Pixelsocks: How would you describe your game?

Krystian Majewskie

Krystian: I think the easiest way to explain Trauma is to compare it to a point-and-click adventure. The most popular example would be Myst, which was the bestselling game before The Sims came along.

I developed this game as a part of my final thesis for design study. So I looked into the history of point-and-click adventures. They aren’t so popular today, so I tried to figure out what was a problem and what made them shine. I looked at today’s development that works for players who played the games back then. I tried to create a combination of the two: replacing old things that didn’t work with new things that do.

For example, this is a point-and-click adventure where you don’t do much clicking. You click to move through the environment, but you don’t pick up things because there is no inventory. Instead, you use gestures with your mouse to do certain movements and interact with the environment. The interaction gestures replace puzzles in the game. There are actually no puzzles, and you instead search for gestures that help you progress through the environment.

Pixelsocks: The gesture system really stood out, but it can be difficult to describe. Would you say a comparison to Okami would be apt?

Krystian: It’s been a while since I played Okami, but the navigation gestures are much simpler than the ones in Okami; they’re just simple lines. The interaction gestures are more complicated, but still simple to use. I actually repurposed another API to interpret the gestures. It’s code that recognizes handwriting. So you just have to scribble something that’s reminiscent of a gesture and it picks the gesture that’s closest to what you tried to draw.

Pixelsocks: I’m impressed by the game’s audio, especially because the voice actress really sounds like she’s thinking out loud. Can you explain how you avoided self-interruption in the character voice samples when you can’t control the player’s pace through the game?

Krystian: I’m glad you asked, because that’s an in-depth question, and it was a great development challenge. I’ve spent a lot of time on it, though it’s still not perfect. The system keeps track of what kind of voice-over is playing and how long it will last. If there’s still a lot of time left, a new sample will cut off the old one because you want the voice to match what you’re seeing. However, if there are just a few words left, the current voice will finish before the next one starts.

Pixelsocks: So there’s a sort of dynamic queue.

Krystian: the system always knows what’s going on. However, you’ll notice that the system brakes apart if you just click through the levels. The game is built around players who actually explore the environment and listen to the voice samples.

Pixelsocks: Something particularly interesting to me is that you navigate through the game by clicking on a series of snapshots. Vision research has shown that the eye jumps from place to place as we look at the world, and I find that the game is easier to navigate for it. Did that idea guide the design?

Krystian: A little bit, yes. I’ve seen some work about how people read and perceive, which has given me some insight on how that works. For example, I read The Echo Maker, which a novel based on research psychology. They discuss how we see the world as a series of still images and the brain recreates what’s in between.

The snapshots are also based on the way I look back and remember my dreams. I don’t remember sequences, but instead some specific details. Most dreams in games create an environment that is seamless, and in many ways that makes it feel less intriguing. In this game, I actually experimented with spherical panoramas and seamless environments, but they always ended up boring. They also felt less realistic in terms of how they’re stored in your mind.

Of course, the game is also called Trauma, and it’s about someone who was in an accident and is piecing things together. So snapshots also mesh with the themes. Really, snapshots are the heart of the game. They’re where I started: I wanted a game where the player had to arrange its pieces.

TRAUMA Gameplay Preview from Krystian Majewski on Vimeo.

Pixelsocks: Do you find that the snapshots make the game more accessible at all?

Krystian: Really, it depends on your experience with games. Experienced players have no problems playing the game. I did want the game to be accessible to players who don’t game so often, but even though I tried to make sure that there are hints everywhere, the experienced players do much better than the less experienced ones.

Pixelsocks: you currently have your game running in Flash, which you can run on just about anything—

Krystian: —Except iPhone and iPad.

Pixelsocks: Ah yes. However, it probably hasn’t escaped your notice that the game would work well with a gestural interface, as with some consoles. Have you considered going that direction?

Krystian: In a sense, I’ve done it already. Most of the versions I developed during my final thesis used a Wiimote. I just linked one to my computer and mapped to a mouse cursor. However, once I started focusing on a PC release, I focused more on a mouse. However with the attention I’ve received during the IGF, I’m reaching out to publishers to put the game on Wii, or using the gestural systems being developed for Sony and Microsoft. I’ve also considered some touchscreen-based stuff.

Pixelsocks: Did development with the Wii remote encourage you to develop the game’s gestures to emulate the actions they represent? I’ve noticed that one of the gestures that clears bushes from your path would emulate a sweeping motion with your arms.

Krystian: I always wanted the gesture system to reflect what you’re actually doing. For example the gesture that drains obstacles from the screen is actually a spiral. I wanted the gestures to be as easy to understand as possible, and with the Wiimote you instantly recognize what works and what doesn’t.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags:   excellence in audio nominee · Excellence in Visual Art Nominee · GDC · gdc 2010 · IGF · IGF 2010 · Krystian Majewski · Seumas McNally Grand Prize Nominee · traumaNo Comments

Trackback to this article.