You’re criticism is welcome. We are certainly trying to make the game more than just a cheer, and I realize the information in my posts is a bit vague, but that’s because I really, really don’t want to spoil the game.
ac3raven
Karma: 105
This is great!
Empiricism in Gameplay
Hopefully this new survey will reveal more diversity and will be taken by more than ~160 users.
“I can do parkour for the rest of my life without even moving. Just efficient thinking.”
Ryan Doyle, parkour athlete
here’s our website The game is still very much in development.
I would say that games are a medium for expression. It doesn’t have to be artistic expression.
Puzzle games are everywhere, but they only make you better at solving those exact puzzles
On a previous article I posted here, a user asked me if it was going to be an educational game or just one that promotes rationality. For your reason above, we are designing the game mostly to promote the concept of rationality, rather than teach it.
Johnathan Blow had this to say about puzzles:
“A good puzzle to me is one that when you understand it, you not only understand the solution to the puzzle, but that also illuminates something else that you hadn’t thought about that is some other part of the larger world.”
This is essentially what we are trying to do with our virtue puzzles. I think our Perfectionism puzzle illustrates this beautifully, but I don’t want to spoil that.
PM me your email address and we can talk about the prospects of working together in the future.
My plan is to make the first area a “playground” of game mechanics to make it feel like a “lived-in” place. You’re essentially leaving your “home” to go on an adventure. Your example of Ender’s Game is fascinating. Thanks for the advice.
Well, what a coincidence, I’m making a game to promote rationality as well: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/7ow/gameplay_art/
also an older post: http://lesswrong.com/lw/55z/a_gameplay_exploration_of_yudkowskys_twelve/
We are taking an “expression through gameplay” approach to ensure that the game remains fun. There won’t be any text whatsoever outside of maybe titling the level when you enter it. It’s a puzzle game, so it’s going to ask the player to think in a variety of different ways. Thinking about how to solve problems is an important starting point for learning about rationality, and so we are trying to make the solution to the puzzle more meaningful than just “you succeed!”
visit our site http://shinyogre.com/
Gameplay Art
Right now it will be a direct download Windows game. We are exploring the possibility of a browser version as well.
Aside from telling the player how to play, our aim is to avoid telling the player what to do. Our belief is that the game mechanics in combination with the level design ought to be sufficient for guiding the player toward the objective.
We’ve discussed the 12th virtue extensively and I think we’ve settled on a very nice way of handling it.
Like I said: any well-defined system can be turned into a game. I wonder how many more people would enjoy cooking if it were “gamified”.
We are trying to make a fun game that promotes the concept, and I would say that is the best way to engage players, thus opening up their minds for learning.
A Gameplay Exploration of Yudkowsky’s “Twelve Virtues”
I’m making a game about rationality that could possibly serve as an activity for these kinds of camps. But I don’t have enough Karma to post about it here. You can read a bit about it here:
http://shinyogre.com/2011/04/08/a-gameplay-exploration-of-yudkowskys-twelve-virtues/
and here:
http://shinyogre.com/glenn/2011/04/13/designing-epiphany-note-1/
The game is currently in the prototyping phase.
I think that game playing as well as game development can be powerful tools for learning in general, and my goal with this game is to craft a learning experience with a narrative that is heavily laced with metaphor.
Audacity also works for this purpose.
One of the most profound influences for my rationality, has been: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w
I needed a word that didn’t explicitly tell the viewer what to look for. “Prey” or “Predator” would have made it too obvious, and I certainly didn’t want to say “find the fox” or “find the animal”.
I used the word “threat” because the act of finding the fox in the image represents our survival mechanisms being put to use, even if the animal is not a real threat, if you heard rustling in the foliage, the first instinct is to assume it’s a threat.