@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Craigp

@Craigp@mastodon.social

Green energy day job, game dev / design talks & tutorials at night.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFL6-QAPmuin1iXUY1MEe0g

He/him

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Craigp, to random
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I was thinking a bit more about mass LARPs, like in Jenny Nicholson's new extended Wagnerian longplay of the Star Wars Hotel.

One thing that sticks out to me is how trashy the gameplay is on the apps. Which is to be expected - obviously you can't have play which requires too much thought or precision, because guests HAVE to be able to complete it eventually no matter how drunk, feeble, or confused they are.

But how can you make that interesting?

Well, I think this is a missed opportunity.

Craigp,
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See, I'd make the simple games an excuse to get the players engaging with the physical space, rather than trying to make it fun.

For example, if the player fires up a hacking minigame to "rewire" the security system, maybe it's just a simple game about bridging gaps on a grid.

BUT

The actual pieces used to bridge those gaps can be collected from the world around you. And then used up in the game!

Scan the crates in the repair bay for some. "Collect" some from some broken droids. All digital.

Craigp,
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The idea being there's no one solution to it, but instead if the player collects enough junk, there will be some combination of shapes that works out.

This can be backed up by the progression.

If you scan those broken droids early on, it'll just say "broken droids. Seems sad."

But then after you "learn" tech stuff by interacting with specific characters, scanning the droids nets you splicer parts for minigames.

Or memory fragments if you learned from the historians-

Stuff like that.

Craigp,
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The gameplay is still really crap. But now the point is that it gets you looking around the world.

Which is, frankly, the freaking point.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

The bakery near my place was closed for a privite event today. Which I'm fine with, but what a day to do it. Sundays are their busiest day, always absolutely slammed.

I hope it was a profitable event, and not an emergency.

Craigp, to random
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I pity anyone whose Mastodon client doesn't auto-hide hashtag blobs.

Craigp, to random
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Wow, the SilentSunday hashtag is amazing these days. It's good to see specific hashtags start popping, they're a great "soft" community tool.

Craigp, to random
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Holy shit I slept through the 4 AM curse. Huzzah.

Craigp, to random
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Watching the new Jenny Nicholson movie, and it's a million hours long, so I'll have to split it between days.

But it's really got me thinking about how you design a mass LARP for visitors that takes several days.

A visitor isn't a dedicated LARPer. So how much can they be trusted to get into a role? How much activity can they do?

Obviously they can't be allowed to change the progression of the wider story - there's simply too many visitors so it needs to be mass produced. So what play?

Craigp,
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The two hours of the video I've watched so far show the experience as mostly passive.

I think that's not a great idea.

Now I know a few theme parks have experimented with self-driven "passive LARPing" like collecting stamps and getting quests and stuff.

I think that's probably the right way to do it, but you do have to be careful with scheduling. There's only so many actual actors, so if any acting is required, that's a problem.

Craigp,
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You also can't really encourage anything that depends on two guests working in tandem in any significant way.

Even if it is for something completely optional, you just can't risk some asshole getting super upset that a random kid didn't successfully complete a gimmick quest with him.

It's a really interesting, delicate set of design constraints.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I just realized I called her YouTube video a "movie". That was instinctual. It's FUCKING LONG. Actually longer than any movie.

She took a page from HBomberGuy, I guess.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I think if I was going to run a two day long Star Wars LARP for people, I would largely make it about self-driven semi-group events. That's my instinct.

For example, a lot of folks probably want to be Jedi. So you'd have several rotating events where visitors can learn about the Force or whatever, and essentially earn stamps.

The key is creating a throughline, and I think that's where having actors matters.

Craigp,
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See, people are going to have different schedules, and in many cases friends and families are going to be stuck together at different times in different configurations.

So I think the basic idea is that you have these fun events that serve to introduce you to in-world characters and opportunities, but you also bring some stuff with you. Documents you stole, force powers you learned, that kind of thing.

AFTER the event (or during a break), you act on that stuff to advance your personal line.

Craigp,
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But that can't require an actor. The actors can help to facilitate, but it has to be something that can be done more or less on your own.

Maybe something like a minigame on a console, or scanning a code on some paperwork, or tricking a defense screen or something. Using a magic force power.

It has to be largely done solo because the actors are BUSY.

Craigp,
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I like the idea of clear, obvious indicators that visitors carry around. This would tell actors instantly what to expect.

For example, carrying around a specific tool, wearing a specific obvious badge, maybe even a sash or belt or hat.

SirTapTap, to random
@SirTapTap@mastodon.social avatar

Related, anyone know someone with a cartoon enough style? I'd like to get a more girly TapTap and maybe something I can get on shirts and stuff (I don't have anything with commercial license yet)

I need discord emojis too. Just dunno where to start

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@SirTapTap The local art grapevine isn't fully formed yet, so you'd have to track down some folks manually, I think.

I don't know any cartoon-cartoon folks, so I'm not much help.

Moosader, to random
@Moosader@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

WAKE UP BABE NEW JENNY NICHOLSON VIDEO!!

https://youtu.be/T0CpOYZZZW4

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@Moosader ... I am literally watching her old stuff right now, and it turns out she's got a new one while I'm watching. XD

Craigp, to Unreal
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

#unreal challenge: how do you get postprocess animation blueprints working with level sequences+control rigs?

If you haven't actually tried it, try it. I think the problem is there's no valid input pose?

Is there an alternate way to get an input pose that's compatible with level sequences?

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I want to do more hobbydev today, but I didn't get any fuckin' sleep and I am at the focus wall.

You know how it is.

Gonna just chill out for a few hours.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Bands popping up randomly. Their sound is awful because it's quite wet out, but they're energetic!

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Apparently it's 'joyfest'.

Craigp,
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The thing I EXPECTED was a culture fest literally one block away in three hours.

Craigp,
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Really busy weekend in my little town.

Craigp,
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And one random ten year old aggressively swinging alone on the tiny playground at the edge of the sound envelope, facing away.

Craigp,
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It's one of those music fests that sounds better from the edge of the sound envelope. Amateurs in the rain, the sound is a bit hard to bear up close and the interminable awkward speeches between songs are really annoying...

Unless you're just far enough away for everything to become pleasantly mushy festival noise.

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