Thoughts on Guild Wars 2 Raiding

A couple weeks ago, the guys at Arenanet did a live-stream talking about the inclusion of “challenging content” coming alongside the release of the game's first expansion, Heart of Thorns. The stream went on to discuss the nature of its raiding content; outlining its large set pieces and difficult encounters that will require the co-ordination of your group (of which has been set to 10 players) to overcome significant opponents. Over the past couple weeks, I've 'ermed and errred' over this subject trying to think about how I would like to discuss it, but I feel I've got to a point where I feel it best showcases my thoughts. These thoughts come from two particular areas: my interest of architectural theory and my experience of raiding in traditional MMOs such as WoW and Rift.

Many years ago raiding up against Onyxia in WoW.  Screenshot taken 19/08/2006

The subject of raiding in essence is quite simple; stringing together challenging bosses broken up by trash mobs and narrative to give context and pacing to the environment. Its the way a significant force can be tackle in a narrative, that may present them as an almost impossible mountain to climb but through determination and skill it can be overcome. This of course is a strong feeling to have in a game like an MMO (and kinda any game really) but grouping together with like-minded people and having that roar from a VoIP server upon success is amazing to experience. I experienced this in WoW during Vanilla and Wrath as well as Vanilla Rift as both a healer and DPS which to a certain extent was a while ago, but with Guild Wars 2 I have the potential to experience that once again. That being said, I'm not sure whether the game (or myself) can live up to what raiding is.

My first time seeing Rag was a memorable experienced hampered by the nature of Molten Core.  Screenshot taken 17/12/2006

The most clear point on this subject in my opinion is the nature of the current content; that focuses heavily on grouped-up 'blob-like' movement with enemy movement that plays into this. There are of course reasons behind this such as boon stacking (stacking large numbers of buffs on the party in quick succession), ease of access to resurrecting downed players and that players are rarely punished for acting in this way. To a certain extent, it makes me think of the traditional “boss vs. tank” then everyone else that I experienced in my days of raiding in places like Molten Core as the factor of the number of players doesn't matter visually. Of course the damage matters but the enemy doesn't care as it just sees 'enemy'.

World bosses maybe large but the same tactic applies.  Screenshot taken 14/09/2015

The second point, more relevant to my interests, means that the environment and its narrative is somewhat fractured by this. Whether you're in AC, CoE, Fractals or an open world meta event boss you adopt the blob and keep on attacking and the background becomes blurred to a certain extent. You maybe doing world bosses for 3 or so hours but all that's changing is the backdrop; a theatre if you will that revolves the background from a townscape to a forest during a performance but the actors are still conversing in the same prose. A couple weeks ago when I did a post about arenas I did say that the combat loop can be engaging if the arena gives you an engaging environment and narrative to get stuck into, but at the moment Guild Wars 2 content in the above examples doesn't give me the same feeling.

A large boss that hopefully looks to be more dynamic in its movement and actions.  Image from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/designing-challenging-content/ accessed 14/09/2015

Going back to my earlier paragraph on raiding, one of the pieces I did discuss that its not just the bosses but the connecting sections that add to the experience of a raid. Personally, I feel that this is what Guild Wars 2 currently has a lot of potential to set themselves apart. They have a enjoyable series of jumping puzzles, open world explorable dungeons and guild puzzles that create an interesting mix of combat and cryptic problem solving allowing groups to use logic and deduction to balance the combat they experience in the vast amount of a game like Guild Wars 2. Going back to my time raiding, the process was very much so a “trash->boss->trash->boss” loop and although if the bosses are engaging this can work, having these interest mid sections that replace trash at points (trash->boss->puzzle->boss) it can keep people interested for longer with a level of pacing appropriate.

Using mechanics like gliding has the potential to give us those interesting connecting paths.  Image from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/designing-challenging-content/ accessed 14/09/2015

These thoughts naturally follow into quite a few posts I've made on this blog in the past. Pacing is a subject from “Walking Simulators” because of the tone rarely changes and the pace remains static alongside the “Arenas” that need to not just be arenas but means to create grand set pieces and times of lull so that the player doesn't tire of the content. In architecture we do this with room sizes, lighting levels, furniture arrangement, level changes, open plan vs. closed and an overall consideration for the human interactions that may go on such a space which together play a lot into our thoughts of how we remember it. Did that museum take you through a story of a by-gone time or did it feel somewhat out of place with a bright background on the content of a tragic event. As space does this in the built environment, so must a digital one.

To conclude, challenging content is a great more than just difficult encounters. The importance of the spaces engaging the player so that context and motivation is given for players wanting to overcome the challenge. Difficult bosses is one thing, but difficult bosses with pathways, narrative, times of intense feelings and lulls in the pace all make an experience like a raid so much more. Will GW2 do this? Time will tell but I hope that becomes a memorable experience for those who look to take on its content. Only like 5-6 weeks to find out and personally I'm looking forward to it.   

Warframe PvP: Personal Thoughts as of Update 17

PvP in Warframe for me has always been an odd thing due to its difficult upbringing.  When it was first brought up, the star-chart conclaves were something I only tried briefly and the dark sectors were something I never really tried out of confusion / not really being invested in the game mode.  The most recent standalone version with game modes of CTF and Kill Confirmed have perked my interest for PvP again, but with the recent changes in update 17 to the movement mechanics its sitting tall at my weekend’s playtime for a number of different reasons. 

PvP in Warframe is still in somewhat early stages but it has strong opening gamemodes.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

The most prevalent feeling of this playtime is one of nostalgia; a moment where I am in an arena wall hiking around the map trailing my target instantly takes me back to 10 or so years ago with one of the two titans of arena shooting being Unreal Tournament (the other of course being Quake).  For me, UT (alongside Total Annihilation) were the first PC games I played online and having the frantic nature of UT Deathmatch on a map like Deck 16 cemented my enjoyment for PC gaming and the larger spectrum of competition.  The Arena shooter became my first stop for many years of gaming, going through the entire UT series (UT, 2k3, 2k4 and 3 as of writing) with modern titles such as CoD just not fully scratching such an itch.  For me, it was never the gunplay that personified these games (be it weapons like the flak cannon being my favourite anyway) but an enthusiasm for the movement controls with particular focus on the 2k4 iteration.  Whereas in a modern title you will have a jump, crouch, sprint and maybe a slide; you could dodge into double jumps, wall hikes into somersaults, rocket jumps and other environmental based movement techniques to make your ability to remain a difficult target an extra step of the FPS mechanics we all know and enjoy.  It also gave a sense of speed as with learning such mechanics, you could greatly increase your travel speed meaning that it gave an overall feeling of speed to the gameplay that military sprinting or short-term jetpacks just don’t truly match in my opinion.  With Warframe’s new movement mechanics that follow a similar toolset of wall hikes, double jumps, leaps, rolls and bullet-time esc slides, PvP’ing gives me this feeling of having to use my movement as an extension of my in-combat play so that I am able to try and gain short-term advantages so that I can defeat the enemy.  Traversing the maps, jumping into a battle to nab a kill and then dart back out with a slither of health is something that very rarely loses its charm and I can see that my previous enthusiasm for the arena shooter could be found in not an FPS but a third-person shooter which has somewhat surprised me. 

That being said, I would be lying if I made a 1:1 comparison and I do have some issues that have cropped up during these hours of play.  Some of these are self-critical while others are at the gameplay.

Jumping away at the right time to be ready for the next skirmish.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

First of all, I have had to play a lot with my controls / mouse sensitivity because of the significant change in enemy movement type from PvE to PvP.  The overwhelmingly majority of Warframe’s PvE enemies work on the same plain as the player with a relativity slow-regular pace as the AI does make use of cover and squad like groupings whereas a player is naturally unpredictable.  Traversing the map I have noticed a small need for increased sensitivity, but when I end up in a dual-like situation with another player one is wrapped into a swirl of leaps and slides as you try to gain an advantage for a couple shots and in those situations I could probably do with upping my sensitivity by around 40%.  I do have the option to change my sensitivity on the fly, but I feel like it’s going to take a couple hours to find the right balance.  In terms of movement, I also feel that sometimes when I go to roll I’m not rolling which is getting me shot / stabbed but I have a feeling this maybe down to my aging hardware / reaction speed.

Although I performed well during matches, the last 2 or so minutes would see me knocked off my podium finish.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

Secondly, I feel like there is an unnecessary ‘deadzone’ time in some movement which makes the flow of gameplay feel off-balance.  To those of you who may be confused by my choice of word, I am referring to particular moments in moving; aiming with a weapon after a sliding movement and landing after a jump beyond the regular jump height.  The First of these has been a recent issue of mine since Update 17 where there’s a short-term ‘sway’ out of the slide where the camera catches up with the player so I feel this is something that may need some work on through patches, but the second is more difficult to discuss because I can see the reasoning behind it.  Having a player stagger if they don’t land a high jump properly makes sense as it encourages you to chain movement together in an appropriate manner, it’s just the smaller cases of jumping regular to a space a couple steps below your original jump point is where it feels off in comparison to the PvE gameplay I have experienced.  There have been a number of moments where I’ve thought “why” on a map such as the corpus ship tile-set where I traverse the side crates onto the lower health pickups with no problem but stagger on the nearby gradient changes. 

Thirdly, and possibly the most subjective, is the experience of comparative skills and the interplay between them.  It’s always difficult to discuss a subject like this without going too much into balance and whether “x is OP” but I will try just to give my experiences during this time.  I personally have been trying quite a few weapons and personally I’ve felt an affinity for shotgun use with a heavy sidearm and polearm but I haven’t been able to find a frame that fits the playstyle that I want to going with that.  I tried using Volt, Valkyr, Saryn, Zephyr, Chroma and Frost but I just can’t get a great feeling of “this feels like what I want”.  A skill / attack that one shots me as a Volt (with a small armour rating so you may consider that there are various attacks that do it) would also do the same to Saryn (a frame with a much higher armour rating) and I personally don’t know what to make of it.  I try to think of ‘counter-play’ but other than ‘run away’ there isn’t much I’m coming up with and that’s not the best situation in these circumstances.  Then there’s Jat Kittag, a weapon that I know is a slow, formidable weapon but in PvP has just been an aggravation for me.  In both PvE and PvP it has a powerful knockback for the surrounding enemies but with one particular experience of mine I feel it may need a bit of tweaking.  The times where I’m battling with someone and I get hit by it so be it, but when I’m mid-air and dodging away from it at a decent height from the ground I don’t feel like I should be staggered / knocked down by it.  I understand there are mods to make you immune to such affects after being knocked / staggered, but I’m not on the ground or near to the blast so I don’t think I should be affected.  I will of course play more to understand this gameplay situation, but as of now for me it’s an unenjoyable play where counters I have looked to make haven’t been viable. 

Lastly (and possibly a secondary point to all the above) having peer to peer connections is much more noticeable in this game mode than in PvE, with myself experiencing a number of situations where I’ve been killed around the corner when in terms of the connection I’m most likely still occupying the space I was before I moved into cover.  This is of course a factor of the overall game and experienced in other games that use P2P such as CoD; so in an ideal world I would love the use of dedicated servers as then I’m less likely to either a) have the above situations happen or b) blame less of my performance on a factor like lag.  For the meantime, I’m going to try to work around it and get better. 

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed my time PvP’ing in Warframe this weekend and would recommend it just to try at least.  The gameplay is fun and removes a lot of what people do find annoying about the PvE side of gameplay – farming / grinding.  If you’re someone like me and are looking for an arena shooter, this may intrigue you until the genre properly finds its way onto the main stage of gaming, but other than a few “ARGH” moments from myself it gave me a similar feeling to those older titles.  

Thoughts on Rebuilding Lion’s Arch, Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 over the past couple weeks to the point where I’ve got into the mentality of pre-expansion clear-up.  This generally means finishing up on little things you want to clear (gear, certain achievements, living story) before you’re hit with a large amount of content.  Because of this, I haven’t really been that engaged with Tyria recently, but a recent change to the city of Lion’s Arch perked my interest enough to talk about it. 

The lighthouse has seen its fair share of damage over the past couple years.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

Lion’s Arch has seen its fair share of damage over the 2-3 years of playtime with its most significant attack coming at the end of season one of the Living World.  It’s been left somewhat scattered and broken for over a year now and there has been a decent discussion about whether it should be rebuilt; with some believing it would undermine the factor of destruction and the toll it took on those who chose to defend the city.  Regardless, there has been some stirrings in Lion’s Arch recently and the Consortium (a corporation involved in Southsun Cove and the Fractals of the Mist) have footed the bill to rebuild the city and reignite some prestige into it.  It’s an interesting story with the potential for it to backfire but for now I want to look at what they’re doing from an architectural point of view. 

Construction slowly starts above the WvW portals.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

On the surface, one could say that there isn’t a great deal to look at when it comes to the current level of construction.  There are a great deal of scaffolding up with a wooden frame against a metal mesh and masonry that are focused in at 2-3 sites around the city.  These sites are quite tall, using airships to move in large curved formations giving the impression of a large rounded tower to be built overlooking the current Asuran portal gates to the major cities of each race.  Reading the blog post, one sees why these structures are being put into place as follows:

“The plan of the city leaders is not to attempt to fully restore the landmark as it once was, but rather to implement an enhanced design that will more realistically serve the Tyria of today. In light of the lessons learned from the Scarlet Briar and her massive airship drill, the Breachmaker, the city will be a more fortified city, with a design intended to protect citizen and visitor alike.”

The airship brings in a large piece of wall for the construction of a tower-like building.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

A tower of such height of course gives the city the ability to see threats from afar and the structures being curved diminish the potential weak spots of a square or flat frontage building.  That being said, having tall, imposing structures give the potential for them to impose onto the city itself disrupting the original feel of Lion’s Arch in Guild Wars 2 being this pirate run city and not a capital with a standing army.  The events of the Living Story may have changed this, but I still think it’s important to make sure these potential structures don’t stand out beyond the rest (A bit like Brutalism and how some structures are considered concrete monstrosities). 

Artist impression of what the new Lion's Arch could look like.  From https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/lions-arch-construction-nears-completion-new-player-poll-announced/ accessed 23/5/2015

Looking at the blog, they did show a couple impressions of what could be going on in Lion’s Arch but I don’t really feel connected with them for a couple reasons.  First of all, I’m not too sure where this picture would fit into Lion’s Arch at the moment.  I think I would need a couple perspective / axonometric shots to truly come to terms with what they’re looking to do.  Second of all, I don’t feel a sense of centralisation which is a bit harder to pin-point when it could it said that Lion’s wasn’t centralised in the past.  What I’m looking for with this rebuild is a means of people to connect through either a route or an action; like the forge square previously where people would pass through to access their bank, TP or crafting professions while also being a route for people to go beyond the city into the world.  Because of the setting, aesthetics and previous interactions with other organisations in the world of Tyria, I do feel there’s a way to do this well through the creation of a bazaar or market-like square akin to the Mediterranean / North African settlements that trade from its docks to its markets. 

Souk of Marrakech.  Image from http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ accessed 25/5/2015

Places like the Souk in Marrakech are a melting point of culture, art, food trade and social interactions that creates its own mini-settlement for all to enjoy.  The basis of the land may be calm, but the stalls are awash with colour across the spectrum to delight the eye and inspire the mind.  The act of trading is not just a matter of transaction, but a social event through introductions, haggling and the purchase which sums up the level of interactions one experiences in such a place.  This is what I would love to see come into the more pedestrian areas of Lion’s Arch; creating an environment that gets people to interact with from a sociable point of view as well as movement.  The city is kinda half way there when it comes to the current mystic forge spot, but I feel that if Lion’s Arch is going to have a remake I’d love to see an injection of mercantile chaos into this fray.  Whether players would warm to such an idea is of course something that is unknown before implementation, but much like my previous post on player housing, we can create architecture through more than just bricks and mortar. 

The pirate council of Lion’s arch have given the city a great sense of character to me coming to Guild Wars 2 as someone not involved with the series previously.  Its reconstruction led by the consortium showcases a great deal of potential for the city; I just hope that the character from its pirate / mercantile backgrounds shines through against the fortifications in progress. 

Time of course will tell.

The Everyday Commute: Taking the Sights in

Over this past week and a bit, I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a number of projects and potential job interviews where I get to be a part of something I enjoy greatly.  The flip-side of this is that it has involved quite a bit of travelling so naturally things like this get pushed back.  Today I want to talk about my experiences of these journeys and the minor details that I found interesting through them. 

The idea of commuting is of course not an uncommon sight to behold, especially in the capital city of a nation, but being unable to drive I’ve always had the concept of commuting in my sight as a means to combat this issue.  For many people, the use of public transport for work is a mundane thing as it naturally becomes an everyday occurrence, but for me I’ve always had an enjoyment of travelling in an environment where I can continue to do other things while in transit.  This may be due to not experiencing said journeys in such high volume as the typical commuter, but time will tell whether this could become a thing. 

The journeys I had last week revolved around a need to commute into London via a combination of Bus and Tube within a timeframe of 1-3 hours, with minimal need to change lines between destinations.  Because of this, I was able to do last minute prep for interviews and consider some last minute ‘blue sky’ thinking for some ideas that may seem a bit odd.  While doing this, I started to consider the change in environment both internally (the train) and externally (local environment) and see how much was truly happening architecturally. 

As my closest tube station is Epping, my journey would always start on the Central line moving into London via Stratford bringing with it a mostly natural environment of trees and fields with a range of typical post-war terrace housing and older Victorian dwellings as I got within greater London.  Most of this didn’t really interest me, but what did was a rather large cemetery around Woodford / Buckhurst Hill (I think within that range maybe slightly further) which featured a range of colours from the donated flowers of loved ones contrasting the grey headstones dominating the landscape.  Internally, the carriage was an older model juddering along representing a line that could possibly do with some maintenance bringing an interesting dynamic to the passengers; with some carrying on their day and others showcasing a visual dislike for the situation.  The advertisements on show presented a fresh-foods monthly sub-box service (something that I personally don’t find much interest in) and vistas of the Las Vegas strip with that ever present ‘what goes in Vegas stays in Vegas’ which in my experience doesn’t really happen these days due to the advent of instant-access social media and my past two weeks of Facebook. 

The later parts of my journeys, in particular one to Harrow, felt rather different to this but in subtle ways (if that makes sense somehow?)  My experience of western London is somewhat limited to Hammersmith and upon talking to a number of friends / family they seemed to think that the area was rather upmarket (generally speaking not specifically the Borough).  What I was met with was a continued lowering of building density you would expect and a range of Victorian / post-war housing and the occasional parkland or stadium.  With that being said, going past Wembley Stadium it was interesting to see the range of corrugated iron sheds near to the track being dwarfed by this iconic structure; making me think about the Concept of high-art ‘Pillar of Fire’ in action around its revellers in their settlements that pale in comparison in the brief time I was able to see it while going past.  The train itself was a much more modern version with larger interior space and a smooth ride, aiding my ability to continue to write some plans and listen to an audiobook without physical or audio interruption. 

Overall, my past week of journeys have been an interesting experience for me and I hope to be able to have this potential means of working with people further beyond my usual local historic environment.  I don’t want to be held back with potential projects / jobs because the commute maybe a bit long and I do enjoy having the time to have some time to jot down thoughts and relax on the way to work.  Of course, time will tell if this viewpoint stays but here’s to joining the ranks of some million+ people who do it every day. 

One last thought, on the bus from Epping, there was an advert for Chlamydia by the NHS showcasing its potential hidden growth and ease of treatment with an aesthetic I would class as a cross between ‘visual novel’ and ‘graffiti’.  A minor point but I found it funny : )

Semiology / Semiotics (signs and how we define them)

The subject of signs and iconography is something that appears in our everyday lives to point where it gets an automatic response from us.  Whether its road-signs as we drive along dictating the speed to go; public transport and its colour co-ordinated route system; or an office building and its designation of floor space, each has its own set of parameters defined for its users.  The subject of Semiology (the study of signs) is something that has a depth beyond anything I could comprehend in this brief discussion, but I hope to give an insight in relation to my previous experience. 

To begin with, this is a subject that has been on my peripheral since the later parts of my second year at university.  I remember Extra Credits doing a Halloween episode on the subject in correlation to horror (quite appropriate in relation to the current time of the year) which perked my interest.  As I have developed my own thoughts over the years through such viewpoints as Heidegger, Lyotard, Baudrillard, etc I’ve only briefly noticed how close semiology comes into the fray.  Defining ‘place’ and ‘space’ is somewhat similar to defining items like ‘chair’, ‘door’ and ‘wall’ which brings us to the architectural context of this piece.

For this piece, I’ve looked at Roland Barthes ‘Semiology and the Urban’ and Umberto Eco’s ‘Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture’ which in turn present some nice examples in game design.  Barthes is the essay I would align closer to my personal architectural theory with the discussion of how towns and cities develop over time and define their areas; such as neighbourhoods, commercial and industrial districts of varying importance.  As you may be aware, the traditional progression of a settlement is a progressive growth into villages-towns-cities depending on a number of factors like geography, economics and social growth.  As a settlement crosses one of these thresholds, there is a certain difficulty in creating new space while appeasing the issues of change.  For example, a village being developed into a small market town may feature new dwellings and more widely recognised retail outlets.  However, the current population may desire a small settlement and dislikes the look of the new developments out of this desire to stay a village.  It is at this point the architect / town planner has to be careful to consider the thoughts of each party as they create this new settlement. 
Personally, I feel a strong connection between this and the idea of particular IP’s (intellectual property) and the interpretation from different studios.  Take the Warhammer 40k IP and see the range of game genres handled by its developers (RTS, FPS, 3^rd person action, etc).  The mechanics are different but they each follow a particular aesthetic (to a lesser or greater degree) of this ‘grim dark’ future where there is a fight for survival in a somewhat brutal manner.  Another example would be the recent Devil May Cry (DMC: Devil May Cry) where a reboot change the story’s main character (Dante) from a ‘jokey’ fun-loving character into a more ‘brooding’ kinda nihilistic person, much to the disapproval of the series fans. 

Eco’s essay is more concerned with the semiology of objects and the correlation we find to create patterns in space.  One of the examples given by Eco is that of a cave and early man; as they use a hole in a mountain as shelter, over time it will be defined by the person as a place of settlement in which they dwell.  Rock formations along the edges can also be defined as walls and the opening itself is effectively a transition from dwelling to not dwelling (aka door).  As the person goes forth and explores, they may see similar rock formations with a transitional ‘hole’ which one could imagine they define as another ‘cave’.  More modern examples can be things like viewports (windows, glazing, platforms, etc) or a chair (pile of rocks, a fallen tree, a chair, a sofa, a throne, etc) but they come under the idea of how we define what something is and the connotations with it.  The range of items that can come under a single definition is somewhat infinite from a broad spectrum, but there’s an example from a game I enjoy greatly which I feel takes on this idea greatly.
Ratchet and Clank on the PS2 was a platformer which featured an anthropomorphic main character (Ratchet) and his robot sidekick (Clank).  Initially, Clank is a means to bring the call of ‘a hero’s journey’ to Ratchet, but over time Clank develops some motor actions to help the player progress the game.  These features include a helicopter / jetpack / waterjet transformation from Clank which gives us the ability to jump higher, glide, swim faster and other tertiary functions.  Clank is defined as a robot; but he features AI of a robot, customisation of a mechanical object, and the companionship of a sidekick character.  I haven’t played it, but those of you from the Nintendo console side will probably see a similar light with Banjo Kazooie and the range of involvement Kazooie has in the game. 

To summarise, the subject of signs and semiology is a vast subject which bleeds into our everyday lives on both a conscious and sub-conscious manner.  Taking time to consider these factors gives us the potential to view games in a new depth when we corroborate it with exterior schools of thought.  I would highly recommend reading further into the subject with people like Young (psychology) or the examples I’ve presented in this post. 

I hope you’ve found this piece interesting. 

References

*Barthes, R. Semiology and the Urban
*Eco, U. Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture
*Ratchet and Clank.(2002). Insomniac Games
*Banjo Kazooie. (1998). Rare

Receiver and the Discussion of Combative Design Theory (form:function)

These past couple weeks have been rather busy with ‘IRL’ stuff so naturally things like this have been pushed to the side.  That being said, I enjoyed a little game over the weekend that I want to talk about in regards to a relatively modern architectural design choice. 

Receiver is a very small indie-fps title from Wolfire Games created as part of a 7 day fps game challenge which looks to create quasi-realistic gun mechanics.  Whereas in a conventional fps the reloading mechanics are a single button press; receiver includes individual bullets, magazine loading, checking the chamber and releasing the hammer to name a few.  It’s a rather confusing experience when you initially load in, but after around 15-20minutes the gunplay was making sense and it becoming rather enjoyable. 

Alongside these mechanics there is RNG based level design, item placement and enemy locations that keep you on your toes as you navigate your surroundings.  One may call this a ‘roguelike’ in terms of its permadeath and random starting loot, but I feel it’s more towards a tactical shooter by its combat mechanics. 

While playing this game, I got a feeling of a couple schools of thought in design and play on the concept apparent in Receiver.  Firstly there was the age old ‘form vs. function’ theory that discusses the relationship between aesthetics (form) and mechanics (function).  In architecture, this can sometimes be the nature between an engineer and an architect but certain eras in architecture have gone one way or another e.g. Brutalism tends to be on the side of ‘function’.  Receiver is a game of pure mechanics in its gunplay while its aesthetics are rather spartan in its night time city-scape and plain rooms.  Not to say that this is a bad thing as one should remember this was made in 7 days…

The other feeling I got from this game was a kind of Deconstructionism / Victorian industrial ideology that turns the ‘function’ side of the debate into its own aesthetic.  A couple examples of these traits include London Paddington Station; Lloyds building in London and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.  Each of these examples uses the structure, the framework and the stuff that is usually hidden away behind walls in conventional buildings to create their own pieces of art and design through architecture.  Looking at these examples, one can see a correlation of Receiver and typical fps games through the use of the reloading mechanic; as the simple press of a button (usually R) is now a fully-fledged mechanic to take into consideration.  There are games that have played around with the reload mechanics in the past (one of the more famous examples being Gears of War) but I feel this is the most literal and by proxy the closest to the above architectural theory. 

To be honest, I grabbed this game on the Humble Store end of summer sale for free, but you may find it interesting to review in how minor aspects of design can be created into a new format.  Outline theories you may want to look at include symbolism, discussion of ‘space’ and usage of signs in culture but overall I hope you found this discussion interesting. 

References / further reading

*Receiver, Wolfire Games (2012)

*Eco, U. Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture

*Barthes, R. Semiology and the Urban

*Bachelard, G. Poetics of Space

Gothic Architecture and Gaming: A Duality of Sorts

Over the past couple weeks; I’ve been putting together a talk on architecture for an event next month.  Although the subject matter is primary on history, it’s got me thinking about certain eras and how they fit into popular culture and gaming.  Today, in a roundabout way, we discuss the matter of Gothic and its duality within theory and design.  (I’ll admit thou, I’m not too clued up on these cultures so the writing may seem sporadic….)

Generally speaking, when you mention the term ‘Gothic’ it conjures thoughts of the darkness; unworldly mythical beings which revolve around imposing architecture with a sense of ritualistic actions.  Looking into the pop-culture of ‘Gothic’ one can see many influences from the Victorian age in regards to fashion and mentality.  Vampires are regarded as a manifestation of sexual uncertainty for the more elaborate acts (although some Victorian historians would imply the opposite) and their dress sense involves similar connotations.  Gothic architecture corroborates this view because of the way it’s presented.  The grand structures of places like Notre Dame give an imposing feeling; with its sheer height, mass and aesthetics correlating with acts of ritual. 

That being said, when looking at Gothic from an architectural point of view, there is a very different impression given to its design.  Gothic architecture is one of pious sentiments; use of light and colour in their interiors; and the omnipresence of a higher being within its surroundings.  Compared with earlier eras of medieval and classic design, Gothic looked to play a bit more with softer edges on larger, airy rooms making it more welcome.  Even something like gargoyles (or grotesques depending on singular or plural) are aesthetic pieces to make the facades more interesting; similar to the ‘storyboard’ statuettes on some cathedrals like Exeter.  Of course, the popular culture connotations didn't come until much later (architecture focused on the 1200-1500s roughly and pop culture more towards 17-1800s+) but it’s interesting to see the duality of the term and how it’s used in gaming. 

In my own experience of playing games, it’s the horror genre (and games that use horror elements) that generally show up Gothic.  The Devil May Cry series (particularly the first game) features large, imposing, cathedral-like structures which are usually traversed physically or visually alongside fighting demons from the evil depths.  Although a lot of the game is relativity dark, there are points where light is used to different effects.  Here are two examples that I feel are relevant:

• ·       The cathedral-like structure where you fight Phantom (lava-spider boss) initially features a lot of light radiating from the ceiling and windows.  However, as the game goes on and you visit this place later, it is much darker; with a more monstrous being awaiting you called Nightmare.  One could say that this is due to the time-span of the game going from day to night, but I feel that it takes on the idea of Gothic in a nice way in both sides of the spectrum.
• ·       The meet with Mundas in the underworld features a large room with a large amount of light beaming into the interior, making the room somewhat bright.  This is contrasted by the darkness and demons of the previous area that saw the player go through.  Although this shows the ideas behind Gothic architecture, I believe that it’s kind of a troupe to have a grand, contrasted setting for the antagonists’ arena. 
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Thinking beyond this example, there are games that follow one or the other ideology when it comes to Gothic architecture, but it’s an interesting concept to view.  Religious / ritual sites are common examples of architecture in the early – mid eras of civilizations.  When looking at a game that has these sorts of structures, take a moment to see how the piece uses light and the size of its interior and maybe it’ll be influenced by the origins of Gothic architecture.  If you don’t get much out of this post, I hope you find the idea of the duality of Gothic a little bit interesting…

Rogue-likes and Japanese Architecture

Like many people, I enjoy rogue-likes and dungeon crawlers.  The mix of loot, exploration and a possibility of the game-ending death create an enjoyable experience.  For me this started with Dungeons of Dredmor; one of the more recent examples of the traditional rogue-like formula which I played a lot in my second year at uni.  As well as experiencing my first rogue-like, I was learning about Japanese architecture and today here I am mashing the two together like some Frankenstein’s monster. 

Japanese design (like other nations) is connected to its culture and heritage; with particular mention of Shinto-Buddhism and its mythology of ‘balance’.  In Japanese architecture, one of the tenants of design is ‘symmetrical design within asymmetrical concepts’ or something along those lines.  The delivery system for this is most commonly the tatami mat; a straw mat roughly 900x1800 (mm +/- 10%) used to plan floor layouts.  Examples of this which I particularly like are traditional farmhouses which use the mats and different height levels to make cool looking pieces.  So, by taking this philosophy of design one can see some similarities in the spotlight. 

Rogue-likes and dungeon crawlers (Torchlight 2 being my favourite of the later) work on a creation of random maps within a catalogue of possible fragments pieced together.  When it all comes together (combined with a horde of goblins and loot bags) it creates the whole package, much like the tatami mats and houses under the Shinto theory of balance.  Every game and every player experiencing the genre can be given the same building blocks but create their own adventure and explore their own world. 

There are some games that do this while applying their own design flourishes which I feel are worth discussing.  The 2d-castlevania rogue-like ‘Rogue Legacy’ uses these tenants alongside distinct environments that have their own sets of pieces like traps, platform formations and general obstacles.  Beyond the rogue-likes, there are other genre’s that also take this design theory, like Warframe (which I’ll look to do a talk on at a later date) that breaks down the design room by room.  Next time you look to play a game (particularly a rogue-like or dungeon crawler) consider this design philosophy and where the pieces maybe fitting together.  The literal pieces will be at door-frames and corridors, but maybe some pieces will be a bit harder to define. 

As I mentioned in my introduction, I believe architecture and video games have an interesting connection that can be drawn if one takes a minute to have a look.  To use a ‘correct’ term you’d probably say transformative work but I feel that this blog is trying to have a bit of fun exploring the medium. 

I hope this provides some thought and I look forward to writing more in-depth pieces in the future.  

References:

*Dungeons of Dredmor, Gaslamp Games, July 2011

*Torchlight 2, Runic Games, September 2012

*Rogue Legacy, Cellar Door Games, June 2013

*Warframe, Digital Extremes, October 2012 (ongoing)

*Oliver, P. Dwellings, Phaidon, London. (2007)