Week 4: Excercises

2.7: Premise (p43)

• Outlast II - The player is an investigative journalist set out into the Arizona desert in order to uncover the truth about the murder of a pregnant Jane Doe.
• Touken Ranbu - The player is a sage from the year 2205 whose duty is to revive swords as human warriors in order to protect history by having them fight against a group of history revisionists, whose aim is to go back in time and change the course of history. 
• House Flipper - The player is a one-man renovation crew set sout to complete jobs that ranges from cleaning to renovating houses and earn money doing so in order to buy supplies and better renovate the houses.
•  Job Simulator - The player is a new human officer worker in an office full of robots. The player have to learn how to do the office work and complete the tasks given by the robots.

2.8: Story (p44)

There is no doubt that there are many games that have gripped or moved me emotionally. I think that some of this have to with the qualities that both movies and games have, which are the charcters and the stories, that when written well, can create an immersive and emotionally-moving experience. What games have that is different to movies, however, is the fact that I can become part of the story, that the story doesn't proceed without me in it, unlike in movies where I am just a symphathetic audience. Games can move the players emotionally because the player is a part of story, and the player's actions have consequences. The fact that there are write and wrong choices really engage me into the game, because I am now part of the story that I have to consider the possibilities of my actions, just like in the real world. In addtion, being emotionall engaged in games can also be caused by sharing something similar to the player's character, whether it is a personality trait or even something like having the same favorite food. This allows the player to see themselves amidst the game and feel the emotions the story has given to them

4.1: Making Checkers Dramatic (p97)

• One player becomes the salmon with the goal to reach the other side of the river (fill up the last row)
• One player becomes the bear with the goal to capture the salmon and eat them

The addition of premise definitely changes the way the players talk about their moves or with the other players. 'Jumping' the players become 'eating' the player for the player who plays the bear, for example. However, this seems to be more fun for the player who's player as the bear, since their goal is to capture the salmons, they can play on the offensive side. The bear can keep the pieces on the last row to block the salmon from winning as well. The salmon, on the other hand, can play offensively but with a holdback, since they have to make sure to keep at least 4 pieces in order to fill up the last row and win. So, the salmons have to play more defensively or plan more when attacking and moving the pieces. What interesting, though, is that I find these different behaviors of the two players to be reflecting the behaviors of a predator (bear) and a prey (salmon), in which one player become more agressive and another more evasive. A simple premise inspired from how two animals behave in nature were somehow reflected back into the humans playing the game.