Game Proposal -- (Idea)

1)      Write a high concept statement: a few sentences that give a general flavor of the game. You can make references to other games, movies, book, or any other media if your game contains similar characters actions or ideas.

Young adventuring corporation/company heir travels to Egypt, accidentally activates an ancient curse of some kind, aids a return of ancient gods/deities, and saves the world (or maybe just Africa) at a good cost.

2)      What is the player’s role? Is the player pretending to be someone or something, and if so what? Is there more than one? How does the player’s role help to define the gameplay?

The player takes the role of multiple characters; a young heir to a fictional American corporation/company, an out-of-retirement German mercenary (formally in service to his country) now gun-for-hire, a theatrical recent world-infamous female Romanian thief/assassin of an unknown age, a “reincarnated young” version of the Egyptian god, Anpu/Anubis in his ‘many immortal life-cycles’, and finally a pair of traveling Japanese brothers (the older being a samurai practicing bushido, the younger being a shinobi/ninja practicing White Lotus Kung-Fu).

3)      Does the game have an avatar or other key character? Describe him/her/it.

As the game has multiple characters so there are multiple avatars that the player controls.  The young American corporate heir, the ‘retired’ German mercenary, the now world-infamous thief girl, a young Anpu/Anubis ‘reincarnated’ here on Earth, and the traveling samurai & shinobi in-training brothers.

4)      What is the nature of the gameplay, in general terms? What kinds of challenges will the player face? What kinds of actions will the player take to overcome them?

The gameplay will be a somewhat action influenced riddle & puzzle solving vast, immersive free-roaming adventure with a good fight spaced out every now and then, from decent brainteaser puzzles to crazy deathtraps in need of solving once triggered/activated (sometimes within a time-limit or it’s death/game over/mission fail), and from mind-blowing riddles to fun and simple ones too.  The player will have to focus not only on their physical skills, but they will need to improve and maybe master their navigation, reasoning, problem solving, moral decision making, deductive, and inquiring skills as well.  Also the characters mentioned before will all join each other in a party, being the entire main cast.

5)      What is the player’s interaction model? Omnipresent? Through an avatar? Something else? Some combination?

The interaction model of the game on the game world is via an interesting combination of somewhat omnipotential avatar characters with lots of connections, mountains of contacts, and nearly unlimited resources (the corporate heir, old-grizzled merc., theatrical thief), to simple human avatars (the traveling Japanese brothers), and finally to the simple avatar + omnipresent deity (Anpu/Anubis).  All of the characters can be controlled.  Sometimes a player will have to play only as one character for a specific sequence in the game, but mostly will be able to switch between them on the fly or via a selection menu to view stats beforehand switching.

6)      What is the game’s primary camera model? How will the player view the game’s world on the screen? Will there be more than one perspective?

The camera will be able to be controlled freely as well as follow the player through the world.  It will mostly be in third-person either above & behind the avatar but can be shifted to an over either shoulders perspective, to first person and so on.  When controlling Anpu the camera can be shifted freely to a top-down perspective of the current area or even the entire Earth from space to view, home in on, or even teleport the party to certain places.

7)      Does the game fall into an existing genre? If so, which one?

This game can be said to be either an Action-RPG (Role-Playing Game), Action-Adventure, or even a free-roaming world adventure.  I would imagine that it falls into the later of free-roaming world adventure since you can go anywhere and progress through the game in no particular order.

8)      Is the game competitive, cooperative, team-based or single player? If multiple players are allowed are they using the same machine with separate controls or different machines over a network?

This game will have all of the available modes listed above.  Multiple players can join others for competitively fun matches or challenges of any kind, and play co-op (cooperatively) in the main game too.  Several player modes will include online team-based play, co-op play, and local multiplayer play. Co-op will be interesting and intriguing in which is that any solo players can play as any one of the given characters join each other and play through the main game as that character for however long they want to.  Of course one person will have to host any co-op game that anyone else wants to join.

9)      Why would anyone want to play this game? Who is the game’s target audience? What characteristics distinguish them from the mass of players in general?

This game will give a great number of players to be able to work together, discover that teamwork and/or cooperation are just as key and essential as standing alone and facing something bigger than themselves is but also for fun too.  The audience that this game will appeal to most will be the ones that like adventure, RPG, or story filled/driven games but of course will be a ‘pick up and play’ kind of game, since there are many kinds of characters, many kinds of playing styles are available right off the bat. 

10)  What machine or machines is the game intended to run on? Can it make use of or will it require any particular hardware such as dance mats or a camera?

This game will be intended to run on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii.  No particular hardware will be necessary as it will make use of the current existing consoles hardware.  So as stated before, it will be a pick up-and-play that anyone can play at their leisure.

11)  What is the game’s setting? Where does it take place?

Now the game will be set on Earth during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.  The players will of course venture into realms of mythology from around the world.  This is the basic setting of the game, which allows for greater variety.

12)  Will the game be broken into levels? What might be the victory condition for a typical level?

It will be sometimes sectioned off into levels but only when either the player is controlling a single character with the rest of the party being computer controlled, or during a co-op game.  A level may passed or have the victory condition be that a world altering puzzle (be it drastic or minor in change) be solved, solving/surviving/destroying a deathtrap, solving a riddle, fighting a boss, gaining a treasure, or meeting a new character.

13)  Does the game have a narrative or story as it goes along? Summarize the plot in a sentence or two.

After getting a little too carried away with a routine adventure of his, Maximus the young heir to a corporate empire is swept up in something he cannot comprehend let alone explain vaguely.  After seeing the mess he caused and a war with everyone he nearly started he has to man up, rise to the occasion or get is butt kicked, and for good.  Either way, he’ll try and make the most of it.

Games, Films, TV Shows & Books for Reference:

Assassin’s Creed, Gears of War, Ninja Gaiden, Legend of Zelda, Prince of Persia, Star Wars, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior/Quest, Resident Evil/Biohazard, God of War, Dante’s Inferno, Lord of the Rings, The Mummy, Seven Samurai, Ghostbusters, James Bond: 007, Metroid, Spartacus: Blood and Sand + Gods of the Arena, Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz, The Neverending Story, Pirates of the Caribbean, Code Geass, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Lupin III, Die Hard, Mission Impossible, Ghost in the Shell, Castlevania, Steamboy, Silver Boy, & Akira.

Atari Game Demo

Student Name: Maximus R. Carlson


Today’s Date: March 3^rd, 2010


Game Title Examined: Battlezone


Year of Publication: 1980 (if known - check thedoteaters.com for details)


Game Publisher: Atari


Game Developer: Atari


1 - What is the game genre?   This is a sim or simulation game. It’s a vehicular combat sim.


2 -What is the type of game ‘world’ or environment? (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)   The game environment is a 3D world.


3 - What is the perspective taken by player?   The player is set in first person, looking out from inside a tank.

4 - What is the actual gameplay – what does the player have to do?   The player’s objective is to survive long enough and get a high score by shooting tanks and occasional UFOs.


5 - Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) Describe.   Yes actually.  It is easy to understand. You move your view by panning left to right and vice versa, move forward and shoot the enemy tanks/UFOs.


6 - Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)   The gameplay as described before is pattered or actually repetitive.  But in a good way to get the highest score possible before dying.

7 - What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?   The graphic approach for this game was the use of a vector monitor in a horizontal orientation with vector graphics generating early 3D geometrical polygonal shapes to become obstacles, tanks, UFOs, and eve trees.


8 - Describe your views about the game from the point of view of


1. Ease of play:  It’s actually really easy to pick up and play.  But it does get harder as you go along.

2. Enjoyability:  It’s really enjoyable and being a sim game this helps you experience tank combat in a basic but really almost realistic form.

c) Level of engagement/immersion:  It’s not that immersive since the whole world of Battlezone is using 3D vector graphics.  Although it is an engaging game still, instilling that instinct to survive in a virtual war.

9 - Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?   No, not until I did during the last class. 

10 - What does playing the game remind you of in terms of other games/media?   It reminds me of a driving a tank sequence in some war based video-games but more-so war-time movies/film/television shows.

End of Analogue: A History of Videogames

            1) Who invented the first computer game on the PDP1?

Steve Russell.

2) What was the name of the game?

Spacewar!

3) What was the name of Morton Helig's amusement device that let you smell, hear and see in 3D filmed experiences?

Sensorama.

4) What early 1970s movie does an arcade console machine of Spacewar! appear in?

Soylent Green (1973).

5) What was the name of the man who developed the first TV tennis game?

Al Alcorn.

6) Who was the man whose company Atari commercialized the idea of the arcade computer tennis game?

Nolan Bushnell.

7) What was the name of this version of the game?

Pong.

8) What are vector graphics?

Vector graphics are points, lines, and curves that create or even incorporate polygons to represent a best attempt at 3D computer images or graphics.

9) What types of games do vector graphics lend themselves to?

Simulation games war and flight sims.

10) When home computers were first made available, how did owners load games into them?

They did so via a memory cartridge which held the game information on it.

11) What is the name of the 1985 film in which a young Matthew Broderick starts 

 World War III with his home computer and modem?

WarGames.

12) From what sources did the designer of the Space Invaders aliens draw inspiration?

Tomohiro Nishikado had drew his inspiration from Anime and Manga, the distinctly Japanese style of cartoons/animation and comic books.

13) What is the name given to the contemporary subculture of 8 bit music made with gameboys and other 80s game technology?

Demoscene.

14) "Escape from Woomera" was a videogame which was used to draw attention to the plight of inmates at a remote detention center in desert town in what country?

Woomera, South Australia. 

Us vs. It: Rules

Us vs. It

Robot Programming:

• Action Points: 
• 3
• Abilities:
• Laser Eye
• Fist
• Move/Rotate
• Triggers
• Laser Eye (Damage: Variable)
• If a tank is in front of the robot, no more than three spaces away.
• NOTE: Damage dealt varies with distance. The damage done per block away from the robot is:
• 0, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0
• Fist (Damage: 2)
• If a tank is in an adjacent square, then use the fist.
• NOTE: Fist only damages tanks that are in tiles directly adjacent to the robot, i.e. damage is dealt in a 'plus' shaped pattern.

• Action Programming:

1. Laser
2. Turn toward last attacker
3. If not facing last attacker, turn toward last attacker
4. Fist
5. Turn Left if space in front of and to the right of robot occupied
6. Turn Right if space in front of and to the left of robot occupied
7. Move Forward
8. Fist
9. Turn to face goal side
10. Move

The Legend of Zelda: The Seeds of Darkness Java-based Flash Online Game

1)    1) How would you describe the level of engagement compared to more action oriented games from the same period?

Well I have to say that this flash game is a good and faithful attempt of a Zelda flash game but it’s a simple colorful survival game.  With Link having to drag the vulnerable bomb around with him everywhere, he only has his sword and shield to protect him.  So if he’s hit enough times then he dies, but if the bomb is hit enough time then it’s an instant game over regardless.  But it does require strategy over simply slashing everything you see. Figuring out if you’re on the right path, what’s on that path and if it will lead you to your goal is the key to winning the game.

2) What role does setting and characterization play in the game?

The setting is a medieval fantasy world of Hyrule.  Swords, shields, and all manner of other weapons and items that were commonplace during the Middle Ages are prevalent here, even if some are magical.  Setting is essential element needed for a game but also is characterization.  In this game there are only two characters but they are common ones from the official Zelda series.  The first one is of course the player character, Link.  This circumstantial hero who has to explore Hyrule, find the evil plaguing it, rise to the occasion, and stop it.  The only other character in this game was, Tingle.  A very odd character being that he’s a middle-aged man who thinks he’s a forest fairy, dancing around and practicing calligraphy or drawing and writing out maps for travelers/adventurers like Link.  In this game, Tingle gives Link a single, magical ball/spherical shaped blue bomb that always follows Link wherever he goes.  But if Link dies, the bomb blows up or if the bomb takes too much damage it will show it’s stages before it detonates; either way it’s an instant game over.  The overall purpose of this bomb was to use it to blow up three seeds of darkness in the forest, apparently.

3) How do spells, pickups, and power-ups assist the game play?

Unfortunately I did not get a chance to play that far into the flash game to acquire any power-ups or spells.  I did however have to hunt for hearts after clearing an area of enemies by chopping up patches of grass or bushes.  Once that was done I had to repeat the process several times like I’ve done in the real Zelda games.  But it’s that looking for items and any other hidden items found usually hidden under rocks, bushes, patches of grass, and even in pottery.  Well since its set in a medieval fantasy world, you could always find something almost everywhere.  So the old phrase: ‘Leave no stone unturned’ really pays off.