to the wall their team has been assigned to. Once at the material, each must cut off a piece from their respective material. With the scissors and the cut piece of material in hand, go back to your team and hand both to the teammate is next in line in a relay fashion. Try to do all of this as quickly as possible as the points are time based.

The rule of thumb is that the piece cut off should be as bigger than your thumb.

The next teammates must then go to the second pieces that have been hung on the wall, and each cut off a piece. They must return to their team and deliver the scissors and both of the materials to the next people in line.

The third people in line must get a cutting from the third materials hanging from the walls, and must give the last person in line the three cut materials and the scissors.

This final teammates must go to the farthest materials (at the end of the hall), each cut off a piece and return to the starting area. Once they have reached the starting area, the timer for their team stops their stopwatch.

When both teams have collected all four materials and returned to the starting area, the game is finished.

Size matter

At the end of the round, each team must compare the size of their cut pieces to the other team’s pieces of the same material (ex. Paper to paper, foil to foil). A team will have one second removed from their time for each material they have that is bigger than the opposing team’s material.

You are scored based on your time, with the lowest time winning.

Extra Things to Think About

Scissors can only be used to cut the materials on your team’s wall. You are not allowed to interfere in the other team’s progress, or cut anything other than the determined materials. Especially do not cut the other players or yourself.

If a material on your wall falls down during play time it must be put back up on the wall before your team is allowed to finish the game.

You are not allowed to move unless you are holding the scissors.

The final member of a team must be holding all four cut materials and the scissors when they reach the starting area for their team to finish the game.

Players can be added or subtracted based on the amount of materials available.

Stay safe, and work quickly.

Storyboard

My game is an appropriation of comic book/manga panels. A group of players takes turns putting down out of context panels to create a new story.

Rules (for 3-5 players):

  • Each player begins the game with 7 panel cards. Another panel is chosen from the deck as the starting panel, and from there, any player who thinks they have the right panels to pick up the story may start the game.
  • On each turn, a player may play up to 2 panels, assuming they can link both of the panels to the story.
  • The first player to run out of cards is the winner.
  • If players wish to make the story longer, they can start the game with more cards in their hand, or they can play until there are no cards left in the game, removing the possibility of a winner.

My inspiration for this game was a game I played a few weeks ago, called Story Wars. I liked the ability of the players to take the game mechanics in their own direction. I wanted to make a game with that element to it, but with a more of a focus on story (despite what its name implies, Story Wars incorporates little story). From there, I thought it would be interesting to appropriate moments from a several different stories to create something new. And thus, this game was born. I originally had more mechanics and rules to this game, but during the in-class playtests, we found that they simply were not necessary. Additionally, I initially had the manga panels resized and pasted onto index cards, but after those were ruined, it turned out that the mismatched sizes of the panels actually fit the manga aesthetic.

Astromario

The game is attached as a .zip that has a .app and .exe of my game.

Controls are WASD to move and SPACE to shoot.

Note that if you use the .app, you need to right-click -> open because obviously people need to be protected from unlicensed applications rather than, say, hard-drive firmware viruses.

Astromario


 

Artist’s Statement:

I wanted to use overwhelmingly familiar things in such a way that they’d create an alien feeling in the user.  Originally I had wanted to exactly copy the gameplay of asteroids, but I decided to make some minor alterations to make it more playable, thus avoiding the situation where the player is feeling frustration rather than a sense of being in an alien situation.  I’m fairly happy with how it turned out, though I’m sure there’s some bugs in it somewhere.

Dinglehopper

Dinglehopper is a game of forms and functions, though not necessarily the actual combinations thereof. Inspired initially by both the dictionary definition of “appropriation” and Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” Dinglehopper is an homage to all those who ever looked at a tool and said, “Wouldn’t that actually be useful for…?”

While the core judging mechanic is very similar to other judged term-matching gamesDinglehopper differs on two main points. First, it uses verbs instead of nouns and adjectives. As such, it allows for a more active approach to judging; you can not only think about whether a magnifying glass can be used for paddling (whether a boat or a bottom is up to the judge), but you can actually test it out! Second, Dinglehopper uses found items from in the play environment. Thus, it becomes more fun the more interesting places you play it in. Recommended locations include restaurants, on airplanes, and science museums, as each provides exciting new objects to ponder the uses of. Due to the game’s relative simplicity in components and rules, I could even see it being a great game for keeping small children occupied as well while on-the-go.

Future plans for Dinglehopper include coming up with small expansion lists (possibly themed around certain genres or for different age groups) and attempting to get it up on The GameCrafter as a print-on-demand game, possibly using “mini” or “micro” cards, to fit in with the travel-based nature of the game. Based on feedback during initial playtests, I will be modifying the verb list slightly to make them more applicable to multiple items, as well as simplifying the rules to fit on a single card. As well, if I publish it, I will likely include a deck of “object cards” that players can use to play the game even if they’re stuck in an otherwise empty room, as not everyone has as neat an apartment as my friends in the playtest video do. While that takes away a bit from the appropriation aspect of the game, it does increase the portability and ease of use. That said, in the rules I will encourage the use of objects around the play area for the game.

This, of course, assuming that Disney doesn’t come after me for using the word “Dinglehopper” in a game title. Wouldn’t put it past The Mouse, honestly.

Link to Rules Document
Link to Card Document (print double-sided on cardstock and cut along black lines)
Link to Playtest Video

Thanks to Wendy Epstein for her graphic design advice and Adobe Illustrator tips. Also for listening to me talk about this game non-stop while I was working on it.

Basket Case

Original:

My game utilizes rope, a mirror frame, a plastic bag, and snow.  Rope is tied to the corners of the mirror so that two people can hold two one piece of rope per hand.  A plastic bag is attached to the frame so that objects that pass through the frame are caught in the bag.  The players must catch snowballs thrown by another player, by pulling on the ropes and moving the frame around.

 

Final:

My game now utilizes similar objects, but the plastic bag is now light canvas and the snow has been replaced with socks.  I wanted to test the game outside, but three factors limited me to not being able to do that.

1.  The snow would not pack into decent snowballs, which made testing with them impossible.

2.  The snow was about a foot deeper than I had imagined it would be and would not allow for the movement that I wanted players to have.

3.  My testers were massive pansies and didn’t want to be cold.

After playtesting in class, I have also decided to include blindfolding the thrower.  This mechanic adds a lot of fun to the game because it makes the players holding the basket work together better.  Since throws can go anywhere, the two basket players need to be able to think quickly and help each other out in order to make any catches.

Overall, I am happy with my end result.  Watching my friends play was really enjoyable.  I could tell that toward the end, once they got the hang of moving the basket, they really liked playing.  In the last included test session, the final catch was met with a happy celebration and I loved seeing that.  There was a lot of blame when a throw was missed, but nobody took credit when a catch was made and I found that very interesting.  Failure was somebody’s fault, but success was achieved together.  I wanted to build my game on a deep meaning, but could not come up with one, but studying the test sessions helped me see that I may have accidentally stumbled upon something with some depth.

 

 

Artist Statement:
I came up with this idea by tying rope around the frame in a spider web like style with the intent of using the “web” to catch or block thrown object.  I then got the idea of having two people having to work well together to win the game and thought to tie the ropes so that it was like both players were controlling one very simple puppet

I started trying to come up with a concept that helped convey a message.  I liked the idea of Ono’s white chess board and wanted my game to make a statement.  I’m still slightly upset that I don’t feel like I achieved that task.  I did; however, also want to implement our discussions of Dada from class and what we learned about the movement.  I’m proud of my method for finding my game mechanic because it stemmed from a naive, playful testing session.  I grabbed three items in my room and let myself play with them in odd ways.  I eventually discovered the form of my game from this session and I enjoyed the process I used.

 

 

Link to playtest session

indiecade game showcase; Mountain

“you are mountain, you are god.”

Add New Post ‹ Celia Pearce — WordPress

Mountain is a game showcased on the indiecade 2014,

in the game “mountain”, the player will play as the role of a mountain.

the player is allowed to drag the mouse on the mountain in order to rotate it

the player can spam the keyboard in order to generate piano note sound

those are the only control the player have for the entire game

the player will be able to see the mountain go through the four seasons and all sorts of weather condition, such as; snow, wind, blizzard, and occasionally frog-rain ( rain of frog)

the player will see something new every time growing or dropping on to the mountain once in a while

personally, for me, by staring at the slowly rotating mountain, i can see the entire universe in front of me, it clears my mind, shows me the truth, and points me the path.

the mountain told me to become a actor in the future, I will obey

mountain  is available on steam for 1 dollar.

there’s not much to do with 1 dollar, but it might just change one’s life.

Indiecade Hack ‘n’ Slash

I played “Hack ‘n’ Slash” by Doublefine.

http://www.indiecade.com/games/selected/hack-n-slash1/


Why I picked it:

It was made by Double Fine and I have liked many of their past games.  When I looked into it a little I saw that it had a neat concept: changing the programming of the game do progress; that basically sealed the deal.


What I liked about it:

I liked that, though it was a fairly bare game, but it still managed to craft a cool world with more depth than I would expect.  I also liked that I felt like I was really good at it because I’m a CS major, so that was cool.  This game spoofed a lot of conventional adventure game motifs, which I also found amusing, and I found the overall humor and tone quite enjoyable as well.