Making Games is Already Hard, Now Make One For Kids About Death
AppId is over the quota
This is the last thing your character sees in The End before the "game" part kicks into gear.The End is a game about death.
In a sense, that's not really a bold new concept for video games, as most of them predicate challenge based on the player's ability to avoid death. But games are only beginning to explore the emotional spectrum, and that includes having a grounded conversation about what happens when life is over.
It's hard to imagine a few video game characters having that conversation, let alone one within a context where the game's suggesting these large questions in a Flash-based platformer aimed at teenagers.
The End was funded by UK broadcaster Channel 4 and commissioned to developer Preloaded. By UK law, the broadcaster is required to produce a portion of educational content for 14-to-19-year-olds.
In addition to some decent platforming and puzzle elements, the art style is pretty great, too.C4 Education is a subdivision of Channel 4 at large, and while educational content was previously piped exclusively through the television, that changed in 2008, when the budget was applied to experimental games funneled to the web, mobile, and other places. The idea was premised on the belief that crowd was playing around on the Internet anyway.
Preloaded had worked with C4 Education on other projects--1066, Trafalgar Origins--and when some research appeared showing a lack of religious knowledge amongst teens, an idea gained traction.
"One thing religion does very well is provide a narrative to death, a support framework which gives answers and reason," explained Preloaded senior producer Charles Batho. "The End sets out to level the playing field, presenting a variety of views about life and mortality from famous thinkers of our time. It's not a non-religious game, just philosophical."
The End doesn't pitch what happens after death, it takes place moments before. After designing a character, the game boots to suburbia. Your character looks up--it's a meteor! From there, the game plays upon life flashing before your eyes in the moment before death. What happens during the "game" part is an exploration and reflection on the meaning of death.
The End was originally dubbed "Afterlife" internally, but the name was ditched, as it was feared that would imply too much about what may or may not happen after life. More ambiguity was needed.
Unlike a first-person-shooter, there's no outline for how to make a game like this, no blueprint to follow. Batho and his team decided the best way to understand the target audience was to talk to them.
"For this project we talked to groups of kids in the age range of 14-19 about death and imagery around death before we started any production," he said. "In one memorable early exercise we asked them to draw their ideal funeral. Some of the work produced was extraordinary. We also tested early and throughout production with little digital or paper based demos of each element that became part of the final game. It's hard work, but this face-to-face time is hugely influential in the end product."
If you've played a Puzzle Quest game before, you'll be right at home with The End's take.As it turns out, The End isn't an awful platformer, either. It's not Super Meat Boy, but given what one expects from a piece of educational software, it doesn't totally distract from the rest of the experience. You can skip past most of the platforming if the floaty physics bother you, and instead get into the heart of the gameplay, in which a numbers-based puzzle game infused with a bunch of unlockable powers. It's a little like Puzzle Quest, with some light math sprinkled in.
Making sure the "game" part was worth playing was important to the team. Consumers, especially teenagers, have a million distractions in today's digital world. Being exposed to mediocrity would likely result in them closing the browser window, making the exercise pointless.
It's hard to imagine talking about death without religion. Almost every conversation about death is discussed through the prism of religion and the implication of belief, but giving credence to one belief would have sent Preloaded down a rabbit hole.
"If we had introduced a Christian interpretation of death, then we'd have needed to balance it with the Islamic interpretation, and every other religion, which would have skewed the game and taken it in entirely different direction," said Batho. "So we side stepped religion entirely. What we tried to do with the issues associated with each death object was provide ideas that could emotionally support a person if they had suffered a loss, which is what many religions provide to those who believe in them."
After defeating each stage's "boss," the game asks a question. You answer options are "yes" or "no."
Is it possible to be happy simply living in the moment?Do you want to live forever?Would you still be yourself if your mind was put into another body?Should people be able to choose how they die?Do other people’s memories mean that we live on after death?These aren't exactly easy questions to answer on the fly, and reminded me of the moments I'd fiddle my thumbs in the equally contemplative Catherine. Catherine's more concerned with the complications of sex, love, and growing up, but the personal implications are nearly as profound, and while I didn't spend as much time mulling my answers, I did try to answer honestly.
The "Death Dial" maps the choices you've made during the game to provide some perspective.The answers inform a "Death Dial," which maps your responses and tries to provide context. It's based on the famous Political Compass, often used to gauge where a person falls on the political spectrum. My answers put me near with theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. I'll take that.
"We hope to inspire and inform players with new ideas that can help them deal with the advent of death in their lives, however spiritual (or not) they may be," said Batho.
It wouldn't be surprising to learn players were blowing the questions off, but with message board threads with titles like "What happens if u answer a question wrong?" in a game where there are no wrong answers, it appears the team succeeded in getting some players to think.
"We tested an early demo of 48 questions with users and they responded well," he said. "We tried to keep the questions easily understandable but also give them some 'weight.' For some younger players they've not really been introduced to questions like this before. 'Weird but interesting' and 'It really makes me think a lot about things I normally wouldn't' being common responses."
Making games takes time--a long time. The idea of working on a game about such a morbid subject, especially one that's so hard to talk about, sounds rough.
"We did all learn a lot about our own views about death and how they contrasted with each other," said Batho. "When that debate began, we realised we where on to something really solid. The issues are heavy, but we deliberately wanted to juxtapose this with a pure-play, fun game experience. Once the game design was nailed, we where too busy making the game and bringing it all together that there wasn't any time left to feel uncomfortable."
You can try out The End at www.playtheend.com.
Limited edition Minecraft Xperia play get about $1 on eBay
Minecraft takes the world by storm, one block at a time. You can now take it on the road since it has been published in the Android market. A hook is that you play can play only on the Xperia; It is currently not compatible with other Android phones. I know. I have tried. (Damn you, droid 3!)
To celebrate the release of Minecraft on Xperia play, developer Mojang created a handful of Limited Edition Minecraft Xperia play smartphones and you are away on the Gamescom. However, this is not the only way and one way you can – you can also grab on the auction block (perfect word game, eh?).
Pretty Mojang has one of the Limited Edition Minecraft Xperia plays on eBay, that currently get a cool $1500 and include now. With over 56 offers, and more than 2 days at the auction left this number is bound, will rise.
Mojang donates proceeds of the auction to "needy", but not love it will specify. I propose the ASLF or the Anthony Severino lawnmower Fund.
a few questions about the 3ds
Loaded is ?Como?
?que Aplicacioones has and as deque?
Games ?Los can go the normal Nintendo?
The game is ?si games game boy 3D can go?
?cuanto OK juego + 3ds?
New documentary about the otaku of Barcelona (2011)
http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=JGpBQnpdnCI
PS: Rare Qu? marked YouTube can not the video in this forum;-() embed
?ltima Edici?n kakihara1 date: today at 17: 46. Raz?n: Embedding videos
Anya Stroud teaches us about Gears of war 3 Horde 2.0, also swords
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Anya Stroud Teaches Us About Gears of War 3's Horde 2.0, Also Swords
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Other... GameRevolution » News » GAMING NEWS Anya Stroud Teaches Us About Gears of War 3's Horde 2.0, Also Swords Posted on Wednesday, June 22 @ 13:50:25 Eastern by danielrbischoff
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I played the hell out of the Gears of War 3 Beta, even ranking up enough to unlock every item in the retail game. The only thing I found myself disappointed with after chainsawing all of those dudes... and all of those other dudes... and then chainsawing their friends, family members, loved ones, acquaintances, and... well, after chainsawing everyone I could, I was left wanting.
Why? Because Gears of War 2's greatest accomplishment was Horde Mode, and we'll have to wait until the retail release of Gears of War 3 for Horde 2.0. Luckily, the lovely Anya Stroud is here to tell us all about it. Take it away Anya:
Wait- Was that a Gear swinging a sword during all that talk about cold hard cash? Related Games: Gears of War 3Tags: Gears of War, Epic Games, trailer
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POST A COMMENTComments
En-San-Guine - Joined: Jun 21, 2011I never played horde but i'd like to assume it got it's idea from Nazi Zombies.1 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 2:44 pm
danielrbischoff - Joined: Nov 13, 2009Technically Gears of War 2 came out 4 days before Call of Duty: World at War....Regardless, Horde Mode is miles ahead of Zombies IMHO.0 1Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 4:25 pm
213EDD - Joined: Sep 7, 2007No one can deny Epic games innovations toward their other game types no matter how shitty gears of war 2 multiplayer was :) but COD probably did get the idea from epic they were in production of it longer.0 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Daddio - Joined: Nov 6, 2008GoW 2 Multi wasn't bad maybe you were just bad at it ... =P0 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 5:35 pm213EDD - Joined: Sep 7, 2007Yeah okay, even Cliffy B says GoW 2 MP was bad do u want the link?0 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 10:17 pm
moretokes - Joined: Apr 27, 2011For pc gamers go buy doom 3 and download last man standing mod....I could play that **** for hour s on end...youtube it up0 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 22nd, 2011 at 7:08 pm
UghRochester - Joined: Jun 5, 2006This looks pretty decent. I think it's more of a machete, Dan.0 0Like or Dislike?Posted: Jun 23rd, 2011 at 6:52 amPost a comment LOGIN or REGISTER to post a comment or rate this review. Username:Password: Remember me next time?
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Squiggy
I feel so old.
The year 2011 is turning out to be dedicated to making gamers everywhere feel old. My favorite game in the world is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time . Nintendo just released a remake of the game yesterday as of writing. Reading some of Nintendo's Iwata Asks segments on the game, I've come to realize, that I feel really old. I'm only 22. I was a 90's kid. And I feel old because of this game. Let's think about it. Ocarina of Time , lovingly referred to...
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Microsoft "Unapologetic" about pressing of Kinect on casual gamers
In an interview with MCV Xbox EMEA Vice President Chris Lewis, identified the Kinect as the reason for their success and have no qualms about, press the Kinect as hard as they can:
[Source]...Xbox is that defies normal curve which you might expect. There is no doubt that Kinect is a great shot adrenalin into the arm of the Division provided. What we are seeing now is massive tracts of land by families and younger audiences flock to it...
What you don't see us is conceived, the. What you will see, is distract us to improve the experience, and not with Kinect. I do not believe that our core gamers will tolerate anything from us...
I think we are on a journey of growth and we are about the fact that we want that you address these target groups described unapologetic. The key is not to alienate all those while trying they also address. And to be used for marketing and our audiences to understand, we are far more savvy about partnerships to increase this type of complaint, always...
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Japanese newspaper reaffirmed much of what we have heard about the console of Nintendo
Is this man about to finally enter in high definition?Rumors won't be rumors in a few days, when the video game industry descends to Los Angeles to 2011 E3. All eyes are on Nintendo next week, as the company revealed the first details on its upcoming console, the successor to the Wii.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei has executed a history with alleged details of the new hardware, translated by the ever useful Andriasang, and a copy of many of the rumors.
The most important thing about the new Nintendo console, unless Nintendo us blindsides with something else, is a driver with an integrated touch screen. Seems to be something located between an iPad and what we have come to expect from games consoles. It is not clear whether the screen is single or Multi-Touch. DS, for example, only responds to a touch. iPad can register up to 11 touches at the same time.
There is apparently a camera on the device. Given what we have already seen of the developers and DS, the possibilities of fancy fun (and perverted deviation) are fairly obvious.
Nikkei also sets the release as soon as mid-2012. All Nintendo said is that comes 2012 and the console sales have not been cooked in their projects for the next fiscal year, which ends in March. That tells us the console does not launch until at least after March, 2012.
Other than the? It will be E3 (of the) answers we are looking for.
