Hello there. I am a ninja and I can do ninja tricks! well... I can do them in ninja style if I try hard enough! I need to find my friend Kira and before I can go on a quest to her, I need to train extremely hard under my master until my clumisiness disappears! I vow to jump down from high places and land in a cool ninja style and not on my butt. And not to trip over watermelons. But before I can accomplish that, I need your help to train me and we can have so much fun together!
The developers of Clumsy Ninja, NaturalMotion, develop their softwares using Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DNS) to achieve a game play that offers enhanced interactivity between the user and the character. According to the Wikipedia definition of DNS, it is based on areas of biology as well as robot control theory in a "real time simulation of bio-mechanics and the motor control nervous system". Clumsy Ninja was first released in September 2012 after the iPhone 5 media event (MacRumors, 2013) and gathered 10 million downloads in a single week (Arstechnica, 2014).
Natural motion has lived up to its name with its amazing application of Clumsy Ninja which can be downloaded for free at the appstore and available for play on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch running on iOS5 or later versions.
Background of the game
The game interface and design
Clumsy Ninja is not only rich in its hyper realistic images, it is incredible that the natural motions seen in the game apply to many aspects of the game play experience unlike other character-user interaction apps. Clumsy Ninja offers a relatively fresh experience in using mobile applications. The game starts with a tutorial about the things you can do with the ninja (see under "List of Training Tasks"), from there, you can experience controlling the ninja around using your finger and explore the funnier side of the game by teasing the ninja however you like.
The fluidity of the ninja's movements and his expressions are highly accurate and smooth flowing, giving a realistic representation of a real life ninja who is convincingly clumsy. Tie balloons to the limbs of the ninja and you would trap him airborne. The ninja would then struggle in his difficult situation while the player perhaps laugh his head off for a moment or two. Although this puts the actual weight of the ninja into question, the comedic effect the scene triggers is enough to let users abandon logical thinking and enjoy the humor this game deliberately tries to achieve through realistic natural motions.
Clumsy Ninja also takes slapstick to a whole new level as the users can perform ridiculously violent actions on the ninja such as throwing him into the air or dumping him into basket ball hoops. The game actually encourages the players to carry out these action to increase the experience earned by the ninja.
By leveling the ninja up, players get to earn new belts which are of different colours and at the same time unlock new items. There is a total of 99 levels and achieving certain levels would present the player a new belt. There are also three different locations to explore, and these locations would be unlocked along the player's progress in the game.
Another noteworthy aspect of the naturalness in the motions of the game also applies to the context of the user. When the player gives a command to the ninja, usually by the player's finger, the ninja is seen to interact naturally with the finger as if the player's finger is also an essential component of the game in the sense of direct interaction. It gives the player a realistic sense of interaction with the ninja thus portraying the naturalness of the theme. For instance, brushing a finger across the ninja's head would cause the ninja to enjoy the pat and tickling the ninja would send him into fits of laughter. It is just like using the same finger to tickle a real person. Also, the ninja initiates a high-five or a series of high-fives with the player after completion of certain tasks and it allows the player to feel accomplished at the same time as if the tasks carried out were efforts of teamwork rather than the ninja gaining the experience all by himself. This form of human-game interaction is seldom seen and is something unique and remarkable about this app.
The Fashion of Clumsy Ninja
In terms of fashion, Clumsy Ninja offers varieties in its apparels. By default, the ninja appear in the standard black costume of typical ninjas with a red belt and head band (left) and the player is rewarded the master suit (right) after mastering all the training items.
Apart from these two rather conventional suits, the game also aims to infuse international clothing to diversify and to allow customisation of the ninja wear. The ninja suit and the head band are available in numerous different colours and texture and can be bought with the gold coins or through the pink gems. Gold coins are rewarded after every task completed but the pink gems need to be purchased with real money. However, the player can only choose a new belt colour after he levels up and get the new belts from the master of the ninja. Different colour combinations are not the only ways to create a unique ninja, the game does not only offer the traditional ninja suit from Japan for the ninja but also, on several special occasions such as Chinese New Year or Christmas, the developers take efforts to offer special ninja suits:
Although the varieties of costumes and wide and numerous unique combinations are always possible, to get the full fashion experience from the game, one must be willing to purchase the gems.
My own ninja and personal thoughts about the game
On a personal level, just like how I have fun with my own ninja, I am sure that other users also have a special and unique time with theirs. The ninja is designed to be extremely adorable and lovable and the choices of customization offered to players really further deepens the player-game interaction and relationship. It is easy to get attached to the very "unique" ninja in our own smart devices and the ninja would seem to appear more as a virtual form of pet than a serious ninja who is training to become less clumsy.
Apart from the personal relationship with the ninja, I have observed that this game easily hooks people of all ages due to the humorous stunts the ninja is able to pull and the smoothness of gameplay. The hyper realistic images in the games really enhance the visual effects of the game and makes game play occur in a natural way. The ninja is also at the same time able to portray relatively real expressions with his large eyes and body movements which complement very well to the overall 'natural' theme of the game.
Appeals of Clumsy Ninja
One of the greatest selling points of the game, apart from the comedic effect and the natural motion technology in the game previously explained, is the scenery and visual design.
Due to the realistic 3D designs, users can find themselves transported into the realm of the clumsy ninja and at the same time appreciate the efforts behind these designs. Users can also toggle the view to change the angle and this helped in enhancing the 3D design and experience. For players in the urban regions, the backdrop provides a great virtual escape of the landscapes of the city with its simple rural designs of the mountains and traditional wooden buildings. This is one of the aspect of the game that I liked the most.
This is also a great game to kill time. As the character has an irresistibly adorable appearance and behaviour, it is less possible that the players might feel bored with the design of the game. A university research once showed that looking at pictures of cute animals after studying can help relief the brain and induce relaxation. The nature of this game offers the same effect. Moreover, as the goal of this game is to continuously level up and leveling up takes a rather lengthy time after getting into the teens levels, it is therefore, in a way, a long lasting game with a goal very far from sight. Provided that the players do not use cheats to bypass the levels. they can play this game for a long time before they accomplish the ultimate destination of the game and therefore is a good way to occupy time,
What's there to not like about the game?
I have several younger cousins who loves Clumsy Ninja and played the game on my iPhone until it drained out the battery and my mother finds him extremely amusing and likes to poke him on the head. However, despite the cuteness and popularity of Clumsy Ninja in my family, I find the game to be rather pitiful and irritating. Here are five annoying aspects of the game which downplays the user's experience and patience.
1. The 'repairing' of a used item takes a long time unless the players chooses to instantly renew the items with gems that need to be purchased
Although it is typical and completely understandable that many games adopt this feature to allow the developers to earn revenue from the game, it really downplays the experience of players who do not wish to spend on such in-game purchases. This feature could irritated impatient users, but, on the bright side, this can cut down the possibilities of being addicted to the game and to play it continuously without rest.
2. The navigation of the ninja is troublesome and it is sometimes difficult to guide the ninja to the desired location. This problem usually occurs when navigating the ninja to the front of the interface or to the back.
Although the 3D design of the game enhances the visual effect, players are unable to get the ninja around without identifying the spot for the ninja to go to. Players need to guide the ninja to a certain spot defined by the player by tapping on the ground.
This feature requires a certain degree accuracy of judgment from the user and it appears to be particularly annoying when carrying out tasks especially the hooping activity where aiming for the hoops with the body of the ninja is unbearably challenging.
3. The reward money are not ample to purchase new items which could be very costly and users have to repeatedly train the ninja with the same old objects before getting enough gold coins.
This again places a restriction on the player and it gets boring to repeat the routines again, especially when coupled to the waiting time.
4. The notifications to constantly remind users to play the game can be annoying. Some examples are "Let's high five!" and "Please come back, I'm feeling lonely".
It is again typical for smart-devices apps to send notifications to get the attention of the user, and the content of the notifications of Clumsy Ninja tend to sound clingy and naggy. This comment, is however, purely made from my own personal standpoint.
5. On a personal level, I feel extremely sorry for the ninja because it is often abused by players to gain comedic effects. In view of this, there are social concern regarding the morality of the game. As this game is designed to be liked by the masses including children, the ideas of flinging the ninja around to gain experience points can mislead young minds to violent behaviours in real life.
As stated earlier, this game brings slapstick comedy to a more personal level and this has become a concern as young children who are innocently attracted to the adorable interface can get the wrong idea that it is completely fine to throw things around without giving thoughts to the object. Such objects can include small animals, and this is particularly dangerous as it can endanger the safety of the animal just because the child may find it enjoyable to watch the shocked reaction from the animal or just to watch it struggle to get back up. Furthermore, if such objects happen to injure other people, the effects can be damaging and detrimental. The game may like to add a emotion feature to the ninja to remind users that mistreating other living things can harm their feelings and thus to be more mindful of their actions in real life.
Overall, this is a wonderful creation, as explained by the developers, takes human-device interactions to a higher level. However, it would be even better if the battery life of smart devices can compliment these kinds of made-realistic applications. Clumsy ninja, although appealing, can drain the battery life in a short time span, especially for iPhone 4S which I currently use to play the game. But nonetheless, the journey of the clumsy ninja in his training is quirky, adorable and engaging. Although the game can offer more locations of game play, each location is beautiful in its own way and allow users to appreciate virtual nature. The game also offers more appreciation of natural movements and expressions as portrayed by the every action of the ninja and the game is generally amazing in its ability to capture so many aspects of real life motion in technology. This definitely showed the advancement in imaging technology and up and coming gesture interactions.
Profile of web author
Name: Si Hui (not my picture)
Description: A year-one NUS student doing her assignment for IT1001
Lives in: the in-between state of a workaholic and a lazy potato
Loves: Overcast skies and winter clothes. Rice. The steam chicken from the Ayam Peyet stall in Science Frontier. And the smell of the Science library. Blogger.
Majors in: The Life Sciences.
Interests in: Strange phenomenons and string instruments.
Last Seen: in Singapore. (Always seen in Singapore)
Reflections on this assignment: The starting point was not smooth as I had no idea what kind of applications to choose from. I keep my phone clean from almost all unnecessary distractions because I tend to procrastinate while doing my work. It ultimately came down to Clumsy Ninja because it was a really impressive application. I had a lot of fun screencapping my own ninja doing his activities and also in writing the review. Choosing a suitable template was challenging though. I wanted the template to match the jolly theme of the application and it was difficult to find one without it being too girly. Then, editing the template for this blog was made a lot easier by Dreamweaver, I somehow wish that it is a free application that I can keep in my computer forever. The contrast in the ease in editing on the Blogger's HTML code and on Dreamweaver really opened my eyes at how technology has been advancing without my notice. This module really helps me catch up with the in-technology now and this assignment exposed me to different type of templates which I am considering of using in the future (since mostly are from wix and we are forbidden from using wix, but wix would be an interesting option to explore.) Doing this assignment was really fun because I like editing blog skins even when outside class and it really teaches me the important lesson of give occasional rest to my eyes and neck. Thanks for reading and visiting this webpage.
Credits: All external pictures are linked to their original page. To access, please click on the pictures. All pictures of Ninjah (the cyan ninja) are my own screen captures from the game.
My own Ninja
Name: NINJAH Level: 17 Progress: Getting a little less clumsy Companion: Chicken Mastered: First Jumper, Spring morning, Old rice sack, Watermelon Ninja Attire: Cyan Suit, Black Head band, Orange belt
I would like to thank Ninjah for 'actively' participating in the makings of this blog.
List of training tasks
TRAMPOLINE The ninja attempts to jump on the trampoline while the player controls the position of the trampoline on the ground to ensure the ninja lands on it rather than hitting the ground.
SANDBAG The user holds up the sand bag and the ninja would attempt to either land a punch or a kick on it.
HOOPING The player either uses the ninja or any animals, such as the chicken, as the object to be shot into the hoop.
BALLS The player fires a sequence of balls at the ninja by flicking the ball towards him and the ninja would attempt to deflect the balls.
DARUMA Almost like the sandbag, the ninja attempts to punch or kick the daruma while the player holds it in place.
SHOOTING The shooter is placed at a fixed position and by tapping on the shooter, it would fire shots at the unsuspecting ninja with bulls-eye hits.
TOWERS The player places the ninja onto a high tower and taps on the ground to make the ninja jump down.
CRATES By tapping on the crates, the ninja would kick the crate until it disintegrates.
BALLOONS The player can attach balloons to the different limbs of the ninja, even the rear, and cause the ninja to be brought into air. The balloons can be popped by tapping on the balloon.
POTIONS There are a variety of potions to feed the ninja with. This is an example of the dizziness potion which causes the ninja to turn like a tornado.
POTIONS This, on the other hand, is the freezing potion which freezes the entire body of the ninja to resemble a block of ice.
Hello there. I am a ninja and I can do ninja tricks! well... I can do them in ninja style if I try hard enough! I need to find my friend Kira and before I can go on a quest to her, I need to train extremely hard under my master until my clumisiness disappears! I vow to jump down from high places and land in a cool ninja style and not on my butt. And not to trip over watermelons. But before I can accomplish that, I need your help to train me and we can have so much fun together! 
