Chapter 2 Work

Chapter 2 Work

               When I think of different genres of games; I first think of sci-fi games, Star Ocean comes to mind. Star Ocean four was not only graphically driven, but the game mechanics were so polished and imbedded into the story and world of the game. They link together the story and gathering materials to make equipment and items seamlessly, there is no loss of interest when grinding and searching for material.

Next on my list is horror and survival type games and in my mind, Resident Evil rules paramount. They have always made their games with the context of the world in mind. Resident Evil is about the feeling of society breaking down and how the player and character reacts to the surroundings. The player always has to overcome some obstacles or zombie hoard to complete their goal, all the while keeping their sanity or pants dry while the world around them screams no hope. I always look forward to being sucked into Resident Evil’s world.

More recently I’ve been playing a game that’s a bit of a mash up of war and espionage with a dash of sci-fi called Singularity. This game is no doubt game play driven with the game revolving around a prototype weapon developed by a top-secret Russian scientist at a hidden island location. The weapon is found by the player and used to save the world from crazy power hungry Russians that want to use the weapon to control the fate of the world. You get to upgrade the weapon with experience packages found along the way as well as new mechanics that are added to the prototype weapon throughout the games storyline. Singularity uses the mechanics well and once you get the hang of the controls you will have handfuls of ways of dealing with the hordes of enemies you face.

All of these games though made through different means are extremely fun and rewarding in their own experiences when you take the time to play them. You can see how the game designs of each were emphasized and how it changes the feel and tone of the games. So many extraordinary games are made in each genre because of the plethora of methods to tackle each game that you make.

High Concept

HIGH CONCEPT: Document

     Palling ‘Round with God is a 4 player epic adventure of three heroes who are looking for the all-powerful, radiating orb of infinite shenanigan wisdom…which is covered up by gold coins and $20 bills in a steamer trunk hidden somewhere in the world.  The one lucky buck that gets to play God must defend the treasure at all costs.  Sadly, it’s all that’s left worth saving.  The housing market’s crap nowadays.  Television hasn’t been good since 1959.  And your son hates you.  He had the nerve to stay in bed all day on his birthday last year just to spite you and your festive holiday party plans.  Screw ‘em.  You’re the boss.  Your t-shirt says so.  You guide gloomy buffer angels, dirty devil demon crawlers, and a mega-giant of massive meanness to stop a trio of bumbling schmucks from getting your stash.  The three searchers are lost in a vague world.  Slowly proceeding over an empty landscape where untold riches (actually just about $8,020.17) or fierce tooth-to-toe battles await just around the corner.  Movements are direct and the mission is clear.  Steal God’s thunder fund.  

     Memory and luck will reward the patient, but be careful of your teammates in this quest.  They can choose to revive a fallen comrade as they lay bruised and confused on the path ahead or they can take an extra long step over the carnage, give a thumbs up sign, smile, and keep on looking for that confounded treasure box thing.  And always remember, far, far above - God’s watching it all.  Reveling in the squabbles and near misses with the loot.  One of the heroes walks mere centimeters away from the loot?  Should God have said anything?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  It’s up to God.  But remember, as the result of an old football injury, he can’t move the heavy treasure after initially putting it down.  It’s there forever.  And once it’s discovered - the great big gig’s up.  It’s been fun palling ‘round with you, God, but I’ve got to go!  (fade-up distant angry thunder, wait for electricity to go ou-------)

Free Play

Free Play

               I somehow stumbled upon a strange site and found myself looking at a list of the most popular online freeware games. With that in mind I scrolled through seeing a couple that looked promising, but when I saw this gem it reminded me how much fun I had with its original game, so I had to give it a try. Portal: The flash version takes what is great about the original and brings it to 2-d browser space for more fun in robot controlled human experimentation.

·        Was the game a challenge, fun, entertaining? Why?

This flash game really brought what was so much fun with portal to a 2d world. Portal: the flash game starts out slow, teaching you how to use the mechanics of the player to move around in the world. It isn’t for a few levels in that it starts to challenge you as it inconspicuously adds new elements to the world for you to get by. But by the time it starts getting difficult, you are hooked and you just have to figure out the brain busting puzzle of a level. It is so much fun to figure out how to propel your player across the level, and almost just as entertaining to watch your player get shot into a cruel death trying to figure out the level.

·        Does the game have replay value?

Though not all of the 40 levels of Portal: the flash game makes you want to play them again(some levels are just to train the player), most of the levels especially further in on the game make you want to go back just to see if there was another way to complete the level. If you go back to a level and complete it, the game almost compels you to play the next level and so forth. I love games that have that effect on me, even though my fiancé doesn’t. Not to mention at the end of the game you can pull up the console and edit the game as you see fit.

·        Is this game story driven or game play driven?

This game is definitively game play driven. The mechanics and layout of the levels bring you directly to the next puzzle with no story, though this is based off of a famous IP of the same name so the backstory is hinted at in the beginning text of the game. This is a puzzle game and uses the game mechanics to increase the skill and fun of the game exponentially over time. Adding elements of companion cubes, turrets, energy balls and death spikes to the mix kept it challenging.

·        How is the game's presentation? (Graphics, Sound)

The game’s presentation is what you would expect from a flash game. The graphics and levels are very clean and they keep the colors the same as the original. The graphics aren’t extremely fleshed out, but for this type of game they don’t need to rely on graphic driven gameplay. I do love the character the player gets to use, the animation and clothes they give the character makes me feel like I am an inmate which drives home the escapist nature of the game. The sound does its job, sound effects are there that substantiate what is going on in the world but the music seems a bit generic. I ended up muting the music to play some of my own.

·        How are the Controls? Describe the Game's Feel

The controls are very simple using the basic d-pad movements to move around the field, with two buttons defined to each distinct portal. The feel of using the portal takes a level or two to get used to and remember from the original game, but once you program your twitch muscles to those portal keys, this game almost lets your player fly through the level if they know what they are doing. That’s why I love playing this kind of puzzle game, you really feel like you are controlling the level with portals. But I guess that’s thinking with portals.

·        Any other special features you enjoyed?

I love that they let you use the console to tinker with the game. I believe most games should have this available to use to change the game to their own version. This increases the replay value of the game, mods of the game come out and you get to spend time trying out new versions, which you tell your friends about and in turn they make their own versions which can perpetuate the cycle of mods.

·        If you could change one mechanic, what would it be and how would it affect game play?

If I could change one mechanic, I would make the player be able to slide in the game. This would open up new ways to use the original mechanics of the portal system; I feel it would add a more challenging layer to the game to be able to slide while using portals.

·        On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the game? Why?

I would give this game an 8 out of 10 Batman BooYahs. I love the feel of the game; it reminds me of the original Portal while introducing it to the flash community. The game play is driven by great mechanics that are simple and polished, being able to do tricks with the portals and getting through impossible looking levels is fun and boosts self-esteem. This game is great to pick up and play for a couple of levels or sit down and spend time trying to beat all 40 levels, even after that you can make your own levels if you know what you’re doing.

Hey! Wanna Pal around with God? (SGD112 Project)

Here is a video of the Blog Force Four pitching our game idea, with 2 hours and a shoddy camera. I hope you enjoy and are extremely offended.

Palling 'Round with God.wmv

Gameplay and Controls

Gameplay and Control

            When I think about a game that I played that has excellent control and gameplay, Super Smash Brothers Melee comes to mind. The way they bring so many different characters spanning several games and still manage to keep the control of each character feel genuine helps the game sustain long term playability.  The controls of SSBM let even the most casual gamer pick up the game and easily start moving and fighting with ease, but also let more dedicated gamers take all of the gameplay mechanics and hone those skills to play the game at a much more competitive level. Even so much as to find a break in the gameplay that let players execute a powerful gameplay mechanic.

            This game was so revolutionary because it let you pit characters of different games against each other, to see which game was better. This was amazing because all of them were the best, depending on what character you chose. You had a whole different feel for the environment of the game. Bowser moved slow and almost shook the ground after a high jump. You could feel his weight being moved around like a force with momentum, and you didn’t want to be in his way.  With Fox McCloud you move fast, jump fast, and hit fast. When you play as Fox you want to make sure you can move everywhere on the battlefield, and when you pick up the controller you are able to get that responsiveness. Once you play with every character and learn how they feel in the context of the game, you can pick how you want to play based on the feel of the game. When you want to move fast you will choose between Fox and Captain Falcon, or if you want speed with a lightweight feel you can choose Zelda or Peach. There are so many different choices for your fighting style and it makes this game so much fun with an extremely high replay ability level.

            With every movement the player could see how the character acted towards the context of the game. Running, jumping, and landing on the ground or being knocked into the wall is very visceral, which made it even more satisfying to do to the other players.  The game’s title was based on one of the gameplay mechanics that let you use the punch and analogue controller to hit at different strengths. You could just punch and administer a regular amount of damage, which reduces overtime if you don’t switch up your tactics, or you could almost literally smash the analogue stick in any direction with the punch button and do a charged attack which had the power to launch the opponent across the field. This mechanic didn’t have to be used to play the game, but that mechanic made the gameplay feel polished. Although there wasn’t a mechanic to let the player dash, if you utilized several mechanics in a certain fashion you could break the physics to help the player to dash. This emerging mechanic let hardcore players break the game to play the game at a more advanced level of gameplay. Being able to perform the dash took time to learn for just one specific character and wasn’t easy, so it really beefed up the learning curve for more advanced moves that used the dash. Even though this mechanic was not supposed to be in the game, it made the gameplay and controls much more exciting and satisfying to learn and master.

            Super Smash Brothers Melee is a game with a complex learning curve. You can pick it up and play easily making it fun for everyone, but that curve gets steep trying to master all the characters or moves. This plus polished environments and characters equal long term replay ability and fun.  SSBM is a great example of a game that demonstrates why gameplay and controls are important in a game.

Introduction to the Game Design Document

    I read an article explaining why design documents for games are important. Even before reading the article I knew that regardless of whether they were required for the games you create, that they were necessary for me to create a working game. They help keep my thoughts in order, especially when I first start my ideas for a new game. I will think of a setting and story, and while I am fleshing that out my brain starts churning out ideas for game play mechanics. There I am already scattered, creating so many ideas and models that I will forget important details if I don't write that down. That is my main reason to keep a game design document for every game I create. It can be a tedious process, but without the document, I could lose my ideas that make that game a blockbuster.

     Creating a game design document with a team of people is even more reason to make sure it is fleshed out as well as possible. I really like the analogy used in the article, you don't read a phone book, you use it or refer to it when you need certain information. This lets the team continue to work using the documents for reference and keeping the number of conferences, phone calls, and emails to a minimum, which in turn increases performance and efficiency I believe. Only going to another team member or head designer when you can't refer to the design documents alone will save a lot of stress on everyone working on the game. There is rarely a time when you wont need to create a design document for your game, and even then you will only benefit from taking the time to create one.

Star Ocean Gameplay Mechanics (Chapter 1 Work)

Question 1 : Choose a game franchise and trace the evolution of gameplay mechanics from the first to the current game in the series. How have the mechanics evolved over time?


     One series that really gripped me was the Star Ocean game series, their use of game mechanics to draw the player into the characters and the worlds they interacted with made me a great fan of the series. It was interesting to see how certain gameplay mechanics that have been implemented since the series beginning grew and had new mechanics built upon the older ones, while some were discarded for newer mechanics.

     The Star Ocean series is a set of role playing games that had a Star Trek familiarity to it. Each of the games was based upon world exploration, immersing the player into different environments and times in some cases. Though character development never lagged, as each Star Ocean game had private actions and character affinities that played roles in not only the story of the game but also in combat and in some cases determined which characters you could recruit. The battles in each game developed in leaps throughout each new installment, many gameplay mechanics were introduced from 2d to 3d.

     The first game in the series started with private actions. Private actions start when your player is near a town on the world map, you are then prompted to press the action button to enter the town in private action mode, or if you don’t press the action button designated, you enter the town normally without private actions in play. This means that the main character that the player Is controlling goes into town alone, leaving the other members of your party to roam the town freely, so you can interact with them for special scenes that move the storyline along, create side quests, introduce new recruits, and affect the affinity or bond of the player’s character and teammates. Affinity towards your party members affects the way the story can progress and even cause the game to have different endings. In battle if a party member dies that has accumulated enough positive affinity, the player’s character goes into a rage that increases several stats temporarily.

     Another great element to the series was the skill system or item creation, which let your party learn various skills like writing, cooking, composition, etc. to help develop character stats, new abilities, and items. These skills could be used only by earning skill points which were gained after battle, each skill needing different skill points to be upgraded and therefore used more efficiently or successfully. Each time a skill was used, there was an element of chance where the skill could fail, resulting in loss of an item. In Till the end of Time(Star Ocean 3) the player had to go to specific areas/workshops where only there they could use their item creation skills, as opposed to earlier games where items where created in the menu selection screen. Also in Star Ocean 3 the player is able to recruit non-playable characters to increase their success rates and also create more powerful items. They even added a mechanic where you could patent your inventions and publish them, then at random times during the game, you would receive royalties for your patents. It really rewarded the player for spending time perfecting their creation skills. In Star Ocean 4 the game let players search the world map for materials related to item creation by harvesting and mining certain areas of each world you visit. Harvesting and mining for materials are also character specific, the mining can only be done when a certain cyborg character is recruited into your party. And even then, the character must upgrade his mining skill by using his skill points. This helps to increase the number and potency of the items mined.

     The battle system has gone through lots of overhauls each series. The first game started out with battles happening randomly on the world map or in dungeon areas, which lead the player to a 2d battle interface, eventually through the series battles weren’t random and players would have a choice to encounter enemies on the field. The player fought in real time with enemies, only controlling the lead character while the rest of the party was controlled by AI. You could switch your character to play whichever you liked, which gave the player a real variety in gameplay. Later on they created a game engine that used a 3d battle field with 2d character sprites, letting the player confront the enemies from any angle, not just front or back. When the Star Ocean series went 3d in Star Ocean 3, added mechanics of a fury gauge, bonus gauge, and battle trophies made players use more innovative strategies in order to get more rewards including experience, skill points, sound clips and soundtracks that were unlocked after earning certain battle trophies.

     Battle trophies were awards for winning a battle under certain conditions. Some were winning a battle by using only special abilities, or by beating a boss under a time limit. These battle trophies let the hardcore player really dig into the game by trying to get battle trophies that were very hard to get without leveling the character up to a certain point, or using a certain string of abilities or characters. In Star Ocean 4 they had character specific battle trophies, which meant that each party member had trophies that you could only earn by using that specific character in battle. It made getting trophies harder and more time consuming, but there were more rewards to getting trophies than just soundtracks. If the player got a certain percentage of one characters trophies that might increase the level cap of that character, or increased the amount of special abilities that could be used during battle by that character.

     Late in the series they created a versus battle arena, so that the player could battle their character against a computer controlled unit or have a friend battle them. Though the series had always had a coliseum area where they could battle their party against enemies in rounds for prizes and awards, this let the player have multiplayer battles.

     I only smattered the surface of gameplay mechanics in the Star Ocean series, but just these examples show how the series evolved their gameplay over each game. Sometimes changing the mechanics completely, like having random encounters to being able to see the enemies you encounter. Some mechanics in the series were not replaced, but had gameplay mechanics built onto them, adding replay ability and an edge in some cases while still keeping the mechanics that are a staple in the series like the item creation and private actions. Some changes were a great improvement upon the series, and some changes weren’t necessarily good or bad, with each different set of gameplay mechanics gives a unique experience.