Comments on: “Help” – February 2009 Round Table Entry

By: Translating Identity - March ‘09 Round Table Entry | The Autumnal City

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:39:30 +0000

[...] “Help” [...]

By: Josh Bycer

Josh Bycer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:34:05 +0000

Excellent idea, I really like the horror aspect of the game. The concept of using internet utilities reminds me of the adventure game “Missing “.

By: Travis Megill

Travis Megill — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:57:26 +0000

The ways that developers use their magic to lead players toward a goal is fascinating. As far as the specific questions about my idea, I think they could all be solved if it was expanded upon. There’s only so much space here, but I’ll answer the specific questions you have.

“you continue to explore his e-mail account, finding a link to a Facebook account”
This could be handled fairly easy by limiting the amount of e-mail the player could look through. In fact, the link could be in the reply to the message Samuel specifically instructs you to find. If for some reason the player doesn’t click the link then Samuel could instruct the player how to access his Facebook account to move the narrative forward. Since the game revolves around a specified time limit, the player that figures out early how to access the Facebook account is rewarded with extra time to explore its contents.

“Clicking back over to Samuel’s e-mail account, you notice the phone number he’s calling you from is listed as the home number for David Perez”
I intended for this to just be something the player could discover that wouldn’t actually affect progression, but it doesn’t make sense because Samuel doesn’t end up in David’s home. Oops! So ignore that little detail. That’s what happens when you’re developing a story and a “game” simultaneously!

I attempted to make the game as limited as possible to avoid a “pie in the sky” game design, so I think this would be doable, but I’d love for someone to tell me where I’ve gone wrong!

By: Kylie Prymus

Kylie Prymus — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:02:02 +0000

I think this is a wonderful idea – if it works. From a developers standpoint what does it take to “ensure” that the player stumbles across the information they need to make the choices they need to make? This is something I’ve been wondering about while playing through Jeanne D’Arc recently. The real brilliance of that game is that they make the battles such that they often seem impossible at the outset. They’ll even “cheat” and add new objectives and enemy reinforcements that you weren’t expecting to muck up your existing battle plans. Yet in the end I (almost) always manage to win through a combination of what feels like beautifully executed tactical thinking. I don’t have the hubris to think I’m that brilliant of a tactician nor have I heard reviews of the game labelling it brutally and unfairly difficult. That means the developers must have found a very clever way to make you feel like you overcome insurmountable odds in every battle while still making victory fairly easy.

Tying it back to your game idea, how does one go about ensuring that events like “you continue to explore his e-mail account, finding a link to a Facebook account” or “Clicking back over to Samuel’s e-mail account, you notice the phone number he’s calling you from is listed as the home number for David Perez” happen without the player feeling shoehorned into it (which would disrupt the feeling of an ARG)? That feeling of “boy I’m glad I noticed that, otherwise I would have been frakked” should be present for each person that experiences it without too many people *not* noticing it and becoming frustrated.

That obstacle aside (and I really would like to hear how developers go about including determinism-that-feels-like-freedom in games) I really like this idea. Normally I’m not a fan of ARGs, but I think this one really taps into an emotional experience that couldn’t be express any other way.

By: Travis Megill

Travis Megill — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:15:05 +0000

Thanks, David! I’d love to play something like this. I think it would be really effective if the voice recognition was powerful enough and/or the limitations were hidden well by the audio and responses.

By: Travis Megill

Travis Megill — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:13:26 +0000

Thanks for the comment. I definitely don’t think it reflects the themes of Poe’s story, but following the Round Table prompt, I strayed away from the literary source. I was more interested in trying to create true guilt in the player as Joe suggested might be possible. I imagine the game would feel a little longer if it could actually be played, the description speeds through quite a bit to keep the length of the post manageable (though it’s still quite long).

By: TheGameCritique

TheGameCritique — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:42:03 +0000

That is a scary scenario. Unlike other horror/thriller games this one is so powerful because you can’t see anything. Itt also doesn’t fall into the usual trope of an ARG of a vaste conspiracy. This is such a good game idea though it seems a little short. Not sure if I see the same guilt complex here that is in A Tell-Tale Heart. You feel guilty if the girl gets killed, but other than that it doesn’t seem to follow the theme. It is still a great idea on its own merits.

By: David Sahlin

David Sahlin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:08:12 +0000

This is so… creepily cool. It’s real-life interactive fiction, and that will certainly make prototyping easier.

I’m very impressed by the impact the plot had on me, just reading about it. Which is why I’m rather scared of actually playing it in meatspace. I imagine it as such a powerful experience that I’d be physically moved by it. The sheer amount of dread is easily rivaling any written story.

Well done.

By: February ‘09 Round Table - Updated 02-03 : Man Bytes Blog

February ‘09 Round Table - Updated 02-03 : Man Bytes Blog — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:21:03 +0000

[...] City: Help, in which Travis takes a look at the unreliable narrator in this short [...]