NMA 3041
The single-player platform game "A Story About My Uncle" takes the player on challenging adventure with the protagonist of the story. A boy who is searching for his lost uncle, ends up in an entirely different world and faces difficult challenges. Playing as the boy, you have to maneuver your way to your destination through difficult obstacle courses.
Although the entire game can be completed within the time span of a couple hours, I would still pick it back up again. Gone North Games cleverly packed this game with a unique art style that makes the theme of the game whimsical and fantasia-like. I'm a sucker when it comes to graphics and aesthetics, so I instantly fell in love.
Another portion that was unique is the parkour feature of the game. The grappling hook is the main device that the Uncle created and it is the means of how we move in this game. To complete most of the challenges you face, the glove/grappling hook gives you the ability to manipulate your speed and jump-height so that you can get yourself to heights you normally wouldn't be able to reach.
Language of New Media- "Technology and Style in Cinema"
Something that really resonated with me in regards to the textbook is Jean-Louis Comolli's ideology regarding how the cinema is a social machine. According to Comolli, the cinema is an outlet where developers create a version of realism that substantiates the public's taste, and it's constantly evolving and changing.
When cinematic first came about, the public was fascinated with the aspect of being able to see the art of moving pictures that portrayed everyday life, their real life perceptions. Eventually people began seeking for things that weren't the norm, they wanted to see the impossible or things that lie in their imaginations. "A Story about My Uncle," gives a good representation of that in relation of providing the player a reality that we wish could have been real. It brings us back to our childhood where we dream of being able to defy gravity and jump insane heights.
Although the graphics of this game is not extremely high quality, Gone North Games substitutes that by simulating the realness and feeling that you would assume from a fantasy-like world. The movement of using the grappling hook was developed very well, it is what you would imagine it to be if you was on a gravitational sling-shot.
Game Design - "CH 6 Interactivity - Space of Possibility"
This segment of the chapters discusses about creating a game that deals with thinking about the game's interactivity from the player's point of view. Making decisions and choices that do not present a predictable result is a way to attract the players explore and interact with the game more.
Game designers, like Gone North Games, indirectly shape the actions of the players in some sections of the game, in which makes it so intriguing. There is no exact route or path that you have to take for certain challenges, there is just an end goal. Due to multiple possibilities, it just depends on you, the player's capability to complete it.
The narration somewhat guides you in a story-telling fashion, however the means on how to get to the destination is solely on you. A particular portion of the game that I took me some time getting through is the Room of Falling Blocks.