This week in class, our discussion was primarily focused on remixing/reskinning games and adversarial design. To look into how games get reskinned and redesigned, we looked how the card game “Mafia.” We talked about there are so many different variations of this game with different names and cards to changed up the scene and environment of the game. Games like “Werewolf” and even “Among Us” essentially share all of the same rules and concepts as “Mafia,” but they have been slightly redesigned for the players to get a bit of a different experience playing these different games. We played a round of “Werewolf” to get a sense of the game. At first, a lot of the class was confused about some of the rules, but as the game went on, they realized they had already known the rules from similar games that they had played in the past. We also looked at the game “Passage.” For this game, we downloaded the files of the game to be able to manipulate and redesign aspects of the game ourselves. What was cool about this is that we could take a more adversarial design approach while manipulating this game. What that means is that we could change the game in a way to challenge certain values or beliefs. For example, one of the changes we made was swapping the male and female characters’ places in the game. This made it to where the female was the lead character rather than the male. Females are often underrepresented in leading roles of games, movies, stories, etc. Later, we got the opportunity to use the software “Gimp” to be able to edit the characters’ appearance, but this was a difficult process. We initially wanted to make the characters a racial minority to continue to represent marginalized groups as lead roles in games, but we had some trouble uploading them into the game. We saved the changes that we made to our two lead characters, but then could not find the files after. We took the time to make these changes, just for us to lose the file. Since we lost the file, we obviously could not get them into the game, so our characters had to stay the same. Redesigning a game can definitely be hard. Obviously the physical component of making the game look different by coding it to be that way can be extremely frustrating, but it can also be just as frustrating trying to come up with the initial idea of what you want to do with the game. All-in-all, this process can be very challenging, but also be very rewarding at the same time if you accomplish what you set out to.
Author: Brett
Artist Statement for Hack #1
For our first Hack, we decided to work with a game that made us reminisce on games we played as children. To capture this feeling within us, we settled on creating a control interface similar to Dance Dance Revolution. We found a game online called, “Friday Night Funkin’,” that worked great with our idea that we brainstormed. To play this game, there are arrow keys moving from the bottom to the top of the screen, and then to score points the player has to press the corresponding arrow keys on the keyboard at certain points of the game. To make this game even more fun, we decided to program our Makey, Makey board to where you could step on arrows on the floor to control the game rather than just clicking the arrow keys on the keyboard.
For this idea to become a reality, we had to cut out four arrow-shaped pieces of aluminum foil and connect them to the circuit board. Obviously, we connected these arrows to the arrow keys on the keyboard. We positioned the aluminum foil cutouts in a position on the floor so that they matched up with the keys that they were connected to. In order for the current to be complete when stepping on the arrows, we had to tape pieces of aluminum foil to the bottoms of our shoes. It was sometimes difficult to be able to keep the wires clipped onto our shoes as we were moving around playing the game, but other than that, we got the game and our new control system to run smoothly.
This project was extremely fun to work on. I have never been assigned a project like this before. The only guidelines we received were for it to be fun and creative. When my partner and I were assigned this task, we instantly thought of trying to use a game that was similar to ones we played in our childhood. We also wanted it to be one where it could feel more interactive and immersive playing. That is why we decided for it to be so movement based. If we just made it to where you tap an object or one of the wires with your hands, I feel like it would not have captured that same sense of childhood play that we wanted. We wanted it to really feel like the player was playing Dance Dance Revolution in an arcade. One of the biggest areas we have talked about so far in this course is the idea of play. Obviously to different people, play has numerous different definitions. In our class discussion about play, many of us said that in order for a game to be considered “playful,” it must be not serious but also competitive at the same time. I feel like the version of the game that we created fits these two descriptions perfectly. Obviously it is competitive because it is hard to do well at and no one wants to lose to the computer generated player in a game, but at the same time it is not serious at all when you realize you are dancing and stepping on aluminum foil arrow shaped cutouts. This game paired with the controller interface that we created allows for a fun experience for the player to feel as though they are alone, just having a good time dancing to the music of the game.
Flog #2, January 31st, 2025
This week the biggest challenge that I faced was creating my project with the Makey, Makey board. For our project with the Makey, Makey board, we decided to create a dance board similar to those that are in arcades. At first, we were really struggling to figure out how we were going to make our idea come to life. We wanted to cut out aluminum foil arrow keys, put those on the floor, and then have those serve as the arrow keys on the keyboard when we step on them. This would essentially create our own dance floor. At first we were not sure how to make it to where we could continue the circuit while stepping on our make-shift dance floor. The only way we found that would work was if we were to step on them barefoot, and we obviously did not want to be barefoot while presenting our project to the whole class. To work around this dilemma, we ended up taping aluminum foil to the bottoms of our shoes. This made it to where we were grounded with the Makey, Makey and could still move around freely enough to be able to dance well. Once we figured that out, we tested it out and it worked great. We would hit the arrows with the corresponding arrows on the computer screen. We got the circuit to run smoothly with the game, but we were not very good at playing the game. All-in-all it was a super fun project to work on, but also very frustrating. We would think we were getting somewhere and then hit a roadblock, but we worked through them every time.
Flog #1, January 24, 2025
This week in class, the part I honestly felt I failed the most on was making my domain and this flog. Before this class, I have never had to use WordPress or any other application like this, so this was a bit of a struggle for me. The editor interface was very confusing to me when I first looked at it. I now feel like I have a much better understanding of how the application works, but there is still a lot that I need to learn. Thankfully, Dr. Sample and some classmates helped me learn the basics of WordPress. The other difficult task I encountered this week was trying to determine a clear definition of play. There are so many different sub-fields of play according to Roger Caillois. These sub-fields are Agon, Alea, Mimicry, and Ilinx. At times, these categories contradict one another, making the concept of play difficult to grasp. One of the points made is that play is not serious, but I do not think that is true. I think many games that are played are very serious. I think a lot of the definition of play is very subjective, which is the main reason why it is a tough idea to play with.