Bat-Game
Team Size: 1
Time Constraint: 1 month, September 2023
Role: Sole Project Developer
Background
Bat-Game is an analog game where the player plays as Batman as he defeats five of his deadliest foes in The Riddler’s most recent attack. The game is presented with a packet, headshots of the five villains, and a physical inventory using index cards. Two players are required: the game master who has the packet and Batman who has the gadget cards. The game follows a linear story, so the packet begins with the synopsis, continues to a page listing out the gadgets, and then follows the story villain-by-villain. The villain fights are listed as “if” statements, e.g., “if” the player uses a batarang, this happens. Some gadget usages allow for different outcomes from other gadgets, and these are listed under the first gadget that was used. The physical inventory allows the player to not have to remember their inventory, especially as they discard items, and can feel the items in their hands.
Concepts
The core concept at the heart of this game is the gadgets and the strategy behind them. Every villain can only be defeated in a certain way; the player must use certain gadgets in a certain order. But only three of the gadgets can be used endlessly, while the rest of them have a limited supply. The player must utilize given context clues to discover which gadgets to use and in what order. If the player uses the wrong gadget or uses gadgets in the wrong order, they may fail the game. An example is the Mr. Freeze fight, where the player can throw one batarang and then throw their adhesive bomb to defeat him, but if the player throws their adhesive bomb first, Mr. Freeze will notice and kill them. Also, if the player does not have the required gadget, they will be unable to defeat the villain they are on. For example, if the player uses the fire bomb on Clayface or Mr. Freeze, they will not have it to use against Scarface, being unable to defeat him with it and potentially failing the game. Some villains may alter the strictness of this gadget system, however. Every villain except The Riddler can be defeated using a few different gadgets. Joker disorients the player with his Joker gas and turns every gadget into a chance attack. The player must roll a dice to decide if the gadget they want to use will work or not. The Riddler is a special case where no gadgets are effective against him and all of them result in a game over. The only way to defeat The Riddler is to quit the game, as he believes his fight with Batman is one big game where he must win, so not playing against him is the exact counter. I wanted every fight to feel as authentic as it should given these colorful characters. Plus, the switch-ups in the gameplay make it more engaging.
The purpose of the gadget mechanic was to make players strategize about what items they should use. Specifically regarding Batman, I have felt that many Batman projects lack a sense of strategy when it comes to items. Most of the time, especially with the Batman Arkham games, Batman seems to have an unlimited supply of items, and there was never any thought behind which item to use regarding its range. Sure, Batman always goes into a situation prepared, which was the initial inspiration behind this game, but he only has a single utility belt. He must be limited by what he can bring, so I thought that since Batman knows exactly what he should bring to take down these villains, he only brings what is necessary, limiting his item count. I wanted to explore the concept of limited items and potentially offer up new gameplay ideas.
Takeaways
I was extremely glad to get the opportunity to make a physical game. I learned from a game designer at Blizzard that the best way to begin designing a game is to first make it into a physical board game, and I can now fully understand why, especially after I translated one of the fights in this game into a mechanic in Unity. Having that reference to go back to, one where it is much easier to alter the core design without worrying about the implementation, made the development process go ten times smoother.
Personal Space
Team Size: 3
Tools: iMovie
Time Constraint: 1 month, October–November 2023
Role: Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Storyboard Artist, Script Writer
This project obviously does not involve a game in any way (except for maybe storyboarding and scripting), but I just had to include it in my portfolio because this is by far one of the funniest freaking projects I have ever done. So please enjoy.
Inspirations
- Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017, US)
- Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012, US)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009, US)
- Hair-Raising Hare (Chuck Jones, 1946, US)
I will also be studying another art source: “The Puppets” (The Amazing World of Gumball, Ben Bocquelet, 2017, US/UK).
Artist Statement
My creative intention with this film was first and foremost to create something the viewer can have fun with. I focused my attention on the experience when drafting the film. This led me to want to produce a comedic film or at least something a viewer will not take seriously. Having recently watched Jordan Peele’s Get Out, I immediately thought of producing a horror parody. Parodies in any medium are some of my favorite experiences of all time, and I am especially intrigued by the simplicity of parodies that want to have fun when adapting their material, even if they do not make a statement, and there is no better medium for a simple, comedic parody than a short film. I struggled for a bit with what exactly I wanted my subject to be, so I started thinking about situations that are typically awkward or uncomfortable so I could make the comedic aspects come from exaggeration. This immediately led me to the male public bathroom experience. Certain situations, which are explored in my film, are genuinely frightening. For many, when someone is in one of those situations, they, of course, would not freak out externally and escalate the situation, but internally, they are extremely uncomfortable. I utilized this in the drafting of my storyboard and had much of the comedy be in a “dream” sequence that accurately depicts the displayed experience. This was the perfect subject for my horror parody, I thought. I had my biggest worries when it came to filming. I am not the biggest fan of working with other people and much prefer doing everything on my own. Obviously, that is unrealistic when producing a film, and I was too excited about my concept to let my distaste get the better of me. Fortunately, I have two of my best friends living up the road who were extremely excited to help me out. One of them focuses on the study of film, specifically acting, writing, and editing, and he became crucial to the filming. He was the lead actor and produced an amazing performance that elevated the film way past what I was anticipating. The other was also the perfect height to peer over a bathroom stall for the “dream” scene, which was a lot more crucial than anticipated! I am grateful they volunteered to be the actors, as I have never acted in a way that I was requiring. After a surprisingly extremely fun filming session, I began to edit the film. This was by far my biggest hurdle. The shots and scenes themselves were easy to cut together after I learned how to properly use video editing software, but suppressing the background audio was a pain, and I ultimately could not do it. The bathroom we filmed in had a lot of noise, from both the wind outside and the air conditioning. I actually like it as background noise, but the frequency changes between shots, and it is very noticeable when watching at a high volume. It is unfortunate, but it is a small problem compared to how happy I am with how the film turned out overall. My film inspirations were ultimately in how I shot my film and the feel of it. Get Out, Moonrise Kingdom, and Fantastic Mr. Fox were all big inspirations in both the close-ups and long shots. Unfortunately, I could not do the exact long shots I would have liked that were akin to the Wes Anderson films, as the bathroom was too small to do an establishing behind-the-back long shot, but I am satisfied nonetheless. Hair-Raising Hare and “The Puppets” both were inspirations for the feel of the film. The former is an inspiration for making it a parody and the latter is a very non-direct inspiration for the feel and shots of the “dream” sequence.
Storyboard
Obviously, the final product is a bit different. I’ve heard this happens as much in film as it does in games!
This is my term paper for my Gaming and Ethics class at Georgia Tech. In the paper, I discuss the ethical considerations behind the idea of player choice in games. This topic is very dear to me, having experienced this firsthand in many different ways across many different games.
(click the title to view the paper)
Do not hesitate to reach out to me for more details!