vitaguy99

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 26th of November

Today on the 26th of November the school year Is officially over, and this closes our project. The project has run over the course of 13 weeks but this post mortem is based on the Production part of our project which went over the course of 9 weeks. These past 9 weeks conclude the unit 7 “Practice Production” Which had the core focus of… you guessed it Production!  

What I learned

So what I learned during this past few weeks is that Productions with good planning and dutiful people leads to a good project. Our project turned out relatively well. It’s not perfect of course, but In terms of my expectations it’s above and beyond. Not only that, I learned a lot about the other disciplines in game design, such as programming, and what the artists pipe line is. This was something I had a bit of knowledge about but not to the extent I do now. With that Knowledge I hope to improve on what we did over the course of this years project and make something of commercial quality in the next year of this course.

What I feel I did well

What I feel I did well… Something I felt I did well was following up on what I found difficult in pre production, I got everyone to join Hacknplan, and I got half of them to actually use it, which was nice. This turned the project around, as over the course of the past few weeks I had moments of dread that we were behind schedule. But luckily enough one of our Artists swooped In and knocked a tonne of the scheduled jobs we had and bought the reality of the project back to the schedule we were always on track to have, slightly ahead! SO this work was something I felt we did great, and this is something that only helped with the stand up as well.

What I liked about this topic

What I liked about this topic was probably the pacing, The pre production unit was quite full on, I felt like there was absolutely no time to stop for a minute and take a breather. That could have been because I was away but that feeling was basically ever lasting during that period. But here I felt like I could do my part and the part I had to take on to keep the project rolling with relative smoothness. Beyond that I was doing mostly the same things as previous units, and that's something I liked about this topic also, Hacknplan work and burndown charts just make my day.

What I found difficult

What I found difficult was probably  Some of the same stuff as last time. The getting people to do things in a collective unit is something I struggled with, OH, and another thing would have to be enforcing stricter time limits for the artists and programmers, This is a line I have to walk but Its something I don't exactly know what is too far and so on.

What To do better next time

So what I plan on doing better Is probably two things, as I mentioned before enforcing the time frames we have, without pushing too much, and another factor that I don't think I properly considered, was the seating arrangements, the seating area we had was not at all functional, as the artist to the designers were too far apart and had somewhat of an effect on the work we produced, as miscommunication is something that was an issue.

So In conclusion this was a fun and insightful year and I will be interested to how the following year will turn out.

-Luke Wells

[vitaguy99]

UI In Gaming; Get It Right!

Games UI is integral to game design and is ultimately the final 10% of your game and is what separates your game from the good to the best. These aspects can range from the menus to the interface the player is forced to see their whole playthrough or the whole game itself. The following examples will be two great UI examples and a good example of bad UI.

One Great example of UI is  the 2018 release nier automata, This games setting, allows for the stylised UI not only fits the atmosphere of the game, but it also uses the UI to fit the context of the game, The idea of this games UI is that it’s the view that you main Character plays though, and that you are experiencing the same actions as her. Which makes for an interesting you experience that a player as a player gets a see and feel more immersed into the game which is something that many games do but failed.  another good example of this be  the legend the Zelda breath of the wild the use of the tablet in that game contextualises of the ancient technology that the game has the player experience,  and also gives an ingame reason for such things as a camera mode for the player to use.

you will just have to look at previous Zelda entries to see how much this affects gameplay and improve your experience The Legend of Zelda series has a prestige reputation and receiving high schools constantly but the Legend of Zelda breath of the wild is one of the high scoring video games of all time and is the highest scoring Legend of Zelda game of all time why well it could be 4/8 extra 10% into a gui this you are choiceOnly further in mass is the player in the world that they are playing in and is something that no other Zelda game really has for example Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask in the Legend of Zelda series both have menus that are outside the realm of the actual gameplay in the franchise.  it doesn't make these games by any means bad but this lack of effort in something like this which was also not considered in those times of games and probably hard to implement with the technology at the time,  shows just how this jointed UI and gameplay can be and is most commonly is.

for example here is a bad design choice for U.I. Mass Effect Andromeda is a game that released to subpar and mediocre reviews why is this game mediocre well one it had a massive shadow to live up to which it ultimately failed to in some people's eyes but also something that was considered poorly made was the UI for the game the menus the game shares are boring an interesting and hard to navigate these are all three factors you do not want in a UI for your game you want it to be simple easy to use and enjoyment something along the lines of persona 5 is a good example of this,  butMass Effect had a bath group of negativity around it already and the you I did not probably did not help with that.

So in conclusion U.I  is an extremely important aspect In games and having bad you are makes it harder to ignore the bad aspects of your game and having good U.I can cover up those bad aspects.

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 24th of September

Today on the 24th of September the class have officially completed AIE’s Sixth Unit “Product Planning” This marks the end of the Pre Production uni for our end of year project, which was also a massive shake up to the past units as well. This Unit we were separated into our own groups and tasked with creating our very own game!

What I learned

Over the course of the past four weeks I’ve learned a lot, I’ve learned about working in large groups, the importance of teamwork, and the power of communication! Of course im aware of these things, but I hadn’t fully experienced such environment until now. Doing this project has helped me realize what I enjoy, and I would definitely say I enjoy the job of producer, calculating people’s times and ensuring people run o time is something that I get joy from. I enjoyed the group dynamic and, it was satisfying coming up with an idea together.

What I feel I did well

What I felt I did Well was keeping the information I was required to keep, I felt my keeping of the standup notes, Roadmap and the overall hacknplan and burndown chart was extremely efficient. I used screenshotting and sheets in google sheets to ensure that everything in files was accessible. This use of items allowed me to complete my work in a relatively quick succession. And made the work I had to do, done and dusted and pick up the pieces of others who aren't pulling their own weight.

What I liked about this topic

What I liked about this topic was the fact that we worked in groups and that I was chosen to be the producer, It helped with relieving stress as if the roles were turned between our game designer and I. I have doubts that we would finish this project on time...

What I found difficult

Something I found difficult was getting people on the same page, luckily In our group we had a member who has made a multitude of student games already, so her knowledge of how things should work was essential to making this project run smoothly. But other then that, the fact of getting people to properly use hacknplan and do stand up correctly is also another issue I had.

What To do better next time

Something That needs to be done better as we enter Into the second part of the project is having the hacknplan used by everyone, This should allow for a better understanding of what people are doing and make my job somewhat easier. Another thing I would like to do better when It comes to the next project would definitely be the Game design Document, This doc was done by the other designer with little collaboration which was a bit of an issue, but im for blame on that as I was away for the first week because I was sick.

So In conclusion This was a good start on the preproduction and it will be interesting to see our project will turn out when we go forward in production.

-Luke Wells

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 27th of August

Today on the 27th of August the class have officially completed AIE’s fifth Unit “Testing and Quality Insurance” This marks the end of the QA unit which was a massive change to past units, I got to do work experience at the game company Two Bulls and worked in both Two Moos and Two Bulls.

What I learned

This was a very interesting unit,as i'm pretty sure I say with pretty much all of them, but this one is especially unique. This past three weeks I got to spend one of the weeks at two Bulls, a game developer that mostly works with clients to bring their licensed properties to Iphones and android devices. But beyond that, this week long experience taught me a lot. I learned pretty much everything we were suppose to cover over the course of the three weeks, and then some. I got to actually work on a game, and spend my week being a cog in a larger machine, and what I will say is I really enjoyed it. The experience helped me learn how others react and the types of areas that exist in a rather large corporation like two bulls.

What I feel I did well

Something I did well was filling out the QA documentation and creating a survey for people to take. I felt I did this well because a had previous experience with surveys and getting such data, which I felt really came in handy. Another thing I did well was filling out the documentation this was specifically setting the items up and moving the data around. I felt I did this well because I learnt it at two bulls, I got the chance to do it with professionals and it really helped!

What I liked about this topic

What I enjoyed about this topic would have to be the fact it was theory focused. I enjoyed all the documentation, I like that stuff, Which is basically becoming my catchphrase now… But I really do. Although at times I did feel overwhelmed but it was definitely fun.

What I found difficult

What I found difficult was probably determining the level of importance of each bug is, I would find multiple bugs in the games and they would be pretty game breaking and people would dismiss them as unimportant, which was a little off putting, but I suppose is a part of the learning process and is noteworthy of putting expectations in order.

What To do better next time

What I think Ill do better is probably socialising, I think I need to offer a more communication to the people I work with. This is I guess important? It kind of sucks, people were impressed with my work, but they ultimately seemed more interested in making friends and messing around. Which seems like it’s an important balance for work life.

But in the end, I enjoyed the unit, and hope that I can perhaps do some more work experience in other places.

-Luke Wells

[vitaguy99]

Link's Awakening, The Right Way To A Remaster

Link's awakening has recently been rereleased on switch as a remaster of the classic gameboy game Link's awakening released in 1996 on the 6th of June. This re-release felt like a great opportunity to analyze what makes a great remaster compared to a bad one, and consider the age old question in video games When should we and when shouldn't we remaster a game?

The latest link’s awakening on switch is an amazing port that not only improves on the original but is now the definitive version of the game. Link’s awakening on Switch allows the user to equip items to their character while still being able to use the sword and shield. Something that the original did not allow, as a result of hardware limitations. This improvement is probably not substantial in the eyes of some but is one of the great aspects of a remaster, it makes it hard to go back to the original. Another and more obvious change is the art style, this change removes the 16 bit limits to create a beautiful HD world. This allows the player to have a brand new experience that would even tempt original players to  play remaster.

But another aspect to consider is what makes a bad Remaster remasters are good at some point of time but there are some remasters that are just redundant,  for  example of a redundant Remaster would have to be The Deadpool game this game only came out a few years earlier and was re-released on the PS4 and Xbox One although being re-release isn't too bad the fact of the matter is the game was extremely accessible and has made no changes and the game was called a “Remaster”  this idea of a Remaster is just a disappointment to fans and a question of why?  the clear cash grab with the appeal to making a few extra bucks than actually making a good game, there is ultimately nothing wrong with that but there's nothing wrong with expressing your opinions about it either. But what makes it especially disappointing is the fact the same bugs from the previous version still  existed and nothing was changed the graphics were barely even improved either which is something of a question to why you would call it a Remaster,  and there was also another reason why none of these changes actually happen because the game was re-released for the fact to comply with a movie release to trick unsuspecting customers into buying a game that has no involve meant with the movie that it was attempting to ride the back of.

in conclusion remasters are something that can be good and sometimes or most of the time I usually pointless and somewhat bad,  the best course of action when it comes to remasters is 2 remake something that is old an inaccessible now such as a Gameboy game like Link's Awakening or something that you feel could be expanded upon a good example of this would have to be The Last of Us Remastered which added a photo mode improve the  graphics and included all previous DLC that was released,  game isn't exactly necessary but the fact they attempted to Bundle and improve the experience shows that it's Remaster worth making.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Link%27s_Awakening

The Game

[vitaguy99]

Games uses of split screen

Split screen is a legacy mechanic for gaming history the split screen has existed for many many years and has been in many many games starting up since the Nintendo 64 with 007 goldeneye. This game was one of the most compelling games to have  couch co-op while competing next to another player.  But beyond this split screen gaming has  had many iterative forms,  and today we're going to look into a few of those.

The first time we need to look into is the Legacy with screen which is stuff that you see in many games such as gold and I as mentioned before but also games such as call.of duty any “garbage wear” game and other competitive shooter games,  this windscreen is the easiest example of something that can allow multiple players to play the same game.  this is also something that has been around for over 20 years now and has it changed much which is why we're starting off with this first because the next one that I have to talk about it has been a rather shake-up of the mechanic of a split screen.

the most interesting form of the mechanic of a split screen that I've seen before has to be in all Lego game franchises game such as the Lego Star Wars Lego Indiana Jones Lego Marvel and so on has implemented a new form of the split screen mechanic when it comes to couch multiplayer gameplay,  the way their LEGO games implement this  is by having the screen part ways and merge depending on if the two players I will next to each other or far away from each other this is something that  doesn't happen very often and as an interesting  interpretation of the mechanic of a split screen not only that it is more visually appealing and smarter in the screen space that uses for the game why is it smarter an effective use of this mechanic,  well because other games in the similar general of the LEGO games don't do this  and because they don't do this there's a lot of empty and Wasted space where you see 4 characters in further 2 day you will really are. Of course the old wasted screens are done is useful in certain contexts,  for example the old split screen works in Call of Duty the reason for this is because call of Duty is an FPS And having the two split screens merge with make absolutely no sense because it's in first person and that camera prospective is impossible to it merge.

So in conclusion split screen has been around for over 20 years and has had many adaptions to it but most interesting adaptor we have to be the LEGO games Adaption this Adaption of a merging split screen when the plays are close by and a disc merge when they're apart stays on screen space and makes it a better use of the players view box.

[vitaguy99]

Game Maps

Game maps, game maps are a staple to most games these days, the majority of games are vast open world RPGs that fondly enough, require maps.  Although these games need maps there are types of games that dont, such as FPS shooters, strategy games, and open world games, they all use maps. So in this post, I'm going to look into the types of maps that games use, and see how they are presented and what makes a good map to a bad Map.

First off, let's start with a great Map! The map from The Legend of Zelda breath of the wild. Breath Of The Wild, is the perfect example of an amazing map, the map’s details and sheer size fits the game perfectly! But not only, the presentation of the map, and how it uses the pause menu as a context in the game, makes the map an amazing thing to use. But something else to consider is the colour and the presentation of the map, the fact that things are greyed out in a brownie way that represents a paper map, makes it feel tactile and visually appealing to the eye. Another fact that it uses a hierarchy for each of the names is something also noteworthy, So overall the map is something that other game should look to be inspired by and work on and perhaps even copy in some ways especially this coming back this what is a doozy.

This map from Final Fantasy 15 is a map that I would consider is pretty bad although visually it looks ok the interface for the map is just so annoying the movements of how you move around the map and the fact that the map looks like a melways  makes it unfun to use and it makes it hard to even enjoy the game because something about Final Fantasy 15 is the core focus on the fact that you're on a “road trip”  and what do people do on road trips they look at maps set a requirement of this map makes it just unfun to use and really puts a damper on the experience not only that the sheer size of the map is also a displeasure,  for example breath of the wild is a massive Game  but the context and the scale of it makes it a lot smaller then this game,  the fact that Final Fantasy 15 uses a car requires the map to be scaled  to be appropriate to the size of a car.  because of that it sucks,  that's somewhat going off topic as call focus is the map and the UI of that map the UI of this map and the fact that it's so hard to read because of its size really does affect the gameplay experience.

so in conclusion Maps have a very important roles in games these days and that's very important to perfect the way you use a Mac if it's unfun it can really affect the gameplay and if it's just an annoying tedious task that will also affect the gameplay.  but if you perfect the map,  it's just going to make the experience feel how it's supposed the feel.

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 7th of August

Today on the 7th of August the class have officially completed AIE’s forth Unit “Narrative Design” This marks the end of the Vertical slice unit and it will be interesting to more User testing and or QA based content in the following week.

What I learned

So In this unit we learnt mostly how to appropriately lead the player with aspects of the game such as lighting, environment, and other psychological tell tales that are supposed to be used to give the player a sense of the world that they are in an immersive environment. These concepts seem rather clear but in actuality there's a lot of thought that goes into these situations. This information was extremely interesting and each day we went through a different games that used all these elements in unison. Which ranged from Journey to Bioshock to edith finch. All these games used these narrative  items to subtly tell the player  what they need to do next to ensure an acceptable pace for the player to experience the game. This taught me a variety of things such as the importance of colour to the importance of lighting and cinematography. Such details separate the good games from the great and an understanding of these will be valuable for the end of year project.

What I feel I did well

In all honestly though, I felt I really dropped the ball with this Unit, constant distractions of personal situations came to affect and really swallowed a lot of my time. And the fact I couldn't give my idea justices really became a downer and somewhat made what I had to share embarrassing. Although that I felt my concepting before the arising issues was something I was proud of and Hope to be something I felt well.

What I liked about this topic

Something I liked about this topic was playing the games, I really enjoy the theory of this subject and kind of hope there was more. The knowledge that I gain from this course is interesting and something I find fun, So playing games no doubt was my favorite part of this subject.

What I found difficult

Something I found difficult was the project itself, considering the situation I had was bad but also other factors to the project I did not properly consider was something I also need to factor in for the next time and that was animation. Animation is a huge undertaking, and I didn't put much thought into it and thoroughly screwed myself in the time frame. Not only that my lack of skill with Maya is something I also failed to recognize, and ended up with me pivoting the pipeline to the program magica Voxels. Which was a neat program but, drains any real learning experience this course offered in terms of art assets. I just had too large of ideas, and my initial concept containing a car doomed these areas of the project. So disappointing… for myself...

What To do better next time

What to do better now Is to recognize my limitations as an artist and animator, I've begun to do hat with code and felt it ultimately wasn't too bad. And as my teacher said, “Plan for the worst” I'm no longer going to view these things from rose tinted glasses and plan for the worst possible outcomes.

-Luke Wells

[vitaguy99]

Computer Game Analysis: Fire emblem Three Houses

Fire emblem three houses is a Term based strategies RPG Where you play as a self insert protagonist that is the son/Daughter of a mercenary, Because of this case your father is requested at the church as in a past life before you were born, he was the leader of the church's knights. Once you return to the church, you learn it’s an academy for students around the regin, and because of this you’re recruited to be a teacher. Now that the general setups complete the task of the game is to teach your students, and increase their skills while managing to keep them alive through fights. This core loop is what makes Fire emblem addictive and rewarding for the player, and will be further analysed in this post.

Fire emblem Uses a month system to lead the player throughout the game this is a system that allows the player to not feel too overwhelmed as they Perform a variety of  mundane tasks,  these tasks include going to class having dinner at fishing.  all these tasks and simple at first but in reality they quite complex as you need to manage the time frames of each of these items over the course of the months of the game you need to manage these to increase stats of the student that you teach  and also improve the relationships between one and other to further the strength of these students as they work together to complete the course story that happened at the end of the month.  the great thing about this game load is that it allows for planning in the future that  give  strategy to think about.  well also gives the player freedom to customise and build their characters to the way they would like.

as 30 Days Go On the player has optional lectures that also increase the players skills this is another variety that ultimately leads to the end of month battleThat test the skills of the players you have level up. This battle is another mechanic of the game which is very important it drives study from the previous mechanic that you've been working with original Fire Emblem games. System adopts a paper scissors rock mechanic where Lance is axes and swords affect each other by strengths and weaknesses this is a  Legacy mechanic for the series and makes its return to this game as well. I find this mechanic rabbit interesting as although it works there is also another consideration on top of that which is Magic and arches these people up outside the mechanic but they also have an effect on these players which also makes it rather interesting.

So in conclusion  to call mechanics of Fire Emblem is this monthly system and thus tragedy of the original gameplay of Fire Emblem these to work very well to make her Pleasant experience that are rather interesting on top of this it also contextualises the story rather well and makes a journey for a game addictive and hard to put the game down.

[vitaguy99]

Far Cry New Dawn; Evolution of First Person Shooters

Far cry new dawn is the latest entry in the Far Cry series, a series that is the essence of an Exploration FPS. Something that is rather unique for the target audience for this game. What I mean by that is that compared to other FPS shooters this game has the unique aspect that everything is done in first person such as driving shooting of course and the way to story is delivered.

To begin this deeper look, we need to look into the other comparisons for this game. Such as Call of Duty, Wolfenstein and doom, the creator of the first-person shooter. First off let's start with the game that started it all doom.  dooms core mechanic was the shooting , of which was A revolutionary moment for gaming as this concept has paved the way for future first person shooters that are also going to be talked about in this posters well.  so Dooms mechanic of first person shooting  had a multitude of factors that  made it  special.  for example the thing that really helped make the FPS shooter a thing was 3d environment he's environments were made from 2D plane that gave the illusion 3d world. It's allowed free environment see enemies the heart around corners of and give an atmosphere to play at that never experienced before hand  and only started technology to create games later down the lines that just Call of Duty which is what we'll talk about now.

Call of Duty is probably one of the most influential first person Shooters of this generation What made this so special is the fact that it's so tactile and compelling in it's gameplay, combined with a griddy environment.Which is topped off with it's surreal story.  these factors basically perfected the first-person shooter as it appeared to an audience that finds the sorts of games compelling well also perfecting it. The environment you are in makes the FPS shooter feel as though you are making decisions and really placing the player in the world story of the game of being a war is something that many people can relate to and having experience shown to a casual audience in a way that makes the player feel empowered in a situation that in reality is quite dark. And this is impossible to create in any meaningful way if it wasn't for the FPS camera perspective.

Beautiful is the gritty reality of real life events  Wolfenstein  is the opposite the greedy dark aspects of Call of Duty while following a fantasy world  that is a perspective on what f the Nazi war was lost.  not only is this game a different and unique story, it also has roots in the  past.  Wolfenstein was created by the same people who created doom,  which means it has been in both areas of FPS shooters Wolfenstein has share Technologies with doom in the way it's world's were built and weighed at the FPS shooter worked in those time frames,  and also has the modern twist and looks of a realistic game, such as Call of Duty. An interesting aspect of this is how awesome sign was both successful in both areas of Gaming Schilling that the genre of FPS shooter is really based on the mechanics of it, much rather than looks.

So in conclusion the FPS shooter, have had a long history in gaming  and telling stories from the perspective Soldiers end of protagonists with unwieldy strength.   however this should not be the only idea of FPS shooters people have as  the camera perspective of FPS has also been used in other drummers are video games such as fantasy rpgs and strategies.

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 12th of June

Today on the 12th of June the class have officially completed AIE’s third Unit “Design Prototyping Fundamentals” This marks the end of the prototyping unit and it will be interesting to more narrative based content next week.

What I learned

What I learned this unit was insane, coding is a mammoth task and I feel I have learnt a lot. I basically learned how to code In C#! Although I’ve learned quite a lot, I still feel there’s ten times more to continue understanding, and I really do hope to continue practising this coding crap more. Even if at times it makes me want to burn my house down. But on more specific contents of code I learnt how if statements work, how scripts interact with one another, What bools, Game objects, integres, and floats work. I learned some basics in AI as well. It was all very interesting. And it will be interesting to see if more code is learned on my AIE journey this year, or weather this coding will be put on the back burner for the rest of the year. I'm guessing this is going to be sticking around like a bad smell. Yay!/s.

What I feel I did well

The thing I felt I did well was the debugging test we were presented yesterday on the 13th of June, although its suppose to be extremely easy, It was satisfying fixing syntax errors and  logic errors. And I really hope I can get to a point in coding where I could fix more complex errors. UI, is something I really enjoy doing these aspects of games. Except the Camera, that's a disaster… Another thing I feel I did great at was noting my code and my overall setting out of it. Its something I really enjoyed doing, and once I learned about voids I had a void all day. Coding notes are probably now one of my secret joys in life.

What I liked about this topic

What I really liked about this topic was that we had to create a prototype, it was exciting and interesting, and the possibilities are so interesting. Another aspect I liked about this topic was the pseudo code, that seemed easy to wrap my head around, it was just moving to the code that I struggled with.

What I found difficult

What I found difficult was pretty much everything this unit, I felt I was playing a long game of catchup this unit and I just crossed the finish line. But coding is definitely not my forte, but I'm down to improve my coding skills further, I do Feel like I have improved. I couldn't really code anything and now I coded a prototype, FUN!

What To do better next time

What I hope to do better next time is to manage my time better, I always feel like I'm ahead or behind and I most definitely consider personal issues and allowing time in my projects for when I get sick or have to help others with said sickness.

But overall the topic ended on A high note, and I'll be ready for the next!

- Luke Wells

[vitaguy99]

Computer Game Analysis: Okami

Okami is a Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii game released in the year 2006,  where you play as a wolf who is a reincarnation as the sun goddess Amaterasu. This concept was created by a team known as Clover Studios, who were later acquired by capcom. Clover Studios core concept was to create a game surrounding nature, originally starting with a photorealistic tri-dimensional game. But the issue the creators Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya and Shinji Mikami felt; was the game would be boring for their players, so they scrapped the entire concept out and reworked the core mechanics of the game.

Clover Studios reworked the artstyle which helped the aesthetics in the core mechanics of the game, the ink brush. This is gives the player the ability to manipulate the games environment with one of thirteen brush strokes, to name a few, they include making bombs, the ability to slice and the ability to rejuvenate. These mechanics with the brush are extremely important and critical to the players journey, as all thirteen of these Celestial Brush techniques in Ōkami are earned over the course of the game. They appeal to the players as each new technique rewards the player and opens up areas that were previously unobtainable.

The Celestial Brush techniques also add a dynamic aspect to the other mechanics of the game. For example, the combat. Okami strives for very fluid and dynamic combat to begin with, then adds an extra layer by allowing the player to use the brushes on an enemy to enforce extra damage. Another layer is added on top of those by giving enemies specific weaknesses to different types of elements,  example is fire enemies being weak to water. These two buttons are used during combat, for dash andto bite or (on the wii), by swinging the wii remote makes combat feel like you’re actually playing the game as a wolf. Another noteworthy mechanic for this game is the primary and secondary weapon system that gives the player three unique systems and five weapons for each of them, this aspect gives and makes the aesthetics of combat more compelling as the dynamics of choosing a weapon that best fits the player makes the game extremely fulfilling for the player.

The final mechanic that is important to Okami is the environmental puzzles. These puzzles are effective in hopefully getting the player to enjoy their experience with the game. They’re made in a way to present the story (such as quest-lines), but also offer a dynamic solution involving previous mechanics such as combat or the brush mechanic. Dungeons require a multitude of these previously mentioned mechanics, also allowing the puzzles to require the use of the players general abilities. They are used to maneuver around the game such as jumping, wall jumping, tackling and dashing. There can be more kinetic solutions to puzzles, which nicely contrasts the more riddle and dynamic heavy aspects of the quests-lines. These require brush strokes or solutions that relate to Japanese folklore. The game rewards the player by giving them weapons or brush techniques that allow later puzzles to become even more complex.

Out of these core mechanics, Okami was considered a very original game for it’s time even though it didn't have many unique aspects. The brush mechanic could be considered unique but was done in similar games. It did become the first game where you play a wolf. Although Okami is often labeled a ‘Zelda clone’, it's widely misconstrued that Okami drew the wolf protagonist idea from The Legend Of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, but Okami was actually the first to use the idea. The protagonist choice was seen several months before, in The Legend of Zelda. However, reviews regarding the game are considered as ‘better’. The concept that Okami was “better” was a common opinion with majority of reviewers, as Okami was considered the 8th highest rated game of 2006. This was thanks to it’s adult audience that appreciated Okami’s visuals and it being “beautiful, charismatic, engaging and one of the most original games you'll play anytime soon.”

Sadly, the mass positivity that Okami received, was mostly ignored. As Okami didn't do particularly well in terms of sales, only selling ‘164,600 copies, in its combined sales for the first ten weeks of release in all territories’. This was probably due to the release of massive games being released at the time, like Gran Turismo and Grand theft Auto, which were some of Playstations biggest sellers year after year. Because of Okami’s unique art form, the general audience of the time may of felt as though the product was niche. Capcom refused to spend money on any form of “Televised marketing” for the game and only advertised online, opting for an online art contest on a website. Because of all these unfortunate effects Okami didn't have much of a social impact at the time, but the impact formed years later as the conversation of whether or not games are considered art, would later resulted in Okami be presented in an art exposition.

Okami was a unique game for it’s time and was mostly praised for its art style and the fact that it was a considerable “Zelda clone”, as the game shared similar moment to moment loops with combat and quest-lines, but managing to have an unique level loop that brought a dynamic brush function that was different to the Zelda series.

References:

https://okami.fandom.com/wiki/Rejuvenation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSQEAzxfMwU&frags=pl%2Cwn

http://static.capcom.com/okami/manuals/Wii_Okami_Manual.pdf

http://blog.ocad.ca/wordpress/digf6b08-fw2011-01/2012/01/okami-mda-reading/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/920500-okami/faqs/75329/controls-general-tips

https://au.ign.com/articles/2006/08/11/the-weapons-of-okami

https://okami.fandom.com/wiki/Ōkami

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_2_video_games

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōkami

Game - Okami HD PS4

Image - http://www.weknowgamers.net/2012/12/okami-hd-review.html

Image - https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/8/17098072/okami-hd-nintendo-switch-release-date

Image - https://www.shareicon.net/pack/playstation-controller-buttons

[vitaguy99]

Board Game Analysis: Dead Of Winter: A Crossroads Game

‘Dead of Winter’ is a semi corporative zombie adventure game that has the main goal of survival. the designers Isaac Vega and Jon Gilmour Created a unique take on the cooperative genre.

The zombie adventures goal is to successfully fend the colony you and up to six players characters are living in. This is done by supplying food to every survivor, keep all zombies outside the colony at bay, and having enough of the required material stated on the adjacent crisis cards in the “crisis contributions” deck. This whole process is continued for over the course of five to ten rounds depending on the main objective you choose, or if you’re not careful the game will end if the colony’s moral reaches zero. But not only this, the creators added an extra twist to the game which insures each player will share a distrust to one another. this is done with the secret objective card which is dealt to each player with a high chance of one being a “Betrayer”. This aspect of the game is important as it is what isolates each player to have their own intentions of winning the game. The “Betrayer” is tasked with ruining the colony before the main objective is completed, and the rest of the group is tasked with completing the main objective and their secret objective.

This aspect to the game I felt was great, as it gave the player their own objective to do instead of feeling as though one person was the leader and the rest of the player group was doing what they said. This is something I feel a lot of cooperative games I’ve played in the past struggle with and probably could learn a thing or two from ‘Dead Of Winter’. But not only that, the main objective and the crisis cards also encouraged cooperative play, which made the game feel like it had a great balance of teamwork and independence.

‘Dead Of Winter’ release in 2014 to praise and fanfare as the board game got an overall score of “7.7” on the site “BoardGameGeek” and received an overall rank of “73” and a thematic rank of “28”. Not only this, plenty of reviews praised the games  atmosphere and “betrayal” mechanic. Which also lead ‘Dead Of Winter’ to win a multitude of board game awards such as “2014’s Dice Towers best game of the year”, “2014’s Dice Towers best co-op game of the year” and “2014’s Dice Towers best game theming of the year”. These praises and success lead to ‘Dead Of Winter’ getting two expansions developed. One entitled “Dead of Winter: The Long Night”, which was released in 2016 and included new locations and 20 new survivors. It was also a standalone expansion which allowed it to be played as an entirely new experience or as an addition to the original ‘Dead Of Winter’. The other expansion was released in 2017 and was named “Dead Of Winter: Waring Colonies” and added 15 new survivors, another 50 crossroad cards and almost 50 new items.

In conclusion ‘Dead Of Winter’ is a game that is pretty much universally liked and is praised for the solutions it gave to the cooperative board game genre. ‘Dead Of Winter’ continues to have a somewhat active community, It isn’t huge, but the Dead Of Winter reddit page is still active although slow. Not only that, the game also has a few fan forms, but majority of these fan moderated places exist to help others who are struggling to understand the rules. But other then that a great aspect about that is the smallness of these groups is that it keeps them all positive.

References:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_Winter:_A_Cross_Roads_Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etqaDWQuQpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6la-2F6EtyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG-iUxJcoXc&frags=pl%2Cwn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTiAixdza08&frags=pl%2Cwn

https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/dead-of-winter

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150376/dead-winter-crossroads-game/ratings?pageid=1&comment=1&rating=8

https://www.reddit.com/r/deadofwinter/top/?t=all

The Game; ‘Dead of winter’

Image: https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/dead-of-winter

Image: https://www.gamesmen.com.au/dead-of-winter-warring-colonies-expansion-board-game

Image: https://www.gamesmen.com.au/dead-of-winter-the-long-night-board-game

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 1st of May

Today on the 1st of May my fellow students and I have officially completed AIE’s second Unit “Level Design Fundamentals” This marks the end of the level design unit and it will be interesting to follow it up with what’s behind the curtain.

What I learned

What I learned is abundant, as I’ve never had any experience with Maya before this unit and now I feel like I have the tools to create something somewhat meaningful. Not only that, my experience with this program and my graze with Blender made me feel I have insight into what the artists have to do, and... ART’S HARD! I'm glad I have that insight, But I in no way want to be an artist, just let me be amazed by your artistic prowess. I think I’ll stick to crayons and paper. All jokes aside, I in no way could do what many skilled artists can do and I hope to someday have one tenth of their skills. Another area I learned about was the scheduling and ensuring the group stayed on task. Which also leads into working in a group, there were a lot of pros and cons, I did feel that it went well, but of course improvements could be made...

(Images of the level we made)

What I feel I did well

I felt that I excelled at the documentation and managing the group with the ‘Hack n Plan’ and maintaining the burnout sheet. This aspect was my main focus and I felt that It was my best work and came to enjoy it. Although this wasn’t supposed to be my area of work, I was proud of myself for taking initiative for something that seemed like it wouldn't be done. And I’m proud of the job I’ve done.

What I liked about this topic

In this topic I really enjoyed the ‘Hack n Plan’, using that really helped with maintaining the project and keeping it on track. Although I'm not someone who gets stressed often, I really could see how this could help people, and not only that, It was really satisfying completing projects under allocated times and closing each respective boards, With time to spare! Literal peak of my life, can’t get any better.

What I found difficult

What I found difficult was probably the group aspect as I felt some people didn't pull their weight, but maybe that’s the result of the group being so large, but also it’s on me for not being direct enough, I could of done more to ensure people did crap. Not only that the SVN betrayed us, Although I understood it, it’s up to debate if someone else destroyed it for everyone else… And as the kids say “there’s Tea”.

(Image of the level we made)

What To do better next time

What I’d Like to do better next time is Working On My art skills, as that's something I did quite a bit of work on, and there is always room for improvement. Another aspect I’d like to do better is ensuring people actually do stand up correctly, It was always half-assed.

In conclusion this was a topic that was fun, and of course interesting but maybe a little annoying with its monotony, ultimately though I’m down to do it again and get better.

- Vitaguy99

#game design #Gaming #school #school work

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 13th of March

Today on the 13th of March me and my fellow students have officially completed AIE’s first Unit “Introduction to Game Design” This marks the end my introduction to game design and excites me for the future of this course!

What I learned

This Unit was pretty interesting many of the things that we were introduced to, I personally was already familiar with. But there was many things that I also learn about for the first time. For example, in this unit we learnt a basic understanding of Prototyping for a board game, and how It’s a lot harder than expected. And also what is required in making a game design document. These aspects of this topic were great as they were new and interesting aspects I’ve never learned about. But other documentation such as Target market research and research plan, are things I was already aware of. It’s good to get a reminder but it made class somewhat tedious…

But documentation is not the only thing we learnt, another great aspect that our teacher stated, and will be explored further in the next unit was Unity! This is the first time I used this product and it was interesting to be taught something I’ve never had a real understanding of.

What I feel I did well

I personally felt the thing I did well was developing a texture, I feel this is the case since I was already aware of how to use Photoshop. This knowledge really came to my advantage in this topic as I have done many classes in the past 4 years of my life that required using Photoshop for previous certificates.

What I liked about this topic

I really enjoyed the teamwork aspect of this unit as I feel that it allows me to improve my social skills, as this is going to be an important aspect of the entire year. And am looking forward to continuing it!

(Image of Board Game the group and I made)

What I found difficult

What I personally found difficult In this unit would have to be perspective and logic in Unity, The perspective of the camera I found somewhat rage inducing as dealing with it, often became hit or miss for me personally. Not only this I struggled with the logic. I understood it but I just found it a little annoying to set up this logic and then it proceeds to do it wrong... Maybe I doubt understand it.. 😅

What To do better next time

What I’d like to do better is two things. I’d like to get better at presenting which I feel I have somewhat approved at. And secondly, Using my time more wisely. I successfully stayed a top of my projects and somewhat ahead. But I’d like to do more than just the bare minimum. Such as writing extra blog posts, and understanding “the Twitter” and maybe using “the Instagram”...

In conclusion this was a relatively interesting Topic and I look forward to the future challenges that I'm faced with. 

- Vitaguy99

#Vitaguy99 #School #Game Design #AIE

[vitaguy99]

Post Mortem - 26th of February

On the 26th of February me and my fellow students have officially completed AIE’s Work health and safety Unit “Health and Safety”. This will make the third time I’ve learnt about Health and Safety and I can most certainly say I know how not to die when sitting at a computer.

What I learned

So What I learnt In this small unit is that Health and safety can be done in the span of one class. Amazing! My past experiences have suggested otherwise but AIE, have other plans. So jokes aside, the class offered a lot of interesting “What If” situations to discuss and ensure were safe, which was also a new way I’ve ever been taught about occupational health and safety. This and doing a group activity were largely unique experiences that were great, as I got to hear others viewpoints on the situations that we had to discuss.

Anyway, in conclusion work health and safety is very important to every workplace and is necessary to be taught no matter how boring it is. But despite that fact the topic was done in a unique way that it was enjoyable and memorable.

 - Vitaguy99

#school #game design #AIE #beep boop #Vitaguy99

[vitaguy99]

The Beginners Guide

The Beginners Guide is an interactive storytelling experience that follows the narrator Davey Wreden as he decodes the psyche of his friend Coda through the games he designs. The narrative is experienced from the unreliable narrator “Davey” as he claims to know the “true intentions” of the author of the games. This outlook which is thrusted onto the player calls into question the philosophy of whether or not Death to the Author is true sentiment when it comes to art. To get a better understanding of such a complicated concept, I will need to further explain why this game is so important to the complexity of the creative design process.

‘The Beginners Guide’ is a noteworthy follow up to Davey Wreden’s critically acclaimed game ‘The Stanley Parable’, Which was a walking simulator that was praised for its quirky and unique delivery of the narrative. This influence of ‘The Stanley Parable’ is evident in ‘The Beginners Guide’, but is more noteworthy for the meta text expressed in ‘The Beginners Guide’.  

Now that you have a better understanding of the text, I can now highlight the game itself. ‘The Beginners Guide’ is honestly light on gameplay and grandeur, but makes this up with the story execution. The story of ‘The Beginners Guide’ is the core mechanic of the game and is used to establish a question on whether games are impervious to meaning, this concept is constantly revisited over the course of the one and a half hour experience as Davey continues to analyse Coda’s decisions in each game he made. Examples of this are plentiful but my favorite would have to be “Chapter Ten’s House”. This “game” is a simulation of performing a plethora of repetitive chores in a house while having a multitude of thought provoking conversation with an NPC (non-playable character), Davey’s interpretation of this game is that its  “Coda’s Puzzle” and the “dark transitional space between the two doors”. This outlook contains no fact but rather a subjective concept that Davey has conceived. This is evidence of what I mentioned earlier known as “Death of the Author”. This is the theory of whether the Author is irrelevant to the work once another reader interprets it, which is a core aspect of what this game represents as the two character’s “Davey” and “Coda’s” ideology of “what is a game?” butt heads.

This is important as the philosophies of these two are highlighted by this concept that Davey is very much for the sense that the author placed meaning in their work, either intentional or not. Which is presented with Davey’s comment that he “feels” like he “gets to know Coda” better “through his games”. But on the other hand, Coda in no way feels this which is shown at the ending of the game, with his feeling of toxicity towards Davey “sharing” his game and how Davey desires a “message from the creator”.

I’ve chosen to focus so much on this aspect as this game’s story is the core loop. Davey’s invasion of Coda’s games is the game itself. The game is a form of art that is supposed to criticize our interpretations of people's work and used to remind us we truly don't discern what the narrator truly knows. Davey cherry picks what he feels is important to the narrative and molds it to the story he aspires to tell, which is what Davey believes that Coda is conveying. This is presented in a very interesting way towards the beginning of the game in “Chapter One’s whisper”. In this level Coda has programmed a relatively short and solvable labyrinth into the games level design, which Davey is quoted saying “There's really no reason for it that I've ever been able to discern so in the interest of time I'm just going to skip you on past it.” This is extremely important to the text as it establish is that the idea that Davey has a particular pigeon hole that he wants to beckons Coda’s games towards.

Ultimately though, my idea that “this game is a form of art that is supposed to criticize our interpretations of people's work and used to remind us we truly don't discern what the narrator truly knows” is my subjective view of this game. And is one that can be shared by many and shared by few. But the general consensus of this game is that it's truly a complex 4th wall breaking work of art that is a struggle to talk about without contradicting the views presented within the game.

References:

http://the-beginners-guide.wikia.com/wiki/Whisper

http://the-beginners-guide.wikia.com/wiki/House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAbh28j11RQ&frags=pl%2Cwn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N6y6LEwsKc&frags=pl%2Cwn

Game: The Beginners Guide

#the beginners guide #my first blog post #analysis #school work #tumblr #the stanley parable