Five-second snapshots: 22 Feb 11

I’ve been thinking what a series of five-second snaphsots might look like. I might give it a try and see if I can figure out the right constraints.

Post-mortem on The Duel

We managed to get in about two hours of The Duel at Come Out & Play SF last weekend before the rain set in and Catherine’s The One started up.  Roughly 30 players ran through the game in that time, each taking on the role of both the Shepherd and the Wolf. Players really seemed to take to the game enjoying both the gameplay and narrative components I was so worried would saddle the game with undeserved weight.

Players cocked their ears to hear the story whispered to each player.  Then at the ringing of the chime dove into the game with abandon.  The game is a lopsided affair: the shepherd is blindfolded and vulnerable.  The wolf, still able to see, can play as the aggressor, though the bells they hold give away their position as they try to grab flags from the shepherd’s waist. The shepherd meanwhile defends himself by trying to grab the wolf with both hands.

Here are the full rules:

In the Woods
Two foes come upon each other in the dead of night.
In the darkness the Shepherd cannot see.
The Wolf sees through the darkness but his sound can give him away.
The duel is quick lasting only two minutes, the beginning and end marked by a chime.
For each flag the Wolf collects from the Shepherd, the Wolf scores one point.
Each time the Shepherd grabs the Wolf with two hands the Shepherd scores two points.
In a tie the Shepherd wins.

The simple point balancing gives the game a nice arc over the two minutes.  The shepherd starts out in a defensive stance, but after the loss of a flag or two must go on the offensive, leading to frantic play.  Conversely a tag by the shepherd forces the wolf into a more aggressive and risky mode.

People seemed to really have fun playing.  And quite excitedly for me, a number reported feeling the sense of fear and dread I wanted the game to engender.  I wanted it to feel like a fairy-tale horror game and I think it did.

The masks and narrative definitely helped push it in this direction.  I don’t know that it’s ready for a gallery, but for me the game and narrative marriage displays promise.  Nick Fortugno and I even discussed how we might create a series of games based around a similar folklore for a gallery like setting.  That could prove interesting.

If you played, many thanks and I’d love to hear your feedback.

Narrative vs. Mechanics in physical games

I’ve been struggling a lot lately with the value of focusing a game around narrative content, versus just letting the mechanics of the game speak for themselves.  This sounds ridiculous, but the internal debate has largely been spurred by thinking about what sort of game would work best as an art piece in a gallery exhibition.  The idea of a physical game exisiting as an installation is fraught with issues of feasibility.  Gallery goers don’t typically engage with a piece in the sort of deep repetitive way that a game demands. And without people playing, a game really isn’t much to look at.

But I still think the design challenge is interesting in that it makes me think about what signifiers of significance a game is missing that prevents it from being taken seriously. Does it need a narrative that frames and gives context to the experience of interacting with the mechanics? We can experience the anger or frustration or fear that a game may induce, but to be a piece that would garner critical praise from a crowd devoted to contemporary art, would it also need a frame that tells you how to understand those emotions? Because I can envision a time when a gallery might present an exhibition of physical games, but I have a hard time seeing them including something as abstract and shorn of content as a pure sport.

Galleries like Babycastles (http://www.babycastles.com/) are already beginning to grapple with games in gallery settings, though they have dealt primarily with screen based and therefore contextualized work.

The game I’m running this weekend at Come Out & Play in San Francisco has really been the catalyst for this line of thought.  The game pits a blindfolded player against an aggressor who can see, but is burdened by bells. In play it evokes a sense of horror and dread in the blindfolded player. Its a fun and compelling game even in the abstract, but I was interested in what a little narrative might do to it.  So the players are cast as the wolf and the shepherd. We’ll see this weekend how players react to the layer of story and whether that element should be exhumed from the game.

Pictures and a report to follow after the game runs.

Hangman

Hangman, originally uploaded by Greg Trefry.

Hangman

Sidewalk games

Sidewalk games, originally uploaded by Greg Trefry.

Sidewalk games

Game design 101: Make it attractive by making it hard to get

Game design 101: Make it attractive by making it hard to get, originally uploaded by Greg Trefry.

I love the idea that you have to unlock the drawings by watching the movies. An arbitrary goal blocked by an arbitrary constraint. But man, if I don’t suddenly want those drawings if only cause they’re “locked.”

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