|
Monday 14 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
I’ve been digging deeper into Bully and I’m really happy to see the direction it is going, but I just hope it can follow through and actually build up a dramatic conflict by the end of the game. By now, I have an annoying enemy who has dreams of ruling the school, whatever that means. I hope something epic, but still in league for the setting, will take place by the end of the game.
I have had the chance to interact with more of the characters and they are all really entertaining. Every nerd and jock is a parody of the stereotype they are trying to emulate. Their dialogue has a great habit of being both very outlandish and very believable for a character. Such strange statements such as “I’m going to get good grades so I can get a good job and make more money then anyone!” and “I love it when boys give me gifts; it really boosts my self esteem!” are hilarious but also have a strange sense realism to them. Just because no real high schooler would say them doesn’t mean they aren’t true.
I’ve also had a chance to leave the school and explore the small town. It’s actually a very different environment, for where you rule in a school, you're nothing in town. It’s almost impossible to take down an adult, and the police are a lot stronger then the prefects. It’s interesting how easily my bubble is burst once I step outside the school. I am glad there are so many ways to get around, between the bus, the skateboard and my bike. I’m interested to see how the town people will change the experience of the game.
I’ve also been noting the reactions of my roommates while playing this game. ‘Bully’ is a controversial game because bullying is a controversial topic. And this game has a large bias against it mostly based on a lack of understanding of the game. One friend, familiar with arcade games and party games but not sandbox, came in the room and was confused on how the game play even worked. She asked if the game was “Preps Gone Wild” and couldn’t understand why I would spend hours playing a game about being at school. Another friend came in and upon learning the game’s title, asked me if I knew how many kids committed suicide a year because of bullying. Oddly enough, when I told her the game lets you stop the bullies, she asked to beat up a random in-game kid. It was interesting how these two people reacted to a game that was largely out of their element. The first friend was not a gamer, and so she didn’t seem to want to approach the game. The second friend took the game very seriously, as if I was bullying real kids but then suddenly became more bloodthirsty then I would have been. Other friends who watched had different reactions. One friend told me to hit enemies with bats or to break their arms. Both of these actions cannot be preformed in game and even if I could, I do not think I would want to because their violence oversteps the bounds established by this setting. So in this case, my friend broke the mood created by the game on two levels.
DESIGN
‘Bully’s design is based on an interesting element that I have seen a lot lately. A setting is taken, in this case the school. An ecosystem is added: the teachers and students, each in their own groups. Then a wild card is thrown in the mix, the player. Like many sandbox games, this world seems to work perfectly without any of my input. Bullies beat on nerds, jocks beat on preps, and it all blends together to form a seemingly independent world. But then the player comes along, suddenly someone is standing up to all the bullies. Now I seem to see a lot less bullying in the game. Bullies would harass me on sight. Now they leave me alone. It cannot be easy to create an AI such as this, because it all works very convincingly.
Although it may seem like a formula that has been tried before, I’m impressed by all the new things that ‘Bully’ brought to the table. The time factor gives the player a lot of choice in either obeying the rules, or disobeying them and facing the penalty. Going to class had rewards, but sometimes I would just rather do missions. But then I’m skipping class and have to keep a low profile, otherwise I’ll get a detention. The way the school and rule system works is impeccable. I was not forced to do anything, so I could be the bad boy I wanted to be, or follow the rules. Both had their excitements and rewards.
When I started playing, I made the choice to play the game as a “good kid.” I usually take this path with most games and leave the bad boy play through for the next time. So I was pleased that ‘Bully’ gave me that option. As I went around the school yard, I would save kids instead of bulling them myself. What was an interesting element about the design, however, is that the player is not explicitly rewarded or punished for following either path. It is up to the player to decide what is right or wrong, or to decide that they don’t care about these fake computer people. I ran into some interesting situations because of this. For one, it was up to me to decide if I was really being “good” or “bad.” I would save weaker kids from bullies, but then sometimes I would give the bullies themselves a taste of their own medicine for no reason. At my point in the game, when I shove a bully off another kid, he backs down and begs forgiveness. At first, I would just beat them up, but then I realized I was just being a bully(!) myself. When I said that I wanted to play the good kid, I meant that I would play the game with the morals from my own world, treating it as if it were a real event ( mind you I’m still aware that it is fake!). However, this attitude would sometimes falter. I would call what I described above as imaginative play, imagining something to be real and taken seriously within the context of the game, basically role playing. But other times I would just decide to mess around. I treat the game as a game, a fake world. I decide to beat up everyone in sight. I pick unwinnable fights. I betray in game friends. I just generally muck everything up. And the game itself has no punishment for this. Where you would lose if you killed a friend character in another game, ‘Bully’ lets you do almost whatever you want to any character, for the most part. What I find so intriguing about this approach is that it allows seamlessly allows different types of play. Those who want to stay inside the realm of the game story and not step outside their avatar’s character can do so, while others who just want to play a game also have that freedom. I think what is important is that the game subtly offers that choice and therefore can appeal to many different kind of players. It is also possible to freely switch between both styles of play without any change in the game world. I believe this is what makes a great game.
|
| 1 |
This is an excellent game log and exactly what we're looking for. The only thing I can think of that would improve it is more breadth in the design analysis. Your gameplay design analysis is excellent, but there's also graphic, sound, and technical design that could be considered.
- Ian Rickard, your TA
(the following is included on all my first-round gradings, and should not be taken as any commentary on your writing.)
If you're interested, I'm happy to provide additional nit-picks of your writing. However as this course is not considered writing intensive, lapses in spelling and grammer of the type I would critique will not have any affect on your grade and so you really needn't worry about them. If you're interested in this type of feedback, email me at inio@soe and I'll provide it privately.
Friday 18 January, 2008 by inio
|
