Bonoboblogs

Es mag an der einschläfernden Musik liegen, am meditativen Gameplay oder an der ruhigen Selbstinszenierung: Crayon Physics ist das entspannendste Spiel, das mir bisher untergekommen ist. Buntstiftgrafik FTW!

Ziel des leider nur sechs Level umfassenden Freeware-Games ist es, einen roten Ball zu einem gelben Stern zu führen — ohne den Ball selbst steuern zu können, nur mit Hilfe von selbst gemalten Vierecken, Linien etc. und der hervorragenden Physik-Engine. Was sich einfach anhört, ist spätestens nach dem dritten Level eine echte Herausforderung; zwar nicht unlösbar, aber doch, wie sagt man, challenging.

Eine Fortsetzung mit deutlich mehr Spielumfang, noch mehr Interaktionsmöglichkeiten und einem einfach zu bedienenden Leveleditor ist bereits in Arbeit. Veröffentlicht wird das Spiel Crayon Physics Deluxe vom finnischen Entwickler Petri Purho, ebenfalls für den PC, und zwar “when it’s done”.

Download Crayon Physics (5,6MB)

Knytt Stories ist ein kostenloses, abendfüllendes Jump’n'Run mit leichten Adventure- und Puzzle-Elementen, bestehend aus liebevoll selbstgebastelter Retrografik, abwechslungsreicher und wunderbar passender Musik und einer Rahmengeschichte, die man locker per Doppelsprung (und aufgespanntem Regenschirm) überfliegen kann.

Vier unterschiedlich designte Welten gilt es mit dem Charakter Juni in The Machine, dem Hauptteil von Knytt Stories, zu durchlaufen. Des Öfteren werden Passagen im Spiel mehrfach besucht, da die im Laufe der Zeit erworbenen Items (schneller laufen, höher springen, Wände hochklettern etc.) in bester Metroid-Manier dazu einladen, auch die verstecktesten Winkel zu erforschen, um Geheimgänge und zahlreich vorhandene Easter Eggs zu finden.

Das Gesamtpaket Knytt Stories macht einfach Spaß, weil alles ineinander greift und zusammenpasst: Leveldesign, Sound, Steuerung und vor allem die Liebe zum Detail machen das Spiel des schwedischen Entwicklers Nifflas zu einem der besten Indiegames überhaupt.

Download Knytt Stories 1.1.0 (34,6 MB)

(Ebenfalls zu empfehlen sind die offiziellen Addons A Strange Dream und An Underwater Adventure, die neben zahlreichen Fan-Leveln für weitere Stunden Spielspaß im Knytt-Universum sorgen.)

With Spore having some troubles and being not exactly the most complex game, I would like to point out very quickly a neat alternative: Q-Pop. The game is VERY old. I think back from something around 1995. It is also technically not the most amazing one. It is partly turn-based, you can't customize the appearance of creatures, it's obviously not online and it only covers the creature stage of Spore. On the other hand, it has more strategic depth then Spore. You can change the attributes of your creatures and they DO affect the survival rate of your species. You can also play it multiplayer at a single PC and the best part is that it is free and only 2,5 MB in size (the game is avalible only in German, sorry).

bilder der der collagen und des sellingthe.net-projekte auf der diesjährigen ars electronica 2008 “an new cultural economy“.

I think everybody was at least curious how Spore would turn out. Now it seems that success of the highly anticipated game is heavily tainted by some draconian security measures.

There was a big outcry because of the DRM system SecuROM being implemented. The system was especially tight: it would have to "validate" an installed version of the game every 10 days online. This was - of course - a problem for those who couldn't go online regularly so the system was changed to its current form and it is not better. Now you validate the game only once but you can do it only 3 times in total. And you loose a validation every time your hardware configuration changes. After you've lost all 3 validations, you can't play the game anymore. You can however gain a validation back if you un-install the game before the system configuration changes. This is a bad idea for many reasons, obviously. One which I think is particularly important is that you can't really re-sell the game after you've bought it because the buyer can't be sure how often the game was validated.

But there is more: it seems like you can have only one online account per CD-key. This is especially inconvenient for families (major target group?), where different members of the family play the game and want to post their creatures independently from each other. To add insult to injury, the European handbooks incorrectly state that you could have several online accounts.

It seems like the problems pile up. As I've already pointed out, the amazon reviews are flooded with anti-DRM rants (it's over 2000 now - ouch!) and I can hardly blame them. I would expect that implementing effective and non-invasive anti-piracy measures shouldn't be a problem in a game where a vital part of the joy comes from playing online. Am I missing something? It is a shame seeing how the obviously game suffers from these problems. Considering how there is already a perfectly working pirated version out there, I do hope EA gets the clue.

Moo is awesome! Seriously. You might remember that I've ordered some Moo Mini Cards and I wrote a small article judging their quality and mentioning how the edges weren't cut as smoothly? Well, imagine my surprise when I got an E-Mail from Moo apologizing for the quality issues and informing me that they will send me another batch of my Moo Minicards to set it straight. Wow! Impressive customer service. I didn't even send them anything. I guess they are constantly scanning the interweb for comments on the quality of their products.

This made me Think:
It is great example of an effect called "Moment of Truth" which comes from a short book by the same name. The idea is that in a customers don't judge the company by the things that go as expected but by the things that don't. It's called a Moment of Truth where the customer believes he is able to take look behind the procedures and norms of a company to see their true intention really is about. From a point of view of a company, it seens counter-intuitive to invest money in customers who cause them trouble by complaining, returning products and asking for additional free service. After all, these things don't create any revenue and you don't want to reward this kind of behavior. But in fact, it is the smartest thing a company could do because it is exactly here were the reputation of a company comes from. A customer who had a good experience in a Moment of Truth will be emotionally bound to the company. Not only will he buy lots of other products in the future, he will also tell other people about his good experience. A customer who had a bad experience will be EVEN MORE eager to spread the word and might be lost forever.

So here I am and even though I understand the mechanism, I can't help loving Moo for what they did and seriously recommending you their excellent service. But the beauty of the Moment of Truth is that it will always be a sure way for customers to judge a company. After all, a company has to consciously choose a customer-oriented strategy in oder to improve their Moment of Truth experience. If a company sucks when something goes wrong then there is a good chance that they don't value the satisfaction of customers very high and that they will suck again when something goes wrong the next time. That's also what DRM does: it shows that a company is willing to burden their EVERY SINGLE customer with additional, dubious and troublesome software if it might slightly improve their revenue for a short period of time. No wonder most customers will say "fuck you too" (I've just seen the Amazon reviews on Spore. Jeez! What a PR disaster!).

So with that out of the way, did they do a good job with their new cards? Well, yes. The cuts on the new cards are generally cleaner. The cleanness of the cut vary from card to card like in the first batch. I took some time to pick the best and worst card from the new batch and compare them with the worst card on the old batch. As you can see, the new cards are better but it seems to me like they generally have a small quality issue with the way they cut their cards. Again, it doesn't make the product BAD. It appears just in a few cards anyway and the card isn't ruined by that. It's just a small quality issue where Moo could improve.


Top: the worst card from the first batch.
Middle: the worst card from the new batch.
Bottom: the best card from the new batch.

But more importantly, seeing how they handle quality problems, I will continue using Moo because now I know that they will act if other problems happen. And in print, other problems will ALWAYS happen.

So, I got myself on the full version of Spore for one very long night. I de-installed it right after I got to the civilization stage because I found it very addictive and I've decided to buy it. In fact, there is a special edition I fancy. So Spore is defiantly on my "to-buy" list as soon as I get some time.

Here are some quick insights:

• The game runs amazingly smooth and bug-free, even on my aged machine. This was my biggest concern and I'm floored that it works so well.


• The game is basically a collection of 5 "mini"-games with harsh cuts in-between including radical (in a bad way) interface changes, loading screens, different rules, different content, etc. I was wondering how Spore would manage the transition between the stages and I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't.


• Each one of the "mini"-games is loosly based on a major strategy game genre but much less complex. Although I advocated not to be afraid of simplicity, already in my first play I could see how simplicity is limiting the game. For example, I like the first, rogue-esque amoeba-stage but it just dosen't involve ANY serious strategic decisions. I have some ideas on making a more sophisticated amoeba-spore stage in flash.


• Although the creature editor is great in many way, its major flaw is that its impact on gameplay is largely cosmetic. I understand that this is a difficult dilemma in designing this kind of game and I guess it still works this way. In the end however, besides fueling Intelligent Design delusions, it also presents a picture of evolution of being mostly irrelevant with some more profound "god-given" rules directing the development and behavior of life regardless of it. So my creatures can be whatever the color I choose and have mouths on their asses but they can't live in water, are alway symmetrical, have roughly the same size, reproduce sexually, always lay eggs, have nests, (strangely in completely unprotected areas) and are judged ONLY by how ether "agressive" or "peacefull" they are.


• There are still some great moments like the point where you get to the tribal stage and suddenly instead of fighting the other creatures in a rogue-like style, you can hunt them down like in Age of Empires.

So Spore features very simplistic (too simplistic?) gameplay with a lot of disappointingly patronizing rules on how your creatures MUST turn out. However, the technical execution is great and I think simply sharing the inventions with other players can be enough to play it once in a while. I can see how user generated content can infuse any kind of game with a layer of fascination. So in the end: Do want!

bilder der installation und performance im glashaus am worringer platz in düsseldorf
der künstler - in diesem falle ich - sitzt zuhause vor der kamera. das signal wird live über das netz in den ausstellungsraum, das glashaus übertragen.
dort wird das bild per beamer auf eine leinwand projeziert. - der künstler ist anwesend.

funny video on Work_2.0, incl. disrupt and the Jahtari office!

Recently, I have found out that I am at the cutting edge of urban culture trends: I was doing Urbex the whole time. Urban Exploring that is. Wikipedia informs:

Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities.

Jokes aside, it's alway strange to find out that the things you "just do" are in fact being performed systematically as part of a sub-culture somewhere. I remember it started when I went exploring the Warsaw metro with my dad back when I was a kid. Although, we weren't as hardcore as those guys:



On the other hand, I did my recent explorations for Illucinated which was explicitly designed to tap into various recent cultural movements. I actually went ahead and listed them in my thesis. Too bad I missed Urbex back then. However, now that I found this connection, I think it shows that I'm on to something. Back at c/o pop people responded very well to the Urbex-themed levels.

But wait, that's not the whole story. There is this strange feedback loop. Urbex is sometimes called also Vadding which comes from VAD, which is an permutation of ADV, which comes from the game ADVENT aka CollossalCave Adventure, the first Text-Adventure ever. Apparently, at MIT, the first Urban Explorers were called after the game because their activities were so similar to what you did in Text-Adventures. The bizarre thing is that Illucinated is supposed to be a modern type of an adventure game.

So anyway, I thought it might be wise to share locations with other Urban Explorers in Cologne. So I started a Flickr Group called "Urban Exploration Cologne".

‘Der Künstler ist anwesend’ -
Sonntag 7. September 2008 21 - 23 uhr
Glashaus Worringer Platz, Düsseldorf

ABSTRACT:

eine der ideen der netzkunst war und ist die loslösung des autors vom werk. durch die quasi-anonyme struktur des frühen netzes war es problemlos möglich die eigenen arbeiten zu publizieren ohne jemals selber als person in erscheinung zu treten. die nutzung von pseudonymen - historisch gewachsen aus der kultur der hacker - gehörte durchaus zum guten ton. die dadurch ermöglichte überwindung des egos gehört(e) mit zu einer der utopischen versprechen der frühen netzkunst.

doch netz und damit natürlich auch die kunst, welche sich damit beschäftigt, hat sich gewandelt. das internet ist massenmedium und damit teil des öffentlichen raumes geworden. mit dem wandel des netzes, verändert(e) sich auch dessen nutzung. die anonymität verschwindet. dies geschieht teils aufgrund der veränderten nutzung, teils durch staatliche und privatwirtschaftlich initiierte kontrollmechanismen.
die inszenierung der eigenen persönlichkeit ist zu einer wichtigen triebkraft im netz geworden, ein phänomen welches aus der kunstwelt nur zu gut bekannt ist.

welche rolle spielt nun der künstler im jahr 2008 an der
schnittstelle zwischen kunst, gesellschaft und der netz?
und
was bedeutet es für uns wenn wir die anonymität in diesem öffentlichen raum verlieren?

http://www.glashaus-wp.de
http://www.floriankuhlmann.com/derkuenstleristanwesend

So, yesterday I had a somewhat successful night photo session. I went to the hobo-shit-infested bridge again to get some descent coverage for Illucinated. I didn't want to use the location at first but now time is running out. Besides, it IS a remarkable place and it fits well into the overall theme of the game so instead of searching for something better (which might never come) I've decided to use it anyway.

The photography was quite tedious. I had to make 30 seconds exposures to get enough light in and even then at some places I had to help out with a flashlight. If I got enough coverage, this might be my last excursion for Illucinated, which is good since I got a nasty cold on the weekend I'm currently recovering from.

But generally, my mood is pretty low as the game is nowhere as far as it should be for the upcoming IGF deadline. I'm considering dropping out. But then again, Braid and Aquaria weren't quite finished either and still won. I guess this is the moment where I have to eat my words and risk shooting below my expectations. Getting anything done is ALWAYS better then giving up. I also consider going for the student competition instead of the main competition. There are no prizes but I believe the chance to get an award are better and there is no cost involved. What do you suggest?

spectaculartakeoverbattle.de holt in alys beach, florida den ‘Best Still Image award‘ im rahmen von Digital Graffiti at Alys Beach.
500$ gibts oben drauf.

Brett Phares ( professor of interactive studies at Marist College in New York,):
“We were blown away by the quality and diversity of the exhibits.”

mit dank angenommen.

Finally out on lovely 12": the much requested dynamite subbass killah called "Elders" by the Clouds! Sick Ras Amerlock version on A2. Jahtari roots dude Rootah overheats his tubes on the B1 version while Wadadda is killing it definitely on B2 with his Elders Dubstep refix.

Just a quick shot, it's always nice to observe things corresponding to what we learn at KISD. This time, it's regarding product design. Not strickly game design but it's about the PSP.

During the project "Sparschwein" (Piggybank), Herr Horntrich gave us a hint saying that chamfering all edges is no way to make an attractive form.

Well, what do you know? The PSP slim did exactly that in an attempt to make the handheld more hand-friendly. The result? A cheap, toy-like feel, as if the cheaper material wouldn't reduce the preceived value and build quality already.

But I didn't realize so clearly that the form was heavily contributing to that, not until SONY announced the newest model, nicknamed PSP Brite.

To make clear the "evolution" and the differences, I compiled the following image. Red marks the sharp edges and green the chamfered ones. Note how the Slim lost the hard edges (dotted line), and the Brite has now both, giving it a nice rhymthm. The source images were found on gamefront.de, except for the PSP phat.


check out the edges

again, without distracting lines

I'm tempted to buy this revision, since it looks like what it should have been in the first place. (Yeah I know, Nintendo needed a second try, too.)

Now if it only plays Divx/Xvid natively and is less picky about the H.264 profile than up to now... wait, that's why I got the Archos 605. Hey Sony, take a leaf out of Archos' book if you want to tout with PSP's media playing capabilities.

[Yu-Chung Chen was born in Taiwan, studies at Köln International School of Design, and has been working professionally in the games industry in Germany since 2001. Shipped titles he had worked on include: Legend of Kay, Meine Tierklinik, Anno 1701/ Anno DS, DDR - Disney Channel Edition and others.

He is now working on his portfolio so this signature could become shorter.]

So tired of stepping into hobo-shit I've decided to leave the urban jungle for some real jungle. If I have to wade through shit I want it to be raw, wild shit. I tried to get around Cologne/Bonn Airport on my Mountain Bike to maybe find a nice spot for Illucinated and possibly try myself at planespotting.

The area around CGN is a nature reserve called Wahner Heide. It was great to be mountainbiking trough forest again. Reminded me of Darmstadt, the place where I grew up. However, my Bike was stored in the basement for too long and it seems to be in need for some repairs. I found myself praying that my handlebar wouldn't come off at a crucial moment. Also because of some military base at the airport, getting to a spot where you can see the planes landing is very hard. Even if you do - the sight is not so great because the elevation of that area is quite unfortunate. Getting around the airport is really tough too with TONS of fenced-off areas everywhere and sometimes even no real paths for bikes or pediestrants. If you want to go planespotting on CGN, go by car. Also I've discovered that I seem to have a kind of phobia of extremely loud sounds. Or maybe I'm just not used to it. Or maybe I should have brought earplugs. Or maybe I'm just not a planespotter.

In other news, I got me a Flickr Pro account and I've uploaded some more photos from CG 2008.

Just to be clear about "Hardships": Imagine it's 4 in the morning, pitch dark, you are inside a jungle on a secluded abandoned railway bridge and searching through the bushes you step into moist, diarrheal human shit.

(But geotagging is fun!)

The 10 Gnomes series by Mateusz Skutnik was a big inspiration for the current project I'm working on, Illucinated. I'm currently in contact with Mateusz and he is a very nice, down-to-earth guy with a great sense for visuals (check out his graphic novels!). I can't really remember if I decided to use photography in Illucinated before or after I saw 10 gnomes but the mere existence of the game series was an assurance for me that it can be done.

Mateusz recently told a little story on how the newest part of 10 gnomes came to be. He had to endure some hardships in getting to the right location, dealing with weather, shooting permissions and so on. In fact, this is not the first time. He also had some stories about episode 4, episode 5 and episode 7. It's funny how simply by choosing a similar technique I encounter so much similar problems.



My game will only have 4 locations but I choose to do the shooting by night which means I need a tripod which makes me much more visible. I have also much more severe restrictions on the kind of locations I can use because my game is much more spatial and the layout of the location is more relevant to the content. I also need location which have at least SOME lightning. So I end up walking for hours trough the night in very risky locations, being attacked by giant (mutant?) spiders and being chased away security guards (Germany is much less relaxed then Poland). I spend days searching for good places on Google Maps only to find out that the route which looked simple from space is actually fenced off (HOW do you get AROUND the Cologne/Bonn Airport without a car?!?). Then you maybe found the right spot and it starts raining.

But the experience is amazing at the same time. It brings so much physical experience into the Game Design. It becomes almost like a game itself. Like a strategic version of Parkour. You start seeing places in different ways. Every time you see a path in the bushes your reflexes to investigate kick in. Going by some piece of architecture you wonder how it will look in the night and you start appreciating seemingly mundane routes in the cityscape.

If you got 6,40€ to spare, here is a nice way to spend it: get yourself Digidrive. It is a game from the Bit Generations we've already talked about. It is also one of the last two titles from that series still available over at Play-Asia and it is even DISCOUNTED. Trust me, getting the other ones is much more expensive and inconvenient. And why would you do such thing when Digidrive REALLY is a Highlight of the series? Even the guys from GameLab agree.



Don't even try to understand the screenshots, they are confusing. Explaining the game is difficult too. It is generally a very simple, short action-puzzle game with lots of exciting rules which add a nice strategic layer to it. It also features great music, crazy visuals and a VERY handy automatic save/continue function for mobile playing. If you always wanted a Bit Generations game it's now or never. With the discount, I don't think it will stay available for long.

(Oh and if one of my colleagues decides to grab it: Guys, I've got a Play-Asia coupon... and I might want to add something to your order)

Two nice Jahtari live recordings from this summer are available for download now. One at Plastic People London, June 13th, and at the mad Fusion festival, June 28th, with Instruktah D and Bankil on the mic. All recorded to lovely tape by Jackson "Bassbin" Bailey with the in-built mic of a great old-school deck. Check loads of upcoming Jahtari smashas, w/ Soom-T, Mungo's Hifi, MAFFI, Bo Marley, Mikey Murka and performed by disrupt and Rootah.