Week 11 Assignment

In the past when i've heard the term gameplay, i've always considered this meaning as how the game is actually played, which seems like a simple defintion to me. This would include things like game mechanics and how you would process an action.

Therefore I am reassured that my own personal view is closely similar to the definition given on the wikipedia website. However i do think it is strange that the term is meaningless, i perhaps think that the reason behind this is that games are more interactive then other activites. As even an action command processed through the game world effects AI or the surrounding environment.

I believe that gameplay is an important part of game design, that even narrows down just to simple factors like the game interface. Like for instance when thinking about game controllers and the buttons you press just to process an action, when you create the desired action you don't want to constantly press multiple different buttons just to process that single action. I think that simple factors like this are important in helping you decide on whether you actually like the game.

I reckon that there is mostly likely a basic guideline for gameplay, like i mentioned before about not making the mechanics of a game too complex so that interest is lost (at least for entertainment purposes). However i don't think that there is specific rules that must be followed, as gameplay varys depending on the game genre, though i must admit that gameplay over a certain genre type is very similar. Even though there are games with experimental gameplay this doesn't mean that they are necessarily successful. however i have found that slight changes in gameplay have been used to gain the edge over the competition. An example of this is in RTS game Battle for middle Earth, as at the time they had created a new interface of processing actions, which resulted in quicker gameplay. This new interface now happens to be current in all RTS i've seen recently.

Week 10 assignment

i think that movies and books help us to create strong connections by using the protagonists perspective. I believe this applies especially to books, as books usually give a strong insight into the mind of the protagonist.

however there are other reasons as to why characters are engaging in books and films. i Sometimes think that interaction between characters is important. shows and films like friends or Star Wars i think do this well, as they are both very popular. Like for instance the original Star Wars films are much more popular then the new editions as i feel that the characters where much more interesting that had very different personalities and backgrounds.

Personality and background i feel is an essential foundation needed for characters, which leads onto how the individuals feel emotions and how they react in certain situations. This therefore means that acting is still important for characterisation as they need to express their emotions strong enough to establish the connection so the viewer can empathise with the character.

this means that scripts have to be carefully complied together, as the character needs to think and act the way they were originally designed ( unless of course if developments happen during the story that alters the characters way of thinking). I think that scripts are more involved with creating the story than creating the characters, as the story just places these characters in the situation and then the foundation of the character design is used to determine how they react. i therefore believe that the script revolves around the character design.

I especially enjoy the original Star Wars films as they have an assortment of different characters which i believe makes it so successful. With these films you find that each characters has not only different characteristics, but also different abilities. For instance you have the loyal and strong wookie, then you have characters like the jedi and sith that have unnatural abilities. But then this film introduces a character like Han Solo that doesn't necesarilly have any special abilities, but makes up for it though his personality and characteristics.

Week 9 assignment

In the past I've never really considered controllers as an important part of gameplay, as i would normally relate controller ergonomics as a topic more associated with users that play games consistently over a long duration. But now that i think about it i believe that some of the best designs for controllers originate back into the nineties when designs were a little less complicated in comparison to ones made today.

Thinking back to my first console the Sega mega drive i felt that the designs for this controller were very comfortable for various reasons. i felt that the mega drive controllers were lighter then those made in the present, also as one of the links provided noted that the controller was shaped more circular then others at the time, which provided a more comfortable experience.

In comparison to later models of controllers like the xbox and n64 i found these controllers to be rather bulky over the simplistic mega drive controller. especially when considering the n64 controller as there was the added feature of the rumble pack that could be attached making the controller heavier and more bulky.

However i do feel that only in the latest models of controllers has ergonomics even been considered, at least in the case of the xbox360. Compared to the earlier design of controller the xbox 360 controller i feel fits nicely into the hands, with the added wireless feature makes freedom of movement alot easier. I also think that the positioning of the triggers in the latest model to be more comfortable with no stretching of my digits. I also think that the design of the xbox 360 controller has had alot more thought put into it as i think it is one of the best visually pleasing controllers to date.

When considering the ps3 controller i think that not alot has changed from its predecessor. i think that the boomerang idea should have been released, but because of the concerns raised at its unveiling sony decided to play it safe with a model designed closely to its previous controller. I think this is a shame as sony could have gone for this more comfortable design, but unfortunately we shall never know.

As for the future of game controllers i think that nintendo revolutions idea of using movement to interface with games is steadily becoming more popular. I know that the Nintendo Wii already uses this type of interface and i think that the involvement of physical movement helps you to become more immersed in the game.

Week 8 assignment

Storylines have always been an integral part of gaming ever since i have played games. I feel that especially in adventure/action games this is particularly true, as it is rare to have a game where you recklessly slaughter people for no reason at all (apart from the exception of postal). Therefore i think that basic storyline are essential for games to set plots for our hero to at least be motivated to undertake the task at hand.

However i do think that a strong storyline isn't always necessary. Like for instance David Freeman who spoke about games like GTA as being 'sandbox' is genuinely true. Yet even with a basic storyline GTA is still very successful, the reason for this is because with these 'sandbox' games you are given the option of choice. It is often in these games that you get the oppertunity to explore the environment or choose which missions to participate in.

Whereas the problem with some storyline games is that they funnel you into a specific direction and you can't decide on which areas to explore, i find this particularly noticable with games that don't have a gripping story plot.

Then you get games like Half life and you don't even care that there is a single exit out the room, because it has a great story. I remember when i played half life and i would constantly see the mysterious man wearing a suit in a room through a window and i kept playing just because i wanted to know who he was and what his involvement in the story was.

Therefore i ultimately enjoy games that have branching storylines, as they not only have a storyline, but you also have the choice as well. Even though Marc Laidlaw disapproves of these types of games because once they have been played they aren't usually replayed (which is true). i think that games like Silent hill or Knights of the old republic are fantastic because you know that the ending of your game will be totally different from a friends, because at some point you made a choice that differed from their own.

Then there are games like postal which i mention before, where you literally do anything you like. You can run for president or run around the streets urinating over people until they vomit or maybe even decapitate someone set their head on fire and kick it around the streets. With this game there is a great amount of choice, however because it lacks any sort of plot i found that i quickly got bored of this game and is it major flaw, which proves that games truely do need a plot even if its a basic one to be successful.

wEEK 8 ASSIGNMENT

Week 7 Assignment

Art direction has always been an interesting profession to me, as really art directors are the core designers of the project. The impression that i've recieved about art directors is that they get the freedom to set their own design as a baseline for other artists, in which they work around and further develop the original idea. I think this is great as this shows that the art director isn't limited to just his designs, but gains the points of view of others that the director may not have thought of, that could be complementary to their original design.

However this position also proves that the art director has a great responsibility as they are afterall the leading creative designer. Even though the art director is the main artistic creator this doesn't mean they are at the highest level of the heirarchy. They would have to answer to artist managers who set budgets and deadlines, then we have the developers of the original idea for the project. A good example of this (at least in film) was a documentary i watch on the creation of General Grievous in the latest Star Wars film, in which George Lucas Would approve certain designs for the character and whittle them down to his favourite pieces.

Nonetheless I do think there are subtle difference between the game and film industries of art direction. With film i think that Art direction is simply just creating the foundation and directing ideas. Whereas with game there seems to be more involvement. Like for example the art director Phillip Bossant would have to do playtest and sort out coding issues, which would even occur in the film industry.

I think that a key aspect to becoming a good art director is communication. Communication is vital because an art director doesn't create designs solely on their own presonal creations, but is rather a gather of others ideas. Therefore good communication and relationships between co workers is very important, as essentially a better relationship will result in higher motivation leading to greater results from their peers. This is one of the main resaons why I think that any industry that employs art directors prefer experienced workers of the field, as an art director doesn't just have the resposibility of being a creative thinker but also needs to be confident, a good communicator and have the ability to take risks.

Week 6 assignment

Gameplay has always been an important aspect of games. I always thought that gameplay was to do with the layout of control within the game, so i can agree with Chris Crawford in that there is really no definitive meaning for gameplay. but what is certain is that gameplay is all about the involvement of the player interacting with the game.

Crawford also makes some other valid points in that programers can't become artists, as creativity is something that you are born with, therefore programmers can't diverse into an artistic direction unless they have that creativity. This then means that game artists at least have that opportunity to create their own game with no interferance by other indivduals (though this might not necessarily be a good idea).

However i think that game development differs alot now, in comparison to the early development of games. As games have continuously become more complex in design then the original atari games, i think that there is more specialisation in this industry. By this I mean that developers are more likely to stick to their specific field of expertise, like for instance a programmer just sticking to programming. So with developers sticking to their specialised areas makes the company assume that the final product should be a game of high quality.

When it comes down to designing other genres of games i think that the principles of the design doesn't really differ. Of course the designs are going to be different, but i don't think that this would affect the process of how the game is going to be made.

If i'm playing a game I always seem to enjoy the challenges involved. I think this is a main reason for why I participate in online gaming as usually the opponent isn't computer AI. But even if I am playing a console game especially ones I enjoy like Devil may cry, I will complete the game on medium level and then progress to a harder level. In this game I remember at reaching the first boss on this hard level and dying after being hit 3 times, then to make things even harder when I attacked this boss it's health meter barely moved. However I persisted in what seem like an impossible task and eventually managed to defeat this boss and eventually the game, then because i achieved completing this insane mode i was granted the benefit of unlimited devil trigger, which lead me to hours of enjoyable ass kicking for all the suffering the demon minions had caused me!

Week 5 assignment

It is true to state that a mojority of games journalism now exists on the internet, rather then through magazine publishing in current times. I even remember when i use to purchase game magazines for my N64 and then slowly transitioned over to the internet to read reviews (though i didn't really notice it). However i feel that game magazines have one strong advantage over internet reviews which wasn't mention is that they have demos. For instance i remember when i was young always buying game magazines just for the demos, especially if they aren't accessable elsewhere. I even have a friend that buys xbox360 magazines so they can recieve the demos which aren't downloadable through xbox live.

As there are now more innovative ways of reviewing games that are present over the internet and less consumers purchasing games magazines the question now is how do publishers make profits? I feel that even through the internet there are various ways in which publishers can achieve profits. The first is through memberships, there are various site available that have free membership. However there are always advanced memberships available where customers pay so much a month, and get exclusive downloads and other goodies that are for these specific members only.

However just like in game magazines the developers of games know that consumers will read reviews on games before buying them ( i am included in this category of people). Therefore wherever there are games journalists wheather it be through magazines or the internet, there will always be advertisements. Even when on an internet games journalist site attempting to read a review, you are always interrupted by pop ups advertising the latest release.

I think that giving scores to games is an impossible task, as these opinions are usually determined by a certain point of view. As I've noticed all publishers have different opinions that differ from others, sure they many be similar but just like with all individuals we all have different tastes. Also with graphics increasing with each generation of gaming you can't necesarilly grade a game with full marks for visual effects, as within the year there will always be a game with increased graphics.

However I do enjoy how these new games journalists have found new ways of reviewing games. like for instance the context in which the article 'A rape in cyberspace' was set really struck me, whereas if it had presented in another way it may have made me laugh. Which shows that this form is of writing is very powerful yet very opinionated.

For me i feel this is a reason as to why im more of an objective writer rather than a subjective one. As i think that subjective writers always try to influence the way you are thinking, to side with their points of view. whereas objective writers just give you the facts and lets you create your own decisions.

Week 4 assignment

Now that the gaming market has grown larger in comparison to 20 years ago, I can understand how companies have become increasingly competitive within this market. It seems to me that businesses like Sony and Microsoft are attempting to monopolise this market, by claiming their consoles the xbox360 and PS3 are the most technologically advanced. However I have seen various different games that can be played on these consoles, which show to me that they aren't as graphically magnificant as they make it out to be, though they are still better than its predecessors. I believe that it is these consoles high definition capabilities that makes them so formidable in this market.

Back home in sunny Wickford my family owns a HD television and I have been amazed by many programs that I've watched in HD, because of the amount of detail HD picks up especially in distant lanscape environments. It was through these means that I encouraged a friend to acquire and play their console the xbox360 through a HD TV. I found that the quality of the game was greatly increased making the gameplay more enjoyable. I would also like to add that whenever you have been looking around in say shopping centres have you noticed that when there are promotioning these consoles that the display units always have HD TV sets, which just goes to show that these consoles need HD to get the best gaming experience.

The idea that publishers pressurise developers to produce sequals and movie games is terrible but true. i hate it especially when developers have to rush games just so that they can release the game in time with the movie. Then with sequals you always find that the games are far too similar to its previous title with some extra items or abilities to still keep you interested. It is rare to find a game of a film or sequal that lives up to its title. This then means there are less original games that can be developed, which could potentially push gaming into a different direction.

However there really have been some great developments in the gaming industry. like for instance I'm really anticipating the euphoria game engine as this means that the gaming world is becoming more like reality as the program actually simulates the properties of the world. so that wood when breaks spliters like wood or if a NPC falls off a building they will cling onto an edge. I think that this engine is a great idea and shall be looking forward to the new GTA and Star wars game.

As i really enjoy my pc games i must say that i notice developments further in on this platform rather than on consoles. So for this platform i really have noticed the difference in game graphics. I really remember how great the new doom game look graphically in comparison to half life. Another game i think looks great is FEAR along with it's bullet time system, in which you could use justto see how great the models and environment looks.

Eventually though i believe that the limit of gaming shall be when you can enter a game and become so immersed in it, that you believe whats happening around you is real. I suppose that I think gaming will evetually head towards something like the matrix (but without machines attempting to exterminate the human race), where you could interact with others within this computerised world.

Week 3 assignment

The development of games throughout the 80's and 90's shows to me why gaming has become as popular as it is today. Whereas in the beginning gaming was more simple with games that incorporated little graphics and were quite repeatative. However the strong point about these earlier games is that they wasn't necessarily attempting to imitate real situations as at this time the majority of popular games where situated around spacecraft or missles apart from the exception of pong. I can see how development of games at this period was slow at first because there is plenty of other interactive activities that may have been more challenging and exciting, all that this industry needed was for companies to realize the potential for gaming.

However gaming eventually developed to the point of creating characters in game which still at this point used basic graphics, but still these designers had created a player-character relationship rather than just being an object. This development then went further especially during the 90's as this saw the rise of iconic characters like Mario and Sonic, which i feel helped to promote console games during this era.

Throughout this period of the gaming industry saw other new creations like the introduction of different varieties of games that hadn't been seen before. Gamimg was getting more complex and saw the existance of RPG, RTS as well as shoot em up games. Which now meant that there are games that suites the players tastes, as not everyone enjoys the same type of game.

Games like RPG were then developed further to create MMORPGs, which then opened a new window of oppertunity for gamers as now they could socialise within games bringing a whole new aspect to gaming. Online gaming was a huge incentive for me when i swapped from console to PC gaming as i could regular play with friends and opponents that weren't stupid like making gameplay more challenging. Online gaming was also another method of meeting new people, for instance i now have friends in different parts of the world like Sweden and Germany!

Another reason as to why games are so successful to date is because the industry created games on various different platforms. Whereas in the past games were produced on computers, in the 80's and 90's games saw the transfer onto television sets via consoles and eventually onto handheld game consoles. This meant that gaming was now easily accessable as you could even take games with you where ever you travel, Which helps explain the reason for the decrease of arcades.

With these reasons in mind as well as the increase of graphics and realism in games shows just how gaming has expanded to this stage, as even though the principles may be similar in the past as it is now like for example achieving a goal. i think that gaming had evolved alot as gaming is now a more competitive and social interaction. Especially when considering co-op and online gaming.

Week 2 assignment

The birth of graphical gaming is a subject that I haven't truely thought about in the past, though i do remember when i was younger seeing the old atari 2600 consoles as I have an uncle that has one to this day. But because the visual graphics for console in comparison to the current consoles of that time could not compete i didn't appreciate the origin of games as I would do now.

what interests me about early computer games is how they were designed by people that possessed degrees or worked in laboratories and saw the potential of the gaming experience. As this form of entertainment interaction was a niche market, though there was plenty of other interactive entertainment like pinball, this sector of the market was unexplored. Also the designer of one of the first games A.S.Douglas acquired a degree in human computer interaction, which shows that the man had a great understanding of the experience that gamers should recieve from a game. I feel that without people like Douglas or Willy Higginbotham the gaming industry wouldn't have progressed as much as it has today, as they introduced the idea of games and worked hard to develop them, and ultimately i think that because they were passionate about their games they succeeded.

I remember being dedicated to games when i was very young, my first console was the sega mega drive and the first gamei played was Sonic the Hedgehog. I still love Sonic though they don't bring out games like they use to. The Mega Drive is my most memorable Console as there were plenty of classic games i use to play like streets of rage or Golden axe. There have been other consoles to though like the playstation and the N64, but i feel that i got more into gaming when i discovered PC gaming.

I remember one time arguing with a next door neighbour as i was defending consoles, whilst he was promoting pc games. however a few years later i encountered the game Counter strike which changed my gaming lifestyle, because not only could i play games now, but i could collaborate with friends online and kill the enemy (or just kill my friends). i think that it is online experience of gaming that has encouraged me to keep playing games, as i would participate in clans and matches for various different games, though i haven't been in clan of any game for a while now. im happy to add that my most recent game is portal, which is a very addictive but enjoyable game that i purchased which i shall play now i've finished this blog!

Week One Assignment

Blogging is not really a regular way of communicating with other people over the net for me. If I'm honest I'm use to Writing via Msn messenger with friends, as i've always liked how the program is an instant messaging service. there have been other programs used like Msn that I used alot like for instance ICQ, but in the end it was Messenger that till this present day is my constant connection to the web.( i use this program more than looking at E-mails.) So therefore Blogging is more of an objective rather than a personal thing as it's something I'm unfamiliar with. I would also say that I'm not much of a writer, meaning that i only write when i have to. Like i mentioned before i use instant messaging programs over E-mail, so the only times that i've done any writing recently is on essays for my previous course! This then means that i do find it a little strange starting a blog as this now means that anyone can read what i have written (though they might not necessarily be interested), however i do feel that blogging is alot easier than essays as they are a less formal way of writing. i would also like to add that at least with blogging you don't have to worry about printing on to paper and wasting ink, which will save the environment and the money in my pocket!