Art and games - development of Trivium.

• Main Authors: Zhou, Xuanming., Ho, Qingxiang.
• Other Authors: Mark Joseph Chavez
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Media
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/18672
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Trivium is a multiplayer game in which three players, each interacting with the game via a unique control interface, cooperate with each other to beat the levels presented to them. The motivation for creating such a game stems from our interest in exploring the possibilities of a cross-platform multiplayer game(for example, multiplayer gameplay between an Xbox 360 and a PC), the difficulties in such a task, and the possibilities of commercial viability. For my Final Year Project as an Animation student, I opted to create a digital game with a co-partner who was from the Interactive Media Major. To me, this seemed only natural; being part of a generation that has been brought up in an era of digital technology and gaming. Yet through the course of development, I constantly face queries from others as to the nature of my project; whether it can be considered “animation-worthy”. Even from my mentors, who come from a generation more in tune with “traditional” narratives, doubts were cast as to the potential for my project to be deemed a good piece of animation, or more accurately a good piece of story. Such skepticism has even led to a form of exile where people categorize me to being a student of Interactive Media instead. At first, it came to me as a surprise (and a discouragement) that so few people shared my perspective that digital games are as good a medium for storytelling as other more conventional mediums like film or books. However, by swallowing my own pride and taking a closer inspection into the mindsets of such “Luddites”, I have come to understand their reason for concern and that my own prejudice has gotten in the way for my passion of the medium. That is not to say that my initial perspective was misguided, but rather shallow in its understanding and concept. In the scope of this essay, I shall aim to discuss the fundamental flaws involved in game storytelling with reference to my own project Trivium, but subsequently hope to show why digital games will soon or have already become a major contender for the narrative.