*sniffle*

Oh I hate being sickly. As if trying to concentrate on study wasn't bad enough, someone had to throw a head-cold into the mix. And it's disgusting. :( My eyes start crying at random times...and I'm not sure whether thats from the head cold or just from thinking about the amount of work there is to do! I just wish it would go away and leave me alone -the cold that is...actually the work can go away too if it wants. That'd be great. Thaaaaanks. 

Ah having a cold has it's benefits. You get slightly pampered - as I type, Ferg just handed me a cup of tea and jam rings. Service with a smile. Haha. And my mam came out to the house yesterday with a bag of goodies for me, including biscuits, corn flakes (if you know me at all you'll know how much i love them), grapes, a box of cappuchinos, a can of pringles and a ton of other stuff. Of course it's not nice when you can't actually taste any of it. Oh well.

Anyway, looks like I'm gonna have to summon the energy to get back into the study now. *sniffle*   

Presentations. Again :)

Hello again, 

I was just thinking about our presentations which are (thankfully) over and done with now. As they were kept fairly open, it was interesting to see all of the different ideas and views everyone had. Some people took a fairly personal approach to the presentation, talking abut their own views on things while others stuck with facts after researching different topics.

All in all, it was good to get some more practice in for presenting, (The only presentations I've ever done were all done this year!) and I think it helped shake some more nerves off for the future...of course seeing colm make it through some serious "typo's" helped too! Haha!

  

Writing Games Analysis module...earlier the better?

Just wanted to include a quick note on our Writing Games Analysis module. We discussed in our last class whether it would be a good idea to have the module earlier in the course, or later. As a member of the year which signifies the first time the course has been run, I think it's very important to have a look at when some of our modules are being taught on the course.

I think that Writing Games Analysis provides good fundamentals for games theory and that it would be of much greater benefit if it was taught a lot earlier on the course. It is during our college years that we should be thinking about the best/new/different/fresh ways to make computer games(after all, we represent the future of the industry). If I had the ideas and knowledge I've aquired from this module at an earlier time I think I would have been better prepared for later on, not to mention my FYP. Writing Games Analysis should be an essential module, early in the course.

You need ideas before you start implementing them.

Spaces ...continued.

So as I said last night i have a few extra things I'd like to talk about regarding Game Spaces...

I had a read of Sudnow's paper about spaces, in particular the Eyeball and Cathexis sections. I found it a very...different...read. I liked it, and thought it gave a very good insight into how the author saw and used the game space of "Breakout"- a game which is played on the Atari. In the game the player is shown a few rows of different coloured blocks, which the player has to try and hit/destroy with a ball hit by a flat paddle towards them. The player can his the ball off the boundaries of the game space- the surrounding walls to try and hit the blocks.

I *think* I've played the game myself before, or at least something very similar as I remembered how the game was played (and how frustrating it was) as I read the paper. What I found the most interesting about the paper was how Sudnow tried out different ways to play the game, to try and beat it. One method he used was placing some black tape accross the bottom of the screen so he couldn't see the little paddle which was used to hit the ball. He tried to rely on his instincts and eventually found that he could hit the ball about 60% of the time!
Another thing he tried was using his peripheral vision rather than concentrating on the ball. He found this method worked much better. What facinated me most was that he was so immersed by the game and the game space that he felt he needed to complete it, to find the best way to do it using the game space he was given. It basically took over his life!

I think that the game space of a game is a very important element of every game, but it is important that the game spaces is suited to the game and its genre for it to really work. The player needs to feel that they belong in the game, that their surroundings make sense to be the way they are. I believe that is what makes the game space so important.

Game Spaces

We recently covered this topic in class and I must say that I found it very interesting. At first I thought I had a pretty good idea of what a game space was, basically the game space in which you play, your environment. I found it really intriguing to compare the game spaces of different games, to see how different game spaces worked well for different games. For example, if you look at a game like Grand Theft Auto, the space in which you are free to roam around is absolutely huge. This helps to give the player a the feeling of freedom to do whatever they want, which is, in essence exactly what the game is about. So I think the game space works quite well in GTA.

I've played all of the games in the series and something which occurred to me while thinking about the game space of in all of them was that it seemed to increase with every new title in the series. Focusing on the 3D games(GTA3, Vice City, San Andreas and GTA4), every one had a bigger game space than than last...all apart from one- GTA4. San Andreas had a much larger game space than GTA 4, and that begs the question "Why?" Why did the developers decide to make the game space smaller?
Well, in an interview with someone from Rockstar who are the developers of GTA, at: http://games.kikizo.com/news/200705/101_p1.asp they said this: "I think when people think about San Andreas it was always about the size, scope and scale of the game, and in part it was almost seen as a 'features list'; it was all about how many cars, how many planes, how many this and that - whereas GTA4 is a completely different beast altogether. It's a far more evolved, more detailed game."
I think that Rockstar realised that there is probably a limit to the size of a game space before it just becomes, well, too big! While it gives the player a sense of freedom I also think it is important to keep the player focused on the goals of the game as well as other things. They still kept the game space big, but focused more on the detail of the city.

Anyway...I didn't realise how late it is! It's 2am no matter what the time written under the blog says! Time for bed I think! I have some more to offload on here about game spaces but I'll get to that tomorrow. :)

'night.

Dissertation

Just thought I'd fill ye in on what I'll be doing for my dissertation. 

I've decided that I'm going to explore the question "What makes a good game?". This will involve looking at all of the qualities which make a game, and hopefully being able to come up with what qualities are needed in a game for it to be considered good. As it ties in with the beginning of my FYP I think it's a good choice! :) 

The main reason I've decided to look at this question is because I think it's a very difficult one to answer, as every game is different but I like a challenge! Plus there doesn't seem to be any "formula" out there which anyone could follow to make a great game. Every time. I'm not sure if it's possible to come up with such a formula, but I think I can identify the key aspects that a game should have for it to be good....but I'll save that for my dissertation. ;) 

Rules rules rules....

So in Thursdays lecture for Writing Games Analysis, we discussed rules. More specifically, rules in games. 

We tried to define what exactly a rule is and there were a few key words which I think define what rules are quite well. One of the words mentioned was "constraint"...Daniel I think, mentioned this.

Rules in general, not just in video games are constraints. I'd struggle to think of a rule which doesn't restrict your actions or anything else. ("No eating in the labs" ...think we all know that rule...! :P) 

According to  http://www.thefreedictionary.com  one of(or part of) the definitions given for a rule is "An Authoritative, prescribed direction for conduct." This suggests that rules are present to act as some kind of authority; to control what we do, how we act, and to govern what is acceptable and what is not.

This isn't to say that you have to follow the rules and abide by the constraints which are set by them, but they are still there and limit(or at least attempt to limit) your actions.

One thing which we talked about at the lecture which I hadn't thought about before is the presence of "unwritten rules". There are many unwritten, or unspoken, rules in games. 

One which was mentioned i class was: If we were playing a game of x's and o's,  and there's no written rule that states that each player only has a certain length of time to move, then the player could choose to wait as long as they like to make a move - or "refuse to enter the arena" and not make one at all! I found this quite interesting and am trying to think of some more unwritten rules in games, or just life in general.  I'll pop my ideas into my next post. :)

 

 

 

The Games Industry

Today in Writing Games Analysis we had 2 guest speakers during our tutorial and lecture slots.

Gary was our first speaker who runs a game/toy shop in Limerick city. I've actually been in there before and it's quite a cool place! :)
He spoke to us about the Gaming Industry and how broad it is. He pointed out that there are many oppertunities out there which aren't just in mainstream games development; how there are many jobs out there in support, others which would appeal to your artistic side, modelling characters, objects and worlds for both movies and games. Marketing was another one mentioned. Before today I hadn't really thought of anything beyond just mainstream games development, It was nice to have my horizon broadened a tad! :)
Personally I'm unsure about what exactly I'd like to get into when I leave college, but I'm going to give myself a year of work and travelling to figure that out! :)

Our second speaker of the day was just about to start a PHD on games and learning which caught my interest!
One of his points was that he could forsee the death of the console and the further rise of online gaming soon. I'm not sure if I would agree or make the same judgement as I see consoles as part of almost every family household these days, and I can't see that changing for quite some time. I think consoles will continue to become more powerful with even more unimaginable capibilities and take up some space in our houses for quite some time. It was interesting to think that more and more things can be stored online now and I agree that this will probably lead to a huge leap in online gaming...but I don't think that this will lead to consoles dying out altogether in the near future.

I do think that there are a lot of "clone games" out there. What I mean by that is that there are so many games which are extremely similar to others which haven't added anything new to the genre, or type of game....

I'll come back to this...I'm being kicked out of the CSIS labs...

Presentations and Communities...

Phew. 

So I somehow managed to get through 2 presentations this week! The first was a presentation on the "State Of The Art" of the board game Hex for our AI and Machine learning module and the second was the dreaded FYP presentation. Dun Dun Duuuuunnn. 

Now anyone who was talking to me before both of them will know that I was a little bit of a nervous wreck. (And even if you weren't and only saw me I'm sure you would have seen my white as a ghost face!)

Both presentations, however, went just fine, and were all over before I even realised. :)

So now that they are done I feel I can focus on other things. Which is nice.

Communities: 

Sooooo.....we had an interesting lecture on Thursday which explored how MMO games encouraged the formation of communities of players online.

In particular we looked at the game "Everquest", which I must admit I have never played. But it sounds quite similar to WOW, in the way it works. 

It was quite interesting to look at how communities of players are formed, how they become part of your own little family. Instead of just being a part of some random group just for this one time you are playing online, you become part of a group with whom you can work together within the game - or "a friend of ours" rather than "a friend of mine" 

(I was planning on doing this whole blog with mafia-esque speak but that could have become very annoying very quickly...or would it?) 

How about I just write it as if I had an Italian accent? 

Well-a, I-a think-a that this could-a be-a fairly annoying-a too-a....

Sorry, I went off the point there...

Being part of a community in a game definitely adds an extra something to a game, you can make friends, try and compete against them to get a stronger character as well as working together, and it's always fun to play with others rather that just playing by yourself. 

After looking at Unit Operations last week, perhaps community could be a possible unit operation of games like Everquest?

Just a thought. 

 

War Games

What is the attraction with war games?

If we look back at some of the biggest selling games, it becomes apparent that a large portion of them are based on war:

Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game_franchises

and you will see that war games make up a lot of this list.

Games like the Tom Clancy Series(Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon etc.) have sold over 55million copies. 55. Million. That's like the population of Ireland multiplied by 12 or something.

Add that to:

Medal Of Honour: 31million

Command and Conquer: 25million

Metal Gear Solid: Over 21million

Warcraft: 19million

....And we have a lot of war game sales....

And I'm not even taking the sequels to all of these games into account.

It's obvious that there is something about war games that players are attracted to. But what is it? Is it a number of different things?

Well, as someone who has played a lot of war games (my favourite game series of all time is Metal Gear Solid) I think I can pinpoint a few things which attracted me to these games. And what kept me playing them.

Numero Uno: Power:

I like power. Yes, I know a lot of you guy's have written in your blogs that power is a big thing for men in war games, which is probably why the majority of people who play war games are men. But I'm a lady... and I like to feel as much in control of things as guys do. Hence I'm attracted to the power offered in war/strategy games. In strategy games, you play God. You control armys- create them. Command them to build whatever you like, send them into battle and possibly to their death.

Numero Deux: Challenge

War games, particularly strategy war games, are generally quite challenging. As a player I like to be challenged. Where's the fun in playing a game if there isn't going to be something that tests your playing skills, makes you think? Playing Age Of Empires II I'd often find myself trying to work out how best to keep my enemies out of my base, should I build a wall? Perhaps a huge fortified wall? Should I just make a load of soldiers and have them guard the entrances?

Then I have to think of a strategy to attack the enemy...when is the right time to attack? what buildings should I attack first? Should I make a back-up army just incase someone else comes to attack my base while I'm attacking another base, or should I build another castle?

What is the best way to beat my enemy?

....Which brings me onto my next point:

Sense of achievement.

Ever played against a bunch of cocky guys who just throw abuse at you through your headset in Halo 3 Online and absolutely slaughtered them? You know that feeling you get? That "shut up you little *beep* I'm better than at this game than you are" feeling?

It's great.

And war games offer that feeling all the time. When you've spent an hour (or two) building an impenetrable base, and then set off to attack and after a lot of hard work commanding your army you win. Or when you're in a particularly difficult level in Medal Of Honour, and you finally manage to get past it, past all the constant shooting, grenade dodging and sneaking around.

They are the top 3 reasons why I think we are attracted to war games.

I have a little more to say on war games...but I think I've done a lot of typing for now so I'll come back to it. :)

What do we learn from games?

What do we learn from games which are commercially produced without claiming they teach you anything?

Games are engaging. They use technology to represent reality or encapsulate you in a virtual world, providing an escape. They provide a unique interactive virtual playing environment with which you can have fun and while doing so I believe you can learn too.
Through interaction with the virtual world around you in a game, you get instant visual feedback. Isn't this learning?
For example, if I'm playing one of my favourite games like Metal Gear Solid 2, and while I'm controlling the main character Snake (there will be no mention of Raiden here...) I decide to run out of my hiding place and end up being seen by the enemy. If you have played Metal Gear you will know that you then enter Alert Mode in which all the enemy sentries come after you, and depending on the level of difficulty setting, it can be a pain to get away from them all.
So, I learn here that I really should try and not be seen by the enemy, which will allow me to reach my goal faster.

Games can also be used to enhance your skills such as creativity, learning how to overcome puzzles in games or riddles.

Learning to work as a team is definitely key to success in many games. Especially multiplayer games.
In games such as Halo where you can go through the story mode with up to 4 other players, you need to learn to work together to get through the level, communicating to each other as you play.

So in conclusion I do believe that commercial games do offer learning capabilities even if they do not claim to.

What do you think?

Which do you prefer?

Our last class got me thinking as to whether I'm a follower of ludology or narratology. 

I do believe that you don't need an equal balance to make a good game. While there is usually an element of both in most games there are plenty of games out there that are almost purely fun based. Take Worms for example...there is no story to that game whatsoever, yet it is one of the most addictive and enjoyable games that I've ever played.

Personally, I find a game even more exciting if it is driven by a great story. While some games like Worms are great fun without a story, the appeal of mindless bashing of buttons to kill your opponent in say, Unreal Tournament isn't as appealing to me as, say, following the dramatics of a game like one of the Final Fantasy series, learning about a characters history, watching as they fall for another character and STILL being able to have the fun of defeating the bosses in the game.

So a game driven by a great story is preferable to me...but it definitely has to be fun aswell. :) 

So what do you think you like best? A game driven by fun? Or story?

The pressure is building...

Midway through week 2 and already the pressure is building!! Plenty of work to do to keep us going and it all seems to be piling up already! FYP proposal deadline is closing in fast and I think I know what I want to do but I'll elaborate once my mind is made up...it's constantly changing and switching between ideas. It's hard to make up my mind when there is so much choice! 

As you can see I've added a little list of some of my fave websites. Just a few which some people mightn't have heard of as many of the ones I like are pretty popular( who hasn't heard of Bebo these days?) but I'll build it up as soon as I can think of/find some more. I'm sure there'll be a few interesting ludology sites up there soon aswell.  :) 

There's a first time for everything.

So...my very first blog. What to write...well, since we haven't gotten into the Writing Games Analysis side of things yet, here are some thoughts.. 

Week 1 as a 4th year is over already! Though it feels like we have been back a month because of the sheer amount of stuff that has happened this week. Between getting settled back into college after co-op, getting the lowdown on our FYPs(anyone else freaking out?)and all of our new modules I must admit I'm happy the weekend is here. 

Im wrecked.

A cup of tea would be nice.