XP Mode

Klik n Play which was made in 1994 and people still make games today in 2013 with the same software. However, there have been some setbacks, but one that I had not yet thought about was accessibility. Not only is Klik n Play PC only, but Klik n Play can only run using XP Mode. I have been using a PC the only has Windows XP so I did not think twice about this setback until I tried setting it up on my Vista PC in my studio that is not connected to the Internet, so downloading XP Mode is kind of a pain.

This situation reminds me of reading Claire Bishop's Digital Divide. I talked to my professor at the time about a project I did with Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems and he told me to read the Digital Divide and brought up some interesting points. In summation, he said that older technologies especially things with pixel graphics have a loaded nostalgia that is hard to separate. Despite this, I believe that using old technologies today is not obsolete. There is much to say about progress by using older technologies. Also, no medium has been "fully" explored, so to negate a technology seems to deny potential.

Game Sketches

Before my Internet connection is shut off I want to make a quick update on what I have been doing. I have realized that the story game that I set out to make was maybe more complicated than what I want to make right now, so I have been just messing around with Klik & Play to see what everything does. I will upload some of these when I make something that I am really happy with. I have been making these sort of reactionary shooter puzzles. The basic sort of mechanics to each of these games are that there is a character player that can fire off a projectile in some way and if fired at the right object can fire off another object and if the player shoots that different object with another specific projectile then the sort of puzzle is "solved".

These games alone are probably even more complicated than what I should be making right now, but they are keeping my interest and that is what I have heard is important. I read an article published on GameCareerGuide about how amateur game developers should just make finished games. Brice Morrison writes about how it is really hard to motivate one's self to actually finish a game. This struck me because I have made a countless amount of game with my friends and I have virtually nothing to show from it other than some sprites that I made for the different games. Experience has been gained from these different unfinished games, but in completing the few games that I have recently I have been able to move on and feel accomplished. This energy that I got from participating in MolyJamDeux lead me to making this blog.

I am going to take the advice that Morrison gave. I am going to show a few friends my game for critique so that discussion can motivate me into finishing the product. I am also going to post a playable version of my game on the TIGSource Feedback Forums to get some possible feedback from the community. Also, I have read some other threads on the feedback forums in order to discuss things with other developers, to help them and to learn from what they are going through. I am also going to give myself a deadline for my Breaking Bad game in order to just move on and be able to make other long games. I have been in a bit of a pickle with the game currently because of the amount of writing that I am forcing myself to do, but I think just forcing myself to write will be better than not having a finished game. I am going to have the game finished by the first week of August in time for all the other Breaking Bad festivities in the New York City area.

Maybe I am just being self motivated, but any way to trick myself into becoming more motivated is still making me more motivated. Trick yourself into making games future game developers!

Stressed Out

When you are nitpicking like this it's probably best to take a break, so I went skateboarding today.

Also, I have been writing some short essays to apply for the UCB Diversity Scholarship which I may post when I am finished proofreading. I am still debating on if I would like to get into the sketch or the improv classes, but I have to get the scholarship first! If you contribute to diversity in race, ethnicity, age (over 35), sexual orientation, gender identity, or differently-abled diversity and are interested in the UCB, you should apply!

Always Save!!

Save Every 5 Minutes!

At least save every 5 minutes. That's one of those things you hear in school and you do it usually, but you always end up forgetting when you are really into working on something, you have this stride that you feel as though you cannot break it and if you save it will mess up your workflow because that one second of you saving takes too much time. Taking that time to save every few minutes will save you a lot more time especially with some of the quirks of Klik & Play.

Make Invisible!

When dealing with a lot of question boxes in Klik & Play I typically try to move a bunch of them off of the screen in order to see what the background and art look like and to reduce clutter. It is also easy to keep them expanded so I can read what the question and different answers are. If you "Play Level As Finished" with any question boxes expanded it expects for the player to be able to choose an answer. However, if any question boxes are hidden on the work-space the user will not be able to click on them. For some reason the program won't let you close the window or the game play until you answer a question, so you basically freeze the program.

Before you run the game, remember to save! Also, before you run your game, remember to make questions invisible unless you want them to run as soon as the game starts.

Duplication Error?

Also, there is this glitch that does not allow me to click on different active objects. I could not click on a hamburger to delete it and every time I clicked on the background it made more hamburgers that I could not delete. I do not think I had any keys pressed down.

Videogame Zinester

Anna Anthropy

One of the reasons I am using Klik & Play is because I found out about it in the book Rise of the Videogame Zinesters by Anna Anthropy. Last summer I picked up this book because I am a big fan of all of her games, especially The Mighty Jill Off, dys4ia, and Redder. I found this book to be very inspirational and educational because Anthropy shows that anyone can make games. In the book she talks about her relation to videogames, her issues with popular games, what will happen if non-professionals are able to make games, and some ways to start making games.

Game Progress

I have more or less figured out how to script the things that I want to happen, all I have to do now is think about the content that I want to be in the game, the art and the dialogue. I am trying to figure out how much detail I want to give each scene and how interactive I want each scene to be. The main focus of this game is to navigate through dialogue trees but I also want the player to be able to explore the limited environments to unlock things that can change the course of the plot.

What I think I am struggling with is the idea of giving the user control or limiting user control for a more cinematic experience. For example I want the player to be able to explore the living room area where they watch TV in a bird's eye view way to move around things in order for there to be an illusion of choice. For the areas where there is dialogue I want there to be a forced social interaction between the player character and the friend character who is initiating dialogue. The way I want to force the interaction is to make it so the player can either move towards the friend and interact or move away. By forcing people into these limitations I want people to focus on the choices they have.

Complications

Tough times?

The process of making the graphics in Klik & Play has been pretty rough. The editor has a lot of useful functions. You can easily resize the canvas for your images and eye-dropping color is as easy as using your right click. Two of the main flaws that I have encountered is there is no way to change the width of your tool (so you can only have a 1x1 pixel brush or line which is frustrating for covering large surfaces) and the selection tool some times erases the entire canvas. Erasing the entire canvas is frustrating because the editor only allows one undo and there is no save function unless you move out of the window.

Lots of errors.

I would not have to worry about using this editor because there is an import graphics feature, but I keep getting this error if I do not save in a specific bitmap format which shuts Klik & Play off. When I do save in what I think is the correct bmp format it lets me select a section of the image I want to import. This is frustrating because with pixel art every pixel counts, so often times I am sure I am not selecting exactly everything that I want, but that doesn't matter because whenever I select anything the only thing that shows up is a sliver of color.

However,

These limitations, though frustrating, are helping me to find new possibilities. Klik & Play has an extensive clip art library that I have been utilizing. I have also been working very small and then blowing up the images and working on them so I can get big areas covered and focus on detail later. Sometimes this creates jarring differences in resolution, but using these harsh differences in resolution seems to be what the program is allowing me. Fighting these differences would not be using the medium of Klik & Play, so I should either stick with it or use another program.

This jet was featured in James Bridle's talk. 

New Aesthetic.

These changes in resolution are in direct relation to what James Bridle was talking about in his keynote speech "Waving at the Machines". In this speech Bridle talks about how digital interfaces and languages are being made real in the forms of sculpture, architecture, clothing designs, and various other mediums. He talks about how acknowledging these ways of seeing it is the the human way of trying to talk to machines; to try to speak in machine language it will help us communicate with machines easier.

Pixel art is talking to machines. Pixel art is seen as retro now because current standard resolution makes pixels less noticeable. I see using pixels currently as several things, though the primary is a way of understanding how computer graphics work. Whenever you zoom in on a computerized image the graphics still work on a pixel by pixel level. When working in 2D video game graphics two of the main styles are using pixel graphics or using vector graphics. The advantage of using pixel graphics no matter the resolution, the artist has absolute control.

For now,

I am going to use these differences of resolution in Klik & Play to my advantage in telling the story and creating atmosphere.

New Start

Other than short game maker tutorial based games this is the first game I have attempted to work on by myself. I am using Klik & Play For Schools an old program for Windows computers because it was intended to help people inexperienced with making games to make games. Though the program has limitations with the amount of things you can make and platform restrictions, this program is important to me because I want to make a few games with ease. I do not want to make a game for commercial success as of now, so I think it is important to experiment with these tools while I have the chance.

What is this game about?

This game, now untitled, is about talking about Breaking Bad. I had just finished the 4th season when I picked up Klik & Play. As I was trying to get used to the program I found that this software would lend its self to being a good engine for making graphical adventure games and games revolving around branching dialogue. Essentially, this game is a visual novel game with an interface that more resembles a point and click or classic adventure style game.

What are my focuses?

My primary focus is to make something that is finished. Some other goals I have are to make a game that I would like to stumble upon. Making a game I like means the visuals should be well realized, the game should feel interactive (choices should matter or should alter your experience), it should hold my attention, it should have a short playtime.

How does the game work?

The game works in two sections. There is a TV watching part and a Talking part. You go and read all these descriptions of the show and then you leave your house and meet up with your friend and talk about Breaking Bad. You talk about a season of the show at a time and then the game repeats and you watch and talk about the second season, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth.

What are my current priorities?

• Write all of the dialogue trees and structure
• Create all of the environments
• Figure out a story
• See if I can make the TV watching parts more streamlined or interactive
• Make the game more interactive
• Finish the god damned game