FRKN WKND and video game mixtapes: developing talent and experience through video game mixtapes

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Content FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes
Developing Talent and Experience through Video Game Mixtapes
By
Alejandro Quan-Madrid
Master of Fine Arts
Interactive Media & Games Division
School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
December 2018

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 2 of 10

a. Abstract

New video game developers can more effectively develop their skills and confidence by making
a mixtape of short game experiences instead of a single larger game. Thanks to the proliferation
of easy-to-use game development engines, it’s possible for an individual to do so in a relatively
short period of time. With my thesis game, FRKN WKND, I made multiple short
games/apps/digital interactive experiences over the course of a year and tied them together into a
larger mix. I feel strongly that this method is replicable and can more quickly and sustainably
help one become a better designer and digital game experience maker.

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 3 of 10

b. Acknowledgments

This project reflects the information I’ve learned through the process of making my first video
game mixtape, FRKN WKND, both the challenges and advantages. This game and paper would
not be possible without the support of my advisory committee, USC Interactive Media and
Games faculty Jane Pinckard and Steve Anderson (now at UCLA), and my outside advisor, game
developer and DePaul University game design professor Anna Anthropy. I want to acknowledge
Amy Huang who contributed visual art to the project, Tonia B who contributed UI/layout art and
design, Maureen McHugh for her voice acting, and Brendon Chung for a donated 3D character
model. Additionally, I’d like to thank the IMGD department, my cohort, my mother who was a
huge inspiration and financial/emotional support, my partner Leigh Phan, and other family
members. And last but not least everyone who playtested.

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 4 of 10

Table of Contents

a. Abstract........................................................................................................................................2

b. Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................3

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................5

2. Early Challenges..........................................................................................................................6

3. Early Lessons Learned.................................................................................................................7

4. Modular Development.................................................................................................................8

5. Conclusions..................................................................................................................................9

6. Influences...................................................................................................................................10

7. References .................................................................................................................................10

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 5 of 10
Alejandro Quan-Madrid

CTIN-594B: Master’s Thesis

December 2018

1. Introduction
Before work on FRKN WKND began, I spent time making rapid prototypes -- small game
experiences that I felt compelled to make. I was inspired by indie game developer Rami Ismail,
who advocated for a practice of making one game per week for 10 weeks. The idea is that by
learning to embrace failure, mistakes, things that didn’t turn out how you expected, we can more
quickly get over it and move on to create better work. I decided to apply this method towards my
own practice, leading up to my formal thesis project. I was able to experiment with player input,
emotional experience design, user interface while testing them on my classmates and receiving
valuable feedback.

When time came to choose a project for my thesis, I resisted picking a single one from what I
had made. Instead, I proposed to make a mix, applying a mixtape concept. I would continue
making short experiences and the idea is that the flow of them, when played in sequence, would
create the impression of a narrative. The player’s brain should be good at storytelling and would
fill in the blanks.

I figured I would make the game experiences autobiographical -- to draw inspiration from the
world around me, regardless of how uneventful it may feel at times. Where is the play in that?

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 6 of 10

Figure 1 - The first game, Get Money.

2. Early Challenges
Each game I made was better and quicker to make than the last. It was empowering, as if I could
feel the new neural connections being made. I was locked in. Too locked in. As the midway
Winter show approached I needed to put together an experience to demo. So I picked 3 of the
more compelling games and decided on a sequence for them that implied a story. I called this a
chapter. The challenge was that I did not give myself enough time to design and code an elegant
way to transition between the 3 experiences. I chose to put that off and focused instead on
polishing each scene. When the day to show our work to the public came, I was working off of
adrenaline to add those transitions. It felt horrible and was hard to focus on the computer. But
most of the content I made would be inaccessible without it. I also had hardware issues in

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 7 of 10
regards to the quirks of mobile device development. Making the connections is the equivalent
work/design load of creating a separate game.

Figure 2 - Code Glitches.

3. Early Lessons Learned
I remember being apprehensive some about picking the “best” of my game ideas to make versus
something that matched my current skill level. The temptation was also there to try and plan
everything out in advance. I gave into the advice I heard, to trust the iterative process. To make
things, test, and improve on them, and that helped a lot. I wasn’t sure if my choices were best,
but I could make them as best as I could. At some point I realized a pragmatic reality that game
developers have to go with what they’ve got, because with enough time and budget a project
could continue to change indefinitely. I had to focus on making things every day/week, making
mistakes, learning from them, and moving on. This is the process, and from my experience, you
will improve skills and your confidence rapidly if you trust it and follow it.

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 8 of 10

Another valuable aspect of this production method is as you make new short games, you can
quarantine bad code or bad file structure setups within the project so the rest of the game is not
built atop of it. No costly recoding!

4. Modular Development
This is the essence of modular development. Of course all projects, especially interactive ones,
take on new life as they are made. But with making a mix of games, you’re given more freedom
to cut pieces that aren’t working or add new pieces if time permits. I ultimately went with a cell
phone format to act as a menu system to choose the chapters of my games, the individual
experiences were represented as apps on someone’s phone. For the winter show, I showed 1
chapter of 3 games. For the final spring show, I demoed 2 chapters of 6 games. By the summer
when I showed FRKN WKND at some public game events, I had 3 chapters to play, totaling 10
short game experiences. The freedom to not have a linear, explicit narrative game structure freed
me up to just create and focus on improving my skills and still know that I would have an
improving volume of work to show. Though I had a notion of the general story flow, how it was
told emerged as I made each of the pieces and put them together.

FRKN WKND and Video Game Mixtapes Page 9 of 10

Figure 4 - Cruisin’ Down the Street in my 94

5. Conclusions
I definitely feel my skills grew exponentially during that time. As of 2018, I’ve yet to release
FRKN WKND. Though what I had made was certainly technically competent and had intriguing
gameplay (so says my user feedback), the total experience was not up to a quality standard where
I wanted it to be. So I told myself I would continue to work on it while also starting tons of
unrelated small projects. I kept this practice (arguably still do it) for over 2 years now. The
process wasn’t about a final game for me, I realized. It is the journey of growth to develop an
awesome talent -- one where I can quickly, elegantly, and playfully express myself. And then use
that ability to speak truth to power and make some cool shit. The idea is simple yet well-made

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game experiences that can be tied together into a larger flow. This is a video game mixtape and
this is my style of game development that I’ve developed and honed.

6. Influences
A few games that have inspired this approach to creation and the medium include: Anna
Anthropy’s Dys4ia for it’s clever use of gameplay mechanics as the key narrative devices;
Capybara Games’ Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for it’s format of playing though a
game being akin to listening to a short music album; and Nintendo’s Electroplankton and Rhythm
Heaven games for their digital rhythmic toy elements.

7. References
Ismail, Rami. “Game A Week: Getting Experienced At Failure” Gamasutra. UBM
Technology Group, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
Dys4ia. Anna Anthropy. 2012. Video game.
Rhythm Heaven. Nintendo SPD, TNX Music Recordings. 2008. Video game.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. Capybara Games. 2013. Video game.
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!. Nintendo R&D1. 2003. Video game.

Asset Metadata

Creator Quan-Madrid, Alejandro (author)

Core Title FRKN WKND and video game mixtapes: developing talent and experience through video game mixtapes

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 10/11/2018

Defense Date 10/11/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Experimental and Molecular Pathology,indie,mixtape,oai:digitallibrary.usc.edu:usctheses,OAI-PMH Harvest,video game,vignette

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Advisor Wixon, Dennis (committee chair), Lemarchand, Richard (committee member), Watson, Jeff (committee member)

Creator Email aquanmad@usc.edu,quanmadrid@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-86668

Unique identifier UC11675362

Identifier etd-QuanMadrid-6813.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-86668 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-QuanMadrid-6813.pdf

Dmrecord 86668

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Quan-Madrid, Alejandro

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Abstract (if available)

Abstract New video game developers can more effectively develop their skills and confidence by making a mixtape of short game experiences instead of a single larger game. Thanks to the proliferation of easy-to-use game development engines, it’s possible for an individual to do so in a relatively short period of time. With my thesis game, FRKN WKND, I made multiple short games/apps/digital interactive experiences over the course of a year and tied them together into a larger mix. I feel strongly that this method is replicable and can more quickly and sustainably help one become a better designer and digital game experience maker.