VCD 302: Title Sequences
So part of this subject is designing motion; which I know some people would say “Why not just call it Animation”. Reasoning is quite simple, animation is the study of movement in real life and abstracting and representing that, or as the Latin word literally translates to “breathe life into”. Obviously while it sometimes can be described as breathing life into a project, motion design is simply using moving assets to create a particular response in the viewer.
As examples take a look at the following title sequences.
The Dead Zone 1983
Stranger Things (2016)
Altered States (1980)
Notice the strong use of Typography, with an extremely subtle motion that strongly conveys the sense of unease these movies are trying to convey. Altered States and Dead Zone were created by Richard Greenfield, and involved working with Film directly to achieve these results, they suitable evoke a sense of dread at the coming show and prepare the viewer for the experience.
Stranger Things are much more recent incarnation borrowed heavily from these styles and attempted to evoke that sense of nostalgia (which is a little funny considering I’m sure most viewers who have seen it weren’t alive in the 80’s), but critically, evoke these same emotional responses to the scene at play. Emotional identity in a sequence is where the true strength of motion design lies; colour, line and shape do all create a sense of emotion, but the act of emotion carries intent and a determination that a static image can struggle to convey.
As an antithesis to the slow methodical death that these film’s title sequences prepare you for, consider the following.
Enter The Void (2009)
BUT FIRST! Epilepsy warning, don’t watch this if you are sensitive to lights. Perhaps don’t watch even if you are not.
An experimental film from director Gaspar Noe, however the title sequence was done by designer Tom Kan, and assisted by Thorsten Fleisch; I’ll get to why I didn’t directly reference him as a designer.
The film has this constant strobing effect throughout the movie, and is filled with psychedelic visions in a neon filled world of Tokyo; and so the sequence is designed to fill the viewer with an anxious energy as a ‘toe-dip’ in the metaphorical waters of visual trips. Noe knew (weird to say next to each other) that the title sequence was to be a strobing kaleidoscope of type; and Tom Kan created type faces that referenced other titles, and neon signs reminiscent of neon advertising.
Where Fleisch comes in is the electrifying (if I wasn’t so dedicated to good design here is where I would play a Ba-Dum-Tss sound effect) “ENTER THE VOID” type. This type face was actually created by placing metal sheets in the shape of the type on to light sensitive sensors (similar to the kind in digital cameras) and literally shocking it with an electric current to create the effect.
Now while I am particularly fond of clean typeface with smooth motions, I can’t help myself and love the high energy of Noe, Kan, and Fleisch’s title, and will probably heavily reference this throughout this subject.
BCM 300: Individual Project
So in my previous post I called myself ambitious for analysing two board games, and ended up writing almost double what I had originally intended; apparently that’s a running theme as the individual Game Experience project ended up a bit of a monster.
In terms of what the game’s genre is aiming for, it is a Niche Market, Wargame, but aiming to bring a sense of accessibility using minimal maths and abstaining from a large encyclopedia of rules as is common in the genre. Some inspirations for the game are Specter Ops, Bloodbowl, Labyrinth and Custom Hero Chaos (a game mode for the popular PC Game Dota 2).
Cosmic Mercenaries: Event Horizon
Theme
The game attempts to place you as a mercenary captain in a Hyper-Corporate galaxy, hired to scrap down and retrieve key materials on derelict ships before they disappear into a black hole, to get more money, and then use the money to get more materials. However there is competition (the other player/s) as they will also be trying to score as many points as they can.
The world and art will be silly and satirical, but mostly silly, a ghost cat with a cybernetic upgrade to shoot jets out of it’s paws. That’s a thing. A lazy executive that made a bad investment and is stuck in a stupid mech-suit trying to prove it’s worth. Also a thing. The world supported by the mechanics allows players to create and play with their own favourite combinations.
Mechanics
The core of the game revolves around a joy of creating your own character with their own combination of abilities. Each game starts with you drafting from a limited pool of characters and abilities, to be mixed and matched however you see fit, and supplementing those skills with other characters, and equipment.
The game doesn’t use any math more complicated than adding or subtracting numbers less than 6. It similarly doesn’t rely on dice randomness to determine how a character moves or acts, each player has control. Dice do feature in the game, but only for tracking certain Stats (which you can opt to instead track via pen & paper, or mentally if you got the noggin for it), or to represent the chaos and degradation aboard a ship slowly collapsing into a black hole.
How it comes together
The game is an expression of each player’s creation, and ties with themes of being a freelancing space mercenary for hire in a weird world of corporate greed. The game itself brings out that piratical need for competition and greed of getting more money (or credits) than the other guy. The game never explicitly says that you need to attack or directly compete with the other player, but undoubtedly through the drive to compete, and show off their unique creations, players inevitably will compete.
The game mixes these two elements of chaos and control, you always have complete control over your characters and the decisions they make are yours and the actions that occur are also yours; but the chaos of the environment and the uncertainty of the situation you “are born into” you try to control and manage through the system mechanics, to come out alive, and hopefully on top. Players are free to leave at any time, even on the first round, and simply wait until the next one, as the ship draws closer to the end, it becomes harder and harder to manage the incoming chaos.
The game will be visually a treat, with great art, and in a perfect world, models to have as your own. The sound of a dozen dice will be teeth gnashingly tense waiting to see just how bad the ship will be at the end of the round. But the game promises to be different every time, while minimising frustrating bouts of randomness, rolling 7 1’s in a row for example, and sure to be a strong addition to any Niche Hobbyist Gamer, or Gateway Game for people scared away by long lists of numbers.
References and Similar Games
As mentioned the game has some inspiration from a game called Specter Ops (2015); which was a hidden movement game, and involved moving around a large board as an agent attempted to complete objectives, and hunters tried to track him down. Obvious inspirations are the large board size, and objective based gameplay pitting one team against another.
Bloodbowl (2016) by Games Workshop, was used as a template for both the humour inherent in the game, but for the distinct personality each character had, with varied stats and abilities.
Labyrinth (1986) was a huge inspiration in how the map moved and operated, taking the iconic mechanic of Labyrinth and making it a part of the key replayability and randomness of the game, where there would otherwise be very little.
And the final reference is Custom Hero Chaos, a custom game mode for the massively popular PC game, Dota 2. This mode enables players to create a unique character to play with based on the games pre-existing characters and abilities, and is a real joy in the way a character comes together.
Reference List and Readings
Boardgamegeek, “Labyrinth | Board Game | BoardGameGeek” Accessed via https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1219/labyrinth on 16/04/2020
Boardgamegeek, “Specter Ops | Board Game | BoardGameGeek” Accessed via https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155624/specter-ops on 16/04/2020
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