Quagmire

An example of non-separateness in architecture and its specific surroundings I think that non-separateness is a pattern that is quite descriptive in and of itself. An element in a videogame and its narrative do not stand out because they do not fit into the context, that's how I interpret this particular pattern in the context that I am writing in. Allow me to elaborate. Today I was playing The Last of Us II. First of all, it is a brilliantly made and visually stunning game that does almost everything perfect to the finest detail. Almost everything perfect. I will try and not spoil anything, but inevitably I have to go into some of the particulars when it comes to the story line to explain what I am getting at.  Whilst roaming around an abandoned aquarium, that has obviously not been used for a long time, you come across a big fish tank where a sea lion is still happily swimming around. Just for the record, the story is set in a zombie-infested world where you operate from a camp b...

  Electric Sheep created by a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over "The electric things have their life too. Paltry as those lives are." - Rick Deckard  Christopher Alexander is an architect who wrote extensively on architecture, design and life. He identified patterns in our living environments and the quarters we spend our time in. He looked at the patterns that have emerged over the ages and as such taken on a descriptive approach to architecture. In doing so, Alexander has made a blue print for other disciplines to pick up and apply to whatever they feel like, but it's not a simple copy and paste I am afraid. Let's look at one of the patterns to make it more tangible. Presented here below are fifteen, of many, patterns that Alexander describes in his seminal book  A Pattern Language . We'll look at Graded Variation in particular, because it neatly ties in with the Electric Sheep above. A selection of Patterns from A Pattern Language You may wonder at...

From Gary Waters / Getty Images "Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law" - Ferdinand de Saussure Before I set up a theoretical framework using a pattern language it is important to get some definitions right. Let's have a look at language first, which I will dive into in this post. Then at patterns second and finally at the combination of the two. It shouldn't be too hard for most of us to come up with a definition of a language... Right? It is a system with rules (grammar) that is used to convey information through words (vocabulary). However, this definition is not wholly conclusive nor inclusive for that matter. What about sign language? It seems the definition of a language needs to be broadened in order to include this form as well. So, sign language is the same as a spoken language except that you use signs instead of words and there we are: we have a fully inclusive definition of language... Right? Not really,...

Paradiso, Amsterdam Gisteren zag ik een bericht van Diederik Gommers op Instagram waarbij hij ook een oproep deed: "Mij wordt vaak om medische kennis gevraagd, maar ik zou nu aan jullie willen vragen, als een soort ‘open brainstormsessie’: wat zouden we kunnen doen om dit [mentale problemen bij jongeren] tegen te gaan? Zijn er alternatieven? Kunnen we iets bedenken zoals van de week met extra testen voor en na een optreden in een theater? Ik hoor graag jullie ideeën!" - Diederik Gommers Toen ik dat las bedacht ik me dat het eigenlijk heel gek is dat het vanuit de (software-)testwereld zo stil is gebleven rond het coronabeleid. Er moeten, geïnspireerd op de kennis die testers over de jaren heen in de digitale wereld hebben opgedaan, ook methoden en technieken te bedenken zijn die toepasbaar zijn in de fysieke wereld.  Voor elk softwareproject formuleer je een testplan waarin je precies beschrijft wat je gaat testen en wat je verwachte resultaten zijn. Althans, dat is in de id...

Michael Douglas as Nicholas van Orton in The Game by David Fincher “I don't care about the money. I'm pulling back the curtain. I want to meet the wizard.” -   Nicholas van Orton Jesse Schell at the Game Development Conference (GDC) After I saw Jesse Schell's lecture at GDC on The Nature of Order in Game Narrative I was intrigued. Intrigued because Schell gives the viewer a guideline of what kind of patterns they can use in the creation for their game when it comes to narrative. I believe that these patterns can also be used to analyze narrative in video games and in so doing as an analyst or tester you can "pull back the curtain". Unlike Nicholas van Orton though, I am not a millionaire and I do care about the money. There is business to be made and I will tell you why. I believe narrative is an often overlooked part of video games for creators and critics alike and that it, just like any other feature of software, can be subjected to thorough analysis and measu...