World Design Exercise: Game #8 (SUPERHOT)

It is probably best to preface this blog post by stating that I have no idea what the fourth dimension is, other than the fact that it is only a theoretical made-up axis of spatial navigation. I will re-iterate by saying that while we have a fairly substantial understanding up until the third-dimension, we primarily depict and perceive the world in through the second and third dimension. Within the context of video games, it does for the most part boil down to two-dimensional imagery mimicking third-dimensional space, therefore when the fourth-dimension is brought into the equation it is quite understandably never a proper depiction of the fourth-dimension, but again a mimicry of what the fourth-dimension could possibly be.

Games like Piotr Kosmala’s SUPERHOT is one of a handful of games that had toyed with the concept of fourth-dimensional navigation, at least on paper. Because if we are to analyse the game and consider its premise (that time only flows when the player character is in motion), it can be considered that it is squashing and stretching the flow of time, moving along the constraint of time, rather than bending and distorting it. Consider this, from the point of view of the enemy characters, the player character will not be perceived as ‘blipping’ around the map and teleporting as most depictions of time travel is shown in popular media.

Rather, as far as the enemy characters are concerned, the player character will travel within the same wavelength so to speak of both their perception of spatial dimension and time, they would appear to have incredibly sharp reflexes, but again, happening in ‘real-time’ no different from any other characters in the game.

Conversely, there are other examples of shooter games that had experimented with the idea of time travel as a means of manipulating the fourth dimension, with characters like Quantum Break’s Shawn Ashmore and Tracer from Overwatch, both characters with the ability to travel and manipulate the flow of time, therefore it is unlike the aforementioned method mentioned in SUPERHOT.

As the second law of thermal dynamics state, time in theory only travel in one direction, due to a universal phenomenon many physicists call entropy. In the context of video games, in principle most of these video games are considered low entropy, as there are many outcomes of the player character manipulating the numerous constituent events within the game. While SUPERHOT still adheres to the constant forward-moving flow of time, Shawn and Tracer are able to break the very basis and law of time, that time can travel backwards.

It is imperative to emphasise that while the manipulation and depiction of the fourth-dimension in video games are interesting concepts that allow avenues of discussion in regards to our understanding of it, the truth is that as of now our understanding come from the act of mimicking it through our current understanding of both the second and third dimension.


REFERENCES:

Author Unknown. SUPERHOT BETA. Retrieved from http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/368/3687506/2921719-superhot_beta_gs.jpg

World Design Exercise: Game #7 (The Stanley Parable)

When The Stanley Parable Demonstration was released many had cited the game’s critique on the video game industry through its blatant shattering of the fourth wall, as the player navigates through the levels they are accompanied by the disembodied sarcastic voice of Kevan Brighting, whose overall personality in some way depends almost entirely on the decisions made by the player as they experience the Demo.

First and foremost, the player will notice that The Stanley Parable is not a simple narrative driven adventure since right from the get go the Demo as it will demonstrate how the game is designed to completely subvert the player’s expectations time and time again; in the beginning the player discovers that instead of diving straight into the Demo, they are placed in a waiting room to partake in a behind-the-scenes sort of tester session for the Stanley Parable instead, establishing to the player that The Stanley Parable will be an unconventional and unorthodox gaming experience.

Fig 1. Central hub area of the Stanley Parable Demo.

After being called a sexual predator by the Narrator (in what appears to be a room comprised of buttons representing choice), the player will entire a facility warehouse where they can enter other sections of the Demo such as the Emotion Booths, a Wall Technology testing chamber and such, since here is where the player will learn about the inner workings of the ‘upcoming’ Stanley Parable game (and to an extent, practically other video games as well), how emotions are formed and implemented and how walls are representative of the types of game world confinement that players usually encounter respectively.

Fig 2. The infamous 8 Room, wherein the player can literally push the Narrator's buttons and essentially piss him off.

One of the more memorable portion of the Demo is the 8 Room, where the player is presented a button that quite honestly does nothing than display the number 8 whenever the 8 button is pressed. Here the narrator lambastes the player quite harshly should the player stick around and continue ‘playing’ the 8 Game, forcefully coercing the player to leave before they form any unwarranted impressions towards the full Stanley Parable game. On top of that there is a particular moment in the game where after the player leaves the testing facility, they trigger a narrative contradiction that breaks the demo, here the narrator gets really angry and scolds the player for deviating from the path and thinking on their own, both of these events are examples of the many instances where the game directly interacts with the player and of course the player’s actions interact with the way the game unfolds in a back-and-forth sort of manner.

The Stanley Parable Demo constantly shatters the player’s expectations by subverting the linearity of most narrative-driven games and is one of the strongest examples of interactive criticisms in video games.


REFERENCES:

Author Unknown. The Central Hub of the Stanley Parable Demo. Retrieved from http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/433780009363660034/71CB4488BDEC63912673FE15C423BCB89AEE1791/

Author Unknown. The Number 8 Room. Retrieved from https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9VtGaMrkhYM/maxresdefault.jpg