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Alan Jack Profile picture
@alanjack
Nov 11, 2022 • 20 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
Hey #GameDev / #GameDesign!

Tired of seeing game dev students who don't know how to make prototypes, or don't know how to be creative?

My students have just finished submitting their "Experimental Games" courseworks, and I couldn't be more proud of them.

Check out this🧵!
Taha (@TeeheeYolk) chose to explore player perspective my mashing up FPS and Platformer sections.

The result is discomforting and odd, but definitely creative!

Riley (@AllanRiley123) looked at #UI placement, and asked why we use the outside of the screen and not the inside.

Might seem counter-intuitive at first, but is it really as intrusive as you'd think?

Daniel (@SquappyGames) looked at ways to use (and abuse) control methods, and considered how much intrinsic joy there is in smashing a keyboard with your fist ... so he made a game about doing just that!

Lee (@Corrozion) ran into some unexpected roadbumps when trying to explore physics materials, but sometimes disaster can become opportunity!

Euan (@bradshaw_euan) chose to look at how we explain controls to the player ... or don't!

You might think players would hate unpredictable controls, but Euan showed there's some circumstances where that isn't the case!

Tristan (who opted for LinkedIn over Twitter) looked at language, and what happens when we see words as both language and a physical shape!

The result is something I'd expect to find in a @jackboxgames party pack!

waymaker.itch.io/experimental-w…
Lee (@LeeDickieGames) explored the use of Gyro controls for FPS games.

Stefan is another one that chose LinkedIn over Twitter, but he really caught everyone's eye with his experiment, exploring player character scale with an #AntManandTheWaspQuantumania -inspired prototype with a shrinking/growing character.

stefan-fisher.itch.io/scaling-mechan…
Vasilis asked "what if we combined every resource in a game - time, money, keys and Player Health"?

The result is a weird, taxing and addictive #speedrun prototype with an emphasis on planning under extreme pressure!

gcugames.itch.io/eg-22-23-gv
Noah(@Mr_Bean_Dip)'s concept for a #DnD #ttrpgs / location-based game system mash-up is a challenging dev task, but I'm pretty sure there's a really great product idea in there.

Danah (@Just_Danah_) looked forward by looking back, exploring what it was like to play games in the days before analogue controls and multiple buttons.

Lewis (@CultPigeon) might be onto something clever here ... a combination of @OfficialGoat's Supermarket Shriek-style voice input, but using light and spacial exploration, which results in something that feels like it could make a good horror game ...

Stefanos (@StefNtail) did what I'm amazed #CallofDutyModernWarfare2 didn't do, and explored that whole "reverse time bullet" concept from @TENETFilm!

Kai (@KQuern200) looked at the GamePad vs Mouse and Keyboard debate in FPS world and dared to ask: "Why not both?"

Jackson (@rriceby) used Unreal projectiles to teleport the player around the environment.

Marlon (@TheFieryChocobo) took the question "what if we held the controller differently?" and really ran with it, making this clever little pancake-flipping game!

Viktor (@viktorsuranyi92) looked ahead to VR's upcoming eye-tracking/blink detection and pushed past our assumptions about player experience to look at using blinking as an added input!

It sounds crazy, but it just might work ...

Chloe (@Mysticen12) flipped the preconception that players need to know controls ahead of time upside down, with some surprising results!

And that's it for the first round of Experimental Game Prototypes from my students!

I couldn't be a prouder teacher right now. They all deserve a comment, like or share, I think ...

And keep your eyes peeled, because they'll be back with more in just a few weeks!

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More from @alanjack

Alan Jack Profile picture
Sep 29, 2020
I cannot begin to tell how much #ADHD affected my relationships and led me to not only be hurt, but to hurt others.

But I can explain it, I think!

The problem is that "love" is, for most people, a combination of rational and creative thought. And that doesn't compute for me.
Most people combine the wild fantasies of cognitive brain with some rational filtering, separating out lust, romance, friendship and support.

But #ADHD robbed me of most rational thought. I was all cognitive, all the time!

And here's the kicker: this didn't invalidate my love.
To say "I thought I loved everyone that was in front of me in the moment, but I didn't really" isn't true. I felt that love.

When I made the decision to hold onto my (now) wife, it wasn't just "love" but a difficult, rational decision that she meant more to me than anything else
Read 5 tweets
Alan Jack Profile picture
Sep 27, 2020
Living in heterosexual cisgender land, I always wondered why queer narrative is always so much more sexualised.

It took me far too long to realise this is not just social conservatism in the mainstream. It's because patriarchal sexual narratives are predatory and uncomfortable.
Anything produced with "male gaze" is going to recreate the sensation of women as prizes/prey and men as hunters - even if the women are portrayed as strong.

Even if games allow you to superficially gender-swap your characters, they still subscribe to the hetero notion of "wins"
Most games that feature sexuality run into this problem. The "slot machine romance": do enough of my fetch quests, buy me enough presents, win me over.

From a narrative perspective, this is the heterosexual/cisgender model of dating. And it's creepy however you dress it up.
Read 7 tweets
Alan Jack Profile picture
Sep 24, 2020
I had a bitter self-loathing and frustration that wouldn't quit. I was trying everything to change but nothing would stick. Everyone kept telling me it just took willpower. I felt weak.

I was also not fun to live with. Always angry. Always annoyed. Often unreasonable.
Long story short my wife told me she was leaving if I didn't change. She loved me, she didn't hold a grudge, but it wasn't working.

At first I felt gaslit. I got angry, only proving the point more. Eventually, semi-reluctantly, I agreed to look at ADHD and Autism tests.
I began to see the patterns. I put up defences again. Internalised ableism kicked in, but eventually I had to admit there was something wrong that no amount of cognitive therapy or antidepressants was going to fix.
Read 4 tweets
Alan Jack Profile picture
Sep 23, 2020
People often say to me "you do a lot!" and I wonder if they're confused when I talk about executive disfunction and the inability to operate that comes with my #ADHD.

To clarify: I learned to work fast & hard in years before I was diagnosed, because some days I did NOTHING.
Before diagnosis and medication it was about 2-3 days out of 7 I would either look busy but achieve nothing, or hide in a corner so I could stare, frozen, at a blank screen for 8 hours. I'd go home anxious about deadlines and hate myself for my "weakness" and "lack of willpower".
I still have bouts of ED. Arguably they're worse, but shorter. When meds wear off (around 7pm-ish most days) my brain just SHUTS DOWN, but I've learned to cope with this. I have not, however, learned how not to work as though I might potentially lose 4 days per week ...
Read 4 tweets
Alan Jack Profile picture
Sep 7, 2020
Let's talk about this for a moment.

What do you see in this video?

It's easy to say "a bunch of thugs" or "idiots", but they came from somewhere. Something made them into this.

And it isn't as simple as being spoiled or selfish.
What I see here is emotion. The en masse, adult equivalent of a child's meltdown- not out if anger, but because they're filled with feelings and they don't know where to put them.

This is why we need to talk about mindfulness and mental health the same way we do physical health.
Young men, especially those raised in a sexist society of football and beer, are never taught to process emotions, good or bad. They keep it all inside, and then the explode into violent outbursts. When enough of them feel emotion together, this sort of scene happens.
Read 4 tweets
Alan Jack Profile picture
Aug 26, 2020
Now we're all waking up to the idea that the justice system needs reformed, it'll be interesting to see how people respond to The Batman.

I mean Nolan's Batman was basically a cop who gets to use toys to beat people up with anonymity. The police have their own masks and toys now
The trailer does seem to suggest he'll be fighting police corruption, but then it's suggesting we replace the police with ... more, tougher police, as long as they are coded to our perspective on justice (for now)?
I mean maybe they'll be Qing up something where they legit have Bats realise the folly of vigilantism, but that'll be for nothing if he doesn't retire immediately AND spend every cent of his Wayne inheritance rebuilding Gotham and ... well, that doesn't leave room for a sequel.
Read 4 tweets

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