A Maze Lover’s Discourse

Good morning. Mind the Gap has come back from our holidays and we are charging forward full steam.

Let me introduce to you our production manager Dave. He is as important as the lead connecting the guitar to the panel. Maybe that’s not the best comparison, but you know what I mean, he is important!

You will see him next week in Bristol. Obviously, he is far more technologically proficient than I am. He has been making friends with the PDAs we borrowed from iShed.

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This week, we exchange conversations unintelligible to the others in the office:

“Ha! I have killed 8 moles (1) ,” Dave said.

“Where did you put them?”

“One on the rock, one by a feather, and the other by a bit of dirt”

“Dave, can mosquitoes talk(2) ?” I asked.

“Hmm…. No. The reason is radio frequency blah blah blah (300,000 words omitted below)”

Also, being the (one of the) youngest one in the office, I have been harassed by piercing sounds undetected by adults(3).

All for the sake of art.

(1) Killing the moles: It is a game on the PDAs from iShed called “Stamp the Moles”. Players

(2) Mosquitoes talking: We are looking at using a mosquito devise in one of the challenges in the maze. A Mosquito devise gives out very high frequency sound wave, which cannot be heard by people aged 25 above on average. Being on the margin of this age range and years of protection of my hearing, I can hear the mosquito sound and my ears becomes the testing ground.

(3) Ibid.

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Jez has written a narrative, what he as Odysseus is thinking in different stages of the voyage. He also described the atmosphere and environment. Jez’s next task is to compose music and design sounds to audiolize the image in his head.

Tim has given a lot of inspiring ideas to structure the piece.

As I am pulling these together and trying to imagine what the game should look like, I realize it is very difficult to be put on paper in a linear way. It is a 4D design, with the consideration of time.

Hmm…. My speech is not enough to explain this. I find myself start to understand the unfolding the game as a set of light cues. With some channels staying on, while another set of channels layer on top, and so on.

When player win a challenge, it is like calling the next cue, unlocking the next set of sound, while muting some of the previous ones.

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**SPOLIER ALERT**

We had a game testing day on 3rd August, which involved Barney from Contact Theatre, game developer Greg Foster, Dave, Tim, myself and some actors from Mind the Gap.

One of the findings attracts me a lot. We tested how people would react when they come across a sound wall. (We did it in a Wizard of Oz way. We simply blind folded the players. I was the trickster, I had a map in my head and told them that they have hit the wall through a microphone) The players managed to find their way through, giggling and walking backwards if hit a wall. However at the end when the passage got smaller, they found it a bit frustrating. They are very tempted to simply walk across.

I would like them to break the rule at the end of the game.

This is consistent with the story. We find out that the Sirens were fated, they have to follow the rule. Odysseus was also fated, but he outwitted the rule. I want the player to take the risk together and break the rules.

**SPOLIER ALERT ENDS**

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As a new comer in the gaming world, Greg recommended me to watch this video. You might have seen this, but I would like to keep it here for my reference.

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Phil of Calvium is coming to train me and Dave on Mscape next Tuesday. Can’t wait!