Dekonstruer 3 - The Game of Life

What's Life?

The game of life is one of my favourite board games that simulates the events that occur in real life. It was made in 1860 by Milton Bradley who initially had it named 'The Checkered Game of Life'. Yea, I'm glad they changed it to make it more simpler. However, most people just call it Life in general. For this game, there are various kinds of game atoms that I will be discussing in this blog. So let's started shall we.

Gameplay/Rules

The game of Life allows 2 to 6 players but in other versions it can have up to 10 players. This game starts where the players choose a player object which is a little car. Players can choose if they want a blue car or a pink car.You place your player object in the car and place it at the beginning of the board. You then have to choose whether you want to go to college or straight to a job. If you choose college, you have to choose what type of study you want based on the choices available from the cards. If you choose career, you can choose different careers from a list of cards available in the game. At the start, each player will spin the wheel on the board to see who goes first. Afterwards, players will continue to spin the wheel before each play to see how much spaces to move.

Each player will also receive $10,000 from the bank. Players will be using this amount of money to pay off any necessary things instructed by the space they landed on. Every space will have an instruction of what to do for the turn.

Objectives

The main objective of this game is to collect the most Life tiles and have the most amount of money by the time you reach retirement. By accomplishing this you want to try to land on the spaces where you can get the Life tiles. The more of those you collect throughout the game the more of a chance you can get in winning. Sometimes a player may seem to have the most amount of money but in the end it is all up to those Life tiles. Life tiles are small cards that players receive throughout the game. Players are supposed to keep them face down until the end of the game.

Objects/Properties

Game pieces include the cars for the players, the player numbs, Life tiles, money, career cards, Insurance sheets and property cards. Each of these represent a different behaviour. These game objects are like a simulation of what a person receives in real life. For example, if a player where to purchase a house, they would receive a House Deed along with Insurance. From these players will be required to pay the amount listed on the cards. If the player cannot afford they can ask for a loan from the bank and so forth. 

Conflict

One of the biggest conflicts in this game is when you randomly pick a career that has the lowest income. When this happens it puts you in a disadvantage compared to the other players. Unless you get lucky by landing on the space where you can switch your career, you have to play the rest of the game with the least amount of income. It always happens to me. It sucks but this is a conflict that can prevent a player to achieve the goal of getting the highest amount of money by the end of the game.

Conclusion

I really enjoy playing this game with friends and family. It is a lot of fun. I really enjoy how it simulates real-life events that people will experience some way or another. If you haven't played this game before, PLAY IT.

Dekonstruer 2 - Kingdom Hearts 2

In this blog I will be discussing the game atoms of the video game Kingdom Hearts 2.

Story

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a sequel to the first game Kingdom Hearts. It's basically is a continuation of the previous story and it's plot. If you haven't played the first game there is a trailer at the beginning of the game featuring the events that occurred before. The game starts off with a character named Roxas who lives a town called Twilight Town. He and his friends are what the game refers to as Nobodies.  Nobodies are like an alternative version of another character. These nobodies are a figment of their memory. This occurred when Sora who is initially the main character gave his heart away to save Keiri. Roxas goes through a series of events where he constantly keeps remembering Sora's memory. He wakes up only to be confused and completely disconnected with his friends as he tries to reason why he keeps having these weird dreams or what he thinks they are. Since Roxas has Sora's memories old acquaintances come about to speak to Roxas even though he doesn't know or remember who they are. These are just a few story tactics Kingdom Hearts 2 uses to further engage the player and get them interested.

The story is what really caused me to become like this game. Since the last game left the story in a cliff-hanger where the main character was put in a coma and I wanted to see what might happen next. The story in this game points out the game progression. It is not 100 percent based on the player's choice however there times when the character has to make choices that will affect the storyline.

Player

This game is a single player where the protagonist is viewed from the third person camera angle. At the beginning the player will play as Roxas and when Sora awakens, the player switches to him for the remainder of the game. The player can make the character run, jump, and fight using the key as their main source of weaponry and power for each level.

Objective

At the very beginning of the game, as I mentioned before, the player will play as Roxas, who is the protagonist's Nobody. While playing as this character, the player will go through a series of mini goals that lead up to the final event which involves Roxas remembering who he is and who Sora is. Not all of these goals have anything to do with the story, but they do have a meaning to them. In my opinion, this part of the game is kind of like a tutorial for players who are not yet accustomed to the controls. I never played Kingdom Hearts so this was really a great for me to get the feel of Kingdom Hearts 2. This is a great example of how the game included kinesthetics. Maybe the playtesters suggested to the game developers to incorporate missions like this to make it easier. If this was the case, they did a great job because by the time as I was ready to start the game as the main character, Sora, I was already a pro. When the player plays as Sora, the player has to go through various obstacles, clues, and missions to find his friend Keiri. The following types of objectives are inclusive in this game:

• Exploration
• Rescue
• Chase
• Alignment

Each of these types of plays are merged into the gameplay as well as the story very well to create a well-balanced game.

Resources

Objects include treasure chests and orbs are the things characters can get throughout the game. The treasure chests can vary from potions to maps, to armour, and even magic.Whenever you defeat an enemy orbs burst out of them. The orbs come in different colours. Green represents health, yellow represent magic points and the diamond shaped one are money. Also the size of the orbs represent how much the player gets. Sizes of each orb shows the quantity of what a player earns.

Types of Levels

Kingdom Hearts 2 follows the linear level tactic. The story develops as the player continues to move along in each level. The player does have the freedom to do what he/she wants but whatever happens the story will still revert back to its original goal and time set. For example, there was a time where Roxas had to get a job to earn money so that he can go to the beach with his friends. At first when I played it, I thought I couldn't move unto the next level without the required amount of money. However, I realized that you can skip the mission and you will still end up having the exact amount of money you needed even though you didn't earn it the way the game suggested. So, in Kingdom Hearts 2 things happen regardless of the player's actions.

Conclusion

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a very good game I played years back. It has great gameplay and a very engaging story. I know this game may be a bit outdated for us grownups, but it's still a great game to play with the young ones.

Grind Craft: Digital Prototype Feature Presentation

This year our Studio is developing a 3D helicopter combat game named Aeolus. Although we did not essentially make a prototype, here are some concerns that I think will prevent our game from being successful.

Gameplay

If we had to make a prototype, I suggest we should do it in Unity. Unity is simpler to excess since it requires less programming and it is just a prototype. Initially, gameplay was supposed to involve the main character who is a mercenary, to be assigned various missions. Missions will include rescuing civilians, delivering packages, or avoiding enemy lines. For this semester, we planned to have only one mission as stated in our design document. The player will be assigned to a helicopter they will not be able to create their own custom helicopter yet. The main helicopter will have one source of energy that will show how much energy the engine has as well as lasers. Gameplay is very simple and precise therefore, I think there is no need for any changes here.

Mechanics

In terms of mechanics, I really think we could keep it as simple as we can. From the very beginning, we had already planned to incorporate one helicopter, one mission, one level, simple gameplay, simple everything. Therefore, I would have no concerns about this aspect of the prototype.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics are still a working progress for us. As a team, we decided to make the game a futuristic space game that takes place in the year 2620. Although art is not really our focus this semester but we can still make it look appealing to our players. As long as our textured models are visually appealing and fit nicely with the terrain then the prototype should be fine.

Kinesthetics

Kinesthetics is probably another top concern I have for our game. Controls play a huge role in testing. If your player are not satisfied with the feel of the game then the developers have to go back and change it to make it better. Many of our players will not have the basic experience flying a helicopter like in Battlefield. We have already experienced having a player not having fun while playing our game simply because of the controls. As a result,  we would push harder to change that. 

Highest Priority

In my opinion, the highest priority in a prototype, if we did one for Aeolus, is to satisfy the players and their needs, experience, and wants. Kinesthetics would be the major goal. Our prototype should really dive into this focus since the players are the most important people in the testing stage. The core gameplay would need to be sharpened up so that players can understand what they are doing in the level. We can do this by including tutorials that explain the mission and the main goal of this level. Controls are another aspect in the tutorials that we should be teaching players. As a result, if we were to build a prototype for our game, I would definitely focus on the kinesthetics because if that were to flop, then that is not a good sign for our final game.

Playtesting

We are almost at the end of the semester and the pressure is on. Now that we have finished the essentials of our game, now it is time for testing it out. We were not planning for this, but somehow we ended up on Professor Nacke's office the other day. We showed him our game and what we have so far and told him what we planned to do. The result was complete chaos. He pointed out so many faults that I actually didn't know what to say. The rest of my team felt the same way I assume, but I can tell they were crushed. Like I wanted to crawl into a corner. However, we listened to the advice Professor Nacke pointed out about our game. It made us realize that we still have a lot of work to do. So we got down to it right away.

Stream Playtesting

A stream on the internet was made by several team members in my group. Through this stream people were able to see and play our game. Through this stream, we were able to receive feedback from a variety of people. They were mainly asking us to add in features that we were initially were planning to add next semester. However, we felt good about our feedback. Now we are going to take those suggestions made by our play testers as well as Professor Nacke and put it into game. 

Playtesting Changes

Here are the changes we plan to incorporate in our game this week:

• Have a tutorial at the beginning of the game about the controllers
• Make the side bars of the helicopter thinner so that there will be more space to see in the cockpit
• Allow players to have more controls over the helicopter
• Scale skyscrapers(and other objects located on terrain) to make the player feel they are not so far away from anything

These are just a few examples of the changes we will be adding or changing for the final project this week. There might be more changes as we go along but theses are the major changes we have decided as a team to change so far. 

How playtesting has affected us as a game development studio?

Listening to the advice given by classmates, non-game development students, and the professor truly reminded me that we are not making a game for us. We are making a game for the players themselves. A video game will not be fun if only a certain category of people can play it. It wouldn't be fair at all. My team and I really have to get into the minds of the players. We have to think about what they will ask, how will they react and so on. 

Here is an picture of how a typical development cycle should be:

Here is what our game development cycle is currently:

Start -> Design -> Implement -> User test -> Evaluate -> Implement

Right now we are in the evaluating stage beginning the implementing stage where our feedback will play a major role as we journey to the end of this semester's project. 

Conclusion

Playtesting our game is a truly effective process in game development. It allows game developers to gain insight of the game to know whether it is good or bad. Now if we include the suggestions made by our playtesters, we hopefully will have a more effective game where everyone will be able to play it with no problems.

Dekonstruer - Batman Arkham Asylum

This blog will give a thorough explanation of Batman Arkham Asylum and its game elements.

Batman Arkham Asylum was released in 2009 as a action-adventure video game. I bought the game a couple years ago and when I heard the same voice actors as the television show, this game, in my opinion, became the best.

Objective/Procedures

The main goal of this game is to catch the Joker who has escaped from the prison called Arkham Asylum. The player plays the game as Batman and will have to go through a series of rescues and small missions that lead up to Joker. The player will have to rescue security guards that the Joker has beaten up or held captive. In the meanwhile, the player will be getting clues from various people like Commissioner Gordon and other security guards around the prison. Among these additional missions, the player will be learning how to operate Batman's gadgets and be able to think through various obstacles and challenges. This is the procedure the player will be using as they get closer to Joker's location as well as figure out what his big plan is. 

Rules/Resources

As you start the game, you may find that you can do certain things in the game and certain things you cannot do. Players can use these advantages to accomplish various missions. For example, if the player wants to see highlighted things or clues that are important to the missions at hand, you can go into a Detective Mode to see things in an x-ray vision. When you are in Detective Mode the screen goes into a shade of blue and you can see the x-ray of characters.

Another thing this game does is giving out individual player control instructions on the screen. For example, if the player has to go through a vent a text will come out in the middle of the screen that tells the player what button on their controller to press to open the vent.

The Batarang is another resource the player has from the beginning of the game. This resource is used as a throwing weapon.

Conflict

As mentioned before, there will be other small missions that lead up to the main target, Joker. As the player goes through rescuing guards, he/she will be bumping roads with other villains such as Bane, Scarecrow, and Harley Quinn. However, if you fail to complete these missions or die, the player has to start that mission over again. These are the conflicts this game uses to prevent the player from accomplishing the main goal which is to find the Joker. These small tasks are put in place to make the game more challenging for player. 

Boundaries/Positive Space

This game use boundaries a lot. They allow the players to focus in specific centres of the game. When the players go into Detective Mode the players see the most important thing that needs to be observed in the game. They will be depicted by a different colour. The important things will be shown in a red x-ray colour while the everything else will be blue. 

Batman Arkham Asylum uses Positive Space in a very effective way. It creates a very appealing and spacious environment in the game world. The visuals in this game do not distract the player from the main target of challenge. Rather it detracts. The positive space in this game gives a well-balanced game in the end.

Conclusion

This game is the best. It has great visuals, great opponents, great gameplay. The resources allow players to really involve themselves in the game like if there were really Batman fighting the Joker. The objectives, rules, and procedures are incorporated in a way that makes this game fun challenging to the players.I love how it is similar to the original story line we all know and love. Having the same voice actors for these characters from the cartoon is an awesome bonus. 

Game Design Documents

When creating a design document, you want to ask the following questions:

• What are the goals?
• What are the questions this document should answer?
• How complex can this system be?

Design documents are very important to have. The main goal of a design document  it to communicate to potential companies. Design documents work as a communication tool between companies and game developers. However, you find that game design documents are not as famous as the actually game itself. The thing is with design documents is that the systems are very complex. Not much people think they are very beneficial. Those people are wrong. Design documents allow people to understand how your game system. If you don't understand the game system you basically have a bunch of elements that does nothing. 

You want to have a design document where you can iterate on it. It's not really a good idea to have one person writing the entire document. Include everyone in your document by using programs which can include updates from each individual in your team. An example of this is Google Docs. 

How to create a good design document?

1. Know the target

When creating a design document you have to acknowledge whose going to be reading the document. Programmers are the most important target because they know how the game is made. 

2. Keep it short & accurate

Simple designs make a great document. You do not need to write paragraphs about straight forward things. For example, if you have buttons. you don't have to write what the play button does. Obviously, it plays the game. Things like that you can pretty much keep to a minimal. Excluding backstories is another thing you have to try avoid in your document. It makes things less confusing and on a side note, no one really cares.

3. Prioritize the Design

In your documents try not to write everything in one huge chunk. Break up your topics in phases. This brings quality assurance.

4. Illustration

Use picture, diagrams, and other small art features when necessary. Illustration is worth a thousands.

5. Separate Code from Content

It is always good to use tables where necessary. Give information with clarity. 

7. Invest into a good format

Make sure and have a professional format to your design document. Use bullet lists and keep everything in order. 

8. Use clear terminology

Don't assume that your readers will know what you are talking about. Keep your explanations simple and precise. 

9. Kill redundancy

In your document you also want to refer to other pages that explain certain things in more detail. You have to explain everything at once in that page. You can refer to another page that explains something more in depth. 

10. No Weak Language

Use strong declarative language. Avoid repeating words over and over and over again. It's just annoying and unprofessional.

Conclusion

After this class, I said to my team, "Guys we gotta work on our design document". We did a design document since the beginning of the semester, but apparently, our design document currently looks like all the bad examples that were shown in class. Yikes. But thanks to this class we now know what to do and how to fix our design document.

First PVP Fight

In this blog, I will be critiquing on a Slingshot device crafted by Keerthana. This is a first-person shooter that she constructed in Unity for our Game Design & Production class. I will be critiquing about the dramatic elements she has used, game objects, controls, aesthetics, and the objective of her game.

Objective

Before I played the game, Keerthana told me the main goal is to collect the weapons that are located in the field and mountains, kill the enemy soldiers as you pass by and near the end of the game must have enough weapons to defeat the army of soldiers in order to win the game. We were not required to have the player attack the enemy or the enemy attack us. We were evaluated based on how we design the game world as well as the weapon, trigger, and enemy placements and navigation usage. The goal is pretty straight forward and simple to understand. You look for weapons and kill the soldiers as you pass them by. If she was able to have a full first-person shooter where the main character can actually attack the enemy, you would have to avoid getting killed yourself and respawn the game.

The Use of Objects

The main character, the enemies, and the weapons are the main objects used in this unity game. Not much properties or behaviours are used in these objects since like I mentioned before this game was marked simply for placements in the game. But let's use our imagination here. If the game was a real first-person shooter the weapons like the guns and grenades would obviously be used to defeat the soldiers.

The Game World

As you can see, the environment takes place in an open mountainous area where there are high hills and steep mountaintops. It is very spacious and give the player plenty of room to roam about and discover the game and its features it obtains.

Controls

The controls were easy to use however, when you click space to jump the player takes long to respond. I find myself pressing the space button over and over again and nothing really happens. Only when the player is going forward and you press the space bar the jump will work. Even when you do that, the jump is not even that high. The control keys are good but the jump could have been higher. In addition, there was not much space for you to walk to begin with because there were way too many hills. Even though you have lots of space to walk and jump there is not much flat areas in which you can explore using the given controls.

Improvements

First of all, the controls should be  made so that you can climb over the many hills. Or you can make the terrain with less hills. Another improvement to be considered is to make the speed of the movements faster especially the jump. The velocity of the jump would have been more beneficial if you were able to jump higher. Another aspect would be the aesthetics of the game. Since it is a battlefield area the atmosphere should be more fitted to suit an environment of a war. So instead of blue sky you can replace them with dark clouds. It would even be better if smoke was coming out of the hills to show that something is on fire or debris from an explosion. Anything like that would have sufficed to further bring forth the desired feel of the game she wanted players to experience and to improve the overall design.

Conclusion

I think overall, this Slingshot Device was done well. To be honest, it's not bad for a first timer at Unity. Sure there are a few things that could have been done better, but that's all part of learning something new especially a program like Unity.