dev log 15/08

After playing Hollow Knight and marveling at the intricate backgrounds, I went back to my project and switched the camera from Orthographic to Perspective.  I can't think of a single change which has affected the art style of my game as severely. 

I can maybe see the merits of an Orthographic camera in a pixel art game, to keep all the sprites at a single layer, and control the overlapping with the sprite renderer, but honestly, the Perspective camera really just helps the layers fall into place. 

Things in the far distance can be placed far back in the scene, and will subsequently follow the player in the background realistically - in the way a far-off mountain do seem to follow you. Similarly you have a non binary control over how fast things scroll past as you walk past them by setting them at different levels. 

The one challenge of this change is that the Unity 3D editor camera is not really designed for a 2D game. In 2D mode, the camera controls by clicking and dragging across, which is ace. it works perfectly. In 3D mode, the camera works like a first-person shooter, meaning you are kind of slowly strafing across the environment.

I wish you could lock the plane the camera sits for the editor, or alternatively maintain the 2D control, but see a perspective view. 

Regardless, I can kind of jerry-rig a solution by switching between the two cameras as needed. 

It just reminds me that Unity is fundamentally a 3D engine, and working in 2d within the engine is always working slightly uphill. 

AW principles draft

HIGHER LEVEL mechanics in RolePlay :

METAGAME : What is happening outside of the game, regarding the rules, the framing of scenes and what is plausable within the world.

STANCE : The position you take relative to the character and the world.

- ACTOR STANCE: A person determines a character's decisions and actions using only knowledge and perceptions that the character would have.

- AUTHOR STANCE: A person determines a character's decisions and actions based on the real person's priorities, then retroactively "motivates" the character to perform them. (Without that second, retroactive step, this is fairly called Pawn stance.)

- DIRECTOR STANCE : A person determines aspects of the environment relative to the character in some fashion, entirely separately from the character's knowledge or ability to influence events. Therefore the player has not only determined the character's actions, but the context, timing, and spatial circumstances of those actions, or even features of the world separate from the characters.


What is the CORE mechanics of AW.


AGENDA: The reasons you are playing the game.

THE PRINCIPLES: A list of things you should always be doing whenever you speak.

MC SOFT MOVES: The things the MC says to advance plot and prepair for hard moves.

MC HARD MOVES: The things the MC says to cause problems, complicate plots and illicit player choices.

2D6 + Modifier: The mechanic which resolves conflicts. It is essentially random, but can be affected by the modifing numbers STATS and RELATIONSHIPS.

CHARACTER : A character is a fictional entity the player chooses to embody for the duration of a roleplay. A character is made of several components.

STATS: The numbers which represent characters skills.

RELATIONSHIPS: The numbers which repersent a characters relationship with the other characters.

HARM: The number which represents damage to a character.

MOVES : MOVES are constructed from three parts which follow from each other linerly :
- TRIGGER : A sentence which describes some kind of action a player could take. If a player takes this action, they must roll 2d6 + Modifier.
- OUTCOMES: A set of possible results which can come from the character making the move. The player may choose a number of these outcomes basied on their RESULT POINTS. 
-RESULT POINTS: A number which represents the amount of outcomes a player can take at the resolution of the move.

CHARACTER BASIC MOVES: A list of events which are triggered by players which require a roll to determine the result. It typically takes the form of :
- When you take an action that risks failure or opposition, roll with one of
the basic stats.
-On a 10+, you succeed at your goal. As appropriate, the MC might award you: resource points, harm dealt, or a bonus to carry forward.
-On a 7-9, the MC will ofer you a hard bargain or a cost. If you agree to that hard bargain or cost, you succeed at your goal (and as appropriate, the MC might award you resource points, harm dealt, or a bonus to carry forward).

CHARACTER SPECIAL MOVES: A move specfic to the character that player is playing.
These moves typically take the form of :
- When you do something relating to [specialty], add +1.
- You have the ability to [do some sort of active special power]. It counts
as a basic move using [stat].
- You have [some passive special power that has a constant efect].
- You have a [thing]. When applicable, it adds +1 to [stat] and [stat].
- When you do [specialty], mark XP.
- Add +1 to [stat].

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP MOVES: A move which affects another character using the relationship stat. It typically modifies another player's dice roll; increasing or decreasing the result. It might take the form of :
- When you help someone or hinder them, roll your relationship stat with
that person. On a 10+, add or subtract 2 from their roll. On a 7-9, the MC
will name a cost; if you accept the cost, add or subtract 2 from their roll.

THINGS: A notation on an index card. Each item should have printed on it
- A Name
- What it does (including damage amounts / special effects / tags)
- How much 'Barter' it is worth
- How many uses it has.

TAG: A property which is held by an object, person, creature or landscape and has relevance on the fiction.

BARTER: An abstract notation of how much money you have. Can be represented with pokerchips or some other physical counter. If you have NO BARTER in front of you, you are probably in trouble.
- 1 Barter is like enough to stay of the street and fed, for a month. (if you live cheap).
- 2 Barter is like enough for a fancy weapon or some crazy tech.
- 3 Barter is like enough for vehical, a good bribe for a top offical, enough to live wealthy for a month.
- 4 Barter is like enough for a small place, or to hire a gang or somthing.


PROCESS

1. DECIDE WHAT WE ARE GONNA PLAY: Everyone gives a theme or description of what they want to play. This is your chance to sell your theme on its own.

While thinking of these ideas, consider Nouns, Abstract Nouns and Verbs. What kind of things and people are in this world (Nouns), what kind of tone or concepts are you dealing with (Abstract Nouns) and what kind of actions are taking place(Verbs).

After everyone has explained their themes, we should take a vote. Dont vote for your own theme. I break ties.

The other themes must choose after if they want to combine thier themes together with the winner or keep their theme for a later game.


2. DRAW A MAP. A map of the space we will inhabbit is drawn out roughly in pencil.

3. STUFF. We gather the index cards, and give everyone like a few. You can write anything on these cards, a character concept, or a place or a specific building, or an item. Whatever.

4. CHARACTERS. A Specific Index card is a character index card. We should keep these seperate from the other cards. You do not nessosarily write your character, but write a few characters which could exist. Then you guys should pick some characters.

The characters left behind are spares in case someone dies.

5. FLAVOR, RELATIONSHIPS ECT Think a little about your characters and talk amongst yourselves and i will write out some rules and stuff on my own about this and that.

Ask your character questions about the other players in the game.


/// QUOTES AND NOTES ///

"I suggest that genuinely helpful, teaching-oriented text that does not fall into synecdoche ("real role-players," etc) would be a tremendous benefit to presenting straightforwardly Simulationist games. Such text would include methods for GMs to prepare scenarios from a fully-metagame perspective - which is to say, the ideal of the book "being play" would have to be lost temporarily - as well as methods for the GM's work during character creation itself. Furthermore, this text would have to be practical and compelling to players in a way that "All character creation is subject to the approval of the GM" is not - for instance, it would inspire players to avoid the paladin-assassin problem on their own, during the creation of the first characters rather than the second ones. "
-
Simulationism: The Right to Dream
by Ron Edwards
2003-01-29
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/15/

One Punch!

An experimental hack of any superhero game.

The objective of this game is to understand the nature of 'balance'.




A high level challange for a GM.

One player is One Punch Man. He now wins every fight with just one punch.

Ontop of that, he is the fastest and strongest character.

Everyone else just rolls normal characters.

 MAKE COMPELLING!

Risks

1. One Punch Man becomes bored. Playing a game where you win constantly is not fun because no fight has any drama or challange.

2. The other players hate One Punch Man. Playing a game where you are constantly sidelined and unnessosary is deppressing.

3. The GM hates One Punch Man because he destroys all the stakes in his game.

4. The GM changes the entire nature of the game to never have fights or direct confrontation.

Optimum

1. The GM highlights the existential angst of One Punch Man. The game becomes about finding purpose.

2. The GM highlights both the alienation of One Punch Man from the rest of the world, and the resentment that others feel to One Punch Man.

3. The GM finds new methods of telling stories which depart from rote drama from advercity.

4. The GM still has respect for the character concept and genre, yet mananges to find a balancing mechanism from the narrative.

Dine With Cash!

WHAT THIS IS

This is a Nordic style larp based on the UK series 'Come Dine With Me'.

It's a comedy larp, meant for 4 goofy short sessions, intended to be played while drunk/drinking.

WHAT YOU NEED

pens
index cards
4 friends
A kitchen (optional)
Another room to eat in- preferably with a table, chairs, knives and forks. (optional)
Ingredients to cook a delicious dinner party meal (optional).

The objective of the game is to lose the game of 'Come Dine With Me' by being the worst host/dinner party guest.

The guests are trying to make the host seem like a great guy, and the host is trying to make himself look like satan incarnate.

RULES

1.  If the conversation goes bad - or someone says something you find actually offensive, say the phrase "[real name here] - why not try that again".  People playing these games can get carried away, and sometimes just a gentle nod can move the game back to where you want it to be.
2. Yes and, no but. Do not resist the fiction, if someone says something about your character unless it's disprovable untrue, go with it.
3. Similarly, if you do not know something about your character, and you are asked it, make it up!
4. None of your characters are criminals or have done anything illegal. Or at least, they won't admit it on TV. They can really look like a murderer, or have a suspiciously large amount of counterfeit cigarette boxes, or make regular trips to the door to swap packages for money with the various people from the neighborhood, but they cannot admit to a crime on the show.
5. To ensure proper engagement, the producers of the show have asked all the guests to roll on this chart 3 times. If they do not know the answers to the questions, for each guest by the end of the show, they are disqualified.

   1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
  2.  If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
   3. What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?
    4. When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why?
   5. Who is your hero? (a parent, a celebrity, an influential person in one’s life)
    6. What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer?
    7. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you?
    8. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why?
    9. What’s your favorite cartoon character, and why?
    10. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why
    11. What’s the ideal dream job for you?
    12. Are you a morning or night person?
   13. What are your favorite hobbies?
    14. What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike?
   15. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
    16. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family.
    17. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
    18. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be…
    19. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?
    20. If I could be anybody besides myself, I would be…


STEP 1 CHARACTER CREATION:

Everyone gets together and writes the worst traits of a dinner party guest on index cards. Make it a sentence. For instance "Always wants to talk about the novel they are writing "
"Seems to be completely illiterate - but gets irate if anyone brings it up "
"Can't take any kind of criticism without breaking down into hysterical fits of tears"
"Creepy obsessed with John Wilks Booth"
Write about 40 odd cards, between the four of you. Talk about some, but keep some as a surprise. Then turn them to face down.

You pick up 4 cards randomly. If you hate your hand, throw it away and pick up more. It doesn't really matter.  So long as you end up with 4 cards it's fine.

You then describe your appearance, any other details you wish to elaborate on.

Throughout this process, ensure your character is completely different from you!

If you are a man, be a woman. If you are gay, you are now straight. If you are fat, you are now thin. If you are loud and boisterous, you are now boring and timid. This is important, because if the character is you, then you are just going to spend the evening getting trashed, and that's no fun.

You must stick to the intent of the cards.

Decide who will go first to host.

The host then gets to decide what hilarious costumes they want everyone to come dressed in.

STEP 2: BEFORE THE FOOD

The game starts when the first guest arrives.

Hopefully in the kind of hilarious and thoroughly appropriate outfit that one would naturally want to meet a group of strangers in.

Once all the guests arrive, the host can start cooking.

Player Tip: make sure you use this time to trash the menu, the other party goers and the decor of the room you are in.

Player Tip: make sure you get inappropriately drunk before the food is served.

The 'Come Dine With Me' crew must approve of the menu before you start cooking and after you have finished, ensuring you have not poisoned anyone and that you stick to dietary requirements.  Other than that, the food can be as bad as you want. Just
keep in mind, you and your friends will have to probably eat it in real life.

STEP 3: DINNER!

You eat dinner. The guests ask each other questions, and give answers, just like strangers who are having a dinner party. Except everyone is furiously writing notes and asking questions, all while pretending to be bastards, and pretending that each other are saints.



Frame the Scene!

The host gets to decide what their living room and kitchen look like. What visible props are lying around, what is the decor, how does it smell. Use that power and be vivid.

"When we were looking around your house, we found this thing"!

 Everyone gets one thing they can show the host, that they 'found lying around the house' which immediately becomes true.

They might find your Nobel peace prize. Or your litter of cute puppies. Or that check you wrote out to 'The needy'. It's your job to quickly explain why you are still a bastard.

Cutaway!

If a player points to another player, makes a square with their finger around the players face, and says aloud "CUTAWAY!" then they are calling for a cutaway interview.

A player may also nominate themselves for a cutaway, by pointing at their own face and saying "CUTAWAY" but the rest of the group must majority consent for this to happen by saying 'Yes'

The nominated character must monologue what they are thinking and feeling as if filmed in a cutaway interview while holding their fingers in a square gesture over their face. Use this opportunity to hammer home some home truths, the kind of thing which you wouldn't say to someone's face.

The Entertainment.
At the end of every night, its time for the host to do his entertainment. Do you have no idea how to play the saxophone? then maybe enthrall your guests with a quick improvised melody.


STEP 4: THE VOTE!

It is an open vote, and other players can contest. They can say for instance "HEY I had a great time at your meal dick head, the food was fucking divine, and the conversation was fucking enthralling. I was the fucking shit one mate, i said all that weird inappropriate stuff about this guys mom! "

At the end, everyone gives everyone who isnt them a number from one to ten. The person with the least votes wins, and gets the victory moment of standing up and having a hissy fit over not winning a thousand pounds.

A Game Baised on Junji Ito Books

I just spent this afternoon messing about with an idea for an Unumaki game which tried to simulate the falling apart of a small town. This is like the first draft or somthing. I litearlly did this in like a day, so feel free to take it apart, or steal parts of it for your own thing if you see anything worthwhile.

It would be cool to get a credit, but I honestly dont care. Its just a quick and dirty idea. Ideas are cheap.

Play this just once.

What you need:
You and up to four other friends.
One plays as the GM.

What it is:
It is a narrative game. The focus is telling a spooky story with some friends. This means that part of the play is matching the narrative to the rules.

The point of the game is to find out if 5 friends can use rules and improvisation to generate a Junji Ito style cosmic horror
which is actually scary and unsettling, without any prep.

I got inspired to do this by reading a whole bunch of Ito books, but also when I was a kid we used to go up Bruton Park, and try and shit each other up, talking about ghosts and sanity, playing with the form of the conversation to imply one of us belived it too much. 


PreGens

The Obsessive Child
- You see patterns, inside patterns, and you can just glimpse the truth. Why is it that others seem to look at you like your insane when you try and explain it to them?

The Slum Child - You live in the old rowhouse, in squalor and filth. The houses are pressed
together and the walls are paper thin. Maybe that's why you strike out at others?

The Beautiful Child - You have always been attractive, popular and wealthy; most of the lesser then thous will bend over backward to do your bidding. what could ever go wrong?

The Slow Child - You have always struggled with social interactions, and the bullies constantly
mock you because of it. When will somebody finally stand up to those creeps?

The Cursed Child - A lot of people call you 'creepy' but you just have a sense of humor. Why does nobody else get the gag?



Stages of the town's collapse


1. The Smoke Gathering
- A single traumatic event occurs.
- A grim omen of things to come ominously hovers over the town.

2. The Mysterious Deaths
-Deaths occur all around the small town.
-Most are focused on our principle protagonists
-Wierd commonalities between the circumstances of the deaths.

3. The Plague
- The rowhouses are hit hardest, with bodies turning up every week.
- The richer families attempt to block off the rowhouses, fearing to tread there.
- Attempts to escape the town seem to be futile

4. The Swarms
- Something mundane, and every day, which surrounds us, suddenly turns against us.
- Many prefer to stay indoors
- Those who go out, or who are forced out have to adapt to the new conditions, changing clothing, means of transport and
housing.

5. The Changes
- Some fundamental rules of nature are becoming uprooted.
- Buildings are destroyed and social structures unravel.
- The survivors adapt again to the new conditions, struggling to eek out an existence in the new conditions.
- The fallen now start to take their place.

6. The Transformation
- Most who were once fighting, are now subsumed, changed beyond recognition, or dead.
- The last survivors either struggle against complete dread and horror, go insane, or kill themselves.

7. The Unraveling
- Now we can see the town's true form, and what it always was.

PLAYING AS A PLAYER

You describe what you are doing. If it sounds like you are performing a move, roll to determine how well you do.

In this game, you can modify a roll with :

1. Your emotional state
2. The stuff you have
3. The people you love

If you can bring to bare either one or more of these things to the problem at hand, you add to the chance of doing well.
Every time you bring a stat into a contest, however, you risk losing something in return. 

1. Your Emotional State.

Think of this as your character wrestling between hope and despair.

When you make a roll, the GM will ask you how your character is feeling about the situation. If your characters emotions
chime with any of these following emotional states, you add the characters respective modifier to the roll.

If you are successful on the roll, it represents the character overcoming some emotional hurdle and pushing forward. You
must cross off one point from the emotional state - the lowest being 0.

If you Fail a roll, you have not overcome your fears. You must add the emotional state value to your characters despair.

On top of that, the emotional state value increases by one.

If you fail, you get better at succeeding in the future, but the results of future failure increase.

Sucess is its own reward, but you also the results of future failure also drops.

Unless expressly told, all emotional states start at 1. Each act, they increase by 1.

Horror: The creeping feeling of dread surrounding you. 

Anxiety: The fear of social rejection, personal failure, humiliation and isolation.

Anger: The hatred you feel for what has happened, and the unfairness of life.

Turmoil: The disorientation you feel when you fail to understand this new reality.

Dispair: Dispair represents how close you are to giving up. It cant be used on rolls. If Dispair reaches max, you lose.

2. The Stuff you have

If a piece of Stuff is relevant to a particular move, it increases your chances of success by at least 1, possibly more.

A Character can only hold a few bits of Stuff, so you should ensure you take the relevant Stuff when you go. (take a flashlight to a dark environment, a gun to a dangerous environment, etc etc.)

3. The People you love

As you play, you will define other characters which have relationships with you. Their expertise or skill or even just
their physical presence or calming influence can help you succeed on a roll.

When you create a new NPC, you must come up with a name for them, and a career. You may also add up to two hobbies or interests
they have. (Professor Ito, my teacher at the college, his hobby is collecting flies and bugs, I am sure he can help us!). These
hobbies and interests must fit the setting, or be explained.

Once an NPC is created, you must roll for a relationship value. (+1 - +6). A created NPC is now GM fiat and can be used in the
story in any capacity.

If a person you have a relationship with is in the scene or can be brought into a scene, they can increase your chances of success by + their relationship value.

Failing a roll with a person you have with you will cause your relationship to degrade by 1.

PLAY

The game has 7 acts.

Each act is comprised of 3 short scenes for each character playing.

These scenes should be a hook, an investigation and a reveal of whatever mystery is being looked into.

If the scenes take longer then ten minutes, you are being too slow.


2. Your second job is oppression.



Generating Threats


The ecological fear in this game is being swallowed, becoming a part of something greater than you. something terrifying and unnatural.

The town is becoming something different, the people within it are being consumed to serve a greater whole or unity.


Mysteries.

A mystery is a simple statement, a sentence, which if true, has wider implications. What those wider implications are is unknown to the GM at the start of the game.

The way this works is each mystery which isn't resolved, or which doesn't kind of naturally fall off, is doubled down on, and escalated.

Naturally, the mysteries begin to draw together, as the Players begin to fixate on details.


We are playing with Shuichi who is playing the Obsessive Child, Azami who is playing the Beautiful Child and Katayama who is playing the Slow Child

Act 1. The Gathering Smoke.
Scene 1. Shuichi's Dad.
The GM frames a scene with the three children walking home from school. 

While walking the three discover Shuichi's Dad counting the paving stones outside his house. The characters interact with the man, and the scene is unsettling.

The GM asks "Hey, Shuichi, have you noticed anything else weird about your dad recently?"

 After Shuichi goes into the house, we carry on following Azami and Katayama.

At a quiet moment, the GM prompts, by asking "hey, Azami, Are you angry that Katayama hasn't been keeping up with the homework he usually does for you?"