A game that bridges the gap between digital cold-headed planning and physical, visceral acting.
Subjective is a physical turn-based strategy game, mixing Hide and Seek with Tag and Espionage in order to project players of digital turn-based tactical games (such as Advance Wars or X-COM) into the bodies of the units they are used to ordering around. In the game, two teams of players battle each other to reach their asymmetrical goals over three rounds. Subjective puts the emphasis on spatial awareness, dissimulation, communication and team coordination, shedding new light on how one apprehends one’s social and physical surroundings as well as one’s ability to communicate.
In the game, players are removed from their god-like observation of a digital turn-based tactical game, where he or she focuses on optimal strategies instead of the subjective experience of a single soldier. This bridge towards physical games brings players into roles they have never before inhabited, and forces them to conciliate two playful attitudes. The first one is about strict calculation and long-term planning, by anticipating enemy moves, while the other one is more closely related to body awareness, as the player has to deal with the imminence of a threat, the limitation of his or her field of view, and uncertainty about whoever is really the enemy.
Designers – Pierre Depaz, Leandro Ribiero, Winnie Song and Jeremy White
Pierre Depaz, Leandro Ribeiro, Winnie Song and Jeremy White are all Game Design grad students at the NYU Game Center and focus their interest on big games and physical games, drawing from their experience playing digital games.