"Creating Coherent Worlds"

Our first brief for contextual studies explained that our title for the project is:

"Creating Coherent Worlds"

This basically means creating believable and coherent worlds. We have to work in groups for the research side and then do a presentation by ourselves and also hand in separate work. This is what we must complete:

• 10 minute presentation
• Reflective journal
• Back up work, such as an essay.

We then discussed different types of games.

• Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) - Involve players in real time stories (trans-media) Players must collaborate to solve a puzzle. For example a Blast theory game called 'Can you see me now?' Where virtual players online are pursued by runners on the real life streets of the city.

• Augmented Reality Game - Allows players to 'project' images onto reality. For example a new game coming out called 'Wonderbook', in which the player has a blank book in real life which comes to life on the screen with the use of the Playstation Move camera.

• Beat 'em up - Raw combat, where the protagonist is up against countless under powered opponents. For example the 'Scott Pilgrim' game. Most beat 'em up's are 2D side scrolling games.

• Platform - Players explore and conquer environments. The most common platform style is jumping to and from obstacles; also known as jumping puzzles. 'Mario' is a good example of a platform game as it is set in 2D environment and the aim of the game is jump over or on enemies to evade or destroy them, collect coins and power ups to over come your enemies and jump obstacles to avoid falling into spike pits, water or get trapped.

• Puzzle - Game genre that is solely based around solving puzzles to complete the game. A lot of modern role play and adventure games include puzzle solving in their missions like 'Uncharted' and 'Skyrim' but well known full on puzzle games such as 'Brain training' and 'Portal' that makes the game more than a first person shooter.

• Racing - Driving a selected vehicle to race against opponents and triumphing. The majority of racing games consist of an array of racing styles such as time trials, where you race against the clock to gain the highest score, obstacle courses; where the player has to drive through highlighted areas of the track to gain the target points. 'Project Gotham Racing' and 'Gran Tourismo' are examples of realistic racing games that have these additional racing events. Games like 'Mario Kart' and 'Crash Team Racing' focus on entertaining the player in other ways. They are based around classic platform games, allowing you to play as your favorite character's from them. They have the same goals as realistic racing games but include the comedy element, by having battles against your opponents by firing objects at each other to overcome the other.

• Rhythm Action - Coordinate interaction to music by pressing a sequence of highlight buttons on screen to initiate an attack, special ability or just to advance in the game.  

• RPGS - Role Playing action games, let you become a character of your choice and play through the games narrative how you want to. They normally consist of massive maps to explore full of enemies at different levels that you have to overcome at different stages in the game. But as the game is played how you chose to play it, any obstacle in the game can be faced whenever you chose too. 'Fallout 3', 'Skyrim', 'Eldar Scrolls' and 'Mass Effect' are good examples of RPG's.  

• MMORPGS - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, allow many players to play in a fantasy world online. The aim of the game is complete quests to level up and gain better equipment to fight your enemies. You can either work as a team or on your own to gain overall supremacy against the world. 

• Shoot 'em ups - Use of weapons against many targets or enemies.

• Sports - Based on real life sports such as football.

• Strategy - The player must use strategic moves to beat enemies.

Adventure Games

During yesterdays session, we were assigned a genre/sub-genre. We then had to list the amount of games we knew related to that genre.

Mass Effect
Uncharted
Tomb Raider
Desus Ex
Pokemon
Far Cry
Half Life
Borderlands
Dragons Dogma
Spyro
LIMBO
Metal Gear Solid
Journey
Heavy Rain
Just Cause
Bio Shock
Grand Theft Auto
Skyrim
Banjo Kazoee
Fallout
Dishonored
Assassins Creed
Red Dead Redemption
Fable
Dear Esther
LA Noire
Little Big Planet
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Galaxy

One of my groups weekly tasks was to select game of a set genre and answer a set of questions about it. We were given the adventure genre. Out of the list of adventure games we made we chose to do Mass Effect 2 as it is one of our groups favorite games and had a good answer for all the questions given. Below are the answers to the questions in the form of a script, with Power point presentation images to support the answers.

LIAM:

Narrative/Structure:

How is the game structured?

Mass Effect is an Action/Adventure RPG. It is structured using set missions following a narrative towards a final conclusion. The game also includes side missions that have their own sub-narrative, which can affect the main story in some way; (for example: if a player doesn’t complete a characters loyalty mission that character will surely die in the final mission).

Does it have levels?

In reference to levels, Mass Effect does have levels, but they are open party, which means the player isn’t forced to complete the majority of the missions in a set order, or is locked out from missions because they are a lower level. This gives the player control over what they do in the game. Mass Effect does have a character leveling up system. Leveling is gained through completing missions, engaging with other characters in the game, or discovering new worlds/materials across the galaxy. For each level you gain access to unique perks to improve your combat skills and better equipment.

Do you follow a set path to complete the game?

There is a set path to complete the game. However, the game path can vary on how you play side missions and engage with characters; (e.g. take sides with characters). In the end, the game’s initial story is still focussed around the set missions leading to the final conclusion. One vital aspect in the game is how it is based on consequences and repercussions, so any mistakes made; e.g. not completing a loyalty mission or falling out with one of your characters/crew members, can dramatically affect how the game plays out and its ending.

SOPHIE:

How much freedom do you have to explore the game world?

There is a substantial amount of freedom to explore the game world. When you aren’t completing a mission you can explore different planets throughout the galaxy. Not all planets are accessible, but you can scan them, extract materials and information from them. When doing a mission, the player must go to the planet set and cannot deviate from the planet until the mission is complete. 

Visual Style:

What does the game look like?

Mass Effects visual style is fundamentally based on the sheer scale of games universe, both in missions and during free roam.

What feel does the game give through its visual style?

The camera is set in 3^rd person, to give the player a full 360 degree view of both their character and surroundings. The cut scenes and dialogue in the game is camera based, enabling a full visual experience.

How do the visuals affect the player?

The visuals have an immersible impact on the player as they are realistic and linear, depending on how the player interacts with the games narrative. The realistic style also enables the player to create attachments between them and the characters, enhancing the players experience.




Henry Jenkins lecture 31/10/12

http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html
http://henryjenkins.org/

For my presentation I am going to construct a question based around the coherent worlds in 'The Walking Dead' universe. The series is covered through novels, games, a TV series and a graphic novel.

The video game follows the path of Lee Everett. An ex convict who is trying to do right through a young girl named Clementine, by trying to help her find her parents. During their desperate journey, they come across a variety of people, who they team up with to help survive against the zombie apocalypse.

Throughout the game the player has to make decisions on the people they really care about, causing the unlucky one to sadly get killed off in some way or form. The idea of this is to give the player control over the game and the outcome of the story. It creates a realistic environment and immersive experience for them too.

The games art style is based around the graphic novel. Abstract, subtle colours, thick lining around the drawings to really bring out the finer details in all the features in the game. It feels like you are playing through a comic book. As the game basically is an interactive point and click story, thats exactly what the designers were aiming for.

However !

'The Walking Dead' graphic novel may follow into the game with its art style, but the characters are the complete opposite. Aside from 2 or 3 characters being in the game, the graphic novel has a whole new set of characters, somewhat setting a new world of love, hate and desperation for the reader. As a whole the graphic novel strongly follows the AMC TV series about Rick, an ex police officer, who is on a mission to find his wife and son. When found he is reunited with his old work partner Shane, along with a number of other characters who have grouped together to aim to survive. they travel place to place across the country to find supplies or a safe haven where they can survive in peace.

'The Walking Dead' TV series started in 2009 and has now become a massive hit. It is strongly based around the graphic novel, featuring the same characters and locations. The story however does flow a lot slower than the graphic novel as the TV series has so much ground to cover it needs to make sure that every character has their chance to make a name for themselves. In the first volume of the graphic novel, it had covered nearly 3 seasons of the TV series, and is already up to about 80 issues now, in comparison to the TV show being up to only 3 seasons. The shows visual style is very bright and dynamic, really creating a dark and depressing atmosphere, making the audience feel empathy towards the characters. It is aiming to make the show feel as realistic as possible through the visuals and characterisation.

Video Game Characters

Here are a small number of important characters in the video game. There far more, but as the game is based on the decisions the player makes on who lives or dies, characters can vary. These are the characters I am including in my Creating Coherent Worlds presentation.

Lee Everett

Clementine

Andrew St John

Kenny

Glenn

Doug

TV Series and Graphic Novel Characters

Rick (TV)

Rick (graphic novel)

Glenn (TV)

Glenn (graphic novel)

Shane (TV)

Shane (graphic novel)

Carl (left: graphic novel, right TV)

Lori and Carl (TV)

Lori (graphic novel)

Dale (left: graphic novel, right TV)

BA4: Game Design Document

This page covers the game me and Sophie have chosen to re-invent and a draft copy of our initial design document. Sophie is in charge of the artwork and I am in charge of the written work. All areas of our work are found on our blogs.

Our Chosen Game

Me and my team mate Sophie have decided to reinvent The Portopia Serial Murder Case. We thought it would be a game that a number of groups weren't going to choose, because it wasn't relate table with a modern audience, because of how old it is. We really like the concept of the game and feel that and investigation, crime genre hasn't been touched up on as mush a war game like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and Battlefield. We have been discussing the limits we can push the genre to make something that stands out from everything else, to attract a wider audience to the crime genre. To kick start our idea development we are looking at the following points:

• It is a game developed by Yuji Horir, what other games has he done?
• First person perspective/narrative
• Investigation adventure
• The visual/art style?
• Story? Change the story, murder case?
• The retro representation?
• Look at different art styles?
• Films, murder cases, what makes them interesting?
• Unique elements
• Murders committed using modern technology - the internet?
• Look at fictional and non- fictional murders
• Is the game exciting and appealing?

We had a look at some game play of the original game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) from 1985.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6UQWvjC12I
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTwPd93yN1vYO77GYJGhUAFLPFoUOVBELtTcqC2a0jFS8cfVwYAmqs7J5p-L__yuVe3GD_hvXdOQpliYiCiBSbcyrvsVU2mEQhc54xkNj_UcKr4PYlqfAdjTWLeYstR6ls7dNDGDWYQ/s1600/DSC01599.JPG
http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RTM29/RTM29.html
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/JPNcomputers/Japanesecomputers3.htm
http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6120427/p-2.html


We learnt from this video that it is a 2D text based game, it uses low resolution graphics and the colours are very bold. As well as a sum of the games style I conducted some thorough research covering its art style, gameplay and narrative.  

The PSMC (Portopia Serial Murder Case) was an investigation adventure game designed by Yuji Horii, who works for Enix, a Japanese game design studio. It was released in 1985 on the SNES.
PSMC was very sophisticated for its time. The aim of the game was for the player to solve a murder mystery, by searching for clues. To find them the player must search an array of scenes/settings and interact with characters. 
The game follows a first person, perspective narrative. The game has a number of various events, which are followed through still pictures and text appearing on screen. The player is able to interact with the images and text by using the keyboard provided in the game. The keyboard isn't an actual keyboard; on screen the player gets a list of set commands, which must be examined and selected using the consoles controller. The aim of solving riddles in the game is finding the exact words to type. PSMC has an element of non-linear game play, giving the player a sense of freedom being able to travel between different areas in the 'open world', allowing the player to achieve objectives their own way. The dialogue is very important. The decisions the player makes redefines the outcome of certain events in the game. Depending on how you play the game the outcome can be frequently different. As a bonus, you have a phone, which you can use to call non playable character's and an inventory system that can be used to collect evidence. The game also features a point and click aspect. It allows the player to use a magnifying glass to search for clues, and when found, click to interact with them. There are also branching menu selections. The magnifying glass being one of them and the other is your character using his fists or a hammer to be used when carrying out an interrogation or beating suspects.

Although the game is fiction, it is set in real Japanese cities such as Kobe, Kyoto and Sumoto.
The detective in charge of the investigation is never seen. His assistant, Yasuhiko Mano is the character who initially speaks to you, giving you commands.

The game sold over 700,000 copies, making it very popular in Japan. The USP was the flexibility with how the player could solve the mysteries, its well told story line and the surprising twist ending. It was Square Enix's first real detective adventure game. Along with Super Mario Brothers it was inspired by Hideo Kojima, who was the creator of Metal Gear Solid. Hideo praised the game for its mystery, drama, humor and its proper background explanation behind murder's motives and expanded the potential of the game.

BA4: Game Design Document Self Evaluation

For our project, me and my team mate, had to reinvent a video game from a variety of different genres, released across different consoles. We were to select a game and reinvent it in the format we see fit of a design document, sticking to the games key themes and genre. I was in charge of the written work for my group.

To gain an understanding of the production process I conducted in depth research into the game of choice; ‘The Portopia Serial Murder Case’. It is a text based crime game released for the SNES set in a fictional settlement called Portopia. Me and Sophie picked this game over all the others, because we believed it to be unique and had a lot more personality compared to a horror or shooter game genre. To see what other crime games were available we looked at LA Noire and Heavy Rain. Both games were strongly focussed on providing an in depth, immersive story with great characters and personal player interactivity. I also had a look at a couple of design documents for games such as ‘Bioshock’ and ‘Fallout’, to gain an understanding on how a design document should look.

With reference to the written structure of the design documents I flicked through, I began putting together a rough layout of the document, by creating the contents page, listing all the areas that the document needed to cover in the form of categories, each including its own sub headings underneath. In the overview I talked about the games USP, marketing strategy, the art style and the player’s impact. In the narrative I wrote up a brief overview of the narrative and the in game episodes, which were structured around the overall narrative. To support the narrative, I included a set of key character biographies, which gives the player a detailed back story about each character they play as or meet. In gameplay, I talked about the variety of different features in the game the player is exposed to, and the level of immersive options the player has. I included a detailed overview of the controls, how the player can access different features, such as their characters inventory, side story multiplayer and have control over the games ending. Settings were the final key feature to include in the document. I described the different environments the player experiences and how they affected the narrative.

For this project, we were tasked to select a game of a specific genre and reinvent it in the form of a design document. I was very happy with my final written product. I feel that some parts of it had to be rushed, leading to a number of key points being missed out such as the narrative and added in depth information about characters. If I was given more time for this project I would include more detail in those highlighted points. For a personal project, I am continuing work on the games narrative, to give the audience a realistic, more immersive experience into the games universe.