Week 10

Game Design

I’ve chosen to design level 1 of my team’s game. The game’s arena is a library, and a lot of the game’s mechanics are centred on navigation of the environment and manipulation of the objects within. To get a good basis going, we’ve decided to use the floors of the JCU library to map out game board.

As no online maps existed for the ground floor of the library, it was my task to sketch map it using pencil, to be digitally traced and transformed into a proper game level at a later stage. Naturally, the game will flow from 1 level to another, and having 5 team members means 5 levels. Unfortunately, only 3 levels have had draft maps completed, as the JCU library only has 3 floors. Imagination is the limit for levels 4 and 5...

Week 6

Game Design

Mise-en-scene

Below is a typical fantasy scene (magic and mythical creatures etc.), illustrated using Photoshop layers. I had to draw it because I had no access to magazines, sorry.

Week 5

Game Review(s)

-          Pocket Tanks

Pocket Tanks is a turn-based strategy war game with a maximum of 2 players. But what makes it special are the ever-expanding packs of weapons that do weird and wonderful things. Ever blown up half the map with a single shot? Ever made water spout from the ground in a fountain-like fashion? Have you EVER shot through a mountain to hit your opponent? If you answered no to any of those questions, then Pocket Tanks is the game for you!

The game is controlled via the mouse, for navigating menus, buying weapons, and controlling your tank as you battle against the computer opponent. Controls include move, weapon selection, changing the power of your shot, changing the angle of your barrel, and fire. All these controls are characteristic to most 2d side-to-side shooters (for lack of a better genre description).

The theme is war, one tank versus the other, in a desperate struggle to gain the most points through expert marksmanship, while simultaneously preventing their respective opponents from gaining points. This battle takes place in a limited space that can either be flat, a mountain, a plateau, or a valley, all of which is entirely destructible. Hitting your opponent with weapons will gain you points, and hitting yourself will you lose you points, and believe me, it’s easier to hit oneself with a weapon than one might think. The player with the most points at the end of the game after exhausting all of their weapons is declared the winner, and the player is prompted to play again, or quit the game.

Alongside the fun and challenging gameplay, the arena is bathed in a beautifully relaxing, but at the same time tense soundtrack, and a true testament to a complete gaming experience.

-           Total Annihilation

Now THIS is a game

Total Annihilation was the ultimate RTS (real time strategy) game of its time, and is an extremely enjoyable experience still to this day. Control vast armies of tactical bots and vehicles, lighting fast aircraft, punch-packing artillery, fleets of ships and submarines, and the all powerful Commander.

This is, undoubtedly, one of my favourite games of all time, and the best RTS I’ve ever played. Controlled via both the mouse and keyboard, the game mechanics involve examination of the environment, creation and movement of units, and the construction of structures for various purposes. It also sports some of the greatest soundtracks of any RTS (in fact, any) game on the market, courtesy of the extremely talented composer, Jeremy Soule.

Total annihilation’s theme is that of a futuristic conquest real time strategy game, where the Arm battle against the Core armies for complete dominance. The game play is similar to the popular Age of Empires games of the same genre, with both storyline and death match play modes. There is a multitude of maps to play the game on, maps that are themed according to the different planets that the armies battle on, ranging from lush, green, and Earth-like, to dry and desolate wasteland planets, to planets made entirely of metal!

The game offers an engaging bird’s-eye-view of the battlefield, with the option to toggle limited sight for increased mystery in gameplay (also like Age of Empires), and the point of gameplay varies depending on which mode you play in. Death matches are simple, destroy the enemy’s Commander, or LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE, the latter usually being the more fun of the two. Story mode is a bit more challenging, as both you and your enemy will begin with units already out, the enemy, usually having the upper hand. The player eventually progresses to the enemy’s home world for one final battle for universal dominance. But in either mode, there are various degrees of unpredictability. No two games are ever the same, even on the same map. Not being able to see your opponents out of range of sight makes it even more difficult.

Narrative of Total Annihilation, and I quote:

“What began as a conflict over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machines, escalated into a war that a decimated a million worlds. The Core and the Arm have all but exhausted the recourses of a galaxy in their struggle for domination. Both sides, now crippled beyond repair, the remanents of their armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fuelled by over four thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death, for each side, the only acceptable outcome... is the complete elimination of the other.”  

Game Design

This instalment of the journal is a follow up from Week 4, anything listed here is subject to massive change. It will also most likely replace and/or merge with our existing territorial acquisition game.

After adding the chance card locations and playtesting the game, we have found it to play out successfully, with a winner being declared every time. We also made the following changes:

-          ID card only needed to finish the game, not location access

-          Turned all possible positive/negative chance spaces into chance cards in a deck

o   When a player lands on a chance space (constant location on the game board) they draw a card from the deck and its effect comes into play

-          Players must roll a 1, 3 or 6 on the die to find their ID card when on a university location

-          Players cannot backtrack on the same route

o   But, you can when leaving a university location

Week 4

Game Review(s)

-          Adventure

Am I the only one who had trouble even playing this game? Either it didn’t start, or there really was nothing more to the core mechanic than pulling the levers to change what appeared on the screen. I couldn’t deduce a noticeable theme, and by extension, a noticeable goal either. There appears to be no challenge, no story. The only credit I can give this game is its barely acceptable interface design, simple, but still confusing. Even text based games do a better job.

Again, like the Zelda game from last week, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume there were glitches involved.

-          The Lion King

...

Yes, it’s a real dos game, look it up. Made in 1994 by Interactive Entertainment in cooperation with Disney, The Lion King video game ads an interactive element to a slightly edited storyline from the original movie. The game is controlled entirely via the keyboard, no mouse inputs whatsoever. The player uses the arrow keys to move and the spacebar to jump.

If you’ve seen the original movie (you’re awesome) you’ll be familiar with the narrative of this game. The player plays as Simba, and progressed through the game in levels as he matures throughout the storyline. The game is a 2D platformer where the player can choose to rush through the levels, or backtrack and traverse the entire stage, collecting extra lives and the like, although some stages are strictly forward moving and extremely fast paced.

The goal of the game is to complete all the levels and their bosses, killing smaller enemies along the way. The killing mechanic of jumping on enemies’ heads is effectively adapted from the Mario Brothers and similar platformer game. Although, if the player fails to land the jump correctly, the enemy will damage them. Lose all your health, and Simba will faint, causing you to return to the last checkpoint. Like in the Mario Brothers, the player has a set number of lives too, lose all of those, and you must restart the game entirely.

This game was particularly fun to play with the variety of different progression modes, from free form, to constant movement that requires expert timing.

Game Design

Please note, this game is in development, anything listed here is subject to massive change. It will also most likely replace and/or merge with our existing territorial acquisition game.

Escape the Uni is a greatly exaggerated escape game parody of the average day of a student here at JCU. The player begins at the start point and the objective is to make it back to their dormitory room for a well deserved rest after a hard day’s share of classes. They must find their lost student ID card in order to make it into other campus buildings to collect items that will help them get home, facing chances and adversities along the way.

Like our previous games, a dice roll is used to move, and chance cards are randomly placed around the field for player to either take advantage of, or fall victim to. The student ID is in an unknown location, and must be found with a high enough dice roll in order to progress. If the ID card is not found in one building (i.e. the library) then the player MUST move on and search another building (i.e. the computer labs).

-          Security guards

o   Various weapons

-          Professors

o   Negative effects

§  i.e. Miss a turn

-          Snakes

o   Avoid

-          Items -> unlock exits

o   Student ID card

o   Food

-          Places

o   Colleges

o   Classrooms

o   Other buildings

o   Bus stops

-          Blockades

o   Roadworks

o   Police

Other rules:

-          You can find the ID in a place where you previously failed to find it, but only after failing to find it in another location

-          Players can find items in any order to progress to the end

o   Cans of red bull for energy

o   ID card for building access

-          Chance cards

o   Effects

o   The possibilities are endless

§  “No parking space, miss a turn.”

§  “You stub your toe, miss a turn.”

§  “You’ve been attacked by scrub turkeys, and lose your ID card in the process.”

The map of the game board can (but not necessarily will) mimic the exact layout of JCU for maximum aesthetic appeal and relation to the target audience of JCU students. The comedic aura of the game is something that players can relate to, because it is so plausible and something like this has happened to so many of them personally. That is why the game can be such a success.

Week 3

Game Design

Please note, this game is in development, anything listed here is subject to massive change. It will also most likely replace and/or merge with our existing race-to-the-end game.

Our territorial acquisition game teeters on the edge of plagiarism, because it’s virtually impossible to base such a game on a concept or narrative that hasn’t been exploited before. Nevertheless, we went ahead and built a working board game with a medieval style conquest theme. Players fight on randomly generated points (this game is better suited to a computer GUI format) on the board for control of recourse points. The player controlling all points at the end of the game is declared the winner.

The rules are quite simple, yet make for interesting gameplay:

-          Players roll a die to move, and can move up or down the board.

o   Cannot backtrack (move over spaces you have already in this turn)

o   Cannot move diagonally

o   Players need to roll exact numbers to land on recourse control points

-          If a player lands on a recourse control point, they place one of their tokens on it. It is now theirs

-          If a player lands on another player’s claimed control point, both players roll a die

o   Highest role wins over the control point

o   Equal scores results in a re-throw

-          Opposing players can recontest control of the point for a maximum of 1 turn after being initially defeated

o   If victorious, the control of the point shifts to the opposing player

o   If defeated again, their next turn must be a move, and not a recontest

-          Players cannot move over their territories as part of their move

-          The player to first control all of the recourse points is declared the winner

Simple, but a frustratingly fun game. This subtle frustration is part of the conflict between players as they fight for victory. It forces them to think strategically about which points they aim to claim first. This game is designed to randomly (within reason) generate recourse points all over the map, so no two games should ever be identical.

We also discussed the possibility of effects in the form of chance cards/zones, randomly generated just like the recourse points:

-          Players need to roll exact numbers to land on chance zones (just like recourse control points)

-          The effect on the zone cannot be saved for later use, it must take effect immediately

The games interface might include a distinct grid over a map of the playing field so as to easier distinguish control points from regular ground. For example, the mine could be out in the open, but the wood recourse could look like a forest, and the water recourse could look like a stream/well/pond.

This will add a bit more realism and aesthetic appeal to potential players, who we expect will be somewhere within our age range, young adults. A game of this nature requires a certain level of maturity to appreciate and accept as a challenge. 

-      Battlezone

Much more fun than the Legend of Zelda game, that much will always be certain. Battlezone is a first-person shooter game where the player battles other tanks, whilst trying to stay alive in the process. Like the Legend of Zelda, Battlezone’s core mechanics are centred on keyboard interactions, but with zero mouse input. Arrow keys turn the screen from side to side, and spacebar fires your weapon. Crosshairs in the middle of the screen assist you with accurately destroying your targets.

Battlezone’s theme is war, futuristic war as seen in Activision’s adaptation of the game in 1998. It’s hard to tell what the setting of the original Battlezone is, because the entire game is made of vectorised line meshes in a single green colour, similar to what you might see on a submarine’s sonar. Both also share very different goals, the former simply killing all enemies before being killed, and the latter involving domination of recourse points as an added conflict on top.

I much preferred the 1998 readaptation because of the increased modes of battle and number of factors determining victory. But to be blunt, it was simply more fun. I don’t think I’ll ever feel gratification quite like shooting a tank pilot as he descends in his parachute after having his tank destroyed.

-       Zelda

I don’t even know where to start with this one. This is a classic example of a broken game. Right from the start I was experiencing technical glitches, such as no response from the start game button, random invincible enemies, paths that don’t lead anywhere (they just reload the current part of the stage), and the lack of any noticeable try again button. The roots of the ever-popular Legend of Zelda franchise were withered indeed. I could be unfortunate enough to be playing a dud version of the game, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

The core mechanics of the game are centred on keyboard interactions, with very little input from the mouse, save a few interfaces. Arrows keys move, spacebar swings the sword, ctrl plants bombs etc. These controls are commonplace for old scrolling rpg games such as this, rpg(role playing game) being the genre best fitting the description of the game, since you assume control of another character other than yourself in an adventuring narrative.

The theme is somewhat more medieval than other Legend of Zelda games that span multiple consoles, but pretty much stays true to the story/narrative of a hero trying to rescue a princess and save a kingdom. It incorporates all the same basic elements and challenges, such as killing enemies, finding items, and solving puzzles. But unlike the other Legend of Zelda games, this version is a scrolling game, a 2D environment coloured to appear 3D, but really has no 3dimentionality. As a result, the space and scenery is split up into separate stages that aren’t affected by other stages, and the player can focus on the task at hand. 

Weeks 1 & 2

Game Design

Please note, this game is in development, anything listed here is subject to massive change.

                The basic race-to-the-end game is generally not fun or engaging enough for a general audience... under 80 years old. So our job was to add a few, if not many more factors determining loss or victory in our game.

-          My ideas

o   White dice

§  Determine the amount of spaces the player moves

o   Blue dice

§  Positive effects on you

·         More moves

·         More lives etc.

§  Combinations effects with red dice

o   Red dice

§  Negative effects on other players

·         Slow them down

·         Less lives etc.

§  Combination effects with blue dice

                The team has thus far agreed on an end of the world theme for our game, where players race to the end to be named ‘survivors’. We call this game 2012, appropriate for current events, and an easily recognisable conceptual method behind the game. Currently, the players race:

-          To the top of the mountain

-          From the rising water

Having a successful theme diverts attention away from the mundane simplicity of a dice game, and adds to the overall experience.

                Basically, to make it to the end and be declared the winner, players roll a die/dice to advance the corresponding number of spaces, the same mechanics as almost all race-to-the-end games. Not necessarily a bad thing, as rolling dice is a familiar part of board game culture, and although players like a bit of new content every now and then, they also like a bit of nostalgia, and to know what it is they’re doing.

-          2 or more players

-          Positive/negative/neutral spaces to land on

                As mentioned above, the narrative of the game involves rising water that constantly chases all of the players on their ascent. The water is also controlled by a dice throw. This is one of the CONFLICT factors of 2012, and is also a factor in deciding a winner. If a player is under water for long enough, they will lose all of their lives, and be knocked out of the race for survival.

-          Chance cards/Chance rolls

o   Positive or negative effects

-          Tokens

o   Lives

§  If the water rises to meet your position, you lose a life

§  For every turn spent under water (failing to advance through rolling the dice) you lose a life

§  Lose all your lives, be knocked out

o   Currency?

o   Sacrificing tokens

o   RISK!

-          Conflict

o   Obstacles

o   Lifepoints

o   Other players

o   Rising water (end game)

§  Represented by a dice role

§  Rate inconsistent and unpredictable  

·         Engaging

                The game has been designed to pit the players against each other (still in development) more than the conventional race-to-the-end game, the players need to strategise to their advantage. The rising water affects all players, and is partially unpredictable, sometimes impossible to outrun, but this is rare. This way the game isn’t too hard, or too easy, it lies on the medium between boredom and anxiety.

-          Obstacles

-          Alternative paths

o   Quick

o   Risks

§  Benefits

·         Boosts etc

§  Disadvantages

·         Traps etc

·         Spaces that affect your next role

·         Aoe (area of effect) conditions

-          Normal routes

o   Medium length

o   No benefits or disadvantages  

                Digital versions of this game might include avatars, 3D environments, cutscenes, and voiceovers to name a few. 

-         Overkill

Overkill the video game was created by Tech-Noir Productions and published by Epic Games and Precision Software Publishing in 1992, and is a classic example of a good scrolling shooter game. The player navigates at a constant pace through a starfield of nearly unpredictable enemies and structures, defeating opponents, and collecting powerups.

The theme is space, which was all the rage back in the day, even I can admit to being a bit of a space nut at that age. And that’s what drew me to playing Overkill, it was engaging, dynamic, enjoyable, and always kept me on the edge of my seat. The experience was an ever-advancing challenge of enemies and obstacles, gradually getting harder as the game progressed. And with this progress, came constant change in scenery to instil the sense of narrative in the game.

It was always exciting, always fun, I loved this game.

And I hope my classmates might enjoy it too.

-     Pong

The core game mechanic of Pong is the movement of one of the two 'bats' or 'rackets' on either side of the screen to volley the 'ball' back and forth.

Other games which utilise the base mechanics of Pong may involve some narrative, but the original Pong game mimics a game of tennis in almost every aspect, the players both try to score against each other by getting the ball past their opponent's bat. But instead of a tennis court, you have a black screen. The player with the highest core at the end of the game is the winner, although the length of the original Pong games was indefinite. 

The game can be easy or difficult depending on the players' understanding of fundamental physics, which dictates the angle of reflection depending on the angle of reception. If players can use this knowledge to their advantage, they will have the edge in gameplay.

Having played other versions of Pong such as Taito’s Arkanoid (1986) and Reflexive Entertainment’s Ricochet (dates unknown), the experience was enhanced greatly with the addition of levels, weapons, lives, and even bosses. These games both only had one player, whose task was to clear the level of all the floating blocks, some spawning the aforementioned weapons. This step up in engagement and goal setting made the experience a whole lot more fun than the original Pong, and I would gladly play them again and again.

testing new post

Testing