September 21, 2023 • 48 mins
Prepare for a transformative journey in this gripping episode of "Gamify This." Join your intrepid hosts, Puzzle, Samuel, and Sean, as they embark on an epic quest to Gamify Fighting Your Inner Demons. In this thought-provoking episode, we'll explore innovative and uplifting ways to battle those inner challenges that we all grapple with from time to time.Join us on Gamify This! as we set forth on this inspiring journey to conquer your inner struggles and emerge victorious. Tune in and discover how to gamify the process of self-discovery and personal growth like never before!Thumbnail art by: https://www.youtube.com/@MoserMeadowsRecordsPuzzle: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PuzzleEmptyM Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puzzleemptym/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/puzzleemptymSean: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tentinypotatos4851 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tentinypotatos343Samuel: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoserMeadowsRecords Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelclaus2ner/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/baconsnack6
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to Game of Five, this the podcast game show
featuring the artist Samuel the Gamer.
Shan the Nerd Join us as we compete to come up with the best
game of five solutions to our daily experiences in Game of
(00:22):
Five this. We are rolling and you are the
host. Alrighty.
Welcome back to Game of 5I Closed the dramatic music.
Give me a second. Don't.
Have people falling asleep rightat the start of the episode.
We gotta hype them up. How?
Are you guys ready to get some? I'm doing good partner.
(00:53):
What's up with you 2 but online?Woman with a mustache.
Today we have Samuel and Puzzle Figuring figuring out what
they're going to be gamifying today.
Michael. Yes, bring forth your burden.
I'm but the peasant in your royal Kingdom and bastard that
(01:14):
again. How is your life idiot?
It's good. Samuel and I are looking at
houses and our money and crying.But I am filing a demand letter
to Allstate, which is not my insurance company.
I don't know why I'm talking drunk.
It's the insurance company of the people who smashed my old
(01:36):
car because I believe it was their fault, even though the
police report says it was neither of our fault.
It also says that it was their fault, which is stupid, but I'm
willing to bring this to court. But the way that we're wording
this demand letter, if they reject it, they are literally
rejecting truth. So, Samuel, bring forth your
burden. I'm I'm.
I'm really supposed to be excited that my boss is letting
(02:00):
me do whatever a manager does. I'm not getting paid the way a
manager is. I didn't really ask to be a
manager, I asked for a full timeposition.
The potential for moving up was always nice for me, but the
whole staying longer will mean me.
Moving up is also a lot of pressure on me, I guess.
I just here for an experience and I feel like they're asking
(02:21):
me for 100% commitment. I wanna be able to focus on my
livelihood and have it supportedby my job.
I'm really not sure how much of this we should keep in the
recording. I've been gamifying work though.
So we have these separate tests we do for a certain kind of
swimming pool that doesn't use chlorine.
And we test it with big one eyeddiscs.
(02:44):
So one day as a warehouse man, I'm like, you know what?
One of my main things I want to do is keep the people who are
like part timers and stuff inspired.
And so I cut out cartoon eyes, stuck a big eye on each of the
packets, and the assistant manager asks me about it.
I said Those are the big One Eyed Discs.
The big one I did. So now and I'm like, oh, it's a
(03:07):
it's one of these. I have to pull open the drawer
and do this. You pulled up.
And there's all the eyes. So it makes that part a little
more fun. The most boring or uninteresting
parts of my life are the ones that I want to add something
interesting to, so they're more interesting, and then I'll see
how they connect. Well, thank you guys for sharing
(03:30):
your deepest, darkest secrets. We cut all that out though.
You don't know anything. Heck and Viewer.
OK, what's the game? Life improvement.
Wait, I Objection, Your Honor, objection overruled.
This is the whole podcast. Stop it.
(03:50):
I want to hear what you need to hear him all the way out. 10
points away from puzzle for that.
I'm talking about what is something that really flusters
you specifically, you know, because people have pet peeves
and like ice cream and and punchMichael.
Michael is really annoying and Samuel is a failing artist and
(04:12):
I'm dumb. My greatest problem is I'm just
annoying. You're you're deadly violent.
Samuel's A failing artist and I'm just annoying.
That's offensive that you didn'thave an offense.
(04:33):
You know, I've, I have them fail.
And ever since I hired puzzlers,my that's also consequential.
That's consequential. And then a circumstantial.
I said the opposite of what I meant to say.
So we all have personnel defects, like not necessarily
(04:54):
biologically, but like we have personality problems and we have
personal tendencies to go for this or that thing that's going
to hurt us. We have issues in how we
approach people socially and we have bad ways that we interact
(05:16):
with ourselves. I guess like cleaning up the
inside of the car. What What can you do to improve
how you operate in your mental state and.
And that's how you win the improvement part.
Do you still have objection? Puzzles.
(05:37):
Just in a contrary mood right now.
I think I've got it. Uh huh.
And I do agree this one is more general, so that's not entirely
unfounded, but I want to see what happens.
No, no, no, no, no. No puzzles.
Just wrong. So Are you ready?
(05:58):
First round. The first round can be thought
of as impressions. Think of impressions when you
think of self improvement. What do you think of?
And write down fluffy mechanics of the game.
The the main structure of the game is going to be later.
(06:19):
What you're going to do now is look at specific things.
Hey, that would be really cool in this kind of game.
So like you're creating a pool of resources and stuff you want
in the game, and then later you can figure out how to put those
together. I thought that this week we're
working on finding a flaw on ourselves and finding a system
(06:44):
that helps us not have that flaw, right?
So this round is what resources you'd like to have when given
that. Flawed scenario?
No. OK then.
I don't understand. That's OK.
I still love you even though you're dumb.
So puzzle, we got raw material, right?
(07:06):
It's like you want to make a move, you want to make a TV
show, but you're not sure what yet.
So you go through your think tank.
Well, we're getting materials for the think tank, and then
you'll piece them together in the order.
That'll make a good story later.It's like sorting your puzzle
pieces before you look at the picture.
None of these analogies have anything to do with the topic.
(07:27):
Should I go ahead and pitch mine, Sean?
Yeah, go ahead. This game is called Escape from
Destructopolis. Destructopolis is the city of.
Plush. OK, so I remember this from I
remember this from an episode. Oh, the cinema class tunes,
(07:53):
yeah. Oh, yeah, sort of.
Kind of. Sort of.
That was miscellaneous. Yeah.
Yeah. John really likes that episode.
So there's this village. I guess I'm going to figure out
the deeds later, but everybody'sa stuffed animal, a plush toy,
you know, and this place is going down in the fluffer,
(08:15):
kapluffel and only three individual.
Plush toys are going to figure this out and realize that we
need a solution. And one of them's a stuffed
animal artist, one's a stuffed animal gamer, and one's a
stuffed animal nerd. And what they realize is the
(08:37):
very things they want to do, they keep undoing through their
actions. So like they'll be something of
like, you know, the artist doingunart related things.
As he's trying to make art, the gamer get I can get.
I can get those bits figured outlater.
(08:59):
But they have to go outside of Destructopolis, which is risky
because they're leaving the art,the game stuff and the nerdy
stuff behind, but it's because they all need to be fixed.
It's all broken, right? And so they're leaving the
broken stuff behind and going ona journey with nothing.
(09:23):
And they realized the thing thatwas broken wasn't their
equipment, but it had more to dowith what's on the inside.
The stuffing was wrong. They needed new stuffing.
So maybe there's a place where you get stuffing and they've got
to put new stuffing in themselves.
The inside has to change. So they've got to remove the old
(09:45):
stuffing and put new stuffing inand then bring back the new
stuffing to the destruct toplessand stuff it in everyone.
And yeah, everybody in Destruct Topless in the last level won't
quite agree. And y'all get into a big fight
and there's this whole civil battle against the three of us
(10:06):
and the friends that we brought back with us.
But. In the midst of this battle,
they realized Destructopolis is falling apart and they all have
to work together to fix it and they use the the stuffing.
But that would be the final level and the story of the
stuffed animals and their journey of selfimprovement.
(10:29):
I've got a bit ready. So basically, are you still
confused? You know, I've got something
good. I've just tried to make my own
version of it, but I think I've got.
Something to work with. You All right.
Good job on your readiness. Sam Go.
You got two points for that. It was unique and fun too.
(10:53):
So you got some points for that.Are you ready, Michael?
Yes. OK, so the title is Egos Exodus.
It's a psychological cyberpunk adventure and a dystopian
cyberpunk future. So I'm just gonna go over like
some mechanics. So is dumb.
(11:19):
That's what I do. Just give me a second and then
I'll be able to talk a little better.
OK, do good. The setting of the game is of
course an AI takeover of the world, as every cyberpunk
setting is, but this villain likes to bring out.
The insecurities in the protagonist and so things such
(11:46):
as mirror maze puzzles where theprotagonist must navigate
through series of mirrors symbolizing self reflection.
The mirrors could distort surroundings or present,
representing distorted self perception.
As they progress, the reflections become clear,
showing their journey towards self-awareness and overcoming
bad tendencies. And also, there's also another
(12:10):
mirror involved, one that involves aligning fragmented
images in the mirror to form a cohesive picture, which serves
as a metaphor of piercing together a shattered self-image
and gaining a more balanced perspective on yourself.
There's also man, everything's just mirrors.
(12:30):
That's so cool. It's like a mirror maze.
I can't give this without. Like just explaining the whole
thing. So I think what we could do at
this point is I just want. To give the whole game, just say
that this was a really short round and then just now we move
on to the next round which is the whole game.
(12:51):
I don't think I structured it the best so I think it's two
sided host. Yes I get it.
I am the host. I understand this is round two
which is the whole game which may haps have been the first
(13:17):
round. Should I not have been the
genius you guys You guys have 3 minutes to.
I'm done. OK, Samuel, you have 3 minutes.
Michael, you get 2 points for readiness.
(13:40):
What now? Explain your game.
OK, this game is called Egos Exodus.
It is a game following a protagonist who's trying to
confront their problem with narcissism.
So the IT follows this protagonist.
(14:01):
And their path as they confront the influence of a powerful AI
driven corporation that encourages narcissistic behavior
for profit. Initially it initially driven by
their inflated ego and the desire to be recognized as the
best in every field. The nerd story takes a darker
turn as they delve deeper into the AI driven corporations
manipulative schemes. The nerd must face the
(14:24):
consequences of their actions and grapple with the realization
that their need for validation has caused harm.
There's also the the artist and the gamer.
And so each protagonist ability and gameplay mechanics will
mirror their personality traits and personal struggles.
The artist might use creative tools to solve puzzles, the
gamer might not be a virtual reality landscapes, and the nerd
(14:45):
might manipulate technology and hack into systems.
Pretty standard stuff. With us three, that's not very
unique. So you just shoot your idea
down. No, I'm just, I'm just giving
the basic I was saying. Artist is artist stuff.
Gamer does gamer stuff, Nerd does nerd stuff.
But it's in a futuristic cyberpunk state.
But it's still the standard stuff.
Each protagonist confronts personalized challenges within
(15:06):
the headquarters that exploit their individual weaknesses and
vulnerabilities, forcing them torely on the growth they've
achieved throughout the game. The nerd must face their own
past actions and the consequences of narcissism.
As the protagonist progresses, they realize that cooperation is
essential. They must communicate
effectively and use their distinct abilities to solve
puzzles and overcome obstacles together.
The climax builds to a confrontation with the Ai's
(15:28):
mainframe, where the protagonists must utilize their
newfound self awarenesses and empathy to challenge the Ai's
manipulation. This could involve engaging in a
high stakes virtual battle that mirrors their inner struggles.
As a protagonist nerd navigates through the corporation's
headquarters, they encounter virtual scenarios that mirror
their past actions, driven by narcissism.
(15:49):
These scenarios force them to reevaluate their choices and
recognize the consequences of their self-centered behavior.
This leads them to a central chamber where the AI mainframe
resides. The AI confronts the nerd with a
distorted representation of themselves, tempting them with
the promises of unlimited power and recognition.
This is a pivotal moment where he must choose between his old
tendencies and the path of growth.
(16:11):
The Nerds inner conflict manifests as a symbolic battle
against an AI generated avatar that represents their own ego.
The battle incorporates mechanics that reflect the
nerd's growth throughout the game, and it's used their skills
in a way that transcends eco driven motivations,
demonstrating their progress. And then, as the nerd makes the
redemptive choice of acknowledging past mistakes and
(16:31):
accepting the need for genuine connections and empathies.
Their avatar undergoes transformation, shedding the
trappings of arrogance and embracing humidity.
The moment symbolizes the the nerds in their transformation.
Inner transformation and signifies their victory over
narcissism. Yeah, what?
(16:53):
Is that called? It's a bad, badly fledged idea
and it's not really gamifying. It's making a game of it.
Samuel, save me. One second.
I'm almost there. This, this stuffed animal story
is something of an. Ally.
Gory as every story should be. Now what happens to us in our
(17:18):
individual problems is we don't realize what's this place called
again, Destructopolis is. Living in a bubble.
We are all inside this claw machine of a land.
It's a. World where all of us.
(17:39):
Are breathing the same air. All of us are made of the same
materials and. All of us.
Are going in circles amongst ourselves.
So the artist he is stuck. He's the stuckest anybody could
be because he thinks he's comingup with all these brilliant new
(18:01):
ideas and every time he gets ready to put him out, he's like,
oh, somebody already had this idea.
Never mind. He quickly grabs it back and
hides it under his bed. That's important because they're
all still there for later, his creations and stuff.
He's like, man, I'm. Making these.
From I'm making these from material that already was here
(18:22):
and he and he's kind of in a predicament.
He's like, I feel something. Like I'm stuck.
But he doesn't quite make the connection that he's stuck.
He just realizes something's notright and none of his stuff ends
up leaving his home. And so nobody ends up seeing all
the amazing things he can make the gamer.
Is dealing with a lot of troubletroubling things?
(18:44):
Nobody else thinks that this gamer is having any real
problems, but he's like in a constant battle.
When his friends try to visit him, he's like sorry.
Can't get out of my house right now.
I'm dealing with. Something.
And he goes back to his room, sits down at his computer desk
and goes. Oh my gosh.
Spins around his computer from his computer desk and starts
(19:07):
punching in the air like he's fighting some sorts of demons.
We don't see anything there and we're like, man, what is wrong
with this guy? Then we zoom over to the nerd,
who is really something of a, I don't know if you say a
philanthropist benefactory. He he is a professor though and
(19:29):
he teaches people things and he he goes away into detail on many
things and then. Somebody said he's like, I I can
show you guys the meaning of life.
I could show you the meaning of the.
Universe. It's like and then someone
raises their hand and says yes, but Sir what does it all?
He's like I showed you all of it.
(19:50):
What do you mean? What does it mean?
Good Sir, what does? This mean we're in the strict
top of this and we all find our searching between our stories.
We all for our own various reasons, yes, that was
introducing each of us individually.
Now we're all dealing. With what we're dealing with.
And something makes us each leave our homes.
(20:11):
We're still in Destructopolis, but we all go out.
I'm like explorer. I had.
I had something going on in my story that made me leave my
house. You had something going on in
your story and we're just storming out.
We all sit on the same bench andwe all sigh.
Then we all turn and look at each other and that is the
beginning of the game. So we decided that we're going
(20:33):
to walk out, we're going to say something's not right.
And when we start hearing each other, it's like it sounds like
it sounds like you've got a lot of problems.
We both turn this. On it sounds like you have a lot
of problems specifically or or this this this gamer guy.
We turned to the nerd and he's like, well, I have it all
(20:54):
figured out. Don't you guys worry about a
thing. Got it.
I've got to sort it out and I'm like, great, great.
We don't we don't really hear a problem.
He was like, good, good, good. And he said, except this one,
this one student just gave me a lot of trouble.
I don't like the questions he asked.
He's like, you can figure everything out except you.
(21:14):
Except for this one student. You're like, yeah, I'm thinking
I might have to. I might have to do something
about him, talk to his. Well, I can't really talk to his
parents because he's a University College and
everybody's supposed to be a free, free, thinking, well
minded individual. I need to figure out a way to
get him expelled. I'm like, hmm, OK and it's like
my problem. And talking to the artist about
his problem, I'm like, well, gotsome stuff I'd like to make for
(21:39):
you guys, but I can't seem to get it out of my house.
So anyway, we start out, we start out like I think we should
go find something and find someone, but I don't really want
to go alone because I've not really been outside of this
place before. So we go out together that we've
each got these things we got to find and 1st we stop at this
(21:59):
place. The first games that we play are
at this place called Roly Polywego.
Bass And in this place, there's these people who advance towards
you and then like, go back. They're like, OK, that's weird.
And you realize they don't really leave where they're
(22:20):
advancing from. They just kind of go back and
sway and like what is this? And that's just the nature of
these people. They've got a, they're Wiggle
Base Willy Poly dolls. And I I kind, I kind of have to,
I have to fight them and I have to help them figure out how to
get these these how to realize that they have these weights in
the bottom of them and that's the nature of what they are.
(22:43):
But as we're trying to like they're knocking us over and
sliding over bumping you. You've seen those toys, yeah
it's a different kind of beast. Like they hit, they hit us and
we explode into, we explode intofluffy fluff stuff, stuffings
and we keep having to pull each other back together.
(23:04):
And this is a cooperative game like a three-way Kawai to peachy
for cartoon violence. You have to play this game with
three people or as one of the three people and then maybe the
computer will be the other two characters.
I don't know. But it's cooperative.
So you got to heal each other orlike pull each other back
together and keep fighting untilwe can get these, figure out a
(23:25):
way to get these guys to stop rocking.
And it's to get the rocks out oftheir bottoms and out of all
that. I'm like, I think, I think this
is something I think this touches something on the sort of
something to do with what my problem is.
And so I'm like, I've got to getmaterial from out here and bring
it into into my world from this point on.
(23:47):
I start collecting things as we go, material to bring back into
my world or back into Destructopolis.
Then we get to the levels that affect the gamer the most.
And this is a very spidery, wild, very tangled place called
the Seven Deadly Spins. And they're these masterful
(24:10):
Craftsman spiders who spin theirwebs to create things.
But these things are the most vicious carnivorous dolls we've
ever seen. They consist of eating too much.
They consist of looking at themselves in the silk, a little
too long looking in the silk. It's very reflective silk.
(24:33):
They can be used as a mirror. They're these green eyed ones.
There's cyclops, these green cyclopses, The dolls as well,
and the spiders keep producing them and we keep fighting them.
And each time you defeat one, you realize something about
yourself and you get realizationpoints at the bottom of the
(24:53):
screen. You know, of course, you'll have
7 levels of realization that you've got to fill out
completely as you fight these. But what you're noticing is
these are the things that you'vebeen fighting in your room, but
a little more conceptually, and you had to come out of here to
see that. And of course I, as we fight
(25:14):
them, collect the raw material from them exploding, and that's
killing them. And I'm like, I've got more,
I've got more cloth material along with silk from these evil
spiders or these crafty spiders.I should say we come to the
other part of the game, which isa bunch of wax fruit.
It's a it's it's more of a clearing when we've got this wax
fruit that you can't really eat it.
(25:39):
But this affects puzzle more because he sees all these fruits
give him all these insights intothe deeper meanings of life.
The things that you need like compassion, like to be gentle,
to be loving. It's like these things that you
can't really prove through science.
(25:59):
And he sees these fruits that you can't eat, but they're more,
they're less tangible. They're for the mind and they're
made of wax. So they're to look at.
And he's like, these are things that you really just need to
ponder. You can't really just solve
them. And like, what does that bring
us? Like, how are we going to bring?
I'm like, what can I collect here?
(26:20):
I just collected a bunch of wax and fruit.
But we're somehow going to say yes, yes, we are going to bring
this. We're going to bring this back
to Destructopolis. And this is going to help us.
We get to this gondola. We get to this gondola station,
if we're getting onto this cablecar that's going to take us,
(26:42):
that that turns around. And for whatever reason, this
place is called Repentance Station.
I'm like, that's a weird thing to call it.
And then we all start crying because there's these three
mirrors and they have no they have a Roly pulley wiggle dolls.
But it's just the right height for me to see my face in it.
(27:03):
And I'm like, what does this have so much meaning to me?
But I I feel so much freer now. And I've got all these materials
I'm going to take back with me. And then there's this mirror
right at the right height for for the gamer to look into.
And it's got, and it's covered in spiders.
But when they clear away, he's like, that's my face.
I'm so, I'm so evil comes to theright level.
(27:25):
For the game for the gamer to look in or the nerd to look And
he's like, I'm a professor. All right, let's go.
So we get on to the cable car and the station masters.
Like, yes, you are all going to go back home, but home will not
be the same. And we're like, well, it won't
be the same as what it's always been the same.
(27:46):
That's, I think that's the problem.
It's so stuffy in there. We're all just stuffed animals
and we're all stuffed in the same place.
We he's like, yes, but the wholeplace is coming apart because
it's gotten even stuffier. I'm like, oh, OK And we find the
place is full of dust and all the stuffed animals are tearing
each other apart and stuff. But they're like, hey, hey, hey,
(28:09):
we're fine. We get there and we're like
guys, you need our help and and they don't want our help.
So we start fighting them. I start fighting them with fresh
materials. The gamer starts fighting them
with the with the with with withspider webs and and the little
minion people that will come back apart.
(28:29):
So don't worry, don't worry, they'll come back apart so that
you can use them for your projects, whatever merchandise
you want to sell. And the nerd professor guy is is
speaking things. He's throwing fruit at them and
and that represents the the ideas he's speaking to them.
Eventually things Peter down as the fight resolves.
(28:51):
And then they they see that the whole city is about to be
destroyed by a giant claw is giant clothing.
It's moving around. It's like gonna start snatching
people up. It's like, look, we need to
fight against the machine that we are inside of.
And so we all get together, we fight, and then we're and the
whole thing comes apart. All the walls of the city fall
down and we're like, well, what does this mean for us?
(29:11):
We're like, it means we have to go outside of the city to heal
the city. We all have to we have to get
outside of our bubble and move out and come back like, well, is
this the end of the city? We're like, no, it's the
beginning. So anyway, the professor goes
back to his, goes back to the university and says, look, you
cannot figure out the meaning oflife, but you have to look at
(29:34):
it. You have to contemplate it.
You have to contemplate the deeper things.
And I will show you through these fruits and the kids are
like. Yay, can we eat the fruit?
And he says. No, you look at it and.
They're like, we don't get it. Like we'll just look at it, it's
pretty and then we go back to the the gamer and he's he's in
his room, the he sees the demons.
He's like guys, you are a part of me, but you are not all of
(29:55):
me. And so and so he has a less of a
fight with them and more of a conversation with them.
Then we go back to the artist who has actually opened his
front door and is selling merchandise out there and
they're like, wow. This is a little different and
like no, no, it's the same. It's just I collected the pieces
(30:16):
and put them together in a very special way that looks
different. You got to think outside the
bubble and so anyway, got to think outside the toy box.
And that's how we go on our it'show these stuffed animals go on
their journey, and each level isa game of self discovery being.
(30:36):
That was a trip. I'm not going to tell you who's
ahead right now. Did he get more points because
he was talking long, long. You don't get points for length,
you get points for understand being understandable, for being
sometimes Gravity is what gets your points in these things.
Well, the more you throw at the wall, the more sticks.
(30:57):
It's just, it's just statistically accurate.
I mean, the longer someone's talking to me, the less I pay
attention it. It's more about like if you were
concise enough that the main points were clear, which I worry
about after I've been rambling along time, whether you followed
the assignment correctly. Like there's just like one thing
(31:17):
you have to do, and if you spokea long time and didn't do that
one thing, you're out doesn't have to go long, and and long
doesn't necessarily help you. Rest assured, I have taken all
such. Considerations into account,
(31:37):
Yes. Do you like the the map of the
game that I created? Oh yeah, that is good.
So the next round is what not todo.
What happens? Because you're gonna fail some
puzzles, you're probably gonna get beaten in combat a couple
(32:01):
times. What happens when you fail and
how do you get back on track andwhat how does that alter your
game and the story and the mechanics and stuff like that?
I've got, I've got stuff that I can I can roll with.
OK, then I will keep the timer going for Samuel and give you a
couple readiness points. OK, so first of all there's the
(32:25):
slightly obvious option of having multiple endings.
This type of game that I have. If you remember 2 hours ago when
I presented my game, it was a narrative driven, choice driven
game which would very much lend itself to multiple endings.
I would design the game to have multiple possible endings, each
reflecting different outcomes based on the choices player make
(32:47):
and the extent to which the protagonist's nerd successfully
overcomes their narcissism. The endings could range from
more redemptive to less optimistic based on the players
decisions. There's also so there's
redemption through consequences.If the protagonist nerd fails to
fully overcome their narcissistic tendencies, the
consequences of their actions should be evident in the ending
(33:08):
they receive. They might achieve some level of
growth but still struggle with ego driven behavior, resulting
in a bittersweet ending where they realize that the journey is
still going on. This could then lead on to a new
game Plus or a sequel where you would replay the game with
additional insights gained from the previous playthrough.
Or in a sequel you could delve deeper into the protagonist
(33:30):
continued growth, allowing the player to see how the choices in
the first game influence the influences the ongoing journey.
Regardless of the outcome, ensure that you feel agency in
the redemption process, giving you opportunities to make those
pivotal choices that influence the nerds path, thereby allowing
them to feel responsible for thecharacters growth or lack
(33:52):
thereof. Incorporating the possibility of
failure and redemption adds nuance to the game's narrative
and encourages the player to explore different aspects of the
character's personalities. It also aligns with the central
theme of personal growth, showing that transformation is a
journey that may have setbacks but still be worthwhile.
(34:13):
That was good. Samuel, you are out of time.
Are you ready? Yeah.
OK, cool. All right, so as you know, this
game is journey and each destination point or area that
we end up in playing few different games, we're dealing
(34:34):
with different kinds of demons that we gotta battle.
We gotta battle the Roly Poly wiggle based creatures who are,
after all, I don't think you ever established that those were
demonic. Yes, these are these are, these
are these are demons. Of a sort.
Remember, this is all allegorical.
We've got the seven deadly spins, We got these demonic
(34:56):
creatures that the spider is weaving.
They're coming towards us. And of course, after we've
defeated all those, we get to fight the spider itself.
And we got the wax fruit forest,where we've got fruit attacking
us and we got sliced out with the ninja sword.
We got to hit them in just the right way that they don't, that
(35:16):
you don't accidentally eat them because it's not real fruit.
But there's things you don't do,and that's what I'm going to
focus on right now in the Roly Poly wiggle base.
You don't get hit by the thing that's rocking and you don't
stay still. You got to keep moving.
That's the main thing. These things, they're staying in
place and they're rocking. So if you stay still, you get
(35:40):
hit. If you move, you don't get hit,
because that's the advantage. You have in the right ways.
You can move around them becausethey're limited in where they
can move. The seven deadly spins,
especially the It's especially the gamers battle, but all of us
are fighting this battle together.
He's just the one that really gains insight from it.
(36:03):
We're all fighting together. These these several different
kinds of demons. We got to fight them each
differently, but for all of themwe have to not hit them too hard
or else they explode and there'sno material that left for the
artist to use. The meaning behind that is you
can't address those inner problems too harshly, or else
(36:26):
you're. Like beating yourself up about
them. Exactly.
So don't hit them too hard or else they just explode and
they're not useful for you, but you got you got to hit them just
hard enough that they explode into pieces that we can use the
demon fruits that are flying at us at the at the professor.
(36:46):
What you don't do is eat them. If they're wax and they'll give
you insight and and teach you things.
You got to ask them the right kinds of questions.
That one's still in the working as far as like that's the main
thing. But how I will go about that is
still a little bit of rusty for me, I'll be honest.
And then we got to be careful that we don't hit our friends
(37:07):
too hard so that they explode and we don't have them anymore.
We got to be careful. We got to be careful about some
of our friends that we realize the difference between stuffed
animals, which are our friends, and actual food, which is
something you can eat and and the things that are conceptual
are not to be just taken in, they're to be ruminated.
(37:31):
It's a little bit like chewing gum.
You don't swallow it there to belooked at, spoken to, observed
but not eaten, not taking like other kinds of information but
scientific that has certain answers.
It's the difference between science and philosophy.
Well guys, that was really good.If you guys want to take like a
(37:53):
5 minute break, I can tally up the points and then tell you
who's where for what. Yeah, maybe this is a good time
for Puzzle and me to talk to each other about our games.
Yeah that's a good idea in a short and quick way.
How would someone incorporate your game into real life?
Cuz it's very much like a fantasy story rather than a
(38:16):
guide. It's more of an independent
universe and happenings. Like, I can see the allegories,
but I don't see it as a system really.
So could you very, very briefly explain how it could be a system
that you could implement into life rather than a story you can
learn a lesson from? Yeah, I mean, I think usually
how it is with a game. It's like a movie that you're
(38:38):
making happen as it goes. So as every plot line unfolds,
you're the one unfolding it, even though there's going to be
some certain or obscure answers.So for instance, leaving the
city together, it's not just going to be something you're
observing, you're going to have to go to the action of doing it
as you're playing the game, going together as a group, and
(39:01):
then as we get to each of you know.
So going outside of the place where the problem is or the
place for things need solving and getting a perspective from
the outside. I had some questions about your
game. So you were saying it's like a
mirror maze, there is a mirror maze level.
So what are what are the levels and challenges?
(39:22):
Again there was a mirror maze one, there was one where you're
trying to fix a handheld mirror.There was one where let me find
it. There's there's the multi choice
conversation pieces to it that build on the narrative and like
(39:44):
how you go about conversations and all of it sort of gets you
to look at yourself more. Yeah, it's all kind of
allegorical to a fractured mind or or mistaken identity or you
know a wrong sense of self-imagein one way or another.
Whether that is thinking too highly of yourself or thinking
(40:04):
too lowly of yourself. I was going at the the
narcissist spin. Oh, because the spider spins A
narcissist doll And. And that's one of the seven
deadly spins. So are you guys ready to hear
the results? Yes, yeah.
So you guys were pretty close, but Michael won by 6 points.
(40:28):
What? So don't don't spend 20 minutes
going over it. But what?
I had a complicated system wherethe points kind of compounded.
So like every round, I basicallyhad a box for a trait like
uniqueness, and if you got one point for uniqueness that was
(40:49):
one point, and then if you got asecond point, that point was
worth a value of two because thetotal was two.
So look at your hand. Yeah, it's all dirty.
Oh yeah, I this is what happens to left-handed people.
I forgot that you were an evil demon of the left handedness.
(41:09):
What ended up happening was on the first round, Michael, you
got -2 points. You weren't ready.
Samuel was. Samuel was ready, Samuel, your
delivery and your heart. Your delivery and your heart was
better, but you got -1 point forbeing a little bit long.
(41:36):
The length ended up really hurting your score eventually.
See I told you Puzzle I. Told you.
So. What ended up happening in the
second round, which is where stuff really started happening,
is Michael like, approached slowly but didn't lose many
points. And Samuel, your points were
through the roof, but you ended up also losing a bunch, partly
(41:59):
because of time and partly because of not quite
understanding where you're going.
It felt a little bit off topic and there was a lot of time and
he seemed to be getting excited about the story that he was
making and not quite. Yeah, I hadn't made really many
like story type video games in awhile, so I but I felt something
(42:23):
new arising. On the second round, you did get
three points for applicability because there were several times
where I'm like OOH, that is a really good idea like I wanted.
I want to think of that when I think of.
Improving myself next time I have to do something like that.
And that's how I did applicability where there's
there's a good idea that I can use.
(42:43):
So you guys got equal points on round two for applicability.
But Samuel, you did end up losing because I wrote down, I
wrote down a minus point every time.
It felt like it was like drawingon a little bit too long or off
topic. I ended up writing -1 down seven
times. So with the compounding stuff, 7
(43:06):
deadly rambles. Yeah, so he would have won by
one point. What Samuel you had a lot of
really good, solid like ideas and story and it was very
inspirational and you had a you were more invested in your games
throughout this, all of the rounds, and I felt like I was
(43:30):
emotionally connecting to you more Michael, you had.
Like a really good, unique game structure that I wasn't
expecting when it came down to it.
I can show you my calculations. They're down here.
Nice. These are the points I wrote
down for each round and then this is the total I did down
(43:53):
here and then subtracted some stuff from each of you guys.
But what ended up happening is Samuel skyrocketed and fell
pretty fall far. And you like you have like a
WAVY trend. You ended up being a little bit
above Samuel just because of therambling.
(44:16):
And you know as a listener this isn't necessarily a pre printed
game structure that you can get and just eat like a burger
piece, like a river. All that happens.
It's not necessarily that. You might have to dig a little
deeper into this one if you wantto find something that's.
Applicable, but it might be morerewarding.
I feel like what was screaming at me through this whole episode
(44:39):
was augmented reality, walking through your everyday life and
your encountering situations. And I just imagined myself
flashing back to these games andthinking, what would it be like
in this kind of game? And that looking at that
augmented reality, getting a picture of the.
(45:00):
Unseen situation, coming back towhat you can see and altering
what you're doing in your mind, how you're saying things
physically, like if you need to get something to eat better
looking at that augmented reality to help you imagine
what's really happening that youcan't see, and then altering
(45:20):
what you're doing to tailor to that.
And I think that's a really important theme of gamification
in general. That's kind of what I'm hoping
gamify this will do for all of us is help us to be able to go
through our daytoday life and see these other things in the
place of what we get used to seeing every day.
(45:41):
Not like, nothing really weird about that.
Just like, huh, looking at it a little differently, like, you
know what these challenges I'm facing is combat and that, you
know, that's combat. It was like, these are actual
challenges. These are things that I can get
better at rather than these are things that I'm bad at.
These are, these are levels I haven't quite unlocked yet.
(46:03):
And you know, as long as we can like for a while, place this
augmented reality in front of the realities we're dealing with
that we don't like, eventually we can take that augmented
reality away and be like, oh, I have been enjoying this.
So we've covered a lot of exciting stuff, and I feel like
this one was really. Uniquely beneficial, as you were
(46:29):
saying, the audience can take what they can and maybe take
this as a springboard to do their own application or maybe
even their own game. Yeah, take what you will from
this banquet of plentiful plentiousness and you get this
for. It is worth what you paid for
it. It's worth more than that.
(46:52):
This show was worth more than nothing.
Don't listen to him. Ultimately, we are doing this
to, well, help each other out, but also inspire you guys in the
process. And it's all up to you.
But we hope we're helping you. This has been an awesome
episode. Guys, thank you for joining.
(47:13):
Thank you for watching. Thank you for cohost and my
cohost Yost and pulls into Q&A at the bottom.
Don't miss them. Don't miss polls and Q&A at the
bottom there. If you're listening to this in
the car, pull over. Turn on your hazard lights.
Pull over. Pull up your phone.
Scroll down below the episode. Hit your poll, Answer, open the
(47:34):
Q&A thing, Write a little question for us, and then turn
your hazard lights back off. Go onto the highway.
Go. Whoops, I should have kept those
on. Get in the car.
Crash. Die.
Your story goes out to the news outlets nearby.
They talk about our podcast because it was playing on your
phone. Boom.
Free publicity. OK, you can follow a Puzzle.
(47:55):
You can follow Sean on 10 Tiny Potatoes on YouTube and Twitch.
You can follow Samuel at Mozer Meadows Records on YouTube and
TikTok and Stan Maclaus Tuner onInstagram.
And you can follow Michael on Puzzle MTM everywhere if you
follow Michael on Puzzle MTM and.
(48:16):
As we always say at the end of these episodes, game over next
time on Gamified. This Samuel shaves off half his
mustache while a robot named Aija prays for rain.
Sean gives advice on self-care and being present while puzzle
(48:40):
drops his phone in the sewer andwaits for a miracle.
What do these scenarios all havein common and what's the
gamified solution? Can you guess?
This is an unfunded program supported by the listening
listeners like you talk to your dog before talking to anybody
else and see a therapist for. Details.
Welcome back to Game of Five, this the podcast game show
featuring the artist Samuel the Gamer.
Shan the Nerd Join us as we compete to come up with the best
game of five solutions to our daily experiences in Game of
(00:22):
Five this. We are rolling and you are the
host. Alrighty.
Welcome back to Game of 5I Closed the dramatic music.
Give me a second. Don't.
Have people falling asleep rightat the start of the episode.
We gotta hype them up. How?
Are you guys ready to get some? I'm doing good partner.
(00:53):
What's up with you 2 but online?Woman with a mustache.
Today we have Samuel and Puzzle Figuring figuring out what
they're going to be gamifying today.
Michael. Yes, bring forth your burden.
I'm but the peasant in your royal Kingdom and bastard that
(01:14):
again. How is your life idiot?
It's good. Samuel and I are looking at
houses and our money and crying.But I am filing a demand letter
to Allstate, which is not my insurance company.
I don't know why I'm talking drunk.
It's the insurance company of the people who smashed my old
(01:36):
car because I believe it was their fault, even though the
police report says it was neither of our fault.
It also says that it was their fault, which is stupid, but I'm
willing to bring this to court. But the way that we're wording
this demand letter, if they reject it, they are literally
rejecting truth. So, Samuel, bring forth your
burden. I'm I'm.
I'm really supposed to be excited that my boss is letting
(02:00):
me do whatever a manager does. I'm not getting paid the way a
manager is. I didn't really ask to be a
manager, I asked for a full timeposition.
The potential for moving up was always nice for me, but the
whole staying longer will mean me.
Moving up is also a lot of pressure on me, I guess.
I just here for an experience and I feel like they're asking
(02:21):
me for 100% commitment. I wanna be able to focus on my
livelihood and have it supportedby my job.
I'm really not sure how much of this we should keep in the
recording. I've been gamifying work though.
So we have these separate tests we do for a certain kind of
swimming pool that doesn't use chlorine.
And we test it with big one eyeddiscs.
(02:44):
So one day as a warehouse man, I'm like, you know what?
One of my main things I want to do is keep the people who are
like part timers and stuff inspired.
And so I cut out cartoon eyes, stuck a big eye on each of the
packets, and the assistant manager asks me about it.
I said Those are the big One Eyed Discs.
The big one I did. So now and I'm like, oh, it's a
(03:07):
it's one of these. I have to pull open the drawer
and do this. You pulled up.
And there's all the eyes. So it makes that part a little
more fun. The most boring or uninteresting
parts of my life are the ones that I want to add something
interesting to, so they're more interesting, and then I'll see
how they connect. Well, thank you guys for sharing
(03:30):
your deepest, darkest secrets. We cut all that out though.
You don't know anything. Heck and Viewer.
OK, what's the game? Life improvement.
Wait, I Objection, Your Honor, objection overruled.
This is the whole podcast. Stop it.
(03:50):
I want to hear what you need to hear him all the way out. 10
points away from puzzle for that.
I'm talking about what is something that really flusters
you specifically, you know, because people have pet peeves
and like ice cream and and punchMichael.
Michael is really annoying and Samuel is a failing artist and
(04:12):
I'm dumb. My greatest problem is I'm just
annoying. You're you're deadly violent.
Samuel's A failing artist and I'm just annoying.
That's offensive that you didn'thave an offense.
(04:33):
You know, I've, I have them fail.
And ever since I hired puzzlers,my that's also consequential.
That's consequential. And then a circumstantial.
I said the opposite of what I meant to say.
So we all have personnel defects, like not necessarily
(04:54):
biologically, but like we have personality problems and we have
personal tendencies to go for this or that thing that's going
to hurt us. We have issues in how we
approach people socially and we have bad ways that we interact
(05:16):
with ourselves. I guess like cleaning up the
inside of the car. What What can you do to improve
how you operate in your mental state and.
And that's how you win the improvement part.
Do you still have objection? Puzzles.
(05:37):
Just in a contrary mood right now.
I think I've got it. Uh huh.
And I do agree this one is more general, so that's not entirely
unfounded, but I want to see what happens.
No, no, no, no, no. No puzzles.
Just wrong. So Are you ready?
(05:58):
First round. The first round can be thought
of as impressions. Think of impressions when you
think of self improvement. What do you think of?
And write down fluffy mechanics of the game.
The the main structure of the game is going to be later.
(06:19):
What you're going to do now is look at specific things.
Hey, that would be really cool in this kind of game.
So like you're creating a pool of resources and stuff you want
in the game, and then later you can figure out how to put those
together. I thought that this week we're
working on finding a flaw on ourselves and finding a system
(06:44):
that helps us not have that flaw, right?
So this round is what resources you'd like to have when given
that. Flawed scenario?
No. OK then.
I don't understand. That's OK.
I still love you even though you're dumb.
So puzzle, we got raw material, right?
(07:06):
It's like you want to make a move, you want to make a TV
show, but you're not sure what yet.
So you go through your think tank.
Well, we're getting materials for the think tank, and then
you'll piece them together in the order.
That'll make a good story later.It's like sorting your puzzle
pieces before you look at the picture.
None of these analogies have anything to do with the topic.
(07:27):
Should I go ahead and pitch mine, Sean?
Yeah, go ahead. This game is called Escape from
Destructopolis. Destructopolis is the city of.
Plush. OK, so I remember this from I
remember this from an episode. Oh, the cinema class tunes,
(07:53):
yeah. Oh, yeah, sort of.
Kind of. Sort of.
That was miscellaneous. Yeah.
Yeah. John really likes that episode.
So there's this village. I guess I'm going to figure out
the deeds later, but everybody'sa stuffed animal, a plush toy,
you know, and this place is going down in the fluffer,
(08:15):
kapluffel and only three individual.
Plush toys are going to figure this out and realize that we
need a solution. And one of them's a stuffed
animal artist, one's a stuffed animal gamer, and one's a
stuffed animal nerd. And what they realize is the
(08:37):
very things they want to do, they keep undoing through their
actions. So like they'll be something of
like, you know, the artist doingunart related things.
As he's trying to make art, the gamer get I can get.
I can get those bits figured outlater.
(08:59):
But they have to go outside of Destructopolis, which is risky
because they're leaving the art,the game stuff and the nerdy
stuff behind, but it's because they all need to be fixed.
It's all broken, right? And so they're leaving the
broken stuff behind and going ona journey with nothing.
(09:23):
And they realized the thing thatwas broken wasn't their
equipment, but it had more to dowith what's on the inside.
The stuffing was wrong. They needed new stuffing.
So maybe there's a place where you get stuffing and they've got
to put new stuffing in themselves.
The inside has to change. So they've got to remove the old
(09:45):
stuffing and put new stuffing inand then bring back the new
stuffing to the destruct toplessand stuff it in everyone.
And yeah, everybody in Destruct Topless in the last level won't
quite agree. And y'all get into a big fight
and there's this whole civil battle against the three of us
(10:06):
and the friends that we brought back with us.
But. In the midst of this battle,
they realized Destructopolis is falling apart and they all have
to work together to fix it and they use the the stuffing.
But that would be the final level and the story of the
stuffed animals and their journey of selfimprovement.
(10:29):
I've got a bit ready. So basically, are you still
confused? You know, I've got something
good. I've just tried to make my own
version of it, but I think I've got.
Something to work with. You All right.
Good job on your readiness. Sam Go.
You got two points for that. It was unique and fun too.
(10:53):
So you got some points for that.Are you ready, Michael?
Yes. OK, so the title is Egos Exodus.
It's a psychological cyberpunk adventure and a dystopian
cyberpunk future. So I'm just gonna go over like
some mechanics. So is dumb.
(11:19):
That's what I do. Just give me a second and then
I'll be able to talk a little better.
OK, do good. The setting of the game is of
course an AI takeover of the world, as every cyberpunk
setting is, but this villain likes to bring out.
The insecurities in the protagonist and so things such
(11:46):
as mirror maze puzzles where theprotagonist must navigate
through series of mirrors symbolizing self reflection.
The mirrors could distort surroundings or present,
representing distorted self perception.
As they progress, the reflections become clear,
showing their journey towards self-awareness and overcoming
bad tendencies. And also, there's also another
(12:10):
mirror involved, one that involves aligning fragmented
images in the mirror to form a cohesive picture, which serves
as a metaphor of piercing together a shattered self-image
and gaining a more balanced perspective on yourself.
There's also man, everything's just mirrors.
(12:30):
That's so cool. It's like a mirror maze.
I can't give this without. Like just explaining the whole
thing. So I think what we could do at
this point is I just want. To give the whole game, just say
that this was a really short round and then just now we move
on to the next round which is the whole game.
(12:51):
I don't think I structured it the best so I think it's two
sided host. Yes I get it.
I am the host. I understand this is round two
which is the whole game which may haps have been the first
(13:17):
round. Should I not have been the
genius you guys You guys have 3 minutes to.
I'm done. OK, Samuel, you have 3 minutes.
Michael, you get 2 points for readiness.
(13:40):
What now? Explain your game.
OK, this game is called Egos Exodus.
It is a game following a protagonist who's trying to
confront their problem with narcissism.
So the IT follows this protagonist.
(14:01):
And their path as they confront the influence of a powerful AI
driven corporation that encourages narcissistic behavior
for profit. Initially it initially driven by
their inflated ego and the desire to be recognized as the
best in every field. The nerd story takes a darker
turn as they delve deeper into the AI driven corporations
manipulative schemes. The nerd must face the
(14:24):
consequences of their actions and grapple with the realization
that their need for validation has caused harm.
There's also the the artist and the gamer.
And so each protagonist ability and gameplay mechanics will
mirror their personality traits and personal struggles.
The artist might use creative tools to solve puzzles, the
gamer might not be a virtual reality landscapes, and the nerd
(14:45):
might manipulate technology and hack into systems.
Pretty standard stuff. With us three, that's not very
unique. So you just shoot your idea
down. No, I'm just, I'm just giving
the basic I was saying. Artist is artist stuff.
Gamer does gamer stuff, Nerd does nerd stuff.
But it's in a futuristic cyberpunk state.
But it's still the standard stuff.
Each protagonist confronts personalized challenges within
(15:06):
the headquarters that exploit their individual weaknesses and
vulnerabilities, forcing them torely on the growth they've
achieved throughout the game. The nerd must face their own
past actions and the consequences of narcissism.
As the protagonist progresses, they realize that cooperation is
essential. They must communicate
effectively and use their distinct abilities to solve
puzzles and overcome obstacles together.
The climax builds to a confrontation with the Ai's
(15:28):
mainframe, where the protagonists must utilize their
newfound self awarenesses and empathy to challenge the Ai's
manipulation. This could involve engaging in a
high stakes virtual battle that mirrors their inner struggles.
As a protagonist nerd navigates through the corporation's
headquarters, they encounter virtual scenarios that mirror
their past actions, driven by narcissism.
(15:49):
These scenarios force them to reevaluate their choices and
recognize the consequences of their self-centered behavior.
This leads them to a central chamber where the AI mainframe
resides. The AI confronts the nerd with a
distorted representation of themselves, tempting them with
the promises of unlimited power and recognition.
This is a pivotal moment where he must choose between his old
tendencies and the path of growth.
(16:11):
The Nerds inner conflict manifests as a symbolic battle
against an AI generated avatar that represents their own ego.
The battle incorporates mechanics that reflect the
nerd's growth throughout the game, and it's used their skills
in a way that transcends eco driven motivations,
demonstrating their progress. And then, as the nerd makes the
redemptive choice of acknowledging past mistakes and
(16:31):
accepting the need for genuine connections and empathies.
Their avatar undergoes transformation, shedding the
trappings of arrogance and embracing humidity.
The moment symbolizes the the nerds in their transformation.
Inner transformation and signifies their victory over
narcissism. Yeah, what?
(16:53):
Is that called? It's a bad, badly fledged idea
and it's not really gamifying. It's making a game of it.
Samuel, save me. One second.
I'm almost there. This, this stuffed animal story
is something of an. Ally.
Gory as every story should be. Now what happens to us in our
(17:18):
individual problems is we don't realize what's this place called
again, Destructopolis is. Living in a bubble.
We are all inside this claw machine of a land.
It's a. World where all of us.
(17:39):
Are breathing the same air. All of us are made of the same
materials and. All of us.
Are going in circles amongst ourselves.
So the artist he is stuck. He's the stuckest anybody could
be because he thinks he's comingup with all these brilliant new
(18:01):
ideas and every time he gets ready to put him out, he's like,
oh, somebody already had this idea.
Never mind. He quickly grabs it back and
hides it under his bed. That's important because they're
all still there for later, his creations and stuff.
He's like, man, I'm. Making these.
From I'm making these from material that already was here
(18:22):
and he and he's kind of in a predicament.
He's like, I feel something. Like I'm stuck.
But he doesn't quite make the connection that he's stuck.
He just realizes something's notright and none of his stuff ends
up leaving his home. And so nobody ends up seeing all
the amazing things he can make the gamer.
Is dealing with a lot of troubletroubling things?
(18:44):
Nobody else thinks that this gamer is having any real
problems, but he's like in a constant battle.
When his friends try to visit him, he's like sorry.
Can't get out of my house right now.
I'm dealing with. Something.
And he goes back to his room, sits down at his computer desk
and goes. Oh my gosh.
Spins around his computer from his computer desk and starts
(19:07):
punching in the air like he's fighting some sorts of demons.
We don't see anything there and we're like, man, what is wrong
with this guy? Then we zoom over to the nerd,
who is really something of a, I don't know if you say a
philanthropist benefactory. He he is a professor though and
(19:29):
he teaches people things and he he goes away into detail on many
things and then. Somebody said he's like, I I can
show you guys the meaning of life.
I could show you the meaning of the.
Universe. It's like and then someone
raises their hand and says yes, but Sir what does it all?
He's like I showed you all of it.
(19:50):
What do you mean? What does it mean?
Good Sir, what does? This mean we're in the strict
top of this and we all find our searching between our stories.
We all for our own various reasons, yes, that was
introducing each of us individually.
Now we're all dealing. With what we're dealing with.
And something makes us each leave our homes.
(20:11):
We're still in Destructopolis, but we all go out.
I'm like explorer. I had.
I had something going on in my story that made me leave my
house. You had something going on in
your story and we're just storming out.
We all sit on the same bench andwe all sigh.
Then we all turn and look at each other and that is the
beginning of the game. So we decided that we're going
(20:33):
to walk out, we're going to say something's not right.
And when we start hearing each other, it's like it sounds like
it sounds like you've got a lot of problems.
We both turn this. On it sounds like you have a lot
of problems specifically or or this this this gamer guy.
We turned to the nerd and he's like, well, I have it all
(20:54):
figured out. Don't you guys worry about a
thing. Got it.
I've got to sort it out and I'm like, great, great.
We don't we don't really hear a problem.
He was like, good, good, good. And he said, except this one,
this one student just gave me a lot of trouble.
I don't like the questions he asked.
He's like, you can figure everything out except you.
(21:14):
Except for this one student. You're like, yeah, I'm thinking
I might have to. I might have to do something
about him, talk to his. Well, I can't really talk to his
parents because he's a University College and
everybody's supposed to be a free, free, thinking, well
minded individual. I need to figure out a way to
get him expelled. I'm like, hmm, OK and it's like
my problem. And talking to the artist about
his problem, I'm like, well, gotsome stuff I'd like to make for
(21:39):
you guys, but I can't seem to get it out of my house.
So anyway, we start out, we start out like I think we should
go find something and find someone, but I don't really want
to go alone because I've not really been outside of this
place before. So we go out together that we've
each got these things we got to find and 1st we stop at this
(21:59):
place. The first games that we play are
at this place called Roly Polywego.
Bass And in this place, there's these people who advance towards
you and then like, go back. They're like, OK, that's weird.
And you realize they don't really leave where they're
(22:20):
advancing from. They just kind of go back and
sway and like what is this? And that's just the nature of
these people. They've got a, they're Wiggle
Base Willy Poly dolls. And I I kind, I kind of have to,
I have to fight them and I have to help them figure out how to
get these these how to realize that they have these weights in
the bottom of them and that's the nature of what they are.
(22:43):
But as we're trying to like they're knocking us over and
sliding over bumping you. You've seen those toys, yeah
it's a different kind of beast. Like they hit, they hit us and
we explode into, we explode intofluffy fluff stuff, stuffings
and we keep having to pull each other back together.
(23:04):
And this is a cooperative game like a three-way Kawai to peachy
for cartoon violence. You have to play this game with
three people or as one of the three people and then maybe the
computer will be the other two characters.
I don't know. But it's cooperative.
So you got to heal each other orlike pull each other back
together and keep fighting untilwe can get these, figure out a
(23:25):
way to get these guys to stop rocking.
And it's to get the rocks out oftheir bottoms and out of all
that. I'm like, I think, I think this
is something I think this touches something on the sort of
something to do with what my problem is.
And so I'm like, I've got to getmaterial from out here and bring
it into into my world from this point on.
(23:47):
I start collecting things as we go, material to bring back into
my world or back into Destructopolis.
Then we get to the levels that affect the gamer the most.
And this is a very spidery, wild, very tangled place called
the Seven Deadly Spins. And they're these masterful
(24:10):
Craftsman spiders who spin theirwebs to create things.
But these things are the most vicious carnivorous dolls we've
ever seen. They consist of eating too much.
They consist of looking at themselves in the silk, a little
too long looking in the silk. It's very reflective silk.
(24:33):
They can be used as a mirror. They're these green eyed ones.
There's cyclops, these green cyclopses, The dolls as well,
and the spiders keep producing them and we keep fighting them.
And each time you defeat one, you realize something about
yourself and you get realizationpoints at the bottom of the
(24:53):
screen. You know, of course, you'll have
7 levels of realization that you've got to fill out
completely as you fight these. But what you're noticing is
these are the things that you'vebeen fighting in your room, but
a little more conceptually, and you had to come out of here to
see that. And of course I, as we fight
(25:14):
them, collect the raw material from them exploding, and that's
killing them. And I'm like, I've got more,
I've got more cloth material along with silk from these evil
spiders or these crafty spiders.I should say we come to the
other part of the game, which isa bunch of wax fruit.
It's a it's it's more of a clearing when we've got this wax
fruit that you can't really eat it.
(25:39):
But this affects puzzle more because he sees all these fruits
give him all these insights intothe deeper meanings of life.
The things that you need like compassion, like to be gentle,
to be loving. It's like these things that you
can't really prove through science.
(25:59):
And he sees these fruits that you can't eat, but they're more,
they're less tangible. They're for the mind and they're
made of wax. So they're to look at.
And he's like, these are things that you really just need to
ponder. You can't really just solve
them. And like, what does that bring
us? Like, how are we going to bring?
I'm like, what can I collect here?
(26:20):
I just collected a bunch of wax and fruit.
But we're somehow going to say yes, yes, we are going to bring
this. We're going to bring this back
to Destructopolis. And this is going to help us.
We get to this gondola. We get to this gondola station,
if we're getting onto this cablecar that's going to take us,
(26:42):
that that turns around. And for whatever reason, this
place is called Repentance Station.
I'm like, that's a weird thing to call it.
And then we all start crying because there's these three
mirrors and they have no they have a Roly pulley wiggle dolls.
But it's just the right height for me to see my face in it.
(27:03):
And I'm like, what does this have so much meaning to me?
But I I feel so much freer now. And I've got all these materials
I'm going to take back with me. And then there's this mirror
right at the right height for for the gamer to look into.
And it's got, and it's covered in spiders.
But when they clear away, he's like, that's my face.
I'm so, I'm so evil comes to theright level.
(27:25):
For the game for the gamer to look in or the nerd to look And
he's like, I'm a professor. All right, let's go.
So we get on to the cable car and the station masters.
Like, yes, you are all going to go back home, but home will not
be the same. And we're like, well, it won't
be the same as what it's always been the same.
(27:46):
That's, I think that's the problem.
It's so stuffy in there. We're all just stuffed animals
and we're all stuffed in the same place.
We he's like, yes, but the wholeplace is coming apart because
it's gotten even stuffier. I'm like, oh, OK And we find the
place is full of dust and all the stuffed animals are tearing
each other apart and stuff. But they're like, hey, hey, hey,
(28:09):
we're fine. We get there and we're like
guys, you need our help and and they don't want our help.
So we start fighting them. I start fighting them with fresh
materials. The gamer starts fighting them
with the with the with with withspider webs and and the little
minion people that will come back apart.
(28:29):
So don't worry, don't worry, they'll come back apart so that
you can use them for your projects, whatever merchandise
you want to sell. And the nerd professor guy is is
speaking things. He's throwing fruit at them and
and that represents the the ideas he's speaking to them.
Eventually things Peter down as the fight resolves.
(28:51):
And then they they see that the whole city is about to be
destroyed by a giant claw is giant clothing.
It's moving around. It's like gonna start snatching
people up. It's like, look, we need to
fight against the machine that we are inside of.
And so we all get together, we fight, and then we're and the
whole thing comes apart. All the walls of the city fall
down and we're like, well, what does this mean for us?
(29:11):
We're like, it means we have to go outside of the city to heal
the city. We all have to we have to get
outside of our bubble and move out and come back like, well, is
this the end of the city? We're like, no, it's the
beginning. So anyway, the professor goes
back to his, goes back to the university and says, look, you
cannot figure out the meaning oflife, but you have to look at
(29:34):
it. You have to contemplate it.
You have to contemplate the deeper things.
And I will show you through these fruits and the kids are
like. Yay, can we eat the fruit?
And he says. No, you look at it and.
They're like, we don't get it. Like we'll just look at it, it's
pretty and then we go back to the the gamer and he's he's in
his room, the he sees the demons.
He's like guys, you are a part of me, but you are not all of
(29:55):
me. And so and so he has a less of a
fight with them and more of a conversation with them.
Then we go back to the artist who has actually opened his
front door and is selling merchandise out there and
they're like, wow. This is a little different and
like no, no, it's the same. It's just I collected the pieces
(30:16):
and put them together in a very special way that looks
different. You got to think outside the
bubble and so anyway, got to think outside the toy box.
And that's how we go on our it'show these stuffed animals go on
their journey, and each level isa game of self discovery being.
(30:36):
That was a trip. I'm not going to tell you who's
ahead right now. Did he get more points because
he was talking long, long. You don't get points for length,
you get points for understand being understandable, for being
sometimes Gravity is what gets your points in these things.
Well, the more you throw at the wall, the more sticks.
(30:57):
It's just, it's just statistically accurate.
I mean, the longer someone's talking to me, the less I pay
attention it. It's more about like if you were
concise enough that the main points were clear, which I worry
about after I've been rambling along time, whether you followed
the assignment correctly. Like there's just like one thing
(31:17):
you have to do, and if you spokea long time and didn't do that
one thing, you're out doesn't have to go long, and and long
doesn't necessarily help you. Rest assured, I have taken all
such. Considerations into account,
(31:37):
Yes. Do you like the the map of the
game that I created? Oh yeah, that is good.
So the next round is what not todo.
What happens? Because you're gonna fail some
puzzles, you're probably gonna get beaten in combat a couple
(32:01):
times. What happens when you fail and
how do you get back on track andwhat how does that alter your
game and the story and the mechanics and stuff like that?
I've got, I've got stuff that I can I can roll with.
OK, then I will keep the timer going for Samuel and give you a
couple readiness points. OK, so first of all there's the
(32:25):
slightly obvious option of having multiple endings.
This type of game that I have. If you remember 2 hours ago when
I presented my game, it was a narrative driven, choice driven
game which would very much lend itself to multiple endings.
I would design the game to have multiple possible endings, each
reflecting different outcomes based on the choices player make
(32:47):
and the extent to which the protagonist's nerd successfully
overcomes their narcissism. The endings could range from
more redemptive to less optimistic based on the players
decisions. There's also so there's
redemption through consequences.If the protagonist nerd fails to
fully overcome their narcissistic tendencies, the
consequences of their actions should be evident in the ending
(33:08):
they receive. They might achieve some level of
growth but still struggle with ego driven behavior, resulting
in a bittersweet ending where they realize that the journey is
still going on. This could then lead on to a new
game Plus or a sequel where you would replay the game with
additional insights gained from the previous playthrough.
Or in a sequel you could delve deeper into the protagonist
(33:30):
continued growth, allowing the player to see how the choices in
the first game influence the influences the ongoing journey.
Regardless of the outcome, ensure that you feel agency in
the redemption process, giving you opportunities to make those
pivotal choices that influence the nerds path, thereby allowing
them to feel responsible for thecharacters growth or lack
(33:52):
thereof. Incorporating the possibility of
failure and redemption adds nuance to the game's narrative
and encourages the player to explore different aspects of the
character's personalities. It also aligns with the central
theme of personal growth, showing that transformation is a
journey that may have setbacks but still be worthwhile.
(34:13):
That was good. Samuel, you are out of time.
Are you ready? Yeah.
OK, cool. All right, so as you know, this
game is journey and each destination point or area that
we end up in playing few different games, we're dealing
(34:34):
with different kinds of demons that we gotta battle.
We gotta battle the Roly Poly wiggle based creatures who are,
after all, I don't think you ever established that those were
demonic. Yes, these are these are, these
are these are demons. Of a sort.
Remember, this is all allegorical.
We've got the seven deadly spins, We got these demonic
(34:56):
creatures that the spider is weaving.
They're coming towards us. And of course, after we've
defeated all those, we get to fight the spider itself.
And we got the wax fruit forest,where we've got fruit attacking
us and we got sliced out with the ninja sword.
We got to hit them in just the right way that they don't, that
(35:16):
you don't accidentally eat them because it's not real fruit.
But there's things you don't do,and that's what I'm going to
focus on right now in the Roly Poly wiggle base.
You don't get hit by the thing that's rocking and you don't
stay still. You got to keep moving.
That's the main thing. These things, they're staying in
place and they're rocking. So if you stay still, you get
(35:40):
hit. If you move, you don't get hit,
because that's the advantage. You have in the right ways.
You can move around them becausethey're limited in where they
can move. The seven deadly spins,
especially the It's especially the gamers battle, but all of us
are fighting this battle together.
He's just the one that really gains insight from it.
(36:03):
We're all fighting together. These these several different
kinds of demons. We got to fight them each
differently, but for all of themwe have to not hit them too hard
or else they explode and there'sno material that left for the
artist to use. The meaning behind that is you
can't address those inner problems too harshly, or else
(36:26):
you're. Like beating yourself up about
them. Exactly.
So don't hit them too hard or else they just explode and
they're not useful for you, but you got you got to hit them just
hard enough that they explode into pieces that we can use the
demon fruits that are flying at us at the at the professor.
(36:46):
What you don't do is eat them. If they're wax and they'll give
you insight and and teach you things.
You got to ask them the right kinds of questions.
That one's still in the working as far as like that's the main
thing. But how I will go about that is
still a little bit of rusty for me, I'll be honest.
And then we got to be careful that we don't hit our friends
(37:07):
too hard so that they explode and we don't have them anymore.
We got to be careful. We got to be careful about some
of our friends that we realize the difference between stuffed
animals, which are our friends, and actual food, which is
something you can eat and and the things that are conceptual
are not to be just taken in, they're to be ruminated.
(37:31):
It's a little bit like chewing gum.
You don't swallow it there to belooked at, spoken to, observed
but not eaten, not taking like other kinds of information but
scientific that has certain answers.
It's the difference between science and philosophy.
Well guys, that was really good.If you guys want to take like a
(37:53):
5 minute break, I can tally up the points and then tell you
who's where for what. Yeah, maybe this is a good time
for Puzzle and me to talk to each other about our games.
Yeah that's a good idea in a short and quick way.
How would someone incorporate your game into real life?
Cuz it's very much like a fantasy story rather than a
(38:16):
guide. It's more of an independent
universe and happenings. Like, I can see the allegories,
but I don't see it as a system really.
So could you very, very briefly explain how it could be a system
that you could implement into life rather than a story you can
learn a lesson from? Yeah, I mean, I think usually
how it is with a game. It's like a movie that you're
(38:38):
making happen as it goes. So as every plot line unfolds,
you're the one unfolding it, even though there's going to be
some certain or obscure answers.So for instance, leaving the
city together, it's not just going to be something you're
observing, you're going to have to go to the action of doing it
as you're playing the game, going together as a group, and
(39:01):
then as we get to each of you know.
So going outside of the place where the problem is or the
place for things need solving and getting a perspective from
the outside. I had some questions about your
game. So you were saying it's like a
mirror maze, there is a mirror maze level.
So what are what are the levels and challenges?
(39:22):
Again there was a mirror maze one, there was one where you're
trying to fix a handheld mirror.There was one where let me find
it. There's there's the multi choice
conversation pieces to it that build on the narrative and like
(39:44):
how you go about conversations and all of it sort of gets you
to look at yourself more. Yeah, it's all kind of
allegorical to a fractured mind or or mistaken identity or you
know a wrong sense of self-imagein one way or another.
Whether that is thinking too highly of yourself or thinking
(40:04):
too lowly of yourself. I was going at the the
narcissist spin. Oh, because the spider spins A
narcissist doll And. And that's one of the seven
deadly spins. So are you guys ready to hear
the results? Yes, yeah.
So you guys were pretty close, but Michael won by 6 points.
(40:28):
What? So don't don't spend 20 minutes
going over it. But what?
I had a complicated system wherethe points kind of compounded.
So like every round, I basicallyhad a box for a trait like
uniqueness, and if you got one point for uniqueness that was
(40:49):
one point, and then if you got asecond point, that point was
worth a value of two because thetotal was two.
So look at your hand. Yeah, it's all dirty.
Oh yeah, I this is what happens to left-handed people.
I forgot that you were an evil demon of the left handedness.
(41:09):
What ended up happening was on the first round, Michael, you
got -2 points. You weren't ready.
Samuel was. Samuel was ready, Samuel, your
delivery and your heart. Your delivery and your heart was
better, but you got -1 point forbeing a little bit long.
(41:36):
The length ended up really hurting your score eventually.
See I told you Puzzle I. Told you.
So. What ended up happening in the
second round, which is where stuff really started happening,
is Michael like, approached slowly but didn't lose many
points. And Samuel, your points were
through the roof, but you ended up also losing a bunch, partly
(41:59):
because of time and partly because of not quite
understanding where you're going.
It felt a little bit off topic and there was a lot of time and
he seemed to be getting excited about the story that he was
making and not quite. Yeah, I hadn't made really many
like story type video games in awhile, so I but I felt something
(42:23):
new arising. On the second round, you did get
three points for applicability because there were several times
where I'm like OOH, that is a really good idea like I wanted.
I want to think of that when I think of.
Improving myself next time I have to do something like that.
And that's how I did applicability where there's
there's a good idea that I can use.
(42:43):
So you guys got equal points on round two for applicability.
But Samuel, you did end up losing because I wrote down, I
wrote down a minus point every time.
It felt like it was like drawingon a little bit too long or off
topic. I ended up writing -1 down seven
times. So with the compounding stuff, 7
(43:06):
deadly rambles. Yeah, so he would have won by
one point. What Samuel you had a lot of
really good, solid like ideas and story and it was very
inspirational and you had a you were more invested in your games
throughout this, all of the rounds, and I felt like I was
(43:30):
emotionally connecting to you more Michael, you had.
Like a really good, unique game structure that I wasn't
expecting when it came down to it.
I can show you my calculations. They're down here.
Nice. These are the points I wrote
down for each round and then this is the total I did down
(43:53):
here and then subtracted some stuff from each of you guys.
But what ended up happening is Samuel skyrocketed and fell
pretty fall far. And you like you have like a
WAVY trend. You ended up being a little bit
above Samuel just because of therambling.
(44:16):
And you know as a listener this isn't necessarily a pre printed
game structure that you can get and just eat like a burger
piece, like a river. All that happens.
It's not necessarily that. You might have to dig a little
deeper into this one if you wantto find something that's.
Applicable, but it might be morerewarding.
I feel like what was screaming at me through this whole episode
(44:39):
was augmented reality, walking through your everyday life and
your encountering situations. And I just imagined myself
flashing back to these games andthinking, what would it be like
in this kind of game? And that looking at that
augmented reality, getting a picture of the.
(45:00):
Unseen situation, coming back towhat you can see and altering
what you're doing in your mind, how you're saying things
physically, like if you need to get something to eat better
looking at that augmented reality to help you imagine
what's really happening that youcan't see, and then altering
(45:20):
what you're doing to tailor to that.
And I think that's a really important theme of gamification
in general. That's kind of what I'm hoping
gamify this will do for all of us is help us to be able to go
through our daytoday life and see these other things in the
place of what we get used to seeing every day.
(45:41):
Not like, nothing really weird about that.
Just like, huh, looking at it a little differently, like, you
know what these challenges I'm facing is combat and that, you
know, that's combat. It was like, these are actual
challenges. These are things that I can get
better at rather than these are things that I'm bad at.
These are, these are levels I haven't quite unlocked yet.
(46:03):
And you know, as long as we can like for a while, place this
augmented reality in front of the realities we're dealing with
that we don't like, eventually we can take that augmented
reality away and be like, oh, I have been enjoying this.
So we've covered a lot of exciting stuff, and I feel like
this one was really. Uniquely beneficial, as you were
(46:29):
saying, the audience can take what they can and maybe take
this as a springboard to do their own application or maybe
even their own game. Yeah, take what you will from
this banquet of plentiful plentiousness and you get this
for. It is worth what you paid for
it. It's worth more than that.
(46:52):
This show was worth more than nothing.
Don't listen to him. Ultimately, we are doing this
to, well, help each other out, but also inspire you guys in the
process. And it's all up to you.
But we hope we're helping you. This has been an awesome
episode. Guys, thank you for joining.
(47:13):
Thank you for watching. Thank you for cohost and my
cohost Yost and pulls into Q&A at the bottom.
Don't miss them. Don't miss polls and Q&A at the
bottom there. If you're listening to this in
the car, pull over. Turn on your hazard lights.
Pull over. Pull up your phone.
Scroll down below the episode. Hit your poll, Answer, open the
(47:34):
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Free publicity. OK, you can follow a Puzzle.
(47:55):
You can follow Sean on 10 Tiny Potatoes on YouTube and Twitch.
You can follow Samuel at Mozer Meadows Records on YouTube and
TikTok and Stan Maclaus Tuner onInstagram.
And you can follow Michael on Puzzle MTM everywhere if you
follow Michael on Puzzle MTM and.
(48:16):
As we always say at the end of these episodes, game over next
time on Gamified. This Samuel shaves off half his
mustache while a robot named Aija prays for rain.
Sean gives advice on self-care and being present while puzzle
(48:40):
drops his phone in the sewer andwaits for a miracle.
What do these scenarios all havein common and what's the
gamified solution? Can you guess?
This is an unfunded program supported by the listening
listeners like you talk to your dog before talking to anybody
else and see a therapist for. Details.
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