Games through the ages
1980- PacMan
Licensed for release in America October 1980.
Highest Gross profit for a video game of all time hitting $2.5 billion.
Many different versions spanned from the original after being a huge success and a social phenomenon.
What made it Succeed?
- Unique: During this era of video games space was a popular theme so many space shooters popped up around the world for example space invaders and asteroids, what made pacman succeed was that it was genre defining and something completely different from the mainstream of space.
- Competitive: Games started out as just arcade machines in various locations which were filled by the public to play, so multiple people would challenge a game, what added to the pacman experience was the scoring system and a keeping record of who had the highest score making an addictive attraction for some trying to "beat the rest".
- Social: As mentioned before pacman originated in arcades a very busy and public space and the most powerful form of advertisement is via word of mouth so having many people in the area of pacman created a very successful "spreading" of the game to others to come see it. It also removed the gender barrier or male gamer stereotype for most by having it as a neutral theme something both genders could relate to not just space shooters which around the time mainly interested boys.
- Simple: Having a simple and clear to understand goal or objective can be a real attention holder (more so in the 1980's), it means anyone can come along start the game up and instantly work out what they have to do making it so anyone can play it.
- Iconic: The design of pacman and the other sprites is very clear cut and recognizable, unique in its appearance it became somewhat of a symbol that everyone could look at and instantly go pacman since it was so defining. hard for other game companies to "copy" the design without risk of copyright.
Known for being very difficult and "the worlds most difficult arcade game".
Started out on arcade then was later developed on the Commodore 64 gaming console.
Became capcoms 8th best selling game franchise.
What made it succeed?
- Multiplayer: Any game that manages to introduce a form of multiplayer aspect shoots up its play ability and popularity instantly for it induces word of mouth spreading to others to try out the game and join someone playing and also adds a new social experience between players which can make the game more much more memorable.
- Challenging: ghosts and goblins was considered very difficult although a turn off for some players having the game being difficult for example with timed lives and enemy AI for the bosses, it can add to the game in a way if a player completes a section it fills them with a sense of pride and achievement from the challenge something an easy would not offer.
- Dynamic: this game was highly re playable due to its Armour and weapon pickups which each added their own gameplay mechanics to the mix and changed how players play the game.
- Unique: mainly unique for its plot and ending in by where it had the player reach the final boss but could only continue if they were wielding a cross (weapon pickup) if they did not they were sent back to the start to go find the weapon to kill the final boss. this set up of repetition was not only a unique idea but forced players to experience more of the game and possibly making it last longer?
- Graphics: for its time in the mid 80's ghosts and goblins was considered very detailed in terms of its graphics and use of color which always entices people to come play the game.
1990- Final Fantasy
Brief history: Developed by Square (now known as Square Enix) by a man named hironobu sakaguchi.
Originally produced for the NES but later on re-developed onto multiple other consoles.
2 million copies sold by 2003.
revolutionized rpg games and kick started the squares final fantasy series.
This game saved square from bankruptcy due to its high success and was originally going to be there final game.
What made it succeed?
- Attracting story: Final fantasy was a genre defining game for its time and made people more aware that a viable and interesting story is a big hit in video games and from then steered the game industry down a new route rather just gameplay. the story was fantasy based, different from what people have read and what was currently around e.g in fantasy novels ect so already grabbed players attention.
- Unique gameplay: the game provided a new system for battles or enemy encounters where by it being less action based and more strategy/turn based this ushered in a new type of gamer to the industry and also opened alot of eyes to current gamers as to what different directions games can go.
- Exploration: exploration was one of the four game play modes and took alot of the players time up. having this large map/world for players to explore (for its time) really creates an immersive experience for the player and gives them a sense that they are on that same journey.
- character development: this feature was really what helped the game succeed whereby customization added alot of different dynamics and replay value so players can try a new equipment or power in a different playthrough, having this wide scope for customization attracted a wide audience due to its diversity.
- Inspired: final fantasy was inspired by already some successful rpg's example being ultima and wizardry setting the game up already for a warm reception among the genre for its similar elements from these past games.
1995- Sonic and knuckles
Brief history: sonic and knuckles (or sonic 4) was a 1994 platform based videogame for the sonic the hedgehog series on the sega genesis.
Produced as a standalone game for an expansion to sonic the hedgehog 2 and sonic the hedgehog 3.
later re-produced and developed onto higher generation consoles with different variants.
Produced as a standalone game for an expansion to sonic the hedgehog 2 and sonic the hedgehog 3.
later re-produced and developed onto higher generation consoles with different variants.
What made it succeed?
- Gameplay: The gameplay in sonic 1 had already been considered unique in how much faster paced it was from other games but what sonic and knucles 3 changed was the ability to play the game as different characters whereby having an option to play as either sonic, tails or knuckles each with their own movement mechanic differences, making for a large replay value.
- Music: the music from sonic 1 was always defining andsonic and knuckles was no different, it is key to have iconic music that is different and changes with area's it kept the game fresh with every level not a same dreary battle tune for the whole game (which previous games have had).
- Graphics: sonic and knuckles was a very colourful and vibrant game and this already makes it a flashy eye catching game to viewers and gives them a somewhat proffessional feeling overall of the game already selling it then and there.
- Level design: its important to keep a game new and different as you progress through it and what sonic and knuckles did well was the variation between its levels which changed the background, enemies and gameplay mechanics each time this kept the game challenging and the attention of the player by having it all not the similar.
- Power ups: Sonic and knuckles also had a wide variety of powerups from speed boots, invulnerability and shields. powerups keep the game fun by changing how the player tackles a certain situation in the game making the player think and this is a good thing.
2000- The Sims
Brief history: the sims is life simulation game produced by EA Maxis.
it is one of the most successful video game series of all time.
in 2013 overall has sold 175 million copies worldwide.
it is one of the most successful video game series of all time.
in 2013 overall has sold 175 million copies worldwide.
What made it succeed?
Sandbox: sandbox games have become very popular over the years and the sims really helped do that with its goaless objective of the game having it all in the players hands in what direction they want to go with it which made it very dynamic.
Customization: the vast options for the sims is huge and makes for a large cover of the different preferences that players can have "suiting to all needs" essentially. this sells the game already to wider audience because of this, everyone can be themselves or add their own input style to the game.
Simulation: sims offers a unique novelty in its setup whereby it simulates real life this can attract a large audience simply by letting players do something they believe is out of their reach or live an alternate life on the sims, setting up their "dream world", which is attractive to most. the sims creates this realistic feel by the sheer amount of features it has and social interactions, more interactions in the game means more real the game feels and simulates life, making it more immersive.
Expansion: the sims has always been known for its wide variety of expansion packs for its game, expansion packs are a good way to keep the game from going stale, keeping it fresh and new with each addition by adding gameplay features, clothing ect.
Unique: although set in the simulation genre sims stands out for its uniqueness from other games for its not about your typical action game set up whereby you have a hero obstacles and final fight with boss. the sims is slower paced where the player can literally just do what they want and live a life on the game. this provides a great form of advertisement since it can cause social media to circulate around the game amplifying its popularity.
2005- Destroy all humans
released for playstation 2 and xbox on june 21.
What made it succeed?
Chaos: simply put this game focuses explosions and various mesmerizing effects in the game that all ensue chaos among the streets something all action based players are fond of.
Comedy: throughout the game parodies of real life icons, places ect are made all over the place adding a high comedy value to the game which can be a very key factor for a game in the way that comedy is mostly more memorable among other genres it spurs on most conversations to day already making the game popular on this front.
Gameplay: gameplay is dynamic it the way it has different weapons with varying effects mixing up players gameplay style and approaches to missions, powers which can alter the way in which battles or fights drastically either via telekinesis or possession, you then finally have the option to use your own spacecraft which can be upgraded along with all the other weapons and powers on ground changing the perspective of how the game is viewed and played.
Antagonist view: what makes this game stand out from your usual hero vs evil game is the fact that you play the villain and your job is to fight the hero, its a flip up of the traditional "hero's journey" set up and for this fact makes the game different and memorable. breaks the "mold" essentially.
Free Roam: free roam in games is always a plus, even more so today with more and more demand for it in games than ever, its simply because it is so effective in the way that it can be replayed over and over where the player can play the game one way first then another way the second time round, its a useful factor to introduce if you want to increase a games "lifes span".
2010- Heavy Rain
it was exclusive to one platform (playstation 3).
won multiple game of year awards.
selling over 3 million copies.
a live action film is currentely in development of this game.
What made it succeed?
Story: A story for any game can be very effective and attention grabbing for any player it helps keep the game addictive and memorable and in this case heavy rain achieves a attention grabbing story very well by its thriller aspect and just how in depth the story actually goes, thrillers are always good for creating tension and suspense which can really effect and make an impression on players.
Multiple Paths: This factor of multiple endings and paths to those endings depending on the characters choices are a great way to add replay value to the game and in heavy rain these choices are so drastic it can end up killing off main characters this essentially adds countless different stories to be told in one game adding to its lifes span.
Unique genre: A game mainly solely based on a film essentially is a unique idea and something that is beginning to catch on alot in games in recent days, it seems story telling in games has become more of a demand over that of gameplay and so heavy rain achieves this very well with its stand out ish approach to games so much so it has spurred on other games to follow suit in some cases (walking dead ect).
Empathetic characters: for players to fully gripped and sucked into a story the dialogue between characters is vital in achieving this outcome and heavy rain is very well written where characters are seen conversing with each other, the characters seem "real" and this allows players to somewhat share empathy with them.
Motion capture: going to the previous mention of creating that "real" factor in games for players to relate and be empathetic towards characters, motion capture suits are a great way in recording "real life" human movements to make the in game characters motions much more believable and realistic not generated by a 3d animation software which can make the characters appear robotic taking away from the immersion.
2014- Final Fantasy 13 Lightnings Return
it is final fantasy 13's final game in its mini series.
began development in may 2012 2 years total.
graphics handled by triface.
What made it succeed?
Story closure: final fantasy 13 lightnings return was what most players were wanting for the mini series to finally reach an end and gain closure to it all. this form of sequels with stories is already a high selling factor among games because it is already sold for some players even when they haven't seen the rest of the game they are interested in the story and creating multiple sequels can give increasing anticipation among fans for the game story though it can have limits.
New gameplay: It can be a good idea to change some gameplay features when it comes to sequels of games for a story alone for most cant hold a game series up forever players need something new in the game, so final fantasy 13 lightning returns did just that they changed the battle dynamic completely to the games before it, this can be a risky move however but it can grab more of the players attention for they then have to learn this new system.
Graphics: modern final fantasy games have always been well known for their high quality and "pretty" cinematics and general graphics and for most this factor is a real eye catcher as is with art in paintings.
Tension: final fantasy 13 lightnings return had a new feature introduced from the previous titles in which the game was "timed" and the player had to complete the game before this timer hit 0 essentially or until 13 in game days was counted. this was a unique idea for a game and something that made it stand out and cause attention which can be useful for advertisement. it also creates tension for the player and forces them into concentration on the game to ensure they make it.
Customization: now with any final fantasy game comes a wide customization factor in terms of what weapons, spells, and Armour you can equip which is very effective in branching out to wider audiences for it offers multiple play styles and final fantasy 13 lightnings return is no different in that regard however with the addition of adding a players preference for colour with armour and weapons, this can be highly effective in selling a game for it allows the player to add their own input into the game.
Comparison of old and new
Final Fantasy -1990 Square Soft Final Fantasy 13 Lightnings Return - 2014 Square Enix
Similarities:
- Both games are role playing games whereby different characters or stances fullfill a certain role in combat e.g white mage or medic heals the group. it applies also with speech or interactivity with non playable characters where dialogue is present.
- Both share a random encounter system where battle areanas are set up simply by the player walking around the world.
- Character development is present in both games where stats such as health the character(s) have how much damage they do. also same with equipment for the characters with varying weapons or armour.
- Feature an area to explore a map to follow where the player must navigate through depending on where the story is wanting them to go to.
- certain aspects of the battle system are the same whereby plyers must choose their attacks from a drop down list or bar e.g choose attack, magic, potion ect.
Differences:
- Final fantasy 1 features many different protagonists (4 at a time) rather that just the one in final fantasy lightning returns where it is just lightning as the party but she fills all the different roles with varying stances.
- Final fantasy lightning returns is dramatically superior to final fantasy 1 graphically with its higher generation of computer generated imagery from newer and more modern software.
- Lightning returns has more gameplay dynamics when exploring the world for example jumping and free running/climbing buildings whereas in final fantasy 1 you are a 2d sprite on a flat world with only up down left right as directions to head in.
- the battle systems in both games are vastly different though both hold strategy lightning returns is much more of faster paced battle that that of final fantasy 1 which is slower with choosing commands and seen as more of a strategic way of fighting.
- final fantasy 1 follows a very old era of fantasy stories and setting for example the use of the classic warrior and wizards whereas in lightning returns the setting and combat roles are much more modernized.
Game testing
Title
|
Genre
|
Release
Date
|
Structure
|
Platform
|
Realistic/
Abstract
|
Dimension
2D/3D
?
|
Perspective
|
Goals
|
Objectives
|
Secrets/
Achievements
|
Narrative
structure
|
Sprites
or Polygons
|
Player
Role
|
Overall
Rating
0-100%
|
Assassins
creed black flag
|
Action
adventure
|
October
29th 2013
|
Free
roam story based
exploration
|
Playstation
3
Xbox 360
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd person view
|
Complete
all memories in the story
|
Designed
to be stealth based
|
Hidden
collectibles e.g chests, messages in bottles
|
Linear
structure
|
polygons
|
Controls
Edward, main protagonist, must lead him through story
|
90%
|
Grand
theft auto 5
|
Action
3rd person shooter
|
September
17th 2013
|
Free
roam
Story
exploration
|
Playstation
3
Xbox 360
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd and 1st person view
|
Complete
all missions set in story
|
Earn
money through story missions and side activities
|
Random
characters to meet for heist members
|
Linear
structure with a 3 pronged ending
|
polygons
|
Controls
3 main
protagonists
|
95%
|
Saints
row 4
|
Action
adventure game
|
August
20 2013
|
Open world
action based game
|
Playstation
3
Xbox 360
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd person view
|
Complete
all missions in story
|
Earn experience
and money through missions and side activities
|
Many hidden
audio logs from past games and power up nodes
|
Linear
story
|
Polygons
and sprites
|
Controls
controls own character
(player
created)
|
93%
|
Beyond
two souls
|
Interactive
drama
|
October
8 2013
|
Interactive
film
|
Playstation
3
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd person view
|
Follow
through all the memories
|
Make choices
within in the game that change direction of story
|
No collectibles
|
Multipath
structure
|
polygons
|
Viewpoint
of main protangonist
Chooses
actions
|
85%
|
Warframe
|
Action
3rd person shooter
mmo
|
March 25
2013
|
Mission
based action shooter
|
Playstation
4
pc
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd person view
|
Earn
experience through completing online missions
|
Become
powerful enough to withstand the higher level “raid” missions
|
Parts for
weapons and armour hidden in chests and enemies
|
Linear
structure
|
polygons
|
Chooses
a frame to move in and customise weapons for it
|
65%
|
Minecraft
|
sandbox
|
May 17
2009
|
Free roam
survival
|
Playstation
3
Playstation
4
|
Abstract
|
3-dimensional
|
From a
3rd and 1st person view
|
Player
chooses own goal can be survival based or used as creative builder
|
Survive
in the world or build up enough to kill final dragon
|
Hidden
dungeons and ores to mine
|
Dynamic
structure
Depends
on player
|
polygons
|
Build,
create
Houses
and survive nights
|
90%
|
Last
of us
|
Action
survival
|
June 14
2013
|
Story based
survival
|
Playstation
3
|
Realistic
|
3-dimensional
|
From 3rd
person view
|
Follow
the story “areas”
|
Craft enough
supplies and weapons to live through the story areas
|
Hidden
pendants from fallen resistance members
|
Linear
structure
|
polygons
|
Controls
the two
protagonists
|
85%
|
Unit 68 Computer Game Design – Computer Game Research
Template Student Name Luke Irving 561378. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
.
Our Team name: The Indieviduals
Task 2- Produce game concept ideas
This was my own personal mindmap i made:
Our Groups Mind map generation of ideas:
This is the layout of our structure for the game, as you can see we've gone for a room based set up with maze aspects. this also shows a brief look at the teleportation aspect of our game and how it works, one door will teleport you to another far away room in the "grid" format.
My personal input for our game "The Dead End" was being tasked with the drawing and generation of ideas for concept art that would be forwarded onto to be later developed into 3d models ready to use in game.
specifically drawing out all the in game objects such as furniture and gameplay objects, with also some initial sketches of wall textures in rooms.
I have also laid out and used google sketch up as a modelling program for level design to get a rough idea of how our game will be structured ready to be overlayed by all of my concept art models and wall textures onto the layout creating a game world so we can introduce gameplay mechanics.
For the 10 page detailed game brief i worked on the title page for the document and i researched into game ratings such as 12, 15, 18 ect and determined what category our game fitted inside also outlining the various themes inside our game such as gore, horror bad language ect.
This is my example of my work with concept art for the game, these are a range of possible objects that we can use in the gothic manor themed room areas.
This is a video preview of my work on the level design for "The dead end", i separated each area into sections, currently in this stage there is only a hospital, gothic manor and dark forest area mapped out.
the gothic manor being the huge cuboid structure in the background, the forest being defined as the pillars which represent tree placement and finally the hospital at the foreground which i designed to be more "maze like" in the way it has alternating small corridors and tight corners.
Screenshots of level design:
Hospital
Dark Forest
Gothic Manor
this level layout plan i came about with has the idea of our game being centred around a "Hub" or the house you start in, to get to the different parts of the house you will have to scan the house for keys (areas available to you) which unlock rooms to navigate, 4 in total.
each room will give way to a new room area to explore by giving you a key that opens up new parts of house.
Task 3- High game concept
Feedback from professional game developers of their overview of our game pitch:
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