Projects — Camille Baumann-Jaeger

Storytelling Structures In MegaMan X

April 27, 2017

In screenwriting, a critical moment of any story is the moment when the theme is stated. Typically delivered by a supporting character or villain to the protagonist, the theme is, of course, what the film is all about. In his Youtube video, “Sequelitis – Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X”, Egoraptor invokes the notion of “theme stated” in the context of game storytelling, which sparked my interest. He pinpoints the moment that the theme is stated within the game to the moment that Zero, the elusive and powerful fighter, saves the player -Mega Man- from a boss that is too powerful to defeat.

Meeting of the Mentor...

This moment is reinforced by the entire progression of the level and culminates at that point. It follows the conventions for "theme stated," in that a supporting character (and sometimes rival) introduces the theme to the player. What’s interesting, however, is how the rules of storytelling manifest themselves within a game overall. Egoraptor lauds Mega Man X for its ability to convey game intent and goals to the player through the use of ingrained game design components versus explicit rules or goals. Egoraptor relates its success to the game designer’s mastery of “conveyance,” or the ability to guide a player through a world through cues and indicators within the world itself.
Egoraptor outlines how Mega Man crafts an excellent level of conveyance throughout his video as he plays through the first level of the game. Beginning with the title screen, the game's designers use every possible instance in order to convey goals and mechanisms to the player.

Trials...

As MegaMan combats mini bosses , the game designers have used a smaller, focused interaction with multiple game bosses in order to help the player realize and utilize the different mechanics available to them. A key feature of this instance is that the game designers are able to convey the solution to the interaction without the use of text or explicit means of communication. The pacing of the monsters’s movements allow the player the opportunity to experiment and find the solutions themselves within a limited palette of available actions.
Zero’s interaction with Mega Man breaks from this dominant design model by communicating through text instead of action. Egoraptor argues that this dialogue breaks the mode of conveyance, but is warranted because Zero is used to express the theme of the game. This is close, but makes an exception for this scene in a way that may be unnecessary. I would argue that the reason Zero’s introduction is not disjunctive to the rest of the game’s experience is in fact because it solidifies a theme conveyed, but not explicitly stated, in the very first interactions the player has with Mega Man X.

Opening Image...

In the title screen, Mega Man fires a special bolt when the player selects "game start," but this observed power is not given to them at the beginning of the game. Already, this conveys the arc of growth and empowerment that shapes Mega Man X. By the time Zero is introduced within the game, the player has already realized their limitations and incorporated the game’s goal within their understanding of the world. Zero’s presence serves to verbally express the theme the player has already pieced together. Zero serves to reflect the player’s understanding of the game, manifesting internalized information rather than presenting anything disjunctive. In other words, Zero does not break the player’s immersion because Zero represents an internalized understanding of the game on the part of the player.

References

[1] Egoraptor. “Sequelitis – Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X.” YouTube. YouTube, 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Artboard 4.png — Guardian Captor

A card-based battle game

This game is for players between the ages of 12-25, aimed specifically at young women. It is for individuals who enjoy competitive card games that have a long-term collecting component. A game for players who enjoy building decks over time and feeling a sense of ownership over their cards, and a game for players who enjoy competitive card battle games.

Artboard 2@4x.png — A Mystic Arena

In a unique and ritualistic layout, the game pits players against one another through **guardian cards.** The goal is to “capture” your opponent’s guardian card through a combination of rituals and battlefield control to create a winning strategy.
Players are pushed to create decks that reflect who they are as players, accentuating their preferred strategies.

Artboard 3@4x.png — A new take on card combat dynamics.

Instead of attack or defense cards, Guardian Captor has offense and ritual cards that must be combined with one another, creating a sense of mysticism and alchemy.
Another new element here is the concept of world cards. The world cards shape the game’s environment. With each new draw of a world card, the game shifts, and players are pushed to react and modify their strategy.
Finally, progression is found through mode shifts that push the players in dramatic ways. The guardian cards have two states: bound and unbound, which change available actions. One isn’t always strictly better than another, and it’s up to the player whether they will risk being bound to gain the benefits of that mode.

Duration of Play:

The game itself takes approximately 15-25 minutes to complete. A match between well balanced, experienced players could take up to 35 minutes.
This game connects players aesthetically and strategically. It allows for a long-term feeling of attachment as players build a stronger, better deck with each new publication of cards.

Read the full design document

Fenn’s Treasure was developed as a final project in Jesse Schell's game design course at CMU. The goal for this project was to collaborate and develop a game in teams, with the opportunity to pitch the game to industry professionals at the end of the semester. Fenn's Treasure is a a small-scale puzzle adventure game with a focus on narrative and crafting.

The game is based on the story of the of Forrest Fenn, an eccentric art collector who hid a treasure deep within the Rockies. Similar in tone to Firewatch, Don’t Starve, or Monument Valley, our game built on adventure-puzzle tropes by creating a gentle wilderness setting, focused on tone and a sense of place. Rather than pit the player in a struggle against unforgiving nature, Fenn’s Treasure uses crafting as an opportunity to unlock and explore the wilderness.

Takeaways:

Our final product was a genre-merging game with the potential for greater expansion. We received constructive criticism on the risks of merging different game genres, and trying to appeal to too wide an audience. As such, in future iterations we concluded we would delve further into our wayfinding mechanic, which would place more long-term, large-scale decision making into the hands of the player.
Ultimately, our demo was a proof-of-concept for a game in which foregrounds a calm, serene environment based on American folklore. It invites players to explore and contemplate, offering an experience that is both grounded and mystical.

View Pitch Document

Connecting With Players Through Narrative and World Building

February 23, 2017

There are two conflicting ideologies on the source of empathy between a consumer and the creator. On the one hand, such individuals as Henry Jenkins in his work “Transmedia Storytelling” argues that the world of an experience should come first. For Jenkins, a well-developed world proves to be the most poignant source of connection with an audience as it can cross into multiple media. A world can reach through the barriers of games, or comics, or television and bring enthusiasts of each medium together because of their appreciation of one world. On the other hand, there is the approach delineated by Scott McCloud in The Vocabulary of Comics, which focuses on how the representation of characters can manipulate the connection between the audience and a work. Both perspectives converge in the game Endless Legend, a computer game by Amplitude Studios which combines an intensely developed world with in-depth narratives and characters.

GOTY-2014-Best-Concept-Endless-Legend-468313-4 (2).jpg — Precedents

*Endless Legend* begins with a combination of characters and world building. When one first begins the game, the player is offered the opportunity to choose a faction. Each faction has a leader, specialty traits, and, most important, a history. Personally, it is the history with the specialty traits as a close second that help me determine with which faction I want to play. However, as shown in the figure below, the text depicting the history and traits are not the primary focus of the start screen. It is the leader, the character. From a “character first” or “character representation first” viewpoint, it seems as if the understanding from the creator’s end is that the player will respond most strongly to the visual representation of each faction. This tool of a using a central, visual figure to which the player can cling as a source of empathy is carried through to the actual game. Each faction has a “hero” character with which the player first explores the world. The factions are visually distinct, allowing the player to feel unique in their connection to the hero even in a world rife with detail. The hero unit-as-character is ultimately a case study in how the game uses an empathetic character to give an anchor to, and flesh out, an interesting and deeply developed world.

lofws4p8tfsvm35rkdut (2).jpg — Further...

The art in the game is detailed, with a combination of realism and abstraction. While the lighting, textures, and human character proportions do offer a more realistic representation, the game uses an abstract approach to model the way the world works, from territory to societal change. Maneuvering through the world is mechanical, as players achieve growth but are also limited by tiles. An example of such a relationship between growth and limitations is the component of per-tile growth in a city. The mechanism is an abstraction of real decisions and consequences national and municipal leaders must deal with. However, in the game, it is represented as a rate at which your territory will expand to a new tile. Playing the game is an exercise in absorbing vibrant, detailed art that represents abstracted ideas and systems.
Based on Scott McCloud’s analysis of human representation in entertainment, in particular comics, *Endless Legend*’s art, which trends more towards realism, would serve to alienate players as the characters become more objectified. While there are realistic components in the game that pose a risk of alienating players, I believe that two abstractions balance the realism of the game: the first being a certain level of abstraction in the art itself (monsters, creatures, fantastical terrain) and the second being the abstraction in how the game presents the world. The world mechanics are an abstraction of our own world order. Just as an illustration can provide a symbolic representation of a human figure, so does *Endless Legend* provide symbolism that reflects our own global and national economic systems.

Conclusion...

Despite that the game has monsters and new creatures, the world does reflect our own well. There are both natural and societal obstacles to overcome. The representation of the game reflects and uses a more realistic representation. Most of the faction characters are humans (or humanoid) and the modelling of the game does not have a high level of abstraction to it. As such, *Endless Legend* shows the power of game mechanics and how the relationship between players and games through them shatters the boundaries that other genres experience. In *Endless Legend,* the game mechanics create a sense of ownership and empathy within the players. More precisely, the game mechanics built as abstractions of world systems players are already familiar with provide a deeper connection between players and the world of *Endless Legend.*
However, *Endless Legend* takes a step further than other society building games in that it has strong characters and backstory for each faction. As you progress through the game, you are given quests that are intended to create an understanding of the history and conditions of the player’s faction. *Endless Legend* demonstrates that the rules laid out by Scott McCloud cannot be fully transferred to a medium in a purely visual sense, as you might expect to see in comics or animation. However, the game also posits that world building cannot exist apart from character development, as argued by Henry Jenkins. While the game is still relatively new and niche and so has yet to see a transmedia awakening, I predict that both the characters and the world will have equal footing in transmedia manifestations as they are intimately linked to one another.

civ1 (2).jpg — Architecture in Strategy Game Design

Published March 30, 2017

In Ernest Adams’s work “The Role of Architecture in Video Games”, the author begins his argument with the example of “the most popular PC game of all time, The Sims.”[1]He casts it as a game that embraces and embodies the ideas of Christopher Alexander, one of architecture’s most celebrated philosophers. Adams lauds the use of ideas detailed in Alexander’s work A Pattern Language within The Sims. Though he makes a promising start, Adams’ analysis never quite gets below the surface of what architecture has to offer. He only sees the use of architecture through the design and use of buildings to affect a game. While architecture is focused on construction and design, it is the field’s teachings on spatial organization and how it can influence group and individual behavior that I feel would be more interesting if used in games.

civ2 (2).jpg — Further...

As the player progresses into the game, the cellular structure of the game’s resources has diminishing dominance over the player’s considerations. The player begins to think in cities instead of individual farms, and regions instead of cell clusters. The player also develops the technology to travel larger distances, introducing a global perspective to the game. This broader spatial scope is accompanied by new considerations regarding diplomacy, religion, trade, and conquest. As the player matures within the game, the game’s scope extends both outward, across a larger spatial distance, and inward, as new systems are introduced. Structure becomes both more grand and more granular in its goals and perspectives.
*Sid Meier’s Civilization V* illustrates how spatial organization and theory are best in order for a game to challenge and grow with a player. A small set of decisions in the beginning is facilitated by a drawn-in spatial scope. As the player matures, and as they reveal more of the map, the game likewise expands in scope. Although the game does have smaller goals that do revolve around the construction and completion of certain buildings, that is not the focus of the game nor the most poignant element at play. It is the use of architecture, and the spatial shift in perspective with the game’s evolution, that make it so successful.

References

[1] Adams, Ernest W. “The Role of Architecture in Video Games.” The Role of Architecture in Video Games. N.p., 9 Oct. 2002. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.