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SomeDay: designing a game about different thought processes

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SomeDay: designing a game about different thought processes

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SOMEDAY:
DESIGNING A GAME ABOUT DIFFERENT THOUGHT PROCESSES

by

Lulu Cao

___________________________________________________________

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(INTERACTIVE MEDIA)

May 2010

Copyright 2010 Lulu Cao
ii
DEDICATION
To Cao, Yunping and Shang, Wei.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SomeDay has received a lot of support and love. Every member of the team
committed their time, and I would like to thank each one. Nite Luo, my awesome
lead programmer has contributed a lot to the game in working with me from the
beginning. My artists, Zikun Fan and Andrew Dang lent their impressive skills. Greg
Nishikawa gave the game great technical help and Deon Lee provided the very
touching music.
I'd also like to thank my advisers for their invaluable help and
encouragement. Special thanks to the super-responsible and helpful Chair, Andreas
Kratky; I can't thank you enough. Jenova Chen helped me to flesh out my ideas and
gave me a lot of constructive feedback. Julia Heyward encouraged me to find myself
in the game -- the first level is there because of you. Joshua McVeigh-Schultz shared
a lot of his good ideas with me. Thank you also to Jeremy Gibson -- your advice
has helped the game to become what it is.
Finally, I'd like to thank my supportive family and friends. And to all the
playtesters who gave us invaluable feedback.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures v
Abstract vi
Chapter One: Introduction 1
Table: List of actions and thoughts in Moonbird 4
Chapter Two: Project Description 7
Chapter Three: The User's Experience 11
Chapter Four: Influences 16
Chapter Five: The Development of the Game 20
Chapter Six: Evaluation Scenarios and Methods 30
Chapter Seven: Discussion 31
Chapter Eight: Game Innovation 36
Chapter Nine: Conclusion 39
Bibliography 40
Appendix: Team SomeDay 41
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: How adults think and do 1
Figure 2: How children think and do 1
Figure 3: A series of screen shots of Moonbird 3
Figure 4: The concept drawing of the first level 7
Figure 5: Concept art of the second level 9
Figure 6: Concept art of the third level 10
Figure 7: Screenshot of the first level 12
Figure 8: The girl’s activity in the first level 13
Figure 9: Screenshot of the second level 13
Figure 10: Screenshots of the third level 15
Figure 11: Interface of New Book 18
Figure 12: Interface of Paperlife 21
Figure 13: Screenshots of Paperlife 22
Figure 14: Interface of Inner Life 23
Figure 15: Screenshots of Inner Life 25
Figure 16: The interface of SomeDay I 27
Figure 17: Screenshots of SomeDay I 28
Figure 18: Pandora’s Box 32
Figure 19: Main movements in three levels 33
vi
ABSTRACT
SomeDay is an interactive art game designed to benefit people by making
them aware of the different modes of thinking between childhood and adulthood.
SomeDay overcomes the limitations of traditional puzzle piece games. Unlike
typical games wherein the game designer controls how the story progresses,
SomeDay gives each player the freedom to make the story unfold in a unique way
depending upon which puzzle pieces he or she places together first. SomeDay is not
only aiming to provide entertainment but also to inspire meaningful thought.

1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The objective of playing SomeDay is that the player will recognize the
difference in thought process between childhood and adulthood. Childhood vs.
adulthood does not merely mean a difference in age. In the context of this paper,
childhood is a state in which a younger human being demonstrates a different
thought process than a person in adulthood. A child’s thought process can be
defined as reliant on intuition, instinctual and experiential, while an adult’s thought
process can be defined as logical, structural and procedural. By observing my own
sister and her friends, also by playing with kids back when I volunteered in an
orphanage, I see there are interesting differences between children and adults on
solving problems and play.
This diagram illustrates the difference between the two:

Figure 1: How adults think and do Figure 2: How children think and do
2
The diagram above illustrates that adult thought goes step by step, starting
from the blue point to reach the red point. Even if they make an error, detouring from
the linear steps, adults still aim for their goal as a destination. While Figure 2 shows
that for children, it’s a more chaotic process. The end is not always the goal. The
reason is because most children haven't been trained to do things in a logical way and
may sometimes forget about their original goal. While the goal is important to adults,
it is the journey that is important to children.
A good example of the difference in thought process between children and
adults is the awarded animated film Moonbird. It is a short animation created by
John Hubley and Faith Elliott in 1959. It tells a story of two brothers who take an
adventure of catching a moonbird. They have a cage, a rope, a spade and some candy.
In the logical way, they should set up the cage, put some kind of bird food inside the
cage and close the cage when the bird is in. This is what most viewers think the boys
would do at the beginning of the animation.
In the animation, the two boys dig a hole to hide themselves and put candy
outside the cage for the bird. However, before the bird comes, the boys eat some of
the candy themselves. They also drag the rope before the bird goes into the cage,
which scares the bird away. Then they just forget about the bird and begin to sing.
Luckily, their song attracts the bird and they start playing with the bird. They totally
forget about their primary goal of catching the bird, but they have a great time
anyway.
3

Figure 3: A series of screen shots of Moonbird
4

What Adults Would Do
What Children Do in the
Film
The reason children do
these actions
Set up the cage/dig a hole and
cover it
Dig a hole Looks right
Wait aside They jump in the hole No clue
Put bird food inside the cage Put candy outside the cage They like candy, so will
the bird
Wait Eat candy They are hungry
Close the cage when bird goes
into the cage
Close the cage when they see
the bird
No clue
(After failure) stay, wait for
another chance, or leave
Blame the cage, and then
begin to sing songs
It’s the cage’s fault
(After see the bird) catch it Play with it Because it’s fun!

Table: List of actions and thoughts in Moonbird

Due to a less codified world experience, children have an easier access to
intuition and emotion than adults. The first column is mostly a result of learning
from society, family, school and work. Adults rely more on rational thoughts and
systems while children rely more on intuition.
From the film, we can also see that children and adults have different
attitudes toward the goal. Sometimes children would forget about their original goal
because they do things more on instinct and impulse. The children in the film ate the
candy because they were hungry, not thinking of how that would affect the outcome
of their goal. However, they still enjoy it. Children accept their surroundings,
5
enjoying the present time, being able to play with anything. In contrast, adults think
more of the future and goals, which can lead to not appreciating their current
surroundings because they are too preoccupied with future plans. Since the goal is
so important to the adults that they may feel upset if it is not reached.
Adults often become mired down in the drudgery of everyday routine as they
execute the tasks that will get them to their goal. Because adults are so obsessed
with reaching a defined goal they sometimes forget the more important reason
behind why they set the goal in the first place. Adults become frustrated with their
everyday routine, unable to stand back and see things in a different way. When
compared to childhood, adult life seems very fragmented. Time is divided by events
and deadlines on the schedule. Children however, take a wider view, appreciating
the reason behind the goal, and are flexible enough to change course mid-stream if it
will serve their purpose better.
This project, SomeDay, a video game, is created to suggest that the player
look at life in a broader and simpler way. The game advocates that adults learn from
children how to live from the heart and not try to fit into the system. SomeDay does
not mean to provide a solution, but offers an opportunity that people can become
more aware of different modes of thinking.
Games like Passage
1
have challenged how people think about video games.
Traditionally, people have considered video games to be escapist entertainment in

1
A video game by Jason Rohrer, which was released in 2007.
6
which the goal is to not think. Passage does the opposite in that it makes people
think about what’s important. Interested in how a game can do this, I’d like to create
SomeDay as interactive art designed to benefit people.
Puzzle piece games, are friendly and easy to learn, therefore they are popular
to people. The satisfaction comes out of the completion of the puzzle since humans
have an intention to complete what they see. However, there are some limitations of
traditional puzzle piece games. Take jigsaw puzzles as an example. The player
relies on the final picture and the jigsawed edges of the puzzle pieces to form a
picture. The picture is static, the player get the picture finished and that’s all. There
is normally no story, and even when there is a story, it is not related to what the
player is doing with the puzzle pieces. Also, since the puzzle is meant for repeat
playing, it is not trying to evoke any emotion from the player or make them think of
something. Therefore, for some members of the audience, it is not fun enough to play
if it only requires strategy. SomeDay attempts to address these issues.
7
CHAPTER TWO: PROJECT DESCRIPTION
SomeDay is designed to provide an experience in which the player can
observe the character’s change in thought process and way of life. In having the
player recognize these changes, the game intends to evoke his/her emotions and
thoughts about them. It provides the player a glimpse into a life that goes from fluid
to fragmented.
Figure 4: The concept drawing of the first level
8
The narrative begins with a little girl who is carefree in body and mind. She
plays alongside a stream, jumping, running, playing with mud, picking flowers, and
folding paper boats. She does everything from her heart without purpose or specific
goals. Then she becomes a teenager.
Instead of running through the grass, she stands on a balcony, overlooking
the city. The wires and tall buildings represent the structure and rules that were
absent in her childhood; the balcony also serves as a metaphor for the external rules
that enter into her life. Like the adolescence itself, it’s an intermediate state because
it is between one thing (outdoors) and another (indoors).
The sky in the city is obstructed by wires and high buildings. The girl throws
paper planes, which is a counterpoint that intends to add a continuous element to the
structures of the environment.
Time flies, and the girl becomes a woman in a city. She sits looking through
a window, doing the same work-related tasks every day. She and other people’s
lives are not as complete as before anymore. Instead, the lives are fragmented and
need to be assembled. Will following the routines that already exist help them
complete their lives? SomeDay does not clearly show whether the woman has
changed, or how she feels now that her journey in the game is over. It is up to the
player’s understanding and imagination to draw those conclusions.
9

Figure 5: Concept art of the second level
10

Figure 6: Concept art of the third level
11
CHAPTER THREE: THE USER’S EXPERIENCE
SomeDay is a video puzzle game to play on the computer. It is created in
Flash so it can be used on either platform; it is also online and free to play. The
player uses a mouse or a trackpad to click a rectangular puzzle piece and drag it so to
attach it to another one. The focus of SomeDay is not for the player to beat the clock
but to create an environment in which the player can role-play. There are no points to
gain. Each of the three levels contains a different number of puzzle pieces, and some
of them are animated.
At the opening of the game, the player sees a stream in the early spring
containing water and stone, all of which are on randomly-placed puzzle pieces. The
objective of this level is to lead a paper boat and watch a girl. To make the boat
catch up with the little girl, the player must arrange and connect the pieces featuring
water and stone so that the boat can move along the stream. While the player leads
the boat, the girl enjoys her life as she runs, jumps, and plays. Through the duration
of the level, the girl grows from a five-year-old to an early teenager. The player,
leading the boat in the stream and observes her. The player plays the boat rather than
the girl because here, I would like to give adult players the opportunity to observe a
child playing, not for any specific goal or reason. The music, featuring piano and
violin, contributes to that joyful feeling since the melody is very light and enjoyable.
The tone of childlike fantasy and innocence also give the player a relaxed feeling,
inviting him/her to explore more.
12

Figure 7: Screenshot of the first level
13

Figure 8: The girl’s activity in the first level

When the boat catches up with the girl, the girl stops in the middle of the
screen, and the background of the first level fades away. A city view emerges, and
the second level arrives.
In this level, the player rearranges the puzzle pieces that depict the sky.
He/she does this based on the paths of the moving paper planes, which cross over
several puzzle pieces before landing on their final piece depicting the ground. The
pieces that the paper plane flies by will show the city, as seen through the girl’s
imagination.

Figure 9: Screenshot of the second level
14
After the puzzle of the sky is complete, the camera zooms out, and the main
characters look smaller and smaller, until the cityscape disappears. One city building
appears, depicting the main character sitting behind a window. Now on the third
level, the player sees more of the city, and it turns out that the sky is not the only
fragmented entity in the city. The player sees random puzzle pieces, each containing
a framed window. He/she drags and puts the windows together so to create a
building. Different events such as a mother preparing for breakfast, kids going to
school, and adults going to work, eating dinner, and sleeping unfold behind different
windows. The player relies on his/her understanding of human life stories to connect
these fragments. For example, considering that a typical adult citizen plays the
game, if he/she sees an adult man exit his house in the morning, the player relies on
his/her personal knowledge that the character probably has to drive or catch a bus or
train to work because the player does the same in his/her life everyday. By
connecting the character to the transportation, and then with the offices, houses, etc.,
the player helps the man character to finish a “daily loop.” If the player successfully
does that, it demonstrates that the loop is ingrained in his/her head. He/she can see
their routines and feel the empathy with their situation. And by looking at the
character’s life loop, the player may reexamine his/her life. Since there is a
similarity, it raises some thoughts about whether he/she needs to change his/her daily
routine.
SomeDay is designed to whimsically mirror the broad stage of growing up:
from emotional to rational, from intuition to logic. Since it is impossible to provide
15
one solution of how the adults should learn from children, the game has an open
ending.

Figure 10: Screenshots of the third level
16
CHAPTER FOUR: INFLUENCES
The inspiration for the game came as I was reflecting on the transitions that
take place between childhood and adulthood. It seems sometimes children see things
in a clearer and simpler way than adults. Certainly we know that some adults say
they feel they are not as creative as they were when they were young. I was
interested in creating a game experience that explored the emotional transition
between childhood and adulthood.
There are several games and other arts that employ unique mechanics to
explore topics like self-reflection, the meaning of life, and childlike fantasies. Below
I describe a few of these games and arts that serve as inspirations and prior art of this
project.
Passage (2007) is a video game created by Jason Rohrer. It presents an
entire life, from young adulthood through death, in five minutes. Players use arrow
keys to lead the main character through his life, find a female companion, experience
life, and die. Although the game is small, it evoked a lot of discussion because
“That little game, playable in just five minutes, provides one of the most emotionally
affecting experiences of any game yet. “ [Joel Johnson]
Passage is an abstract life simulation. The game gives the player a space in
which he can imagine, and makes him/her think about what is valuable in life. As a
minimized game, Passage helps players think about life’s bigger picture at the
expense of not including many details about it. Because of that, in SomeDay, I tried
to use real, everyday events to give the player familiarity with this world, causing
17
him/her to become more engaged. Passage also opened my eyes about games.
Before I played this game, I had a stereotype of what games were about. I thought
games couldn’t elicit deep thoughts. Passage raised my awareness about other kinds
of poignant games.
Spectre (2009) by Jamie Antonisse and his team (including Chris Baily, Sean
Bouchard, Kim Cagney, Sam Farmer, Bill Graner, Daniel Ponce, Mike Rossmassler
and Asher Vollmer) is an animated Flash game in which the player goes through an
old man’s life by choosing which memories he/she wants to experience. And by
showing these memories, the game can evoke sensitive emotions from the players.
When I played Spectre, I found that I see myself reflected in the character.
Spectre did this by telling memories in a nostalgic way, so that it is easy to evoke
emotions from the player. In SomeDay, I am trying to evoke emotions through a
similar use of scenes from a life. Instead of recounting one character’s memories, I
am trying to use the female character as an Everyman/Everywoman and tell her life
story in a less specific way. By doing that, the players will hopefully identify with
her.
Cloud (2006), by Jenova Chen and his team (including Erik Nelson, Glenn
Song, Vincent Diamante, Stephen Dinehart, Kellee Santigo and Aaron Meyers ), is
an acclaimed action flight game that allows players to realize their lifelong dreams of
imaginative flight. In addition, the players can also manipulate clouds and change
the weather. The movement of the mouse gives the player the feeling of flying and
the belief that anything is possible. This game influences me on how a gameplay can
18
evoke the player’s emotions. That touches me a lot that I want to do the same in my
game too.

Figure 11: Interface of New Book

New Book (1975) was created by Zbig Rybczynski. This film influenced me
because of the interesting way it tells stories. Divided into nine different sub screens,
the screen shows running parallel and contributing to a larger story. There are many
different details to discover in this screen, and different viewers may catch different
parts of the story. This unique approach in film has yet to be explored in video
19
games. The pieces in SomeDay are also like the screens in New Book. New Book
provided me some thoughts on how to relate the different screens together, and how
to create significant moments.
Everyday the Same Dream (2009) by Molleindustria is an art game about
breaking daily routines. An office worker repeats the same routine every day, and
players need to try and find ways to break him out of his mold. I knew about this
game when I already finished my prototype, and I feel the 3
rd
level of SomeDay has
very similar idea to this game. However, Everyday the Same Dream focuses on the
repetition of everyday, while SomeDay also wants to explore the reason of it.
20
CHAPTER FIVE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME
SomeDay has experienced several iterations. Each prototype has evolved the
design and contributed to the idea of the final game. I will briefly summarize the
form of each prototype and the main design lessons learned at each stage.

1. First prototype: Paperlife
Paperlife was an early prototype that took one week to complete in October
2009. At first, it was paper prototype, but then it was transformed into a Flash
game. The player connects flipbooks portraying many symbolic objects on them
(i.e., a flipbook with a book on it represents school, and one with wings on it
represents freedom) and the main character goes into different stages of his life.
When connecting the character with another flipbook, the character jumps into the
next flipbook, and how the player connects the different flipbooks determines the
character’s fate.
This prototype is about the many choices in a person’s life, and how the
things we had abundantly in childhood—curiosity, imagination etc. can be
rediscovered so to enrich our lives as adults. This prototype tries to emphasize how
important it is to keep the curiosity and imagination as we grew up, and it also
focuses on the different effects these concepts have on different ages. Paperlife also
began the experimentation of puzzle pieces as narrative devices.
21

Figure 12: Interface of Paperlife
22

Figure 13: Screenshots of Paperlife
23
People playtested this prototype and gave positive and negative feedback to
Team Paperlife. Many people expressed that they like the form of flipbook, but were
concerned about how to represent all of the possible choices that could occur in
one’s life. The creators realized that the more life choices presented, the more
possible endings, and the greater variation of outcomes for the player.

2. Second prototype: Inner Life
To incorporate more possible life choices for the character, a second
prototype was created. Inner Life focuses on those life choices, and the roles that
curiosity, love, hope, freedom and imagination can play on one’s life.

Figure 14: Interface of Inner Life
24
The game begins with the player watching the character live his everyday life
through a small square in the middle of the screen. What occur in that screen are the
events of the character’s life. The player can move him through these screens. The
tone is grey and upsetting. On the abstract space surrounding that screen is the
character’s inner life, which has tiles with simple pleasures illustrated on them. By
moving the tiles
In his inner life, there are tiles with simple pleasures illustrated on them. By
moving tiles and putting them into a tessellation surrounding the character, the player
helps the character to explore his feeling and thoughts. The more tiles the player
attaches to the character, the richer his inner life is.
A square tile is in the middle of the screen. In the tile, player can see the
character is having his everyday life. The tone is grey and upsetting. Player then will
drag the tiles around into the main area and attach them to the last one tile on the
screen. They will play some mini games along the way as well. After new tiles add
to the character, his moving area becomes bigger and bigger, player could see more
textures and colors are added to the environment. The character also gets more
character layers in him.
At the end of the game, the main area shows a whole picture of the
character’s new life. Based on different orders when player put the tiles in, the
picture looks different. The character is no longer having his life along one path, but
move freely and stops occasionally to enjoy the life.
25

Figure 15: Screenshots of Inner Life
26
This prototype was in November 2009. It was shown to people in the open
house and playtested. While there are very nice feedback such as people like the
elements and the mini games in it; however, the question about whether the game
gives players more freedom of playing the game was asked. Based on that, how the
game can provide more possibilities to players became the new design challenge.
That’s where the SomeDay prototype came from.

3. Third prototype: SomeDay I
As stated above, how the game can give players more freedom to play
becomes the new design challenge. Bearing that in mind, together with teammates
Nite Luo and Zikun Fan, the first version of SomeDay was created in November
2009. It took three weeks to create this prototype. It continued using puzzle pieces,
and more complicated mechanics were added. Furthermore, instead of focusing on
one person’s life, SomeDay concentrates on several people, including the little girl
who throws paper planes.
More than 50 people playtested this prototype. Positive feedback was
received, the game is fun to play. There were also many helpful comments about the
game design. For example, there was feedback about the music and sound effects,
which were not paid a lot of attention to before. It turned out that many players
expect background music that fits the story and sound effects that motivate their
emotions and gameplay.
27

Figure 16: The interface of SomeDay I

Also, many people noted that the difference between childhood and
adulthood wasn’t terribly clear.
28

Figure 17: Screenshots of SomeDay I

4. Fourth prototype: SomeDay II
Based on the result of the playtesting, several design decisions were made.
First, a composer joined the team, created music and sound effects for the game;
second, the v1.0 prototype was broken up into four levels since many players felt
29
that there were too many things to focus on in one level. Compared to SomeDay I,
SomeDay II combines the girl and lady character and prolongs the character’s life.
There are some discussions about this version as it was designed. It was
deemed that fourth level might be inappropriate as it attempted to dictate one specific
solution for life.

5. Fifth prototype: SomeDay III
Because of the reason stated above, in this version, the fourth level was cut
out. The original thought of the fourth level is about how the main character upsets
the monotony of her life. But after a lot of thought and discussion, I discovered that
there is no one answer to how can we break out the structured life. There is no one
solution. With an open ending, the game will give the player more to think about.
30
CHAPTER SIX: EVALUATION SCENARIOS AND METHODS
SomeDay I was playtested by 50 people. SomeDay II was playtested around
40 people. There were two methods used. 1) Direct observation of the players’
behaviors while they were playing. This helped me to know whether the difficulty is
proper, whether the player is struggling, and what are the different reactions players
have based on different ages and background. 2) Focused interview with the player
about how they feel while and after the playtesting. User testing helped determine
what was lacking in the game. Feedback helped to determine the difficulty of the
game. Measuring difficulty can be an arbitrary thing, especially when involving
designers and neophytes. Over time, using this feedback, the game was adjusted.
These were helpful technologies that will be employed in future playtesting.
There are also some methods I would like to try in the future playtesting. 1) Using
camera to capture the player’s facial expressions. Since sometimes players are too
nice to criticize, or feel embarrassed if they struggled, the camera might reveal
something about the player’s emotion. 2) Since the game is online, I’ll also employ
web-use tracking. 3) Create a player feedback board with sticky notes, so that player
can post whatever feelings and thoughts the game gave them.
31
CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCUSSION
A. Limitations of traditional puzzle piece games and what SomeDay explores
Traditional puzzle piece games, like the jigsaw, are fun to play, however,
they have limitations. First, the images on the pieces are static. The player relies
either on the image, the shape of the piece, or sometimes both to assemble the puzzle.
The limitation is that people often use instinct to put pieces together by using the
clue of jigsawed edges and the image. It’s not very challenging because the game
only tests the player’s skill on a very basic level. In SomeDay, there are no jigsawed
edges and the images on the pieces are dynamic. Rationale is that the square-shaped
pieces will prompt the player to pay more attention to the content of the piece rather
than its shape. This is a way that the game challenges the player to think more about
the game’s content and meaning.
The second limitation is that most traditional jigsaw puzzle games don’t have
narratives
2
. Although a few new explorations in video games, which contain puzzle
pieces elements, have narratives in them, such as Pandora’s Box, the narratives in
these games are not related to the gameplay directly
3
. Pandora’s Box demonstrates
that, putting pieces together can complete the vase (the gameplay), but the vase’s
significance (the story) doesn’t influence its construction.

2
Though there is a company called TDC creates “The Alphabet Murder Mystery Puzzles" jigsaw
puzzles.

3
Gameplay here means putting the puzzle pieces together.
32

Figure 18: Screenshot of Pandora’s Box

Just because the game keeps these elements independent, that doesn’t mean
that that’s a wrong or inferior choice. In fact, that choice is appropriate for the
game’s intention, which is to give the player a good time. In SomeDay, however, the
stories are on the pieces, and connecting those pieces forms the story. In closely
integrating narrative and form, SomeDay creates a new kind of puzzle piece game,
one in which the player assembling the stories while putting the puzzle pieces
together, one in which the integration of narrative and form is intended to provoke
33
the player to think differently. SomeDay covers new territory so as to make the
player less “an auto-pilot” and more engaged.

B. Childhood vs. Adulthood and what SomeDay addresses
In SomeDay, the movements in the three levels are also metaphors of the
change of way of thinking.

Figure 19: Main movements in three levels

From the images above we can see that in the first level, the girl’s movement
is very random, it is also a metaphor of what her thought are like at this point. In the
second level, the girl stops at one point, but the paper plane is her way of expressing
freedom. The paper plane’s movements begin to show some kind of rules (Gravity,
of course), which also indicates the way of thinking as a teenager. In the third level,
the movements of people are inerratic loops which indicates that at this moment
logic is in the lead.
34
The visual depiction of the main character from a concrete to abstract
aesthetic is in line with the process of change. In the first levels, the girl is there and
she knows what she is doing and that she can do that. In the second level, the
character has limited choices of what she could do. However, the character is still
unique because she has her own thoughts and behaviors. In the third level, the
character’s movement is made of fragments, and she is not very different from other
people in the city.
I decided to use the distinction between childhood and adulthood on intuition
versus logic as an easily accessible metaphor that most players will be able to relate
to. SomeDay is not talking about going back to the way of thinking when we were
children, nor does it state that emotional is better than rational, it rather suggests to
look at things in a more holistic way.
Even though SomeDay illustrates one specific case, most people will be able
to relate to her change. The game does not starkly oppose childhood against
adulthood, but illustrates it as a fluid, changing process. The game aims to put the
player into a position wherein he or she relates to the change by moving from a more
experimental level to a more structured level.
Playtesting indicated that even in the cases where the player didn’t get this
broad point of the game, SomeDay is still fun. It is impossible to make all of the
players feel the same emotions and think the same thoughts. I observed during
playtesting that although not all the people have an emotion-evoking experience,
everyone has an enjoyable and engaging time playing SomeDay. When people watch
35
Pixar’s animated film UP, children like watching the adventure of Carl, Russell, the
talking dog, and the rare bird. Most adults, however, appreciate the beautiful life
story of the couple, Carl and Ellie, more. I also want to make my game like UP in
that it’s fun, meaningful, and suitable for both children and adults.
36
CHAPTER EIGHT: GAME INNOVATION
1. Gameplay innovation
SomeDay presents new game mechanics. First, putting the puzzle pieces
together influences the course of an object; in the first level, this objective is the
boat. The player needs to assemble the pieces to get the boat to catch up with the girl.
Second, animated objects provide clues as to how a player should assemble the
pieces. Traditionally, the puzzle images are static. These innovations can help
designers create more sophisticated puzzle games because this added movement
creates more options. These innovations hopefully would refine a person’s
understanding of the jigsaw puzzle genre of games.

2. Storytelling innovation
The narrative mode in SomeDay differs from that of traditional games. In
previous games, the game designer controls how to unfold the stories; in SomeDay,
the player controls it. The stories in the third level are divided into puzzle pieces.
Each puzzle piece only presents a very small part of one of the animated stories.
Since the puzzle pieces initially are placed randomly on the screen, the stories are not
clear at the beginning of the game. So when the player puts two puzzle pieces
together, he/she puts two parts of the story together. As the player puts more of the
pieces together, he/she learns more about the stories.
As there is no one way to play the game, everyone’s experience and story
will be different.
37
3. Visual innovation
Another innovation is how SomeDay’s perspective changes. Normally, the
perspective stays the same in one game. The reason that the perspective changes
several times in this game relates closely to the story and the emotions it tries to
evoke. At the beginning while the girl is young, the perspective is very low in the
stream. Even the little girl who is running along the stream looks tall. This shows
what the perspective of a child. Everything else is taller than her, but the most
things getting in her eyes are blue sky and the spring stream. While she grows up, the
perspective gets higher with her. The city scene is a scene in a teenager’s eyes.
Above is the sky, below are the buildings, from the paper plane’s perspective, she
sees more of the sky than the city below. The camera then suddenly zooms out and
we loose the main character for a while. The reason for the change of perspective in
this level is because she is so immersed in the system of rules that she lost her own
sight, and we could not see from her eyes any more. All the windows are the same;
there is no sky any more.
Presenting two different perspectives in a game is nothing new. But to have
them change as the main character grows up is. Furthermore, the perspective does
not change simply higher as the main character grows up. It shows more of how her
inner condition changes. Here, the perspective becomes one more metaphor to
influence the player’s feelings. When the player plays in first person’s perspective,
he/she should feel more engaged, when the player plays the third person’s
38
perspective, he/she should feel more indifferent. Those are the emotions I am trying
to evoke in the game.
39
CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION
SomeDay is a game that explores the changes in the thought processes during
a person’s life. Players connect puzzle pieces to play the game and observe the
character’s life. The game is innovative in several aspects and has explored an
approach experimental gameplay. As a thesis project, SomeDay is a small game and
also a personal expression, and it aims to raise awareness of people and explore more
possibilities in games.
In addition to traditional games in the market, art games as a genre are
beginning to be considered an important section in the game industry. SomeDay, as
an experimental game is trying to explore how people react to this kind of game. As
many people express their interest in independent games like Passage, my intention
with SomeDay is to make players conscious of their mode of thinking.
40
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chen, Jenova. et al. (2005). Cloud. USA: USC Interactive Media Division
Fullerton, T. et al. (2006) “That cloud game: dreaming(and doing) innovative game
design”, Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on Videogames.

Hitchcock, Alfred (Director). (1954). Rear Window: Paramount Pictures, Universal
Studios.

Hubley, John, and Elliott, Faith. (1959). Moonbird. USA.

Molleindustria. (2009). Everyday the Same Dream. USA: Molleindustria.
Pajitnov, Alexey. (1999). Pandora’s Box. USA: Microsoft.
Pixar Animation Studios. (2009) Up. USA: Walt Disney Pictures.
Rohrer, Jason. (2007). Passage. USA.
Rybczynski, Zbig. (1975). New Book. POLAND.
41
APPENDIX: TEAM SOMEDAY
Lulu Cao—Lead Designer
Nite Luo ---Lead Programmer
Greg Nishikawa—Programmer
Andrew Dang—Lead Artist, Animator
Zikun Fan—Artist, Animator
Max Rubin—Animator
Deon Lee—Composer

Internal Advisers:
Andreas Kratky—Chair
Jeremy Gibson

External Advisers:
Julia Heyward
Jenova Chen

Abstract (if available)

Abstract SomeDay is an interactive art game designed to benefit people by making them aware of the different modes of thinking between childhood and adulthood. SomeDay overcomes the limitations of traditional puzzle piece games. Unlike typical games wherein the game designer controls how the story progresses, SomeDay gives each player the freedom to make the story unfold in a unique way depending upon which puzzle pieces he or she places together first. SomeDay is not only aiming to provide entertainment but also to inspire meaningful thought.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Cao, Lulu (author)

Core Title SomeDay: designing a game about different thought processes

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Degree Conferral Date 2010-05

Publication Date 05/03/2010

Defense Date 03/25/2010

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

Tag art game,childhood vs. adulthood,emotional gameplay,interactive narrative,OAI-PMH Harvest,puzzle piece game

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Kratky, Andreas (committee chair), Chen, Jenova (committee member), Gibson, Jeremy (committee member), Heyward, Julia (committee member)

Creator Email dusk.cao@gmail.com,lulucao@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2984

Unique identifier UC1319730

Identifier etd-Cao-3675 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-308610 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2984 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Cao-3675.pdf

Dmrecord 308610

Document Type Thesis

Rights Cao, Lulu

Type texts

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

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu