Slender
'Slenderman' is a legend created on a forum and brought to life by Parsec Productions in their free to play game 'Slender'. The aim is to wander a forest finding landmarks dotted around the place which may or may not have manuscripts or pages attached to them. There are 8 pages in total around the map.
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| Slender - In game snapshot |
As you pick up pages the Slender man becomes more agitated with the player and the AI becomes more aggressive. The basic AI 'follows' the player, occasionally appearing in front of the camera either from afar or close depending on the pages and how obvious the players movements have been. Your view point is fitted with a flash light and you have the ability to sprint. The more you sprint and have the flash light on the more attention you get from Slender man.
As you pick up each page a new sound effect initiates, the tension in this game is therefore heightened as you play.
The game uses very simple models but creates a very tense atmosphere, having played the game I can say it is slightly horrible. Especially at night with headphones on!
There are a few interesting ideas to take from this game.
The use of sound effects to create a very tense atmosphere.
The basic models throughout the whole game which never throw the illusion of the game.
The AI, following the player seems simple but is very effective for drawing the player in. The constant fear of death. Instigating the human survival instinct.
An equally simple victory condition is paramount to the game. Seems easy? Get to 4 pages and then tell me its easy!!
http://slendergame.com/game.php
Amnesia
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| Amnesia - The Dark Decent |
Another game which draws off of tension to hook the player, Amnesia uses a lot of effects such as heavy breathing, creaky doors and various lighting manipulations. The effectiveness of these mechanics is evident especially when watching players in game. 'Lets play' is a very popular video form on youtube, watching some of the people jumping out of their skins.
I wont go into too much detail of the game here however, its definatly a chilling experience to play with headphones on!
There are many other games out there with similar spooky themes however these two would be good games to base my final piece off. I believe with basic models creating a consistent world and the correct effects I can easily manage an immersive experience.
I will begin production of the final piece soon, I have a few tests in mind to begin with which I have began work on.
I am away this weekend but I will fill you in on these tests when I get back!
Ross, Out.
Obviously i am concerned with a throwaway line like this:-
ReplyDelete"I believe with basic models creating a consistent world and the correct effects I can easily manage an immersive experience."
This suggest, where it true, that this was not a suitable topic for a dissertation. You firstly need to clarify more precisely what you mean by immersive based on the readings i see that you are already doing. What is then required is a skills list for the elements of the project that you will need. You may well find that you want to concentrate on some aspects rather than others. For example will you try to make a story up from scratch or find an already existing story and adapt it for the project so that you can get on with concentrating on the other important components, perhaps sound. The project will need to go through an iterative process so you can gain feedback on what you are doing. Others in the past have attempted projects like this. Where they have fallen down is on massively overscoping, they did not iterate so when they presented a final project it felt much more like a first development.
rob
There's plenty of papers out there on immersion in games (you might also want to look at papers / articles on immersion in other forms of media such as film). I did a quick search on the libraries e-resources system (http://ucs.summon.serialssolutions.com/search?s.cmd=nextPage()&s.q=immersion+games) and found the following, which might be good starting points for your own investigation beyond what you've already looked at:
ReplyDeleteHua Qin, Pei-Luen Patrick Rau, Gavriel Salvendy, Effects of different scenarios of game difficulty on player immersion,
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095354380900109X)
David Weibel and Bartholomäus Wissmath, “Immersion in Computer Games: The Role of Spatial Presence and Flow,” International Journal of Computer Games Technology, vol. 2011, Article ID 282345, 14 pages, 2011. doi:10.1155/2011/282345
(http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcgt/2011/282345/cta/)
Stéphane Bouchard, François Bernier, Éric Boivin, Tanya Guitard, Mylène Laforest, Stéphanie Dumoulin, and Geneviève Robillard
Modes of immersion and stress induced by commercial (off-the-shelf) 3D games
The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology 1548512912446359, first published on May 4, 2012
(http://dms.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/05/03/1548512912446359)
e Kontour, K. (2009). Revisiting violent videogames research: Game Studies perspectives on
aggression, violence, immersion, interaction, and textual analysis, Digital Culture & Education, 1:1, 6-30.
URL: http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dce1011_kontour_2009.pdf
Daniel Örtqvist and Mats Liljedahl, “Immersion and Gameplay Experience: A Contingency Framework,” International Journal of Computer Games Technology, vol. 2010, Article ID 613931, 11 pages, 2010. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcgt/2010/613931/cta/
'THE ART OF IMMERSION How the Digital Generation is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories' 2011, Kirkus Reviews, 79, 3, pp. 192-193, Academic Search Elite, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 October 2012.
There are plenty more, especially if you vary up the search terms.