Category Archives: games

Wonderful Projects I Did With Microsoft’s Kinect

Posted on October 25, 2017 by dustinfreeman

RIP the Kinect. Literally changed the direction of my research/career/life/art. Gave it more DEPTH. — Dustin FreemanšŸšLAX (@dustinfreeman) October 25, 2017 Microsoft has ceased manufacturing the Kinect. Here’s some projects, art and research, academic and industrial, that I could only … Continue reading →

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Game Mechanic Compression Ratio

Posted on September 19, 2016 by dustinfreeman

After attending a conference on roguelikes over the weekend, I was talking with friend Randy Lubin about how players move from learning rules to playing a game. We discovered/invented this really cool concept: Game Mechanics Compression Ratio: the ratio between … Continue reading →

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Game: SimZilla

Posted on December 17, 2015 by dustinfreeman

Players: 2-3 pilots At least 1 Zilla. Though the Zilla should get tired quickly, so having a lineup of 3-4 Zillas works well. Setup: This game works best in an atrium – it requires a raised platform 3+ meters above … Continue reading →

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Studying Narratives in Small Spaces, Part 2: Boats

Posted on April 29, 2015 by dustinfreeman

At the Augmented & Virtual Reality roundtables at GDC 2015, there was consensus that moving a player through space made them uneasy. While in the future, Iā€™m sure weā€™ll discover interesting tricks to ease the transition, what if we arenā€™t … Continue reading →

Posted in art, commentary, games, small-space-narratives, theatre | 1 Comment

Studying Narratives in Small Spaces, Part 1: Mysteries

Posted on March 30, 2015 by dustinfreeman

At the Augmented & Virtual Reality roundtables at GDC 2015, there was consensus that moving a player through space made them uneasy. While in the future, Iā€™m sure weā€™ll discover interesting tricks to ease the transition, what if we arenā€™t … Continue reading →

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Real Escape Game: Review

Posted on May 5, 2014 by dustinfreeman

This Saturday, myself and 9 friends participated in the Real Escape Game TO. Its structure would be familiar to any avid video gamer or puzzle solver: you are in a locked room, and need to follow a series of (not … Continue reading →

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Players are Jerks to NPCs in Real Life, Too

Posted on August 25, 2013 by dustinfreeman

A non-player character (NPC) is anyone you encounter in a game who is not a player themselves. They are controlled by the game, whether a human game/dungeon master or a computer simulation. Player characters (PCs), the in-game characters controlled by … Continue reading →

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First Dungeonmastering Experience

Posted on May 10, 2013 by dustinfreeman

After wanting to do it for many years, and meticulously re-reading DM of the Rings, I DMed a tabletop RPG session for the first time last week, in a setting of my own invention. I had all kinds of concerns … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, dnd, games, me-news | 1 Comment

Moons of Sallys

Posted on March 4, 2013 by dustinfreeman

Click the image to play Moons of Sallys, inspired by Stanislaw Lem’s The Cyberiad. (More of a toy than a game really – you can just fly rockets around). I’ve nearly finished reading Stanislaw Lems’ The Cyberiad for a second … Continue reading →

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The State of Kinect Gaming

Posted on August 13, 2012 by dustinfreeman

I’ve played almost every Kinect game available, and I have to admit, most of them aren’t very good. There are a few exceptions, which I’ll get to below. The “controller-less” aspect of the Kinect was what brought it so much … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, games, research, technical | 4 Comments