Feedback in Games - First Person

Call of Duty: Ghosts - First Person Game

The main menu for Ghosts is similar to the ones which are used in The Last of Us as the colour scheme are near the same as they both use black and white. The menu system is easy for players to use as there are only four options in which the player chooses from, underneath each option there is a small description which briefly explains what it is about. The person to the right is important as well as the mask he wears is the main attraction for Ghosts, as it is seen on most posters advertising the game. The menu as I said before if easy to navigate through as there is only four options, this is good as a player you don’t want a menu system which is overly complicated to navigate through.  When you compare this to an in-game menu, it again is fairly easy for players to use as the user can only use three or so buttons, one for selecting options, one for going back to the previous page and finally the directional buttons which help the player navigate through the menus.

The input methods as I spoke about above, there are really only three buttons which the player can use, one for selecting, one for going back to previous pages and the direction pad for navigating. The menu systems are all very smooth when using them, the best thing about the menu system in this game is that the player can swap to either game modes such as switching from the campaign to multi-player very quickly unlike the previous installments of Call of Duty where it took a little while for the game to load each game mode up.

In the game there are certain actions that the player can perform such as sliding and the obvious one of jumping, the controls in the game enable the player to slide and almost instantly ready their weapon by aiming down the sights, this is a very unique feature as it really benefits the player’s who like quick or fast paced games. This blend also allows players to jump and aim at the same time, this also can be beneficial to player’s when playing his game  as you wouldn’t want to have to wait till your jump has finished before you can then aim, in most situations the player’s character would have been shot.

Some of the methods that this game gives feedback could be when the player is on the main menu screen and is choosing one of the options available, the way the game gives feedback for this could be the button next to it pulsates which is better that it just doing nothing, this way it has its own animation. Another way for feedback to be given to the player could be when actually playing it, an example could be when playing through the campaign, when finding an objective other computer controlled characters would show the player the direction in which they are supposed to be going to.

In the game there are a few ways it can trigger a psychological response, one of those being when you unlock camouflages for your weapons, the highest ranking one would be the gold camouflage, players see this as the best you can get, it is seen as a prestigious status if a player has this camouflage, other players seeing this might make them determined to get this for themselves. Other ways could include the HUD (Heads up Display) this gives the player feedback on their ammo count, score count, the time remaining, match leader- board and a mini map. All of those aid the users playing the game and is good feedback for the player’s along with how it shows the player has been shot or injured by covering some of the screen with blood splatters as it has done throughout the whole Call of Duty franchise.

Feedback in Games - Third Person

The Last of Us - Third Person Game

The menu system for The Last of Us is very clean an very smart, the font it uses is easily readable for players to read through, it also helps that the background for the menu system is a darker colour thus the text being used in a bright white colour which works very well for reading.  The in-game menus are also very good as once again there is hardly any clutter; everything is evenly spaced out so the player can view it all without being bombarded with information. 

In this game all the necessary information that the player would need is all there right in front of them, from the main menu the player can view their current progress in the game, restart a new game, look through the chapter of the game and scroll through the options menu, there isn’t any kind of delay when choosing one of these options as the game takes the player straight there. When looking at the in-game menus they are equally impressive as it lets the player look through the options menu as does the main menu, have a look through some of the tutorials the game offers and the chance to restart any encounter the players makes in the game. The other in game menu is specifically designed for game-play purposes such as crafting weapons; this menu also follows the colour pattern like the others in being black or darkish background behind white text. Some of the information in the game can be complex at time, but the game does its best in order to condense this information, a good way of this is the sliders which are located at the options menu, these provide the player to alter the music, sound effects and the speech to whatever the player then find most comfortable with.

The input methods for the menu screens for The Last of Us are very simple as it only requires the player to use three buttons which aid them through the menus within the game such as the pause screen menu that only needs the use of the circle button (Back), the pause button on the centre of the controller which enables the player to resume the game and finally the enter button which is in the shape of an X which selects options o the menus for the player.

The menu screens for The Last of Us are quite effective because they are very simple to use and navigate through; only having the player to sue a maximum of three buttons for some of the menu screens makes it very simple for the user to use.

When using the menu systems in The Last of Us there isn’t any real delay when pressing the buttons required to navigate through them, the only real delay in very, very short, the only real place where the game menus become slow is when the player decides to pause the game, obviously that would come with delay as it is saving the players current progress. Other than that, the controls used are very smooth to use. The controls used for the menu systems are all on the controller you are provided with your console, all the buttons are easy to use and not out of the players reach when using them.

There are a number of ways this game gives the player feedback, through clever sounds to attract the player’s attention to something important, to icons the player can see when playing the game to show them items they can use. At the very start of the game through the prologue, it uses one of these, a little chime noise is heard and the camera moves ever so slightly in the direction it wants the player to face in order to show them something of importance. Throughout the game the player would see icons with pictures on them, some for weapon parts which they can craft into better weapons, others for supplies such as medical packs which restore the player’s health. Some of these hints can cause the player a psychological response, an example of this can be a psychological response such as when the player finds weapons parts then they would want to craft better weapons in order to have the best chance in the game. 

Feedback in Games - Touch Screen

Temple Run – Touch Screen Game

As the game is called Temple Run you would expect the game to have some reference to temples, ruins and other exotic lands. The main menu for this game uses this to its advantage by making the menu an entrance to a temple; you can tell this because of the decaying ruins and endless moss surrounding the entrance. The name Temple Run going across the top of the entrance is clever as it is arched across to doorway. The darkness of the entrance suggests mystery and tempts with an idol treasure by saying “Take the idol if you dare!” as if it were taunting you. The use of the text underneath is clever also as it is in line with the entrance to the temple. The main menus is quite easy to navigate through as it is laid out in a very simple way and all the user has to do is tap on to which ever tab you want to select such as to find what your objectives are and also the in-game store to purchase upgrades such as power-ups new characters and utilities. The use of font has been done so that it is easy and readable for the user playing.

Once the player has selected to play they are then leaded to another interface which you can see in the picture to the right side of the screen. This new interface three new features which are the score tally on the upper right corner of the screen, the multiplier which is located on the top left hand corner and then the option to pause the game on the bottom right hand side, all three keep the consistent theme which is old historic ruins. You also have the vines which droop and hand from the top of the screen.

The controls in this game are very instant, there are only four controls that this games uses which are swiping your finger up, down, left and right. Doing these tasks would then alter your characters positioning in the game. This game uses the use of touch as it being on devices such as the iPad and other tablet devices it seems appropriate it being this way, it also has the use of gyroscope, this being the player can tilt the device thus moving the character from one end of the bridge to the other (Left to Right). Some of the errors in this game can be down to the user playing it, errors such as possibly swiping the wrong direction and others, this can be caused by the quick nature of the game because of the fact the speed in the game picks up the further you are into the level. In this game there are certain actions that have priority over others, good example of this can be when then player sliding their finger upwards to perform a jump, but cannot swipe down to slide until the jump cycle has been completed.

There are certain points in this game where it give the player feedback, at the main menu there isn’t really any indication of player feedback other than one real noticeable thing which is the glowing animated idol which continuously pulsates on the centre of the screen. During the game-play there are distinct sounds that the player hears, such as when the character dies the player would hear a scream, another is when the character collects up the variety of coin in the game, the player hears a chime noise for every coin they collect.

At the re-spawn screen the player is presented with funny quotes and quirky images which present the player with a more humorous way of the character dying without actually showing anything to explicit. The player can also hold down the buttons on the bottom of the screen, the game shows this by seeing a more desaturated look to them. The store menu for the game is easily accessible for player to find. The players are able to see the item they have selected with it popping up on the screen. Finally the options menu is also very easy to access, this give the player to change or alter some of the features within the game, example could be the sensitivity and the sound/music volume, both which are only noticeable through actually playing the game. 

Web Animation and Interactivity

The New Golf

In the next few blog posts I will be writing about 5 different adverts which are clever in how they get their points across to the viewer, I will be explaining about the use of visuals and colour, how the interface is used, the feedback, the psychology behind it, how the advert grabs the viewers attention and the technology used in it.

For this advert there is only really one colour that is used, this colour is grey apart from the logo of the company which is blue. The use of grey for the roads is appropriate considering that most roads are that colour, it gives the sense of realism towards this. The use of fonts is also a interesting factor, the font used if simple and clear so it is easy to understand, if people know about Volkswagen before they might even recognise the font used as theirs.

This advert can be compared to some form of mini game, a pass timer. It encourages the viewer to play along as if they were playing a game, the objective is to form a route for the car to pass through in the allotted time given (30 seconds) upon failing this you would have to restart again until you did it correctly, obviously the viewer may lose interest if they fail 2 or more times, but the idea is fairly simple. From the start it includes an animated arrow at the top telling the viewer where to start and then another animated arrow at the bottom to where the viewer is supposed to end up.

For this advert it asks you to complete a simple task of forming a road for the car to pass through, each square has a different piece of road for you to use, the viewer must rotate these pieces in order to correctly link the road together, if however the user does not complete this in the 30 second allotted time limit then the advert pops up with the typical “Try again” solution which then the user would attempt to construct the road once more.

In this advert it says “The new Golf. A drive less ordinary.” This works well with the obstacle which is the advert where the user has to navigate through some form of maze, as just having a straight, normal road would be pointless to what the slogan says and that the fact that it says “A drive less ordinary.” As well as that fact you can literally make any road and doesn't have to follow the objective in connecting to the end is a good as it goes well with the slogan.

In this advert to grab the viewers attention it challenges you in a way to see if you can actually link the road together and complete it, as viewers our natural instinct it to accept this in a way to prove to ourselves that we can actually do this a complete it to prove to ourselves that it is simple enough.

This advert it very adaptable when using a PC, it fits onto the screen and works how it should work, when compared to loading it on a touch screen device the page loaded up but the advert didn't, this leaves me to believe that adverts which involve swiping or clicking will probably not work, it seems best to use a PC when adverts are involved using interactivity.  

Gatorade Push Toy

The visuals in this Gatorade advert is quite clever as the colours they have chosen to use is the colour orange as it is the colour that someone that would associate Gatorade with. The font they use as well is also good as it is clear and easy for people to read, the phrase it uses “Out of energy?” is used really clever as the sentence is flickering which is reference to maybe a light bulb which is low on power and would flicker when low, and the use of the word energy is clever also as energy refers back to what I previously said about power.

This advert is very simple with telling you what to do as there is only one real thing that the viewer can do which is to push the button, upon pushing the button the little bottle of Gatorade begins to fill up and at the same time the figure above that then begins to stand upright in the form of different sporting gestures such as a tennis serve or maybe a skateboarder, but once the user comes off the button then the bottle starts to condense and also the figurine then begins to collapse

In this advert there is another simple task, like in most interactive adverts. All the user has to do is push one button and then everything then works automatically and then if they user comes off the button the figurine then deflates in stature, this is then a continuous process and there isn’t anything that the user can change.

The message that this advert sends out is that if you’re feeling run down or haven’t got any energy left for whatever reasons the a bottle of Gatorade can be the cure for this and give you the energy that you might need, the sentence at the end help with this as it says “Go further.” Which in some cases means push yourself after you’ve drank a bottle of Gatorade. Someone that hasn’t had Gatorade before and viewing this for the first time might be enticed by this and may well go out and purchase a bottle in order for them to experience it. 

The main audience for this kind of advert for an energy drink might be targeted at sporty/athletic people who might need an energy drink, this advert would appeal to them as from the start it states in a sentence “Out of energy?” someone who does a lot of exercise might think to themselves “Yes I do.” And then purchase this drink based on what they saw in this advert as the figure seemed to have sprung into life after having a bottle of Gatorade.

Having looked at this advert on my computer it works fine, the interactions were smooth and easy to use., once you try and use a mobile phone which is touch screen based that when it starts to get difficult as the problems I had were the page would eventually load up but not the advert, and having looked through the internet I found comments from people saying adverts that involve clicking or swiping on touch screen devices never normally work. 

NHS Beer Goggles

This advert uses colour in a clever way as the advert is about teenagers going on holiday, drinking and generally having fun. The use of having the sun in the background as a warm colour gives the impression of a fun holiday in the sun and a warm place. The font used is also another simple one for the viewer to read, it explains the essential things that you would need when going on a holiday as a teenager which are your passport, tickets and condoms and then a brief phrase which says “Condom, essential wear.” This tells the viewer out of the three which might be most important in order to protect themselves.

There really is only one interactive part for this advert which is the sliders at the bottom of the advert which allow the viewer to see the changes when they slide the cursor from either side. It encourages both men and woman to use the sliders to see the outcomes. It appeals to a male audience so they can use the sliders until the woman becomes somewhat attractive and the same would be for a female audience, they would use the sliders until the man would seem attractive.

There are some good points to this advert, one of those could be the advert plays automatically regardless of the viewer clicking on the sliders, this would be a benefit for the viewer as at the start of the advert there are quite unattractive people during the start which aren’t that nice to look at, the advert playing automatically is some form of a positive, but still displays an important message to the viewer, which is to drink responsibly.  

The message that this advert is trying to portray is when one a holiday as a teenager or with friends then you remember to pack the essential equipment, such as passports, tickets and condoms. It proves the point that when people drink their judgement is clouded; the advert provides a perfect example of this that someone who you think isn’t attractive then after drinking heavily they then turn into someone attractive.

In this advert it uses sex appeal to try and entice its viewers, for a male audience it portrays an overweight woman turning into an attractive one once you use the sliders and vice versa for a female audience, it uses an overweight man who ends up being attractive upon using the sliders. It also gives the perception that if you drink then someone who is not that attractive may end up being attractive due to the amount of alcohol in your system.

When viewing this advert on a computer it runs smoothly, and is very easy to use. When you start to use this on a touch screen device such as a mobile phone it isn’t such that great, again the page does end up loading, but the advert doesn’t.

Malteser – Typo Crash

This advert uses a variety of different colours as it uses the logos and brands of different types of alcohol such as Jack Daniels and Bacardi. The use of different types of fonts used in this advert as well makes it quite unique and different from other adverts which portray the same, if not similar message to its viewers, the fonts are carefully take from different brands of alcohol and meshed together in order to create a message within them.

The advert uses a different way to get its audience to interact with it, it uses an animated drinks mixer which has a phrase next to it which reads “Mix Your Drink.” as from the start there isn't any real message within the advert, this is in an attempt to get the user to click it, thus appears another message which has been carefully designed from different types of brands of alcohol. There are around five or so messages until you reach the end of the advert.

For this advert it there are only really one correct input and one incorrect one, the correct one being that the viewer should click on the animated drinks mixer in order to progress onto the next hidden message until they eventually reach the last one the a final message is shown. The incorrect one would be the viewer not clicking on the drinks mixer and then not finding out what the message says. Although the advert doesn’t start until the drinks mixer is click there should be an alternative to starting it possible making it automatic after a certain time has passed.

The psychology behind this advert is very cleverly done as the viewer think from the start that all they are doing is mixing a few drinks and that there isn’t any real harm to that, but is there? Once the user has click the drinks mixer for the first time then a message appears using words taken from different alcohol brands and put together like some form of collage. The advert uses messages such as “Whiplash.” & “Skull Fracture.” Give off the impression that these aren’t ordinary messages, but warning of what the consequences are from excessive drinking and also mixing drinks which should be mixed. Finally after all the messages/warnings have been shown which reads “Don’t Drink and Drive.” This is then when the viewer discovers what this advert is about. Overall I think this advert does succeed in portraying this message as it tells the user the outcomes of drinking whilst driving.

This advert from the start makes the user believe that all they are doing is harmlessly mixing a few drinks until they start mixing, they then have similar messages appear, and the viewer then clicks on the drinks mixer again which showcases messages such as “Paraplegia.” and “Liver Rupture.” Which aren’t the kind of messages the viewer would want to find, until the end where it is revealed it is an advert for drink driving. 

When viewing this advert on a PC it works fine, the animations aren’t delayed and it runs smoothly, but once you compare it to a mobile device such as a touch screen phone then that’s where it is let down as the actual page does load up after a certain amount of time has passed, but the advert itself doesn’t then load up with the page.

Mercedes SLS AMG – Pedal

At the start of this advert is portrays the image that the setting is somewhere high in the mountain roads which contain long straight roads perfect for fast/sport cars. The first car we see is silver or grey colours Porsche driving along a long road, this could be viewed as possibly dull because of the colour choice. But once you get the car which is the main attraction for this advert we see it is the colour red, which in some terms red is the colour for something being fast. The use of text and different fonts in this advert is quite useful as well, the text in the box at the top of the advert is plain and simple which is easy for the user to read and the same can be said for the text at the end of the advert

From the start of the advert it tries to get the viewer to interact as at the start it asks the user to click on the pedal located on the bottom right on the advert which starts the process off, once the viewer has done this then the viewer sees the silver Porsche almost disappear into the background due to how fast the user is going. The advert is pretty simple in how the features work, all the viewer has to do is click on the accelerator and then the rest of the advert then follows like clockwork.

The two main inputs for this advert that I can see are one for correct and the other for being incorrect, the correct one being that the viewer would watch the advert and follow the instructions on screen such as clicking on the accelerator pedal which would then lead to the user being taken to another screen and presented with the new Mercedes. The incorrect one would be that the user views the advert but doesn’t actually click on the accelerator pedal, but the advert corrects this by taking the viewer to the same screen as if they were to click the accelerator pedal.

At the start of the advert it tells the viewer to “Experience the fastest sports car from Stuttgart.” So from the viewer’s perspective they would think that is the first car they would see, wrong. Once you progress through the advert you are then shown a second car, one which is considerably faster than the one you previously saw, so in that case the advert does succeed in portraying a message which is the Mercedes is the fastest sports car from Stuttgart.

This advert might be more inclined to be intended for a male audience as sporty/fast cars would appeal to a male audience rather to a female one, the advert tells the viewer they are about to witness the fastest sports car to come out of Stuttgart when as a matter of fact they are slightly mislead and eventually shown this fast sports car.

When watching this advert on a computer or a laptop it runs well, all the features work and there are no points in which the advert is delayed, when you compare this on other devices then that’s where it start to not work, an example of this could be when you test it out on a mobile touch screen device such as a phone is when it doesn’t necessarily work. 

Evaluation

Evaluation

Task 1 – Concept Art & Story Development.

At the start of the unit I felt some of the areas we had to write about were fairly challenging and could be frustrating at time because of the lack of information I could find. Some ways that I can make an improvement on, therefore this could be to find accurate research in other ways which could be asking people who have played the game which I am researching, one particular area I was stuck on was Representation, this assignment involved choosing two different types of characters and explaining what type they were, The Reluctant Hero, I could only really think of two stand out ones for this unit, I could improve this by expanding my gaming knowledge by either playing a more variety of games or asking people who played games which had Reluctant Hero’s in them.

Some parts in this task weren't that complex and was surprisingly fun to do, one that I was particularly proud of doing was the Emotional Themes segment, for this I chose a game which I found really enjoyable and was one of my strengths because I had the knowledge to write this confidently, some reasons for this could be because of the game I chose as it was one of my favorites and because it had so much detail for that specific area, I analysed the opening prologue of the game which contained more than enough for my blog post, I feel I achieved my goal that I wanted to for writing this blog which was to have as much detail as I possibly could.

During this task I had to find my own pre-production research, this would then help me to really analyse the games which I had chosen to write about for this task, I found that such websites like YouTube which had a video clip of the prologue I needed to analyse The Last of Us for Emotional Themes and the obvious one in playing the game. For Story Structure, websites which contained The Hero’s Journey, which helped me with step by step instructions for each step. Finally writing these blogs would have consumed a lot of time, I managed this by doing at least one daily, this gave me enough time and effort to really put together a well drafted blog which had as much detail as I could put into it. 

Task 2 – Defining Your Audience.

At the start of this particular assignment I didn't’t know how to really how to write about quantitative or qualitative research, so I found this to be a particular weakness that I needed to strengthen so throughout this task I was learning different techniques to understand them, at the very start I was quite complex because I really didn't know what to write about other than my own opinions on the games which I had chosen.

Upon starting this task I found websites which did help me a lot with my pre-production research, these were Metacritic and GameRanking, they gave me accurate opinions on the game from expert game critics and also gave a list of regular players such as myself and they also posted appropriate opinions, some were inappropriate but everyone has their own views on a game, no matter how bad., both professional critics and regular ones gave the game a rating, typically between 1 and 10, with 10 being highest. Other research methods were the questionnaire that I has types out, this would give me an indication of how popular the chosen games I had with my fellow peers. Once I had finished this assignment I felt quite proud of it because considering at the start I was quite frustrated and didn't really know what and how to write about it, to how it finished is something I am very proud of doing since I never expected that I’d write so much and have so much detail in my blog.

Once I had finished this task I felt that my own knowledge had been improved because at the start I didn't fully understand how I could complete this task, some of the skills that I have now gained will help me to complete a project with similar objectives such as researching different games and comparing critic responses from professional critics with other professionals and then comparing critic reviews from regular gamers like myself. 

Task 3 – Defining Your Content.

During this task I had a plan of what I needed to do for it, what information needed to be included, for this I chose to very recent games and analysed, finding the first game was pretty easy, I chose one that I’ve recently played because it’s fairly easy and it had a lot of content which was relevant to what I was writing about. Choosing the second was a little more difficult because I needed a game which had a similar scene to the first one I was analysing, after a few minutes of trying to find a game that had a similar scene to the first I thought of one, this was also a recent game, upon finishing this ask I felt comfortable that what I had wrote was good enough and to the best of my abilities.

During this task I was particularly proud of the first half as I knew the game I wanted to write about, the scene that I wrote about has sufficient information which helped me write a good enough blog. The second game also had enough information in it to write about, both scenes were graphic, but one is implied violence unlike the other.

After finishing this task I feel that it would help me at some point in the future as it has helped me to analyse scenes from two different games which are similar and explain why one could be worse than the other and why one might have had extreme scenes for publicity reasons other than because of the game itself.

If I had the chance to re-write this particular task again I would have probably wrote about two different games, such as writing about a most recent game and then the other could be from years ago, then I’d compare then to see how scenes from games have evolved, rather than getting straight to points, you now have multiple choices on occasions. 

Task 4 – Reference Imagery.

For this task we used a website called Pintrest which enabled us to take pictures from the internet and use them as reference material to what we wanted our characters clothing style to represent. At the end of this task I felt that I had could have gathered more concept designs for clothes, if I did this then I would have had a wider range to choose from, although I think I had enough to start my concept designs.

There were a few things when completing this task I found slightly complex at times, one of them is because my game is futuristic as it is meant to be set years from now, finding some reference images for things that are futuristic can be quite challenging at time since I have an image in my head that I want, but find it hard to find something similar on the internet. Although it was hard finding images that I liked, there was a fun aspect that came along with it; the fun of finding some extremely imaginative designs of cityscapes, vehicles and item, all looked really stunning.

During this task the pre-production research techniques I used was mainly the internet, I would use websites such as Google images to find some reference images on there, I also visited other clothing brand websites like Topman to view different types of clothing. When researching different environments I also used Google Images. Another research method I used was taking pictures of real environment scenes and using them as reference materials.

If I had the chance to start this task again then I would probably change the concept of the game from being futuristic to something a little more modern, although it would be easier, there wouldn't really be any challenge in creating the concept. 

Task 5 – Concept Art.

For this unit I felt quite confident considering it was a lot of drawing, I had a clear idea of the artwork that I wanted to draw, I did three pieces of concept art and showcased them in five different art forms ranging from pencil sketch work to digital art. I’m quite proud of the work I did for creating concept art for my character because it was all drawn by hand and not a template which was copied from the internet.

In this task there was one thing that I found particularly difficult, this was drawing the concept art for the environment, at the start I thought it had to be something huge and an outdoor scene, I quickly found out that I could draw the inside of a building, which is much easier, I would have lied to do something a little more adventurous but at that point I really didn't have enough time that I’d like to attempt that.

For this task I had around two weeks to complete it, I had three different concept ideas and i wanted to display them using five different art forms, so in total I had to produce fifteen or so designs. I managed this by completing at least 2 different designs a day, this would ensure me that I had enough time to finish and have some time to spare for any adjustments that I wanted to make, if any.

In this task I had my strong point and also my weak points, some of my strongest points could be my pencil sketch work and my digital work, I knew if I could take advantage of these two then my designs would look half decent and would help out my sketchbook a lot,  I also knew what my weaknesses were, most probably would be my charcoal work, I could have improved this by practicing this more and developing this skill, 

Task 6 – Building an Environment.

For this task I felt it was quite daunting purely because my 3D modelling skills aren't the greatest, but I did what I could and was pretty satisfied with the results which I produced, it did take me two attempts as the first draft was pretty poor considering what my environment was supposed to be, on the second attempt it was much better as it had a lot more detail within it.

Something that I’m least proud of is what I said before, which was my first attempt that was very poor, it’s something that I am not very proud of considering it needed to be of a higher quality, but something that I am proud of is the second attempt which was considerably better. It had more detail and was all round better than the first.

During this task there were a number of things that I did find particularly difficult, one of those being the actual 3D modelling part, 3D modelling isn't my strongest points, but I knew I had to produce something of a decent standard. The second thing that I found difficult was some of the texturing on the models, at times the textures would not apply and would cause me to lose time on modelling my environment, I know I can improve this by practicing my 3D modelling skills and finding how to apply textures  and find out if I didn't select something which resulted in my textures not being applied, which is something I think was the problem.

If I had the chance to re-start this task again then I would try something with a little more detail on the textures and more 3D models within it. Some of my models were quite basic and could have had more detailed objects, which then might have made my 3D environment been of a higher quality. 

Task 7 – Writing Your Games Story.

For this task I was feeling pretty confident because I already had my games story thought out in my head, I just needed to write it out in a more detailed document. We had to create a biographies for each character, then we had to write a description of our world which needed to be fairly detailed, an example of this could be looking at a plot for a film which is a brief description which contains more than enough information that someone would need to get a slight insight to the idea. Finally we had to create a flow chart which pictured the main events which would happen in our story; it had to include one branch where the character would have to make some kind of choice which could end up shaping the story in some way or another.

Probably the easiest thing that I found for this task was the chance to be creative in making your games story, writing your characters own profiles and who they are, what they did and what they do, and the chance to create an event within out story which had to be made by the player. During this project there were a few things that I was particularly proud of, one of those being how well my story is and what it contains, the second being how my characters are described, each has something which happens in their life that shapes them for my story.

Considering we only had three or so days to complete it, so for this my time keeping had to be spot on. For the first day I focused on writing out my three characters biographies, I used the whole day in order to make them as detailed as I could, the second day I spent on creating the description for my world so it would be as detailed as it could be and telling the reader what exactly the world has in it, and then the third day was spent creating my flowchart, which showcased the main events which happens within my game and the choices your character can make and where they end up. 

Task 8 – Scripting a Trailer.

For this final task I had to create some dialogue for a scene in my game, and then create a storyboard for the trailer for my game, overall I felt pretty confident in doing this as it’s fairly simple.  One of the things that I am most proud of is the script for the chosen scene, the scene was meant to have emotion to it as your character is contemplating on whether he should leave or stay, and is being persuaded by a friend to stay and others to leave, in the end it is down to the player to choose, the other thing that I am proud of is my storyboard for the trailer, this was a fairly simple task as you just needed to draw out a chosen screen shot from our trailer and then write a little description underneath to explain what is happening, I also found out about different types of shots from a long shot, medium shot and a close up.

Working on this task I found both the storyboard and the script quite enjoyable as the script because I could add what I want to it and because I like writing my own stories, the storyboard was also fun to do as I could make up my own trailer and what went into it such as what scenes, so I included the three characters who I created the biographies, so in the trailer I used a little insight to each character. For this task I only had two days to complete so for the first day I worked on my storyboard which has sufficient information, then on the second day I worked on my script which I think is quite good considering I only had a day to do. 

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.