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Chris

Idle Weekend July 2, 2016: Going Solo

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Idle Weekend July 2, 2016:

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Going Solo
This weekend, Rob takes a quick break to do a tiny errand - that is, move across a continent - and Danielle opens up the mailbag. It's a quickie, but don't worry - Rob will be back next week!

Discussed: Fallout: New Vegas, Dropsy, The Magic Circle, The People vs. OJ Simpson

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Regarding the question about magic in games, I immediately thought of the adventure game Loom. It was very much about exploring the possibility of magic through musical notation.

 

I suppose, to a lesser extent, that the same could be said of Ocarina of Time. It was pretty special to be able to play a melody and make things happen in the world. 

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Really loved that question about how magic in video games works versus magic in other media! Got me thinking about a lot of things.

 

- I think the reader (Chris?) hit the nail on the head by identifying 'mystery' as the main thing that makes magic wondrous. Because so many video game designs are focused on player empowerment/control there's an obvious tension there that people need to design outside of that paradigm. What a wonderful problem to think about.

 

- Not sure how arcane words worked in Colossal Cave as I've never played it, but the IF game Suveh Nux does an incredibly good job of mechanically using words as mysterious objects that you have to learn how to use. Using deduction and inference, you'll eventually have a really strong grasp of how to wield magic, but it serves as a fantastically great piece that emulates the path from apprentice to journeyman wizard. I can't praise that game enough.

 

- The description of that pen and paper RPG reminded me of a game that I think was made for a Wizard Jam where the player draws runes/glyphs as the main mechanic; it felt like the start of what could be a bigger thing.

 

- Riffing off of Danielle's thought about technology being magic, I actually think glitches in video games are magical. They're mysterious and break the rules of the digital spaces we inhabit. The strongest example of this that comes to mind is the swing set glitch in GTA IV. People knew how to invoke it and what results it caused, but they could never control those results.

 

 

Again, great email. Going to be thinking about this a lot now.

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What a nice episode!


Regarding the magic question, for me, the term "magical", as applied to a scenario, is deeply intertwined with some very specific imagery, which, since I won't find a way to describe without re-using the word "magical", I'll give some examples of:

 

From the newly released BFG

 

All of these seem to me to be very replicatable: wide sweeping camera angles, a color palette containing purple and blue, glowing things in the sky, music-box sounding instruments, and a slow pacing. It's pretty gross to think that one can so methodically evoke "magical" in my mind, and yet I simply can't imagine associating that word with anything that doesn't follow these "rules", or seeing something that follows them without automatically labeling it as "magical".

 

Unfortunately some of these don't really translate to video games all that well. Making glowing stuff in most engines is probably pretty hard, since the only thing I've seen that comes even close to having that effect is the sun in Firewatch. And obviously, most core mechanics are built on responsiveness, which won't go well with a slow pacing.

 

Also, all of these are properties of the visual representation of magical places, rather than that of magic as an action, so maybe that isn't of much relevance.

 

I think that the sorcerer mindset and POV can be very well translated into a game similar to The Magic Circle or Else heart.break();, and maybe just following some shallow visual language rules will be enough to make the push into "true-wizard" sense territory? For starters, you can replace the word "pointer" with "true name" (See Planescape: Torment, the Earthsea series, The Name of the Wind, Rumpelstiltskin).

 

For more linear, less mechanically complex games, my intuition would be trying QTEs, which can be implemented in a way that doesn't spoil the outcome of every interaction and thus retain the mystery. Maybe take a look at Fantasia - Music Evolved, which seems to be going out of its way to replicate 

 via gameplay.

 

I haven't put a lot of thought into the subject, but hopefully some of these anecdotes will be of use. Though, they are based on the baseless assumption that my association of "magical" with that very particular imagery is commonplace.

 

Thanks for the email, and again, for the great podcast!

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I thought this episode was charming and great! That's all.

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I thought this episode was charming and great! That's all.

Seconded!

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Yes, I wanted to pop in here to give Danielle a pat on the back (assuming she reads these threads). 

 

If I tried to record one of these myself I'd psych myself out and shit the bed really hard. Danielle did the opposite of that!

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I love the solution to just go directly to mail - Danielle shines in dialogue, and this is a form of that. Great!

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Aw, gee, thank you folks, for the kind words. It was actually a very last-minute thing - I had planned to do a quick show with a guest that had to drop out last minute. Glad it worked out for folks!

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Enjoyed this episode - it's fun to see reader mail used as a springboard to longer discussions.

 

On empathy - It's not a religious game at all, but I think Undertale uses empathy effectively to push its philosophy of non-violence. Each of the main boss characters is introduced to you early on in their respective levels, and they're given enough screen time for you to get a feel for their motives and their personality. By bonding with the characters, you get more satisfaction from taking the non-violent path, while use of violence is more unpleasant. Spoiler for the first chapter below:

 

For example, I killed Toriel in my first run. Kind, gentle, motherly Toriel, who doesn't want to hurt you - having bonded with her, it was heartbreaking to watch her die. Messed me up for days. Poor goat-mom :'(

 

Empathy's a part of the mechanics, too - the monsters are placated in different ways, so you have to understand them if you don't want to fight. It's pretty simplistic, but it manages to be effective in spite of that.

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