Battlestar Galactica and Transmedia

I have been hearing for years that Battlestar Galactica was one of the best TV shows perhaps ever made.  I figured it was really good but just never took the time to watch it.  Then at last year’s E3 I saw that the German free to play online gaming company Bigpoint was announcing that their first US product and partnership, with now majority owner NBC Universal (also owner of the SyFy Channel) is producing the free to play browser based MMO of BSG and developing it with the Unity 3D engine (which I’m a huge fan of) to boot.

I got in on the closed beta of the game and saw this as the perfect excuse to get caught up and watch all the episodes of BSG.  Well I’ve been watching at least a few episodes a week now for months and have not been in the slightest bit disappointed. BSG has truly become one of my favorite shows of all time and I still have about 35%-40% of the series left to watch.

So at this year’s GDC I was really excited to see a panel at the Social Games Summit on IP’s & Brands including a talk from one of the BSG MMO Team at Bigpoint, Robert Ollet.  There were four games presented and each speaker explained that on their current project the owners of the brand were a lot more cooperative and offered a lot more freedom than in the past.  One obvious reason for this is that brand holders now have evidence that games particularly online are big business and a way to drive major revenue if done correctly.

It seems the old brick and mortar studios are starting to wake up to the possibilities of transmedia.  It used to be that the movie studio would sell the license to a video game publisher to make the game and then restrict the developer in all sorts of ways creatively.  Also what we would usually get as a result would be a rushed subpar game that would just be a poor representation of whatever went on in the movie.

Mr. Ollet shared that he and his team had access to all of the BSG concept art, even stuff that was never used in the show.  The MMO takes place after the show ends as opposed to trying to replicate the timeline of the show.  This way the players and creators are off in new territory and have the opportunity to contribute to the lore.  This I find very exciting because it truly gives the players the power to contribute to the mythos that they love in a way that has never really been possible before.

Also the game development is informing the new “Blood & Chrome” series that chronicles the story of young Admiral Adama and the first Cylon war which is in production and set to premiere this fall.  As the game develops new ships and Cylon units ( players need ways to distinguish their toaster avatars)  those designs just may find themselves in the show with the story explanation that they got “moth balled” after the first war.

This topic was echoed last week at the LA Game Conference where I heard several speakers share stories pointing to what I see as a new emerging strategy, which is to take a IP or world which is rich enough and develop it as a game, TV show, film, comic books simultaneously and have the creators in each media take a piece of the world or timeline and freely develop their own vision as opposed to each media creator trying to replicate and be constrained by what the others are doing.  I think that this is definitely the way to go.  I do think that someone has to be responsible, most likely the creator for making sure all the pieces fit together, but when they do I think there is a tremendous potential for a greatly satisfying, rewarding and unprecedented experience for both creators and fans.

Pinball & Social Games Response

http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/01/24/pinball-and-social-games/

When I saw the title of this article I got really excited.  Being a Game Designer and Producer that has been closely studying and researching the explosive business growth and design potential of social online and casual games, particularly on the Facebook platform, and being in my humble opinion an expert pinball player and gamer in general.

After reading the article, though I appreciate the comparison and agree with some points, I also disagree with others.

The article begins with the premise that “The art of great pinball is not the skill (which tends to put off more people than it attracts) but rather the rewards.”  Although this premise has some merit to it, I think the real art in a quality pinball design is that it can be enjoyed by a novice, and can also on a deeper level by an expert.  Other great examples of this type of game design achievement can be found in No Limit Texas Hold Em Poker and the CCG Magic the Gathering.

As is said of Hold Em by Mike Sexton, WPT Host “It takes a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master.”  It is this type and level of design that I believe will win in the future marketplace of Facebook and other online casual and social games.  This is something I intend to incorporate into my own titles.

The recent hits in the Facebook game space have been very simple “games” with very little if any depth.  I believe it is possible to design games that capture the audience that plays these titles, but also has enough levels to attract and retain more serious gamers like myself, without turning off the core casual players.  One of the most exciting aspects of designing online games is that they can stay in a perpetual Beta phase which allows designers to iterate and design to the desires, preferences and requests of our users.  Also with the access now available to detailed analytics to distinguish player activity, we can more effectively design even, without direct communication with the players by simply watching how they engage with the game.

Great pinball machines are actually not designed with the novice in mind, but for the expert player.  It just so happens that any novice player can walk up to a machine and have a pleasurable experience because the basic mechanics of using the flippers to keep the ball up are so simple and intuitive.  All pinball machines have side chutes and a narrow space in between the flippers for the ball to “drain”. This however is preventable for longer times based on skill, unlike the article suggests.

Expert tactics like physically “nudging” the machine and hitting shots accurately prolong the length of a ball and increase points.  These skills are what separate the novice from the expert.

This is also where the comparison the writer makes between pinball and Facebook games breaks apart.  It’s also where I see the real opportunity in design for future online and social games lies. 

You see the current popular Facebook games do not possess the additional layers of depth which pinball machines have.  A button click is a button click and there is very little opportunity for the player to utilize skill to result in higher rewards.  Most pinball machines have a very complex rewards system based on timing, accuracy and order of particular shots being hit, that most novice players are completely unaware of while playing.  Furthermore these patterns and mechanics are consistent from machine to machine, so once a certain level of mastery is obtained on one machine, it can be carried over to another. 

It becomes clearly evident if you ever watch a novice player versus an expert.  The expert will undoubtedly play each ball longer, and will achieve much higher scores because of the in depth understanding of the mechanics, and knowledge of which shots to hit. They will also likely be more accurate at making those shots.  Also modern pinball machines are designed with flashing lights on the playfield which guide the player as to which shots they should be aiming for, for optimum play.  The novice player will simply be unaware of these designed signals, as they will be fully occupied just trying to keep the ball up.  In addition following the designed sequence of shots does result in the “formal victories” and “big rewards” the writer explains are not possible in these games.

The most common example of this is in the multiball stage.  The multiball stage in pinball is a stage when anywhere from one, up to ( I’ve seen as many as eight balls, in a game like Stern’s 2008 Indiana Jones) are launched onto the playfield and high value “Jackpot” shots are made available.  Most novice players will rarely achieve a multiball stage while playing and if they do, it will likely be by sheer luck.  While expert players are looking to achieve the multiball, because they know it is the pathway to the highest possible scores.  The expert player will also have the ability to at the same time hit the very lucrative “jackpot” shots available in this mode.

The last point Mr. Kelly makes in his article is that “There is no room for an absorbing game like the legend of Zelda at the arcades, the environment of social games restricts their ability to be deep”.  This I completely disagree with.  I think this assumption discounts the intelligence, ability and focus of players wholesale.  I know when I am playing pinball in a loud arcade, it is easy for me to focus on my game, especially when I am actively competing with another opponent and/or having a particularly good ball.

There is nothing that restricts a games ability to be deep, except the designer.  One key or “Secret” to what will make the next generation of great social games is not to design games that are only “quick and simple, obvious and unconcerned about grander ideals”, but that are accessible and appealing to the novice but have enough depth to engage and entertain the expert.

Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2011

Looking Back

I have been attending the GDC for about 8 years now.  I think my first one was back in 2003.  It is always a very impactful experience.  That first year I was working at the Art Institute of California - Los Angeles located in Santa Monica.  I had been there full time for 2 years and I was the Assistant Academic Director for the Animation program and the new Game program.  I knew I would soon be taking over the Game program and decided to throw myself into the design and process of making games so as best to serve our students.  Every year at GDC there are a series of Summits the first two days.  This year was a Academic Summit.  I remember spending the two days with about 100 or so other educators from all over the world who were there trying to figure out how to create an effective degree program in the study of games.

This was a brand new thing!!  Colleges and universities had not up to this point thought of games as a serious area of academic study, but the demand from incoming students was emerging.  I was astonished that our new program was light years ahead of where most academics were starting.  Some educators were literally taking some mythology courses and some computer science courses and calling it a game program.

Our program was built on top of our Media Arts & Animation program.  We took out some classes and added about 15 or so game specific courses i.e. Level Design, Scripting, Game Design & Gameplay (one of my favorite courses).  The process of animation and games is extremely similar. The main difference being with games the design of interaction.  I had extensive experience in education and animation production at this stage in my career, and I also had a deep love for all kinds of games.  I was greatly prepared for a new opportunity that I could not have predicted.


What I Got This Year

I will likely write several posts on what I got at GDC this year because it was so much.  For me it was the best GDC ever. 

Last year at GDC I made a startling revelation.  I came to the realization that I was not a player as I thought but only a resource to other players. 

It was easy for me to be under the delusion that I was a player because of all the work creating the game programs at Ai, the Game Wizards and Executive Producing all the Game Wizards titles. 

It seemed like up at GDC there were all these folks making multi million dollar deals (these guys are players) and I "should" be one of them.  I was bummed out!

Well this year I have completed my 11 year term of employment with the Ai Santa Monica campus and my span of over 15 year working relationship with the Art Institutes when you count my time at the Philly campus.  It's an amazing feeling to be free!

I can see now that it was a necessary step for me to get clear about what I was (a resource not a player).
This year I was ecstatic at being a resource and really getting what an invaluable resource I am.  I can also see that I am becoming a real player now, but I first had to realize I wasn't yet.

If you do not know what piece you are on the game board and what your functions and abilities are, you greatly reduce your chances of ever winning the game.

I have no hard feelings about my position being eliminated.  I have been planning to leave for years and said months ago that my plan was to complete in January 2011 which is exactly when it happend.  I was actually thrilled when I got the news. 

My relationship with the Art Institutes has provided me a wealth of resources to build from in many different ways and the timing could not be more perfect with all the amazing opportunities that are in front of me now.  As someone said to me I have used my position as a launch pad to propel my career into the stratosphere.  Many of the projects I am developing I can't speak on right now being under NDA, but just wait until you see what comes next!!