Representation

In this blog post I will be writing about two different types of characters, writing about what that certain type’s entails and what character fits into this character type.

The first one I will be writing about is the Reluctant Hero. A Reluctant Hero is just an ordinary man and could have a number of faults or something of a troubled past which he is then pulled into a story reluctantly or could be brought into doing heroic acts, throughout the story he eventually rises to the occasion, he could end up doing this by destroying a strong enemy, or avenging someone he knows. But in the story the reluctant hero would question at points in the story whether they could make it as a hero. Their doubts or their mistakes could end up adding to the satisfactory part on a tense story.

During movies or games the hero would normally be portrayed as just an ordinary person which could be labelled as “An average Joe” are one of the term used for someone like this, the hero is then thrown into extraordinary situations that would require the hero to rise to become a true hero or someone with inhuman abilities who ends up enhancing to use his or hers special powers in order to benefit other rather than himself. A reluctant hero doesn’t originally go looking for the adventure or seek the opportunity in which to perform good acts, their selfishness could drive them into the genre of an anti-hero. In some stories the reluctant hero is portrayed as having periods of doubts after their first real foray into being a hero. This could be brought up by some of the negative actions of being a hero. This will then leave the viewers wondering if they will ever return back and become a true hero at moments when he or she are needed the most.

An example of a reluctant hero could be from the movie Pitch Black, where a crew are shipwrecked on an alien planet with deadly nocturnal inhabitants. When the planets suns go down the crew must survive with the help of an escaped convict who was also on the ship called Richard B. Riddick who has very unique eyes which enable him to see into the darkness, Riddick is a good example of the reluctant hero because he is thrusted into saving the crew , Riddick also does not particularly seek the adventure or even becoming a hero, in the movie he is faced with choices whether to save the crew or not, which he does ends up doing as he forms a bond with some of the crew.

An example of this in a game could be Monkey from the game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, your character, Monkey who is quite brutal and athletic who in manages to survive in a world that has been decaying world around 150 years into the future populated by men and then overrun by mechanical machines which have basically become like the wild animals of the present day. As the game begins Monkey finds himself captured on a ship and held in a prison cell. A girl who is called Trip manages to escape which sets off a chain reaction in the ship which then Monkey can break free. He then clings onto an escape pod that has Trip inside it, the pod crash lands into the ruins of a decaying New York City. Monkey awakens only to find that he is now fitted with a slave headband by Trip and the device will end up killing him if Trip dies, Monkey must ensure Trip survives in order to send her home and remove the collar.

This is a perfect example of a reluctant hero as he isn’t forced into becoming a hero, he kind of ends up walking into it by accident, throughout the game he protects her, suggestions he could only be doing it because he wants to get the headband removed rather than actually wanting to keep her alive, looking at the back story of the game though is seems that Monkey has spent much of his life on his own, so some form of companionship with Trip would end up being a positive for him and he eventually warms to her in the game. 

Defining Your Content

In this blog post I will be writing about defining my content within my game, I will also be writing about a certain piece of content in another game and then analysing it with one of the methods that I have learned the past week. Next I will be writing up a questionnaire about what people expect in a game that is defined by the game genre that I had chosen.

In this part I will be writing about two similar pieces of game content, one from GTA 5 and the other from The Last of Us. Both are torture scenes which are quite brutal in their own ways. The first one is from GTA 5 which had a lot of criticism from people complaining that it is over the top and very extreme as one report I found online described it as a “Brutal scene.” And another quote was “Kids in our playgrounds are displaying more violence and we have conducted polls and found they are viewing games like GTA.” Whether GTA did this on purpose in order to gain more views and publicity on their game is another matter, after viewing this clip on YouTube it does seem extremely violent and was very graphic. Now comparing that to the torture scene from The Last of Us which in my view is not as violent as the one in GTA 5, but still very brutal in ways he extracts the information he wants, the torture scene from GTA 5 in context with the story, so could they have gotten this information from another source without torturing someone for information, then the scene from The Last of Us is implied violence as you don’t really see the acts being performed, Joel had to do this as there wasn’t any other way he could’ve gotten this information from elsewhere. 

Then using a method I learned called hyperdermic needle theory, this process is also known as magic bullet theory is a communications model that suggests that messages can be directly received and wholly established by a receiver.  This can be related to the scenes from either game in opposite ways as the one from The Last of Us didn’t receive as much criticism as the one from GTA 5 which had a number of complaints and a news paper article online also suggesting that the scene was over the top and too graphic.  The term basically means something that has a direct impact on the viewer and its audience, and the GTA 5 torture scene was a perfect example of this as people went nuts over it and had multiple complaints. Others didn’t react in the same way as most of them weren’t affected by these scenes and carried on playing it like it was a normal everyday scene.

In this next part I will be writing up a questionnaire and asking questions specific to my gaming genre that I want my game to fit into, the chosen categories that I have chosen are Sci-Fi and First Person Shooter (FPS)

First off, one of the questions that I asked were if they played any kind of FPS games such as any of the Call of Duty series and any of the Battlefield games. The picture below shows how many answered it and the percentages which are split into.

Next I asked the question “Have you played a Sci-Fi game before?” and the image below summarises that answers, as you can see they are totally different to the first question as 100% of them said they have played an FPS game before whereas in this question only 13 of the 17 that answered the question had played a game in that genre.

Finally I asked what console or platform they play their games on and the picture below shows you the answer, the majority have gone for the two biggest consoles which are Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 whereas some other such as the PS Vita and the DS didn’t achieve any votes, this proves players prefer playing games on consoles rather than handhelds. 

Defining Your Audience

Defining Your Audience

In this part I will be choosing a competitor to my game concept, that game is Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Crysis 3, both these games are Sci-Fi FPS. Upon researching them I will compile a report which covers the following three:

Quantitative.

Qualitative

Audience Classification.

Quantitative.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - This part could be broken up into two separate parts, sales figures and review scores. Going into more depth I have found different review scores for each game on different websites making to research more reliable and credible. Looking at websites such as Metacritic and Gamerankings. For the first game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution there are similar patterns for this game because the ratings are very similar, on Metacritic they’ve given it a score of 89 out of 100, which is very good. There were a total of 50 critic reviews, all 50 of them being positive, with one of the critic’s reviews being a solid 10 out of 10 which said: “It’s rare I play a game that doesn’t let me play the way I like, but actually showers me in prizes for doing so, I love it.” This was published in 2011. Nearly all of the critic scores rated this game at least 80+ out of 100. The user reviews mirror those kinds of ratings bar one who rated it as 0 out of 10, there were a total of 149 user reviews, 122 of them being positive, 8 being mixed and the final 19 being negative and one of the more lower rating which said “I have been playing games for a long time now and have played all types of games, from RPG to FPS and others... and I have to say this is the worst piece of crap I have ever played. As a shooter it completely fails with ridiculously bad weapons, as a story it’s so basic and uninteresting it’s not even funny. The levels are so badly designed that it is a pain to get oriented in them; the graphics are so early 2000. Bref, this game could have been good in 2000 or 2001 but today it’s just a horrible, horrible game. Don’t believe the hype.” Looking at Gamerankings, there reviews are nearer the same as the ones taken from Metacritic, some ratings were 9 out of 10, 5 out of 5 and a staggering 9.7 out of 10 with the average of all the reviews being a solid 8.4 out of 10. Now moving onto the sales figures, Square Enix confirmed in 2011, 3 months after its release that the game sold over 2 million copies in the US and Europe, which has likely risen to more than that in the present day. The majority of the sales were Europe based with over 1.3 million been snapped up, whereas only around 800,000 copies were sold to North American players who wanted to play the sci-fi action RPG. Around 2 months later the game was released in Japan, but these sales figures were not included in the report. Dues Ex dominated Square Enix’s software sales  for the last 6 months which ended in September 2011, with Dungeon Siege lll behind it on around 800,000+ sales, then followed by Dragon quest 25^th Anniversary Collection which sold around 350,000 sales in Japan. 

Crysis 3 - Again this part will be broken down into two separate parts, sales figures and reviews from the same websites (Metacritic & Gamerankings). The reviews on Crysis are different to the ones for Deus Ex: Human Revolutions. On Metacritic they gave Crysis 3 a rating of 77 out of 100, which again is reasonably good, not as good as Deus Ex, but close enough. There were a total of 23 critic reviews for this game, 16 of them positive, 7 which were mixed and surely good news that none were negative, one of them was “All-in-all Crysis 3 is a great package, despite burning bright half as long. It may have not been exactly what all the fans wanted, but it does a great job or trying to appease as many as it can without sacrificing too much. Add to this a decent; if not groundbreaking multi-player suite and you have a solid FPS that is more than worth a look.” Now looking through the user reviews they have a slight different to the critics reviews as in some of their reviews were negative unlike the critics reviews, there was a total of 25 user reviews, 13 positive, 5 that were mixed and 7 which were negative, one of the more positive ones  who scored it as a 10 out of 10 that wrote “The single player is okay but the multi-player stands out. It’s a blend of Battlefield and Halo, but with a lot more strategy in how to manage your suits energy. It’s really a blast.” One of the more negative ones which scored it at 4 out of 10 wrote “The only saving grace is the single-player which for some odd reason features horrible AI, even on the hardest difficulty. I’m only a few missions in but I’m easily able to simply run past everyone only shooting a few people to beat a mission. The storyline, voice acting and graphics are the best part about the experience they are next gen quality. Multi-player is average at best and brings nothing new to the table at all. In my opinion I have had more fun with Crysis 2 multi-player as this version of the game is 100% dumbed down even further for the Call of Duty audience, and it looks like it sold like a turd, less than 1,000 players online together. Expect LAGGY hosts and o players in every mode not names TDM, FFA, Spears and Crash Site. Minimal improvements have been made as well compared to Crysis 2 mp this feels like nothing more than a map pack with different kill streaks . Piss poor job EA.” Now looking at Gamerankins views on it, they were nearer the same as what Metacritic gave it, some of the reviews reached a maximum of around between 6 and 7 out of 10 with only two being higher at a respectful 8.5 and 9.2 out of 10 which average works out as a 7 or so, out of 10. Moving onto the sales figures of Crysis 3, one article which I found compared it to the sales figures of Dead Space 3 which was released at around the same time. It red “Big-budget shooters Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 did not meet Electronic Arts’ (EA) sales expectations, despite topping sales charts, the company revealed today (May 7^th 2013) which shows this article is relatively up to date. Again it goes onto talking about how many copies were sold during its February launch month. “Crysis 3 was also released in February and was the month’s third best selling game in the US, moving 205,000 copies, according to the research group.”

So when you compare the 2, Crysis 3 doesn’t live up to the same stature as Deus Ex: Human Revolutions, Deus Ex sold far more copies than Crysis 3 did. Also the reviews I researched prove that every game has its good views and bad views, all games have their own specific audience.

Moving onto qualitative research, I decided on creating two questionnaires, one for players who have played either Deus Ex or Crysis 3 and one for those who haven’t played it.

Looking at the two questionnaires above, the one to the left was filled out by someone who has played either of the two games and the one on the right is from someone who hasn’t played either of the games. Looking at the one to the left, the answers were filled in for Crysis 3; some of the answers given are similar to some of the user reviews found on Metacritic. 

The person said that the graphics are good, but it doesn’t make the game great. As well the person also added if Crysis made a new game such as Crysis 4 then he wouldn’t purchase it mainly for the fact that when he played Crysis 3 he said it “Got boring very quickly.” But looking at what the person posted on Metacritic, 6 people out of 11 that viewed it did in fact found it helpful, so the comment has effected other people’s view on the game, some of them could’ve been wanting to buy it but saw the comment and changed their mind.

Now looking at the other questionnaire on the right, this person said he had never played either Crysis 3 or Deus Ex, I asked further questions such as “Would you consider buying it?” which he said they wouldn’t and then asked how else would he find out about games he doesn’t know about, his response was “Friends, YouTube and comments from random people.” This proves that most people could end up making their choice on getting a game on comments based from their friends, videos online and what other people may say online such as replies on Metacritic and Gamerankings.

Moving onto audience classification, in this part I will be writing about what types of players play either of the games and their wants and need from the game. First off are player types. Crysis 3’s player’s types could be a mixed community, as the game is in first person, which would appeal to many of the first person shooters (FPS) that play games but could also be described as a action or adventure which would appeal to gamers who play games for the adventure and finding items, and basically going on missions and also sci-fi gamers. For Deus Ex the type of gamer that this game would appeal to is similar to the audience for Crysis 3, gamers who enjoy first person shooters, also this game would appeal to another genre which Crysis 3 doesn’t have which is role playing games (RPG).

Next I will be covering the player needs; this can be split into 5 separate types of needs which are:

Cognitive – Which is the desire to discover or learn to find out more. An example for this could be a quiz show.

Affective – This is the need to stir someone’s emotions; this would include pleasure, sadness, excitement and voyeurism. An example of this could be a TV soap opera or everyday life. An example of this could be the movie Titanic.

Personal Integrative – The need for self esteem, this helps the person reassure their own views on their status in the world. An example of this could be some form of make-up advert or anything that shows the viewer how they could be.

Social Integrative – This is the need to socially interact with their friends, family or co-workers and the need to feel popular. An example of this could be some form of social networking site such as Facebook or twitter.

Tension-free – A need for escapism, or to switch off and just relax. This could also be used for entertainment purposes and amusement. An example of this could be a football match or an aimless website where you view thousands of pictures. 

Interactivity in Games Story

Interactivity in Games Story

In this blog post I will be writing about two games and their opening sequences and explaining the interactivity and storytelling to engage the player and how it immerses the player into them game. I will be writing about 8 different parts, they are:

1. The Environment.
2. NPC’s (None Playable Characters).
3. Subtitles.
4.  Sound (Effects & Music).
5. Interactivity/Cut Scenes.
6. Script.
7. Learning Curve.
8. Satisfactory Feel.

·         How did the environment help tell the story –

The Last of Us: The environments in the opening scenes in this game are very dark and gloomy, dim colours, which have street lights were all off apart from the odd one which led to where you’re supposed to go, the use of lights to show objectives, how certain parts of the game were cornered off in order to show where you are supposed to go, when you were in the car you were able to look round left and right in order to see the landscape.

GTA 5: The bank had very closed and tight spaces, the bank vault was one separate room, the area outside the bank and all the snow, which shows that it is winter, the use of cover with the cars and walls etc, when you get into the car at one point you can drive it and then the near miss with the passing train.

·         How did the NPC’s help tell the story –

The Last of Us: The first NPS we see when playing it is Joel, he protects Sarah which shows that he is a stronger character and Sarah is the weaker one, Tommy in the car informs the player of what happens rather than being told what happened before hand, then the television news channel informed the player what’s happening.

GTA 5: The NPC’s that we see in GTA 5 are the hostages’ that you capture right at the start; they obviously tell that the people that you are playing are bad guys or bank robbers, other NPC’s could be the other robbers that you couldn’t play as during the opening scenes and the driver of the getaway car who dies.

·         How did subtitles help tell the story –

The last of us: this game doesn’t really involve using subtitles, the only real subtitles that it kind of uses are promts, using the triangle button when near objects that you can use in order to gain knowledge of what to do next, then the L1 when you’re in the car in order to look around. Other subtitles could be the written word on the bottom of the screen for people who don’t quite understand what the characters are saying.

GTA 5: whilst playing through the opening sequences in GTA 5 you get many promts, instructions on how to play the game such as how to aim, how to get into cover, how to use your phone to complete certain tasks like detonating a bomb, how to sprint, change character and drive.  The subtitles can be displayed on the bottom of the screen to see what the characters are actually saying.

·         How sounds effect the story –

The last of us: the sounds in the last of us are very effective in telling the story, at the start when the main character puts Sarah to bed you can hear subtle guitar strings at slow pace which makes the player take their time and look through the game more rather than a game with fast pace music which is more of a run and gun. Midway through the prologue there is another piece of music, but it’s just one tone, it doesn’t elevate or lower.

GTA 5:  the sounds in the opening scenes of GTA  5 are massively different to the ones in the last of us, where in GTA 5 it’s more fast paced, run and gun, but in the last of us it’s more subtle and quieter which ends up being more emotional.

·         Interactivity in cut scenes –

The last of us: during the first opening scene in the last of us you can play as Sarah during the first 5 minutes or so, when they get into the car you cannot control it because it is on a set journey whereas you can still rotate Sarah in order to view the landscape.

GTA 5: the interactivity in GTA 5 is similar to the one in the last of us, you’re still in a car and still not able to drive it, but you cannot rotate your character as it is all one cut scene until the driver of the car gets killed then you take over and drive. It would be more enjoyable if you could drive the car from the beginning or shoot from your car window instead of one cut scene and another is when you get hit by the train, it would be more enjoyable if you didn’t make it past the train and there was a certain time gap in order to get past it.

·         Script in the story –

The last of us: the script in this game is very good and it tells the story and the information to the player very well, it delivers all the necessary information perfectly when you would need it such as when you’re in the car and Tommy tells you what has been going on and also the television broadcast also gives the player an understanding on what’s happening

GTA 5: the script in GTA 5 is very different to the one in the last of us as it’s more vulgar in how information is passed on, there is definitely a load more swearing in it compared to the last of us, yet it still delivers the necessary information that the player would need.

·         The learning curve in the game –

The last of us: this game delivers a very good learning curve as it doesn’t put you in a serious situation that would spoil your gaming experience or throw you off playing it if the opening scenes whether to difficult.

GTA 5: GTA 5 also delivers an effective learning curve as it does put you in a tough situation in that you are faced against a number of police officers which does seem endless, but gives you an idea on how the combat system works, with the assist of auto aim which helps.

·         Understanding of the opening scene –

The last of us: after the first opening scenes I completed as the player I felt like I understood how the game was going to plan out with the infected and possibly how Joel might react to Ellie coming into his life and I am definitely draw into wanting to play this game more, with such an emotional first 15 minutes or so, I hope the rest of the game will be as enticing as the first part.

GTA 5: after playing the opening scenes of GTA 5 I felt like I could play the game more and get into it, after completing the first part I want to find out more especially what happened to the two characters who got shot , see whether they survive or not.  

Emotional Themes

Emotional Themes

Emotions are used a lot in characters in stories for games. They display how the character is feeling about certain parts in the game, it effects how the players feel based on what kind of emotion the character is showing, a game that is good should get a strong reaction out of its player the majority of the time, this is to engage the player within the storyline and its characters to keep them interested in the game. The emotions in the game can be portrayed in photo-realistic way, this works very well on players as they feel like they can understand what the character is feeling and can also be a very good way to influence the players decision in the game

Emotional themes can also be displayed in films, the story is then told to the viewer in a controlled way, this is where the story will be the same every time that you play through it, whereas in a game, the story is not as direct, the player’s action can almost certainly determine how the game’s story could plan out, you can encourage emotional investment by adding an element of human experience. This could be achieved in a game by using experimental storytelling, basically linking to a human experience. There are a few emotional themes that can affect a story which could make it portray different emotions within a player, some of these can be:

•          Comedy.
•          Charity.
•          Love.
•          Curiosity.
•          Revenge.
•          Hope.
•          Sorrow.
•          Jealousy.
•          Faith.
•          Fear.

This can then be expanded into three separate things, Wants, Needs and Desires. Wants can be things that your or any other person must have in order to survive, Needs are things that are created by your Wants. An example of this could be that you Want to survive, but you Need to eat and drink in order to survive, a Desire is something that you long for, this could be something that may not be achievable or could be self destructive. Stories must contain emotional themes in order to attract and engage their players, they also must make sure that they include the Wants, Needs and Desires and ways in which to suit those Wants, Needs and Desires.

Now I will be writing about a certain clip from the game The Last of Us which really captures emotional themes in great detail, the clip that I have chosen is the prologue during the opening 15 minutes or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76bkBcnbteQ - The Last of Us Prologue.  

From the beginning we can relate to the main character, Joel as he walks in on the phone to Tommy about his job and that he “Needs this job.” Most of the audience can relate to this because in one way or another we've all had the experience of possibly losing our jobs at one point.  Joel is then sitting down with his daughter, Sarah who doesn't forget that it’s Joel’s birthday and gives him a new watch as his is “broken”, and this shows that she has clearly thought about the gift for him.

Sarah then expresses some humor into the scene as she says she got the money from “selling hardcore drugs.” Joel reacts in a comical way by saying “well you can help out with the rent then.” This injects some humor into the situation, I’d say a few minutes later or so, Sarah falls asleep in the sofa, Joel has to carry her up to bed, and this shows his compassionate side as it’s seen as a excellent fatherly gesture carrying your child up to bed having fallen asleep downstairs. He kisses her goodnight and says “Goodnight, Babygirl.” This shows that Joel still sees his daughter, Sarah as a baby.

Now you’re actually playing through the game, you’re playing as Sarah to give the player her perspective of things, you were woken up by the phone, it’s Tommy asking for Sarah to get her dad then gets cut off midway through speaking. As playing as Sarah you now must find your dad, there is an element of fear because you do not know his whereabouts, so you must go looking through an empty feeling house calling “dad” or “daddy” a few times, you then walk into Joel’s room and find the television still on with the news playing, as you are looking round the room the broadcast gets worse and explosions are heard not too far away, this gives the player as sense of danger, Sarah is even more spooked and calls louder for her dad. You then make your way downstairs where you find Joel’s phone which has received 8 missed calls and 3 text messages from Tommy saying that he’s on his way.

Sarah then finds her dad frantically running inside from their neighbour who Joel describes as “not right” of course the neighbour has been infected, but Joel and Sarah don’t know this, all they seen is that he’s gone a little insane or crazy, this would give the player who’s playing a sense of fear as they don’t really know what’s going to happen next. Joel takes a gun from his desk draw and warns his neighbour to “stay back”. The neighbour smashes through then glass door and tries to attacks Joel, Joel then has no choice to protect his daughter and shoots the neighbour. Joel then says to Sarah that they “need to get out of here” and Tommy arrives to pick them up, they enter the car and Tommy asks Sarah if she’s okay, her response is but only 2 word which are “I’m fine” which we all know when someone says only 2 words when asked this clearly isn't, Sarah is obviously slightly traumatized by these current events.

Sarah asks if the radio can be turned on as this means she wants to block out what just happened by switching on the radio so she can get back to some form of normality. Tommy then persisted that he found a family that was “mangled” where Joel stops him midway through in order to protect his daughter from such events. They then drive past another neighbour’s house which is on fire, Joel and Tommy both show signs of concern by questioning if they “made it out alive” or survived. They pass a group similar to their own, 2 adults and a child, Tommy shows concern again and wants to stop and see if they’re okay, Joel reacts in the total opposite manner and tells him to keep driving, Tommy replies  by saying “they’ve got a kid, Joel” which Joel says “yeah? So do we”. Again the player is faced with fear as the traffic comes to a holt and one of the drivers gets out of his car only to be attacked by an infected which then tries to attack the car Joel and the other are in.

They drive down a different alternative road only to be crashed into buy another car, Joel and Sarah regain consciousness only to be trapped inside the car, this gives to player a perspective of the venerable situation,  Joel has no choice but to smash the front window by using his foot, they get out of the car where Joel is pinned against it by an infected, Tommy comes to the rescue and hit the infected with a brick to its head, this shows the love side as Tommy probably just saved Joel’s life. Sarah has been injured in the car crash; this again shows some signs of vulnerability as Joel now has to carry her. Joel then hands Tommy the revolver he got out his draw at their house and says to Tommy “keep us safe” this shows that Joel has put his life in Tommy’s hands. As they’re travelling down the road looking for an exit one of the infected pins a human down and kills them, Joel tells Sarah not to look as he wants to protect her from what’s happening. As you’re rushing through the town certain parts of the town are cornered off, this is to show you where you’re supposed to go in the mad rush of running through the town. As you get to a bar after being chased by the infected, Tommy hold them off at the door and tells Joel to carry on without him and that he’ll meet him at the highway.

Now that Joel and Sarah are on their own, they must now survive without the help of Tommy, they must find their way to the highway whilst being chased by some of the infected, once you reach a certain point running from the infected it goes to a cut scene where you are stopped by a guard, this would give the player a sense of safety as they might think the guard is there to help them or protect them, this however is not the case, the guard then radio’s his commanding officer to say there’s a man and a little girl there, he pleads that there is a “little girl” there, but is given the orders to execute them, the guard fires and Joel who then tries to dive out of the line of fire, the guard walks over to complete his orders only to be shot by Tommy, Joel remains unharmed, but Sarah isn't, she did in fact get hit with a bullet, these last few minutes are the most pivotal in emotional attachments with the player as it shows Joel desperately trying to save his daughters life, but without any kind of medical equipment he fails, Joel breaks down in tears as his daughter squeals in agony from the bullet wound and as he is comforting his daughter saying “it’s okay” and “stay with me, baby” yet in the back of his mind he must k now that Sarah will probably not survive. As the silence occurs, Sarah has passed away from the bullet wound, Joel cannot hold his emotions back floods into tears, this part really connects with the player emotionally as it pulls on the persons heart strings if I wanted to use a better term, this creates a sense of sadness or sorrow for the player because the main character, Joel has lost the most important thing in his life. This really shows quite effectively how he then reacts around Ellie, who is at a similar age, Joel tries not to get emotionally attached to Ellie, but towards the end he ends up saving her and becoming her father figure.

Genre

In this blog post I will be writing about a type of gaming genre and then linking a game that fits with it and then explaining why it fits into that category.

The type of genre that I have chosen is the stealth genre. Stealth games reward player who use stealth tactics to avoid being detected and overcome the various antagonists throughout the game. Usually games in this category allow the player to hide and remain undetected; they could use disguises and could avoid making noise which would alert antagonists in the game. Some games offer the player to decide between using a stealth approach or to go in and attack the antagonist directly, but would probably reward the player better if they took the stealthy approach. The stealth genre has employed espionage rouge and counter-terrorism themes, with your character the protagonist being identified as being either ninjas, spies, thieves, assassins or even a special forces operative. Some current games have combined the stealth genre element with other gaming genre’s such as first person shooters (FPS) and even plat-forming games.

Some early games that started the genre of stealth are 005, Castle Wolfenstein in 1981, Metal Gear in 1987, and Metal Gear Solid: Solid Snake in 1990. The stealth genre became most popular in 1998, with the success in Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Theif: The Dark Project. Tenchu was the first 3D game in the stealth category, where Metal Gear Solid was released some months later, which transformed the relatively obscure Metal Gear series into a highly well known name, profitable franchise which had a number of sequels , whereas Theif pioneered some 3D stealth games onto PC. Other stealth series followed this, example could be Splinter Cell and Hitman and later games allowed players the opportunity to choose between or a combined approach using stealth tactics or direct confrontation.

The main antagonists within this genre are group antagonists who are multiple enemies that you must face, an example of this in a stealth game could be the hundreds of guards that would will inevitably come across whilst trying to sneak past, also stealth games could contain boss battles, an example of this could be in the Metal Gear series, one of those could be Revolver Ocelot or Vulcan Raven. The type of character that you might come across playing as could have some interesting characteristics, they could have a military trained background, and this would explain why your character is selected to be on the missions in the game. The story of a stealth game can be delivered in a number of ways; two of those could be either through cut scenes or radio transmissions like in the Metal Gear franchise. Typically the audience that stealth games are normally aimed at are roughly 16/18 plus, depending on how violent the game could get.

In this next part I will be choosing a game that fits into this genre, that game is the latest release in the series of Splinter Cell, which is Splinter Cell: Blacklist, this game fits perfectly into the stealth genre, not because it’s mentioned in the previous paragraphs, but because the game-play experience matches what the stealth genre is about. Sneaking past enemies does reward you with better unlockables, in this game sneaking past enemies undetected rewards you with more stealth points which then gives you more money once you complete the level, with that money you can upgrade the facility you’re in to unlock better weapons and gear. As well as if you preferred not to be entirely stealthy and want to take the enemy head on then the game does still reward you with points, so either way you play this you’re still unlocking rewards so you don’t lose out on the aspects of the game. 

Story Structure

A Hero’s Journey

In this blog post I will be writing about the Hero’s Journey, I will be comparing each stage to a film of my choice and also to the story in my own game.

Unusual Birth: Majority of the time there is strange situations when there is a birth of a hero. Some of the times a hero is born of a royal decent, other times the hero is born to a demi-god status through parents who are gods. Then other times the hero can be endangered at the time of birth which then needs to be disguised or hidden.

An example of an unusual birth in Hercules could be from Hercules at the start of the film where Hercules is born, he is born of god decent so is a demi-god status, he possesses the power of super strength which makes him an outcast in his town, it makes things very awkward as he breaks most things, the towns people even come up with a nickname for him which is “Jerkules.”

Another example of an unusual birth that is in my story could be when your character returns home from his operation where he had to have two amputations which removed his right forearm and the bottom half of his left leg, they were replaced with mechanical replacements, the people treat him as an outcast as they see mechanical replacements as “inhuman.”

Call of Adventure: Hero’s can normally begin their journey in a number of different ways, sometimes it has to be a traumatic experience which leads the hero needing or wanting to leave home. When the hero is about to leave, the hero may refuse on the first chance, but only to be either tricked, forced or convinced to leave home later.

An example of a call of adventure from Hercules could be where Amphitrion, Hercules’ adopted father give him the medallion of the gods, he also says that they found it around Hercules’ neck when they found him years and years ago. This prompts Hercules to go to the temple of Zeus where he receives guidance. At the temple, the statue of Zeus then come to life, he then tells Hercules that he is his son and to return he must prove himself a hero on earth first.

An example of a call of adventure in my story could be when your character realises he cannot stay where he lives and decides that the only solution is to leave and start a new life somewhere else, he decides to start a new life in the royal end of the city, he is then stopped by a friend that tries to convince him to stay, but to no avail and leaves anyway.

Supernatural Helper: In some hero stories the hero is normally helped out by someone who is usually older and wiser, sometimes they might even possess magical or mystical powers. This kind of person would transfer as a mentor or a guide as the hero would then embark and travel into a new world and face new challenges.

An example of a supernatural helper in Hercules could be the character Philoctetes (Phil). He is the trainer of hero’s and trained some of the most famous such as Achilles. He takes on a young Hercules and trains him up to become an strong and powerful hero, at first it proves difficult, but towards the end he ends up becoming what is father wants him to become.

An example of a supernatural helper in my story could be the person your character meets during his time moving into the royal end of the city, he help you find your way from bring someone who isn’t very well known, to someone who’s name is known by most of the people in the city.

Talisman or Special Weapon: This is where a hero has a special kind of weapon or protective device that will aid the hero in some way or another further on in the story. The person who is your characters supernatural helper may even be the one that gives you this weapon. Other ways the special weapon or talisman could even be a state of mind, knowing the fact that you could achieve your goals.

An example of this in Hercules would be when Hercules has his first real battle after he finishes training with Philoctetes, he faces a centaur called Nessus who has Meg trapped with him, after Hercules frees her he has a sense of accomplishment knowing that he can become a hero and can defeat enemies.

An example of this in my story could be when your character begins his life in the royal end of the city, making a name for him. After completing various jobs around the city his name is known to most people living there and this is his sense of accomplishment knowing that he has made his way into the city.

Crossing the Threshold: In many hero movies there is a time where he or she must leave their familiar place, home or their safe place when they were a child and then enter a new world with new challenges that you must face.

An example of this in Hercules would be when Hercules is told by his father that he must leave his home and travel to somewhere he has never been before and meet someone called Philoctetes and that he is a trainer of hero’s, he must meet Phil and train to become a hero. This is similar because Hercules must leave his comfort zone and move somewhere where he has never been before.

An example of crossing the threshold in my story could be when your character has to leave his home in the poorer part of the city and must travel to the royal end of the city where he must start a new life, new friends, new everything.

Trials: A hero must succeed in a series of certain trials; this would build up his or her strength, their moral and their character. Commonly a trial could involve your hero having to explore in some form of underworld, during this time the hero might suffer some injury that might not be healed.

An example of trials in Hercules could be when he faces 2 trials, the first one could be when Hercules has to face the Hydra, this is the first real test for Hercules and proves to be increasingly difficult as once one head is cut, two more grow back, Hercules eventually overcomes this monster. The second trial is where Hercules has to face the Cyclops; Hercules surrenders his heroic powers in order to save Meg, so a powerless Hercules is left to face the Cyclops on his own.

An example of trials in my game could be when your character has to overcome the boss of the royal end of the city; your character must stop the plan to destroy the poorer end of the city and save the lives of the friends that turned their back on him after his operation.

Achievements of Goals: After success in completing the trials, this is where the hero achieves his or her main goal of their journey; this could be a variety of thing such as collecting some hidden treasure or taking down a facility.

An example of this in Hercules could be when Hercules finally stops Hades plan to take over Olympus, he fights off the titans that Hades released and frees the other gods and hold Hades accountable for his errors.

An example of this in my story could be when your character stops the plan to destroy the poorer part of the city and saves the lives of his once friends who turned their backs on his during the start of the story.

Recognition with Father Figure: If a storyline has either conflict or a division with the father that’s part of the story, you could heal or find a resolution, this might occur as part of the hero’s journey.

An example of this in Hercules would be when Hercules returns to the temple of Zeus after defeating the Hydra amongst other monster and becomes a well known celebrity, he confronts Zeus about joining him in Olympus, but Zeus declines his request and says he isn’t a true hero at that point.

Return Home: sometimes in hero stories the hero could either willingly or unwillingly cross the threshold again in the attempt to return to his home. He would then bring a variety of new things back; this might include wisdom and more of an understanding for the world as they might have viewed something’s in different perspectives.

An example of this in Hercules is when Hercules finally earns the “Hero” status and is let back into Olympus, however, Hercules has the choice of either returning to Olympus and rejoining his mother and father and keep his god like powers or stay on earth with Meg but would suffer the loss of his powers.

An example of this in my story would be when your character comes to the end of the game and united the two cities as one city, he remains classed as one of the poorer citizens even though nearly all of them tried and succeeded in exiling him from the town. 

What is Concept Art

Concept Art is a form of illustration where the objective is to portray a
visual representation of an idea or design. This could be used in films, video games, animation or comic books before it is then used to create the final finished piece.

Concept Art can be used to illustrate an idea or ideas for other people to then work off of, Concept Artists would be hired out to be involved in creating ideas for environments, characters, buildings, anything really that would help other artists to then have something to work from. The Concept Artists would draw out a first draft of what they think something would look like such as characters or equipment like weapons or items. If companies didn't have Concept Artists working on ideas and templates then it would prove very difficult for other artists, they would then have to go off of just text description of what someone wants in their project, with so many other artists all working on something which hasn't been properly visually created for them then they would all have their own different ideas and own concepts on what the creation would look like as a finished project, all their styles together would probably not mesh together properly

Being a Concept Artist entails a lot of responsibilities, some could be being employed to work in big studios where they might employ many other concept artists that will work with each other on specific parts for example they would work on a fantasy creature, a main character or even items. Concept Artists may use computer program such as the basic Painter or more professional a Photoshop software. Once the Concept Artists get the go ahead from the Production Designer, the drawings and creations they produce get presented to a Producer or Director if they're working as part of a film. The main objective though for a Concept Artist is to produce some illustrations which are quite accurate and clear, but also have o be striking, sometimes the Concept Artists might even change their ideas or illustrations throughout because they might require some form of change.

The key skills that a Concept Artist would need to have are:

• Excellent illustration skills.
• Effective communication skills.
• Ability to visualise 3 dimensional perspective space.
• A keen interest in design that includes architecture and film.
• Ability to visually interpret other people's ideas.
• Ability to be flexible and be able to adapt to change on demand or request.
• Ability to work as part of an effective team.
• Knowledge of the requirements of the Health & Safety legislation and procedures.

Concept Art

This blog post will be focusing on concept art and also comparing another games concept art to the game I’m creating. The game that I will be comparing is Deus Ex: Human Revolution  

The design I would like for the location or city would be similar to the ones created for Deus Ex as they have similarities such as being quite futuristic, also it looks quite dusty as this would be the slums or the poorer area of the city.

The image to the left is particularly interesting to me because it has a city which is split into two separate parts which is what I’m going for with my game, a city split into two very different cities, the poorer class citizens and upper/higher class citizens. 

Also the character concepts that are in Deus Ex are the sort of thing that I would like to include into my game, a kind of smart style of clothing where there is no loose bits of clothing and everything is smart and tidy.  This would be ideal for the protagonist in my game because he would need to attract the eye of the audience and appeal to them to make the character interesting. 

The image to the left is also a concept that I like, this design is from the game Halo. I like its design because it’s perfect for a soldier or a guard in the environment that I want in my game. The armour is very much suited to someone who would be a guard as the armour would be protective of the character but also light for the guard or soldier.

This weapon concept is also very interesting as it’s not that basic but quite futuristic and is very different to other pistols in the present day.  The weapon concepts that I want for my game are slightly different from present day weapons an example of this is in the picture to the right which is slightly different from a normal revolver.

Next I will be writing about a concept artist that I find particularly interesting, that artist is Victor Mosquera, who is a freelance concept artist and illustrator who is based in Bogota, Colombia. The clients include companies such as Volta, Shaddy Safadi concept studio and others. Some of his work has featured in 3D Total Prime: The Definitive Digital Art Collection CFSL Artbook 07, Last Man Standing: Killbook of a Bounty Hunter, Image FX Magazine and Light Grey Art Labs. Examples of his concept art are below.