Comics and Interactive Narratives

25. she/her. based in London. I make games using arduino's, raspberry pi's and various sensors. This blog is for documentating my game-making process and my art. I'll occasionally reblog art I really like :) 

[sutekooooo]

Russian Monk. part 1

Hope you enjoy:)

[nyancrimew]

attention everyone: bocchi the pcb!

[i-am-sako]

[sunnymothman200]

Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead: The Final Project

For the version of "Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead" which would be exhibited at the final degree show, I chose to have the controller only rely on two tilt switches to move Ghostboi. After a few rounds of user testing, I found that making players touch the eyes/teeth of the controller was too difficult to do while controlling Ghostboi's position by using the arms. This way, if Ghostboi hovers over a burger for a certain amount of time, he is able to eat it.

Admittedly, I didn't spend too much time around my piece during the degree show and spent that time enjoying the other student's work and catching up with friends. However, during the few occasions that I stayed close to my work, I was able to observe how the audience reacted to it.

I noted that some people were hesitant to pick up the controller unless they were specifically prompted by me. A few others were not comfortable with bendind and contorting the controller as much as was need to move Ghostboi, unless prompted by me to do so. However, many others were eager to do so and figured out how to use it with minimal guidance for me. Overall, I found that it was much clearer to use this controller than it was to use "Void of Memory". Also, the audience responded well to the haptic feedback I included in the controller. The vibrating sensation emphasized the sense of discomfort happening on the screen.

I am quite excited to take Ghostboi to gaming-centered exhibitions in order to see what the audience reaction will be like and to see whether the crowd over there is as hesitant to pick up the controller on their own and how much guidance they need from me before they figure out how to use it.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I would like to keep working on Ghostboi even after this course has finished. I would like to push the medium of this fleshy controller to its limits and move farther away from the familiar input styles present in the current controller.

[sunnymothman200]

Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead: Reflections on the Work in Progress Show

I recently had a work in progress show for my latest game, "Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead". The game uses a controller made out of pink, silicone rubber which is in the shape of a pixellated Ghost. The ghost controller was made by 3D printing a mold, placing sensors inside of it, and then pouring dyed silicone rubber into the mold. Each of the arms contains a single tilt switch, while the eyes and teeth contain a capacitive touch sensor. Players move the arms to move the Ghost and press on its eyes or teeth to perform other actions in the game.

Watching people interact with the controller during the show provided very useful data on how I could improve the game. Players were first confused by how to move Ghostboi and had trouble moving him using the arms. They also had trouble pressing his teeth, while moving the arms in order to eat the burgers. They also did not really know what the difference was between pressing his eyes and his teeth.

As a game designer, guaging the difficulty of a game is challenging because I spend months developing the controls and playing the game. Therefore, I'm an "expert" player while the people I show it to will be playing it for the first time and do not know how everything works. I think that this iteration of Ghostboi proved to be too difficult for the public at large, although some experienced gamers were able to figure out how to use it pretty quickly.

As I work on further iterations, I would like to keep the jankiness and the difficulty of the controls. The game is about a ghost who is struggling to stay out of the afterlife, therefore the way in which the player interacts with Ghostboi should mirror that struggle. The difficulty of the controller adds to the narrative. However, I think the interaction is too complex and I am thinking of simplifying it to either one or zero capacitive touch inputs. If the players only have to focus on moving the arms, the controller still has the "janky" and difficult feeling, while still being accessible to most players.

I also received some very interesting feedback in terms of the materiality of the controller and the interaction as a whole. One visiting lecturer commented on how the interaction was too reminiscent of a joystick and push controller. She asked "As someone who is making an alternative controller game, you have an infinite amount of possibilities, why have you chosen to stick to an input that is so reminiscent of a traditional controller?". Another lecturer mentioned that he liked that the interactions resembled a traditional input such as a joystick. The shape of the controller is so alien, therefore he believed it was helpful if the interaction was familiar. Finally, one of my classmates felt that the interactions I had in place were completely overlooking the enjoyable and interesting aspects of interacting with the flesh-like silicone material. The appeal of this material was that she was able to stretch it and bend it, but the interaction was only localised to areas such as the arms, eyes and teeth.

The above reactions have shaped how I would like to think about the Ghostboi controller as I work towards the final show and beyond. In regards to the final show, I have a limited amount of time and in additioning to having a functioning game, I need to have a polished installation, as well. Therefore, I would like to keep the current inputs. The inputs are closely tied to the arcade-style game and I do not have enough time to revise the whole game. i will place the inputs in a way that encourages the player to stretch and contort the controller, thus maximizing the experience of interacting with the silicone rubber.

In future iterations that go beyond the final degree show, I would like to introduce mechanics that focus on the elasticity of the controller and that are tied to contorting it and moving it around. I would also like to move away from the screen as a visual output on focus on bringing audio-visual outputs into the larger environment.

[sunnymothman200]

I had the opportunity to exhibito "Void of Memory" at various venues including Interactive Futures, The Leftfield Collection at EGX Rezzed, Bonus Stage and A MAZE. Some of these venues were geared toward audiences that were interested in mainstream AAA games, while other venues focused more on niche audiences which sought out unconventional and alternative controller games. Regardless of the venue, I noticed that the audience reactions had a common theme: confusion as to what the object was and how to play the game.

Given that the enclosure for Void of Memory is supposed to represent an ornate server from the future, I don't think that a confused reaction is unwarranted. Although, this feeling of confusion might have made the audience apprehensive about playing the game, it also sparked a great deal of curiousity. Audience members were curious about how te various elements of the structure were related, what their functions were and they particularly enjoyed touching them and stacking them together to see if it would trigger any change in the game.

Although I feel that in some ways the level of confusion detracted from the player experience, I do like how the wtf-ness of my piece sparked curiousity and also ensured that Void of Memory was unlike anything else the audience had encountered before. I would like to find a way to cultivate that feeling of confusion at first glance so that it inspires curiousity when players see the game for the first time, but so that it becomes demistified as players pick up the controller and begin to use it.

[sunnymothman200]

Ghostboi: Progress notes

Last year, I created a very short narrative game called Ghostboi in the Land of the Dead using Openframeworks. The game used a joystick to move a small, pink ghost within a space. If the ghost intersected with certain objects, story text would appear. Although the game was quite simple, I enjoyed the ghost character that I had come up with and the strange afterlife he lived in. I wanted to see whether I could make a mechanics-heavy game that took place in this world. I also wanted to challenge myself with layering another level of meaning to the mechanics. I was really interested in experimenting with touch-based controllers and capacitive sensors. I was wondering how touch-based mechanics could be imbued with narrative meaning in the Ghostboi universe. Because this was to be shown as a work in progress and was largely an experiment, I chose to focus on functionality and mechanics and did not focus as much on aesthetics and artistry. Therefore, I used a simple exposed wire as my touch controller. The player would have to touch the wire in order to generate an effect on the screen. I carried the element of ghostburgers from the previous game into the new iteration. Ghostboi moves back and forth across the screen and tries to eat ghostburgers. However, the ghostburgers come in three different colors and the player has to make Ghostboi match the color of the burger. The player changes the color of Ghostboi by squeezing the wire very tightly, moderately, or very lightly. The intensity of the squeeze is mapped to a particular color. The prototype was a successful first pass despite there being a lag in registering changes in squeeze strength. This iteration was a strong proof of concept, however, I felt that the connection between the squeezing mechanic and the narrative context of the game was weak and lacked meaning. The experience of the game would not have been much more different had it used a traditional set of controls. The next step in the development of this project is to figure out how to use the mechanic of touch as a narrative tool in the game. I spent some time looking at various examples of alternative controller games in order to see how tactility, touch and materiality could be used as mechanics. One game which resonated with me was Bot Party, a game where each player holds a square “bot” which lights up. There are a total of three bots, but the number of people that can play is unlimited. If the bots light up, the respective players need to hold hands. If all of the bots light up, all of the players need to hold hands. If they do not, they lose points in the game. Many people can join the game and use their hands to connect the players. By making the act of holding hands one of the key mechanics, the game pushes our understanding of boundaries,and the role that touch plays in how we relate to others. Bot Party also provides a valuable case study of how players choose to incorporate touch into gameplay, whether it is incorporated through holding hands, hugging, kissing, high-fiving, fist-bumping and in some cases even punching. Although, I envision Ghostboi as a single-player game for now, I would like to explore the role of tactility and how it can frame a player’s connection to the game. I would like to experiment with creating a fleshy controller, in the shape of a ghost that players have to contort, move and bend in order to control the ghost character on the screen. By twisting his body, the player serves as a human, living conduit, through the act of holding his earthly remains, they allow him to feel what it was like to be alive.

[sunnymothman200]

Snakepocalypse

In order to improve my understanding of game mechanics and their impact on narrative, I chose to create a mini-game that was purely mechanics based and to see what, if any, narrative experience would result from the mechanics. I decided to create a small Snake game based off of the nostalgic game available on old Nokia phones. The Snake game would be shown on a small 8x8 two-color LED matrix powered by an Arduino pro mini. The direction of the snake would be controlled by four push buttons. However, I chose to add a small twist to the game. Every thirty to forty seconds or so, the game is interrupted by a message warning about an impending apocalypse, such as “RUN TO YOUR BUNKER”, and “DEATH IS UPON US” or “NATIONAL EMERGENCY”. The messages are accompanied by animations of skulls and explosions. I added this twist in order to increase the element of challenge in the game. The interrupting message triggers a break in concentration from the player, which could cause them to turn the snake in the wrong direction or prevent them from turning the snake in time.

The messages also serve to add a layer of context to the game. By reading these messages, the player becomes aware that the game takes place in a world on the brink of destruction. Snake is a nostalgic game for many people who grew up using the early Nokia phones, therefore I liked how the apocalyptic messages added a sense of danger to a game that otherwise has mostly cheerful connotations.

In order to house the game, I created a small case out of cardboard. I painted the case and drew a few doodles on it in order to make it look like something that had been owned by a child and had become worn through extensive use, and perhaps a nuclear disaster. These purely aesthetic elements of the casing, added another layer of context to the game, placing it in a temporal space as something that is from the past, has belonged to someone, and has been used over time.

Now that the game had been embedded in a narrative context - in a world on the brink of destruction, where it was owned by a child that played it extensively - I wondered whether the mechanics served a narrative role. The snake on the old Nokia phone is controlled in a very similar way, with four pressable buttons on the keypad moving the snake up, down, left and right. Were the mechanics in my version of Snake imbued with a different meaning when placed in the post-apocalyptic context versus the original context?

In order to understand this question better, I looked at a work from Kaho Abe called Hotaru (http://kahoabe.net/portfolio/hotaru/). In this two-person, cooperative game, two players act as the last remaining lightning bugs in a fantasy world, facing off against an invisible enemy. One player is faced with the task of accumulating lightning through various hand gestures and placing it in a tank by holding hands with the other player. The other player then shoots the lightning using another hand gesture. In this game, the key mechanics are holding hands, and the respective gestures that each player needs to do in order to shoot or accumulate lightning. Stripped of the context provided by the lightning bugs, the enemy and the lightning, the hand gestures either lose meaning or take on completely different meanings. For example, holding hands is usually seen as an intimate gesture between people who are closely acquainted. However, in this game holding hands is a means of transferring lightning between two bugs. Similarly, the individual gestures performed by each player would be meaningless without their impact in the game world.

I realized that mechanics are only meaningful because of their impact in the game world, and how the action afforded by the mechanic is interpreted by the player. For example, in Hotaru, the same gesture to shoot lightning could be used to shoot water in a different game. In the case of my Snake game, I think that the post-apocalyptic context provides the mechanics with a different meaning than the original. The mechanics provide the player with a means of controlling the snake despite the interruptions from the imploding outside world, and provide a feeling of control in a nostalgic gameworld.

In addition to experimenting with mechanics, this mini-game provided me with the opportunity to create a modular system. As mentioned earlier, the game uses an LED Matrix and Arduino pro mini and is held in small, portable, cardboard case. The game is also powered by a rechargeable battery and can be recharged using a cellphone charger. I like that this game is a portable object that can be moved outside of a gallery space and can be embedded in the outside world. I would like to keep experimenting with portability, modularity and form in later projects.

[sunnymothman200]

In the start of September, I created Void of Memory, a narrative game that takes place in the near future where technologies made out of organic matter are embedded into the surrounding environment and are used for ubiquitous surveillance. In the game, the player takes on the role of an employee who maintains the servers that process the data collected by these surveillance systems. The player can choose whether to use the server to analyze surveillance data for work or whether to use it to find out what happened to a friend who disappeared mysteriously a few years ago. I've been developing the story for Void of Memory for a few years and have displayed it in a variety of media including a web database, however this is the first year that I have tried presenting it in a physical form. Although, aesthetically I think it carries the feeling I am trying to convey in the narrative and in the story universe, the current game play mechanics hinder the narrative experience. Although the mechanics allow the players to control the machine, their impact on the inner workings of the machine and on the narrative are unclear and prevent the player from having full agency when making decisions. In further iterations, I would like to experiment with different shapes, textures and controls for the server. I would also like to focus particularly on mechanics and how the mechanics determine the narrative rather than have the mechanics solely serve as a means to interact with a predetermined story-line.

[sunnymothman200]

This is another experiment in pixel art that I have been experimenting with for my game. Its markers and watercolors on graph paper. I'm kind of liking mixing traditional materials with a digital medium. I'm working on the game now and will post in progress pieces soon!

[sunnymothman200]

Got a new toy today!I saw this guy in a convenience store and thought I would grab him :).

[sunnymothman200]

One of my first ventures into pixel art! It’s a scene that I’m going to be using in one of my games. It was done with traditional media - markers and graph paper lol. I know it’s not technically pixel art, but I like the gradations within each color.

[sunnymothman200]

One of my first ventures into pixel art! It's a scene that I'm going to be using in one of my games. It was done with traditional media - markers and graph paper lol. I know it's not technically pixel art, but I like the gradations within each color.

[sunnymothman200]

This is a very basic prototype of one of my games. It consists of an Arduino Pro Mini, a button and an infrared light. Pressing the button causes the infrared light to send different messages over infrared.

An infrared receiver connected to another Arduino Pro Mini will receive the messages and will cause information on an LCD TFT screen to change based off of the messages.

I’m making a game where multiple components featuring LED matrices and TFT LCDs will communicate with one another. Each of these components will represent a particular character and a viewpoint in a story.

[sunnymothman200]

This is a very basic prototype of one of my games. It consists of an Arduino Pro Mini, a button and an infrared light. Pressing the button causes the infrared light to send different messages over infrared.

An infrared receiver connected to another Arduino Pro Mini will receive the messages and will cause information on an LCD TFT screen to change based off of the messages.

I'm making a game where multiple components featuring LED matrices and TFT LCDs will communicate with one another. Each of these components will represent a particular character and a viewpoint in a story.

[sunnymothman200]

Here are some examples of pixel art I created for my games.

[xdystopix-blog]

Surreal scene from another unknown dimension 

[sunnymothman200]

I'm in love with this work! :D