 | Three Hundred :: Three Hundred MechanicsNovember 16th, 2007 |
Three Hundred :: Three Hundred Mechanics
Good for Sean Howard! A project to create 300 distinct new game ideas. My favorite idea from that page was the white noise one. And behold! Sean Barrett DID make a game of it.
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It shows a central part of the Gestalt Theory — especially that part which describes where »Gestalten« emerge out of virtually white noise, so that our congnition actually recognise something (there are some rules or principles, how that does happen, according to Gestalt Theory). Though it was criticised for being »just« descriptive at best, I find it too interesting to be dismissed such easily.
That game actually managed to scare me a bit simply because I couldn’t always trust my own vision. It’s the first time in a while I’ve been startled at my character’s death and more than once!
It was also interesting to note all the different “textures” you could describe simply by the varying type, quality, and movement of the different areas of static. Also, great music.
I would like to see the noise ideas enter more into the gameplay itself, however. Thematically, I suppose you could do this by having the game be about identifying one type of random behavior from another or about identifying the pattern created by two contrasting, random patterns.
Hmmm. Mechanic #1, “Negative Space” was used by Nitrome Studio’s “Yin Yang”. They don’t credit Mr. Howard, so I assume they came up with the concept independently, but the implementation is spot on!
Yes, that noise idea is an old perception theory… And, scarrybug, you don’t have to credit him just because he claims “You can use any of these ideas you’d like, but credit to Sean Howard must be given in some form.” There is no copyright on ideas. People seem to think so, though… Odd.
Sure, but there’s nothing to be lost in a simple one-line credit. And agreeing to credit Howard is a good way to encourage him to continue his 300 series. Why would he keep doing it if everyone used his ideas and pretended they were theirs?
Not that I’m saying this is what happened here. The purpose of posting was to point out another game that used one of the 300 mechanics, whether it was arrived at independently or not.
I hope that Mr. Howard doesn’t jump on anyone who implements one of his 300 without crediting him. If so, it would be best if game designers *don’t* read the 300, for the same reason that serial writers can’t read letters from fans in case a fan claims “that’s my idea, you bum!”
Looking through Mr.Howard’s growing list of games made me think how beautiful ‘small’ is: and what is it that makes a game go out of fashion or stale. The simplest ones appear to have a timeless property that resists ageing. The more complex a game becomes the more style / cultural artifacts it accumulates, so freshness suffers. Considering the investments behind games like WoW – isn’t it sad, frightening and commerically upsetting that they date so horribly? Is it avoidable? What strategies give a second wind to games?
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[...] Raph posted a link to Sean Howard’s Three Hunded Mechanics page. He also posted a link to a game made based on one of those mechanics, Lost In The Static. The game is rather nifty once you get used to viewing white noise on top of white noise. When your eyes adjust, it’s a rather addictive exploring game that reminds me of Montezuma’s Revenge or Pitfall. I’ve manged to waste several hours today playing around with the game. My favorite thing, it turns out, is “dying” largely because the animation is great. The music is also nice, and sets the mood of the game quite well. Bookmark to: [...]