FYI – We’re almost there! After a season of mixing, tracking, and mixing again we’re ready to master “Winteresque.”
If you’d like to be among the first to hear the new tunes you’d better sign up for our email list…pronto!
Last year I stumbled upon Bret Victor’s website. In short, he’s one of those genius guys who did some of the real work at Apple making touch interfaces awesome. That’s not a very fair way to describe him, but I’m just trying to get your attention. I read this great article of his about new ways to think about math concepts, and then proceeded to go down the rabbit hole of wandering around on his website. I came across a mind-blowing e-book about information visualization called Magic Ink, and in November, one called Ladder of Abstraction, which was even more compelling to me.
I can say with complete confidence that it will soon change game design forever. Ladder of Abstraction is a revelation for games and videogames as media. In his article, Victor offers both a design process and a set of tools for understanding complex systems. I see it as a key piece of the puzzle in unlocking the “black box” of game design.
If you’re a game designer, and you were just taking a drink of something, this is the point where you spit it out all over the screen. Yes, I’m talking about the first step toward the end of trial-and-error design. In fact, I have not mentioned much about this publicly because my intention was to hide in a cave, apply the concept to a game tool, and then unveil it to the public like a hero (giving credit where due of course). A dumb idea, but once you understand the vision and its implications when taken a couple steps further, you’d be tempted, too.
You certainly need to read the article, but I’ll summarize/butcher. The concept presents a case for ways to view complex systems on different layers, i.e. rungs of a ladder, and then travel “up and down” the rungs to understand the system better. His example was an algorithm of a car following a road. Using interactive examples, he shows how those layers can represent time and space, and even shows how it can be helpful to view those dimensions with multiple instances of the car across time instead of a just at one point in time. Or even better, across the variable of the algorithm, such as how sharp the car turns back onto the road. He argues that going between these layers of abstraction gives you a much better understanding of the implications of the limited, yet still complex algorithm you’re creating. Playing with the examples, you can see for yourself how he’s absolutely right (below is an image; go to his website to play!).
After I recovered from reading the article, I immediately started applying this to more traditional videogame experiences in my head. Suddenly you could view all the possible instances of a platform jump by changing different physics settings to let you know if your platform is placed correctly. Or maybe the inverse, move the platform around and see at which position it can be jumped on. Why not just design your platformer level on-the-fly without even needing to play the game?
Well guess what. A few days ago a talk by Bret Victor was posted on vimeo, showing exactly that! He shows some live-coding examples that are not totally new but very well executed, and then the atomic bomb that is an example of the Ladder of Abstraction applied to a platformer, using art from David Hellman. These demos are of course wrapped in a brilliant, poignant talk in its own right. Maybe I’m still high from watching it, but I’d explain the talk as a whole as one that a TED talk merely aspires to.
My “principle” has me taking the Ladder of Abstraction concept a couple steps further to better understand meaningful gameplay, and I’ll be certainly doing whatever I can to make that happen. I just hope I don’t have to make my own awesome live-coding tool like that and can build off of his instead.
I recently came across an interview with film director Steven Soderbergh. He seemed a little restless searching for new ways to do narrative. It inspired a response that I’m cross-posting here. Here’s an excerpt from him:
“I’m trying to see if I can work around the tyranny of narrative. Not that I don’t want to tell a story. I just wish there was a different way to tell it. I feel like we haven’t pushed this thing, this form into its next phase yet.
…
I think that’s why working in another medium for a while will help.”
Gee, what other medium could there be? What new medium is exploding in popularity and capturing the hearts of a new generation? What new medium is exploding with creativity and exploring narrative in new ways? One that is free from the tyranny of linearity and author-imposed messages. One that is begging for auteurs to free it from incestuous design structures.
Mr. Soderbergh, you don’t need to take a step backward (he mentions getting into theatre), you need to take a step forward.
There is most definitely a next phase. It involves breaking out of linearity toward something that involves the viewer directly.
This medium is videogames, and its Citizen Kane is anxiously awaited. In fact, it might already be here, coming out in a few days:
You might call it an interactive ghost story. Ironic, considering Citizen Kane was something of a ghost story itself.
We had a mighty fine time playing live in Bend, OR at River Rim Coffeehouse, a sweet little cafe on the south side of town.
Next up…waiting for a new baby! (and finishing Winteresque.) See you soon!
We’ll be playing live music at River Rim Coffeehouse in Bend, Oregon this coming Friday, January 20th. Join us for original music, fun cover songs, and CD giveaways!
Join us this coming Friday, January 13th at the Green Plow Cafe in Redmond, OR. The Green Plow is quickly becoming one of our favorite venues to play music in Central Oregon, especially when paired with great bands like The Hollands!
We’ve never considered gigging at Renaissance Fairs, but since we got this sword at a white elephant exchange it seems a lot more feasible.
Here we are, finally in winter in Central Oregon…a fitting time to be finishing mixing and production on Winteresque, the new full length album from Finn Miles.
Thanks to all who have been on the journey with us the last few years; 2012 is looking up for Finn Miles!
Hurray, an album release! Modern Saints!
Dan Bosman of Scented Vinyl let us release hold the first phase of our album release at the Mars Cafe in December 2010. This was momentous…the best album yet, self recorded and produced and released with a great backing band. Still…I wanted Winteresque. I had been playing the songs live, sharpening parts and watching the crowd for reaction. By this time I had nine songs, plus the idea to rerecord two previously recorded songs.
We were growing in depth, building the skills, and the set of microphones that would allow us to make no compromises in recording Winteresque.
But of course, there was a new challenge that was facing us. I was moving to Oregon in the mid-summer, giving us a tight deadline to complete tracking.
Meeting once a week in Scott’s rented basement/studio we applied more rigor and discipline than ever to getting the right sounds. We split duties, co-engineering and co-producing. I played some keys and organ, Scott played guitar. We were starting to overlap. The only question was, would we finish in time? (read on to Part 5 of this adventure)