Game Design Project

The Game Project

The game project should serve as an illustration of how games can manifest as hyperobjects. It will consist of a Twine game as a basis, presenting a narrative about the relation of humans and things. The general premise of the game is to stand in an interrelated connection with the player – i.e. as per the model above where layers of the game contain different related object and practices that are unified through the established ontological status of games and the notion of play. This digital part will be complemented with physical artifacts that facilitate playfulness and, through interaction, create relations between the player as well as the digital part of the game. The player will take on the role of an archaeologist with the goal of engaging with the artifacts as a means of making sense of the narrative of the Twine part. Failing to understand or assemble the artifact correctly will always result in an artifact, this may, however, vary in shape depending on the efforts and practices involved in engaging with it.

Twine: The Twine game will provide a narrative of a human being on their way to colonise mMars. Text passages serve the purpose of providing the player with a general understanding of the endeavour and personality of that person. The increasing understanding of the narrative will, in turn, help to engage with the physical part of the game. In order to fully access and understand the narrative, the player must engage with the physical part, as certain text passages will be locked off by passwords that can be acquire through speculation, interactions, and assemblage of the physical part. The practices employed may range from production by humans, random text generators, or a trained AI.

Physical parts: This part is used to provide the player with further insight into the meaning of the narrative. The individual parts require engagement with the materiality, potentially requiring modification or assembly. These parts can consist of crafts, art, or additional text. By engaging with the individual parts, the player becomes involved in the interrelated nature of artifacts as hyperobjects, and thus, part of it. Through speculation or personal knowledge, the player can further interact with the Twine game.

Mechanics elaboration: Given the hybrid nature of the game, mechanics are less straight forward and appear more abstract or less intuitive in comparison to purely digital game. The main mechanic in that sense is the interaction with the artifact.

Interaction consists of:

•Speculation of how things are constituted

•Applying one’s knowledge of the game or other games

•Procedural literacy

•Applying one’s understanding of the interrelated nature of hyperobjects

•Applying one’s knowledge of the creator of the game 

•Assembling or altering the materiality