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.