Student Area

Pippin Barr :  A Series of Gunshots, Art Game, Let’s Play: The Shining 

Pippin Barr is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University and Experimental Game Designer. Barr’s research focuses on Play. His Ph.D. and Masters thesis both focused on Human Computer Interaction, the concept of Play, and the use of Metaphors in games.

A Series of Gunshots is a browser based game with one control: Press Any Key.  The player is presented with a situation: A view of a residence.   The player is limited to seeing the world from an outside observer’s perspective.  We

The sparse seemingly random controls and limited visual hints allow the player to interpret the outcomes of these series of gunshots.  The game the controls reveal the true nature and intent of the game.  It speaks to the random nature of violence.  What goes through your head when you see a single flash and hear a single gunshot in a distant room?  What goes through your head when you see multiple flashes and hear multiple shots within quick succession?  A Series of Gunshots confronts gun culture, the idea of suicide, the idea of gun violence, and the idea of protection.

Game Link 

 

Art Game is a later browser based game from Barr.  It is an RPG where the player takes on the role of an artist preparing for a very large show. The game begins with the main character painting canvases and having their gallery representative/curator pick over the works for the upcoming show.  After several rounds of painting, calling over the curator, and titling works the game moves to the gallery show.  While at the show, the player walks around overhearing conversations about their work, overhearing gossip from the art world, and observing the other works in the show.

The game is a very realistic simulation of the art world or the art game that professional artist play: the constant creation to display loop where the artist seeks outside validation of their work from a curator or the public.

Game Link

 

Let’s Play: The Shining is a video game adaptation of the movie The Shining.  This game can be best described using Barr’s words:

Let’s Play: The Shining conceived as being a game focused entirely on Jack’s perspective in the movie so that the player would always have the anti-hero role throughout. The main reason for that was that it seemed funny, but it’s also true that it ties in a little better with themes in the movie (and book) of control being exerted specifically on Jack to get him to do the terrible things he does. The player is then the hotel. But because I wanted to call the game “The Shining” at that time, it didn’t seem reasonable to solely represent Jack, as it wouldn’t be true to the movie. So the idea shifted to making an E.T.-esque movie-tie-in game that might have appeared on the Atari 2600 at the time. That amused me because it seemed funny to choose The Shining as your vehicle for “making a quick buck” based on a successful movie.

It is a faithful reproduction of The Shining.

Game Link

 

For this installation I wanted to play with lighting creating multiple shadows of objects (colossi in this case), and how vision can affect a scene. The colossi on pedestals will move when the player is not looking at them, and freeze when viewed.

Windows & Mac Build:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzQVO0EXIPVneEVTOTY4Zy1aTUE

The Soylent factory has ceased production. People are starving. Rob’s spirit haunts the lines, longing to be set free. You must amend the 7 horcruxes and allow the factory to continue.

With this project, I attempt to delve into the concepts of exploration, cleanliness, perfection and technology. I am less interested in creating a traditional game, and more interested in creating an experience which requires the player to explore a space and think about its construction. While walking through a broken yet pristine Soylent assembly line, players can view the simplification of nutrition as a dream-like desire; a true dystopia ruled by a zealous creator wanting to shift the world in any way necessary.

Game Inspirations :

Fallout 3 – 4 – New Vegas

Exploration : Walking around an unfamiliar landscape and discovering abnormalities is enthralling in itself excluding the action content around it.

The Graveyard

A first generation walking simulation, The Graveyard plays the line between game and experience.

The Stanley Parable

Simulating a limited ending experience, by subverting the idea of player choice.

Non-Game Inspiration  :

“1984” by George Orwell

The “big brother” of dystopian futuristic literature.

“The Island” by Michael Bay A film exploring escape from dystopia where those who win a lottery may escape to “The Island”.

 

“Soylent Green” by Richard Fleischer

The predecessor the the drink and lifestyle, “Soylent Green” explores the idea of a government hiding crimes against humanity from its people and the hysteria which follows after the secret is out. (Here’s the IMDB description : In the world ravaged by the greenhouse effect and overpopulation, an NYPD detective investigates the murder of a big company CEO. )

1. “Fall”
   A 3rd person 3d platformer, the core mechanic being to fall to the bottom of each stage. However, physics keeps changing its rules, with four areas loosely based around the seasons, starting with winter and moving into autumn. Motion and asset creation will all be designed to create a sense of majesty and scale.Inspiration:
   

    

   

   

2. “In The Beginning” (Working title)
   A fast-paced survival game. Given a n-body simulator, you start on a random body. If you crash into a body of sufficient size (a star), you lose. Your only method of transfer from one body to another is to harpoon it as it flies by.

Installation
https://vimeo.com/190579430
For my installation project, I wanted to make an environment by putting 2D sprites and animation in a clearly 3D space, creating an illusion of depth for objects that clearly don’t have any.

Windows build
Mac build

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Proposal One

Title: Storytelling(Working title)

Description: A “mad-lib” style game where you fill in blanks to a story, and the story is then told based on your choices. However, your only choices when you fill in blanks are bad literary tropes/stereotypes. Working within the constraints of these, you must somehow subvert and escape the story you’re trapped in.

Art/Research Statement: I really want to use this game to examine some common tropes found in entertainment and storytelling, and how constraining/harmful they can be. At the same time, I want to find clever ways to subvert or rewrite them to be better.

References:
1. Kentucky Route Zero: Visuals/staging and narrative
2. Stanley Parable
3. Woman Known as Fujiko Mine: Shadow puppet imagery, animation style, trope deconstruction.
4. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (the TV show)

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Proposal Two

Title: Real-time Knitting Simulator

Description: A real-time knitting simulator in which you can select different articles of clothing to make. Each ‘stitch’ you make corresponds to a stitch in an actual object, for however many stitches the article of clothing should be. For larger objects like sweaters, you can reach different milestones for each ‘part’ of the object (for example sleeve, or front half).

Art/Research Statement: This is sort of an anti-game where I want to simulate the (at times frustrating) repetition and frankly ridiculous amount of time it takes to knit something. At the end of it, however, you don’t even get a ‘real’, physical object as a reward for the time you’ve put in; you get a ‘useless’ virtual one. This will hopefully contribute to the conversation over whether or not spending time and real money for ‘virtual’/’fake’ goods is worthwhile or not.

References:
1. Goat simulator
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_goods
3. My obsessive knitting habits

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Proposal Three

Title: Catfish

Description: A game set entirely on a browser/computer interface where you try to catfish someone through a series of emails in an attempt to find the secret to happiness.

Art/Research Statement: I want to examine the relationship between our virtual/online identities and our real selves, and due to the prevalence of the internet, how one individual can have multiple personas (and not necessarily that some of them are ‘fake’).

References:
1. Digital: A Love Story
2. Pony Island
3.  Mystic Messenger (I have not actually played this game and do not plan to ever)
4. That one time one of my friend’s online communities got catfished and it caused a huge scandal
5. Catfish: The Documentary
6. Samurai Flamenco (one of the character’s obsessive texting habits)

1. “La Favela” (working title)

Description – Third-person quest game set in a favela. The player would both be able to explore the environment on a scooter bike and explore different areas, as well as interact with non-player characters and complete tasks / find items in exchange for coins or other precious items. Items and coins can be used as currency in stores in order to acquire upgrades and improve aspects of the community. There is no fighting/violence the character takes part in.

Inspiration

• Jet Set Radio Future (in player-controller mechanic)
• Michiko E Hatchin (in narrative)
• Paintings by Miltão dos Santos & Carybé (in color palette/style)

Statement of Purpose – I’ve been fascinated with Rio and Brazil in general as of recently, due to the Olympics (the Ryan Lochte situation) and various movies and documentaries I’ve seen. It’s kind of a motif to paint most South American / Latin American countries as poor and crime-ridden in gaming and media (City of God, Gangstarr Rio: City of Saints, Fast and Furious, etc). I wanted to create a game that would highlight the rich art and culture of favelas in Brazil while still illustrating the issues that reside.

2. “Otherness” (lol another working title)

Description – Third-person low-poly combat game. You begin by picking the avatar of either an islander or an aristocrat. This begins you on either the island or in the city (respectively). The avatar you choose will impact the goal of your gameplay and the way non-player characters interact with you. For example, if you are islander, your goal is to infiltrate and sabotage the townspeople’s weapons. The town people will interact with you differently if you are an islander versus if you are an aristocrat. Your enemies will be the warriors/militia of the opposing group of people.

Inspiration

• Runescape/most MMORPGS (in unique interactions with each player)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (in themes and narrative)

Statement of Purpose-I want a basis for a game that eventually takes in your physical appearance, records your race, gender, and age, then creates an avatar with a unique experience in the game in their goals, and interactions with everyone around them. This is just the starting point. Wish to expand on this to create more than 2 worlds for the avatars to start in

3. “Escape”

Description– a first-person VR exploration game with a very loose narrative. The only real aim is to explore the environment and gather the collectibles scattered throughout.

Inspiration

• Jet Set Radio Future (in cel-shading render style)
• ABZU (in mood, player-controller mechanic, flow, and simplicity of narrative) as well as Flow and Journey
• Ukiyo-e Woodblock prints (in color palette/style).

Statement of Purpose– I really enjoy “pointless” games or games that are very therapeutic with little to no narrative. This project will be very heavily modelling/animation intensive with some focus on the way the camera moves throughout the environment. I also want to experiment with the different rendering styles and shaders and what mood that can achieve.

Pandas are once again on the verge of extinction and it’s up to you to get things hot and heavy! Help these pandas find their libido and save their species!

In this game players will wrestle with the finicky sex drive of the Giant Panda. Randomized mood swings, food, thirst, and arousal levels will demand humorously awkward, frustrating, and frequent tasks of the player in hopes of finding each panda’s unique balance of needs.

For my final project I want to challenge the current, redundant mechanics behind romance in gaming. I want to subvert the “Kindness Currency” phenomenon in contemporary dating simulations by focusing on three elements:  Nuanced and intertwined factors for sexual attraction, a third-person perspective, and a redistribution of agency.

I want to design a system for sexual attraction with a large set of factors that are based in real life and, in that same vein, not immediately discernible or navigable. By making the player a match-maker instead of a suitor, I aim to force the player to examine the characters as individuals. I’ll use characters with unique individual needs and preferences to take some control away from the player and give it to the characters themselves. This is aimed to encourage experimentation and even resignation on the player’s part.

These will be the first steps towards rejuvenating gaming romance and combating the way gaming currently reinforces a harmful approach to romantic/sexual attraction. I want to package this in a game that is lighthearted, humorous, and presents a challenging level of depth that makes success feel like an actual accomplishment.

My standard for success is whether or not the game keeps the player on their toes enough to provide that sense of accomplishment. Secondary goals will be an attractive game feel and “juice” that make the interactions more meaningful.

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Game References:

1. Pakka Pets– Clear Visual Communication without Text
2. Fallout Shelter– Intertwined Mechanics and Roaming Characters
3. Pokemon-Amie – Character Player Interaction and Interface

Non-Game References:

1. Panda Enclosure Needs
2. Environment’s Effect on Panda Behavior 
3. Fact Sheets on Panda Breeding 1 2
4. Discourse on Dating Sims: Kindness Currency
5. Further Discourse on Romance Games
6. Hedonistic Treadmill – Used to add some (depressing) spice to the game

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WORK TIMELINE

• NOV 9th  ___ Finalize Mechanics for Sexual Attraction & Player Interactions
• NOV 14th ___Code System for Calculating Character Compatibility
• NOV 16th ___Create Crude UI for mouse/touch
• NOV 21st  ___Incorporate Real-Time
• NOV 30th ___Begin Final Assets
• Debug Debug Cry Debug
• DUE DATE___???

 

 

The tomb of Rob Rhinehart holds the promise of a brighter future. Society throws the ignorance of the past away, embracing Rob’s ideals. The savior will come again, and as a follower you pay your respects before that day.

I explore cleanliness, the aesthetics of perfection, dystopia and gold. The exploration of slow moving, walking simulation is exciting to me. There are plenty of games with clear cut objectives, yet the creation of experiences is what I’m most interested in.

Please download this mac app and run it, as an audio, visual and exploratory experience is necessary. 

• “Scaling Everest”

Description: This is a game about climbing a mountain. In order to progress, you need to balance your oxygen level with your movement frequency: If you stop moving, you freeze, but if you move too much you’ll run out of oxygen.

Statement: I want to see how finding a balance between motion and stillness can constitute an engaging game. The game could be as simple as a one button game, but the feeling of agency the player has through that one button will stem from their management of Oxygen and Temperature. I’d like to explore that feeling of control (or lack of control) through this game. This was inspired after hearing stories about the “death zone” on Mt. Everest, above 26,247 feet, where climbers must manage their time and oxygen – summit and descend quickly so you don’t run out of oxygen, but don’t go too fast and exhaust yourself.

References: Sisyphus (Global Game Jam 2016), Saints Row 3 (car-surfing minigame), swimming (in real life), and Don’t Scare the Bug.

• “I know where I’m going”

Description: This is a game where you have to navigate through a world, from destination to destination…but you can only look at your phone.

Statement: This idea came to me on the way to class, five different people almost walked into me and what better way to bring people’s awareness to an issue than gameify it? I also want to play around with the surroundings of the player – what if the environment is interesting enough to make them want to look up? The game would involve walking through an environment with limited vision for the player, players would get strikes against them for hitting other people and colliding with the environment. Yes, it’d be challenging. Yes, it’d be irritating. That’s the point, it doesn’t make much sense to do it in real life does it?

References: Real life experiences, Slender, DreadOut (limited fov).

• “Multiplayer Tower Defense”

Description: Two player versus tower defense game.

Statement: My interest in this project is making a game that is ordinarily a pretty passive single player game, into a fairly active and engaging multiplayer game. I propose a game where two players battle via tower defenses, and minions clash in the center, gaining or losing ground. Once the minions reach a player’s base, they lose. This could be engaging in multiple ways: minions could have different attributes, towers could be set up differently, terrain could be asymmetrical between the players, etc. It comes down to finding a fun balance between those resources.

References: Tower defense: Infinite War, League of Legends, Bloons.

Since our project idea is using typing as the main way of interaction, I wanted to make sure we got the typing part figured out. So this installation will allow the user to type in the word on the screen and show which to press next.

 

pc build: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2fIzI-xsurqNnFqRHdYNWFXRWM/view?usp=sharing

Proposal 1: Gifted reality

Description: A social VR experience where one player wears a VR headset and another views a screen. The player viewing the screen has control over the environment than the VR player is experiencing, and can see the VR player represented as an avatar on her screen.

Statement: I want to explore the nature of benevolence and malevolence in everyday relationships as through the medium of VR. Given the strong responses that VR can elicit in players, giving the power to control that experience to a third party is an interesting deviation from the norm of precreated experiences on the platform. I would like to explore not only what sorts of experiences players will create for each other, but also how allowing players to shape each others’ environments might reflect their relationship.

References: The Stanford Prison Experiment, “Escape from Spiderhead,” gift-giving, those awful flash games where you abuse an avatar, Littlebigplanet, Dreams

Proposal 2: Social art gallery

Description: A social VR game in a gallery setting where different art and exhibition halls (with different lighting, colors, and arrangements) are randomly combined to form a museum. Players can move about the space and sit down together in front of the art; those two players are then placed into a dialogue where they must exchange dialogue snippets and comments about the art (like dialogue systems in many single-player games). Players can leave once the conversation is finished.

Statement: My main interest in this project is attempting to explore the discourse around art, especially when the context is manipulated. By randomly arranging art and exhibit, the game can explore how context affects how people discuss art, and by being forced to choose from a preset list of dialogue options, players’ are forced to talk with each other in ways that they perhaps wouldn’t have done otherwise. However, a key challenge will be keep players interested in those conversations, given their lack of control.

References: my own experiences in art galleries, portfolio exhibitions and critiques, Telltale games, Joy Exhibition, The Beginner’s Guide

Virtual Installation

(Windows): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5LjA0KYyVXvcnNNa2FlcG9nSkk

(Mac): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5LjA0KYyVXvM0c0Uy1yR0REazQ

(this is a game idea that I thought I might want to explore for the end-of semester assignment, but ended up feeling too small to be a full-length project)

I knew my final project was going to revolve around alot of text manipulation, so I thought I should play around with the TextMesh properties. The piece also deals with arrays in c#, which took some digging through documentation.

Mac download:

PC download:

Game Pitch: In this game, you play as a cat. The goal is to navigate around a giant cat condo world and drop dangerous items onto the heads of the humans below, making sure not to harm your beloved owner (aka food source). You lose if you fall and become noticed by the humans.

I chose this idea because there are a lot of jokes about cats being evil but there doesn’t seem to be a serious 3D game about a cat killing people. I am also trying to create a style for what a cat’s daydream should be. I want to move away from realistic textures so I would like to stick to one very vibrant color palette and keep everything flat shaded.

Controls: To me, playing with a controller feels better than pressing randomly assigned keys on a keyboard. I will have the two joysticks control movement and vision and will use the back triggers to control the left and right paw swipes (for pushing items). Using a controller feels more natural for left and right paw movements anyway.

This image is some concept art for the point of view of the player. You will see the cat’s body, but will have to look down a bit to see the humans.

Game References:

A game that hasn’t come out yet, called “HK”. The main character is a cat, and they have very realistic cat movements (I will do more basic ones, but this is a good reference): https://hk-devblog.com/

Fotonica, really bright platforms (I am not interested in the linear direction though)

Abstract Rituals, I like the way this game looks. It gave me the idea of making the world a cat condo. However, these paths are randomly generated, and are impossible to walk on (based on gameplay videos).

Non Game References:

I have no idea what this picture is but I googled color schemes and I liked this one a lot.

I would like to make the cat design as simple as possible, like this but in 3D. Also, the cuteness might be a nice contrast.

Making the game like an obstacle course slightly based off of real cat condo elements might make for an interesting obstacle course world.

White Room Installation:

Title: Lil’ Baby Pills

Description: You as a player have to log into the game to take your birth control pill every day on time within a 5 minute period. If you fail to do so, you will have a virtual pregnancy (the game will have a baby in a messy teenage room) and you can’t restart the game – can’t make mistakes.

Art/Research statement: I want to play around with real-time references in this game. It’s to show the importance of using contraceptives, specifically birth control pills, correctly. I wanted to make a game where the player can only make the same mistake once and has to stick with the consequences. Experimental and risk elements include the short duration of each game-play, the day-long wait before the next gameplay, and the risk of the player not bothering to play at all. My parameters for success would include recurring playthroughs – to have the player come back into the game for a least a few days in a row before they see the consequences of making the mistake of missing a pill.

References:

• Robert Yang’s Rinse and Repeat and other games that make the player return to the game in real time references
  • Jason Rohrer’s Chainworld where each player can only fully experience the game once
  • Born to be Alive, a game where the player can learn to give birth to a child with virtual experiences
    (Non-games)
  • The paranoia I personally feel after not taking a pill on time
  • Michele Pred’s The Birth of Baby X
    

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Title: Do not get caught

Description: You are in your room watching pornography . Your mom keeps coming into the room checking if you are studying or not. Your goal is to not get caught watching pornography. Whenever your mom comes in, you need to change your screen as quickly as possible by pressing complicated keys that changes every time (for instance shift + enter + G +tab all at the same time.)

I want to play with the idea of quickness and embarrassment. Sexual activities are something that people try to hide and keep to themselves. I want the audience to feel thrill and guilt from doing something that they are not supposed to do.

Game reference:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I0GBInxADs -Hide the fart
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQuQr6fSXjA – Lust for bust
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZafUNx-Fazc -Keyboard Mayhem

Non-Game reference:

1. Jan Verhas – Hide and Seek
   

2. ENTITATIVITY – Klaus Obermaier with Martina Menegon & Stefano D’Alessio

3. Spaghetti Man
   

Title: Rush Hour Repair (title in progress)

Description: A diner dash typing variant where the player is a hobby shop engineer who will take orders from customers, gather the pieces, feed them through a machine, and return the completed product to the customer.

Research statement: Our goal is to explore more typing games that have no mouse functionality. We were initially inspired by typing of the dead, which was a spin off from a typical point and click game to a keyboard only game.

Next, we wanted to explore perhaps a game with more urgency, like diner dash. The game can never be won, but a parameter for success would be how many customer orders you can take before you lose. As the game progresses, more and more customers will come in with more complicated requests.

 

Game References:

1. Typing of the dead
2. Diner dash
3. Rwandan(?) Typing game (Paolo showed us in class, but we couldn’t seem to track down the artist behind it)

Non-game references:

1. Drones
2. Time optimization
3. Recipe making

You are stranded on a boat and must survive for 30 days to win. You avoid sun exposure, drink rainwater, and catch fish. To win, not only do you have to do everything correctly for 30 days, but you must also get lucky (for example, that it rains enough for you to stay alive.) The game is a metaphor for the daily struggles of real life and how even the most unthinkable situations can become boring and routine.

The goal of the game is not to be particularly stressful or intense, but rather present a life-threatening situation in such a way that it seems kind of routine (kind of like if you were playing Sims: Survival Edition).  I would like for the game to induce introspection in the player, in a way that it forces the player to think about the routine they experience in their own lives.

Mechanics

• The game goes through sped-up day/night cycles, with one day lasting between 3-5 minutes.
• Thirst, hunger, exposure, and sleep levels are all kept track of. Various actions need to be performed to keep the levels in a good range to stay alive.
• Weather is randomly decided for every day, with a chance of getting sun, rain, clouds, or a storm.
• Being lost at sea is also a common metaphor in literature and film, so I want to reference that by having a narrator describe things that are happening in a way that feels like you’re reading a book.

 

Game References:

The Sims (performing actions over and over from day to day to fulfill your needs)

Murder Dog IV (having a narrator describe what is going on at the bottom of the screen, to add flavor and also reference “lost as sea” as a literary tradition)

Wind Waker (for the lowpoly boat and ocean imagery)

Non-Game References:

Life of Pi (the book goes extremely in depth about surviving alone at sea, describing everything from its boredoms to the regular routine chores required)

Vlogbrothers video about living with chronic illness (the idea about a “new normal” where your life changes drastically but you learn to become accustomed to it until it becomes routine)

Description: 2D (but layered) iPhone game with custom rain-sensing interface.

Story:

It begins with a house or some standard scene.  If it is raining*, a raindrop will fall from the sky past the house onto the earth.  It will make a dent and start to erode the soil.  As raindrops keep falling, paths will form.  As you travel farther and farther down, you begin to see remnants of the place’s past like old bottles, doorknobs, bones etc. Story through exploration.

Controls: Game will be played on cellphone with custom interface.  Small sensor that attaches to phone (with waterproof phone case).  Sensor will be a small square with four quadrants.  *The sensor will pick up if a raindrop hits in one of the four quadrants.  The game will also get your GPS coordinates and check online to see if it is raining (no cheating with an eyedropper).  If a raindrop hits one of the four quadrants, the in game raindrop will explore in that direction.  One could try to watch the rain drops and move your phone so that it lands on the desired quadrant, or could let nature do it’s thing.

Game References:

1. Boktai:

Gameplay less important here.  Game cartridge had a photocell sensor on it which charged weapons against vampires.

2. Kentucky Route Zero

Inspiration from art style/telling stories through little bit at a time

3.Stanley Parable

Telling a story through objects and spaces.

4.  Explosion

Visual feel of digging down and making your own paths

Other References:

Meandering Stories

Sediment Layers

Objects found when my backyard was dug up from an old farmhouse (1850s?)

In this game you are therapist who uses the R.E.M to explore the inner consciousnesses of your patients and release them from their mental fatigue. The game plays out from a top-down perspective, where you navigate up and down the layers of your patient to treat them.

Additional Notes: NO PUZZLES, Modular Room layout/structure, you go up and down often. May switch from dream concept to just talking about Neural Nets in Computer Science

Artistic Statement:

With this project I’m trying to be able to successfully present the illusion of depth in a 2D space. In general, many many games are content with restricting the player to a single plane of movement, rarely giving them the sensation of falling or rising through “layers” of the space. With this game, I want to be able to convey the sensation of actually ascending or descending through a level and to use that feeling to communicate a sense of progress. The parameters of success will be primarily the effectiveness of the illusion and whether or not moving up and down these layers feels seamless

White Room:

Video Game Inspirations:

Yume Nikki: Because I can’t music and generative soundscapes sounds more doable

Inversus:
Flat top down. Graphic style

Flow: Layer concept

Other References:

Paprika

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Neural Nets

Lucas Pope is an American independent game developer who has experienced all facets of the gaming industry. He began his career creating mods for Quake with his friends, an endeavor which became a commercial product and led to the founding of their own independent game studio Ratloop. He would later go on to become a tools programmer at Naughty Dog, before leaving after the completion of Uncharted 2. He now is a fully independent game developer, participating in Game Jams and working on commercial projects. He has gone on record to say that he prefers working on small, experimental games.

“Lots of indies just work on something forever, but I don’t want to do that because I lose interest and wanna start working on some others things”

Republia Times:

Republia Times is a game where you work as an editor for a state run newspaper. Here, you are tasked with choosing articles to place in the paper, choices which affect the population’s loyalty to the government and the readership of the paper. Though the game is somewhat overshadowed by its “successor”, Paper’s Please, the game established the narrative/gameplay tropes in its sequel.

“What I found making this game is that this communist setting or this dystopian, fascist setting works nicely for game mechanics because you can tell the player, ‘you have to do this’. There’s not a whole lot of questioning of, ‘why?’. ‘You have to do it because that’s how we fucking run things here, we tell you how to do it and you do it’.”

 

Papers Please:

By far Pope’s most popular game, you act as a border control guard of the nation of Arstotzka. Your tasked with ensuring that only eligible citizens are allowed to pass into the country, whilst balancing moral quandaries and maintaining your family’s well being. During my time with the game, I was surprised by the complexity of the document analysis system, while at the same time appreciating the visceral and real feeling it gave to your actions. The very tactile nature of the interface and the pacing also made some scenarios surprisingly uncomfortable.

“I’ve already worked on it for a year and four months, so it’s already to me like, I’m kind of sick to death of Papers, Please.”

 

The Return of the Obra Dinn:

Pope’s latest game, only available in incomplete demo form. In this game, you are tasked with investigating the Obra Dinn, an indian trade vessel that was lost at sea. Unlike other games, Pope started with the visual  with aspects of the game rather than the gameplay design. The game only has 2 colors in it’s palate, black and white, a trait which limited the environments and scenarios that he is able to do. I spent a good chunk of the demo not really understanding what was happening, but with a bit of experimentation, the intrigues developed on their own.

***Spoilers: The gameplay is that you peek into past events and try to piece together the fate of the crew of the Obra Dinn***

“On projects, I swing one way or the other, and I swung far in design for Papers, Please so I want to swing back the other way for visuals on Obra Dinn.”

Mac : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5KvjEcQukAKZEp5MkxwUEFycDQ/view?usp=sharing