In the final stage, every project faces the same question: how do we present our work to the audience, especially when what we\u2019ve built isn’t a typical game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across quarters, halves, and playtest days, much of the feedback we received came down to one question: What kind of game are you trying to make? In reality, we were never making a game. We were building a pipeline. It needs to be understandable, reusable, and sustainable. It does not need to be a complete experience. What we are testing are systems within a game, not the game itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people don\u2019t enjoy having someone talk over them during a playtest. As a player, when I pick up a controller, I expect something new. Any instructions from the developers tend to go in one ear and out the other. That led us to another question: how do we help players understand what is different about our work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris proposed an approach that may feel counterintuitive to developers: add an introduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This introduction is not just there to explain the project. It is an opening statement, one that deliberately breaks the expectation of immersion. It serves as a break from the fourth wall, using a light, separate tone from the work itself to deliver the information players need. To keep attention on the voice, we chose a full black screen, removing all visual distractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will it work? We don\u2019t know yet. Only when players see it will we find out whether it achieves what we intend. What is clear, however, is that the ability to communicate clearly and directly is essential in game development. At times, presentation can matter more than the work itself. Only when the player\u2019s expectations align with the project\u2019s goals can we receive meaningful feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the final stage, every project faces the same question: how do we present our work to the audience, especially when what we\u2019ve built isn’t a typical game? Across quarters, halves, and playtest days, much of the feedback we received came down to one question: What kind of game are you trying to make? In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidyn-reforged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}