Tracy Fullerton at RIT

I had the luck of enjoying a talk from Tracy Fullerton, from USC, about play-centric game design. It was such an inspirational talk and Tracy is a great story teller.
Plus we moved the fruits and cookies outside to Game Design Lab for the late night worker bees to enjoy.

Less is more when it comes to narrative( too!).

One thing she talked about is the benefit of having the narrative less detailed, making it simple and giving it many holes. As the player interacts with the loose framework, they fill the missing parts with their own interpretation and stories, thus making the experience personal. It's just like reading a book, where the readers conjure their own images. Tracy thinks it's paying respect to the player's intelligence.
In The Night Journey, there's no linear narrative. The death is a slow darkness that always unfold upon you. "Reflecting" would slow it down, but it's inevitable in the end. It's different from typical fast death in the games, but it conveys the feeling that it's a magnificent thing.

The importance of first impression and tutorial

"First moment": These games are minimal, and their tutorials are designed so it doesn't throw player out from the experience.
In The Night Journey, the big tree is right next to the player, and the game teaches the player to reflect on it, which is the major mechanic in the game. The teaching is a scripted event, but player deciding to look at and reflect on the big tree is self motivated.
Another example is that the graphic becomes blurry and disturbing when player moves too fast, making the players want to slow down, thus leading them to examine and reflect the surrounding.

Tracy's current project, Walden

Walden has you play as Henry David Thoreau who lived in the wood and wrote Walden about that period of his life. Everything in the game is there because Thoreau wrote about it. Player starts at the sweet and easy summer, collecting foods and fuels. As seasons progress, life in the world turns more challenging and stressful. There's no death in the game. When player failed to achieve his basic needs, gameplay turns into a grind; conversely, when player succeeded in planning ahead, the world becomes more lively. Finding interesting natural events pushes the player to be more curious. The positive feedback loop here is one that increases inspiration and curiosity.
This technique of having the experience as the end goal is quite valuable, for it can be used not only for games, but almost any product that is about creating experiences. The interaction side of game surely amplifies it, for it gives player the power to construct this experience themselves. Games can be lenses that reflects on personal experiences, and that's what Tracy wants to bring to the world.

Tracy's recommandation: The movie La Jetée.
Tracy's work: Cloud (with Jenova Chen), The Night Journey, Walden, A Game.