Elements of Gameplay part 4

Level design in games is all about the balance, the balance between the visual world and its believability and its accessibility in terms of the gameplay.  Developers want make a world where you believe you are there and you engage with your surrounds on a deeper level. But Amongst this world there needs to be a destination, a goal, an invisible arrow pointing you in the right direction. So developers will tend provide subtle guides within the game to assist the player into making progress through the game. It can be through creating narrow pathways that make it obvious to the player where to go next, or perhaps a incident in the game that leads on to another part of the game, or even just providing a map in the bottom right corner of the screen. The role of the environment in the game is to create the setting, embody the character and them of the game itself and portray that through its surroundings, the environment’s job is to make everything and everyone in the game to feel relevant to itself, that way whatever the content of the game, it can be made believable through the surroundings. I think that the balance of realism and stylisation is important, games that go overboard on the surrounding area end up alienating the player with a messy and cluttered surrounding. However I also think that games shouldn’t rely too much on realism, other the environment can feel uninspired and just dull at times, so I would say that stylisation is important, but try and maintain an element of realism to create a more believable environment. An environment in a game I thoroughly enjoyed the environment I the game mirrors edge. The environment was a cityscape that consisted only of clean white buildings, it felt like a big contrast to the games released at the time that were mainly set in dirty grey warzones. It was a breath fresh air to play a game that was bright colourful and very stylish. According to the story the city was supposed to be in total control of the government, meaning that every dirty old building was knocked down in place of the tall perfect white buildings, along with many security cameras and patrol helicopters flying around. Instead of providing a map the way you navigated around the rooftops was you would follow the objects that would glow red when approached them, making it simple and fun to run through the level without losing your way, a very clever way of guiding the player to the destination whilst speeding the gameplay at the same time. i get the feeling this game was inspired not only by the whole big brother scenario, but also the iPod/apple mac culture we live in today, where everything has to be white and pristine, a possible hint at the idea of individualism being lost in our world today, with everyone ignorantly buying the same products. Well that’s my opinion anyway ,we all have our theories.     

Elements of Gameplay part 3

Throughout films and TV there have been a variety of colourful and inspiring characters, but why is it we are drawn to these characters? Film is a great medium for establishing characters and making people respond to them. Great scriptwriting can make a character so much more vibrant, but perhaps more important than the scriptwriting is the way he delivers his/her words, whether it’s with anger, pain or lust, we can’t help but be fascinated with them. Sometimes what makes us connect with characters is when we see a part of ourselves in them, that may mean we feel sympathetic for them or it could mean we could imagine ourselves being that character.  One way we remember a character is though visual means. Sometimes the distinct look of a character can draw our interest and imprint iconic images in our memories. In my opinion fighting games have some of the most visually interesting characters in the gaming industry, if you’ve ever played street fighter you would instantly recognise the character from looking at a single image. The distinct clothing, plus vivid colours and shapes of the characters have managed to creep in to our heads and stay there; such is the power of strong imagery. Of course the other way a character is remembered through their personality. The characters that are created on film and indeed in games are always created with an over exaggerated persona, that way people are drawn to them, because we are inspired by their confidence, and it makes us want to be these characters. What’s brilliant about games is we can partly be these characters, we can control them; make them do what we want. Games are very good at making people feel like they are the hero, the strong charismatic knight who takes on whatever the game throws at them. The kind of characters that always stick in my mind in films/TV is the confident yet easy going kind of characters that seem to get away with everything, because that makes me want to be able to get away with everything.  Ferris Bueller s day is a great film in that respect because it makes you want to take the day off like Bueller and skive off on some fun filled trip with your mates, he brings the sense of freedom and enjoyment through his confident witty character and that’s what makes it a good story, your living a day in the life of this person with this carefree lifestyle. The type of characters I like in the video gaming world is usually the one I can create myself. With games bringing in character customisation the persona is now u to the player to decide, it gives people the freedom to create their dream character, take control of them and essentially be them  in the game, and I think that adds something extra special to a game when you put your own input and personality into your own creation.  

Elements of Gameplay part 1/2

When people talk of gameplay, it doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with computer games. Gameplay is term that can refer to playing any form of game, such as board games, sports. It’s the part of us that takes on a challenge, the competitive nature that wants to feel the sense of accomplishment through games in all their forms. Computer games just happen to be the industry that nurtures this innate desire for competition, if not with someone else then with ourselves.  The goal for leading game designers is to add to the gameplay with their artwork, think how it suits the gameplay and how it’s going to come across to the player. It’s through the artwork that a story can be told, creating a certain mood or theme that takes a player beyond the gameplay. By simply adding a mountain in the distance in a game will inspire the player to travel to that mountain and to climb it. Presenting goals and trophies that nourish the feeling of accomplishment that people look for in games.

The role of deciding the mood/theme of a game is that of the creative director. Their job is to oversee the development of the design of the game and to instruct people what they want the game to feel like. The position of creative director initially evolved from the producer of games who general job it is to actually creating the game on time and in the budget. But the creative director’s job is to control not just the art in the game, but the gameplay, the style, the music, the sound, everything that the player will experience in the game will have been orchestrated by the creative director. They are usually helped by a small team of game developers, who discuss the problems they may face and how to overcome that problem, then the director will work closely with everyone in the development team, the programmers etc. So even though a lot of people may work on the development of the game, it is generally led by the vision and ideas of one person. The art director for a game would definitely differ from an art director for a film because the art director for a game not only has to think of the look/feel like the film art director would, but they would also have to take in consideration the how the art would affect the gameplay and whether it would hinder the gameplay in anyway. So the game director has to think of the balance between looks and playability, whereas the film director is concentrating solely on the looks.  What I look for in a game when I play them is usually something that feels effortlessly made. Something that connects the instant you play it, whether it’s through the accessible gameplay or just the brilliantly designed world it transports you in. the reason I play games is for the experience, so I would prefer something that creates an exciting experience for the player, then for something that tries too hard, and just insists on throwing explosions and gun noises in your face to catch your attention, when in fact it does the opposite.

Personal game review: fallout 3

What do you get if you throw a traveller in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in the future that seems to be set in the fifties, the answer is fallout 3. Set in Washington DC, you start off as a character with a name and look of your choosing, who lives in vault 101, an underground refuge where a small band of humans live to escape the horrors of the outside world. In the first ten minutes of this game you’re already introduced to so much of the games plot which helps you to become more immersed in the game at the get go, plus with the added player customisation, you feel as if you are in control of your characters life. The plot of the story eventually leads to you escaping the vault to the wasteland of Washington DC. The gameplay can be first or third person, although there is much point going third person when you try to shoot someone as it makes your accuracy terrible, but it’s a nice touch if you want to look at your character. As well as the real time shooting gameplay the game also provide an extra form of gameplay. The VATS system allows the player to stop time and to choose where to shoot the enemy, then time starts back up again showing you character shooting where you’ve chosen in various cinematic cut scenes. This was a good idea to incorporate into the game because it adds a new level of interest to the shoot em up gameplay that you wouldn’t find in a call of duty game

 The map of this wasteland is a very reasonable size for people who like to explore in games, it means that the main plot of the game is just a part of what this game has to offer. The player is actually permitted to ignore the main quest, and to find his own way around the spanning landscape of burned houses, dead trees and raider’s campouts. Giving the player this freedom to do what they want in the game adds to the experience tenfold, as you feel you are the decision maker and what you do alters the course of the game itself. E.g. you come across a town called megaton which surrounds a mini unexploded nuclear bomb. If the player so desires he/she can rig that bomb to explode destroy everything and everyone in that town.

With such a grey vast depressing world with hours of content, you would think it get tiresome after a while. But fallout 3 definitely wins you with its charm, with robots who wander round asking to be your friend, or pip-boy the cartoon mascot for your pip-boy device, keeping track of your good/bad karma level (depending on how well behaved you’ve been). The on-going theme of ‘fifties vision of the future’, brings a delightful twist to this seemingly depressing game.  Turn on the radio and you will hear billy holiday, look around the wasteland you will see buildings that have an art deco style.

In conclusion I highly rate this game for its charm, its open approach to storytelling and its interesting gameplay.

   

My personal gaming history

Well the first time I was introduced to video games when I was given an old super Nintendo for my 8^th birthday. The first games I had for that was all the old Mario games from one to 3, which looking back is a good place to start in terms of games. After I got bored of those games I then got the absolute CLASSIC that was street fighter 2. I remember thoroughly enjoying this game, especially when there were two of us playing; it was this game that got me really into fighting games. A few years later when I upgraded to the Playstation I bought Tekken 3, which is in my opinion one of the best fighting games/franchises ever made and definitely my favourite Playstation 1 game. I used to try drawing my own fighter after playing this game and copy designs from the in game characters.

I also played the crash bandicoot games which were always entertaining and just downright good fun to play, I kind of miss when games were made with a sense of humour and without the need for heavy violence, theres still a few around today but not as much as there were to my knowledge. When I upgraded to the playstation 2 I was still played the latest tekken instalments, I also got into the SSX snowboarding games. SSX was a good looking game with a good gameplay system and a great soundtrack, I liked it because it didn’t try to be a snowboard simulator game, but instead had stupid yet spectacular snowboard tricks that defied what was considered possible in real life, who’d want to play a game that imitates real life anyway, it would be crap (*cough Sims *cough). Anyway a game that WASN’T crap and was my first proper experience with the first person shooter was timesplitters: future perfect. Again, the perfect ingredients to a game, hardcore action shooter with double the portion of ridiculousness, sort of  like call of duty but with that needed essence of comic relief. My friends and I would just crack up while playing this game, me as a dinosaur with a shotgun trying to hold off the onslaught of my friend playing as a bear wearing a fez whilst wielding a baseball bat; it just can’t get any better than that quite frankly. Moving onto the ps3, I bought one of the launch title games which was ‘resistance fall of man’, which was a good start for the console, interesting storyline, a sort of WWII meets aliens. I thought the aliens were well designed for that game, although it being set in England meant that you were fighting aliens in mundane English towns like Grimsby and Northampton, which felt kind of ridiculous if I’m honest. Other games I played on the ps3 were Assassin’s creed, Call of duty, Warhawks, Turok, portal, Fifa Street and many others. A game which I admired simply for the artwork was mirrors edge. Even though the gameplay is a bit faulty, the artwork is superb. The elder scrolls oblivion was a game I enjoyed simply for its scale and content, I’m currently playing the latest instalment skyrim (as is everyone else I presume), which is a game that should be applauded for its attention to detail in every aspect.

Hopefully games for the future would be games that go back to that sense of humour, whilst maintaining that core gameplay element. I personally think games are becoming too serious these days, don’t get me wrong they’re good games. But with games like battlefield and uncharted imitating blockbuster movies almost, the sense of playing a game is getting lost as the games get more realistic, I say we should re-embrace the silly outlandish games that are just fun to play (but not in the “cutsie” family Wii game sort of way). I say bring back the timesplitters, the SSX’s, the crash bandicoots, bring back the fun.

the 2000's

The 2000s

The 2000’s was a decade where games managed to creep into different technologies that were starting to emerge, e.g. games were now available on the mobile phone, and the internet. This decade saw the focusing of producing various genres for many different people other than the usual player, whether it was young, old, girl, boy, groups of players or solo players; there was a game for someone. Straight from 1999 the Playstation 2 was a hit, however a new rival was about to be unleashed by none other than Microsoft. Microsoft’s decision to join the ‘console war’ was a risky one; with production starting before the ps2’s release it seemed that there was  big pressure  to compete with such a popular console company. Even so in 2001 the ‘x box’ was released. Too many people’s surprise the x box managed to hold its own with its impressive technology and built in network for online play. One of the consoles first released games was the FPS halo. At this point in time there were not as many first person shooters on the market as we see today; people would’ve probably been only familiar with Golden eye 007 on the N64. A few FPS were around at that time including medal of honour and perfect dark, but it was Halo that outshone from this genre and contributed greatly to the x box’s sales (due to it being x box exclusive). Although the x box made an impact, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the success of the Playstation 2, which managed to obtain 1 million sales. It was so popular that there was a stock shortage, and even people who had pre ordered weren’t able to receive their consoles.

as the decade went on the x box and the GameCube (Nintendo’s 6th gen contender, used disks for the first time, essentially making cartridges extinct in the gaming world) never managed to beat the ps2’s number in terms of sales. The ps2 outlived its competition by managing to sustain sales during the overtaking of the market from the 7^th generation consoles, unlike the GameCube and x box, where their production was discontinued. During the period of 6^th generation consoles, the game company Rockstar released its 3^rd instalment of the grand theft auto series GTA III. The game itself is considered a milestone in the gaming world, due to its open world gameplay and non linear storyline and gained a lot of success commercially.

The 2000’s saw the rise of online gaming, and one the most successful online games that continues to the present day is world of warcraft. Gamers could now interact and play a game simultaneously with people the other side of the globe. This new way of playing games was popular amongst PC players, and were gaining popularity in the consoles with the x box live, and the ps2 releasing the network adaptor. But the online capabilities became more crucial in terms of sales for the next generation of console. The ps3, the x box 360 now had to expand on the online aspects of their  consoles, so they created online stores so that games could be purchased and downloaded within the console itself, they made it so you could connect to facebook and the internet in general, they also incorporated online TV like bbc iplayer and 4od. It was the 7^th generation console that companies started to look at expanding from the video games and looking into other features that they could provide, essentially creating not a console, but more a media centre, a machine that could play blue-rays, access television, play music, go on the internet as well as play games. They also explored new ways of playing games, rather then pressing buttons, you could use your movements to control a game. The Nintendo wii innovated this trend with its wii controller, which encouraged the player to move the controller in order to fulfil the objective. This technology crept into the x box and ps3 systems with x box kinect, a way of playing games using just your body, and ps3 move, with controllers similar to the wii. The games industry unfortunately is taking a turn for the worst, with recent sales dropping significantly.  This will probably cause employment for people who want to work in games to be even more restricting than it is now, making it very competitive between possible employees. However the future may bring some fortune, as of yet it may be clear as you what that would be. But with an ever changing industry with ever improving technology, the gloomy looking future may take a turn for the better.