Assignment 1: Researching Games

BTEC Extended Diploma in Computer Games Design

Assignment 1: Researching Games

Genres in Computer Games(task 1)

A genre is a type or category of Computer game.

• RPG(Role Playing Game)

An RPG is a game in which the player will take the role of a character or party of characters all with unique abilities, leveling them up as you go to make them stronger and better prepared for higher level enemies.

Example: Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles follows a boy named Shulk as he sets out with his best friend Reyn to avenge the death of Fiora, Shulk's childhood friend, who was seemingly killed right in front of him by a Mechon, A species of living Machines who terrorize and kill Homs (Shulk's species). During Shulk's adventure aquires the Monado, a sword that can peirce Mechon armour and see visions of the future, usually warning him of a tragic event or death of a friend such as Fiora, he also meets many other people who have also had their lives changed by tragic events such as this who help him to get revenge on the Mechon usually after he saves their life due to the Monado's power.   

This RPG in particular is unique as it is a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) that uses a more western battle system that occurs in real time and has the player auto attacking when in range of an enemy and being able to use "arts" which are special moves that have unique traits such as dealing more damage from behind or inflicting status effects.

In Xenoblade Chronicles the story and characters are the best thing about the game, especially considering its enormous length which allows you to get to know the characters (who are all very likable) and their backstories. The unique battle system is also a lot more exiting as turn based combat as you have to create new strategies on the fly and react to visions so that you can avoid a devastating attack or at least make it hit another character to tank the damage for the weaker ones.

Example #2: Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Pokemon is an RPG that is easy to learn, difficult to master, These games remaster the original Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald versions, letting you relive a nostalgic adventure or if you're a younger player, experience the classic games in full 3D with many of the problems removed.

• Platformer

Platformers are simple games about getting from point A to point B whilst navigating around many different obstacles, these can be in 2D or 3D (or a mix of both) environments, there usually isn't much story or character development as it's generally all about the gameplay.

Example: Sonic 3 and Knuckles

The classic 2D Sonic games have almost no story other than the mad Scientist Dr Robotnik (Now more commonly referred to as Dr Eggman) trapping Sonic's animal friends in robots and trying to take over the world however this installment in the Sonic series has more of a story than most other Sonic games, the first part I just mentioned still applies to this game except now Dr Robotnik has built the "Death Egg"(Essentially the death Star but with eyes and a mustache) which is powered by Chaos Emeralds at the start of this game Sonic has all 7 emeralds but they are stolen by Knuckles who is the guardian of the Master Emerald and who had been tricked by Robotnik into thinking Sonic and his sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower (a pun on Miles Per Hour) are the bad guys and that they want to take over, Knuckles eventually gets betrayed and teams up with Sonic and Tails to stop Robotnik.

The gameplay is the best part of Sonic as a whole, in particular these classic games use momentum based platforming and a high emphasis on speed which is clearly shown by the abundance of slopes that you can use to build up a ridiculous amount of speed which is incredibly satisfying, there are branching pathways in this game but they all lead to the same goal, there are two "acts" to each level  each containing a boss fight against one of Robotniks robots or in the second act you fight Robotnik himself. As with all Sonic games the music is brilliant and fits the levels perfectly.

                                                             Example #2: Super Mario World
Super Mario World is a classic platformer that introduced Yoshi to the series who quickly became one of the most popular Mario characters to date along with full colour and a revamped physics engine.

• TPS (Third Person Shooter)

Third person shooters focus on using weapons to battle other players in multiplayer based games but it uses a third person camera angle instead of the more common First Person Shooters

Example: Splatoon

Splatoon doesn't have much of a story other than the Octolings( Humans that turn into Octopi) have stolen the Inkling's (Humans that turn into Squids) power source and so the Inklings go to get it back, however that's the single player when this game is all about the multiplayer. The multiplayer consists of a few ranked gamemodes and the most popular gamemode Turf wars, this is a 4v4 gamemode where the object is to cover as much of the map in your team's ink as possible. There is a high focus on teamwork in this game as kills(or splats as the game calls them) don't do anything for your team. When you cover areas in ink you can then turn into a squid to submerge in the ink and swim up walls covered in ink or use it to quickly escape a pursuing Inkling. In my opinion the mechanics make this game so unique from the usually quite stale and repetitive shooter genre.

                                                          Example #2: Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
This game is a complete change for the PvZ franchise as it is primarily a tower defense game however it has been brilliantly recreated in this team based, customization heavy shooter with 4 plants and 4 zombies to take control of and a great Co Op mode called Garden Ops where you defend a garden from zombies for 10 waves

• Fighting

Fighting games usually consist of a small amount of players battling in a 2D arena trying to lower each others HP to 0

Example: Super Smash Bros 4

Super smash bros is a very unique fighting game as it does away with HP and has damage add up as a percentage, the higher the percentage, the farther you fly when hit. The aim is to knock the other players off screen so that they lose lives, the most popular set of rules is to have 3 lives each, then you just fight. One of the best things about this game is the characters from Mario to Pikachu to Sonic to even Mega Man and as of the last DLC update you can now play as Ryu from street fighter!

                                               Example #2: Sonic the Fighters
Whilst this isn't the most popular fighting game, it is still an obscure game that you can enjoy today as it has seen an xbox 360 re release with online

Puzzle

Puzzle games consist of the player solving Puzzles (Obviously) to progress through the game

 Example: Portal 2

Portal 2 has the player solve puzzles in test chambers using a portal gun which lets you shoot a blue and an orange portal on white surfaces which then link together to let you solve puzzles, sometimes it's just get from point A to point B but sometimes you may have to transport something to the end. This game even has co op so you can have up to 4 portals to solve puzzles however your portals only link to your other portal so you have to think about the order of the portals too which makes it harder

                                                                   Example #2: Professor Layton
Professor Layton is a point and click Puzzle game which makes you solve puzzles to progress and unravel the story piece by piece

• Sandbox

Sandbox games let the player do what they want with an interactive world, there generally are no goals and even if they are they are usually optional

Example: Minecraft

Minecraft is a game about you building things and trying to survive in a blocky world where you can pick up any of the blocks to use as building or crafting materials. Or you can switch to creative mode which means you are invincible and have every block at your disposal which you can use to build things such as pixel art as the image above shows. This game started off small but now has a massive fan base and constant updates with no sign of slowing down, the company that made the game, Mojang was even bought by Microsoft.

                                                Example #2 Terraria
Terraria is a 2D Sandbox game that has a lot of depth to it and constant updates to increase your playtime, it has a heavier focus on the adventuring side as you explore new areas and beat bosses to unlock hardmode where you unlock even more content

Horror

Horror games are all about scaring the player through the use of sounds, vision (or lack of it in most cases) and Jumpscares

Example: Five Nights at Freddys

The FNAF series is a game about surviving from Midnight to 6AM in a pizza restaurant containing killer animatronic animals which act as the mascots, you will have to check cameras and close doors at the appropriate times due to a finite power supply otherwise you will be Jumpscared by an animatronic which sends you back to the title screen, this game seems to be mainly luck based resulting in some unfair deaths, the 3rd game in the series is the most skill based as it relies on you driving a single animatronic away from the office whilst strategically rebooting systems to avoid any further trouble.

                                                     Example #2: Until Dawn
 Until Dawn has you trying to survive until dawn whilst keeping as many of the characters alive as you can with every choice making an impact on the outcome of the game

Racing

Racing games are all about completing a course as fast as you can, trying to beat the other players

Example: Mario Kart 8

Mario kart is a racing game with loads of fun mechanics such as underwater racing, gliding, vehicle customization, the addition of bikes and of course, the items. People further behind get better items which means that the person in first is stuck with banana peels and shells to defend their place. No matter how far behind you are you can always make a comeback and it's incredibly satisfying 

                                                     Example #2: Forza
The forza series lets you have realistic races from the comfort of your own home

• Sports

Sports games are about replicating real life sports or creating a unique sport

Example FIFA 15

The FIFA games are all about replicating authentic football matches where you are the manager of the team and control the players actions during matches.

                                                 Example #2 : Rocket League
Rocket league is a football game but with rocket powered cars instead of footballers and an amazing physics engine

• Stealth

                                                     Example: Dishonoured

Dishonoured is a game all about completing set objectives stealthily whilst choosing to kill your target or get rid of them by any other means to get different endings

                                                 Example #2 : Metal Gear Solid

The point of MGS is to stop terrorists from blowing things up with a nuke by using stealth to your advantage.

Advantages of  Computer Games(task 2)

hand-eye coordination, brain training.

Certain games can have effects on skills such as our reflexes, games which require good reaction times such as First-Person Shooters can help to improve hand-eye coordination over long periods of time playing and “practicing”. Some games such as “Brain Training” are designed to help your brain develop and ultimately make you smarter, Military facilities use games to train potential soldiers in reaction times, strategic planning and weapon experience on the field.

Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/18125/20141019/study-finds-that-video-games-boost-eye-hand-coordination-skills.htm


Thinking and strategy skills

There is a whole genre of games dedicated to thinking and strategic planning, these games can help you to improve planning strategies or thinking of quick solutions to problems in real time. These games can even help older people to prevent the deterioration of their basic brain functions and other negative effects of aging on the brain such as memory.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/playing-video-games-boost-strategic-thinking-article-1.1433812

Future impact


Gaming is becoming more and more important in society as it helps us to socialise, learn new skills and become better people. Technology is affecting the world in very positive ways to help make our lives easier and as gaming starts becoming more popular technology is starting to also make our lives more enjoyable as well as easy

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/08/31/video-games-are-the-future-and-theres-no-way-to-avoid-them/

Impact on “mainstream” application development


As we gain access to better hardware we are starting to make better games with it and we are able to make them nicer to look at and easier to interact with as opposed to the text based games on early computers. This doesn’t just affect games, it affects all technology and how interacting with it can be easier


http://www.contentedwriter.com/impact-of-computer-games-on-society/

Bad aspects of gaming

Peer Pressure


When someone buys a game that they really love they will want to tell everyone about it, in some cases they will pressure their friends to spend money to get the game too so that they can play too however this can cause some people to stop being friends just because someone doesn't have that particular game or if they don't like it.

Separation from reality


When a player gets too addicted to games they start to lose sight of reality and only care about the virtual realities of the games they play, being isolated will also mean that their communication skills will suffer to the point of not being able to communicate with other human beings, some people even have to resort to programs such as “OLGA”(On-Line Gamers Anonymous) to recover from their addictions to games and bring them back to reality.


http://www.olganon.org/home


Cost

Lots of gamers probably won’t worry about having to pay bills yet but once they get to that stage in life they will realise how costly games can be, the consoles and games alone are very expensive (A console and 10 games can cost you upwards of £500), but then you will have to start paying for subscriptions to play online such as Xbox live and later you will have to worry about paying for electricity and internet along with their normal bills. Games aren’t just financially expensive but they also cost you time which is very valuable to us all, the time you spend playing games instead of spending time with family or socializing with friends you will never get back

Social Isolation

Playing games for too much will mean that you spend less time socialising with others, this can lead to some people completely isolating themselves from other people which can stop them from developing as a person due to the time wasted by their gaming addiction. People can play games and still be very social but it can in extreme cases completely isolate the player from reality.


Designing a Game (Task 3) &(Task 4)

I decided on a platform game with momentum based physics which would play a key part in the game

The page above shows the elements of the game such as collectibles, the user interface, the objectives and the protagonist. I would want the game to be in a 16-bit pixel art style to recreate the feel of an old school platformer such as Sonic The Hedgehog (which was my main inspiration to begin with). I also chose this as it is easier to make since I personally cannot draw very well and making pixel art in gamemaker is very easy due to the user friendly interface

The next page is a simple design for the first level which would be forest themed as the platforms would be parts of trees and the only obstacles in this level are the falling acorns and bottomless pit since it would take place at the top of the tree, The graphics would be simple due to the small amount of pixels and the levels would go from a peaceful forest which would be easier then leading up to a mechanical themed area near the end of the game as shown in the final level page below.

 
The character I have created (which can be seen in the bottom right corner of the first design page) is a Bird (more based on a chicken in his design), I couldn't decide on an official name so I decided to refer to him as Oddball as a work in progress name however that name could potentially be the final name. Oddball wears half of his eggshell on his head as a helmet which would protect him from minor damage in the game and allow him to bash enemies to stun them. There would be upgrades that could allow him to dispatch enemies by bashing them but it wouldn't be an essential upgrade as the only enemies you are required to beat are the bosses which would be attacked in more creative ways if you didn't have the upgrade at that point, the goal of the game is to guide Oddball to the nest at the end of each stage as he makes his journey through the forest which is being turned mechanical by a group of animals that have been turned into machines because of the Mech-Ant(the final boss). Oddball's goal is to stop the Mech-Ant and return his homeland to its former glory. The levels and obstacles would go from natural hazards to dangerous machines as you progress through the game. The main mechanic of the game would be gliding which uses momentum to activate, while gliding you can charge through enemies, get through some obstacles or try to find shortcuts. I wanted to make the gameplay as smooth as possible to make it possible to speedrun the game to add more replayability.