If you really want such an experiencially broad sandbox game, you will end with a ton of variables to track.
You can check out simpler models for social behavior. There are thousands of papers focusing on different aspects.
But I doubt that you will find a way to avoid running this on a computer.
You want to have love, anger, sadness…
I makes sense, as these will be key for tracking and relating to the state of the automata.
And then you need to create action structures for the automata - preferably highly interactive and interdependent.
Fog of Love uses a personality model that can encompass such breadth of experiences with relevant preferences.
But even that game is kept simple, as it isn’t simulate a multitude of emotions (just overall satisfaction).
You seem to want a broad personality model plus a broad emotional model.
But what kind of action space do these automata have?
Are they like Sims in a rich social environment full of meaning?
Or are they closer to moving on an abstract grid with more limited types of actions (e.g. like biological machines replicating, spreading, building, attacking and defending)?
I
Also note:
Personality guides preferences for which games to play as least as much as how to behave within them.
Players of the same game are therefore likely to be more alike than players of highly dissimilar games (Cards against humanity vs Empires in Arms, to take some extremes).
Many games are often more focused on action-motivation that relates to dimensions such as:
- risk-reward
- short-long term
- exploration-exploitation
- discipline-spontaneity
These games focus on rational and planning behaviors - which obviously are only a small part of what personality is about.
Of course there are :)
But first it is key to map the action-motivation space for the game.
A lot of personality is about social relating. Eg:
- Dominance-collaboration
- Honesty-Deceitfulness
- Extroversion-Introversion
Are these relevant in the game, or is the social action structure closed?
Some countries even go further.
In Denmark, we offer universal access to free education at all levels and free healthcare for everyone.
Why continue to struggle in a country where happiness has been on a steady decline since the 1970s?
You have long endured the oppression of less liberally minded states and now face the grim prospect of being ruled by the first openly autocratic president in your country’s history.
But don’t despair—there are still places in the world that cherish democracy, equality, and the rights of all people.
This is sooooo wonderful to hear.
Thank you for sharing,
Yay! Yay! Yay!
Am full of joy.
Plus… this is a brilliant illustration of the game. Better than anything we’ve ever thought of.
Love how you setup the photo.
👏🏻🤩👏🏻
The Vibe isn’t about LOL-fun.
Not that LOL-fun is bad. I love LOL-fun and am publishing a game focused on that.
The Vibe is about creating moments of meaning together.
It provides a simple and playful space for engaging in rich themes and beautiful pictures.
Luckily this is appealing to many 🤩
Real art has so much nuance, ambiguity, and meaning.
It is not there to illustrate a mood - as beautiful eye candy.
It is there for its own sake.
The core interactions in The Vibe are all key to art appreciation.
It is about finding and expressing meaning in art.
The Vibe is extremely simple.
It is not about outwitting anyone.
It is just about finding joy together through play.
It is still super rich though.
By using real art it opens up to a space of emotions and meaning that is deeply engaging for so many.
These people are not less smart than others, but they don’t like to compete on being smart.
That is still somehow the primary idea behind games.
And to make these games interesting, designers invent pretty intricate interactions to allow for clever play.
But what if we just made games for people?
Most people are not strategically minded. They don’t care about outwitting others.
They are not interested in navigating an interaction space to make brilliant moves.
They might still like to play, but games turn them off.
That is because most games are about that being smarter than others.
But for people who never play games, a tutorial is not the right answer.
Not even a brilliant one.
They need dramatically simpler rules and interactions.
They also need different interactions.
But…. Fog of Love also missed the mark regarding one barrier.
Complexity of rules.
I tried hard to reduce the barrier by designing a new way to learn rules through an interactive tutorial (together with Jacob Engelbrecht-Gollander).
It worked amazingly well.
Many love how easy it is to learn.
I learned so much from making Fog of Love.
It clearly showed that so many more would play games if there were games out there that relate to the stories and themes they find interesting.
Fog of Love invited so many to play who else didn’t care about the prevailing themes within games.
Uuuuuuhhhh….
I’m so excited 🥰
This is my dream coming true.
The Vibe was designed to bring people together - especially those who don’t normally play games or have any interest in them.
Would love to. Probably after new year. So much to do now.
But if I can help promote it somehow before, please share more information and I’ll look into it.
But of course thankful that you can use my work and build upon it 🙏🏻
And for your shoutout 🤗
Super interested in learning more about your upcoming game.
I believe that you owe most to yourself in making your work 😉
You’ve always been extremely reflected and thoughtful when you discuss and think about narrative games.
Looking so much forward to seeing some of your ideas realized 🤩
I didn’t plan my trip very well. Just began making some appointments the very last minute.
As soon as I saw your response here I had instant retroactive FOMO 😞
Would love to have spent time with you.
Thank you 🙏🏻
Was such a great conversation.
Really like how @tokengaymer.bsky.social always was two steps ahead in the interview and steered it in a good direction.
I can easily get caught up in long side-stories 🙈
I felt that our conversation was in super good hands without too much digression.
Playing the Vibe by @jacobjaskov.bsky.social -- if these 5 paintings are arranged on a continuum with the card on the RIGHT being the MOST, do they represent:
CONFUSION
REBELLION
PROGRESS
ILLUSION or
REDEMPTION?
Yes! Finally back again.
Trying to design a game full of meaningful interactions again. This time extremely simple as well.
Miss you! How are you?
Wohoo 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Oh… that is a tricky one.
Guessing Rebellion.
Curious about what you chose 😁
(And happy that you are playing the game 🥰)
It’s a great feeling to have all these wonderful games to care about, and to prepare for their big futures.
I’ve learned that I’m not monoludogamous. Nor autoludoerotic. I don’t just love games I made.
Which means that time management - like for all poly people - becomes even more important 🤪
Now I’m starting with publishing games again.
And I’ve realized that I’m polyludoamorous.
I still design games that I truly care about and do everything I possibly can to make them stand out.
But I am also completely infatuated with games that others designers bring in for me to publish.
