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.

Fun & Accessibility

Is your game fun?

Fun is the number thing a player wants in a game. It's probably the thing that gets us engaged or interested in playing games in the first place. Dramatic elements like challenges, play, and story can have a huge impact on players and leave them hooked on your game. Most of the time, playtesters will tell you whether your game is fun or not.

Most important aspects Challenges

A goal is pretty much the most important challenge that you can have in your game. Players always enjoy a game where the goal can stretch their abilities and skills. A game where you allow players to reach and exceed goals can truly captivate players in a very unique way. This is what you should ask yourself and your studio members before implementing gameplay. "What is the goal?" If you think that goals are already part of your game, then the only people left to check with are the playtesters. They are the ones who will justify whether you have a goal or not. Playtesters give you insight on how well your game is from a players' point of view. Playtesters should let you know if your goal needs to be defined and reachable if they are not strong enough. Another aspect is being able to play against an opponent. It gives your game more of a challenge. difficulties in the levels and being able to make vigilant choices are also a great way to engage your players in your game.

Natural Types of Play

• Living fantasies
• Social interaction
• Exploration & discovery
• Collection of things
• Stimulation of sense & imagination
• Self-expression & performance
• Construction/Deconstruction

Everyone always wants to experience the thrill of doing something that they don't usually do. In your game, you want players to be able to visualize or experience different types of fantasies like adventure, romance, or even living in an alternate universe. Some people play Call of Duty just to experience the thrill of being in a war, but they don't actually want to fight anyone in real life. Video games give them that opportunity to live out their fantasy or imagination that people cannot or should not do in the real world. This what you want to think about when making games. You want to be able to give your players a sense of imagination by providing a fantasy in which they are free to explore, fly, construct, incorporate social interaction, being creative and so forth.

Story

Story is a powerful mechanism for engaging people's emotions. A story gets players invested in your game. It is good to make a strong and meaningful story that can captivate players in a special way. For example, we all know about Batman's past and how his parents were shot right in front of him when he was 8 years old. We all know that. To see what he has made of himself and what he dedicated his life to do in Gotham City is very captivating, exciting, and emotional at the same time. That's why people react the way they do when they play the game. Because the story is so moving and because Batman is 'Batman'. Another example with a very good story is Kingdom Hearts II. Nobodies are alternates of a character in the game. At the beginning, you basically get to know these nobodies and before you even realize it they disappear and the real character of the story wakes up. It left me heartbroken because I really liked the nobodies and the alternate world they were living in, but it was all fake according to the game. They don't really exist. These are just few of how stories in game have impacted me as a player.

Conclusion

Games have to have emotional hooks that captivate your players. These players have to be invested in the outcome of these hooks so that they will continue playing the game until the very end. You want to be able to include a good story one that moves your players in an emotional way. You want to incorporate the natural types of play that allows them to live out their fantasy or imagination. And challenge your players. Give them a goal that really and truly stretches their limitations. Give them a reason why your game is fun.

Grind Quests:Skills, Goals, & Feedback

Guitar Hero

Feedback is shown when the player presses the notes displayed on the screen perfectly in time with the rhythm of the music selected. The notes have a fire particle effect on them that will become visible every time the player hits the right note or button. When the player successfully completes a section that is relatively difficult, a lighting flash will strike on the music bar letting the player know that they just did something amazing like hitting all the right notes with the right timing at fast rhythm. In my opinion, you have skill if you are an expert at this game. The only way you can ever be good at it is if you have good rhythm.

Candy Crush 

Feedback is shown based on how well the player is able to pair up the coloured candy. It is shown through text and a sound effect of a voice speaking that text. I say the feedback does not really relate to the goal of most candy crush games because it is just saying the text based on how much candies are paired up. Most of the goals in Candy Crush are the clear the jelly or bring the fruit located at the top of the screen to the entrance at the bottom.

Fruit Ninja

In Fruit Ninja, the feedback is in my opinion, placed in the best area of the screen-right where the action is. while playing fruit ninja, the points are placed at the top left area of the screen. Also any extra points that you might get appear right where you last sliced a fruit so that you see it just before more fruits or bombs are thrown on the screen. In this game, you have to have great re-flexing skills in your fingers. 

In my opinion, players really enjoy having more knowledge than the opponent in a game. If the main antagonist moves horizontally over and over again then the player will definitely know that when he or she uses a weapon and aims it at the right timing and location they will defeat the enemy. Players like it when they know they can beat an enemy  quickly and then move onto something else. Another important skill is timing (which is something I definitely don't have while playing games). Games teach you to be patient. Players obtain this key skill while playing games. These are the skills I definitely would want players to have and use while playing our studio's game this semester.

Grind Quest:Objectives

Ten Favourite Games

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Objective - Find the Joker and defeat him.

Kingdom Hearts II
Objectives - Complete many different missions in different worlds in the ultimate goal of defeating Organization XIII before they obtain Kingdom Hearts and finding Sora's friends, Riku and Kairi.

Golden Sun
Objective - Travel across the globe and experience many different adventures while searching for Jenna and Kraden. Defeat Saturos and Mernardi in order to stop them from obtaining all four Elemental Stars.

Mario Kart
Objective - Choose a player and a kart and battle against other racers to unlock courses, karts or characters.

Rachet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Objective - Complete a variety of missions in order to stop Dr. Nefarious, who plans to turn all organic life forms into robots.

Candy Crush
Objective - Create a line of three or more simultaneous candies to complete tasks such as clearing the jelly or bringing the fruit down, all within a limited amount of moves or time.

Sims 3
Objective - Create a Sim, and live life to the fullest, by getting a job, getting married, starting a family, and completing life goals.

Harvest Moon Games
Objective - Start a farm off from scratch, grow and sell crops and raise animals to expand your farm. Develop a relationship with a marriage candidate to marry and start a family.

Fruit Ninja
Objective - Slice fruit before it falls off the screen and avoid bombs to increase your score and unlock cool 'swords' and backgrounds.

Lego Star Wars II
Objective - Battle through episodes IV, V, and VI of the Star Wars series. Follow the story to defeat Darth Vader, or choose Freeplay for more freedom in-game.

Similarities

Kingdom Hearts II and Golden Sun both have rescue missions. In Batman Arkham Asylum there is few times where the player is required to rescue individuals here and there as well. In addition, I really like games with good story lines. Kingdom Hearts II and Golden Sun have really good story lines that will somewhat impact you as a player. Gameplay is exciting too, but I think it's the story that attracts me the most with certain games. Also, I like games that are based off movies as well like Lego Star Wars II, which is the game I own, because it incorporates the actual episodes from the series. How cool is that? Other simple games like Fruit Ninja and Candy Crush are just games I play during any free time I get like on the bus or something. I like playing them because they are not only addicting but also challenging in a way. Fruit Ninja gets me to really pin down and beat my own score and can really work out my fingers and thumbs too. Candy Crush is just simply addicting and that's all I'm going to say.

Functionality & Completeness

In every game, you have to test it before it is officially completed. However, when do you test a game? What do you get from testing your game? These are the things you have to think about as you for your game.

When you think of testing, you have to think of these things:

• Foundation
• Structure
• Formal Details
• Refinement

In Formal Details have the following points:

• Functional
• Internally complete
• Balanced

Functional Testing

This type of testing is where a player can play the game and understand it. In this testing the player has to be able to play the game without getting lost, confused or stuck while playing your game. This is where you can ensure that your game was made properly and contains no flaws.

Internal Completeness

This type of testing is where your game is functional yet it is still incomplete. In this phase, you have a working game, but there is still no way to win or receive points, health, etc. Also, if you find that you have an issue with your game that seems to be conflicting with your overall gaming functionality, you can return to the rule or design doc.

Loopholes/Exploits

Nothing gets me more upset where a player has an advantage to win a game. In the game monopoly, whoever lands on Boardwalk and Parkplace automatically has a winning advantage compared to everyone else. Everyone knows in Monopoly those properties have the highest paid rent in the entire game. So, for the rest of the game players have to pay the highest rent to that player and lose all their money. NOT COOL. This is what it means when it comes to loopholes/exploits. It basically is a flaw in the gaming system that users can exploit to gain an unfair or unintended advantage. It happens every time when I play monopoly. Whoever gets to buy Boardwalk or Parkplace or both is basically set for the rest of the game, which we don't even finish half the time cause it's just too long. Aside from that, the player experience is ruined from loopholes and you want to avoid that in your game. 

Dead Ends

Dead ends is a common flaw that disrupts the gameplay experience. Players are blocked from attempting objectives. 

Conclusion

You want to make sure your games are flawless where players can get through achieving objectives and without any disruptions confusing rules, or loopholes. All of these things you have to observe as you are testing your game.

Reward Systems

When you think of rewards in games you think about how players can receive feedback on how well they are doing in the level. Reward systems are a way of providing players with information on their skill set in the game. According to Wang and Sun their are eight different types of reward systems but, with Schell's rewards there are nine. These two types of rewards are very similar but differentiate in some ways.

Eight Reward forms from Wang & Sun

1) Score Systems
Score systems are just a way for the player to keep track of their progress. Score systems can also be used if you are in a social environment. If you are on your own while playing a game scoring systems will probably be just for personal achievement. However, if you have a group of people playing the game score systems can be both for self assessment and enjoyment. Individuals somehow feel more motivated when they have a scoring system. Being able to get more scores them someone else can make a person feel good about themselves.

2) Experience Leveling Systems
It is important for players to learn ways on how to gain extra points while playing the game. Things like leveling up can increase player skill over time. So in games a player's skill will increase as he or she progresses in each level giving them the opportunity to do more things other than doing the main goal. Based on the players' experience they can explore the game world through levels.

3) Item Granting Systems Rewards
This type of reward can facilitate how the character can progress in the game. Based on the progress of the player, you can offer a special item at the end of each level.

4) Collectible & Usable
These are values you can collect and use during the game play.

5) Achievement Systems
Achievement are titles that you put on an avatar. For instance, for different levels, you can have titles for items that will generate a type of strength.

6) Feedback Messages
Feedback messages provide instant rewards for your players. For example game designers can use images, or sound effects in order to display a reward to the player right away. Guitar Hero is a great example of this reward system.

7) Plot Animations & Pictures
These are rewards that follow important events in the game. You can provide a small video or a cutscene to show the player that they have achieved something important in the game. It's just some sort of mark showing that the player has completed an important task.

8) Unblocking Mechanisms
These rewards a based on what the player has completed in the game. Sometimes in games, you cannot go straight to a certain level without completing the previous ones. In Kingdom Hearts II, you have the option of going to various worlds/places to visit characters but, there are some worlds cannot go to without completing the first 3 levels of the game. A player has to accomplish levels in order to unblock certain levels to proceed in the game.

Schell's Reward Categories in Games

Praise

Congratulating the player based on his/her achievement. It can be something shown like a visual saying 'Good Work'. Candy Crush uses this type of reward when the player pairs up more than one colour candy.
Points

This is where players can get points based on luck to measure their success.
Prolonged

This is where the players get points without losing what they already previously achieved.
Gateway

Providing freedom for players. They can explore their desires in gameplay. It is basically providing access to something we didnt have access to before.
Spectacle

Giving out rewards in the form of music and animation.
Expression

Expression satisfy players.
Powers

Powers are enhanced goal mechanics.
Resources

Resources are useful things available in the game like energy and food.
Completion

Completion gives closure to the game. Players need to be informed that they are finished with a certain task or level in a game.

Schell's Reward vs. Wang & Sun Rewards

Schell's rewards are very similar to Wang & Sun Rewards but their terms are named differently. Praise and Feedback Messages are basically the same. They both communicate with the player using visuals for congratulating /praising them on their progress in the game. Collectible & Usage and Points mean the same thing because the players gain points that will be very usable while playing the game. Despite the fact that Schell has nine terms and Wang & Sun have only eight terms they both have the same idea when it comes to reward systems. The only difference is that Wang & Sun rewards include 'Achievement systems' where the character contains titles to generate a certain strength or something special. Schell is more general and just has 'Resources' as a means of useful items in the game. Also there is not really a term similar to Plot Animation & Pictures. Everything there is to do with showing the player what they have achieved in the game is categorized in 'Praise' and 'Spectacle'. This shows that Wang & Sun think more highly when it comes to informing the player about their progress in the game as well as player experience. Schell rewards tend to be more general on the physical things available in the the game world like goal mechanics, music, resources, points, and items.

The Visual Game Experience

In today's lecture, we learned about how visuals are used in video games. Visuals create the first impression of the game by the player. One thing Professor Nacke pointed out was that while designing video games you will always feel the need to draw or make a visual for every game object in your game. However, sometimes you may not have to. Not all the time do we have to create the shapes in our game because our brains can interpret or perceive what the object is or can be.


The following images were shown in the lecture slides. They are meant to trick our brains. If something does not seem to make sense, our brain will try to depict or reason out what the object is or what we perceive it to be. As you can see, the image on the left is just three circles with a piece each missing from it. It may look weird at first but somehow our brains tell us that we see a triangle. Same thing with the other image below. The straight black and white lines confuse us but, we diamonds in the ruff.

Alexander 15 Properties of Living Structures

1. Levels of scale

Levels of scale in a technological scope can be related to the scoping of goals or like the balanced range of sizes game objects, entities, challenges, or player actions in the game. Levels of scale can also associate with social structures. As an individual you want to feel well among your peers, co-workers, etc... It is good to have a good relationship with your peers in your GDW group.

2. Strong centres

Strong centres are like a section in an image that you can see very clearly while the rest of the image is blurry. This can be used for environments, entities, and story.

3. Boundaries

Boundaries are like the outlines that help you focus on the centres of the game. They are often described through the rules. Boundaries set limitations for space, rules, and actions.

4. Alternating repetition

Having the same structures in a game can give the player familiarity in the game as he/she moves onto higher levels. It gives a sense of order and harmony in your game.

5. Positive space

Space needs to be well-balanced. Knowing there is a contrast between one space and another space is key to making the key focuses in your game easier for your player.

6. Good shape

Shapes in games that are appealing to the players is essential. Making your objects relate-able to your players can create powerful centres of simplicity.

7. Local symmetries

As seen in Portal 2, small symmetries work best. Almost everything is symmetrical in Portal 2. Having the same objects that are the same symmetrical shape can allow players to explore the game environment easier.

8. Deep interlock & ambiguity

Deep interlock & ambiguity is having things that are so inter-twinned that without one object, the process will not be the same. Everything has to fulfill a purpose. In Portal 2, the environment is inter-twinned so that all the portals connect. eg. If you go through one portal, you will appear on the other side of the same room depending where the player placed the portals.

9. Contrast

Having opposites in your game creates more emphasis. A player can differentiate the main character from the enemy or from something that should not be there in the game environment.

10. Gradients

Gradient relates to quality that changes gradually. It is something that gradually moves into something else. As the player continues along with the game, it gradually becomes more difficult. It's just like in Photoshop where you add in a colour gradient.

11. Roughness

Roughness creates character and imperfection. It breathes life into the game environment. It makes games seem more realistic. This can be created through textures or your lighting in your game.

12. Echoes

Echoes represents a pleasing unifying repetition in your game. It is basically using the same functions as used earlier in the game but slightly changed. An example given is in Pixar movies where their characters are similar to each other even though they are in different movies. Finding Nemo and Toy Story characters are relatively in the same Pixar world so their design or the way they function are very similar.

13. The void

Creating calmness and contrast throughout the game can help players concentrate on important objects.

14. Simplicity & Inner calm

This incorporates positive space, which must be well-balanced, as well as essentials in the game. You should try not to use extraneous elements. 

15. Not-separateness

Not-separateness represents how all the elements in the game are connected as well as the rules.

Play Spaces & Level Design

In previous classes, we learned that the game designer designs the game play rules or in other words creates the formulation of the game.

What do you teach players?

Game designers are the people who 'put the theory into practice'. They think of questions like  'How can I show the player how to use the game mechanic?' or How do I ensure the player understands the game mechanic?'. Teaching the players how to use game mechanics is one of the first things a game designer must think about. The players' knowledge must come first. Physical rules of you environment, abilities of payer's in-game character, behaviour of enemies, and the game's reward systems are just a few examples of what a game designer must communicate to the player.

What are the Level Design 'Golden Rules'?

First of all game designers should be consistent in their game mechanics. Teach players the primary/main goals of your game. It is not good to give players a difficult level without giving them the proper information as to how to play the game. It's like playing chess at an intermediate level when you're still in a beginners level. Obviously you will not do well because you are still a beginner and do not have the acquired skills for an intermediate level. It's the same way with any other video game. A game designer has to make sure that the players are ready and are fully prepared for the advanced level by letting them go through a safe environment level to learn the main goals of the game. Afterward, the players can then go to the difficult levels. 

Goals

In gaming, companies have goals to achieve. Goals such as external goals and internal goals.

External goals are things that will make the company money. They are important and a high value for the company or developer.

Internal goals are derived from the game play implications that are described above. These are goals that give the player a sense of achievement.

So in terms of  goals, gaming companies always try to achieve because of the success definition, external, and internal goals. Companies achieve these goals through game/level designs.

Linear Levels

Linear levels means that you are putting the player in a directed spot. Examples of these can be God of War or Uncharted. The players do not have that much freedom because no matter what they do in the game events occur no matter what. Players have to go along with the game play story guide despite what they want to have happen in the game.

Non-Linear Levels

Non-linear levels means that you are making the players feel like they are control the game. In order for this to happen you have to give the player enough tools in the levels to interact with the game. The only example I can think of for non-linear levels is Sims. Players has the freedom to basically do whatever they want like getting a job, going out, making new friends and so on. However, the players is somehow restricted to do just the tasks provided in the game. They still cannot really do 'everything' they want to do.

Semi-Linear Levels

Semi-linear levels have a hybrid between non-linear and linear levels. Several parts of the levels are free and other parts are controlled by designer. With semi-linear levels stories can be used to alter between linear and non-linear levels. A great example of this is Fallout 3. Players have a main quest but there are many side levels you can take to accomplish it. In our GDW game this year we will be using semi-linear levels. My team and I discussed that players will be able to fly around in their helicopters where ever they please but, they will still be required to accomplish the tasks for that level. We are still in the development phase but, hopefully we will obtain this internal goal in the end of next years semester.

Emotional Contagion

There are not many games that have truly effected me emotionally, but there is one game that still ranks among the most well-developed and thought-out games I have ever played. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core contains a detailed plot and a variety of well-rounded characters that anyone can relate to. Each character has a background that really touches you emotionally, and makes their development through the series that much more exciting. You become attached to the characters, often experiencing a plethora of emotions when your favourite overcomes certain conflicts, or handles them in the wrong way.

There is, however, one event in this game that brought me tears to my eyes, and that was the death of the main protagonist, Zack Fair. Now it isn't often in games for the main playable character to die, but Crisis Core shook things up a bit at the very end of the game. Zack was a SOLDIER who worked and supported the Shinra war effort. He had come so far since the beginning, and it really tore me apart to see his efforts come to a sudden halt. What made this scene even more heartbreaking, was that his good friend, Cloud Strife, a Shinra infantryman, stayed by his side until the very end.

Cloud had also developed a lot in this game, as his first appearance portrays him as a sullen, reserved young man who spent his life dedicated to becoming SOLDIER. Although, he never did make that rank, Cloud learned what it meant to have a real friend, and soon became like a brother to Zack. This background, along with a few of his last words to Cloud, made Zack's death an agonizing experience for me.


Moments before his death, Zack says this to his fellow comrade, "My honour...my dreams...They're yours now. You'll be...my living legacy." These are some of Zack's last words to Cloud, which, because of they're meaning, caused my eyes to water. Asking Cloud to tell Aerith, Zack's girlfriend, that he became a hero was the last straw for me before I let all my pent up emotions get the better of me. These words stayed with Cloud following Zack's death and had a bigger impact on his life than anyone could have imagined, as he strives to fulfill his promise to Zack and continue to be his living legacy.

Games like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core are the kind of games I like, ones with characters and plots and events that you can relate to, and get even more involved in, rather than just simply playing a game. To me, these factors are what truly makes playing games a gripping and emotional experience.

Shine Lecture

The last lecture was indeed a very informative lecture I must say. A student who worked as an intern over the summer came and did a presentation about his experience, the production of the game he was a part of, as well as some cool and interesting facts about the gaming industry as a whole. 

It all started when this student entered a Academia Game Lab competition. From this competition, 37 people where chosen for the internship. This is where he was hired to part take of the winning game of the competition to produce the game 'Shine'. Shine is a specialized program initiated by Ubisoft Montreal designed to simulate real production. 

Shine Production Team

Within the 37 people, there were a number of faculties. The first two were already part of Ubisoft. There were 7 members in the game design department, 12 in the programming department, 16 in the art department, and 2 in the audio department. Each of these faculties do extremely large variations of work. It's not like our GDW class where the work load sometimes tends to be weighted more on the programmer. In the internship, as the student explained, everyone takes part in their required job and is weighted almost the same. This is due to the fact that there are indeed 37 people in the team whereas in our class, we only have 5 or 6 individuals. Also, in order to become the Leader of a specific faculty you must give them a VERY good reason why you would want to a lead game designer or lead animator.

• Producer
• Assistant Producer
• Project Manager
• Creative Director
• Lead Game Designer
• Lead Artist
• Lead Animator
• Art Director
• Lead Audio Designer

Management

Good management is really important in a production like this. Having 37 people who never worked together before can be quite chaotic especially when the time period to make the game is only 2 months. 

Production

The productive is the iterative process of validation. Production can be broken down into design, validation, bugs & improvements, and debug & fine tune. We already learned in our project management class that production takes quality, time and cost. It takes serious planning and management to get a certain project done. Any little change can affect another plan related to the game.

Pipeline

In the production pipeline, you have a series of milestones. Alpha is the phase where you game should be playable but it does not have to be continuous. This means that the game has to run without any errors but it does not have to be played level after level after level. It just means the game must work and that it should be ready for testing. Beta is the phase where the game must be playable from the beginning to the end. It must be continuous. Open Beta  relates to online gaming and Age Rating is like deciding who plays your game. Master(GOLD) is having the game completely ready for marketing.

Shine Production

Since Shine had to be completed in only two months, the production period was very short. The training & pre-production took 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks brainstorming, concept art and prototypes took place. Production(3 weeks) is where the creation of the art assets, play testing, and so on occurred. Post production/testing & debugging consists of alpha and beta. This is where the finishing and polishing of the art assets took place. 

Development Strategies

• The Persona
• Think 8
• Perforce
• Agile Scrum

The Persona is an imaginary ideal individual based on your target group. Think 8, which I think is the most resourceful development strategy is where everyone in the team would write down something for each topic based on their own ideas. No one talks to each other. Afterward the team then draws out the best or the most resourceful idea and writes down one sentence for each topic for their core idea. Here are the 8 topics:

• Purpose
• Message
• Tone
• Characters
• Content
• Structure
• Style
• Impact

In my opinion, Think 8 is the best way to do brainstorming. It is a great way to get everyone inputs and ideas because sometimes you will have people who are too shy to even say what their idea is because they think it might be stupid. But I think that people would open up more when they write their ideas down. In the event that I do have to take part in a development phase of a project outside of school, I would definitely suggest Think 8.

Agile Scrum is an incremental and iterative software development technique. Shine had scrum leaders that would set up departments meetings where everyone would say what they did yesterday and what they plan on doing today.

Aside from the development strategies and pipelines, you still have everything thing else that is of course very familiar to me. The remaining departments like Game Design, Art, and Audio. These departments are responsible for the art modelling, sounds, level designs of the game. Basically all the stuff you will be hearing and seeing in the game are all done by lead artists, 3d artists, sound engineers, game designers and so on.


This presentation revealed much about the different job opportunities available in the gaming industry. Since there are many effective successful ways to develop a game in 2 months, can you imagine the results of using these same tactics in developing a game in a year? Of course we do, we play these games everyday don't we?

Digital Prototyping

Finally, I was able to join the online lecture this morning. Whooo!!!

What is a prototype???

A prototype is the first model, sample or representation of a new idea or product. The main goal of prototypes is to test for flaws and that it works efficiently. There are four areas of digital prototyping.

• Game Mechanics
• Kinesthetics
• Technology
• Aesthetics

In this lecture, the professor explained each of these four areas in detail while giving examples and references to existing games. 

Game Mechanics

Game mechanics represents the formal aspects of the game. This is like the overall core of the game. The professor did mention that having every single aspect of your game is not good. When making prototypes of your game mechanics, you have to keep it simple. Do not go overboard and try to represent everything you plan to include in your game. Focus on one particular question, preferably the core mechanic, and build from there.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is like the visual or oral dramatic elements of the game. It is basically how things are perceived and its representation. In this prototype, you do not want to have too much art. Although it is good to have some sort of visual representation to communicate with the audience but it does not have to be too extreme. Since it is just a prototype, you can have a little mock up of the game in action-dynamics. Again it does not have to be extraordinary. It can be done using Flash or even stick men drawn on paper. As long as your visual can be seen clearly and understood it should not be a problem for a prototype. 

Examples of prototype aesthetics are:

• Storyboards
• Concept art
• Annimatics
• Interface prototypes
• Audio sketches

Storyboards are very common in movie production but can be useful for game development as well. Interface prototypes is just deciding where you are going to place certain objects in your game. Most of these examples can be done on paper and of course they have to be brought to your team to be discussed. Audio sketches is basically the same as art sketches but they're music. They are drafts of the music you plan to have in your game. Again it does not have to be the full soundtrack but, as long as you have a specific music style in your prototype, it should be fine.

Kinesthetics

Kinesthetics represents the feel of the game. This a reflection of how the game affects the player. When you prototype kinesthetics, you are testing the game in terms of how the controls feel, the responses from the player when something happens in the game, and so on.

Technology

Technology is anything used to create the game. It is all the software needed to make the game work. In prototyping technology, it is not really a smart idea to use the same programming language you are using to create your game as your prototype. Many people in school did that and ended up using the same code from the prototype for the final game project. You have to remember that it is just a prototype. It is good to use a language that differentiates from your programming language from your game. So, if you are using C++ for your final game project, use Java or something simpler that still gets the main game play for your prototype.

If these prototypes are presented well and are tested without any mistakes, then you will not have a problem continuing onto the actual game design and implementation because your prototypes are done with visual clarity as well as can be understood by others.

Control Schemes

When discussing the control schemes think about the actions that occur in the game. You want your controllers to match the actions and bring forth game interaction easily. It is also good not to have too many buttons in your controllers it may confuse the players. Simple controllers work best just like the Wii. it encourages the players to concentrate on the game rather than on the controller. Another thing that was mentioned this morning was to always supply your players with instructions of how to use your controllers. 

Effective Interface Design

Providing players information about how they are progressing in the game is a much needed factor to have in your game. Having the game communicate with your player encourages more player interaction. If the player is losing points then he or she will try harder to stay in the game play as long as possible. You also want to incorporate design metaphors to describe an object based on the player's mental picture. It will give off a bad impression when something is not as it usually is or as we perceive it to be.

As a result, in this lecture we have learned how to properly format a digital prototype. Hopefully we will use the facts described above in our own game with my group this year.