Play Make Write Think

Author: Wenyi

Random Thoughts

Student Posts

The experience of playing Fiasco brings the memories of Beginning Theater classes back to me. The improvisation games are much simpler then, of course. Every student in the class says one word to a one-minute dialogue, depending on the rules, and together the whole class tells a story. No matter the number of words a student gets to say or the size of the class, the goal remains to keep the story flowing. Those games were much more lighthearted than Fiasco, but the mechanisms of the two resemble each other. The winner in Fiasco does not have to be only the ones who survive and get away with the prize. The entire group of players could win when it narrates a logical and intriguing story together. 

The discussion part of Fiasco makes the storytelling collaborative, so it becomes every player’s duty to consider whether the story flows smoothly. It tends to be challenging to accurately portray a character, especially when he/she is of a different gender. In addition, to truly be able to think and act as another person takes much longer than half an hour. Questions from where did the character grow up to the character’s favorite song could be considered to bring him/her to life. Limited time means players may not have perfectly adapted to the character, so discussion becomes crucial. When a player plans something completely out of character, others could suggest a more logical action. 

In addition to discussion, the acting, or improvised dialogues scenes, are collaborative. As in improvisation theater, “Yes! And?” serves as an important rule. You do not tell your fellow actor “No, that did not happen,” while they act. In Fiasco, you can disagree during the discussion or add in new information to twist the story, so long as it fits in logically. When a player makes a decision during the act, however, the rest of the group follows. They could discuss before the decision is made, but once it sets, it sets. Although the players adopt characters (deterministic laws), each of the players (five in my case) can still act unexpectedly (randomness). You don’t know what other players have in mind. They can give you a dice of the opposite color to the one you had in mind, or add in information that leaves you in an unanticipated situation. Sometimes a decision might subvert the whole plot; yet, if other players halts the course of acting by saying “no,” part of the fun in the game is lost. Also, the design of Fiasco doesn’t ensure a good ending, or winning, of a character even if he/she remains alive at the end of Act II. A dice roll could still lead to a bad ending. 

During our gameplay, I was the one that attempted to subvert the plot. At the beginning of the game, Robert (Kathy) and Easi (that’s me) planned to steal some cargo (2 kilograms of high-tier cocaine) from a source. Then, after the rest of my group planned on obtaining a case with unknown, valuable content from a Mexican restaurant, I revealed that the case they were after was the one already stolen by me the night before. The other players decided to follow my narration, and I became targeted by three players immediately. As the plot unravels, four players began calculating each other to gain the lion’s share of the cocaine. We made plans, and the tilt happened. Surprisingly, it fitted well into the narration. Someone panicked, and someone died. After discussion, we decided that Robert was the most likely to panic, as he was under stress from his family (his mother going through chemotherapy), a debt coming due, haunting memories and hatred towards his thief partner Easi. Joseph (Alan) catalyzed the process by revealing that his goal amidst the chaos was to protect his son Molly (Keita), get rich, while staying clean. This way, him leaking his employee Robert and partner Kylie’s (Ruohan) plan to their target Easi was justified. In the end, Kylie, Easi and Robert all died, and the case with cocaine fell into Joseph’s hands. However, a poisonous snake was set up in the case for whoever took the case from Easi, so the snake killed Joseph, too. 

It is fun to stay alive in Fiasco. However, the equally entertaining part is to tell an engaging and logical story. As in classic noir films, some characters are destined to die. The protagonists are designed incapable of resisting the charm of the femme fatale and the lure of social mobility, while the femme fatale plays to her own downfall. A film may be successful with the protagonist and antagonist both dead, as Fiasco could tell a successful story with no individual victory.

A Reflection

Student Posts

Producing this podcast took a considerably longer time than I expected. I roughly estimate that I spent twenty hours on it, from going through the video game again to refining the audio. My two group members (and meeting with my professor and interviewing a friend) have been a source of ideas and of great help to me. Cherie and Kimberly voluntarily agreed on recording together, which took about five hours. Even my line producer readily agreed to refine the audio with me. I am truly grateful for my group members. 

Although I have participated in making a podcast in high school, I, regretfully, did not participate much. As a result, I failed to recognize the importance of a script. Even a seemingly informal chat on a podcast could result from recited and practiced lines. A full script in advance might not be necessary, but talking with nothing in hand is quite stressful. I am prone to stress, and stumbled over words frequently while we recorded without reading. I have a long way to go to achieve fluency in the English language, as I learned this from my imperfect TOEFL scores. Hearing my recording certainly reminded me of the fact once more. The first half of recording without a script became the major reason I spent hours editing the audio. 

Using Audacity gained me a new skill, and I always enjoy acquiring new skills. Another thing I thought of while editing the audio was how I can appeal to the audience. The writing in podcasts differs from traditional school essays. It is less formal. More importantly, the audience is not paid to read pages crowded with words, but someone who seeks for entertainment. I realized a tinge of humor might help. Whether I achieved this purpose I know not, but the experience of attempting to amuse the audience is new for me. 

I value the experience of producing this podcast, and hope someone will enjoy it. After all, I chose this over enolates last week. Finally, a link to the podcast: https://eng101s20.davidmorgen.org/ready-set-game/03-do-i-scare-you-doki-doki-literature-club/ 

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

Student Posts

The moment I opened the box of Mansions of Madness and saw the bat-winged, octopus-headed humanoid I cried out in joy. That is one of the most well-known Great Old Ones, Cthulhu. And this board game did turn out to be extremely Lovecraftian. The 2018 video game Call of Cthulhu visualized a mansion from Lovecraft world, too, and even the dining table looks strikingly similar. Even in one of the item descriptions, a fragment of the famous Cthulhu chant appeared. Of course, I recognized it within a second. So much for the first impression.

If the definition of “board games” are games that involve a board and movement of pieces, I wonder if I can truly call Mansions of Madness a board game, for it relies heavily on an application. Surely, I can imagine using another set of dice and rule book (or story book?) to replace the app in the game, but the combination of technology and traditional board and pieces gives quite a different experience. A few cut-scenes, images, voice-overs and mini-games add to the sense of reality. Mansions could be made completely into a video game, too, I believe, but that would take away the fun of collaboration with a person sitting next to you. This board game, similar to many others, relies heavily on chances. In a video game, you make an action, and it would likely cause an effect, so skills are critical. For example, in a game like Dark Souls, you can practice to win a boss fight. In Mansions, practice of playing the game can hardly change the outcome of the dice. Here is a simple example, if one player keeps encountering monsters in “Mythos Stage,” while another never does, the difficulty each player faces is different. Therefore, the importance of strategy in this game, in my humble opinion, exceeds a number of video games. Being good at a board game like Mansions requires the player to excel in decision-making, not button-pressing. S/he has to consider not only one step, but the steps after that, and calculate the probabilities.

However, Mansions of Madness does have a more linear story compared to a number of video games. The number of obstacles (fires, monsters, accidents, not mini-games) a player encounters can vary; yet, the plot stays the same as soon as the game starts. The butler will stay the bad guy, no matter how many monsters you kill. The probing in Mansions, though, is similar to that in video games. There are underlying patterns to be discovered. For instance, choosing to attacking a monster tends to be more effective than evading it in “Investigator Phase.”

Head Correction

Student Posts

First of all, allow me to thank Cherie silently for 20 seconds. She generously gave me this correction tape at the beginning of the semester last year, and I treasured every inch of it—so here it is, old, but not obsolete. It happened to be right next to me when I was planning to draw my Sunday sketch, and as it always reminded me of a bird of some kind, I sketched a bird. A sparrow, more precisely, since that is the most common bird around. Due to my limited sketching ability, this bird looks somehow transcendent. I sincerely hope birds as such will not be flying around in the future. Else it’ll be a bit creepy.

Guten Appetit

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Combophoto created via Pixlr

Honestly speaking, I did not expect this to be the final image. I simply clicked around on Flickr, and this Lonely Sausage distinguished itself as a high-quality picture. As it appears, most of Mcmennamy’s work depend on color matching in addition to shape. So I went on to search for an adorable pig with reddish-brown fur. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the appropriate species. Then, this squirrel popped up, and I used it. The background of the two pictures are disparate. Here I bent the rules by cropping the squirrel out of the original image. What message does my image deliver now? “Imagine yourself to be devouring an adorable squirrel whenever you savor a sausage?” Well, that’s a bit extreme. Guten Appetit.

Squirrel picture: Little red Sausage picture: Sausage

Overpriced

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by The Fullbright Company, 2013

Bluetooth mouse plugged in. Headphones connected. Check. Check. Launch game. I hear my computer struggle now. Subtitles on. Graphics switched to Low. Check. Check. New Game. Gone Home (The Fullbright Company, 2013) here we go. 

I don’t know whether it is because my GPU and CPU are inadequate for the game, or the game is designed to be so, I spent half a minute staring at a black screen. The game’s title then appeared. I shall say Gone Home starts with a contemplative mood. According to the reviews on the game website’s homepage, Gone Home tells a story about love, so at that moment I realize this will turn out to be a real-world fiction, not a horror game. The voices of both Samantha and Kaitlin triggered in the game are pleasing, and the voiceover artists do an impressive job. The score for the game adds to the contemplative mood. One unfortunate thing was that the subtitles to the voiceovers lagged too much on my computer. Interestingly, the player cannot see Kaitlin’s body. If we turn the camera angle straight down (corresponding to looking at one’s feet in a first-person POV), we see the floor only. Back to the contemplative mood, the character is not allowed to run or jump, and objects move in slow-motion. For instance, when we open a drawer, the pencil would roll outward in uniform linear motion; when we throw an object into the air, it does not observe every law of gravity. In addition, all the objects look realistic, and are relatable for an American. Also, I looked up some of the books by Greenbriar, and they indeed do not exist. 

Although Gone Home receives mostly positive feedback, there could remain minor improvements (merely a non-professional’s casual observations). Gone Home does not provide players with hints. Some players assume the game’s thrill will depend on jumpscares, while this is not exactly the case. The atmosphere brings uneasiness, and ambient sounds may serve as slight jumpscares, but scaring the players is not the main purpose of the game. Under stress, the player might not be able to idly search for every object available. Compared to more recent “point-and-click” high-definition adventure games, Gone Home’s magic somehow pales. One of the most expertly-made examples include What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow, 2017). Also a “point-and-click” game with a few puzzles to solve, Edith Finch provides the players with clear clues on what to click on (flashing white dots), and allow players to read the whole story in an innovative. The storyline is the core of some “point-and-click” games, so when the player misses a component, the gaming experience would not be complete. Gone Home has no cues for distinguishing critical objects (including light switches and objects that trigger voiceovers: pieces of paper, cassette, spray can, etc.) and ordinary objects (toilet paper rolls, pencils, etc.). Still, it is not to say “point-and-click” games have to provide cues for players, as some players could find entertainment in looking for the right object. Either way, Gone Home tells an adorable love story in a creative way. 

A Pulp Fiction movie ticket screenshot from Gone Home. This is one of my favorite films, and I became fond of Tarantino’s humor ever since.

Meaningless

Student Posts

I made my backpack unique if anyone ever noticed, but it carries only ordinary items. 

An insulated bottle for warm water. It has been through two winters in five years with me, on both sides of the ocean. A pack of fairly priced napkin from China, for scenarios it becomes necessary in. A clear pencil bag with writing utensils inside. An essentially empty wallet with a few cards and a decoration of luck inside. A calculator, which brings me more nightmares than correct numbers. A pack of gum, ready for sharing at any second. One glasses case with glasses and one without. One pair I wear and the other prepared for sight farther away, which also has magnetically attached sunglasses component. Nail clippers that has often been used at unexpected times. My keys and student ID that I paid $68,776 for this year. 

My phone. Shake well. Szechuan HOT Sauce with chicken nuggets remain forever in memories. Pickle Rick. 

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” The pagans chant around the fire. Some say the sight of Cthulhu causes insanity, because he possesses infinite knowledge. 

I should focus as a student does. I minimize the weight I carry in my bag, but ensure no necessities are left behind. I try to be organized.  

“Sie will es und so ist es fein/So war es und so wird es immer sein.” “Tiefe Wasser sind nicht still.” 

My office laptop’s Intel(R) HD Graphics 620 runs 60 fps programs at 10 fps—to my surprise that is sufficient to serve the basic purpose of those programs. Kojima Productions. Death Stranding. Did I ever finished watching that 11.5-hour-long cutscene movie? I should watch Metal Gear 5 as well. Deutsch. “I’m going off the rails like a crazy train—” “If you don’t catch me now, I can’t stop falling down… She keeps her Moet et Chandon/In her pretty cabinet…” Hail Hydra. I am not too fond of the Red Skull, but I prefer not to be transported to another planet as an offering either. “Eat the rude.” “How do you imagine he’s contacted me – personal ads? Writing notes of admiration on toilet paper?” Till when can I find another work as beautiful as Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal (2015)? “Hysteria when you’re near.” 

OCCUPIED. Ah, I should continue doing what students do. Mendel spoke German and he probably had peas for every meal. He might have tried the leaves, too, since he planted so many pea plants. An ion waves at his colleague, said goodbye, and hops away. 

No, SANITY. This is important, and a student I ought to be. My mind dwells in a place devoid of reality, but at this moment I look into it.

Citations:

AVATAR

Student Posts
I created this image for my avatar for its lack of representation. There does not exist a character that I have been consistently fond of in the past ten years, and I hardly ever played a board game. Even video games are new to me. The message I hope to deliver is that I have not yet found a favorite game, but will be looking for one throughout the semester. I chose green for my name, because this color has some association with sanity, or the lack of it.
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