Everyday Shooter's Mak Talks 'Scripted Randomness' In Games

Author: by Brandon Sheffield, Staff

Talking as part of a unique shoot-em-up genre group interview on Gamasutra, Everyday Shooter creator Jonathan Mak has been discussing the concept of 'scripted randomness' with Blast Works conceptualizer Kenta Cho, with both suggesting that random events can enhance gameplay. Mak is creator of PC/PS3 PlayStation Network hit and Independent Games Festival multi-award winner Everyday Shooter, and started off his musings on the power of randomness by asking ABA Games' Kenta Cho: "A lot of modern games now have set piece gaming, you know, like Heavenly Sword or something. Scripted events happen, so my theory is that you can have scripted events, but you inject... some sort of randomness, and then every time you play that scripted event again it's always new... I notice all your games are completely random." Cho, the prolific, largely freeware-creating Japanese developer whose Tumiki Fighters was recently upgraded to the Wii as Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy, explained: "I think randomness is very important. Especially since I write all the games by myself and I test play my games continuously, I like randomness. Also because... the behavior of the game changes dynamically every time." Further freeform discussions ensue in the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including addition comments from pseudonymous Japanese creator Omega, whose game Every Extend formed the basis of Q Entertainment's Every Extend Extra (PSP) and E4: Every Extend Extra Extreme (Xbox Live Arcade).