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World Annihilation Operations Database
Key insights
6 takeaways- 01The World Annihilation Operations Database (WAODB) provides a structured typology of logical contradictions—such as incoherent physics, spatial discontinuities, and contradictory narrator statements—that developers can intentionally implement as creative design tools.See it on page 5
- 02Logical contradictions in games can be generated through specific technical operations like using Culling Masks to create objects visible only to specific avatars or employing custom shaders to simulate infinite recursive space.See it on page 2
- 03The database categorizes contradictions into distinct types, including contradictory indications, sound, spatial composition, object-centered inconsistencies, and multiple/incoherent identities.See it on page 12
- 04Technical implementation methods for identical-looking effects vary significantly; for example, rendering reflections can be achieved through reflection probes (ID 100) or ray-traced light rays (ID 102), with the latter offering greater depth capabilities in the Unity engine.See it on page 6
- 05Developers can use contradictory game elements to challenge conventional fictional logic, as seen in titles like 'Superliminal' (Pillow Castle, 2019), which uses perspective-based spatial reconfiguration, and 'Everhood' (Foreign Gnomes, 2021), which features avatars that address the player directly.See it on page 25
- 06The WAODB serves as a practical, modular design resource similar to game design patterns, intended to be used as a flexible tool for artistic and avant-garde experimentation rather than a rigid set of rules.See it on page 11
Summary
World Annihilation Operations Database University of Montreal, Canada This paper recounts the first part of a larger research-creation project on perceivable logical contradictions in video games. Inspired by research on impossible worlds theory, which is a derivative of possible worlds theory, as well as similar research mainly in literature, it seeks to expand the concept within video games, mainly from the standpoint of a creator.
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