Computer Games Design Blogs - by Adam Woodhouse

Sunday, 27 March 2011

Music and stuff - yep, I've done games, TV and film, now onto music

Right, I'm in my flat, on my own, bored and needing motivation to do some work and not really finding it - then it occurs to me, stick on some music and do a blog post - it's work so it's appropriate. And also, it does play into games as well as I will talk in-part about music in games as it's where my music history began... so without further ado let's begin.

Games music and where my music likings began
Right, first things first, let me explain that the reason that I am doing this topic as a blog post is partly due to us needing to have a variety of mediums of blog post topics and because, as I said I'm listening to music as we speak and felt inspired to write a blog post related to it. So we begin my musical tour with the music of video games, from as far as I can remember the music in video games have always stuck out to me - from the second I first turned on my Sega Megadrive and played Sonic 2 and I heard the BGM (Background Music) of Emerald Hill Zone for the first time and thought 'This games is awesome!'

As I was only young (only about 5 years old) I didn't understand at the time the significance and joy that the music had but as I have grown older I realise that the BGM music that gets played in games is a crucial part of them, they can add to the emotional response that we get from pivotal story points, build up suspense in horror games or simply just be good music worth listening to. The music in games is not only well thought out for these purposes, if you listen to a lot of game music on its own your notice that it is just very well composed as well played music or simply very catchy tracks... it is an unappreciated genre of music really as the effort that goes into it is amazing.

Obviously, sometimes tracks do miss the point or just aren't fun to listen to, purely having their use in the game and thats it. Even so, the music in the games that I have played over the years has helped shaped my future musical likes as, listening back to music in games and noting my favourite tracks from various game soundtracks it should be noted that many of them are upbeat, rock-orientated tracks. This may just be coincidence, but as I discussed a week or so ago with some friends it does seem that many people who are considered 'Geeks' or like video-games heavily in general typically do prefer Rock and Metal genre - it is my believe that the music in the games itself may have slightly influenced this (obviously not immensely as that'd be stupid).

Looking at my personal preferences with game music, tracks from games such as Koei's Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy (I had to mention it right...), Super Smash Bros, etc feature heavily in my favourites. Tracks such as JENOVA, One-Winged Angel, Otherworld, Dark Messenger, Force You Way from Final Fantasy; Theme of Lu Bu, Power & Glory, Dual NRG from Dynasty Warriors; Fire Emblem (Melee), Multi-Man Melee 2 and Dreamland 64 from Smash Bros... All these are awesome tracks and all have rock-related styles (Links will be included at the end for those who wish to listen).

For a long period of time I listened to game music and not any 'regular music', it was only since I start 6th Form when I was 16 that I started taking an interest in regular music and, what a surprise, the type of music that I liked was rock. This goes to show that game music is important, it shapes how we play games and can even influence the music that we listen to in later life.

Real-Life Tracks in Games
Right, off the bat of BGM music in games we move onto tracks from real-life that appear in games. This has become more of a staple in recent years, with big games developers getting big names in the music industry to either record music tracks for games or use already made tracks in their games. These tracks go to show that even 'real-life' musicians and music can see the influence and appeal of games and their music. The music might not be needed in a game but people think 'Wow, band x put music in that game? It must be good then' this shows how music can have a powerful effect and how the worlds of music and games collide.

Again, a lot of the time the music that gets put in-games relates to the style of video games music but sometimes not and even these tracks still show that music is a powerful medium, and for games to incorporate it well shows real promise for engaging with players. Personal favourite tracks that have appeared in games or written for them are REDEMPTION by Gackt for Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars for Dragon Age Origins and Invasion From Within by Tsunami Bomb for Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (again, links will be below).

This also leads to real-life influences, even more-so than ordinary game music as people who play games hear tracks from well known bands and musicians and can start to like them through gaming - again, this also shows influence in musical styles that people can begin to like.

The Bands and music of today
Right, this section has little to do with games at all really, its just me talking about bands that I like - the element you have to remember is that my musical taste has been inspired from video game music... thus it makes it relevent.

So, the first band to talk about really with any significance has to be my favourite band Muse. I first heard Muse through my Step-Dad and Mum who also like it, though at the time I never cared for it or listened to it much but once I started to take an interest in music I remember certain tracks that had lodged themselves secretly in my mind, I listened to them again and then the musical obsession began to grow. I listened to them more and more and ultimately realised 'Hey, I actually quite like this music stuff' and from there I have gone on to get almost every song they've ever done and even go and see them live - the one and only bad I have been to see I'm ashamed to say.

Muse are a brilliant British Rock band with a very diverse style supported by the vocal talents of Matthew Bellamy and his use of Falsetto and Vibrato and the 'electrical' sound style they achieve. They are a true icon of the British music world winning numerous awards in various categories. Muse are the band that set me on my musical path and I don't regret it at all...

Onto other bands now, I'll try and bunch them together with those that are of a 'similar' style (as much as possible, and most are different in their sounds as a whole). The next group are more 'traditional' rock bands such as Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures and Bon Jovi. These bands are all well respected in the rock world and have been around for many years still going strong, they're the sort of bands where if you removed the lyrics from the songs they play you could imagine bits being used in games as BGM.

Alternative Rock is a genre of music that I like very much too, not as traditional as the groups above, having sounds more similar in style to Muse (as they are Alternative Rock too) and having a particular lyrical style (that often gets linked to Emo for no reason...). These bands include My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds to Mars, Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy - all of these bands are very modern, emerging in the 21st century but becoming immensely popular and popularising the genre. The music of these bands are very diverse and varied but seem to popular among game likers for unknown reasons...

Punk Rock is another one of my favourite genres, having a very quick tempo they are generally very catchy and uplifting - Punk rock ultimately led to the rise in Alternate Rock too which is why I like it so much. The bands that fit this genre that I like are Sum 41, Green Day and Good Charlotte. Do the punk pre-cursor of these bands they generally are met with some form of antagonism due to the sterortype of 'punks' but this really isn't the case - just another set of Good music.

Finally, this last group is for oddities and the only one which contains Metal rather than Rock (I'm much more of a rock person than a Metal person - Metal is often too much for me...). There's Rammstein (German Metal), DragonForce (Power Metal) & Garbage (kinda Alternative Rock but a bit different). These bands are all very good but being a bit of a variety for me compared to my standard styles of music. Metal is often very heavy, has a very quick tempo and is very loud... this is why I tend not to like it as much, as I said, it's too much for me.

So there we go, a look at how I went from listening to game music and then how I started listening to ordinary music, a look at how game music is a heavy influence on this and ultimately the type of music that resulted from my experiences. Below will be links to all the aforementioned game music and also my favourite tracks (or two if I REALLY can't decide) from each of my favourite bands. So anyways, 'til next time that's all folks!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(With Muse I could have put almost anything... Plug-in Baby and Knights of Cydonia get an honourable mention)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Design Methods Springboard and Storyline

Not a long blogpost from me this time, just more of an update from me on a piece of work, namely my design methods storyboard work. A few weeks back now we were told to make our characters (as seen in an earlier blog post) and then after that we were told to make a springboard of a story and a 2-page storyline with these characters.

Overall, I have to say, while I do like my story idea, I have to admit that it feels 'squished' as in a lot happens in a short space of time and a 'whole story' seems to be played out. The reason for this is, as you know, I like story of games and other media - story is gooooood - and as a result I can only seem imagine long, vivid stories that play out across a long period of time... Therefore, if I didn't squish my story down I'd either have a lot happening with no prior establishment of setting and characters or nothing happening at all but the characters and setting being established in-depth - as I didn't want either of these I had to compromise, thus it seems like a lot is happening over a short period of time and there is a quick build-up and resolution but I feel it still works.

Here is my springboard followed by the storyline.

Springboard
It is a normal day for Tyser who is hanging out with his friends at the park, his day isn’t going too well and he can’t wait to realise his dream and leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind him. A chance encounter with Envail changes his life forever as his world is beset with a Demon Apocalypse and he is left to fend for himself, learn to cope in the world and discover how it happened. He evades the demons and remembers what he had learnt that day about the ancient battle that had taken place at the nearby ruins and remembers Envail who hinting at its significance. There, he encounters Envail once more, overcoming him and ultimately sending the Demons back to where they came. Tyser is then left to look at the remains of the city before him and decide how to start his life again for the better.

Storyline
The story starts with Tyser hanging out in the park with his 3 best friends, Reiki, Senton and Pherris. Tyser has had one of the worst days of his life and they are discussing what Tyser’s father referred to as ‘real-life skills’ with Tyser’s friends mocking him about the fact that it’s right and what does it matter if it is true. Tyser jokingly goes along with it to an extent as a result of the carefree-aloof demeanour that he has developed as result of to hide his fear.

After this joking around, Tyser and his friends decide that they are going to head into town to look around shops and try and get Tyser’s mind off what his Father said to him. His friends head off first with Tyser following closely after them, as they leave the park Tyser accidentally walks into a man who proceeds to turn and look at him with a silent hatred. Tyser instantly acts to attack the man as he believes it is his fault – the man, Envail, doesn’t answer and barely even acknowledges that Tyser is talking to him.

After continued persistence from Tyser to get him to talk and apologise the man eventually starts talking but only talks cryptically and confuses Tyser. Tyser and his friends eventually arrive in the centre of town but before they can do anything the sky starts to go unusually dark and red confusing everyone, especially Tyser as Envail had said something cryptic along those lines. However, despite this anxiety, nothing that Tyser says makes people believe him about what may potentially happen.

In the next instance, an odd runic symbol appears in the town centre, from out of which a flood of demons begins to pour. The populace go into a panic and many of which are slaughtered in the initial swarm that is unleashed. Tyser and his friends attempt to flee to safety, utilising back alleys as narrow walkways where demons cannot fit. However, unbeknownst to them Envail has been watching the situation and, realising that Tyser is the boy that hit him earlier and upset his concentration sets more intelligent demons on them.

The more intelligent demon manages to separate Tyser from his friends by destroying nearby buildings and subsequently proceeds to kill Tyser’s friends as Tyser watches. As his friends are being eaten by a subsequent rush of demons attracted by the smell of death, Tyser manages to hide himself away in a small building that looks ruined.

While Tyser is in the building he has a series of flash backs of his time with his friends and family as it dawns upon him that the world that he has always wanted to get away from has fallen around him and he is not ready to set out on his own yet. This concludes with him sobbing himself to sleep as he hears endless screams around him.

Envail is next seen at the ancient ruins outside the city surrounded by numerous demons. He starts talking to himself about what he has achieved by utilising the lingering power in the ruins while he then contemplates more possible theories that he can put into effect before laughing hysterically about what he has done. The demons look at him with contempt, wanting to attack Envail but being unable to attack him due to the nature of their return. Envail taunts them for this fact as is his cruel nature.

Tyser then awakes the next morning and cautiously exits his hiding place to see the city around him. The streets are littered with the bodies of the dead and buildings like broken, he sees no other signs of survivors, though he sees no demons immediately in sight either. He begins to wonder through the streets and visiting places he once knew, eventually ending up in the tower structure where his house was located. Despite knowing that there is little-to-no chance of any of his family surviving he has to see his family to know for sure. At a couple of points along this journey he avoids the odd demon or two.

Upon arriving in his family home he can’t find the corpses of his mother and father, though there are visible signs of a struggle, but he does find the corpse of his old tutor. He is brought back to the lesson he had the day before about the old ruins and the unknown entities that once fought there, alongside this he remembers talking to Envail and starts to put two and two together.

Despite this, he doesn’t believe he can do anything about it as is he is just one person amidst demonic entities, defenceless and against someone with the mind and capacity to summon them in the first place. Before he can think any further a demon bursts through the window but rather than kill him it curiously knocks him out and carries him away.

Tyser then awakens in the old ruins surrounded by several demons with Envail at their head. He expresses his surprise at the fact that out of all the survivors captured it was Tyser whom he had spoken to before. He begins to explain to him what he has done with the demons and why and what he intends to do with Tyser. He is going to attempt a psychological breakdown to see if it influences the demons on what they can do.

Envail proceeds to use his knowledge to try and break Tyser’s spirit and psychologically torture him. He succeeds in numerous ways which seems to make the demons revel, making Envail happy as it seems his theory is about to be realised. He ends up accidentally delving into Tyser’s psyche so much that he inadvertently makes his aloof persona take prominence which upsets Envail’s testing.

As his theory is failing the demons become more and more agitated ultimately ignoring the fact that they shouldn’t/can’t attack Envail, but by doing so they sever the link between Ethra and the Demon world, causing them to get sent back. Envail, enraged, sets off cursing Tyser but ultimately depressed that his theories cannot be realised.

Tyser then heads to a hill overlooking the city, thinking about the future and what awaits him and, renewed with his aloof persona being dominant now, he looks out to the future and heads off to make what he can of himself.

So, anyways 'til next time - that's all folks!

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Dragon Age II - My word, what a sequel!

Right, as I'm waiting to go to a lecture where we have a guest speaker from Sony in to write my next 'proper' blog post, I thought I'd add another random one as I want to be productive in my reading week. This blog post is my no means a rant; quite the opposite in-fact, it is chock-a-block of praise and admiration at a new game that I got on Thursday (and the game wasn't even released until Friday - result!).

As the title of this blog post suggests the game that I am talking about is Dragon Age II, Bioware's sequel to their immensely popular and brilliant game Dragon Age: Origins. I have played the game almost non-stop since I bought it, while that may be both a good and a bad thing it just goes to show that it is awesome - I remember doing the same thing when the first one was released back in 2009. The game takes place in the same world as the first but an entirely different country meaning entirely new places to explore and an entirely new story to follow.

The Dragon Age series is an RPG series that took the world by storm and the sequel was set to make it better, this led to many expectations of it - particularly for PC gamers as Bioware's desire was the improve the console versions of the game (as they lagged behind in Origins), potentially at the expense of the PC version. A lot of time in recent years, particularly in the 7th generation of games consoles, great expectations have been made of games and they haven't delivered as much as expected BECAUSE of the hype (Final Fabtasy XIII, Gran Turismo 5 & most Call of Duty games I'm looking at you). I can say though that Dragon Age II is one of the few games where the hype hasn't hindered the game at all... on consoles (I haven't played the PC version but the almost unanimous consensus is that it has been dumbed down from the first).

The game is a great improvement on the first. The game was made with more of a focus in the story of the game and the characters as opposed to the focus on the story of the world that was set with the first - this led to much more personal and invoking quests and a story that makes you go 'What the heck!?' and 'OMG!'. The main drive of this was having a set protagonist as opposed to a customisable one as in Origins - their story was set, their history established and the vents that unfold are related to them. From a narrative point of view the game definitely met its mark, the only downsides are that the story is shorter than the first and the ending is so much of a cliff-hanger it makes you think 'So why did I just do that?' - still, it means there's a reason to make a 3rd game.

From a gameplay perspective the game is so much better its laughable, it is mostly because of this that the game is so much better. Combat, exploration, companions and romances are all excellent, with combat being the key improvement, they are all similar to their previous incarnation, but with pretty much all the flaws that they once had being removed.

With combat, the gameplay is much faster, acting more like an action-RPG than console-style (which is why it is odd as I normally prefer console-style, but I think Dragon Age suits an action-RPG), the attacks you do actually feel more like they are happening in real-time and when you swing you sword YOU are doing it with the press of a button - it is much more fluid and makes it more immersive.

Exploration is much the same as it ever was - it just feels better as it is interlinked with combat... actually, it is one of the few areas of the game with which I have minor criticism. Traps are much harder to disarm in Dragon Age II than the first game, rogues (the only class that can disarm them) have to be much closer to notice them than the first game which means that unless you are playing as a rogue you will often trip them just as you notice them. Also, the dungeons of the game are almost all re-hashes of one another with different section sealed off and opened in each variation of it - this isn't a major flaw, it just seems lazy from a design stand-point.

The Companions of the game are fun, they all have a more prominent and fleshed out story, both in their personal pasts and their interaction with the story itself - a lot of the characters from the first game had story when you first met them but after that it just seemed like they were with you for the heck of it. They also interact with each other much in the same way as before which is good, even more so as they talk more in story related events - the only real minor issue here is the conversations don't seem as fun or interesting, again though this really doesn't effect anything. The character approval system has been revamped, changing from a Love/Hate system to a Friendship/Rival system - this is a great change, in Origins there was no reason to get a character to hate you as it often resulted in them leaving or fighting you but with the new system the character stays with you out of admiring you despite your personal opinions, this in turn creates a dynamic story contrast.

Romance is always a prominent point of Bioware games and Dragon Age II doesn't disappoint in this regard. There are 4 romance-able characters (5 for female characters if you get the Exiled Prince DLC) that can be entered into a relationship with regardless of gender - this is both good and bad as it means you don't have to worry if there's someone in particular you want to romance but it is bad from the point of view that certain characters don't seem like they would romance a certain gender... Romance is also mostly unrelated to the approval system unlike the first game which is good - if you don't take a character you want to romance with you or want to make them your Rival, it ultimately doesn't affect your romance with them - bonus!

Now, onto my final point which is the ONLY true negative I have with the game and that is the equipment. Many of you may think I am refering to the fact that you can no longer change your companions armour but must instead upgrade it, but no, I actually quite like that - the issue i have is that no equipment seems unique or special anymore. In the previous game you got standard equipment, some with slight effects on them such as stat boosts, but ultimately it was very distinguishable what was good, rare, equipment and what was common and standard - it made it an achievement to get them and you used them because they looked good and made you immensely powerful... In Dragon Age II however most of the equipment in the game has 'some' effect on them and it is almost impossible to see what equipment is rare and why it is worth using it more than any other equipment - you can see that stat-wise they are better, but even so, as nearly everything has some boost on it this merely seems like it is an upgrade...

So there we have it, my thoughts on what has to be my favourite game on the PS3 and I've only had it 4 days - you may think my opinion will change but i doubt it, Dragon Age: Origins was my old favourite game and this clearly beats it... So if you haven't got it go and get it, you need too!

So, anyways, 'til next time - that's all folks!

Sunday, 6 March 2011

Ancient Games - Ur and Senet

Been a couple of weeks since I've done a blog post... 2 reasons for this, first I didn't want to keep doing rant-style blog posts and decided to wait until I had something serious to blog about and second, work in other modules has kept me quite busy so I kept putting this off in place of them. Anyways, here we go about this blog post on the Royal Game of Ur and the ancient game of Senet.

Ur
First, let's talk about the Royal Game of Ur, a game that was discovered in the Royal Tombs of Ur in Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The game dates back to the first Dynasty of Ur which is at least 2600BC, this makes Ur possibly one of the oldest board games ever discovered. As the game is as old as it is and the fact that they were found with little else explaining the game, the rules of the game of Ur are unknown with experts establishing a set of rules that are plausible and playable, even so, these are mostly core rules and the way in which people interpret them and play them changes how the game is played.

In our lecture on Thursday afternoon we were given a copy of the game board and a set of rules with which were to play along with. The general objective of the game is get all 7 of your counters to the end of the game board and have them escape, your opponent is trying to do the same thing, making it a race game. Other gameplay elements include rosette squares which keep your counter safe and give you an extra turn, the ability to knock an opponent's counter off the game board by landing on the same square as them and the ability to double up your counters if they land on the same square. The rest of the game though was down to our interpretation.

You may think, 'How? The game is clearly established' and to some degree that is correct, but the fact of the matter is that upon beginning play, several versions of the game were being played - some of us were playing the game where you ALWAYS got an extra turn upon landing on a rosette, even if you had just got one, others were playing it so that if you had a single versus a double you would defeat the double as opposed to only removing one counter... So as you can see, without clearly defined rule clarifications the game can branch out - and this was a well learnt lesson in the lecture - the mechanics of games are most likely already established, the question is how you use them; it is this that determines how games play out, etc.

Oh, and I won at our game of Ur, beating Tom Weaver in the last turn and at the last second - just thought I'd let you know...

Senet
Senet is yet another ancient game, many discoveries have been made relating to it in numerous places but it has been established that the game dates back to at least 3100BC, so as you can see, it's even older than Ur, possibly making it THE oldest board game ever discovered. The game is Egyptian and functions in a similar vein to Ur in the it is a race game where the objective is to remove all seven of your counters before your opponent - another allusion to how the mechanics in games don't change, just how they are used.

This time, the board is completely different, and the way of play is different. All your counters start on the board (as opposed to Ur where they start of the board and need to be added) and when you move and land on an opponents square you swap with them as opposed to knocking them off. Next, if you have two counters adjacent to one another they are 'safe' preventing them from being swapped and also if you manage to get 3 counters in a row they are unable to be passed at all, preventing the opponent from moving close to the finish. There are still 'special' tiles in the game but they all have different purposes and features (though I can't remember what they were at this time...) Finally, if you roll a 1, 4 or 5 you get to roll again and add the new number to your current roll and with this allows you to split the amount you can move between more than 1 counter.

Again, several versions of the game ended up being played as certain rules are left ambiguous (do you get endless additions to your movement number, etc). Personally, I both preferred this game to Ur and disliked it - I feel the ability to make 3 tiles impenetrable a good implementation of strategy, but at the same time it could hinder the player so much that they have no way of ever getting around it.

This time to game between me and Tom Weaver ended in a draw as we ran out of time... though I was winning at the time we finished... just putting it out there...

Conclusion
So there we have it, 2 ancient board games that we have been introduced to as a part of our course that the chances are I otherwise wouldn't have played. While the games themselves had there moments of fun, I probably wouldn't have gained much from playing them if it hadn't been for the rules thing - it taught me the valuable lesson I mentioned above: Use mechanics that are already established in new and different ways rather than over-complicating things and trying to make your own.

So, anyways 'til next time - that's all folks!

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Very Minor Post - Current Work Update

Just a very quick blog post here while I'm here and think to do it... Basically, I have made a slight change to a part of the current work that I am doing, namely one of the characters that is a part of my Design Methods module - the reason that I have done this is that I didn't like the 2nd character... the idea that I had for him I didn't feel would work and was too similar to the first character, while this could work as they could contrast on their similarities I ultimately wanted a bigger divergence and also it would help show that I'm not just a 'one-trick pony' so to speak. So without further ado, here is the new 2nd character, first by hand and then in flash.

The idea for this character I had already established over 2 years ago as part VIII of my Scarlet Nightmares game series idea - in one of my older blog posts I mentioned that I had done several pads of game ideas, Scarlet Nightmares I-V are those pads... I will one day do a blog post on Scarlet Nightmares... anyway, in this sense you may think I'm being lazy as I'm not creating something 'new' but the character had never been drawn before and the situation he is going to be in as a part of this module has nothing to do with Scarlet Nightmares at all... so in that sense everything is original about the character.

Anyways, 'til next time - that's all folks!

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

The Changing Ways of Game Series

Right, this is the blog post that I've been gearing myself up to write... it's about game series that have changed since they first started and what is good and bad about those changes (mostly bad as this IS me doing the blog) so without further ado let us begin...

There are 3 main games series that I am going to be discussing in this blog; Resident Evil, Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy. The first two have had major changes to the style of games that they consist of since they have started whereas Final Fantasy has had minor changes (but changes nonetheless) and the reaction to these changes has been different with each of them.

Resident Evil
First let's talk about Resident Evil as that is the game series with changes that irritate me the most. The Resident Evil series first started back in 1996 and when I first played it (or watched my Step-Brother play it) it scared me half to death, gave me nightmares and made me never want to play the game (yet at the same time I was compelled to see more). This is because Resident Evil was billed as the first in a series of survival-horror games that were designed to test your mental abilities with puzzles, make you conserve you life and ammo and scare you... the next 2 games in the series were made in this fashion and maintained the fear that the first brought to gamers.

After this there were a few spin-offs that were based in this way but weren't 'as' popular for various reasons and some sub-games that completely diverged but were supposed to be as they weren't part of the main series. Then came the moment that made me angry... the moment I saw Resident Evil 4... The game completely changed the enemies in the game from Zombies to parasite-controlled mad-men and completely changed the style of game from a survival-horror to a action. WHY!? The game was still supposedly developed as a survival horror, but it lost nearly all the elements that made it so and incorporated more action elements which is why I call it an action game.

Common traits for the first 3 games were a lack of healing items, ammo and save ribbons, fixed camera angles and dark mysterious environments. In the fourth game it was mostly set in day-time and the camera was done from an over-the shoulder perspective like a 3rd-person shooter... I cannot understand why they did it... I really don't... the series was never criticised as being repetitive and no change was needed but alas it went ahead. And to make matters worse it was popular - people liked the game immensely to the point where 4 became the best-selling game in the series! In my opinion, I don't think the truly faithful did like it, but because the style was more mainstream being an action game, more people took to it.

This style of game followed into Resident Evil 5, which has since become the best-selling game in the series (again, how!?), and the action elements were increased and survival-horror reduced yet again... So this is one example of how games change - they can change massively and still sell well, but those who TRUELY know should realise that while they may be good games they are NOT the same as the classics.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Ahh, Sonic the hedgehog one of the most popular and iconic characters of his age and also the one riddled with the most scrutiny. Sonic the Hedgehog was first made back in 1991 for the Sega Megadrive and instantly became a worldwide hit, with it's fast-paced gameplay, loveable characters and design of the 16-bit era. The next 3 games (2, 3 and Sonic and Knuckles) on the megadrive improved on the game series, adding more characters and gameplay elements that didn't change the game; only made it better. These games were all 2D games which is part of the reason that they worked, so the transition to 3D was always going to be interesting...

But Sega pulled it off, the next 2 games, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 were just as well received and, while elements of the game HAD to be changed to incorporate 3D they worked well and the games were a success. However, it all went downhill after these games - Sonic games started becoming more and more childish (you may argue that Sonic IS a kid's game, it was still playable by adults) and they started using odd gimmicks as a premise for games. The next game Sonic Heroes had potential but the game itself was lacking something... I can't place my finger on it but trust me, many others I have talked to agree and so do the critics.

All other games in the series have just gone even more downhill, with knight themed games, werehog themed games, and boarding games. While some have fun elements to them, they are ultimately tedious attempts at making games and have nothing to do with what made Sonic fun in the first place. Attempts have been made the salvage the past with the recent Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - I personally haven't played this game so I can't make a personal observation here but apparently the game lacks what the first megadrive games had - high-speed action which was the point of making the game in the first place.

So this is an example of a game series that has changed it's ways for various reasons and this time no-one took to these changes at all and the series itself has almost become a joke, mocking the great heritage that it once had...

Final Fantasy
This is a game series that needs no introductions, not just because of its popularity but because it is my favourite game series and has thus been mentioned numerous times already in my blog. The series was first released back in 1989 for the NES and established what would become the staple of most JRPGs to come, much as Resident Evil did with Survival-Horrors. The game was praised for the way it told its story and the fun battle system that progressed it along. Certain elements have been received in a more mixed way such as random encounters but ultimately people praised the series for being what it was.

The way on which the game was made was universally the same through the first 10 games, with only a few changes to the games to make them unique to one another, some of which made the series more popular, such as summon monsters, limit-break special attacks and the ever popular active-time battle system. The spin-offs the main series explored radically different games styles, such as strategy games and action-RPGS but ultimately these were mostly successful too.

Once the series hit the 12th game things started to change a bit, with the game being the most radical departure from the norm in the entire series, and while this was generally met with a mixed reception the series was still popular. Ultimately, yes, there are things with 12 that annoy me and I don't know why they changed it, particularly the battle and exploration system but unlike Sonic and Resident Evil, the departure wasn't TOO radically different and could thus be adapted to and considered to be linked to how the series started.

At the 13th game things were mixed up again but in a more bizarre way. The 13th game returned some elements of the first 10 games and kept some from 12, creating a blend of the two which was generally well received in relation to the criticisms of Final Fantasy XII's diversities but at the same time, as mentioned in an earlier blog post, certain aspects were altered to try and make the game appeal to western gamers... this was not met as well. The changes are very subtle and, like Sonic Heroes, it is difficult for me to place exactly what was off about the game becuase theoretically it is more like the norm than XII was... Final Fantasy XIII has gone on to become one of the best-selling games in the series and THE quickest selling but has also gained a reputation for being the most controvertial.

So there you have it, a game series which has had only subtle changes made but reactions are still mixed, with blame being on the changing ways of the game series as a whole...

Hope you enjoyed this blog post about the different reactions gained by game series changing, mostly negative in my personal viewpoint but mixed among critics and others... So anyways, 'til next time - that's all folks!

Monday, 7 February 2011

Works in progress

This is just going to be short blog post showing some of the work I have recently been doing as a lot of the recent blog posts that I have done have been about games in general and not so much on what I have been doing at Uni... So here we go on an update...

Design Methods
In this module we are currently working on creating characters, thinking about their personalities and interactions and whatnot (perfect for me as I love this sort of thing anyway and have numerous sketch-pads of game ideas to draw upon). At this stage I have only drawn the characters - I haven't sorted out anything else such as their history or relation to one another... not even their names...

Character 1

Character 2

So that's them... there's also a flash version of the first character as I'm still debating if I will leave them as hand-drawn or whether to convert them... Here it is...

Scripting

Not a lot to say here really, the ability to code still greatly eludes me - I just can't get it... So in the mean time I have been doing some of the artwork ready for the game (it's a tower defence based around my halls of residence, with the enemies being the managers and the units being my mates here). I've done a mock-up of how I expect the game screen to look and drawn artwork for the basic unit (my mate Matt Davis who attacks with strings of Lololololololololols) which has lighting problems that have resulted in the black areas. Here they are...

Screen

Matt Unit

3D Modelling
Not much to say about 3D modelling as we've only just started it... we've got to pick a household object or something similar and re-create it in 3DS max. It's quite fun and interesting to do but it also seems really quite hard at the same time, hopefully though over time things will become easier to do and start to become second nature. The object that I think I will make is a rubber duck that I own.

Group Project
There's a lot to say here, but ultimately we made a working model of the first level in our game - it has/had its bugs but it was a playable representation of what we were trying to achieve. The concept of the game is to complete a circuit, simple enough really but the coding is evil (not that I worked on it as I'm the art guy). Below are pictures of the game screens that I made (a lot of in-game art in our game is 3D images so I really just make interface stuff) - some of these were edited by our complier before they entered the game but the pictures are what I made.

Level Select

Main Game Screen

Medal Rewards

Options Screen

Victory Screen

So that's it for this blog post... you have now been updated as to my uni work... I am currently working on my next full-length blog post as well - it will talk about the pros and cons (mostly cons and me complaining) of game series as they develop and change.

So, 'til next time - that's all folks!