Hi, Nicolas, Xav and I had a meeting yesterday to discuss the new directions for Hackit's game design and positioning, here are the main facts.
- After some discussions over the missions (the ARG aspect) that started the meeting, Nicolas was very interested in the multi player aspect, he thinks there is a lot of potential for content creation from players on this level. He agreed on the need to build a strong solo experience at first, but insisted on the fact that the multi must always be kept in mind even when the solo is designed. - Nicolas thinks that there is a risk related to the fact that there is no 'immersion' because we don't have a virtual world where we take the player. And because there is no avatar, and no human beings in front of us in the game that create a bond. But there might be a way to bypass this by using our realistic approach : If the player is in a realistic environment (his browser, and the interface could reinforce this feeling) and interacts in the game with NPCs that seem to be human, there is a possibility there for strong immersion (in a realistic world) that uses the blurring with reality and the doubts related to whom I'm talking to in the game. For this we would need to do something that is not too fantastic in the sense that the player can believe all is happening for real. - Following this, Nicolas then recommends a context that is believable. For instance 2012, that was mentioned over here before by Michael, could be an approach that at the same time lets us play with actual events, history and present facts as well as conspiracy theory, but at the same time relates to a strong theme like environment - taking root in fantasies and fears and things that relate to our relation with our planet. With this kind of background, it's possible to create an entry point for the player where he interacts with some -fake- human beings, creating some bonds and reality effect, for instance with an ecologist group, or some environmental underground movement where the player can climb up up the ladder and therefore learn more and do more stuff, but with the possibility behind to add a lot of other elements later. - In this context, the three of us started discussing about the kind of missions that could be fitted, for instance missions that revolve around data gathering, and agreed on the fact that for the first iterations, missions need to remain simple and easy to implement. Nicolas is going to think about short and simple missions that can start the game in this kind of environment. There will be a conf call with him next Friday to discuss this. D _______________________________________________ Hackit Bar mailing list - [email protected] Wiki: http://community.hackit.cx/ List: http://community.hackit.cx/ml/ Forum: http://community.hackit.cx/forum/ Ideas: http://community.hackit.cx/ideas/ IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/#politis
