#jake rodkin

[tinysamm]

There are three core aspects of environment design that Firewatch makes use of extensively in order to guide the player without making them feel that they are boxed in: landmarks, peaks and valleys, and visual contrast. Landmarks frequently provide a simple goal for the player to move to, such as the watchtower, and also establish a spatial relationship with the larger world. Peaks and valleys create a sense of extensive travel, without actually needing an extensive distance to be covered- instead, the sensation of travel comes from dipping into the valleys, and coming out over the peaks to a new area. Visual contrast comes into play with sudden points of darkness or colors that appear unnatural in the environment, either as a way of directing the player or guiding them away from a particular direction. 

[nobodycatchme]

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Cheap Talk | Push Play (Boombox Song) Firewatch

[tinysamm]

The level design and environmental design of Firewatch is designed to primarily provide a backdrop and frame to the interactions between the player character of Henry and their companion Delilah. The tone of each major encounter is determined by each section the player is moving through, and what they see and experience there will directly apply to what they talk to Delilah about. This can be done because A) each encounter is placed under a brief timed event, that moves to silence if the player doesn’t respond, and B) each event is both location and facing sensitive- the player must be looking at the object or area they’re going to talk about before they can start speaking about it.

[halfwaythroughmonday]

Chris: But you know you can do it. That's the problem.

Nick: Yeah, I know. I mentally beat it. But in reality, I have not. The disconnect of that is worrisome.

Chris: That's actually another psychological principle that's really difficult. Once, in your brain, you've achieved something, it actually gives you all those dopamine hits that the actual accomplishment does, which makes you less likely to remain motivated to actually achieve the thing.

Jake: Yeah, if you're dissatisfied with your job, don't tell your closest friends repeatedly how dissatisfied you are and how you're totally gonna take another job and how you're gonna take a vacation after you quit and stuff. You're just Total-Recalling yourself a fake version of quitting, and then you will not quit your job. Don't take the mental vacation, or don't do the mental accomplishment before you actually do it, or you fuck yourself.

Idle Thumbs 291 - Mid-Jam Power Move (youtu.be/DH3sYD8Ghso?t=16m1s)

(I've experienced both sides of this, and I can confirm that the difference is stark. A stockpile of idle complaints and plans can be an explosive source of motivation, if you build it up big enough. But speaking such thoughts aloud defuses them.)

[ququmedia-blog]

“Gamers are kind of insane.” —Jake Rodkin

[tinysamm]

The player character’s hands in Firewatch are specifically animated and formed around each interactive object and environmental piece of the world. This provides a tangibility to everything the player character interacts with, and means that the player must interpret the world through their character’s eyes.

[gamerclaw]

Jake accidentally (?) reveals some of Olly Moss' artwork for the upcoming Campo Santo game during this weekend's Idle Thumbs DayZ Twitch Stream of "The Least Dangerous Game". I don't really know what I've stumbled on, but this is it. TREES, YOU GUYS.

[playistic]

The brains behind Telltale’s The Walking Dead and Mark of the Ninja form new studio

Artist Olly Moss, creative designers Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, and game designer Nels Anderson are teaming up to make games with Mac/iOS developer Panic. http://goo.gl/ZKFfay #Playistic