Gaming Journal #2: Braid

The game I chose for my second gaming journal is Braid. It is a platforming puzzle game that gives you the unique ability to reverse time. This ability allows you to rethink and retry puzzles instantly as well as get you out of tough situations. I chose Braid because it has many good examples of Key Ideas discussed in the reading. The two Key Ideas I would like to explore are 1) Failure in general and more specifically failure serving a deeper function of making players readjust their perception of the game and 2) Games that succeed in involving the player inspire, elicit or support the player's "Ludic Attitude".

In Braid you play as a character named Tim who is on a journey to save a princess who left because of the many mistakes he made. The story seems open to interpretation and adds

another layer to an already great game. The first thing that struck me about Braid is the artwork. It is visually stunning and the water color backdrops are amazing. This along with the beautiful music and the solid gameplay immediately drew me into the world of Braid. At first the game feels like a simple platformer and with the ability to rewind time it almost seems to easy. After a few levels that feeling changed and I quickly found myself struggling to collect puzzle pieces and re-evauluating puzzles again and again. This brings me to my first key component failure.

Key Component #1

In Braid you will fail quite a bit and there is really no way around this. What makes Braid stand out is that you can immediately rewind time and instantly try a new approach or improve your timing. There is no way to actually die in the game and this is a welcomed approach to platforming , instead you will find your self failing over and over trying to perfectly time a jump to reach a ledge or a puzzle piece. In the image above I had to time a jump by jumping on a creatures head at the right moment to get to the other side. I failed multiple times before I finally made it across. The constant failing could be frustrating if not handled right, but the designers executed this perfectly. The image below demonstrates how impossible avoiding all of these objects would be without the ability to reverse time and retry. This system of failure really in-riches the game and makes what could be just another platformer that much more fun.

Key Component #2

When I'm playing a game deep down I know it's only a game but a good game will take me out of that frame of mind and submerge me entirely. This is a Bi-plannar experience (VGTR2 p.135) where I'm engrossed in the game even though I know it's only a game. Braid does a excellent job of engaging me in all aspects, from the amazing artwork to the enchanting music, The

physics and playability are done very well and it keeps me wanting to find more puzzle pieces and furthering the adventure. The image below shows some of the backdrop and beauty in the game. The designers did an excellent job of imposing a will-to-play causing me to carefully read the story and take my time to try and get all the puzzle pieces possible. Being able to adopt a "ludic attitude" during the gameplay added to the overall experience and helped me see Braid as more than a game during the entire run-through

Gaming Journal #1: Bioshock

The game I chose for my gaming journal is Bioshock. It is an impressive first person shooter that really draws you in from the first frame and takes you on a shocking and horrific ride through the underwater city of Rapture. The two Key components I will be focusing on are: 1. "A good game is a series of interesting choices" a quote from game designer Sid Meyer and 2. In philosophical games you have to think about what the game represents and simulates.

The presentation in Bioshock is amazing and the way the story unfolds seemlisly through the action is really well done. The game starts off with your plane crashing into the an ocean and you find yourself swimming through the water trying to make it to saftey. You finally come to a stone tower where the door is covenetly open and upon walking inside you find an elevator that takes you to the city of Rapture. The underwater sequence to Raputure shows the true scope a detail of the game (above image).

Key Component 1

At the beginning of the game your choices for the most part are limited but as you progress more and more options open up to you. The big moral descision in Bioshock is whether to harvest the "little sisters" for adam, a material that increases your power. This decision even changes the end of the game dramatically, so much so that it changes what kind of character you are and what your overall purpose in Rapture ultimatley is. Another set of choices that the developers gave you is how you can kill the enemies. There are tons of different guns with three types of ammunition each and many different plasmid abilities that you can upgrade and modify and This works really well and makes what would be just another shooter that much more engaging.

Key Component 2

I would definitley consider Bioshock to be a philosophical game, not only in the choices that you make but in what the game represents. The game is loosely based off of Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged. The author went on to later develop the philosophy of Objectivism and these themes are brought up throughout the game. Playing the game with this in mind really adds to the over all experience and it gives you a purpose for being in Rapture. A purpose that you are still considering long after the game is turned off.