Ancient Film Making

+ Describe the CATS from class on 11.28.

Concept

A group of first time student filmmakers are dropped off in an ancient land to document history. You and your friends must navigate this eerie space whilst also figuring out how to make a film? Or a documentary? Maybe a comedy! Let the adventure begin!

Aim

Throughout the game you are to create a story, exploring the land and working together to develop an exciting film about the journey. Your ideas are heard and are taken into account. Despite your original crew position, you have the opportunity to overtake the director. The more ideas you input into the film's plot, the more likely you are to overpower the director and take back the title you deserve. But it’s not that easy. There are events in your journey which are predetermined. 

Tone

This game offers many opportunities for the route you would like to take in regards to genre. Although the story lies in a slightly comedic tone, you and your teammates may discuss the genre you would like to pursue. This will then be reflected in your film. 

Subject Matter

The game allows for players to get to know each other and their creative ideas. Players must remain respectful to each other despite there being a competitive nature to the game. Ultimately, the goal is to have fun and explore the land you create together. 

+ Why did you make this game? The answer cannot be "because I was required to." Even if this is something you wouldn't have naturally done on your own, there's still a reason you made the particular thing you made.

This approach to game making and writing was interesting to me as I wouldn’t have thought to have made a game in this layout. That being said, I really enjoyed writing this game. I wrote this game to incorporate elements which I enjoyed from other games which I played, whilst also tweaking them to my own interests. 

+ What elements of your Magpie book did you use and why did you select them?

I featured my interest in film and my experiences whilst working on student film sets to guide this story. Additionally, I added some of my personal interests in fairytales to the story. I finally decided to feature aspects of an apocalyptic or ‘other’ world, something I included on my twine but I wanted to approach it from another direction (ancient land) 

+ What themes are you exploring in your game and what craft elements did you deploy, both in visual design and in mechanics, to support that exploration? What inspired your thinking on, particularly, the mechanics?

I added the use of dice to make some of the preliminary decisions for the players. This opens the opportunity for players to get a theme which is a bit out of their comfort zone or a theme which they wouldn’t have expected. Additionally, I added some gamist elements so that there is an unofficial winner, the role of the director. By adding tokens it served as a tracking mechanism for the players’ participation, and ultimately decided the ‘winner’ of the game. Adding the elements of descriptors to the world added elements of visual design whilst allowing audiences to have creative freedom. 

+ What do you hope players walk away from the game having experienced?

I hope that players are able to play a fun yet slightly competitive game. My main goal would be for a group to end the game on a good note where players would be able to bond and get to know each other.