The Illusion of Control in 'Transistor'

Image from PopMatters

This post contains spoilers for Transistor.

This week on PopMatters, I write my first (of what I imagine will be many) words on Transistor.

It’s about how the theme of control is woven into the game’s story and its rules. Cloudbank’s populace can influence the construction of their city, but only within the narrowly defined voting choices given to them. The color of the sky doesn’t have much bearing on how the town is governed and even that choice is quickly undone by the next popular vote. The Camerata, seeking to install a benevolent system of autocracy, try to impose a united philosophy. This bid for control quickly unravels when the their own weapons turn against them. Finally the huge amount of customization that can be done to the combat system gives the player s sense of control over the game. For me at least, this feeling extended into feeling like I also had influence over the main character’s story arc. Because of this, Red’s final decision was a shock, both because I didn’t expect it and because I couldn’t influence it.

This dynamic was one of the more surprising and subtle departures from Bastion. The Kid was a truly silent protagonist whose motivations were explained by narrator based on the actions you took. In the end, you had to directly choose from two options of how to end the game and the outcome was attributed directly to the Kid and, by extension, the player. In Transistor, Red is quiet for most of the game, but it’s because her voice was taken by the Camerata not because she was conceived as a cipher designed to be a direct stand in for the player’s personality. The Transistor sword itself feels like a narrator, but the ending is a sharp reminder that it is another character and its monologues were actually one-sided conversations.

The end result for me was a realization that my sense of control was just as tenuous as the game’s characters. Transistor tells a story about the ebb and flow personal agency, the dynamics of which also encompass the person holding the controller.

EXP Podcast #278: Transistor Debrief

Transistor poster by Jen Zee

We just played Transistor for you yesterday, but we saved our many thoughts for this moment. Here it is, our debrief on one our most anticipated games of 2014. As always, let's have a discussion about the game in the comments below! I'm sure some of you all have better understanding of the story or the best way to clear a room of bad cells than either of us. We look forward to hearing from you.

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- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 47 mins 33 secs
- Intro: "We All Become (feat. Ashley Barret)," by Darren Korb via Transistor (Original Soundtrack)
- Outro: "The Spine (feat. Ashley Barret)," by Darren Korb via Transistor (Original Soundtrack)

Transistor: Breaking the Process

The much anticipated Transistor is out, and this week, Scott and I delve into the game in all its multitudinous glory. Check out the video below and be sure to come back tomorrow for a full debrief on the game!

Losing to Win in Netrunner

Stirling coming out of retirement.

This unassuming old man here on the right, Iain Stirling, is amazing because he upends some Netrunner norms.

This week on PopMatters, I'm back to the subject of the Netrunner LCG. This post does not go in depth into the basic mechanics of the game, which I do better when I last spoke about asymmetrical play here. I recommend you give that a read to understand one of the reasons this game is so special. For yet another reason, you can also check out my previous article on the politics of Netrunner. This most recent expansion set adds some really interesting political flavors to the game as well.

While this post is mostly on Stirling and the way he lends himself to a particularly exhilarating style of play, I should say that Honor & Profit, the latest deluxe set of cards, intelligently shifts the meta around in a variety of ways. Guard, for example, directly responds to some of the early game assault Criminal factions consistently dish out. Tennin Institute supports a slower and more drawn out game than what populated the meta, bolstered by cards like Diversified Portfolio and The Future Perfect (holy crap, this card).

Runners saw their own answers to the dominant "fast-advance" strategy with tools like Legwork and Donut Taganes. Interestingly, some old cards that were scoffed at upon release are now actually played and well regarded. The dedicated central breakers open up the playing field for crazy tricks with Notoriety and Quest Completed. It's always been a fun time to be a Netrunner playful, but I don't think the game design has ever been this playful.

EXP Podcast #277: The Walking Dead, Season 2, Episode 3 Debrief

Everybody loves Carver!

Why would you live a life of boring safety when you could start a new society in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse?  Actually, Episode 3 of this season's Walking Dead series offers plenty of arguments in favor of a nice, quiet existence.  This week we go through all of the episode's stomach turning decisions and find ourselves horrified and excited about where the series is going.

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 55 mins 50 secs
- Music by: Brad Sucks

Bastion: Getting our Supergiant Fix

In preparation for Transistor, we take quick stroll down memory lane with Bastion. We also begin our fan fiction treatment in which The Kid indulges his inner nerd.

Feeling Lost in 'Miasmata'

Image from PopMatters

This week my PopMatters piece is about wandering around the wilderness in Miasmata.

Jorge and I took an initial foray into the game, but we didn’t get very far. In fact an early wrong turn meant I didn’t really even discover how to properly use the map system until I spent some more time stumbling around on my own. Luckily I happened upon a hut with some written instructions detailing the game’s cartography system. Even so, I’m still finding myself in uncharted territory more often than not.

Miasmata made me realize that, in most games, I don’t pay attention to where I’m going. It’s hard to get lost in modern shooters and any game with a significant exploratory component gives you a mini map replete with waypoints and quest markers. The end result is a feeling of implicit safety: you know where you are and where you’re going at any given time. Miasmata removes this safe feeling and makes even simple journeys into the forest a potential disaster.

I touched on this briefly in the column, but I suspect Miasmata would appeal to the type of person that liked the emergent disasters of Far Cry 2. While not as bombastic, Miasmata's navigational system constantly puts you in unexpected situations. This is coupled with a movement system that put s heavy emphasis on momentum, meaning that walking down hill leads to awkwardly running downhill which can then lead to careening down a ditch and into the jungle. Haste is often my biggest obstacle, as rushing around (as I do in most other games) tends to leave me in a bad position.

I definitely don’t have the time or the patience to put up with this in every game I play, but Miasmata is a bit like camping: it’s nice to disconnect from modern amenities and a great reminder of how convenient those amenities can be.

EXP Podcast #276: Gotta Name Them All

Diancie, the latest Pokemon in the series.

Nintendo recently announced a re-release of Pokémon Sapphire and Ruby for the 3DS. The future for the series is bright, but have we already forgotten the past? This week on the podcast, Scott and I take on the ultimate challenge: How many Gen 1 Pokémon we name? Along the way we chat about pokemon design, history, and gender. We encourage you to play along and let us know how many you come up with in the comments below!

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
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- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 46 mins 52 secs
- Music by: Brad Sucks

Our results:

Blackthorn: A Visit to Blizzard's Past

This week, Scott and I open up the retro vault and step into Blizzard's Blackthorn. It turns out Scott is a violent maniac seeking to reclaim his lost throne. Go figure.

Lock and the Cinematic Game

I watch a lot of movies, and sometimes they make me think about game design.

This week on PopMatters, I think aloud about Locke, a single-room film by Steven Knight that takes place entirely inside of a car. Nothing particularly exciting happens to the car or the passenger. The vehicle is not a robot in disguise, it never goes over a sweet jump or careen through a crowd of pedestrians on two wheels. A man, Ivan Locke, goes for a drive. That's it.

Even so, the movie is excellent for many of the same reasons the most exhilarating or intensely compelling films are. If cinema can reach evoke a variety of emotions with such extreme limitations, it seems pretty clear that the phrase "cinematic" in the games space is, by and large, a useless term.

Of course many of you have known this for some time now, but I don't want to brush aside film because games are somehow entirely unique. Rather, I think we can learn a lot about how to create specific aesthetics with our own extreme limitations by asking the right questions about a film. Knight's work accomplishes so much with so little, and while some might find it gimmicky, I find it inspirational. For those with little budgets or small teams, clearly you can accomplish amazing "cinematic" feats. We need not look exclusively at games for these lessons.

EXP Podcast #275: Visualizing History

What do you see?

Quick Rorschach test: what do you see when you look at the Luftrausers logo?  Well, aside from the two of you that said "puppies" (weirdos), it seems that everyone is seeing Nazi-related imagery.  The trick is that the game isn't about Nazis or any specific war in general.  This raises a question: do games that make allusions to historical realities have an obligation to explicitly address the events from which they draw their imagery?  It's the topic for this week and it's one we look forward to hearing your opinions on in the comments.

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 34 min 36 sec
- "Visual Styles and Depictions of the Past," by Jeff Mummert, via Play the Past
- Music by: Brad Sucks

Miasmata: Lost in the Dark

Jorge and Scott face their greatest opponent yet: their senses of direction. Fever, darkness, and stumbling ensues.

"Duel Me, Noob": Salvaging Honor in Games

The infamous Burr/Hamilton Duel

My latest PopMatters article is live, in which I attempt to salvage something from the gentlemanly duels of honor.

G. Christopher Williams, also from PopMatters, makes an excellent point in the comments to the post this week: "human nature and human instinct can't be 'cured,' sometimes curbed, perhaps, but sometimes the only way to respond to human nature is with punishment." I don't disagree per se. Especially for those just dipping into a game to troll, any efforts to "civilize" players will be futile for a select few. Sometimes you just have to drop the ban hammer.

That being said, salvaging concepts of honor is as important for players behaving properly as it is for those behaving poorly. Existing honor systems reward players for good behavior, as though the status quo is merely keeping quiet and playing a decent match. Shifting the focus to those who violate a code of conduct emphasizes that all players, all of those participating in the game's honor world, are worthy of respect naturally and should behave according to the code not in pursuit of an individual reward, but because it's the right thing to do. Honor and humility, at least for many of the 19th century gentleman who partook in duels, go hand in hand.

Again, as I mention in the piece, I don't think for a second I have all the answers. But there are interesting lessons to take from historical behavior-shaping systems. Appiah, in his work, discusses foot binding and slavery, but we can look at contemporary examples of honor as well.

Here's the problem. A lot of systems of honor are painfully exclusionary, almost necessarily so. That answer here, I think, is to create mico-realms of codified behavior. That is, honor worlds in games should be very specific to particular games, such that those "outside" the honor world don't fall on women, lower class, etc., but instead fall generally and anyone outside those game realms. This is sort of a branch of community building in a sense. Make people feel like they're a part of something, and maybe they'll behave in such a way as to protect it.