Video Games

There was a time when children used to run and play and laugh and frolic in the sun while darting between speeding cars on the M25. Of course there are many people who still feel that sunshine is good for you and not the cause of heatstroke and skin cancer and it may be that today’s young aren’t getting out in it enough. I have to confess, however, that given the choice of actually risking my life climbing trees or causing harm to other people’s lives by throwing things at them from those same trees I prefer the dark, mysterious and intensely violent world of the video game. I like to exercise my primal instincts fighting my way through hordes of zombies. Caught in a grim and cathartic fight for survival I can walk away, after an hour or two, without even needing to clean the blood from my semi-automatic.

The gaming experience really only comes alive for me when I believe in it. I like to be confronted with the consequences of my actions and if I lack stealth or wisdom or the ability to negotiate my way through puzzles and obstacles I expect to pay the ultimate price… Game Over.

In designing the 7 Tasks modification I’ve added elements that some gamers probably won’t notice. The main advantage of modern games over those of ten to fifteen years ago is that now we can have fully textured worlds. Your footsteps echo on cobbled stones or sink into snow or mud. Birds scatter as you approach. Trees catch reflections of light. A room that has been inhabited by people is filled with the objects they owned. I’m constantly adding such details to my map. Hopefully even those players who don’t notice these details will still feel that added sense of entering a believable world.

On Saturday, working from a rougher version of my map, I put together a minute long teaser trailer. Obviously this is a work in progress and it only shows one small semi-developed area within a single level but I wanted to put it out there anyway to show people how things were advancing. See what you think: