Black & White
GameBy Lionhead Studios · Released Mar 25, 2001
Documents about Black & White
Whitepaper16 pages
Who Am 'I' in the Game?: A Typology of the Modes of Ludic Subjectivity
Daniel Vella's paper proposes a typology of "ludic subject-positions," the modes through which digital games establish an "I-in-the-gameworld" for the player.
- Vella proposes a typology of 'ludic subject-positions' grounded in phenomenology (Sartre, Merleau-Ponty), arguing the player's sense of self in a game is an experiential Gestalt built from interacting formal mechanisms rather than a single existing framework like point of view or Wilhelmsson's 'Game Ego'.
- The embodied subject-position is structured by four linked aspects: spatial standpoint, capabilities, goal-orientation, and passion.
- The typology identifies five variants: singular embodied (e.g., Tomb Raider, Pac-Man), multiple embodied (e.g., Valkyria Chronicles), distributed (e.g., Baldur's Gate), semi-transcendent (e.g., FTL, Warcraft II), and pure transcendent (e.g., SimCity, Black & White).
DiGRAJan 2016
Whitepaper13 pages
Enhancing Gameplay: Challenges for Artificial Intelligence in Digital Games
Darryl Charles's paper argues that rapid growth in computing power gives game designers a timely opportunity to pursue radical advances in artificial intelligence rather than incremental refinements.
- The paper argues that rapid growth in computing power gives game designers a timely opportunity to pursue radical AI advances rather than incremental refinements, and that AI innovation is essential to avoid industry stagnation and establish games as a serious artistic medium.
- Current titles still rely largely on established techniques such as finite-state machines, A pathfinding, and scripting, with designers prioritizing the appearance of intelligence over realistic behavioral models.
- The paper identifies three priority areas for innovation: storytelling (especially player-driven narratives in MMORPGs), dynamic online learning (illustrated by the rare example of Black & White), and emotional expression, where real-time character animation lags well behind pre-rendered film.
DiGRAJan 2003