by allen -

Flappy Race 2000 (a series of questions / proposals)

So, the Flappy Game. (I need a name pls.)

Right now, here are the (ideal) rules:

  • 2-20 Players race across a randomly generated map of obstacles.
  • They play on one keyboard, jockeying for space.
  • The background shifts quickly. Obstacles which match the color of the background disappear.
  • If they “Flap” while on another player’s trail, they receive a boost to their speed for a short time.
  • The first player to reach the finish line wins!

// BIG ISSUES AS I SEE THEM:

1) It’s slow. Not kinetic enough to be comparable to the fun of mariokart.
2) It’s Random. The one-button flap right now feels like you don’t have control.
3) Random Maps are lame.
4) The color shifting isn’t obvious and maybe isn’t fun.

MOST IMPORTANTLY
5) The game isn’t very fun.

// So in the next month I would like to fix those things.

Some ideas:
1) Change movement. Give each bird their own forward flying force, and make the “flap” more of a “steer” up and down.
2) Add velocity, zoom out on the map, and make it feel more “fast”. Re: what Ben Esposito said about Wipeout and faking speed.
3) Find a way for the player’s to interact (powerups? switchups? killing each other?)

4) Maybe possibly bring back the permadeath. But this doesn’t seem like more fun to me.

Also, redo the aesthetics. But that will happen in the last little bit of time once the thing seems kind of fun to play (sorry, real artists. unless you have a really cool theme to relay…)

HOW DO I GET FUN??

by allen -

LtLYM Assignment #52

Learning to Love You More
Assignment #52: Write the phone call you wish you could have.

Using a black pen, draw a picture of your cell phone. Be very precise and make your phone look as realistic as possible, you can trace the shape of the phone if you want. Please make your drawing by hand, not with a computer. In the window where the caller name appears, write the name of the person who you wish would call you. If you have to, use a fake name. Don’t draw anything except the phone, leave the rest of the paper blank. In a separate document, type the conversation you wish you could have with this person.

Allen: Uh… hey Dad, what’s up?

Dad: Hey bud, how are things going?

Allen: You know, the usual. Heading into the office.  How are things with you?

Dad: Same old same old. …

Allen: … What’s going on, did you need something?

Dad: Oh, no. Well–your Aunt isn’t doing well.

Allen: Linda? What happened? Everything OK?

Dad: She’s just — she’s not doing so well, you know.

Allen: Yeah.

Dad: It’s such a shame.

Allen: It’s got to be hard to watch happen…

Dad: I don’t think I could handle it.

Allen: Yeah, me either.

Dad: …

Allen: Everything okay?

Dad: Allen-

Allen: Yeah?

Dad: I know we don’t talk about things…

Allen: Yeah…

Dad: And I know you have been struggling for a while-

Allen: What do you mean?

Dad: I just could have warned you, is all.

Allen: What?

Dad: The same things – the panic, the fear, the sadness–

Allen: Dad-

Dad: Listen to me, son: you are not alone.

Allen: Dad-

Dad: I’ve been quiet my entire life. It’s burned me up, Allen. I got nothing left inside. I’ve wasted it all holding it in.

Allen: …

Dad: I — [clears throat] Please don’t let it eat you up. It probably already has. I never said it sooner. But I want you to know that I understand it all. Every pain. Even if I could never say it until now.

by allen -

Long Live the King! – Andrew, Jing, Dave, Allen

LONG LIVE THE KING! is a competitive social drinking game for 4 to 15 players.

PREMISE:

Drinking games are fundamentally about social drinking without feeling weird about it. We’re awkward creatures who grease the wheels with a light game. But what if the game wasn’t so light? What if the game pit players against each other and facilitated imbalanced drinking and conspiratorial thinking?

(click for larger version.)

Click here for a PDF of the rules.

by allen -

Subversive Play – Police Body Cameras and Counterstrike

The Counter Terrorists Win!

WARNING: THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR LIFE. No on-screen gore but–it’s not easy to watch.

Thanks to some recent developments in technology, it’s become cost-effective enough for police departments to have their officers carry a recording device on their person at all times.

Videos of these new systems are beginning to surface which show both the positive and negative sides of making information like this (a video of a police altercation) available to the public under FOIA requests.

The footage is incredibly striking when present alongside a first person shooting game like CounterStrike because it a literal translation of a digital action – right down to the viewpoint and the sound effects. It creates an unexpectedly visceral response to the action, regardless of the political impact or legality. It’s hard to argue for or against lethal force when presented with such staggering, gut-punching recordings. It removes the question of “necessary” or “good” or “bad” and instead makes you ask “is it even human?”

Games are an escape… but I have to say, after the events of Ferguson last month, I’m not all that interested in suiting up in riot gear to “shoot up some terrorists.” Recent events have kind of spoiled the fun.