The Witness: Focus testing thoughts
by koonthul on Aug.13, 2011, under Personal
I was just reading through an interview about Jonathon Blow’s new game called The Witness when I ran into a very nice quote regarding focus testing.
“When you’re too reactive to playtests, says Blow, “You get this totally featureless game out of doing that. No game ever made by man provides a perfect experience to anybody. And attempting to do so can easily — speaking for me — carry me away from what’s really important about the game. So I try to rein myself in about that.”
This is an excellent point that I try to champion myself in my professional career. Focus testing is important to get a general idea for how people are “reacting” to your overall game concept and then to point out the very large flaws that you may have missed when creating smaller/tinier experiences within that constructed game. Here, let me break it down for you.
1. Focus test at the right time, with the right people. What does your core audience think about your game concept without even playing the game? Is the subject material interesting for them? Does the concept excite them and get them engaged? I think this is a very tough set of questions to answer when you sit a 49 year old female down and ask them what they think of your first person shooter concept. You are mismatching your hard core audience with random, potentially un-interested parties (and by un-interested I mean uninterested in games in general). It doesn’t work. Focus testing with lots of different people outside of your core demographic is good when you are unsure of who your target audience is to begin with. Often times, you as a design team in a commercial setting will have a pretty good idea of who would want to play your game and who would not from the get go.
2. Focus testing for existing software should be used to point out the GIANT mistakes/holes in your original thinking/logic. IF you have missed something, it will become apparent and you as the creator will know. It will take the form of your “a-ha!” moments in your puzzles, only as a “designer of software for a player” instead of the “player of the designers software”. It will be something more like “Wow, I never thought that players would do that!” And the most important reaction to that is you AS THE DESIGNER will agree with the focus testers/players experience. Then and only then should you consider changing that interactivity based on that information.
Often times, when a player struggles with a game or a sequence in a game, most studios take those experiences as gospel and change the very heart of the interactivity to fit only fifty, maybe 100 peoples experiences with the software. In my math brain, this isn’t a large enough sampling to get an accurate reading of what to change in your software. If you guess that you will sell around 650,000 units, that’s only .015 percent!!! So whats the solution? Make changes only with certainty. Gamers aren’t as dumb as you think they are, even if they look like bumbling idiots in front of you during the focus test. Always have your designers make these calls. Those “a-ha” moments in realizing what your players are doing/not doing revolve around who designed it, not who’s running the focus test.
So what about the niggling little details, or the grey area? For example, let’s say you give focus testers about an hour to complete the first two levels of your game, and only 50% of your focus testers finished both levels, the rest didn’t get past level 1. What’s the take away here? Depends on the specific sticking points (puzzle, enemy, boss, navigation, etc.) but for the most part, you can’t get forget about the 50 percent who DID complete it! It’s very disappointing when I see broad sweeping changes made to software because someone says that 50% “isn’t good enough” for selling more units of a video game. Sometimes, when players struggle, it’s considered a good thing because they are actually being challenged and are learning how to play your game. And this is easy to tell, so long as you provide them with an outlet where they can express their experience in terms of difficulty/frustration and difficulty/boredom on the same scale. So often, I see the experiences of focus testers only weighed against half of the testing variables! There are FOUR things to look for, and the sweet spot is in the middle. Just because something is difficult, doesn’t mean it is frustrating! People can still enjoy an experience if it’s difficult, the idea is that it doesn’t skew into frustrating territory for too long. And of course the flip side to that is that if a game is too easy, people may become bored and lose interest. The sweet spot is in the middle.
Games are about overcoming challenges, and sometimes challenges require more perseverance than others. Difficulty is generally a hard thing to match to EVERY player.
Another thing to remember, too, is that completion is not necessarily the equation for happiness from a gamer. There are many cases where I have not finished a game or gotten very far only to say “that’s an awesome game, I really liked it”. And the opposite is true, I’ve completed games that I have found to be uninteresting, terribly designed and boring. Crackdown and LA Noire respectively, in case you’re interested. 
As for The Witness, I look forward to playing it. Braid was a triumphant success in my mind and I eagerly await the new efforts from Mr. Blow and his newly formed company. I highly encourage them to release on the consoles, it will do much for the state of gaming on those platforms.
Interlocked
by koonthul on Apr.01, 2011, under Games
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/563158
Interlocked is a puzzle game about removing interlocking puzzle pieces from an already built object. The minute I ran across it over at GameSetWatch I had a sneaky suspicion I would like it because the game actually reminded me of a real wood block puzzle my mother showed to me when I was a child. It was a perfectly round sphere made of wood puzzle pieces that were interlocking. Your task was to put it together. The key to putting it together was figuratively the same thing, two of the pieces formed a key that was inserted last. This was also the “key” to taking it apart. I think this is what it looked like…
http://stores.brilliantpuzzles.com/-strse-430/Sphere-3D-Wooden-Puzzle/Detail.bok
In this digital version of the same puzzle, the task (or puzzle game element) is to take them apart. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s frustrating as hell. The control scheme is similar to that of a 3D editor for geometry, as you use the mouse to just look at the object by clicking and dragging around. The way in which you interact with the object is by holding down the space bar, placing your cursor over the shape in question and clicking the mouse button again. A little 3D widget appears and allows you to pick an axis to “constrain” or pull on. The controls are as elegant as they could be for such a rudimentary and simple game, so I don’t have an issue with the interface design. It’s actually quite slick. I think the real problem revolves around the lack of a good tactile feedback system.
The Mouse and keyboard leave a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth about 4 or 5 puzzles in because you have no good way of feeling the loose ends of the puzzle (read: the player doesn’t understand why their tactic isn’t working and cannot “feel” their way through the solution). I’ve seen many a haptic feedback system and all kinds of systems that incorporate gloves so those would be a good match for this. Combine this with some Nintendo 3DS action and you have yourself a dandy little puzzle game!
Skydive 2008
by koonthul on Mar.08, 2011, under sky diving, Sports
The lens flare is great, looks like the shoot snapped!
Back in 2008 my sister convinced me to skydiving with her. I hadn’t thought about it up until that point, it was only really one of those things that I wanted to do “eventually” but never quite got to the top of the list. So when my sister offered to take me with one of her friends when I came into town to visit, I felt that the priority level of this event just got bumped up. Plus I wasn’t really doing anything anyway, and having this insatiable lust for doing adrenaline filled things in my late twenties (and now early thirties…yikes!) only pushed this over the edge for me. I had to do it. I was GOING to do it. And I did.
The experience itself wasn’t too bad. We couldn’t have asked for a better day in Bowling Green, MO. The weather was near perfect with light clouds in the sky and great ground temp of about 70 degrees. The people were friendly and most everyone had a good time. A couple of unique things that come to mind as I reflect back on it all are particularly interesting. The first being that when we went up into the plane to jump, you really don’t know just how cold it gets at 14,000 feet! Last I recall was that it got be about 36 to 40 degrees! It’s pretty cold up there! But you don’t realize it because you are so filled with adrenaline about the jump that your body is already quite warm. The second thing about the experience that was different, especially for me, was the fact that I got so pumped up adrenaline wise that when I jumped out with my instructor, I couldn’t breathe for the first second or two! I just kept gasping for air. I thought it was rather strange, but after a few seconds I got things under control and enjoyed it. If you watch the video carefully, you’ll see i look kinda like a fish out of water for a second right after getting out of the plane. You can see my face kinda get all squinchy and I’m doing the “OMG I’M IN FREEFALL AND I CAN’T BREATHE” face. Yeah, it was funny, but not so funny at the time. The entire journey, from exiting the plane to deploying the real parachute (not the small little thing he throws at the beginning) was only one minute long. After the jump, and talking with a few people, this was probably the maximum time anyone gets on their first jump, and most people don’t get to 14,000 feet either, they stay at around 10,000 or so.
One important thing for those who might do this at one point in their lives…I’m glad I dropped the extra cash for the pics and the video. I don’t usually do that kind of thing, but this was well worth it. And since I was in a pretty small down with a pretty small business, I felt I was definitely getting a good deal. I think I dropped about 150 to 200 for the whole thing. I don’t remember exactly, but I think that’s about right.
The whole experience was, and still is at the time of this writing, the single most high octane adrenaline rush I have ever received. I think that Wing Suit Base Jumping is the only other thing that will come close to this adrenaline rush. Or maybe bungie jumping. But who knows when I’ll get around to that! :)
*UPDATE* Well youtube is being a poop head and they don’t like the music in the video. Something about copyright blah blah and license ownership from WMG blah blah etc etc. Poop on you! I’m trying right now to upload it but WordPress is now being a poop head too! Max upload size is 64 meg and the video 115! DOUBLE POOP! I’ll see if I can’t figure out a work around here soon….
Runkeeper Pro is Free!
by koonthul on Dec.30, 2010, under running
The folks over at Runkeeper just released their pro version for iPhone for free! There is a time limit of course, but it’s worth picking up. I’ve been using the free version for quite some time now and have been very happy with it. Until the end of January 2011, you can download the pro version for nothing/nada/zilch. It’s a great little application to map your runs via gps and to keep track of your pace. I haven’t played much with the Pro version yet so I don’t know what all it can do. There is a way to linkup with your iTunes library and to have a “coaching” option enabled but that was only after a quick glance at the new Start screen. Head to your friendly app store and download it today!
My experience has mostly been with the free version, and it’s been quite helpful for running outdoors. It’s nice to know how far I’ve run and how much time has elapsed. There is also a handy chart that shows your pace at different intervals, as well as a very accurate google map of your run. I have been using this app in conjunction with the iOS 4.01 release and an Apple iPhone 4 so I’m not quite sure what anyone else’s experiences have been like on different platforms.
One thing I’ve always liked about Runkeeper is the ability to specify which activity I’m doing and have the application track that. Before starting, there is a handy drop down list that shows all kinds of sports you can use this program with. I really wish they had one for Kayaking, as that seems to be absent from the list. I have noticed an “other” category which I tried to use, but the free version of this application only operates with cell phone service, so kayaking has yet to be tracked in my list of activities. Hopefully the pro version fixes that by allowing the user to operate it just using GPS service.
So you want to be a Game Designer…
by koonthul on Dec.02, 2010, under Development, Games
Just recently, a person I know expressed interest in being a game designer. They were curious about the steps I had taken and the things they could potentially do themselves to see if they would find the profession suitable to their liking. I immediately set to work on a very “condensed” list of steps this person (or any person) could potentially take to see if they enjoyed the game design process and to learn a little bit more about games and gaming in general. This list is not exhaustive, and is certainly not the only route one could take. Mind you, it’s been 5+ years plus for me in the trenches, not just learning but working professionally in the biz. Add another 1.5 to 3 years of school to that and you’ve got the equivalent of my experience. So be forewarned, the next paragraph or so is meant to be that amount time condensed into little more than a 30 minute conversation.
Steps to take to really get into game design (or to just pass the time ).
1. Read this book. No really, it’s worth everyone’s time, even those people who aren’t game designers or maybe even artists/engineers. For designers and working game development professionals, this is a must.
Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton and Chris Swain – I think there is a newer version in print but both will work. There are lots more books on game design, I personally find this one to be a good starting point. I highly recommend picking up many more!
2. Now PLAY some games too, even ones you don’t like. Play all kinds of games, not just computer/video ones. Play board games, card games, yard games, social games, games that are ugly, games that are pretty, games you wouldn’t normally play. Helps for inspiration and being a better designer! Apply what you learned in the book. Pick out the formal elements, identify the players resources, etc.
3. Design a board game! This is harder than it sounds! Go through the book above and do some of the exercise’s; that will help with this. Get paper, pencils, cardboard, dice, anything you can find to accomplish this. Doesn’t have to be pretty, just has to work!
4. Play test your game! Get more than just a few people together to play your game you just made. Have written instructions for them, and try to take at least one opportunity to play with them and one opportunity to just observe. The most important element to successfully designing/making a game is observing the many different experiences that others have with your creation. After completing this, go back and make changes to your game and repeat the process.
5. If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to start using the computer! (no joke, the paper stuff comes first because its fast and easy to redo/tear apart. In theory you should design EVERYTHING on paper first, then make it on the computer). Grab the following program and start playing with making 2D sprite based games! Just about any computer should be able to run this. Do the tutorials first!
a. Game Maker 8
b. A good example using the above software is Hero Core
6. Game making is hard! Remember to keep things simple. Getting too detailed or focusing too much on one thing will hold you back. Try to make things quick and dirty so you can change them, update them later. Finding the “fun” is all about iteration and play testing with people other than yourself. But you should know that by now if you read the book above!
7. At this point you can either stick with Game Maker or move onto something a bit more flexible/detailed. I recommend using Flash and getting to know the underlying code called Action Script
- Code monkeys who know what they are doing can use AS3 and a separate IDE for FREE!
- This is a good example and tutorial on how to get setup if you want to be a code monkey using AS3.
- For the rest of us I would suggest getting the retail version so you can quickly bang out rough ideas.
- Adobe Flash - https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=flash&promoid=GXWGG
- Or try this new thing I found where you can develop flash online in a browser for free!
- http://wonderfl.net/
8. ARTISTS NOTE: Adobe Photoshop is one of the most powerful programs on the planet. It’s also handy for designers. If you want to start texturing things or just monkeying with your 2D sprites I would recommend getting a copy and playing with it. The free programs that are similar are listed below.
- Gimp – http://www.gimp.org/
- Paint .NET – http://www.getpaint.net/
9. Time to dig into the 3D!!! Industry standard is Maya by Autodesk. They have updated their software to be a limited 30 day trial…which sucks…so I recommend getting an older (non time) based PLE edition so you can really learn your stuff. The older one is just as good/same as the new one. This is great because any level designer needs to know this program. This software lets you build objects and environments in 3D. There are tons of tutorials online.
- Old Maya PLE: http://download.cnet.com/Autodesk-Maya-Personal-Learning-Edition/3000-6677_4-10721815.html
- But if you really want the latest, you can download the 30 day trial of the newest software here….
- New Maya (trial): http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13578047
- Free alternative for 3d content creation would be…
- http://www.blender.org/ – even has its own game engine!
10. Congrats, you’ve graduated from the minors and are now playing with the big boys! Time to start working with some more complicated “all in one” game making software that is currently tearing up the charts and making hit games. These should be free.
- UDK (Unreal Development Kit) – this one is awesome but requires a hefty computer to run – http://www.udk.com/
- Another one I’ve been playing with, and getting better every day! – http://unity3d.com/
- And I’ll add it again, but blender now has it’s own game engine – http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/
From here on out it just gets more specific – If you want to do more code related work, get your hands on the C++ stuff that Microsoft has to offer. There are several free versions that you can cut your chops on if you need/want to do that kind of thing. If you want to be more artistic, then learn things about bump mapping and play with programs like Z brush or Mudbox. I don’t have the time but it would be nice to know what all those artists are talking about in the cubicle next to me.
I will stand by this list however. There are a few key things in here that most professionals often forget to do or have not done in their careers. It’s a shame but it happens.
A couple more notes:
Don’t stop reading! This shouldn’t be the only book you read on game design. There are plenty of other books to read. If and when you get into the biz, continue to read! There will always be new and crazy methodologies for learning things about the game business. A good website for this is GamaSutra.com
There are many different types of designers in a large company. Sometimes there are system designers, level designers and even combat designers. This highly depends on the company and the number of people working on a game. Level Design is my favorite because it requires you to be a attentive and knowledgeable about all aspects of the development process (code, art, etc). 
On Sportsmanship: Fifa 2010 Finals
by koonthul on Jul.11, 2010, under soccer
Being an American sports player and of course a viewer I have seen variety of shenanigans happen on and off the field. A lot of professional sporting events usually feature at least a few complete train wrecks once a season and rarely focus on anything positive. The World Cup this year is no exception, even as I sit here and watch the final match I’ve seen a few player collisions that don’t look accidental, especially Nigel De Jongs spiked foot to the chest of one of Spain’s players at the end of the first half. However, one thing did happen during the first half of this match that no one, even the sports pundits on tv, pointed out that I’d like to mention here. At one point, Spain forwards passed the ball back to their own goalie from their own offensive zone. The pass was a bad one and the goalie could barely get a finger on it before it got past him and out of bounds. Lucky for Spain their goalie didn’t pull an England, but what happened next was interesting. This error produced a corner kick for the Netherlands team, which they took…however they gave up the perfect setup by passing the ball in bounds to Spain’s Goalie. The announcer said something about being a good sport, as if it were no big deal, but I was in a state of shock. Here was the perfect scoring opportunity for the Dutch and an easy way to capitalize on a big mistake by Spain…but they chose not to. I’m still wondering if this was just a cocky move or if there is some unwritten rule in FIFA that teams follow when this happens. American sports teams would have never given up this kind of an opportunity in the final match of such an important game. I’d love some clarification on this matter, so please weigh in by leaving a comment.
The point I want to make here though is clear, sportsmanship seems at least to be a little more respected on the world stage than in our own national backyards. I find this to be tragic, and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when thinking about what our youth is exposed to in America. We as a nation need to start paying a bit more attention to the world stage in this matter.
iPhone 4
by koonthul on Jul.05, 2010, under Technology
Finally broke down and bought an iPhone…and the new 4 version no less! So far I’m truly impressed with the screen and the overall quality of the device. The antennae problem is definitely real…although you can certainly get any other phone to do the same thing, including the 3G and 3GS versions of the iPhone. I would argue that the design of the 4 doesn’t really help that issue, seeing as how the metal band on the outside edge is the antennae. I’m willing to bet that apple releases an S version later, correcting that issue. Typing on any iPhone still leaves something to be desired although as I write this too you on it, the experience definitely gets faster and better with time. Pro tip: use landscape mode. My hands grip the phone better and allow my oversized thumbs some freedom. Now if we could just fix that reception issue while I type this way…but who am I kidding. I could never possibly get EVERYTHING I want in a mobile handset. I’d like to post up a challenge to the internets however…design me a device that has it all! I’ll accept written descriptions in the form of comments. Go!
Indie Games that say something…
by koonthul on Jan.10, 2010, under Games
There are quite a few good games being created out there in the Indie scene that are free to play and have some great moments/elements to them. More and more I am starting to see a trend, a trend in the direction that these games actually speak very deeply to the player, having more to say than just “save the princess” or “destroy anything in site”. I happened to run into one such title a few days ago and really needed to share with you all the complexities of it. Not only does it say a whole lot, but it encompasses a standard game play methodology that speaks as loudly as the actual theme of the story. It’s called, “Every day the same dream” and it requires you to only progress through a series of choices that speak volumes about life and your path through it. I can’t help but wonder how this game came about; what the author was thinking and why they chose what they chose. The game is rather simple, has a nice visual style and implores the use of only the arrow keys and the space bar. What you find out as you play is that routine and monotony are the enemy, and that your only salvation is to search, look and try different things in order to break free and understand. This simple connection between adventure game mechanics and the idea that life is only interesting and meaningful when you take the less traveled road is up for some debate but I found the point to be immensely, if not overwhelmingly, powerful as it relates to me and my own life.
Sit down, relax and let yourself go with this one. It’s well worth it in the end. Hats off to the music and the graphical style.
I would have to say that I was reminded heavily of Daniel Benmergui’s work, especially his “Today I Die” game. His work is a bit more poetical…a bit more out of the box and requires a deeper reason to stay connected to the work for longer amounts of time. However, there is still a wonderful journey there, even if you can’t figure out what to do in the meantime.
There are some powerful things going on here, and I can only hope the Indie scene continues on that trend. And I hope the mainstream picks up on it, implements it, and moves it forward so that games as a commercial endeavor can also become ones that actually say something meaningful; thus changing the way pop culture looks at interactive media.
Restaurant Menu Tricks
by koonthul on Jan.09, 2010, under Personal
Great little post on NY mag I found regarding menu’s in restaurants. This one covers the higher priced places but references some chain restaurant tricks as well. I always knew there was a lot of pscycology behind advertisments in general but I hadn’t thought about the structure of a menu in a restaurant and how it contains all kinds of wonderful little tricks. Give it a look over, I think you’ll find it interesting. Oh, and apparently this is an excerpt from a book that will be coming out this year entitled
Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It)
Read more: Author William Poundstone Dissects the Marketing Tricks Built Into Balthazar’s Menu — New York Magazine http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/62498/#ixzz0cAp0ckWi
I think what is so fascinating about the article is not necessarily the content but what it implies about restaurant hierarchy and what the “do’s and don’ts” are of each tier. My head is filled with images of a caste type system for the structure of restaurants; societal in nature. I can see the higher priced cuisine restaurants that carry specialty items on the menu just sneering down at the chain food restaurants and their despicable habits, while the chains are looking at themselves with pride, touting a better, more healthy meal than those bottom of the barrel fast food joints. And what do they have to look down on? Taco trucks? Street Vendors? Sometimes those 2 am street vending hotdog guys can give you a run for your money there, Mr. Snooty fancy-pants restaurants! Oh if only walls and carts could talk…
Flash and Xbox 360 controller input
by koonthul on Sep.19, 2009, under Development, Technology
I found this noteworthy during work this week so I thought I might pass along the information. Working in games and rapidly prototyping them on a PC using Flash has always brought up the difficulty of user input, which is mostly left to the keyboard and mouse. As a game designer, it’s really necessary sometimes to use a joystick for input when testing certain types of games.
Not too long ago, Microsoft has added support for plugging in an Xbox 360 controller into your windows enabled PC. With a few mouse clicks, the drivers are automatically downloaded and installed. Viola, a gamepad that works on your PC as well as your console. But what about using it for Flash to control flash enabled games? This has always been a problem and still continues to be a pain. However, some smart joe has cooked up some code that allows you to use your 360 controller to it’s fullest potential in the Flash IDE. Behold, I give you Simon Joslin’s 360 gamepad server! This gem of software development allows for full control of all parts of the joystick in either the Flash IDE or in AS3. He even included a sample .fla file in order to show you the commands to call in your flash scripts and to test that his work actually works! It requires three simple things and a C# app that runs in the background. Not too shabby. Here’s to Simon for his work, and we are all anxiously awaiting support for using this gem while running standalone .swf’s! That can’t come soon enough.
And if that doesn’t float your boat, there’s always the great fall back JoytoKey that I”ve been using for a long time now. Program your flash app as usual with keystrokes from the keyboard…run this simple exe file called JoyToKey and map all those keys to the buttons and viola, you have your joystick working properly (for the most part) in flash!
