While reading Game Developments Essentials' section on Audio, I couldn't help but think about how mood and tension have worked in Indigo Prophecy. While it in no way is perfect and in some ways purportedly terrible, it is worth at least taking a brief look at.
As the chapter talks about, sounds and music are used throughout a game to create a mood, tension, or simply dictate how a player should react. Its with music and sound that the player learns to react with. Or put another way, score and sound dictates if the player should be happy, sad, nervous, on edge, terrified, etc. Emotions, stress, all of this is established with sound, and Indigo Prophecy is no different.
In action sequences, the music usual jumps and livens up, with chords ringing doom and despair for the protagonist. It also keeps similar themes for similar events. Action sequences always contain the same thing, premonitions also have the same intense string beat, and psychological moments where Lucas Kane questions his life and challenges himself feature a haunting violin in the background that creates a very eerie mood. As a result of all this, the player picks up and recognizes when certain scenes begin, they learn to associate.
Interestingly enough, as far as music is concerned, the game makes an interesting amount of use of actual music, aka songs you'd hear on the radio. The soundtrack features a wide variety of songs featuring several by Theory of a Deadman, Bobby Bird, Nina Simone and other artists less known. The turn, while different, is not so surprising as you remember they're trying to create movie game with Indigo Prophecy. Hence, you have both original score and recorded professional artists.
Voice actors are always amusing, and Indigo Prophecy marks no exception. Of course with voice actors you have a wide variety of people playing a lot of different roles. I always felt that when you get to this part of audio you sort of ruin the reality of the game. Like when you learn how they make all the different sounds, a gun is never a gun, etc. Or in Indigo Prophecy's case, when you learn that the stone cold Lucas Kane and the almost-a-cliche black Tyler Miles are voiced by the same white guy. I guess this is sort of me griping, but that really bothers me a bit. Or old women doing the voices for little boys, but that's not as surprising.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Level Design and Indigo Prophecy:
I dunno what can really say about the level design of Indigo Prophecy that hasn't already been said before. Perhaps the first word I could use to describe it would be "nonessential". While it follows the basic structure of how level design works, because the game is operating for the sake of the story there's isn't a whole lot to it.
Before I get into my rant on the level design of Indigo Prophecy, a couple of things that can be said: the structure is done right. Each level is broken up into three bits where you can choose whether you would like to progress as Lucas Kane, Carla, or Tyler. Not unlike in a racing game, after you complete said section, you go back to the selection screen and pick to follow another plot line. While the game may have a non-linear-esqe structure, in the end it is fairly linear as you want to get from one part of the story to the other before the games completion. And as the game is bound to the plot, you can't move past a level (or chapter if you will, oh HO yes he did get literally on you) until you complete what Novak calls the "goal" of the level. Most often, this often ends up being a relatively mundane task, such as locating a book, playing a game of basketball, working out, locating another book, create a sketch. As you're attempting to complete the "story", one doesn't always have the same sensation of victory when completing the task, as you would when playing, for example, Dragonforce on Guiterhero III on expert. Or a level of Halo. Or anything where there is a certain level (no pun intended) of challenge.
A goal to beat in Indigo. Hide the body, get out.
A goal to beat in Guitar Hero III. Beat Dragonforce. Rule the world.
That's not to complete too much as the duration of these levels is rather short. You complete the task, whoop!, on to the next level. No fighting through hordes of baddies to get to the climax, just one small objective then onward and upward. The idea of availability is interest, as you can follow whichever plot-lines you want within an order of your choice (however, to advance to the next set of story lines you must complete all three, thereby making sure you don't just play Lucas Kane's bad-ass Matrix-like ninja part, you also do grunt detective work and play a game of basketball (if you can't tell, I really did not enjoy it. It was essentially a quick time event. I played Simon Says while the screen played basketball).
As far as level design goes the game aimed to be relatively realistic. While ultimately the graphics are fairly for, even by 2005's standards, the actual world-environment, scale, and terrain and such is done in a fairly realistic manner. Humans are of varying heights, objects aren't cartoonish and the like.
Okay, now that I've covered quite a bit of what Novak talks about in the levels chapter, here's my frustration rant: the boundaries of the game are exceedingly aggravating. As the game is completely plot driven, when you play a level in an outdoor environment you're exceedingly limited to where you can go. It works not unlike a flight simulator, where you reach the edge and the world goes on forever. At some point will be on the snow-covered streets of new york, and the street goes on to the end of the earth...but then suddenly your character's legs move and you stand still like you're on the treadmill out of hell. As suppose because the point is the plot there really isn't anything else you can do, but it feels somewhat condemning to be limited so much.
Okay, thats it for my rant.
Before I get into my rant on the level design of Indigo Prophecy, a couple of things that can be said: the structure is done right. Each level is broken up into three bits where you can choose whether you would like to progress as Lucas Kane, Carla, or Tyler. Not unlike in a racing game, after you complete said section, you go back to the selection screen and pick to follow another plot line. While the game may have a non-linear-esqe structure, in the end it is fairly linear as you want to get from one part of the story to the other before the games completion. And as the game is bound to the plot, you can't move past a level (or chapter if you will, oh HO yes he did get literally on you) until you complete what Novak calls the "goal" of the level. Most often, this often ends up being a relatively mundane task, such as locating a book, playing a game of basketball, working out, locating another book, create a sketch. As you're attempting to complete the "story", one doesn't always have the same sensation of victory when completing the task, as you would when playing, for example, Dragonforce on Guiterhero III on expert. Or a level of Halo. Or anything where there is a certain level (no pun intended) of challenge.
A goal to beat in Indigo. Hide the body, get out.
A goal to beat in Guitar Hero III. Beat Dragonforce. Rule the world.
As far as level design goes the game aimed to be relatively realistic. While ultimately the graphics are fairly for, even by 2005's standards, the actual world-environment, scale, and terrain and such is done in a fairly realistic manner. Humans are of varying heights, objects aren't cartoonish and the like.
Okay, now that I've covered quite a bit of what Novak talks about in the levels chapter, here's my frustration rant: the boundaries of the game are exceedingly aggravating. As the game is completely plot driven, when you play a level in an outdoor environment you're exceedingly limited to where you can go. It works not unlike a flight simulator, where you reach the edge and the world goes on forever. At some point will be on the snow-covered streets of new york, and the street goes on to the end of the earth...but then suddenly your character's legs move and you stand still like you're on the treadmill out of hell. As suppose because the point is the plot there really isn't anything else you can do, but it feels somewhat condemning to be limited so much.
Okay, thats it for my rant.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Indigo Prophecy and the Outer Limits of Interfacing
Something that struck me odd while playing Indigo Prophecy recently is how atypical, and typical the interface is. As I learned last week, when I tried explaining how Indigo Prophecy pushed and tested the limits of rules, I received a quick bitch slap from the God of Gaming who quickly waved a finger in my face, told me I wouldn't get into heaven and then went back to playing Katamari. Keeping that in mind, Indigo Prophecy does do a bit of things rather uniquely so instead of creating dodgingly (yes, I made that up) long paragraphs, I'm simply going to cover all the different uses of interface in a quick, almost "definition" format.
Manual Interfaces
No, that doesn't refer to your pool boy who has the ability to shapeshift, it refers to the hardware-based "input devices that players interact with physically to play the game." In the case of Indigo Prophecy, I was playing the PS2 version which meant I spent a great deal of time looking over the instructions to figure out how the game was played. As explained by Novak, your Ps2 controller has your triggers, your D-Pad, your two Analog sticks, your select and start button and your action buttons.
As explained in an early post, the game moves back and forth between two types of gameplay: adventure P&C and action sequences. For the dialogue parts of the game, the left analog stick controllers the players movement, and the right controls the camera (something that every game should learn and use). However, if you approach an interactive object or person, pushing the right analog stick up, down, right, or left, allows you to interact with these objects. During interrogation this becomes time based. Let's say your interviewing someone, you have ten seconds to pick a choice, and moving the analog stick in any of the four directions allows you to ask a specific question. When you go into an action sequence, the D-Pads become the primary use, as the "Simon Says" style game play takes over. For instance, if the left button on the left circle highlights, you move the left analog stick to the left. If the up button on the right circle highlights, you move the right analog stick up. This, in an awkward comparison, makes the game not unlike Guitar hero, as you press the corresponding buttons to complete the song, pressing the corresponding buttons completes an action sequence.
Active and Passive Interface
Unlike my own anger problem, games have both active and passive interfaces. As Novak explains, one type of "active interface includes a menue system, which is usually easy accessible throughout the game - even if it isn't always visible."
In Indigo Prophecy this interface is rather weird. When you first load up the game, it loads to the menu screen giving options not unlike a DVD menu, including "Play Movie", "Select Chapter", "Extras", "Settings", "Credits", etc. In Quantic Dream's attempt to convince the player that this is an interactive movie, they go even further. When you pause while in gameplay, it brings you to a screen that has three options "Play", "Stop", and "Exit". There really isn't a save button, which isn't crucial really since the game saves automatically for you, leaving off at whatever point you quit. Ironically enough, this also covers my subject of Start Screen Interface.
It's passive interface, which Novak describes as one the player cannot change or interact with, is not unlike any other game. The game is presented in widescreen, your mental health bar is in the right corner, which changes based on your interactions (think of it as your heath bar). Also, when your in action sequences, you have a series of glowing circles in the top left corner of the screen. If you fail a part of an action sequence, you lose on glowing circle, which puts you back at the beginning of that specific part of the sequence. If you lose all of the glowing circles, you fail the sequence. However, I'm not quite sure what happens there, as I've never completely failed. I'd assume that it resets you to the beginning of the sequence. Believe it or not, my next section was going to cover Life and Power Interfaces, but as you can see, I just did that, so moving onward!
Map
Like this is a freeroaming world game, there is no map!
Adventure Game Specific Interfacing
As Novak describes it, in the adventure game, the players goals are "moving through the world, communicating with other characters, and collecting objects in a way that will not interfere with the sense of immersion." Indigo Prophecy works just like this, as for the most part all you do is explore the world and try to uncover its hidden secrets.
Save-Game Options
For the most part, unless you are right in the middle of an action sequence, the game uses what Novak calls the "Auto Save" function. As she describes it, it allows "the most immersion" for the player. As you play the game, you play a series of three characters, and this each time you play as one, you have a specific task to complete before you can advance. As you progress through the chapters, each chapter lets you pick which character you want to play first, whether its Lucas, Carla, Tyler, or Lucas' brother Marcus. For instance, at one point when you pick Tyler you have to complete an action sequence playing basketball. Once that is completed, it returns to the selection screen, game saved. However, that's not to say that you can't go back and replay levels. On the menu screen there is the option to play previous levels.
Overall
Indigo Prophecy uses a very intuitive interface, very simplistic not leaving much thinking or understanding to the player. It's not like The Witcher where you have to read the thickest manual in the world or even as complex as the active interface in WOW where you have to pick which spells to apply, what outfits to wear, when to change your diaper, etc. Its simplicity works very well, and perhaps the most complicated part of the game is learning the control schematics, however even this only takes a moments time. Does the interface stick to the wall? Sure, its simple, it works, its everything an adventure gamer would want. However, there are complaints about the action sequences, considering you don't actually get to control your character, you just play Simon Says until your character has completed the action for you. A friend of mine was particularly disappointed when he was able to play basketball, but merely watch while the two characters played it out on screen. But hey, its different.
Manual Interfaces
No, that doesn't refer to your pool boy who has the ability to shapeshift, it refers to the hardware-based "input devices that players interact with physically to play the game." In the case of Indigo Prophecy, I was playing the PS2 version which meant I spent a great deal of time looking over the instructions to figure out how the game was played. As explained by Novak, your Ps2 controller has your triggers, your D-Pad, your two Analog sticks, your select and start button and your action buttons.
As explained in an early post, the game moves back and forth between two types of gameplay: adventure P&C and action sequences. For the dialogue parts of the game, the left analog stick controllers the players movement, and the right controls the camera (something that every game should learn and use). However, if you approach an interactive object or person, pushing the right analog stick up, down, right, or left, allows you to interact with these objects. During interrogation this becomes time based. Let's say your interviewing someone, you have ten seconds to pick a choice, and moving the analog stick in any of the four directions allows you to ask a specific question. When you go into an action sequence, the D-Pads become the primary use, as the "Simon Says" style game play takes over. For instance, if the left button on the left circle highlights, you move the left analog stick to the left. If the up button on the right circle highlights, you move the right analog stick up. This, in an awkward comparison, makes the game not unlike Guitar hero, as you press the corresponding buttons to complete the song, pressing the corresponding buttons completes an action sequence.
Active and Passive Interface
Unlike my own anger problem, games have both active and passive interfaces. As Novak explains, one type of "active interface includes a menue system, which is usually easy accessible throughout the game - even if it isn't always visible."
In Indigo Prophecy this interface is rather weird. When you first load up the game, it loads to the menu screen giving options not unlike a DVD menu, including "Play Movie", "Select Chapter", "Extras", "Settings", "Credits", etc. In Quantic Dream's attempt to convince the player that this is an interactive movie, they go even further. When you pause while in gameplay, it brings you to a screen that has three options "Play", "Stop", and "Exit". There really isn't a save button, which isn't crucial really since the game saves automatically for you, leaving off at whatever point you quit. Ironically enough, this also covers my subject of Start Screen Interface.
It's passive interface, which Novak describes as one the player cannot change or interact with, is not unlike any other game. The game is presented in widescreen, your mental health bar is in the right corner, which changes based on your interactions (think of it as your heath bar). Also, when your in action sequences, you have a series of glowing circles in the top left corner of the screen. If you fail a part of an action sequence, you lose on glowing circle, which puts you back at the beginning of that specific part of the sequence. If you lose all of the glowing circles, you fail the sequence. However, I'm not quite sure what happens there, as I've never completely failed. I'd assume that it resets you to the beginning of the sequence. Believe it or not, my next section was going to cover Life and Power Interfaces, but as you can see, I just did that, so moving onward!
Map
Like this is a freeroaming world game, there is no map!
Adventure Game Specific Interfacing
As Novak describes it, in the adventure game, the players goals are "moving through the world, communicating with other characters, and collecting objects in a way that will not interfere with the sense of immersion." Indigo Prophecy works just like this, as for the most part all you do is explore the world and try to uncover its hidden secrets.
Save-Game Options
For the most part, unless you are right in the middle of an action sequence, the game uses what Novak calls the "Auto Save" function. As she describes it, it allows "the most immersion" for the player. As you play the game, you play a series of three characters, and this each time you play as one, you have a specific task to complete before you can advance. As you progress through the chapters, each chapter lets you pick which character you want to play first, whether its Lucas, Carla, Tyler, or Lucas' brother Marcus. For instance, at one point when you pick Tyler you have to complete an action sequence playing basketball. Once that is completed, it returns to the selection screen, game saved. However, that's not to say that you can't go back and replay levels. On the menu screen there is the option to play previous levels.
Overall
Indigo Prophecy uses a very intuitive interface, very simplistic not leaving much thinking or understanding to the player. It's not like The Witcher where you have to read the thickest manual in the world or even as complex as the active interface in WOW where you have to pick which spells to apply, what outfits to wear, when to change your diaper, etc. Its simplicity works very well, and perhaps the most complicated part of the game is learning the control schematics, however even this only takes a moments time. Does the interface stick to the wall? Sure, its simple, it works, its everything an adventure gamer would want. However, there are complaints about the action sequences, considering you don't actually get to control your character, you just play Simon Says until your character has completed the action for you. A friend of mine was particularly disappointed when he was able to play basketball, but merely watch while the two characters played it out on screen. But hey, its different.
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