Chapter 10 Question 2b on Tetris

2 b. Document the effect of each of the player actions allowed in Tetris on the

attributes of the currently falling tetromino. Bear in mind that some actions
have different effects depending on which tetromino is currently falling. Where
this is the case, be sure to document the effects of the action on each different
type of tetromino.

There are seven types of tetrominos piece in the game of Tetris.  These are; I aka Stick, J aka Inverted L, L aka Gun, O aka Square, S aka Inverted N, Z aka N, and T aka Ice-T.  These pieces fall at random in the game, and all seven of them have a different effect depending on the player’s actions.  The pieces can be turned left or right and be turned in a full 360 degrees, with 90 degree turning intervals and be moved from left to right across the screen until it hits the bottom.  When a piece is falling down to the other blocks then the player must think of what to do.  The core mechanics of Tetris is to test the player’s problem solving skills and memorization skills too.  The challenge they are laid with is in a timer of sorts, the speed of the tetrominos increases making them fall faster.  Also the speed at which the tetrominos fall at can be increased by a down button input from the player.

When the player sees a stick piece falling the best thing to do is to line it up so that it can fall into a deep, single line between blocks.  Or if there is an empty space on the bottom then it can be laid flat.  The same can be said for the L and J pieces so that they fall with the one jutting out square fitting into a single hole and also form a line.  The other pieces such as the S and N pieces can be stacked on one another to create a line and a stair way effect.  Once a line is formed, it vanishes and the whole field of previously fallen blocks goes down one line.  A unique piece like the T tetrominos can be fitted with its middle square sticking out to form a line but it can also fit into an empty space along the walls of the screen.  Although these are only a few of the many infinite strategies that can be formed to get a highsocre on Tetris, which players have to think of or make up themselves as they play this addicting game.

Donkey Kong Quiz

1. Mitchell is unabashedly cocky and fond of self promotion, proclaiming himself the "Sauce King" of Florida for his successful line of homemade hot sauces. Next to his family, Mitchell considers his arcade scores his greatest achievements in life.

How typical are these types of values and attitudes among 'core' gamers and how important is it to understand these values if you are a game designer? What *are* these values, exactly?

These values are the extreme, competitive behavior of competition and beating out all other people, thinking individualistic.  These are the values that are best incorporated in first-person shooter games, to keep that competition going.

2. Steve Wiebe has been laid off as a Boeing engineer, and now spends his time as a science teacher. His friends and his wife, Nicole, describe him as a tragic figure who always comes up short, despite being proficient at music, sports, art, and mathematics.

Is Weibe's 'tragic' aspect typical of core gaming 'types'?

What role does self esteem (high or low) play in the culture of hard core gaming and such subcultures as competitive vintage or 'classic' game playing? How would you best describe the relationship between low self-esteem and videogame mastery?

Steve's tragic aspect is not typical of core gamers, for one core gamer can be not good at anything at all but still be good and gaming, while another gamer can be good at one thing and also be just as good at gaming.  Self-esteem high and or low plays a really significant rule in the core gaming subculture, for a low self-esteem gamer would simply be paranoid to stay on top of all the others while a high-self esteem gamer wold be fine just doing what they do best even in public, play games.

3. Despite Wiebe's protests that his own first score was disqualified for being submitted via unsupervised videotape, Twin Galaxies accepts Mitchell's score over Wiebe's and proclaims that Mitchell is still the record holder.

How valid do you think videotaped gameplay should be in establishing videogame playing records?

If valid, why? If not valid, why not?

I think that taped game scores are not valid, because you are doing it in the privacy of your own home where you can do almost anything.

 

4. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, wondering "Who would have guessed that a documentary about gamers obsessed with scoring a world record at Donkey Kong would not only be roaringly funny but serve as a metaphor for the decline of Western civilization?"

What do you think of the film?

Is it an accurate portrayal of what makes videogames so compelling for those who play them?

I thought the film was an amazing real-life tale of a super nice, casual underdog simply asking for some friendly competition against a paranoid, very competitive wizard.  It is an accurate portrayal of what makes video games so compelling for us, in it's heyday and even now into the future.

5. On November 10, 1981, Walter Day opened an arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa called Twin Galaxies. Though it was a modest arcade of merely 22 arcade games, it soon became known as the International Scorekeeper for the burgeoning video game industry. Under Day's direction, Twin Galaxies set rules for gameplay on hundreds of games, while maintaining a records database of competitive high scores. Twin Galaxies is considered by gaming historians as being the first organizer of professional gaming, putting competitive electronic gaming on the world map.

How important do you think organizations like Twin Galaxies are in the vintage arcade gaming community?

Could such communities exist without such organizations?

What role does Twin Galaxies play ultimately, and why is this significant to the film and its story?

Twin Galaxies is extremely important, in that it helps bring the gamers in the community together.  Such communities would not exist without an organization like Twin Galaxies, for then people would not generate such vibrant communities.  The role of Twin Galaxies is that it is a hub for gamers to come together and have all kinds of experiences.

6. The film depicts Wiebe's skill at Donkey Kong being linked to his ability to deeply understand the title's game mechanics, particularly the way that rhythm and timing work to ensure a successful outcome.

The film in one scene compared his love of drumming and his abilities at basketball as well as his musical talent as part and parcel of his gift at playing Donkey Kong.

How would you best describe this set of inter-related skills?

Have you experienced anything like this yourself when playing games? Have you been able to associate the skill of playing games with similar related skills and talents and how would you best describe the nature of this set of inter-relationships between skills/passions/abilities?

This would be a multi-skills ability, the ability to do many things that are different but all involve a certain action to initiate and participate in.

7. In the film, Wiebe, while playing the game says hello to Mitchell. Mitchell didn't respond. As he's walking away from Wiebe, Mitchell says, "There's certain people I don't want to spend too much time with." Mitchell offered no explanation for his behavior towards Wiebe but did later explain that at the time of filming, he had not played video games for "more than a year", and that the filmmakers had not given him enough advance warning to train for a public record-breaking attempt. Seth Gordon, the film's Director, in referring to Mitchell's character says that Mitchell "is a true puppet-master", "a master of information-control".

What do you think Gordon means by this? What role does such behavior play in general terms in videogame culture?

Gordon means that since Mitchell has attained so much money and fame due to his past exploits he can influence a lot of people and get what he wants even if he is not there in person.  This sort of behavior is what we call, a godmodder.

8. What did you think of the film? Is it really only about the game "Donkey Kong" and those who seek to hold the highest score or is it really about something more?

What did you think of the film? Is it really only about the game "Donkey Kong" and those who seek to hold the highest score or is it really about something more?

This film was not about Donkey Kong per-say, but it was about gaming.  Gamers and game players in general,  what kinds of them are out there and what they do other than game almost all the time.

9. Have you ever played "Donkey Kong"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it?

Yes, I have.  I was playing it for fun because it had Mario, Peach and DK in it.  I was in a pizza places' arcade back in my freshmen year of middle school when I played it.

Gameplay design Questions from Fundamentals of Game Design, Chap. 9

1. What types of challenges do you want to include in your game? Do you want to
challenge the player’s physical abilities, his/her mental abilities, or both?

My game would include a mix of physical and mental challenges; such as how to defeat certain enemies, time limited puzzles/races, memorization/problem solving skills, key choice making, exploration, and finally some fast-paced/action-packed/simple and/or complicated platforming to mix it up to the right feel.

2. Game genres are defined in part by the nature of the challenges they offer. What
does your choice of genre imply for the gameplay? Do you intend to include any
cross-genre elements, challenges that are not normally found in your chosen genre?

This game will have the player solving puzzles that involve platforming/using certain enemies as a trigger and even several sequences where they have to win a few battles or at least beat the enemy back to access a certain part of a challenge to initiate/complete it.

 

3. What is your game’s hierarchy of challenges? How many levels do you expect it
to have? What challenges are typical of each level?
 

The game environment will be on Earth as well as other dimensions or points in history of our planet.  But being such a large world, only by acquiring certain skills and completing two challenges will the player be able to progress in a nonlinear fashion that will be long but will allow the player to go at his/her own pace, effectively telling or weaving their own story.

4. What are your game’s atomic challenges? Do you plan to make the player face
more than one atomic challenge at a time? Are they all independent, like battling
enemies one at a time, or are they interrelated, like balancing an economy? If they are interrelated, how?

Some of the time the player will actually be trying to solve a puzzle either with obtainable objects or in the environment to prevent enemies from intervening, which if the time limit runs out then they will be forced to fight a randomly generated number of enemies and/or enemy types to spice it up every time but also keep the players on their toes.  But these only happen at key plot moments, for at most the player will be will be solving a puzzle that will have a beneficial or adverse effect on the whole overworld but it can be changed from good to bad and vice versa.

5. Does the player have a choice of approaches to victory? Can he/she decide on one
strategy over another? Can he/she ignore some challenges, face others, and still achieve
a higher-level goal? Or must he/she simply face all the game’s challenges in sequence?
 

The player has the option once completing a certain challenge, be it apart of the main plot or a small diversion to freely explore the part of the world in which they currently located at their leisure.

6. Does the game include implicit challenges (those that emerge from the design),
as well as explicit challenges (those that you specify)?

There will be only two explicit challenges, as homages to two other great gaming franchises/titles like easter eggs for the player to find.  There will be implicit challenges that the player will have to engage in even with the final goal is explained at the beginning of the game as per the plot.  Though the problem is not what final goal to accomplish, but how to get to the final goal and how to do it when you are there is the question.

 

7. Do you intend to offer settable difficulty levels for your game? What levels of
intrinsic skill and stress will each challenge require?

There will be a sort of training period for every character so the player can get a feel for each of them based on the cast’s strengths and weaknesses to suit the play style but the player will be able to set multiple difficulty levels to either make the game an enjoyable experience or a real challenge.

8. What actions will you implement to meet your challenges? Can the player surmount a large number of challenges with a small number of actions? What is the
mapping of actions to challenges?
 

 With a multitude of weapons, actions, and abilities unique to all the characters that the player will acquire as the progress, anything is possible.  But all of the weapons, actions, and abilities will have more than one usage and can either be helpful and/or hindering depending on the given situation in the game at any given time.

9. What other actions will you implement for other purposes? What are those purposes—unstructured play, creativity and self-expression, socialization, story
participation, or controlling the game software?
 

This game will give the player the option to deformate the game world but to their leisure, they can choose to form an island, move a mountain range, or melt a glacier.

10. What save mechanism do you plan to implement?

There will be an autosave function at every checkpoint (these will also serve as respawn points since it only makes sense when doing a mission or challenge of some kind), but the player will be given the option to save manually as well.  Also the player can not only save a game on the spot from a pause menu, but even start a new game file, save it, load it, copy it, or even delete/erase said file to their liking.

Pinball Gaming 101

1) What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball game design?

The good gameplay element when it comes to pinball is in fact the placement of the round/mushroom bumpers, how many there are and how big they are is what determines whether or not the game is worth playing. But constant feedback to the player that they should be rewarded for their efforts, for the player is shooting a ball all over the board, over and over again.  Even if the player is skilled or not, they can still make an accomplishment in making a high score, also feeling that sense of accomplishment made by them and them alone.

2) How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?

 The game that the pinball playfield designer gives the player is one that has not only flair, but excitement.  This element of excitement is what keeps the player enthralled and playing over and over.  When the player meets a special condition(s) the designer should incorporate lights, sounds, and images/animations on screens or devices and little gimmick moving parts on the board.  These things need to be constantly running to add to that excitement which keeps the player flipping those flippers to get the ball in a certain part of the field or in a certain hole (e.g. launch a rocket, get into the saloon in a western town, spell out a name or the games' title by lighting up lights on the fields floor).  All of these elements are crucial and key to a good if not fantastic pinball experience.

Audcacity & GarageBand Sound Mixs' Exercises

Here are my two sample remixed tracks.  The first one is, Suspenseful Noises.  Kinda freaky and eerie huh?
The next one is, A Walk in an A Odd Forest.


I hope you all enjoy them.

Storytelling Exercise 2: Redwall Plot Points

This is my Storytelling exercise 2.  I chose the book by the late Brian Jacques.  I of course claim no rights or ownership of his awesome and fantastic novels and works. Here is my FreeMind map of what could happen in the first book, Redwall.  I apologize for the small size of the picture but it will only fit on the blog page like this.

 If you want to get a better look at it, you can take look at it as a PNG file or as a PDF file.

I hope these help.