bibliography
a maze. (director). (2022, october 3). a maze. / berlin 2022: ambient play systems (in and outside of games) by flan falacci [video recording]. http://archive.org/details/a-maze.-berlin-2022-ambient-play-systems-in-and-outside-of-games-by-flan-falacci
description
flan falacci showcases the relatively unspoken playstyle known as "ambient games." these games feature a lack of interaction from the player and focuses primarily on procedural generation with interpretive results.
annotations
| timestamp | notes |
|---|---|
| (00:01:40) | falacci is a game designer who focuses on procedural generation. |
| (00:03:00) | after dark is a screensaver program that featured many stylistic and procedural screensaver designs. falacci remembers watching them for long periods with friends. |
| (00:04:23) | falacci reveals that watching sport, observing racing raindrops on a window, watched a marble race, and many others as engaging in as ambient play style. |
| (00:05:05) | systems (games) do not need to be complicated to engage the play through an ambient play style. |
| (00:07:22) | falacci reveals that ambient play is not a new concept as egyptian culture has given rise to the game "senet" which is entirely dictated by dice rolls without any particular control to play movement. |
| (00:08:16) | ambience exists in different acts as well. referred as an "engagement style." |
| (00:09:02) | falacci differentiates their definition of "ambient" from general use. general use refers to a calm and peaceful theme that may still require proactive engagement. falacci defines "ambient" but instead as low interactively but high observation. |
| (00:12:07) | falacci establishes a set of guidelines for ambient games:
|
| (00:15:09) | falacci mentions that most games are a mix of ambient play and choice-driven play. |
| (00:17:19) | falacci advocates for designing simple rules to find interesting results, pointing to conway's game of life as an excellent example. |
| (00:18:24) | falacci created a simple simulation that mimics dog social behaviors. from falacci's observations, the dog sims would group up and stick together for a small duration before dispersing to other dogs, similar to a party. |
| (00:19:10) | falacci has five categories for common ambient play styles derived from players:
|
| (00:21:12) | falacci provides examples of the common play styles
|
| (00:24:40) | falacci mentions examples of digital ambient game:
|
| (00:27:55) | falacci discusses the experience a player has when they have no control over a system. when luck is the central focus of a game, players still care deeply about the outcomes. |