Comments on: Simulating Worlds or Simulating Experiences http://tatteredpage.net/2007/04/10/simulating-worlds-or-simulating-experiences/ Doodle, Design, Discover... Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:20:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Aaron http://tatteredpage.net/2007/04/10/simulating-worlds-or-simulating-experiences/#comment-8685 Aaron Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:10:13 +0000 http://tatteredpage.net/archives/75#comment-8685 As your example suggests, maybe half the trick to simulation is understanding reality FULLY before you try to simulate it. I suppose it's a feel-as-you-go process though. Nobody seemed to understand the full depth of facial expressions until we tried to simulate them in animations. Sometimes, science rides art's coat-tails. When something can't be simulated directly, you might circumvent it, as MMO designers have done with PvP. But you might also try to represent it allegorically. For example: Let's say you're designing a combat simulation and you want the players (trainees) to be wary of ricochet and environmental bodies which are prone to ricochet. Simulating a realistic ricochet could be hell. If the simulated bullet rebounds in a way that's only slightly unrealistic, the player may notice and chalk his or her error up to faulty programming, rather than personal error. But if the player's shot on a ricochet-prone material resulted in a Darkling-like monster leaping out of the wall and biting the player's head off (ending the simulation), then the player learns to associate his or her action with "bad" regardless of imperfect ricochet projections. By replacing a bit of reality with a bit of fantasy, the simulation encourages its participants to focus on the right things. As your example suggests, maybe half the trick to simulation is understanding reality FULLY before you try to simulate it. I suppose it’s a feel-as-you-go process though. Nobody seemed to understand the full depth of facial expressions until we tried to simulate them in animations. Sometimes, science rides art’s coat-tails.

When something can’t be simulated directly, you might circumvent it, as MMO designers have done with PvP. But you might also try to represent it allegorically.

For example: Let’s say you’re designing a combat simulation and you want the players (trainees) to be wary of ricochet and environmental bodies which are prone to ricochet. Simulating a realistic ricochet could be hell. If the simulated bullet rebounds in a way that’s only slightly unrealistic, the player may notice and chalk his or her error up to faulty programming, rather than personal error. But if the player’s shot on a ricochet-prone material resulted in a Darkling-like monster leaping out of the wall and biting the player’s head off (ending the simulation), then the player learns to associate his or her action with “bad” regardless of imperfect ricochet projections. By replacing a bit of reality with a bit of fantasy, the simulation encourages its participants to focus on the right things.

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