Born out of, the Story of Stuff, our game was created to tie in with the greater message of the perils of consumerism on our environment. The fact that neither Bob nor myself consider ourselves programmers has added to the difficulty of this project. Considering our lack of Game Maker skills, I actually feel we did quite well. Bob and I refined our levels through multiple iterations, altering mechanics for each level, changing elements from mouse click to key clicks, and after several play tests, recreating one level from the ground up to make it more engaging.
Our game is not perfect of course, but I feel many of its flaws are a result of the topic and its elements.
Attempting to create a game to tell the complex story of a documentary is too complicated for artists with our limited skill set.
The Story of Stuff, is animated with simple stick figures who walk across a stark white background. To stay true to the imagery of the story, we had to emulate its simplicity. Naturally, this reduced the visual appeal of our game substantially.
There is a lot of text! Designing a game that does a text based story justice is REALLY difficult. It was hard to create a game with mechanics that didn't detract from the written story.
Although the result is rough, Bob and I are happy with the version we have submitted for our final. We might continue to revise and improve upon, the Game of Stuff, outside of class. I encourage everyone to watch to watch the video above.
...Well yes, Bogost's definition of bullshit allows cookie cutter games to fall perfectly into place. He could not be more correct in saying that games that serve a marketing purpose, improve sales, and enhance interaction with one's customers where they might have been lacking before, only to increase a company's bank balance, are bullshit as they do not to add to the expansive culture of video games. I do disagree however, with whom he associates this term with.
Businesses aren't the only ones guilty of gamification.
"This rhetorical power derives from the "-ification" rather than from the "game". -ification involves simple, repeatable, proven techniques or devices: you can purify, beautify, falsify, terrify, and so forth. -ification is always easy and repeatable, and it's usually bullshit." -Ian Bogost
Easy and repeatable, huh? Well in that case, aren't many large game companies guilty of gamification at some point or another. Take Infinity Ward's, Call of Duty: Ghosts, opening cut scene that was rippedstraight from the final scene in, Modern Warfare 2. You HAVE to know that your extensive fan base is going to catch that. So why do it? Well, I am sure time and money was a factor... but didn't they take the easy and repeatable way out?
Most major game companies are here to make a profit. Very few people do this for free because it is costly, and time consuming, and people are willing to pay to play.
Many of these major titles that have come out are just repackaged sequels, adding little to the cultural value of the series, but as usual adding a lot in terms of income for the companies. Battlefield 4 anyone? Sure, the customization is better, and building crumble in your wake, but that is assuming you can even join a game server. EA's, Battlefield 4, servers have been overwhelmed to such an extent that players can't stay connected to games long enough to finish them. There are still customers who have purchased the game on the day of its release who are still unable to get a connection to a server 30 days later. EA's response? Release the first DLC pack in November while a good chunk if its player base is still incapable of connecting to the servers to play the damn game in the first place.
What does this say about gamification? Even prominent game developers are guilty of gamification. Their games can be rehashed with repeated scenes because it is easier than being original. They can create a sequel that adds little to the series or genre as a whole. They will sometimes make games that aren't for their fan base however they choose to advertise them, but are for their own financial betterment. In my opinion, that is the worst kind of gamification.
