Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Our Country's Good
by Timberlake Wertenbaker, were visualized initially in Second Life and then
built for the real stage productions at James Madison University in Virginia. As he said: “One remark-
able difference in Second Life is that through the use of avatars, it is possible for the director to come
INSIDE the visualization to interact in a more meaningful way with the proposed environment” [4].
Images of the set designs and their virtual prototypes can be seen on Richard Finkelstein's website
(http://www.rfdesigns.org/VIRTUAL.HTM).
13.5 PROTOTYPING GAMES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD
Among the myriad prototyped items a virtual world is capable of creating, there is a place for games.
Although some people would deine the virtual world itself as a game, a virtual world is also an excellent
place for designing a real-world game prototype. Such is the case of “Tribe,” a game that Alchemy Sims
developed to promote understanding of the stresses that indigenous peoples of the world have to contend
with as they seek to preserve their tribal way of life (Figure 13.7). Ann Cudworth (known as Annabelle
Fanshaw throughout the Metaverse) of Alchemy Sims collaborated on the game board design and game
play structures with Deb Thomas of SillyMonkey games (http://www.sillymonkeyinternational.com/) on the
OpenSim-based Alchemy Sims Grid (ASG). Essentially, the procedure was the same as if you were making
the game prototype from real materials; they created a game document, decided on the rules, and worked out
the game elements that would come into play. Where they had the advantage over real life was in the virtual
play testing. Very easily, they could get people to log in to the ASG and play the game with their avatars.
It was quite amazing to see people walking around on the large board, using the spinner, and picking up
FIGURE 13.7
Screen grab from OpenSim on Alchemy Sims Grid of the prototype used for play testing “Tribe,”
a board game about the struggles of indigenous peoples.