Demonik and the Ludic Legacy of Clive Barker
A Story World
Texts that are already inherently ludic (able to think clearly between bouts of insanity) make good games; gameplay concepts are implied in ludic texts. Richly detailed imaginative worlds with internally coherent rule systems make a foundation players can relate to. Using imaginatively productive "negative space" (gaps in a fiction) gives players incentive for exploration within the world.
Barker's Ideas
· Rule systems and puzzle configurations can convey metaphysical ideas
o "Making metaphysics out of hard wood"
· Games as a metaphysically expressive medium
o e.g. A puzzle-box opens a doorway to Hell
· Ritualistic mysticism of play
· Use personal injury/handicaps to express otherworldly effects better
Games:
· have length
· have complexity
· have elaboration of mythology
· are puzzles, a story, a philosophy
· change based on the players perceptions
· Scrying - seeing what you normally can't
o look into one’s self and into the meanings in the environment instead of "how many guns you can muster"
Ludic Puzzles in Games
· puzzles are with depth
· allow players to re-configure a puzzles
· Symbolically map the puzzles space
· (optional) find appropriate peripheral
SUMMARY
· A well-constructed game is a puzzle, a story, a philosophy.
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