Gameplay...we talk about it all the time what do any of us actually know what it means. The first thing that pops into my head is the way a game plays, the intensity, speed and drama. Then again it could be many other things. It could simply be how a player gets to the next level, or just the interactions between the player and computer.
Many games will have similar gameplay styles such as first person shooters and racing games. They pretty much follow the same principle, get from here to here, shoot some dudes, go around in circles quicker than the others etc etc. However, there are some unique ones out there too. Portal for example was just a test to see if the design would actually work, and look at it now, a fantastic puzzle game, completely different to anything else on the shelf. The thing is, now that i have actually thought about what is gameplay, I'm not sure how to describe Portal's gameplay. I could just say that the gameplay is unique, but then that really isn't reviewing it is it?
The question, "Can it be designed into a game" is a yes. All the ideas put together, the sounds and graphics create the gameplay experience. The designers may not actually say, "right, the gameplay must be this this and this", it will just evolve from each area.
Is Gameplay important, it has to be, because in my mind, poor gameplay equals a poor quality game. But then again, who actually knows what gameplay is exactly, what I just said could be rubbish. Bah, back to stage 1.
Story and Character
Personally, I've never really been interested in the characters or the story of a game. I've always been interested in the environment the games are set in. However, characters and stories cannot simply be ignored, as without these, most games would be rather dull. Let's take Assassins Creed for example. The basic structure of the game is to simply go around stabbing dudes in charge of less important dudes. However, whenever you kill a dude, they tend to give you rather a lot of information, how they are related to the other characters, and what effect they have on the story. If you have the patience to sit and listen when you could be running and jumping over rooftops, you begin to realise that a lot of effort has been put into the characters personality and storyline. Personally, i tend to get rather bored, although I do sit through each cut scene in a game.
Some games and their characters have similarities with TV shows and films. There is generally a plot and a bunch of characters who you get to know after a while. You find out why there are in the situation they are in, there feelings for one another and their likes and dislikes. Games like this include the Final Fantasy series or oblivion. In these games, depending on how you behave, can alter the story and the characters behavior, resulting in a far more enjoyable experience.
Some games and their characters have similarities with TV shows and films. There is generally a plot and a bunch of characters who you get to know after a while. You find out why there are in the situation they are in, there feelings for one another and their likes and dislikes. Games like this include the Final Fantasy series or oblivion. In these games, depending on how you behave, can alter the story and the characters behavior, resulting in a far more enjoyable experience.
Aesthetics and Ergonomics with Consoles
When game console manufacturers started to design a new console, their main thought would be on the actual performance and power of the machine. However, recently, a lot of thought has gone into the looks of the machine too. Just take a look at some of the first consoles out there. Lets take the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it is practically a box with some buttons:
Most of the consoles from this era look like this such as the Atari 2600, the Brown Box and the Odyssey. Now on the other hand we now have consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Comparing their designs to the ones above you can tell a lot more effort has been put in:
The PS3 looks very sleek and refined, with its reflective faces and chrome trim. I remember when I opened the box containing my PS3, I simply looked at it and went 'wow' and just sat there. The xbox 360 also has the sleek design with smooth edges, even though it is a box, it still looks good:
Now then, controllers are also an important part of a console. Looks are one thing, but how they handle is far more important. I have to say, I've only ever played on the PlayStation set and xbox's so I don't have any experience with the Nintendo set. I have been reading though that some buttons were difficult to reach on the Sega Megadrive and GameCube.
Both the PlayStation controllers and Xbox controller are very well design, for both comfort and usability.
Nintendo on the other hand, have created something new for this generation. The Wii consists of two controllers which are motion sensitive. Now i've played a few games on the Wii and i found it rather difficult with some games. For example, Farcry Vengeance was incredible difficult to handle, especially in close fire fights. As for Mario Kart, this was easier to control, but after a while, it started to make your hands hurt. The shape wasn't confortable and the buttons were too flat. This is Just my opinion though, others find it easy to use, others are unsure...
Storytelling in Games
It's always nice to have a story line included with a game, if done well it will make the experience far more enjoyable and interesting, whereas if done poorly, it could ruin the game.
The first series of games that pop into my head is the Metal Gear Solid set. Hideo Kojima is the brains behind the incredibly complex story which continues through the each sequel, one to four. One aspect which can throw people off course is the time line. Number one isn't the earliest one, number 3 is, and i don't have a clue about the others. Personally, I feel that the trouble with complex story lines generally involves having a rather long set of cutscenes at the start, which can get frustrating when you just want to play the damn game, *looks at oblivion*. The link below can give you a better understanding of what I'm trying to say.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/99-Metal-Gear-Solid-4
On the other hand, stories can make a game far more interesting. In my experience, Diablo 2 has always kept me interested. The story, in my opinion, is clear to follow, with interesting yet short, cut scenes. For the first time in my life, i am actually more interested about how the story will continue in Diablo 3, rather than the gameplay and new features.
Some games have tried to give the option of choice, where your actions affect the story, such as Bioshock and GTA IV. The advantage of this is it gives the game a slightly better replay value. Whether it's worth it or not is another question.
The first series of games that pop into my head is the Metal Gear Solid set. Hideo Kojima is the brains behind the incredibly complex story which continues through the each sequel, one to four. One aspect which can throw people off course is the time line. Number one isn't the earliest one, number 3 is, and i don't have a clue about the others. Personally, I feel that the trouble with complex story lines generally involves having a rather long set of cutscenes at the start, which can get frustrating when you just want to play the damn game, *looks at oblivion*. The link below can give you a better understanding of what I'm trying to say.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/99-Metal-Gear-Solid-4
On the other hand, stories can make a game far more interesting. In my experience, Diablo 2 has always kept me interested. The story, in my opinion, is clear to follow, with interesting yet short, cut scenes. For the first time in my life, i am actually more interested about how the story will continue in Diablo 3, rather than the gameplay and new features.
Some games have tried to give the option of choice, where your actions affect the story, such as Bioshock and GTA IV. The advantage of this is it gives the game a slightly better replay value. Whether it's worth it or not is another question.
The Art Director
I guess you could call the art director the supervisor for the art team. He/She is expected to stretch the capabilities of the team to ensure a high quality outcome and to set standards. The Art Director will probably rarely create a piece of art on paper, but in their head, and explaining the ideas with the team, who then expand it further.
Other Responsibilities include working with the recruitment team to ensure that the art team is the best they can get, mentor less experienced artists and delivering constructive feedback on the ideas produced. Aswell as being an exceptional artist, you also need to have very strong communication skills. You will constantly be giving feedback and advice, aswell as being able to problem solve and make effective decisions.
As for myself, i would rather be an artist, rather than the director or manager, as you get to produce more artwork/models, which is what i enjoy. Also due to the face that my verbal communication skills aren't brilliant to be honest, mainly due to lack of self confidence.
Other Responsibilities include working with the recruitment team to ensure that the art team is the best they can get, mentor less experienced artists and delivering constructive feedback on the ideas produced. Aswell as being an exceptional artist, you also need to have very strong communication skills. You will constantly be giving feedback and advice, aswell as being able to problem solve and make effective decisions.
As for myself, i would rather be an artist, rather than the director or manager, as you get to produce more artwork/models, which is what i enjoy. Also due to the face that my verbal communication skills aren't brilliant to be honest, mainly due to lack of self confidence.
Fiat 500
Ok then, ive really wanted to get used to 3d max so i've followed a lot of tutorials recently at http://www.3dtotal.com/ . I've been working of the fiat 500 tutorial over the past week and this is what i have so far:
There is still a lot to do including the windscreen, boot and detailing.
Organic Creature
For my creature i decided to create an evil slug. This was my first shot at a digital painting and i'm fairly proud of it, took me almost 2 hours. I really need to get a graphics tablet too.
Im also working on another version of it looking calm and not very dangerous, therefore it will be called the underestimated slug.
Game Design
So, Game design, one of the largest and most important parts of the creation of a game. Back in the early days, most games were looked apon and praised, with little critisism as they had nothing to compare it with, unlike today. There are hundreds of thousands of games out in the self and game designers have a tough time creating something unique. Think about it, games such as crysis may look rather pretty, but deep inside that thick makeup is an average FPS, you go around each level shooting people/aliens, end of. Obviously each game has some small areas which help it stand out, using crysis again as an example, you have a super duper suit which can make you invisble, or super fast, all this makes the gameplay more enjoyable.
Speaking of gameplay, i personally fell this is the most important factor of a game, sure its nice to have realistic graphics and fancy explosions and so on, but whats the point if its boring to play? Back at home, every now and again i'd stand up an look through my shelf of PC games, and in the corner covered in dust would be a classic, such as Diablo 2. Man I love that game and still do. I still play it to this date, even though it is almost 9 years old now, and 2D (even though the levels were made rather well, so it looked 3D). The controls make it easy to play, and many shortcut keys can be made for advance players. The option to play as one of 7 characters and the fact you can go through it on 3 difficulty levels makes the replay value great. The weapon and item generator makes it so you dont always find the same sword in every single play through, there are literaly hundreds of unique/magic/rare/set piece swords, bow, staffs etc out there.
Speaking of gameplay, i personally fell this is the most important factor of a game, sure its nice to have realistic graphics and fancy explosions and so on, but whats the point if its boring to play? Back at home, every now and again i'd stand up an look through my shelf of PC games, and in the corner covered in dust would be a classic, such as Diablo 2. Man I love that game and still do. I still play it to this date, even though it is almost 9 years old now, and 2D (even though the levels were made rather well, so it looked 3D). The controls make it easy to play, and many shortcut keys can be made for advance players. The option to play as one of 7 characters and the fact you can go through it on 3 difficulty levels makes the replay value great. The weapon and item generator makes it so you dont always find the same sword in every single play through, there are literaly hundreds of unique/magic/rare/set piece swords, bow, staffs etc out there.
My Sorc smakin' some fools
Anyway, although game designers have a tough job of thinking of something new, they do have a lot more technology to work with, to make ideas work. One of the best advances is the amount of storage space avalible on disc. Sony's PS3 now uses Blu-ray to put their games on. These allow upto 25GB worth of data. This enables the game design to think of many more bits abd pieces to make the game more unique. Sony are currently working of a double sided blu-ray disc, capable of storing upto 50GB worth of data. Just think, with all that space you could merge 1 of each game of a different genre together and make something wild. But that would be stupid...or would it?
Previews, reviews and comment - Writing about Games
Many games that are released to the public tend to be reviewed by critics. When i say critics, this doesnt just mean someone who is an expert with the theory of games, but gamers themselves. You see many internet websites and forums where gamers can rant on about the last game, and others where each area of a game is analysed by a professional.
The trouble some reviewers have is the fact that many games can be very similar, especially first person shooters, reviewers have to try and pick out small areas which are unique to the game, Aswell as this, there is the problem that people are only interested in a certain genre or franchise, otherwise known as Fanboys. You can often find reviews of well known games such as Halo or Call of Duty, with comments saying that the reviewer is completly wrong, usually along the lines of this: "omg halo 3 rulz, i give it 10/10, not 7/10 you n00b". On the other hand people who dislike a genre may say that it is a terrible game and should be rated 1/10, when clearly it shouldn't be. This can often irritate employees who write these reviews as a lot of effort can be put into them, on average, sixty thousand words are produced to fill a 150 page magazine, baring in mind this has to be done in 19 working days. Due to the amount of the work load that needs to be completed, some reviews tend to be rushed, therefore they can't focus a great deal on the subject.
However, not everyone creates written reviews, there are some people who create video reviews. The one reviewer that stands out the most for me is a man known as 'Yahtzee' who creates the zeropunctuation reviews. The fast talking along with a simple flash animation to go with it makes it incredibly fun to watch, mainly because they are simply hillarious. If you don't know who I am on about click on the link below and enjoy :)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
The trouble some reviewers have is the fact that many games can be very similar, especially first person shooters, reviewers have to try and pick out small areas which are unique to the game, Aswell as this, there is the problem that people are only interested in a certain genre or franchise, otherwise known as Fanboys. You can often find reviews of well known games such as Halo or Call of Duty, with comments saying that the reviewer is completly wrong, usually along the lines of this: "omg halo 3 rulz, i give it 10/10, not 7/10 you n00b". On the other hand people who dislike a genre may say that it is a terrible game and should be rated 1/10, when clearly it shouldn't be. This can often irritate employees who write these reviews as a lot of effort can be put into them, on average, sixty thousand words are produced to fill a 150 page magazine, baring in mind this has to be done in 19 working days. Due to the amount of the work load that needs to be completed, some reviews tend to be rushed, therefore they can't focus a great deal on the subject.
However, not everyone creates written reviews, there are some people who create video reviews. The one reviewer that stands out the most for me is a man known as 'Yahtzee' who creates the zeropunctuation reviews. The fast talking along with a simple flash animation to go with it makes it incredibly fun to watch, mainly because they are simply hillarious. If you don't know who I am on about click on the link below and enjoy :)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
My TF2 Map - cp_defcon
Well over the past couple of months i have been slowly working on my own map for Team Fortress 2. For those of you who are familiar with tf2 it is a 3cp map, similar to cp_gravel pit, where A and B have to be captured before C is unlocked. It is based in the desert where RED have set up a missile facility in an old mining area. BLU realise this as a threat and plan to capture the area. Here's some screenies. There is still a lot of detailing to be done, such as the 3d skybox and the tops of the cliffs, aswell as fixing all the graphical bugs you may see. 
Here's the link to the rest of the screenshots, which are at a higher resolution :)
History Of Computer Games 2000 -
Over the past decade, the games industry has grown and still is at a fast rate. Even some games have become more popular than films such as the Halo series, which has sold millions of copies. Advances in technology have seen the release of consoles such as the Playstation 3 and xbox 360, which have allowed for more advanced graphics, gameplay and increased content. If you compare a game on one of these consoles to a game on lets say, the Nintendo 64, you will be amazed at the different in overall quality.
I still remember when i got my hands the first Playstaion, and i thought that the games were brilliant. Looking back at some of the games I owned, i can't help but laugh at the graphics and gameplay, since owning a PS3 and high spec computer. Still, even though the graphics may not be great, there still are some great classics, such as the Crash Bandicoot collection (mainly CB3: warped) and micro machines.
Many new techniques are being used now for producing games. Theses include HDR lighting, motion capture and High Definition graphics, all making the gaming experience more pleasant to look at. These techniques can be seen in games such as Gran Turismo Prologue, Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2.
I have found myself to be addicted to Team Fortress 2. I've been playing it since it's release and i still havent got bored of it, which makes a change. I'm currently working on my own map aswell using the Source Development Kit. I may post some screenshots on here someday.
I still remember when i got my hands the first Playstaion, and i thought that the games were brilliant. Looking back at some of the games I owned, i can't help but laugh at the graphics and gameplay, since owning a PS3 and high spec computer. Still, even though the graphics may not be great, there still are some great classics, such as the Crash Bandicoot collection (mainly CB3: warped) and micro machines.
Many new techniques are being used now for producing games. Theses include HDR lighting, motion capture and High Definition graphics, all making the gaming experience more pleasant to look at. These techniques can be seen in games such as Gran Turismo Prologue, Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2.
I have found myself to be addicted to Team Fortress 2. I've been playing it since it's release and i still havent got bored of it, which makes a change. I'm currently working on my own map aswell using the Source Development Kit. I may post some screenshots on here someday.
History Of Computer Games 1980-90
So, we know that the first computer games had to be played on large, industrial computers, only available for the people who created them. By the 80's technology had advanced and now people had the option to play arcade games at home. This console was known as the Odyssey, released by Magnavox. The Odyssey came with 12 pre-programmed games ready for use, unlike today where we rely on discs.
During this time, game publishers appeared, including Electronic Arts, who have managed to survive to this day, even after the Video Games Crash in 1983, where many companies became bankrupt.
In 1982, the main consoles appeared, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II and the Atari 800. These consoles allowed the use of vector graphics, producing 3D games, the first being Battlezone. Dungeons of Daggorath saw the first uses of health monitors, sophisticated sound effects and various weapons and monsters. In 1984, the 16 colour EGA display allowed the graphics to be of the same level of quality on home computers as the consoles such as the Commodore 64. Just a year later, was the arrival of 16 bit machines. VGA displays allowed the use of 256 bit colours for higher quality, but all of this was too expensive at the time.
Another jump fowrard in technology saw the appearance of Dial up, which enabled online gaming for the first time. This allowed different users to interact with each other, fantasy role playing games were known as 'MUD's, multi-user-dungeons. Nowadays these are know as MMORPG's.
As for myself, the first online game i played was Diablo II back in the mid 90's, which is still play today, for some reason. I guess it's because it's free unlike some games and doesn't control your life *coughworldofwarcraftcough*. Just kiddin' :P
During this time, game publishers appeared, including Electronic Arts, who have managed to survive to this day, even after the Video Games Crash in 1983, where many companies became bankrupt.
In 1982, the main consoles appeared, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II and the Atari 800. These consoles allowed the use of vector graphics, producing 3D games, the first being Battlezone. Dungeons of Daggorath saw the first uses of health monitors, sophisticated sound effects and various weapons and monsters. In 1984, the 16 colour EGA display allowed the graphics to be of the same level of quality on home computers as the consoles such as the Commodore 64. Just a year later, was the arrival of 16 bit machines. VGA displays allowed the use of 256 bit colours for higher quality, but all of this was too expensive at the time.
Another jump fowrard in technology saw the appearance of Dial up, which enabled online gaming for the first time. This allowed different users to interact with each other, fantasy role playing games were known as 'MUD's, multi-user-dungeons. Nowadays these are know as MMORPG's.
As for myself, the first online game i played was Diablo II back in the mid 90's, which is still play today, for some reason. I guess it's because it's free unlike some games and doesn't control your life *coughworldofwarcraftcough*. Just kiddin' :P
History of Computer Games 1950-70
So, Computer games, wonderful creations. I've always been interested since the age of 8. I have always thought that the first computer games were created during the gameboy era, oh how wrong I was. In fact, the very first computer game was created in 1952, by A.S. Douglas, who created the first digital version of tic-tac-toe.
Tennis for Two was created for entertainment purposes by William Higinbotham. The game was displayed on an oscilloscope, featuring a basic, 2D tennis court. At the time it was fun to play and became rather addictive.
Although this was the first of its kind, it is rarely credited as the first computer game. Spacewar! was made in 1961 by Steve Russel, which became the first influencial and widely available game of its time. Even now, we still play arcade games based on the design of Spacewar!, they're just nicer to look at.
Although Spacewar is comonly known as the first widely available game, it wasn't displayed on a TV screen. In fact, it was shown on the DEC PDP-1, a new computer at the time. Ralph Baer was the first person to produce a game that was displayed on a TV screen, called Chase.
Tennis for Two was created for entertainment purposes by William Higinbotham. The game was displayed on an oscilloscope, featuring a basic, 2D tennis court. At the time it was fun to play and became rather addictive.
Although this was the first of its kind, it is rarely credited as the first computer game. Spacewar! was made in 1961 by Steve Russel, which became the first influencial and widely available game of its time. Even now, we still play arcade games based on the design of Spacewar!, they're just nicer to look at.
Although Spacewar is comonly known as the first widely available game, it wasn't displayed on a TV screen. In fact, it was shown on the DEC PDP-1, a new computer at the time. Ralph Baer was the first person to produce a game that was displayed on a TV screen, called Chase.
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