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Image credit: 13th Serious Games Showcase & Challenge
HoloLAB Champions by Schell Games wins Best Business Game and Best XR Game at the Serious Games Showcase Awards ceremony earlier today
The seven categories of SGS&Cwinners were announced today at the Awards Ceremony in the Innovation Showcase, Booth 2288: Best Business-Developed Serious Game; Best Government-Developed Serious Game; Best Student-Developed Serious Game; Best XR Serious Game; Innovation Award; Students' Choice Award; and finally, what some might consider the most prestigious award, the People's Choice Award.
The SGS&Cprovides a showcase of best-in-class learning games submitted by business, government and student developers, and awards noteworthy games to recognize their achievements. The true uniqueness of the SGS&C is that every I/ITSEC "player" has the chance to play the games, talk with the developers, and cast a vote for the coveted SGS&C People's Choice Award (the I/ITSEC badge includes a special SGS&C ballot that allows us to help determine the winner).
The SGS&Cbrings international award winning games to us through partnerships with the Simulation Australasia host of the Australasian Simulation Congress (ASC) SGS&C, and South America's Brazilian Independent Games (BIG) Festival. These international winners automatically earn spots as finalists in the SGS&C, are eligible for awards, and are featured at I/ITSEC on the exhibit floor.
Image credit: Serious Games Showcase & Challenge @ I/ITSEC 2018
Innovation Showcase, Booth 2288
And the seven winners are:
Schell Games is this year's winner of the Best Business Developed Game Award & Best XR Game with HoloLAB Champions, a VR game that provides students with a safe, fun space to practice basic chemistry lab skills.
The 2018 Best Government Game Award went to Difficult Airway Algorithm and Rescue Cricothyrotomy (DAARC) by Veterans Health Administration Employee Education System-eLearning. This game improves the recognition of airway emergency and the early identification of a cannot intubate cannot ventilate situation.
Tablecraftby the FIEA is this year's Best Student Developed Game! This VR game increases the player's familiarity with the elements, acronyms, atomic masses, and groups on the Periodic Table of Elements.
This year has once again highlighted games that employ characteristics or techniques that enhance the game in a new or different way through the competition for the Innovation Award. Dental Madnessby FullSail is the 2018 SGS&C Innovation Award winner! This VR game helps dental students learn fundamental techniques.
This year's Students' Choice winner is Code of Aegis by the University of Houston Clear Lake & Tietronix! This STEM engagement game focuses on teaching computer science aptitude, critical thinking & programming skills.
And the People's Choice Award went to Gloob Rescue, developed by Design Interactive, Inc.! This rehabilitation focused game assists children with cerebral palsy to expand upper limb strength, range of motion, and rehabilitation progress.
I became a parent a year and a half ago, and my life changed forever. When I was pregnant lots of parents gave me advice (Enjoy going to the grocery store by yourself while you still can! Go out on dates! Clean your house!). One even warned me that becoming a parent would "rock my world." I thought I understood. I thought I was prepared for the huge change coming. And while I wasn't unprepared, I really had no idea exactly how life-changing becoming a parent would be. Now I try to explain to my friends who don't have children what exactly getting swept into parenthood felt like, and the best I have come up with is this—I had my daughter and she was more wonderful than I could have imagined, and the rest of my life fell into chaos. One of those pieces of my life was my relationship with my husband. We look at each other and marvel that we used to sit around on the weekend and lament that we did not know what to do with ourselves. Now we would give anything to learn the secret to freezing time. Now we try to hold on as life rushes by. Now I tell my husband we need more time and he agrees but asks, "what time?"
If there's anything that these tournaments teach you about runners, consistency is INCREDIBLY hard to maintain. Colmer scored the best run in the previous tournament and GoesonGhost had the best qualifier run in the tournament, but BOTH of these runners were eliminated in the First Round.
DonnyRekt, who has been somewhat inconsistent game to game, showed off his prowess and knowledge in Bloodborne and eliminated FaraazKhan with a comfortable lead. Mogenkai went into his match knowing the godlike powers of his opponent, Kwitty23, and despite his best efforts, he too was eliminated. Kwitty had the best run in the entire tournament so far, scoring a 1-hit run at a quick 1 hour 42 minute pace.
Squillakilla was similarly on pace for a great run, but a few rare hits added up to a 5-hit finish for him. He was able to eliminate GoesonGhost and advance to the semifinals, but that performance won't likely carry him into the finals. But knowing how Squillakilla operates, we're likely to see the well oiled machine that he is going into the semifinals on Saturday (February 2).
One of the most interesting runners to surface in this tournament though is Eden_Issue, whom many were unfamiliar with prior to the tournament, but they're going to remember him now. He's fast, consistent, and has deep Bloodborne knowledge.
We return to the semifinals and finals (back to back) next Saturday, Feb. 2 at 10 am EST. These final matches are going to incredibly competitive. See you at game time!
In my previous campaign it was established that the Great Cosmic Flailsnail carried all of reality on its back, each facet of its hyperpolygonal shell reflecting a different parallel universe. Here's an attempt to depict such a thing in the classic medium of the inept photoshop.
Abstract: Cantonese has been the dominant spoken language of Hong Kong for over a century. This living language has been captured by video games pretty well. In the various virtual Hong Kong, it is not only that Cantonese can be heard, but also that the Cantonese dialogues there demonstrate the culture of the city, and the openness and vitality of the language. In the real-world video game industry, the ways that the publishers do the Chinese version of their video games turns out to be a miniature of how society deals with a key challenge that the language is facing nowadays.
Voice acting started to be popular in video games in 1990s with the emergence of huge yet inexpensive data storage technologies such as CD-ROMs. It was also the time when Cantonese, which is used by 90% of the Hong Kong population for the last 150 years, started being heard in the various virtual Hong Kong.
Cantonese in Fear Effect (Eidos Interactive. PlayStation: 2000)
Cantonese in Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (Universal Interactive. Xbox: 2002)
Cantonese in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (Activision. Microsoft Windows/Mac OSX/Xbox: 2002)
Cantonese in Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (LucasArts. Microsoft Windows/Xbox/PlayStation 2/OS X: 2003)
Cantonese in Hitman: Contracts (Eidos Interactive. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 2/Xbox: 2004, PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013)
Cantonese in Jet Li: Rise to Honor (Sony Computer Entertainment America. PlayStation 2: 2004)
Cantonese in Stranglehold (Midway Games/Success. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2007)
Cantonese in Air Traffic Controller 3 Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport テクノブレイン ぼくは航空管制官3 香港カイタックエアポート (Technobrain. Microsoft Windows: 2009)
Cantonese in Kung Fu Rider (Sony Computer Entertainment. Sony: 2010)
Cantonese in Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
Cantonese commentary in GRID 2 (Codemasters. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013, OS X: 2014)
Cantonese in combat ground of Resident Evil 6 (Capcom. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013)
Cantonese in a cut-scene of Resident Evil 6 (Capcom. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013)
Cantonese in 光輝歲月 (Lakoo. iOS/Android: since 2015)
Cantonese in 正牌龍虎門 (Gameone. iOS/Android: 2019)
When these virtual Hong Kong people travel to other countries, they even bring Cantonese with them.
Cantonese in the opening of Keisatsukan 2 (Konami, Arcade: 2001), starting at 0:25. In the game, a Hong Kong mafia group is going to Japan to join force with some local Japanese mafia group.
As I watch these video clips, I am amazed by not only their existence itself, but also that the dialogues have captured some key features of the language and the city using it. In the following, we are going to walk them through.
Cantonese through video games
Practical communication
Cantonese is a living language. It is used in Hong Kong for various practical purposes such as expressing facts and requesting actions.
"Three, two, one" countdown (三、二、一, pronounced as sam, yee, yat in English) in Kung Fu Rider (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3: 2010)
"Three, two, one, start" countdown (三、二、一、開始) in GRID 2 (Codemasters. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013, OSX: 2014)
The use of Yum Shing (飲勝), literally means "drink and win" -- the Cantonese equivalence of "Cheers!" in a wine toast, in Deus Ex
Local slang
Having been with the city for a long time, the language has recorded bits and pieces of Hong Kong history and culture in the form of local slang.
埋嚟睇埋嚟揀。 Translated as: Come look and choose. This is a common phrase used by Hong Kong hawkers to attract pedestrians' attention.
埋嚟睇埋嚟揀 (Come look and choose) in North Point Night Market of Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
我食鹽多過你食米。 Translated as: The amount of salt I have taken is more than the rice you have eaten. This is used when a person wants to highlight his superior experience over other people, so as to persuade others to listen to him. Asians usually have rice in their meal, and for a long time in the past when fresh food was still a luxury, they usually have salt-preserved food as dishes. The older and more experienced you are, more rice and more importantly bitter salt you have taken than the younger and less experienced counterparts.
我食鹽多過你食米 (The amount of salt I have taken is more than the rice you have eaten) in a kitchen of Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
依家唔係事必要你講，除非你自己想講，但係你所講的野，可能會用紙同筆記低，之後成為呈堂證供。 Translated as: You are not oblige to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say may be put into writing and given in evidence. This Hong Kong version of Miranda's warning has become well-versed by the people in the city as Cantonese dramas and movies repeat this phrase again and again. It also represents the awareness of Hong Kong citizens on their civic rights upon arrest.
依家唔係事必要你講，除非你自己想講，但係你所講的野，可能會用紙同筆記低，之後成為呈堂證供。(You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say may be put into writing and given in evidence.) in the opening cut scene of Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
Fusions with other languages
Having been exposed to English during the colonial period (1842-1997), Hong Kong Cantonese has loaned quite a few English words. Nowadays, Hong Kong people even use English words directly in their Cantonese conversations.
"揾埋嚟啲 job" (translated as "the work you find us") demonstrating the use of Cantonese and English in the same sentence in Hong Kong. From Kung Fu Rider (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3: 2010)
Sometimes, it is the Cantonese phrases that are imported to other languages. A famous example is Gweilos (鬼佬), literally means "devil man", which is the Cantonese slang for Westerners. Historically, Chinese people considered people outside their country to be barbarians, and tried to curse or insult them by using derogatory terms such as "devil" so as to curse or insult them. Note that nowadays people use the term with no negative implications. Some Westerners even use the term to refer to themselves.
Gweilos (鬼佬) in Deus Ex (Eidos Interactive. Microsoft Windows/Mac OS/PlayStation 2: 2000)
Gweilos (鬼佬) in Hitman: Contracts (Eidos Interactive. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 2/Xbox: 2004, PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013)
New words
Hong Kong Cantonese has got not only new slangs and imported vocabularies, but also new words. The word "hea" (IPA: hε) is a representative example.
我地無時間俾你咁 hea 呀 We don't have time to let you be idle. From a kitchen supervisor in Sleeping Dogs (Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3: 2010)
The word "hea" describes a person who is relaxing by being idle. It can also be used as an adverb to describe the careless and indifferent manner of a person on doing something. The word first gained popularity around 1999 to early 2000's through a series of radio plays from the radio show "芝 see 菇bi". Later, an old Chinese character 迆 was given to this word. Recently the word even becomes sound bites of politicians and appears in news report.
A brief history of real-world Cantonese
Solid dominance in the colonial era
Although Cantonese dominates in Hong Kong nowadays, before 1842 it was indeed some other South China (a.k.a Yue) Chinese dialects that were more commonly used. After Britain set up a colony here in 1842, large numbers of merchants and workers came to the city from Canton (a.k.a Guangzhou) which was the center of the Cantonese dialect. Cantonese then gradually replaced these other Chinese dialects. Since then, immigrants need to learn Cantonese to join the Chinese-speaking community here. Cantonese is the mother tongue of all the newborns in the city.
Description in 80 Days (Inkle. iOS/Andorid: 2014, Microsoft Windows: 2015) on the use of Cantonese by people in Hong Kong and proximity area.
In 1932, China adopted Mandarin dialect from Northern China as the standard for the whole country. However, the dominance of Cantonese in Hong Kong remained solid, probably because of British's decision on maintaining a cultural gap between China and Hong Kong in order to facilitate her effective rules over the city. As a result, there were policies on Chinese languages even though Chinese was never an official language until 1974. The language used to teach Chinese was standardized to Cantonese. After 1949 Communist's takeover of mainland China, the official radio station RTHK was asked to do all Chinese broadcast in Cantonese.
The Hong Kong stage of Phantom Doctrine (CreativeForge Games. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 4/Xbox One: 2018) indicating that Cantonese is the language to use in the city in the 1980s, the time the game is set in.
Cantonese is the mother tongue of 90% of Hong Kong population, far outnumbering English and Mandarin. As a result, I am disappointed to see that the only Chinese dialogues Shenmue II (Sega. Dreamcast: 2001, Xbox: 2002) is in Mandarin, even though it is justifiable if you treat the character as immigrants from China.
The only Chinese sentence in Shenmue II (Sega. Dreamcast: 2001, Xbox: 2002). Though set in Hong Kong, that only Chinese sentence is in Mandarin rather than Cantonese.
You may listen to Cantonese radio broadcast if you tune in the appropriate radio stations in Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft Game Studios. Xbox: 2003) and Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012). In the latter, you may even find Cantonese sound tracks from the Hong Kong hip Hop group 24Herbs (see here for the list of songs). Cantopop (short for Cantonese pop music) or HK-pop (short for Hong Kong pop music) originated in the 1970s was once popular alongside other popular cultures such as TV dramas and movies, and had spread to Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore in the 1980s and 1990s. There are even a few Cantonese theme songs for video games.
Cantonese radio broadcast in Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft Game Studios. Xbox: 2003)
Cantonese radio broadcast in Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
Cantonese broadcast in Resident Evil 6 (Capcom. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2013)
Challenges after the rise of Greater China
The dominance of Cantonese in the city nowadays is at risk. With the booming economy of the greater China since 1980s, it becomes a practical concern for Hong Kong people to learn Mandarin. Furthermore, with the handover of the city's sovereignty to China in 1997, there appears to be no need to maintain the cultural barrier that the colonial government created. RTHK has resumed Mandarin broadcast in 1997. The Education Bureau of Hong Kong even insist that schools shall use Mandarin to teach Chinese language in the long term, even though elite students using Mandarin to learn Chinese don't seem to do better than typical students learning with Cantonese.
One problem with embracing an additional Chinese dialect is the different phonetic transcriptions of foreign words. This is fundamentally due to the different pronunciations of quite a few Chinese characters in Cantonese and Mandarin. As the Chinese communities in Hong Kong and the rest of Greater China has been growing separately for a while, we have already got quite a number of foreign names transcribed differently by the Hong Kong community based on Cantonese and the greater China community based on Mandarin. In the soccer world, the name of the soccer player Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi is translated to 美斯 in Cantonese and 梅西 in Mandarin. While the Cantonese transcription maps to Messi well even if pronounced in Mandarin, the Mandarin transcription maps to something else (mui sai) if pronounced in Cantonese.
Cantonese narration in Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (Konami. Microsoft Windows/Xbox 360/Xbox One/PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4: 2016)
Mandarin narration in Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (Konami. Microsoft Windows/Xbox 360/Xbox One/PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4: 2016)
The animation series Gundam, which also appears in quite a few video games, has the same issue. Its principle series of robots gundam (Japanese: ガンダム) is mapped to Chinese characters 高達 in Hong Kong where Cantonese is used, and 鋼彈 in Taiwan where Mandarin is way more popular. In this case, pronouncing the transcriptions with the other dialect can't get you to gundam.
Translating Gundam as 高達 in the Hong Kong Chinese version of SD Gundam G Generation Genesis (Bandai Namco Games. PlayStation 4/PlayStation Vita: 2016)
Translating Gundam as 鋼彈 in the Taiwan Chinese version of SD Gundam G Generation Genesis (Bandai Namco Games. PlayStation 4/PlayStation Vita: 2016)
To accommodate the two communities, some people including game publishers choose to maintain both sets of translations, as you can see from Konami and Bandai Namco Games above.
Some other people choose to unify the phonetic transcriptions.
One well-known unification is the robot cat comic and animation series Doraemon (Japanese: ドラえもん). When the series first appeared in different Chinese communities, the name of its characters were transcribed differently. After the death of its writer Fujiko F. Fujio (Japanese: 藤子・F・不二雄) in 1996, the Japanese copyright holder of the series, TV Asahi (株式会社テレビ朝日), initiated the unification so as to fulfill the last wish of Mr. Fujio. It has taken years before all media (comics, animation and video games) threw away all old transcriptions and used the new unified names which were based on Japanese pronunciation. During the transition period, people expressed their sorrow for having to abandon the old names that had been with them for a long time.
The webpage for the re-release of Doraemon Monopoly (Gameone. Microsoft Windows: 1998) in 2007. The Chinese title was changed from 叮噹大富翁 to 多啦A夢大富翁 in the re-release in line of Chinese official translation unification, while the character introduction kept using the old translations (e.g. 叮噹 for the robot cat Doraemon).
Doraemon Monopoly game play. It appears that no character names are mentioned throughout the game, saving its 2007 re-release from any code and voice change
Some other unification efforts choose to drop the transcriptions of one community for those in the other community. To the community with its transcriptions abandoned, this move can trigger not only sediments due to having to give up her long-established habit, but only criticisms on whether both communities are equally respected. In 2016, The Pokémon Company's unified the Chinese transcriptions of the characters to mainly the Mandarin communities use. It even aroused a protest in Hong Kong.
Pokémon Pichu (left) and Pikachu (center) in the traditional Chinese version of Pokémon Sun/Moon (The Pokémon Company. Nintendo 3DS: 2016). They are used named 皮丘 and 皮卡丘 rather than 比超 and 比卡超 that Hong Kong people are used to.
The protest on maintaining the Hong Kong version of Pokémon name transcriptions in 2016
Looking forward
Just now we have seen the enormous energy of Cantonese in Hong Kong. Besides performing typical living language functions such as reporting facts and commanding actions, the language also records the culture of people through local Cantonese slang. The openness and vitality of the language are well demonstrated through its fusion with foreign languages and its new words.
Just as its replacement of other Chinese dialects upon British colony establishment, Cantonese is in danger of fading out nowadays due to the increasing demand or pressure on unifying with the national official language Mandarin. There is obviously a need to have a common spoken language to facilitate communication. However, it shouldn't be an excuse for looking down or killing local languages which are recording and displaying regional dynamics. The risk has been a wake-up call for those who believes existing things stay forever for granted. If there is something we wish to preserve, we need to act.
I love technology, electronics and gaming. It's in my DNA... if it has a circuit board, chances are I like it! I've watched all the major keynotes (Apple, Microsoft, and Sony) and as it stands, I'm not going to purchase a console at or around launch. Granted this could all change in the months to come, at this point Microsoft and Sony have a hard sell ahead of them if they want my money this holiday season!
As a disclaimer, I make a living as a mobile games consultant on the NativeX Games Task Force. We collaborate with mobile game developers to increase the engagement, retention, and monetization of their freemium games. With that said, I am not biased towards mobile games, I'm simply not interested in the next generation consoles. Here's why:
Xbox One
I really like my Xbox 360. I wouldn't say I'm a fanboy, but I did initially buy an Xbox 360 over a PS3 because it was cheaper and out first. Sure I've owned 6-8 Xboxes since I had a first gen that broke, BUT we've had a great run together. Here are some reasons why this savvy consumer isn't buying an Xbox One at launch...
Price: Sure it's $100 more than the PS4, and I'd be willing to pay the extra amount IF it had features or games that I deemed worthy. The sad reality is that it does not.
Not Interested in Exclusives: I won't buy a console for an exclusive title. I think that's ridiculous. Maybe I'm just too practical, or maybe I'm not alone and more gamers/consumers are thinking like this?
Online Connection: While the internet is up 98% of the time at my house, I do feel a little anxious that it "requires" a connection at least once every 24 hours. What happens if I have an outage and want to play? I feel it's unacceptable that Microsoft might dictate when I can play... or where since I want the option to take my Xbox somewhere that might not have an internet connect. Come on Microsoft! Really?
Kinect: Maybe kids enjoy playing it? Honestly I haven't met someone who really, REALLY liked the Kinect. The most positive responses I get sound like "yeah it's ok" or "it's kind of cool." I'll spare you the slew of negative reactions. It has the same gimmicky feel that the Wii did, but without stellar and/or nostalgic IPs.
Hardware: It's early but I think benchmarks will be similar between the Xbox One and PS4. I certainly don't think I would tell a difference between the two if I played them side by side. This would be acceptable IF I weren't paying $100 more.
Skepticism of Microsoft First Gens: I got burned with my Xbox 360. I literally spent more time without an Xbox in the first year because of the dreaded red ring of death. And what did I get for compensation? Nothing. Sure they sent me "new" (more accurately "other") Xbox's, but those broke too. I had 7 or 8 Xbox's before eventually buying a new one when the slimmer model came out, but only because my 8th Xbox broke again, I was outside of my "warranty" and I wanted to play with my brother in Japan.
After what I've been through I have every right to be bitter. I'm over it now, but in the heat of the moment I might've yelled at phone representatives or lost my cool. Fool me once Microsoft? Shame on you. Fool me twice? Not a chance in hell. :-)
PS4
I own a PS3 slim model as well as an Xbox 360. I play my 360 much more than my PS3 mostly due to Halo and the fact that my friends have Xboxes. If I had to buy a console today I would choose the PS4 over the Xbox One because what Sony is saying is appealing more to me, it's $100 less and will more likely support used game sales. However, there's one really big reason why I won't be buying a PS4 and that's the lack of need. Let me explain in the following areas...
No Hardware Upgrade Needed: Obviously this is personal, but the major reason why I won't buy a PS4 at launch. I don't "need" a new console. There's a reason why my TV isn't smart, 3D or 4k. I don't need those features. I'm also not buying a low end piece of crap from Wal-Mart, but I do my research, wait for the right deal and pull the trigger when it comes along. Sure the features mentioned might be nice to have, but as a consumer I don't buy nice to have features. I'm happy with my current generation consoles, their performance and will continue to play on them until there are games only for this generation and not my current 360/PS3.
No Vita: I, like most of you, don't have a Vita so the streaming functionalities doesn't matter to me. I also won't be buying another handheld gaming device because of the iPad and phones. In this day in age, with all our technological enhancements, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to play any game I like on the platform of my choice. I know exclusives will never go away, but I wish they would. Call me crazy, but I just want to play what I want, where I want.
Here's an idea around streaming. Make an iOS & Android app that could stream content from my PS4 to my tablet. Join that with the ability to connect a PlayStation to Android devices and that iOS7 will have third party controller APIs. Console gaming + mobile capabilities = mind-blown!
Not Interested in Exclusives: Again, I won't buy a console for an exclusive title.
The Evolving World
I feel like these consoles aren't really listening to what's been happening in the technological world. It's a little old school to just "improve graphics" with a new generation of consoles. Sure they might've added TV/online capabilities, but I already have solutions in place to serve those needs so why would I need what they're selling?
It's true that my profession is within the mobile industry so you might be thinking he's just biased, but I assure you, there are reports how consoles and software sales are declining. Before you send me hate mail, or begin trolling with negative comments let me clarify something... I'm not saying consoles are doomed or dying! The NPD is primarily retail sales so it's possible that online sales are making up for the decline but there's no way to prove it since there's no insight on digital sales. I'm just saying that we live in a more innovative and immersive world. Our games and how we digest them need to be too. Sony won't top PS2 sales until they realize and embrace this.
These keynotes have left me a little depressed as a gamer. I've had launch consoles with every system since the SNES (minus the Dreamcast, which I owned, but not at launch). I want to be excited about the next generation of gaming, I want to be excited about buying a new piece of technology but as it stands now I can't get excited. Perhaps I'm the minority? Have I changed that much? Perhaps it's not you Microsoft/Sony... it's me? Things could change within the upcoming months, but I certainly need some crazy good reasons why I should even consider buying.
In the meantime I'll be right here Microsoft/Sony. Contently playing on my current generation of consoles... and of course on my iPad and iPhone...
If you'd like to talk about this or any other games you can find me here at my blog or onTwitter.
It's a popular question I see asked a lot on the forums and reddit - "How do you do wilderness travel/encounters?" "How do you do hex crawls?"
It's understandable, with a wide open outdoors map looking a lot more overwhelming to prepare for, compared to a dungeon map.
For me, there's three parts to the wilderness part of a campaign.
Part 1 - putting down a key. I use Welsh Piper's general approach of that each hex can have a "major" encounter/landmark and several "minor" encounters/landmarks. I do general stocking, without a lot of details. I save those for when the players are going to run into them. I don't do a random encounter table yet.
Part 2 - pre-game prep. Part of the contract I have with my tabletop players is that I need to know a week in advance of their general plans for the game. That allows me to do some in-depth prep. If they're traveling from point a to point b, this is a lot easier, than if they're at a homebase and have several options.
So once I know their general mission, I look at the map and their expected route.
I start with "day 1" of their travel for that game. For my map, the heroes have different travel rates if they're mounted, on foot, on a road or in country.
For each hex that they might travel through, I look at the key. If something is there, I see if they would encounter it. I roll a d6 for major, and a d6 for each minor. If it's a 6, they miss the major. If it's a 1-2, they run into the minor. If they are going to run into something, I'll note which day they run into something.
If it's a major/minor encounter from the map, NOW I will flesh out the details. If it's a dungeon or some sort of place requiring its own map, I'll do a level or two, depending on how strong the party is and if I anticipate they'll be strong enough to go through the whole thing.
I repeat this for the entire trip. So now I have a list of what they will hit/not hit on their journey. And I know how many hexes they run through, and I'll figure out how long this all takes.
THEN, for each day of travel, I roll a (d6 for civilized/populated lands, d8 for less populated, d10 for wild) for day and another for night. If there's a 1, then there's a random encounter with something. I note that on which day as well.
Now I have a "script" of sorts of what the players will run into and when that will happen.
I then flesh out the encounters, whether with a major/minor from the key, or as the result of a random encounter. With random encounters, I know what is logical for that area. I also look to several tables and books for ideas/inspiration. Sometimes previous keys I've made. What am I in the mood for and what have I already done in this area?
I plan out for the entire trip or mission that they've laid out. It might take them a few sessions to do this, but it's easier for me to do it as much as once.
So here's an example: The players are going to travel from the Town of Golden Gate to the ruined Fort Dawn. They have to travel through the Wild Woods and across orc-held Plains of Woe.
So let's make this easy - it takes 1 day to cross 2 hexes of grasslands, farmlands (mounted). 1 day to cross 1 hex of light woods/hills (mounted). 2 days to cross 1 hex of deep woods.
The "mission" that the players tell me is that they will head east/southeast towards the ruins. They want to avoid the Orcs. They have a ranger with them.
So the most likely path is 00.01 -> 01.01 ->02.01 -> 03.01 ->04.02 ->05.02-> 06.02.
They might run into the "Ancient Stones" in 03.01. That is a major encounter in my key. So I roll a d6 and I come up with ... surprisingly, a 6! So they will miss the major encounter. OK, what about the ruins themselves? That's another major encounter. I roll a 4, they'll find it.
So with that in mind, it will take 6.5 days to go from Golden Gate to Fort Dawn. They will encounter Fort Dawn on day 6.5
So my random checks - day 1, morning is in civilized, evening is in light woods. That's a d6 and d8 to check for encounters. 2 and 6, no encounters. Day 2 is in light woods. 3 and 3, no encounter. Day 3 and 4 are in the deep woods. That's a d10. 7 and 5. No encounter. Day 5 is in light woods, d8 check. 8 and 7, no encounter. Day 6 morning is grasslands, evening is enter the hills. d8 and d10. 1 and 8, aha, finally an encounter! Day 7, morning check only as by afternoon, they'll be at the fort. 4, no encounter.
Jeeze, these guys have it EASY this trip!
Here's the script: Day 1 - 00.01 (grasslands) to 01.01 (woods) - no encounters Day 2 - 01.01 (woods) to 02.01 (woods) - no encounters Day 3 - 02.01 (woods) to 03.01 (heavy woods) - no encounter Day 4 - 03.01 (heavy woods) - no encounter Day 5 - 03.01 (heavy woods) to 04.02 (woods) -no encounter Day 6 - 04.02 (woods) to 05.02 (grasslands) - ENCOUNTER Day 7 - 05.02 (exit grasslands into hilled grasslands) - no encounter, MAJOR: Fort Dawn
For the grasslands, I roll on a small table and figure out it will be a humanoid encounter. It makes sense that this is a hunting party of mounted orcs. So I come up with the encounter parameters and write it out.
Part 3 - at the table. OK, so we're playing the game.
Me: It's the 8th day of Autumn and you've loaded up your supplies and are ready to leave town. Do you do anything else or do you head out?
Players: We go! Off to the fort!
Me: Well, (reading notes) Fortune smiles upon you, as with the help of the ranger, you have a fairly unventful journey for the first 5 days of your trip. You navigate the Dark Woods without incident, with only the gloom of the heavy canopy marking anything of note during the two days it takes you to get through them. However, on the sixth day, as your horses range through the grasslands... (rattle of dice as I figure out who has surprise)...
Me: Ranger, as you are out ahead of the group a-ways, scouting, you come upon the rear vanguard of what appears to be a group of orcs, riding, unaware that you're behind them! What do you do?
Ranger: I quietly make the "stop/danger" sign, hoping that my friends behind me see it. I then jump off my horse and get it to lie down.
Me: OK - the elves and halfling in the party, roll a d6. If you get a 1 or 2, you see that sign and can warn everyone. Otherwise... this will be interesting!
(The encounter is resolved... so now we continue)
Me: OK, after cleaning from the messy orc encounter, there is still time to travel. Do you wish to continue?
Players: Yes!
Me: OK, the remainder of the day and the following day are uneventful. The tall grasses lead into hill country, mostly covered in the grasses that are tall and fragrant in the autum sun. By midday of the 15th day of Autumn, you see the ruined towers of Fort Dawn on the horizon, sitting on top of the largest of the rolling hills...
And that's really about it.
I used to do a "day by day" blow of moving across the map, and it just wasn't really fun for anyone? I started doing this approach after seeing it suggested online. The players like it, because it focuses on the important stuff.
They do have to track resources, of course and I'll remind them of that when they hit points where they stop.
Questions that I anticipate What if the players change their mission or go off the script? What if they get lost? Well, they understand that if they change the plan, I may need to "take a break" in order to figure out what happens when instead of going to Fort Dawn, they decide to stay in the Dark Woods and seek out the Ancient Stones. So at the table, I'll pretty much follow the same approach, figure out the day to day until they reach their new destination.
If that's not appropriate, or they get lost and they're wandering off course, then we drop into a "day by day" mode, which I cover in the next question. What if they're truly "crawling" around a wilderness to explore? Then I do the same exact thing, but on a hex by hex, day by day basis. It does slow things down a bit more, because I'm repeating this for each day, but that's pretty much what wilderness exploring is... it's become a different type of game. It's no longer a "travel and destination" game, it's truly seeing what is in each nook and cranny.
Because I've done this enough, I can roll it out pretty fast and get to the jist of things quickly. What about weather? Ah, I didn't want to muddy the waters with weather, but yes, weather can be an encounter. I use weather charts that lay out each day's weather - it's the 7 Years of Fantasy Weather almanac that I've podcasted about before. On days where there is weather that seriously affects their travel, that's an appropriate event to call out as a waypoint or encounter. Or I let them know how the weather affects their travel (usually to slow them down).
What other questions did I not think of? What do you think of this approach?
