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Plan for Skye Gellmann

Name:	Skye Gellmann
Date Posted:	Sep 20, 2005
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Blog post

"Games as an Artform," Experimentation! (pictures at the bottom!)

As you may or may not know, I am interested in "games as an art form." I have been playing around with some interesting concepts lately.

Artistic Abstract:
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1) Maximizing Exhilaration for the player:
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I have been experimenting with some interesting level design techniques to do this. As you can see I am using very simple level design techniques, but the massive scale of the objects, the geometric lines thrill the eye.

2) To investigate other sources of exhilaration. Racing? Speed? Killing?
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Different gameplay elements like speed, falling and flying are different effects that may be used to maximize exhilaration. Particularly I am looking at Flying and Falling, and the time when you are falling, and the time when you are flying. I have found that when running along a flat surface for along period, when you find the edge and fall off into the unknown, it can be quite bracing. I have been playing around with complex jumping puzzles in abstracted landscapes.

I'm not sure if violence detracts from the exhilaration, but I can say for sure, it would detract from the tranquility and beauty I am trying to maximize.

3) Looking at the way the player appreciates abilities:
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For example: The player cannot properly appreciate flying unless they have had a significant amount of time not being able to fly. In this time they may be exposed to running, falling, and jumping. But when they get flying, they can appreciate it because it makes their life easier.

After Note:
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If I make a game out of this, it will most likely be a first person platform game, and despite the fact that I hate jumping puzzles, I have found pleasure in these puzzles. I liken them to rock climbing. You often feel as if where you are in space is crazy, like you have somehow found a loophole in logic.

PICTURES!!! YAY! (4 pics, sorry 56k.)
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-Skye Gellmann
Misnomer Studios

Recent Blog Posts

List:	01/09/07 - A year later.. Bean Brigade! ^.^ 01/23/06 - Blindscape - interactive music idea 01/16/06 - Long time.. 11/25/05 - Plan for Skye Gellmann 11/17/05 - Plan for Skye Gellmann 11/14/05 - Plan for Skye Gellmann 10/18/05 - Plan for Skye Gellmann 10/02/05 - Plan for Skye Gellmann

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Adam Schofield (Sep 20, 2005 at 13:37 GMT)

Skye, If you're interested in flying and falling I'd suggest having a look at Aerial Antics if you haven't already. BTW, just saying "the geometric lines thrill the eye" doesn't mean anyone other than yourself will see it that way, they look like Federation Square inspired castles in the sky to me.

Mathieu (Sep 20, 2005 at 13:48 GMT)

I really like this kind of abstract structures!
The first pic is beautiful.

Skye Gellmann (Sep 20, 2005 at 13:56 GMT)

Thank you guys..

@ adam: I assure you it's nothing like fed square.. i live in Melbourne, and i personally hate the design of federation square. But I do agree that I need to test this on more people other then my housemate and myself. Something I plan to do.

Unsung Zero (Sep 20, 2005 at 14:01 GMT)

I really like how you can see below the horizon. It helps with the "I found a loophole in logic" feeling. Maybe some particle cloud whisps would have a good feel for when you get up higher.
I like the way the structures hang there. I'd like to see this flesh out some more, keep working on it!

Simon Love (Sep 20, 2005 at 14:41 GMT)

Really cool, I like your idea a lot. Games are really closer to dreams than we like to think. Just looking at that first screenshot makes me want to jump amongst those platforms. Even with the stock-textures/orc model, it looks promising, polish it up!

Dylan Sale (Sep 20, 2005 at 14:48 GMT)

Woo. Another surprise from Skye!

Phil Carlisle (Sep 20, 2005 at 15:09 GMT)

Skye: I'm into the artistic attributes of games too...

The images you show actually made me feel something interesting...

Imagine that the blocks instead of being just blocks, are actually part of a huge machine.. imagine this machine had working parts, kind of like the cogs in a huge machine?

Now that perspective opens a number of artistic possibilities.. What kind of machine would that be? What views would the player see of this strange machine space? What forms of interaction would there be?

I think actually playing around with the abstract elements (in your case blocks) opens up a world of interesting ideas.. But this is all artistic and not mechanical (like gameplay). I always advocate mechanics over art, but i guess this approach is to suggest the mechanics from the artistic attributes.. at least many of the games that grab people's imagination seem to have an artistic vision at the core, as thats immediately obvious to people where its coming from.

Skye Gellmann (Sep 20, 2005 at 15:34 GMT)

how true phil. There are many ways to create a game, eg. Theme, style, genre, etc.. Artist integrity is often overlooked. I like to at least think that by investigating artistic values and sticking to that integrity your ideas are more mature and original.

Clint S. Brewer (Sep 20, 2005 at 17:07 GMT)

I really like the first screen shot. I've been thinking along the same lines lately too, creating game sculptures would be interesting. Looking at some of the things that are the most fun when playing my game so far, they are surprising, it's a lot to do with the feel of controlling the character. Like you talked about, falling down mountains, over ledges, is an expereince that's particularly fun :)

Dylan Fitterer (Sep 20, 2005 at 18:15 GMT)

The first pic makes me want to hop among the block-islands with a grappling hook. It'd be especially cool with low gravity and the block-islands drifting in different directions. The drifting blocks could collide and the game would be to get from A to B without getting squished.

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