Leaderboard

I mean sure, it kinda feels like they're stealing the concept of the lego movie, but I mean, come on, there's no way they- wait wait x-files music plays

One thing I forgot to cover in detail in my previous blog entry was regarding how my game fits into the 6m core values of the LEGO company. Once again, this is all just generalisation at this stage, but since it's part of the reason I'm making this game (to make a LEGO game which actually matches all the values), I need to address them in some capacity. The 6 Core Values: Imagination: It's important that kids can have enough freedom to express their ideas and develop their understanding of the world through the power of clever thinking and imagination. In my game, since there's no "action" mechanics that force kids into a fast-paced, deconstructive mindset, I can have the players invest a lot of the game time in their own minds, thinking about the way the world works and possible solutions to the problems they will encounter. The game very much is about asking the player to imagine what happened, and the simulation mode lets players play with their imagination based on what they find. Creativity: While Imagination focuses on the player bringing their unique view of the world to the game, Creativity is more about how the player can express their ideas and make impactful choices. In this game, every choice (such as collection items or playing a chain-of-events in simulator mode) has clear feedback on if it will help, hinder or distract towards your end goal. While there will always be one right/best solution, it's going to be key to still reward the player for any successful progress they did make and inspire them, rather than scold them, into trying out new ideas. The end ranking system will need to take this into account. Fun: LEGO nailed it when they stated that Fun comes through Mastery; that is, we enjoy when we learn and feel the rush of progression and succession. I feel as though the mechanics lend themselves to a very clear teaching experience about consequences and understanding the butterfly effect. With a strong feedback loop in place, players should always feel as though their actions inside the game are getting them somewhere, whether that be closer or further away from discovering what exactly happened at each scene. Learning: While this could practically be the same thing as Fun, I instead wish to treat this more towards the actual tutorial/skill-building process. Not everybody will understand how cars falls apart when hit at certain angles when they first start out, which is why my game will need to incorporate some native, subtle hints within the mechanics and design of each scene. As a simple example, the simple use of lighting and colour can make more important items stand-out, guiding newer players towards the key evidence they may not be aware they need. Caring: This value isn't going to be present so much inside the mechanics of the game itself as just the overall design goals of the game. By listening very carefully to Jon Blow's message about the human condition and the ethics of game design, I will be ensuring that players of this game aren't wasting their time on crap, but will actually have a deep and meaningful game experience with substance to enjoy. Quality: Ultimately, this will be the biggest challenge. By setting minimum technical and design standards and keeping myself hostage to this blog, I can overcome some of the typical problems in keeping consistent, high quality throughout a project, but it's going to take a lot of organisation and effort to really make it sink in, especially if others come on-board for this project. It's all very vague and mysterious at this point, but as I carve a clearer picture of this game in the coming weeks, these values will start to be nailed down to very specific elements of the game design.

The biggest deal with Templar's update here is their original synopsis for the chapter. It elaborates on some things that are only implicit in the game. For example, Jala says something in passing that implies he isn't fond of the Ko-Koronans and keeps an eye on them, but the synopsis takes things way further: I love this. Jala, the stuck-up military mastermind who is married to practicality, probably hates those monks and their mystic, meditative lifestyle and thinks it's all the work of the devil. MNOG is really the only bionicle thing to brush on bonkle racism in a mature capacity and adds a lot to the world. You can see why he'd think like that because the game characterizes Ta-Koro and Ko-Koro are these far-off places from each other with distinct cultures and lifestyles. Also, you know, Fire vs Ice. Of course there would be tensions between them. It's a shame pretty much every other Bionicle story outlet relegates villages to kindergartens the Toa have to keep safe because THE CHILDREN MATORAN The script also decidedly refers to Takua/George as The Visitor. Tales of the Tohunga, the GBA game with Takua's name in it, was only a month out from release, so this raises a few questions. The Kini Nui is also referred to by an early name, the Temple of Legend. The synopsis also plays up the hunter aspect of Ko-Koronan lifestyle - it describes Takua overcoming various traps in order to reach Ko-Koro. The end of the synopsis also begins to suggest where the game would have gone if the PC game hadn't been cancelled, forcing MNOG to shoulder the burden of carrying the Toa's story to the finish line. Apparently the entire population of the island would have evacuated to the Kini Nui - this is pretty surprising to me, at most I expected the only difference would have been an expansion of the final minigame - the dialogue pretty clearly indicates it was supposed to be larger. I basically have MNOG memorized at this point which turns out to be pretty helpful when you are reading through a copy of the script posted by the developers! There are a few interesting differences: Jala Reply 2 Script Game Matoro/Nuju Reply 1 Script Game This is interesting! First off we have some classic Wairuha/Akamai confusion, something Templar seemed to slip up with a lot. More importantly, it looks like Akamai originally embodied Spirit, not Valor. Neat. But do you know what is even more interesting? Replies 1-2 and 1-3. When I read them in the script I knew right away I had never seen them before, but I checked and there they were in the files. To verify, I went to the dialogue in-game and, sure enough, they weren't there. This actually isn't the first time I've come across bits of replies in the files that don't show up in-game - however, unlike the other instance, which is the result of a bug, this appears to be intentional. The lines are actually turned off by the preceding code. I'd guess that they wanted to pare things down a bit to stay in keeping with the brevity of Ko-Koronans in general - a good call I think. Its cool to see more genuine article MNOG lines but these don't really add anything or say anything that isn't already said, implicitly or otherwise. Here's another section of dialogue that was cut out: It's possible there are other cut bits of script hanging around the MNOG files still. I'll probably go hunting for them someday.