Max Shaver
November 4, 2018
On Saturday, November 4, 2018, I attended the “Thy Geekdom Con” at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. The convention was a three day event consisting of Panels, Variety Shows, Workshops, Gaming and Vendor Booths. I have attended other ‘Cons’ previously and in comparison this was a smaller convention with fewer attendees, however, you still had individuals participating in cosplay, numerous vendors sharing their wares and similar individuals to myself which love gaming, anime and stories. Of particular interest during this Con was a panel being led by Montgomery Harris titled “Creating Your Own Universe”. Mr. Harris was in the military and then once he got out he began to write scenarios for Military Simulations and Live Action Role Play games. More recently he has authored the novels “Outbreak Z: Morbus” and “Outbreak Z: Salvos” released in late 2017 and “Scarlet Cross: The Sixth City” and “Outbreak Z: Damnum” and “Scarlet Cross: A Voice Like Thunder” in 2018. What I heard from Mr. Harris truly strengthened my understanding of how important a video games universe is in the success of your user’s gaming experience. Montgomery explained how his military training and the overabundance use of acronyms lead him to apply “Dog’s Bollocks” to all of his writing efforts in developing a believable and readable universe. He also shared the rules of six which also greatly influences how your users enter a game and how that will drive the user to continue with your game or to leave your game shortly after beginning. For Harris, “Dog’s Bollocks” means the following
- Do your Research
- Begin
- Organize
- Locations
- Outline
- Kill your darlings
- Start writing
For the rule of six, when you begin you need to develop what is/was happening in your universe
- 6 years ago
- 6 months ago
- 6 weeks ago
- 6 days ago
- 6 hours ago
- 6 minutes ago
- 6 seconds ago
Then apply six to everything. Have six locations, six core characters, six event, and your characters should have six main traits, etc. This will provide you with a sound foundation for your universe so you can begin writing your story or the game you are creating. I thought when applying that to video games and realized video games are universes you are literally interacting with. What Montgomery was doing was creating a world the user would believe and imagine. I applied the rule of 6 and thought about what user would do in first 6 seconds then the next 6 minutes and what they would do in the remainder of the game. In considering all of this I have identified multiple examples which support my thoughts and will continue to explore this as I complete my thesis project of the gaming world I want my players to interact in.