Trap Machinations

Noise source dispatches noise to the detectors. The detectors decide based on probability of the routes, which pool to send the noise resource to. If the central pool has greater than 20 points and the alarm has greater than 15 points, then the internal gate will be enabled (dice with the asterisk). This internal gate will send a point to lock a door when the roll is a 1. If the number of doors locked equals 6, then the character is trapped and the scene ends. The player needs to click on the two sinks (when activated) to empty the two pools to keep the internal gate from "rolling". If enough time passes, the doors locked pool will empty one point to an automatic sink.

Chapter 10 Adams Questions

1. In Khonsi: The Search for Hydra, the entities will be the weapons and armors that each character can use. The resources are money [in Dollars US] and energy ammo dumps. There will also be additional resources which the player can unlock (i.e. solving a puzzle) such as weapons and game bonuses. There are no "mass noun" objects.

2. The unique entities are the playable characters Adi and Chaya as well as the NPCs in the game.

3. All playable characters compose other "entities" because they are uniquely armed for battle. Our characters have different distinct dialog choices which function as assets for the player.

4. Our attributes would be the experience points "xp" that each character has and that can be quantified. The color of the character's clothing would be an attribute that is characterized as symbolic.

5. All entities are presumed tangible. The money and ammo resources are tangible and the level of charm or renegade is considered intangible (because they open up dialog and interaction options). Energy fields could be classified as having a state change from intangible to tangible entity by enabling special powers.

6. Adi has the task of negotiating entry points for Chaya to gain access to key resources. The two characters can "level up" by defeating enemies and solving puzzles. Leveling up allows the characters to absorb more energy before needing to pick up energy shields. It also enhances their power skill set. A black hole has the mechanics that are connected by themselves because it sucks in spacecraft without intervention by any player actions.

7. There is a global mechanic that takes the player from action to dialog. But we do not know what that is yet.

8. The resources enter at the source of conflict when the player has extinguished a hostile enemy, that player assumes the enemy's resources (picks up a gun, ammo, money, ...). The player may also obtain resources at a store selling weapons (Target for weapons). The production rate is controlled entirely by completing challenges.

9. The characters will not go to a drain. They may only be disabled or "taken out of action". The disabling of an entity is temporary but requires a large resource to enable again. The drain for money is the store where assets are purchased. The drain for ammo is into walls, or enemy shields, of course.

10. You can convert resources back to cash at a greatly reduced rate because the store needs to make money. Trading vehicles for cash is done so at certain stores but not at others. Larger vehicles can provide a feedback mechanism because you can now transport heavier weapons to deal more damage and take out larger bosses to accumulate more wealth (a positive feedback loop). If you exhaust all resources, you can break out of deadlock, but it will be slow and relatively hard.

11. There is no such equilibrium because nothing equalizes in the game. Enemies keep getting harder to beat as you progress, so the rate that you gain money helps a little.

12. The active challenges are the shooting of hostile enemies and hacking a computer system by solving a puzzle. The screen will inform the player once a challenge has been successfully completed or if failure has occurred. No other special mechanics are required.

13. The core mechanics allow the player to choose the dialog choice that she sees fitting for the conversation. This is accomplished through button clicks or slider drags.

14. The nonplayer characters are positioned by the AI according to their importance. Important characters are found at large, easy to spot compounds, whereas less crucial ones are scattered throughout the playfield. Their behavior is determined by their own paragon or renegade score chosen at random by the AI.

Jesse Schell Lecture Questions

1. What do the major games console manufacturers feel about the idea of microtransactions?

None of them want to be the one that offers free games. Uncomfortable with no upfront payment of games.

2. What made the Wi-mote on the Nintendo Wii different from other consoles? Who were the intended target audience?

Aiming at those who don' t like complicated controllers (requiring simultaneous ambidextrous control). Appeal to casual gamers.

3. In the section called the "Curiosity Gap", Schell argues

c) curious people are rewarded by instant access, if you are curious, you are rewarded more quickly with answers

4. In the future, Schell predicts "building worlds that exist beyond the spectrum of media types will be vital for making people want to inhabit them.

c) building worlds need to focus on one or two media at any given time

5. While games talk to their audience, they can't listen. For that reason, Schell predicts that speech recognition will be absolutely vital to the coming gaming revolution.

6. Unlike "Nerds" or "Imagineers", Mundanes like things in the real world - theirs is the realm of activity, of physical sports. Schell pointed out that it seems noteworthy that no sport, not a single one, contains any element of fantasy in it? Do you think this is true?

Sports are activities with real rules but have players who use imagination. Sports can have fantasy. Martial arts contain a lot of fantasy and artistry.

7. He suggested that the real promise to OnLive is that it allows:

b) sharing

8. Schell suggested that we read Alfie Kohn's book "Punished by Rewards", which lists study after study that illustrate that the more people come to associate an action or task with reward, the more they

resent the task.

9. What does Schell say is going to be outcome of sensors, screens, systems and games coming together?

b) whole life tracking

10. Schell argues that our faces, our bodies, our locations, our likes and dislikes, our habits, our friends, our families, are being tracked. Do you think this is a good thing or can it improve our condition?

It is beneficial to business because it gives them metrics about our personal spending habits and styles. Privacy is a serious concern for many. Therefore, compromising someone's personal thoughts may be easily thought of as an unwelcome intrusion into their life. Tracking should be used with caution and sparingly.

Scratch Exercise

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15594772/#editor

Us versus IT

Robot Images

         

Robot Move List: 1. Move one space, rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise, shoot laser eye.

The robot has 10 hit points and 5 action points. If a tank enters a 3 square perimeter of the robot, then,

the robot will automatically initiate a 90 degree turn towards the direction of the tank without using up any action points. When the tank takes a hit, the tank will drop a mine which will explode when the tank's hit points drops below 2.