Zombie Makeover Day!

It's been a while since I've posted, mainly because I've dropped some research in favor of jumping into actually creating my game. Without further ado, here's some of what I've been doing:

I'm making a zombie apocalypse game, so where are the zombies?! I searched Creative Commons and found a really nice drawing that would work for my zombie game pieces.

Isn't it cool how this...

...turned into these?

I needed to color code them as a part of their artificial intelligence, the way I'm making them move around the board and "chase" the player characters. The basics of that are six differently-colored pawns from another board game that correlate to 6 colored parts on a spinner wheel. The zombies all start from the middle of the board and head to a specific location (building) that's color-coded to match their color. Once the zombie gets there, the players spin the spinner and move the pawn, indicating the zombie's next target location.

I figured that the zombies' speed should be 3 spaces, since that is the average roll on a 6-sided die. The human players should move the zombies to their locations via the shortest route.

So yes, the players are responsible for moving their own character pieces as well as the zombie opponents around the board. It's a bit clunky and slow but so far it's the best I can come up with for a randomized way to make the zombies roam. It will probably take some further testing.

More on that in a few posts!

Capstone Research: Heny Ellington's "How to Design Educational Games and Simulations"

Today's research was about something different than the last few posts. Instead of researching theory about games and culture or the societal effects of video games, I read about when it is appropriate to design a new card, board, or role-playing game and some ways to go about it.

Ellington's article deals with creating a game for educational purposes, but the overall principles he writes about work for my zombie-themed board game as well.

In the first part of his article, Ellington makes the point that it is not always necessary to create a whole new game. He argues that sometimes it is more prudent and cost-effective to use a game that already exists or tweak another person's idea rather than start from scratch. This may be true in the realm of education, and could work in my case, however, the audience Ellington writes for is not getting a grade for their game.

Ellington writes that once the need for a new game is established, the content of the game should be chosen. He gives the example of a chemistry simulation for a science classroom in which students can better understand different types of chemical reactions as one possibility for game content. Ellington also mentions that game content may be much more broad and abstract. Things such as interpersonal skills, interpretation of the ideas of others, and decision making skills could be the focus of content for other games.

I already have my content chosen, but I could use Ellington's descriptions to fine-tune what I have brainstormed already and narrow some things down.

The next step in the process of game creation, according to Ellington, is choosing a format for the game. Ellington describes four main formats:

• Simple manual exercise: This type of game or simulation does not involve the use of cards, boards, or computers. The only materials needed are role assignment sheets and a sheet describing the objective(s) of the game. This is a role-playing exercise.
• Card game: This game or simulation involves the use of a specialized pack or packs of cards.
• Board game: In this type of game or simulation, players use a specially designed surface (game board).
• Computer-based exercise: This game or simulation involves the use of a computer. (Ellington describes it in some really old-school terms. This was published in 1987.)

In regards to these formats, Ellington writes, "In choosing the format for your exercise, your aim should be to decide which of the various possible formats would be best suited to serve as a vehicle for achieving your selected design outcomes, using the content that you have provisionally selected, and bearing in mind the constraints of your individual situation". Basically, Ellington is telling his colleagues to choose the game format that will best suit their content and goals, but not to get ahead of themselves in what they can do. He makes the point that no matter how much someone might like to make a computer game, if they do not have the knowledge or the programming skills to make one, it's not worth their time and effort to do so.

Ellington goes on to discuss different structures for how players interact and how gameplay will flow. He provides useful diagrams for each type of structure. Choosing this is the next step in creating a game.

Ellington also discusses prototyping, a step that I will definitely need to take before I make the final version of my game.

I learned a lot from this article and will definitely be referring back to it throughout this project.

Citation:

Ellington, Henry. "How to Design Educational Games and Simulations. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 19." (1987): 1-19. Http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED289502.pdf. ERIC. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.

Usability Matters

Until reading Jakob Nielsen's Usability 101: Definition and Fundamentals, I had never heard the term "usability". Usability was something I had dealt with before in my own visiting websites, and I had experienced sites with poor usability as well as those with good usability.

Usability itself was a something I'd encountered, but never given much thought to. Now that I'm making my own website, it's something I need to be aware of because it does have an impact on visitors to a site.

The priniciples of usability as put forth by Nielsen make sense. They're easy to comprehend and it can be understood why these principles of usability--and moreover usability itself--are so crucial to web design.

I also liked how Nielsen was candid with the reader about why it is important to put the time and effort into usability testing for their company's website. He mentioned something that has been very true (at least in my experience with poorly designed websites): If they don't get what they need easily, users will leave your site.

Nielsen writes,"There's no such thing as a user reading a website manual or otherwise spending much time trying to figure out an interface. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the first line of defense when users encounter a difficulty". That's one of the benefits, and in this case drawbacks, of the Internet. There's such a wealth of knowledge out there that the answer to one question can be found in probably hundreds of other places.

I read an article about the multiple attempts to re-vamp the Georgia Tech Library's website. I found the article, "Redesigning for Usability: Information Architecture and Usability Testing for Georgia Tech Library's Website" on EBSCOhost through the Shepherd University library, but read the full-text PDF file from another site.


In this article, authors Heather Jeffcoat King and Catherine M. Jannik discuss the changes made to the Georgia Tech Library website beginning with the website's design in 2002. In between pages of the article, there are screen shots of the library website's homepage at different major intervals. The authors discuss the changes made and the processes of usability testing along each stage, and the screen shots helped me understand the progress better than just trying to picture the changes in my head. Figure 1 on page 3 shows a boring and confusing list of services for users to guess which one to go to, whereas Figure 3 on page 4 shows a more visually appealing homepage with the links from the list in Figure 1 neatly organized into a sidebar.


The article concluded with a statement that this project is ongoing, and that although the library's website has improved (an understatement!) Georgia Tech does not consider this the end. There are plans for more testing and incorporating the university's Digital Initiatives department into the current library site (King 7).

Citation:

King, Heather J., and Catherine M. Jannik. "Redesigning for Usability: Information Architecture and Usability Testing for Georgia Tech Library's Website." OCLC Systems & Services 21.3 (2005): 235-43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Jan. 2011. .

Decisions, Decisions..!

Here I am, in what is hopefully my actual last semester. It's time to grow up, buckle down, and do this whole school thing one more time. With senior year comes Senior Capstone class, a time to show off my best work from years past and top the whole thing off with one awesome project of my choice this semester.

I was going to take Capstone last semester, but with 18 credits besides Capstone, I didn't really have time or room in my schedule to dedicate enough time and effort to my project that time.

One thing that remains from my first attempt at Capstone is my idea for my project. I was going to do a research report on news consumption in the young adult demographic (roughly ages 18-35). I felt (and still feel) that this is an important topic since my career goal is to be a newspaper journalist once I graduate.

I still have a PowerPoint presentation that lays the foundation for my research project, and I went over some things with Kevin, who I had chosen as my director. I was going to do some reading about how politics and news interact, as well as the influence of the Internet on news reporting techniques. I was going to do a survey of Shepherd students...this was going to be a lot of work, but it would be practical.

In class on Monday, all of that started to look less attractive. Monica brought up the idea of having fun one more time with all of the cool things I've learned in my communications classes, which I think is a really good point. When can I make a graphic novel, animated short, or music video again?

My new idea is a board game, but not just any board game. It's a zombie hunter board game...way cooler than Monopoly or Chutes and Ladders. I took the game design class when it was still done in Flash, so I think doing it as a board game will be less of a pain in the butt, and I have more control and creative power if I can physically reach in and touch the materials and move them around.

So now I'm torn. Should I do my old idea about news? I probably have more already done and I can pick up where I left off, but now I feel like that's boring and working on it could feel like pulling teeth later on in the semester. It's practical and useful, and it would be good to do since I already have an idea and a good start. It's just so...academic.

Should I do the board game? I have never really studied game design or game theory, since most of my time in game design class was spent alternately scratching my head in confusion and wanting to punch a hole in the computer screen. I feel like it could be fun and challenging. On the down side, it is going to be a pain to put the final thing together nicely, and I am still going to have to research. I can't just drop a board game on a table at the end of the semester.

I'm leaning towards zombie hunter board game for now, but I still feel bad about leaving my news project behind.

HELP!

TSR Powers Up

In the wake of the crusade against RPGs brought on by Pat Puller and BADD, the RPG industry was recovering, but definitely not down for the count. The adversity that the gaming community had faced brought players closer together, and the publicity resulting from the events surrounding the alleged "D&D Suicides" brought the game into the public eye.

While still under pressure from the non-gaming community, role-playing clubs and conventions became more popular for those who shared the hobby. According to this article , Frank Metzer of TSR created the gaming society RPGA in 1980.
The Role Playing Games Association (RPGA) promoted quality group role-playing, using (of course) TSR's line of RPG products. Events featured Advanced D&D (AD&D), espionage-themed RPG Top Secret, and sci-fi RPG Gamma World. By the late 1980s, the RPGA used RPGs by other publishers, but the RPGA was one way that TSR ensured its success in the RPG market.

D&D and AD&D were still popular, but TSR wanted to make sure that the company and its products remained ahead of the competition. The designers of AD&D soon realized that they were creating the same worlds over and over again. If this were to keep happening, other RPGs such as FASA's 1982 Star Trek RPG would outsell TSR's products.

This did not happen, as Astinus mentions in RPG History Part 4. Instead TSR decided to design new worlds and release novels based on the worlds at the same time new game supplements would hit stores. TSR used staff writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, whose names are now well known in the fantasy genre, to breathe more life into the worlds of AD&D. A series called The DragonLance Chronicles resulted, and gained D&D massive popularity. Shortly after the series's 1984 release, it became the first fantasy series to make the New York Times bestseller list, and sold over three million copies worldwide since release.

Twelve D&D campaigns were written based on the novels. By the 1989, TSR had broken not only the industry's records but its own in sales of books and game supplements--twice!

Now that TSR is doing very well again, next time RPGs in other genres will be the topic of discussion.

Role-Playing's "Golden Age", Part 2: Culture, Conventions, and Criticism

While the RPG industry was flourishing commercially, role-playing as a type of gaming sub-culture was emerging along with it. In the same vein as wargames and science fiction, role-playing had found its niche in society, however small. Amateur and professional magazines were abundant, and a gaming mindset was created. According to the article "History of Role-Playing Part III", slang, gaming jargon, and in-jokes became common, since, like the gaming sessions themselves, the hobby of role-playing produced a strong sense of cameraderie within it and a need to isolate those outside of it.

Conventions were set up so gamers could communicate and collaborate. The first GenCon, a gaming enthusiast's convention, was held in 1978. The information for this year's GenCon 2010 is available, and it looks to be an exciting event! (I'm almost considering going, myself...) At conventions, role-playing gamers learned that they were not alone in their interests, and experienced an environment where they could feel confident and assured about their hobby. Publishing companies grew larger because their audiences had grown as well.

With role-playing at a cult status, the hobby had stability, which allowed writers and designers of RPGs to explore alternate venues of game design. Fantasy had been more or less exhausted, and science fiction was still in the works. Superhero games were published--Superhero 44 and Villains & Vigilantes. Crime RPGs got their start with Gangster!, a game based on movies like Scarface and Bonnie and Clyde.

Dungeons & Dragons was still popular, and the Advanced version of the game now came in three volumes: the Player's Guide, which held the class, racial features, and other information for players to create characters; the Dungeon Master's (DM's) Guide, which was helped someone create game worlds and rules to host a game for their friends; and finally the Monster Manual, the book full of big fantasy beasts and creatures for the characters to encounter and engage in battles with. D&D still does things this way today, but there will be a post on modern RPGs sometime in the future.

With the history of RPGs, just as with all histories throughout time, good things must come to an end. "History of Role Playing Part IV" discusses how, in the case of RPG history, the "Golden Age" was interrupted by tragedy. In August 1979 at Michigan State University, student James Dallas Egbert III (aka Dallas Egbert) ran away from the school intent on killing himself. He left a convoluted note that mentioned steam vents under the university and D&D, which he played avidly. Dallas did not kill himself at this time, and was found by a private detective.

During the case investigation, there was a terrible mistake. Irresponsible journalism as well as confusion by authorities spread a false story that D&D was responsible for Dallas's disappearance. Dallas commited suicide the next year, and gave birth to the story of the first "D&D" suicide, although it was known that he was under pressure as a child prodigy (he was enrolled in college at the age of 16), an alleged drug addict, and mentally unstable.

Although facts were few and mundane, the story of Dallas Egbert quickly exploded into myth, and D&D became a media scapegoat, being presented as a dangerous, cult-like activity that threatened children. After another suicide blamed on D&D, Pat Pulling, the mother of the victim, created the society BADD (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons). Pulling brought a propaganda war against RPGs, including distribution of flyers and pamphlets, appearances on radio and TV talk shows, and live protests.
In 1984, Darren Molitor was on tirial for the muder of a girl which occurred while he was acting out a Halloween prank. Pulling, along with BADD, was able to convince him that D&D was controlling his actions, and that he was under the game's occult influences at the time of the event.

BADD may have fought dirty, but the RPG industry and its fans and followers fought back. Eventually the "Golden Age" continued.

Ta-daaaah!

Hello again everybody! After quite a long sabbatical from blogging (shame on me!), here I am again to share the wonders of Flash Game class and what I'm learning. First off, the paper prototype was pretty much a success, and I'm busy busy busy today in class. A lot of loose ends are to be tied up today. Right now, a lot of thought and planning are going into my game. The paper prototype video should help demonstrate how my game works.

So, without further ado...

Next up should be another post on my research topic... for those of you who don't remember, it's about the history and evolution of RPGs. That will probably be published at some point today or this evening. Feels great to be blogging again!

Everyone Knows I'm In Over My Head!

Well, here I am in Flash Games class after a day off on Thursday for a meeting, and I found out some rather unsettling news. The game based on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that has been my assignment all semester is approaching its kickoff--fast! I'm not too worried, since I already blogged a few months ago about my idea for the game. I'm sticking with my Vegetannual quiz game idea, and I hope it works. The biggest problems I can see ahead are writing the questions and answers and programming the game. I already learned how to make a simple action game, but I have the feeling that making an interactive quiz might be more difficult.

A week from today, the paper prototype is due. Paper prototyping is just what it sounds like: the game concept mapped out on sheets of paper. I was confused about it at first, but after watching the helpful video, the idea made a much more sense. Here's hoping I can do this, and keep my cool!

More Research-- D&D and its Spin-offs

Once Dungeons & Dragons had become relatively popular, it was only natural that other companies would publish their own spin-offs and versions of the game. Today's post is a look at some of these, with most of the information from the History of Roleplaying, Part II article referenced last time.

• Tunnels and Trolls (St. Andre, 1975): Created by Ken St Andre, T&T is very similar to its counterpart D&D, but the most interesting point between the two games are their differences. T&T's rules relied on 6-sided dice rolls for just about everthing, whereas in D&D, there are all different shapes of dice, from 4 sides up to 20-sided. T&T's combat and spell tables were well presented and clear for players to understand. The final difference between the two games is that Tunnels and Trolls was built to be fun. It was supposed to be silly and the writing was full of jokes. Enemies were giant squirrels instead of fierce dragons or other mythical creatures.

• Chivalry and Sorcery (Fantasy Games Unlimited, 1976): While T&T was all fun and games, Chivalry and Sorcery got down to business about being historically accurate, much more so than D&D. The rules and style of the game intend to recreate late 12th century France, not as just a setting, but as a society. Players must find their character a place in a complete feudal system including nobles, serfs, and the widespread power of the Catholic church. C&S did away with much of what D&D had established as RPG canon. Instead of dungeon battles, C&S used overland quests, and the enemies were Vikings and Picts instead of mythical creatures. Players could use magic, but their characters needed to study to learn more. C&S tried to do too much to be realistic. Besides having complex rules and tables, Cleric characters had to preach sermons, knights had to earn money from quests to buy swords and armor, and magic users had to collect ingredients, study spells and perform rituals! All of this took time away from adventures (and fun!).
• Empire of the Petal Throne (M.A.R. Barker, 1975): Barker created a fantasy world called Tekumel, including a complete language for its main country, but, lacking talent in writing, had nothing to do with either. Twenty years after Barker abandoned Tekumel, he discovered D&D, using the world of Tekumel as his game setting. Petal Throne's detail and descriptions were laid out precisely for players since Barker knew exactly what the world looked like. The world of Tekumel was not based on a Westernized, medieval world, but rather Barker's own experiences in India and Asia. One of the biggest problems with Petal Throne was that it wsa so specific. It was said that only Barker himself could successfully run a Petal Throne campaign. Players had to know Tekumel before they could role play well in the strange setting, so the game often confused players.

Each of these games did help the RPG industry, borrowing ideas from one another to enrich players' experiences, although none stayed as popular as D&D.

Research Findings, Part 2-Fantasy Wargames to D&D

I left off last in my research findings telling how the release of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy revolutionized the traditional, historical wargaming format and changed it into a fantasy genre. The next step in the evolution of fantasy war games into true role playing games is credited to two men: Ernest "Gary" Gygax and David Arneson. Referring back to Steve Darlington's article "RPG History Part One", Gary Gygax and some of his friends in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin had created a war game that "gave an accurate model of most aspects of medieval warfare". The game was called Chainmail, and was published by Tactical Studies Rules, or TSR, which was Gygax's company, and later versions of Chainmail include rules about giants, trolls, dragons, and magic spells.

While Chainmail wasn't a role playing game at the time, big changes were on the way for Gygax. Gygax was a member of a local medieval warfare enthusiasts' group called The Castles and Crusades Society while he was writing the rules for Chainmail. David Arneson, another member of this group was experimenting with role palying concepts in 1968. Arneson assigned roles and responsibilities to the members of the warfare group while they acted out battles, and the players had to stay in their role of the king, or the knight. This idea interested Gygax and together he collaborated with Arneson in the early 1970s to modify the Chainmail game system into a true role playing game. Later versions of the modified Chainmail rules became the earliest versions of Dungeons and Dragons.

Unfortunately, all was not magical and perfect with Gygax and Arneson's business partnership. According to Darlington's article, Arneson left TSR less than a year after Dungeons and Dragons was realeased. TSR continued to prosper and publish the game, but did not pay Arneson the royalties he was legally entitled to. Gary Gygax is thought of as the sole founder of role playing games, but Arneson has been forgotten.

Dungeons and Dragons got off to a slow start. In "A History of Role-Playing Part II", Gygax is quoted as saying that the public's opinion of the game was "not a hot reception". It took over a year for the first thousand copies of the D&D system rules to sell out, however the second thousand copies sold out in under six months. By 1979, D&D was selling 7000 copies a month.

D&D received criticism for being too complicated or too simple. The game rules written for the players belonging to Gygax and Arneson's gaming circles, so the rules and styles were unfamiliar to beginner players. The rulebooks for early D&D rely on the players already having extensive knowledge of the Chainmail combat rules. Spells were vague and combat statistics tables were difficult to interpret. This forced players to create their own rules and work around the vague or complex parts of the game. It was the idea and potential of the game that kept people playing.

Research Findings Part 1 (With Links!)

As I mentioned in my general overview of my topic, my research for game design class this semester is dealing with the history of role playing games (non-computer). In this portion of my research findings, I will discuss the history of RPGs pre-Dungeons & Dragons, since, as I mentioned before, that entire tale is far too complex to relate in just part of a post. The D&D saga is probably going to be its own mini-series of posts so that I can throughly cover the information and still keep things relatively short. (I know I've already failed to do that in some previous posts!) I've already found some great information about the beginnings of role playing games, or at least their origins.

Role playing games grew out of strategy and wargames. According to Steve Darlington's "A History of Role Playing, Part 1", as far back as four thousand years ago, people in ancient Sumeria simulated battles, and Chess and Go, which are the world's oldest games, are based on teaching military tactics. Darlington mentions that contemporary wargames developed at the turn of the 19th century in Prussia, and was called "kriegspiel", which means "war game". I'm going to make all of my English teachers cringe and cite Wikipedia, but the Wikipedia page gives a bit more detail into kriegspiel. The Wikipedia article on the subject states that the Master of Pages to the Duke of Brunswick created a similar game 1780, and the Prussian General Staff developed the game between 1803 and 1809. In kriegspiel, pieces would be moved around the table, with blue pieces indicating their forces, while red pieces represented enemy forces. Dice rolls were used to indicate random chances in battle and a referee would score the results of the game. Games such as kreigspiel became a routine part of military training.

According to an article from E-zine Articles, parlor games that incorporated elements of role playing became popular. A game called "Jury Box" involved players in a mock trial. In the 1960s, historical re-enactment groups would every now and then host "creative history" events which re-enacted historical events with a few fantasy elements incorporated in.

Separate from the live-action role play games, most RPGs were still wargames. Referring back to Darlington's article, it was science fiction visionary H.G. Wells that brought wargames from the armies to the amateurs. Wells published a set of wargaming rules in 1915 in a book entitled Little Wars. The games laid out in Little Wars suggest using miniature figures, such as toy soldiers, to play the game and create a sense of involvement and realism. In 1953, Charles Roberts released a commercially available board-game-type wargame. By the 1960s, wargames had caught on, and were recieving popularity. The battles were still historically based, and there was little role playing action. This changed when The Lord of the Rings trilogy was release in the United States in 1966. I just have to use this quorte from Darlington's article because I love it's references, and it speaks volumes about the impact that The Lord of the Rings had on the wargaming world and its players:

"No longer did players want to recreate the battle of Gettysburg, but the battle of Helm's Deep. The Napoleonic Wars were discarded in favor of the War of the Ring, goblins and orcs replaced foot soldiers and calvary. People wanted to know just how much damage a Balrog could do, and what the range was on a lightning bolt spell."

That about brings us to the next phase in the history of RPGs, which is the partnership between Ernest "Gary" Gygax and David Arneson. These two men are responsible for role playing games as we know them today.

Spilling the Beans...and the Asparagus, Heirloom Tomatoes, and Wild Mushrooms

In my first-ever post to this blog, I was nervous about keeping up with the readings from Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I realized very quickly after I began reading that the book is great--it's very interesting, Kingsolver is highly knowledgeable about her topic, and the prose style keeps me entertained while informing me at the same time, which is a rare feat in and of itself! I've already read the required first hundred pages, and the next hundred are underway. I can't wait to learn more about Kingsolver's adventures in local, organic, and ecologically-friendly food.

All of this reading is giving me some food for thought about themes for my Flash game, which is the overall reason the class is reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in the first place. Some ideas:

• Although this sounds ambitious, I would like to try creating a resource and time-management game based around Kingsolver's invented "vegetannual", a plant that bears every type of fruit or vegetable according to the growing season. I would start by choosing 4 to 6 consecutive months out of the year in which the player begins his or her farm adventure. The player would have to plant seeds and care for them, harvesting crops only when the plants are ready and not a moment before or after. Kingsolver stresses this, especially with certain crops, as well as noting that fresher veggies taste best. Rewards for a good month of growing could be: an increased harvest (which would add to the player's money supply after the farmer's market), special heirloom seeds being "unlocked", and more helpers and equipment on the farm (which would be able to be hired or purchased with in-game money). Penalties for a poorly-managed month could be: insects eating crops or plants rotting (failure to harvest when the time is right), effects from the weather (did the player plant something when it was still too cold and the seeds died? was the weather too hot, dry, or rainy?) and both of the previous would result in a loss of harvest, and therefore resources and money.
• The second idea I had which is simpler is that of a quiz game. In keeping with the "vegetannual" theme, I would devote each level to one plant or season, following Kingsolver's example in the book where, in early Spring, she devotes an entire chapter to the care and keeping of asparagus. In the asparagus level, I would create questions about asparagus; why it's healthy, what it looks like, where it grows, how to grow it, etc. Each correct answer would result in an asparagus plant being placed in the player's empty patch of land, until it is filled in at the end of the level. The next level would start over with the bare patch and a different plant, and the process would repeat.

That's all I really have for now, but I can't wait to see what the next hundred pages of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle have in store to inspire me with!

Research Topic

I am now at that exciting point in the semester where I have chosen a research topic and can begin to gather my information! WARNING: If you think this is too nerdy now, turn back! It will get much worse! I'm really enthusiastic about my chosen research topic, and I spent a good chunk of Thursday night into Friday morning (till about 1:30 a.m.) beginning the hunt for reliable sources to use for my project. My super-exciting-top-secret research topic is...the history of roleplaying games. ( I warned you all...)



I want to cover the history of these games, from the beginning of their development up to current times. Let me clarify what I mean by "role playing games". The term "role playing game" or RPG, for short, gets tossed around a lot and can be used or abused to cover anything from Dugeons and Dragons (and similar dice-roll and pencil and paper games) to a genre of video games (and a subset called "MMORPGs"--massive multiplayer online RPG, such as World of Warcraft and others) to LARP (Live Action Role Play, basically acting out anything from being a society of vampires to being engaged in medieval battles). I strictly want to cover the first kind of RPG, the "tabletop", dice-rolling, writing down a character and giving him a personality type of role playing game.



I have already found some really great information (links to sites are to come, I am not on my own laptop now, where the bookmarks folder currently resides). For example, the first role playing games were military strategy games. There were ancient versions and variations in China and Sumeria (I think, I need to check on the second one), and a later version developed for the rulers of Prussia (now Germany) centuries later. Similar games hit the U.S. much later, but the common tie between all of the military-themed games was that the emphasis was mostly on the dice rolls and the strategic movement of the miniatures in battle.



Role-playing came later, with parlor games in the 1900s. These games were meant for dinner parties, and the guests would act out things such as "whodunit" murder mysteries.



The history, creation, and evolution of Dungeons and Dragons (aka D&D) and its similar games is a saga unto itself. That's most likely going to be its own post. I also want to shed a little bit of light on the religious opposition surrounding the game (I say "a little bit" because there is a great deal of opposition!) and discuss how Dungeons and Dragons specifically has evolved on its own. D&D as we know it today has been around since the '70s, so there's a lot of game history there!

Production Meeting

Every Spring semester, the entire Shepherd campus and community get involved in Relay for Life, an event that raises cancer awareness and raises money to help researchers find a cure. Relay for Life takes place overnight, and the darkness symbolizes the sad news of being diagnosed with cancer, while the morning sunrise when the event ends is symbolic of the survivor's healing and recovery after such a devastating battle. In past years, Shepherd University's Relay for Life committee used a promotional video that educated viewers, participants, and potential sponsors about the purpose of Relay for Life and shared stories of people in the Shepherd community who survived cancer treatments.

This semester, a music video class was presented with the option of creating a new video for Relay. The idea was for something more upbeat and fun that would get people excited about the event, which has the dual purposes of remembrance and celebration. The class viewed St. Vincent Medical Center's "Pink Glove Dance" that is circulating on YouTube as a jumping off point. The class's goal was to create something similar to the Pink Glove Dance video, but modify it and make it applicable to Shepherd and Relay, not just the theme of the pink ribbon for breast cancer.

The class held a meeting with the Shepherd Relay for Life committee, and we came up with really great ideas so far. The color motif of our video is purple, since that is the color theme for Relay for Life, as it symbolizes all cancers and not just breast cancer. The class liked the idea of purple glowsticks being used in dim or dark scenes, but soon realized that lighting and making the shots look good would be difficult. We decided to use purple bandanas since they can be worn or waved in many different ways in any type of lighting and are relatively inexpensive to purchase in mass quantity. I think this will be effective because the bandanas will allow the sequences to be filmed in normal lighting with the dancers' faces visible, and this is very important to the whole message of Relay.

Relay for Life is about hope and knowing that other people will be there for you when you are suffering. By having people's faces visible, there is that element of human contact that would be lost if the class had stuck with their original idea of glowsticks in low lighting. No matter how much fun we have with the video, there is still a serious issue underlying it all--cancer is a serious and terrifying illness, but those who are diagnosed with it are not alone. There is support, and there is hope.