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Title: Ambient Quest: An ambient game simulation


1
Ambient Quest An ambient game simulation
  • Mark Eyles

Advanced Games Research Group Department of
Creative Technologies Faculty of Creative and
Cultural Industries
Emerging Issues in Game Design
2
  • If the seminal 1976 ambient music album Music for
    Airports became a 21st century ambient role
    playing game, what would it play like?

3
Overview
  • Games
  • Computer role playing games
  • Computer technology
  • Ambient intelligence
  • Pervasive games
  • Ambient music
  • Ambient games
  • Ambient Quest
  • Ambient games future

4
What is a computer game?
  • An interactive entertainment played against, or
    with the aid of, computer generated characters or
    tokens in a computer generated environment.
  • A single player game has a series of interesting
    obstacles to overcome in order to gain rewards.
  • A multiplayer game has a series of interesting
    obstacles to overcome at the expense and/or with
    the help of other players to gain rewards.

5
Computer game properties Commitment to play
  • Learning curve
  • Play time
  • Civilization 2 vs. Tetris vs. Hangman

6
Computer game properties Location and movement
  • Fixed (Console, PC, Set top box)
  • Mobile (Mobile phone, Nintendo DS)
  • Require movement
  • In one location (Football, Eye Toy)
  • In many locations (Alternate Reality Game)

7
Computer game properties Commitment and movement
8
Role playing games
  • To suggest a definition of computer role playing
    games
  • Look at the history of RPGs
  • Look at the game play in RPGs
  • These two approaches then inform a definition of
    role playing games

9
History of role playing games
  • Pen and paper and computer role playing games
    formalise the playful role playing of childrens
    make believe worlds by adding a set of rules
  • This formalisation of role playing allows details
    to be shared, so that the game can be shared and
    seen to be played fairly according to an agreed
    set of rules
  • A key component of role playing games is stories

10
Story telling
Chauvet Pont-d'Arc
Le Voyage dans la lune
  • Spoken
  • Pictures
  • Cave paintings (30,000 years ago)
  • Written
  • Gilgamesh (around 2000 BC)
  • Moving images
  • Cinema (from the 1880s)
  • Interactive
  • Colossal Cave Adventure (1975ish)

11
Table top war-gaming 1
  • Kriegspiel
  • 19th century
  • Lieutenant Johann von Reisswitz based on a design
    of his father Baron von Reisswitz
  • Players move tokens representing troops around a
    map, under the guidance of an umpire
  • Assured Prussian victories

12
Table top war-gaming 2
  • Little Wars
  • A set of table top war-gaming rules
  • H. G. Wells - 1913.
  • Commenting on Kriegspiel
  • as it is played by the British Army, is a very
    dull and unsatisfactory exercise, lacking in
    realism, in stir and the unexpected, obsessed by
    the umpire at every turn, and of very doubtful
    value in waking up the imagination, which should
    be its chief function. (Wells, 1913)

13
Fantasy literature
  • J.R.R. Tolkeins The Hobbit, 1937
  • The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 1954 to 1955

14
War-gaming Fantasy
  • Chainmail
  • First table top role playing game,1971
  • Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren
  • Dungeons and Dragons
  • Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), 1974
  • Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

15
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Start with text adventures
  • Advent or Adventure, written by William
    Crowther around 1975 give or take a year
  • Expanded by Don Woods to Colossal Cave Adventure
    in 1976

16
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Zork, 1978, released by Infocom 1980

17
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Add role playing
  • Richard Garriotts 1979 Apple II game Akalabeth

18
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Character attributes
  • Ultima 1, 1980, developed by Richard Garriott,
    published by Origin Systems Inc.

19
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Control a party of characters
  • Race and character class mechanisms
  • Wizardry Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord,
    1981, Sir Tech Software

20
Evolution of computer role playing games
  • Advances in technology
  • Improvements in graphics
  • Increasing sophistication and complexity
  • Addition of 3D graphics to Multi User Dungeons

but retaining core RPG mechanisms
21
Role playing gameplay mechanisms
  • Role playing game mechanisms have remained very
    similar
  • Compare Ultima, 1980, with Oblivion, 2006

22
Role playing gameplay mechanisms
  • Mechanisms commonly found in RPGs

23
Role playing gameplay mechanisms
24
RPG mechanisms in other game genres
25
Core features of RPGs
  • Choice of player races
  • Choice of player classes
  • Player attributes
  • Player skill development
  • Experience points and levels

26
Suggested definition of computer role playing
games
  • In computer role-playing games players control
    one or more characters that gain experience
    through the completion of game objectives. The
    experience is manifested as player moderated
    changes in player character attributes
    (strength, intelligence and luck for
    example) which allow the player character to
    evolve over the duration of the game.
  • Additional player character customization is
    facilitated through modification of character
    differentia such as race and class when
    initiating a player character ready for play and
    by game-play educed character modification during
    play, such as development and improvement of a
    skill by repeated use of that skill, or the
    spending of skill points gained when levelling
    up.
  • The player character descriptors (attributes,
    differentia and game-play educed modifications)
    affect the in-game interactions between the
    player character, non-player characters and items
    in the game environment. The environment,
    objects, characters and interactions are effected
    in a virtual environment.

27
Ambient technology
  • This section starts with some assumptions about
    ambient games that will be made explicit later
  • Ambient games are as ignorable as they are
    interesting (Eno, 1978)
  • Consequently it should be possible for the player
    to ignore the game, if they wish, while still
    playing it
  • The game should physically surround them
  • First we will consider the growth of computer
    technology and its future

28
Growth of computer technology
29
Growth of computer technology
  • One computer Many users
  • Charles Babbage designs a computer 1821
  • EDSAC 1 (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
    Calculator) 1949 the worlds first complete and
    fully operational regular electronic digital
    stored program computer (Jones, 2001)

30
Growth of computer technology
Digital Rainbow 100 1982 http//pc-museum.com/offi
cewing.htm
  • One computer One user
  • 1981 IBM introduced the personal computer

31
Growth of computer technology
  • Many computers One user
  • The current state of play

32
Growth of computer technology
  • Ambient intelligent environments (the future)

Tom Cruise in Minority Report http//www.visionnet
.be/parahologram.html
  • Massively many intelligent computers One user

(Everyone is a user, not just Tom Cruise)
33
Ambient intelligence
  • There are a number of different technologies that
    are enabling the development of ambient
    intelligence
  • Interconnectivity
  • Artificial intelligence
  • The proliferation of computers
  • These technologies support ambient intelligence,
    which has
  • Ubiquity
  • Transparency
  • Intelligence
  • (Aarts et al., 2001)

34
Ambient intelligence - Ubiquity
  • A massive number of interconnected computers are
    embedded in the environment
  • It is invisible, everywhere computing that does
    not live on a personal device of any sort, but is
    in the woodwork everywhere. (Weiser, 1996)

35
Ambient intelligence - Transparency
  • Transparency indicates that ambient intelligence
    environments are invisible and in the background
    (Aarts et al., 2001)

36
Ambient intelligence - Intelligence
  • Intelligence relates to the interfaces and ways
    these interconnected computers respond and
    interact with people through user friendly
    interfaces.

37
Ambient intelligence predictions
  • By 2010, when Intel expects that every chip it
    produces will have an antenna, there will be
    around 1,000 microprocessors per person
  • Harbor Research predicts that by 2010 worldwide
    revenues from network-related devices and
    associated services will be 800bn, around half
    of which will come from valued-added apps and
    services.
  • Department for Trade and Industry
    http//www.nextwave.org.uk/docs/markets.htm

38
Ambient intelligence
  • Ambient intelligence environments offer a
    promising technology for creating pervasive games
  • We will now consider pervasive games and ambient
    games

39
Pervasive games
  • Pervasive games are games which extend gaming
    experiences into the real world
  • They include locative games in which players move
    into the real world while playing and their
    position and actions in the real world affect,
    and are affected by, events in a virtual world
  • (Waern, 2006)

40
Pervasive games
  • Location based games, especially using mobile
    technologies
  • Example Uncle Roy All Around You
  • Street Players use handheld computers to search
    for Uncle Roy, using the map and incoming
    messages to move through the city.  Online
    Players cruise through a virtual map of the same
    area, searching for Street Players to help them
    find a secret destination.
  • http//www.uncleroyallaroundyou.co.uk/

41
Pervasive games - Augmented reality
  • Overlaying computer information onto the real
    world
  • Example ARQuake at the University of South
    Australia
  • http//wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/ARQuake/www
    /index.html

42
Pervasive games - Alternate reality
  • "...an obsession-inspiring genre that blends
    real-life treasure hunting, interactive
    storytelling, video games and online
    community... (Borland, 2005)
  • A game in which events occurring online in a game
    world affect and are affected by game events in
    the real world
  • Example Perplexcity
  • http//www.perplexcity.com/

43
Pervasive games
  • Ambient games are a type of pervasive game
  • The pervasive game examples mentioned vary from
    ambient games in
  • The intention of the games (ambient games create
    moods, they are not treasure hunts)
  • The commitment the player makes to the game (they
    do not have to put on back packs of computer
    equipment)
  • The level of attention required from the player

44
Pervasive and ambient games
45
Ambient music
  • Ambient music informs ambient games
  • Brian Eno coined the term ambient music on his
    1978 album Ambient 1 Music for Airports
  • In the sleeve notes of Music for Airports Brian
    Eno gives a definition of ambient music
  • Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many
    levels of listening attention without enforcing
    one in particular it must be as ignorable as it
    is interesting (Eno, 1978)

46
Ambient music
  • I wanted to make a kind of music that would
    actually reduce your focus on this particular
    moment in time that you happened to be in and
    make you settle into time a little bit better.
    (Eno, 2003)
  • Think about the ways games might do this while
    accommodating many levels of attention and
    intervention

47
Defining ambient games
  • Progress Quest - a game that requires minimal
    player intervention

(www.progressquest.com (Fredricksen, 2004))
48
Defining ambient games
  • Imagine a game similar to Progress Quest, call it
    Ambient Quest, in which, when the player starts
    the game, their actions in the real world affect
    progress in the game world

49
Defining ambient games
  • The Ambient Quest game world consists of a
    virtual environment containing quests to complete
    (achieved by defeating monsters at various
    locations)

50
Defining ambient games
  • The player chooses the degree to which they wish
    to manage events in the game
  • At one extreme the game runs itself, gathering
    data from the players actions in the real world
    and automatically applying this to the game world
  • At the other extreme the player can determine how
    the real world data is applied in the game world,
    micromanaging game interactions.

51
Defining ambient games
  • Ambient Quest should be as ignorable as it is
    interesting (Eno, 1978)
  • Players can dip in and out of the game
  • The game is persistent, running in the
    background, creating a mood, while players are
    engaged in other activities
  • They may respond to the game by modifying their
    behaviour to affect their game progress

52
Defining ambient games
  • Ambient games may be controlled by everyday
    actions (i.e. not using a dedicated game input
    device, mouse or keyboard) in everyday, real
    world environments that have gameplay
    consequences in a virtual game world
  • These game play environments may be facilitated
    by ambient intelligent technologies that embed
    the game transparently in the environment

53
Defining ambient games
  • Ambient games allow the player to have
    experiences that range from superficially shallow
    to profoundly deep
  • The player is able to choose how they focus their
    attention on the game, and can alter their degree
    of attention at will
  • As with Music for Airports an ambient game should
    accommodate many levels of attention, many levels
    of involvement or intervention, creating a mood
    in the environment

54
Defining ambient games
  • The involvement of the player in the game is not
    determined by the game
  • This is not a push technology, but is
    determined by the player who can choose when to
    pull game experiences from the ambient game

55
Defining ambient games
56
A definition of ambient role playing games
  • Ambient games are designed to create a mood in
    an environment through game interactions with
    players whose behaviours, mediated by an ambient
    intelligent environment or similar transparent
    game interface, create changes in a virtual game
    world.
  • Ambient games are persistent and are as
    interesting as they are ignorable, facilitating a
    wide variation in player determined levels of
    involvement, from unaware to intensely attentive
    play.
  • In ambient computer role-playing games player
    behaviours affect one or more characters that
    gain experience, and other character
    customizations, through the completion of game
    objectives in a virtual world.

57
Ambient Quest single player ambient game
simulation
  • Distance walked by players determines progress in
    the virtual game world
  • Players may engage more or less with the game by
  • Altering, or not altering, distance walked
  • Choosing moves for their avatars or letting the
    game move them automatically
  • The game is always on

58
Ambient Quest single player ambient game
simulation
  • Ambient Quest is designed to create a mood in the
    playing environment, overlaying a sense fantasy
    adventure on the real world and giving a hint of
    other hidden worlds

59
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60
Future ambient games
  • Imagine a job which involves fairly repetitive
    actions which are not in themselves especially
    rewarding.
  • Could an ambient game be designed that ran
    alongside this work and brought an element of
    playfulness to the job?

61
Future ambient games
  • Ambient Shelf Stacking Game
  • Imagine an ambient game that drew its data from
    supermarket shelf stacking
  • Employees belong to different teams that are
    represented by competing avatars in a virtual
    world

62
Future ambient games
  • Co-operative gaming
  • Ambient Garden Game
  • Imagine an ambient game in which players are
    together trying to nurture the plants in a
    virtual garden through their actions in the real
    world
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Ambient Relationships Game
  • Imagine a Sims like game where the players real
    world actions affect relationships of avatars in
    a Second Life like virtual world

63
Final thoughts
  • Game players may play even when they are not
    playing!
  • Embed mood and behaviour altering game playing in
    the world around us
  • Open ended, endless nature of play points towards
    new mechanisms and ways of playing games

64
Final thought
A sense of otherworldliness
  • It is another world entirely and is enclosed
    within this one it is in a sense a universal
    retreating mirror image of this one, with a
    peculiar geography composed of a series of
    concentric rings, which as one penetrates deeper
    into the other world, grow larger each
    perimeter of this series of concentricities
    encloses a larger world within
  • Little Big by John Crowley
  • (Crowley, 1981)

65
Ambient Quest An ambient game simulation
Questions
Mark Eyles
www.eyles.co.uk
mark_at_eyles.co.uk
Advanced Games Research Group Department of
Creative Technologies Faculty of Creative and
Cultural Industries
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