Whilst watching a movie I had an idea for a game that I quite like.
The game is a time traveling game, where the main character lives in a dystopia set a little into the future. A person has created a device for traveling into the past, circumstances have the main character in possession of the device. The player must travel back in time to certain points to either effect the time flow, positively or negative, or even to ensure it stays the same. Once the player gets back to their present, they are able to go back to where they started with all their acquired knowledge and change the past in a different way.
I imagine the game as a puzzle solving action game. Aimed at a late teem/adult audience. Played on the high def next gen consoles.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Thursday 28 July 2011
Comparison between, '80s, '90s and '00s levels.
I have made comparisons between 3 levels each from a different game and decade. The first is the PacMan; the second is Super Mario 64; and the third is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
In Pacman, the look is very basic, there is not a lot of different obects, there is the main character, Pac-man, the dots that are aimed to be eaten, the walls, and the enemies. The level's design never changes, the game just gets harder over time.
In Super Mario 64, the player has a number of worlds they can enter, each world has a number of mission, the world changes depending on which mission the player is doing. The design is very colourful, very cartoony, there is a lot of elements to the games look and the worlds aren't very expansive.
In Oblivion, the player is in a massive medieva fantasy world, with hundreds of individually names characters and items and quests. The design is very much an attempt to recreate a realistic world and make everything very believe and absorb the player into it.
In comparison I notice that the '80s game is very much the same as you progress through it, only gets harder. The '90s game sets a number of worlds and finds different ways to play in that different world, so it makes different objectives for the same environments. The '00s game creates a giant world which makes the character play for hours on end to expand it all. It still has that increasing difficulty, but it gives the player much more drive to play it, as it really creates a world to escape in.
In Pacman, the look is very basic, there is not a lot of different obects, there is the main character, Pac-man, the dots that are aimed to be eaten, the walls, and the enemies. The level's design never changes, the game just gets harder over time.
In Super Mario 64, the player has a number of worlds they can enter, each world has a number of mission, the world changes depending on which mission the player is doing. The design is very colourful, very cartoony, there is a lot of elements to the games look and the worlds aren't very expansive.
In Oblivion, the player is in a massive medieva fantasy world, with hundreds of individually names characters and items and quests. The design is very much an attempt to recreate a realistic world and make everything very believe and absorb the player into it.
In comparison I notice that the '80s game is very much the same as you progress through it, only gets harder. The '90s game sets a number of worlds and finds different ways to play in that different world, so it makes different objectives for the same environments. The '00s game creates a giant world which makes the character play for hours on end to expand it all. It still has that increasing difficulty, but it gives the player much more drive to play it, as it really creates a world to escape in.
Comparison of Levels and Environment In Different Genres
I have compared 3 different genres levels and environments from 3 different genres the games I am using to compare are: Dead or Alive 4 - a fighting game; Unreal Tournament 3 - a first person shooter; and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Dead or Alive 4 is the fourth installment in the fighting game series Dead or Alive, it is a fighting game so the main goal for every player is to beat their opponent. It is played in a 3D arena environment. Arena refers to the fact that play is stuck in a set area, that isn't very large such as an arena. The story behind Dead or Alive is of a tournament run by the company 'DOATEC' and the winner gets a large monetary prize, 'DOATEC' is a corrupt company who use the tournament as a cover for more sinister things. This setting creates a strong basis for the fighting game as it tells why they are fighting, it also gives different motives for people to fight too (e.g. needing the prize money, wanting to bring down 'DOATEC'), which makes a more interesting The ultimate goal of a level desginer in designing a fighting game is balance, balance in the characters not to make any character better than the others, balance in the arena - not to make the arena effect characters positively or negatively. The risk-reward system in a fighting is, risking losing so that you can win.
Unreal Tournament 3 is the seventh game in the Unreal series, which are first person shooters. Being a shooter what the player wants to do is shoot everything that isn't on their side. In Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) the matches are played on an areas similar to that of the fighting games, but much larger. The setting of UT3 is that there is war going on in a futuristic age. This setting is very common shooting games as it gives a good reason for why you are playing as somebody shooting other people. The risk-reward in shooters is primarily just risking your life to kill your enemies, but there is also different goals depending on different game modes (such as risking your life and sometimes skills in order to capture a flag, in capture the flag modes).
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (or Oblivion for short) is the fourth game in the Elder Scrolls Series, a series of role-playing adventure games. In Oblivion the player goes on journey in a medieval fantasy world. Oblivion is a freeroam game that doesn't have a very linear story, the player can choose just to play the main quest straight away all the way through, but there is more to do in side-quests in total than there is the main quest. The risk-reward system is a lot more complex than in fighters and shooters, in that every quest or every the player tries to achieve has a different risk/reward, for example if a person commits a crime they have to decide whether the reward they get from getting away with the crime is worth losing stolen items and gold if they are arrested or killed.
Risk-reward in comparison: Fighting games are the simiples in that they have a very basic risk, dying and a basic reward winning; shooters are a little more complex in that they have different games modes which change the risks and rewards a little for each mode; and the adventure games are a lot more complex because they are not very linear and they create an entire world to explore which includes legal systems to an extent, questing for special items, joining factions and more.
Settings in comparison: fighting games are also quite simple in that they need little story, they just need to be consistent in different levels; shooters are the same, they usually have more backstory to each level; adventure games require a whole world to be set up with lots characters with their own stories and personalities as well as the world needs to be believable in that you can't have a lot incogruenties.
Goals in comparison: fighting games have one goal which is to beat your opponent; shooters have differet goals depending on the situation and game mode; adventure games have an array of goal, which depend on the player's current quest and what they want to achieve whether it is completing the game fully or trying to level up.
Dead or Alive 4 is the fourth installment in the fighting game series Dead or Alive, it is a fighting game so the main goal for every player is to beat their opponent. It is played in a 3D arena environment. Arena refers to the fact that play is stuck in a set area, that isn't very large such as an arena. The story behind Dead or Alive is of a tournament run by the company 'DOATEC' and the winner gets a large monetary prize, 'DOATEC' is a corrupt company who use the tournament as a cover for more sinister things. This setting creates a strong basis for the fighting game as it tells why they are fighting, it also gives different motives for people to fight too (e.g. needing the prize money, wanting to bring down 'DOATEC'), which makes a more interesting The ultimate goal of a level desginer in designing a fighting game is balance, balance in the characters not to make any character better than the others, balance in the arena - not to make the arena effect characters positively or negatively. The risk-reward system in a fighting is, risking losing so that you can win.
Unreal Tournament 3 is the seventh game in the Unreal series, which are first person shooters. Being a shooter what the player wants to do is shoot everything that isn't on their side. In Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) the matches are played on an areas similar to that of the fighting games, but much larger. The setting of UT3 is that there is war going on in a futuristic age. This setting is very common shooting games as it gives a good reason for why you are playing as somebody shooting other people. The risk-reward in shooters is primarily just risking your life to kill your enemies, but there is also different goals depending on different game modes (such as risking your life and sometimes skills in order to capture a flag, in capture the flag modes).
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (or Oblivion for short) is the fourth game in the Elder Scrolls Series, a series of role-playing adventure games. In Oblivion the player goes on journey in a medieval fantasy world. Oblivion is a freeroam game that doesn't have a very linear story, the player can choose just to play the main quest straight away all the way through, but there is more to do in side-quests in total than there is the main quest. The risk-reward system is a lot more complex than in fighters and shooters, in that every quest or every the player tries to achieve has a different risk/reward, for example if a person commits a crime they have to decide whether the reward they get from getting away with the crime is worth losing stolen items and gold if they are arrested or killed.
Risk-reward in comparison: Fighting games are the simiples in that they have a very basic risk, dying and a basic reward winning; shooters are a little more complex in that they have different games modes which change the risks and rewards a little for each mode; and the adventure games are a lot more complex because they are not very linear and they create an entire world to explore which includes legal systems to an extent, questing for special items, joining factions and more.
Settings in comparison: fighting games are also quite simple in that they need little story, they just need to be consistent in different levels; shooters are the same, they usually have more backstory to each level; adventure games require a whole world to be set up with lots characters with their own stories and personalities as well as the world needs to be believable in that you can't have a lot incogruenties.
Goals in comparison: fighting games have one goal which is to beat your opponent; shooters have differet goals depending on the situation and game mode; adventure games have an array of goal, which depend on the player's current quest and what they want to achieve whether it is completing the game fully or trying to level up.
Wednesday 27 July 2011
'80s Level Design
I have been pondering on what sort of game I would develop if I were a level designer in the 1980s, keeping in mind all the restriction on the technology they had then.
In the early '80s the golden age of videos was happening, there were some monumental games released such as: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Mario Bros., Donkey Kong and Centipede; just to name a few. In this period scrolling games were gaining popularity, developers were starting to experiment with psuedo-3D and alternative forms of controls, such as racing wheels for racing games.
Around the mid '80s and onward saw the third generation of video games makes it's debut, with the NES, Sega Mega System and Atari 7800, which in turn saw The Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Ghostbusters and many more games set in history.
Back to the original point, if I were in this designing a game in this era, I would design a side scrolling game to fit in with the upcoming trend. It would most likely be a space themed, which seemed to be a very popular theme at the time because of games like Space Invaders and movies like Star Wars. The game would also be a shooter because that was a genre growing popularity. It would have very limited controls, so directional buttons, a shoot button and a jump button. It would look very simple in terms of graphics because of the limited technology. The audio would also be quite simple, but there would be a digital background track because they were occuring in games at the time.
So to summarise, I would make a space-themed, side scrolling shooter that was very basic in that it had only a few controls and looked simple.
In the early '80s the golden age of videos was happening, there were some monumental games released such as: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Mario Bros., Donkey Kong and Centipede; just to name a few. In this period scrolling games were gaining popularity, developers were starting to experiment with psuedo-3D and alternative forms of controls, such as racing wheels for racing games.
Around the mid '80s and onward saw the third generation of video games makes it's debut, with the NES, Sega Mega System and Atari 7800, which in turn saw The Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Ghostbusters and many more games set in history.
Back to the original point, if I were in this designing a game in this era, I would design a side scrolling game to fit in with the upcoming trend. It would most likely be a space themed, which seemed to be a very popular theme at the time because of games like Space Invaders and movies like Star Wars. The game would also be a shooter because that was a genre growing popularity. It would have very limited controls, so directional buttons, a shoot button and a jump button. It would look very simple in terms of graphics because of the limited technology. The audio would also be quite simple, but there would be a digital background track because they were occuring in games at the time.
So to summarise, I would make a space-themed, side scrolling shooter that was very basic in that it had only a few controls and looked simple.
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