game studio

Leave a comment Posted on Core Studio Environments: Game, Uncategorized, Year 2

Games as Paratexts and Products

What is the diegetic language of your game? The paratextual language? Are they different? How can you use them to support one another?

In Burrow the narrative and emotion behind the game is very important, and the environment needs to be able to support that context. Because our diegetic language is so heavily focused on the contrast between survival and comfort, our paratextual language in the game’s two scenes its made to emphasize these different emotions. The bunny’s burrow includes interaction with family members and a homey environment that provides comfort, and the outside forest is a hard environment, with more obstacles and a darker atmosphere that further pushes the sense of danger.

Write about one arcade/cabinet game and explain the relationship between the paratext (cabinet art) and diegetic elements. Did early game developers rely more on paratext to set context?

Pong is an example of how paratext and diegetic elements can work together to create an aesthetic. While it may look like the creators of Pong simply didn’t pay attention to aesthetics or paratext when creating the game due to its simplicity, this only makes the point of the game stronger. The mechanics and main goal of the game are very simple, with the object only being to hit a ball back to another player. Pong’s aesthetic/paratext simplicity goes hand-in-hand with this and rather than making up for mechanical simplicity with complicated imagery, Pong’s simplistic design is paired with simplistic art that stays away from over-complication.

Leave a comment Posted on Core Studio Environments: Game, Year 2

Game Production Cycles and What Makes a “Good” Game

Game Production and Development Cycles:

How does this process relate to smaller, indie productions? The work you’re doing?

No matter what the scale of a game, following the production/development process is crucial to creating a good game. All game developers need to plan properly and playtest early on in order to catch bad decisions and bugs at the beginning of the process, rather than later on when they are affecting multiple elements of the game. Having a clear plan of what needs to be done, mapping out major decisions and creating deadlines for yourself is an important part of any developer’s process and will do nothing but help them in the long run, even if they don’t have a large team to communicate with.

What Makes”Good” Writing?

Discuss the difference between knowing a good game when you play it vs having the insight to describe WHY a game works:

Anyone who has played many games can go through a particular game and pick our parts that don’t work and tell you if the game is good based on what they liked or disliked about the experience. However, it is still very important to develop the skills necessary to know why certain choices are good or bad, rather than just going with a gut reaction, even if your gut reaction is correct. Not only does this knowledge allow you to communicate with people who may not be able to tell as easily what makes a game good or bad, but you will be able to make important decisions in the planning process rather than having to reiterate and tweak ideas later on down the production process when they don’t work quite right.

How can Anna Anthropy’s analysis of Mario Bro’s influence the game you’re working on now?

Because we are currently working on 2D games with limited screen movement, many of the design decisions Anthropy discusses can serve as inspiration for the creation of more game components. For example, having two states for a player, each with different abilities and being called in different situations, can add an interesting dynamic to a player’s gameplay and keep a game from getting too static with repetitive abilities and play patterns. Anthropy also brings up the simplification of ideas and how they can give players the ability to infer what is going to happen in the game. She uses the example of creating a simple pyramid shape within a game in order to get the player to think about pyramids and the possibility of treasure being located inside. Creating game components like this can also create more dynamic play and lets the reader think about their decisions and what might be coming more carefully.

 

 

Leave a comment Posted on Year 2

Dark Forest Shmup – Character Rankings

The Protagonist: A young adult who somehow has ended up in a dark creepy forest and needs to find their way out past oncoming monsters.

Their competence ~ 5/10

Their likability ~ 7/10

Their commitment to the cause ~ 10/10

The Antagonists: Enemies and boss enemies that are variations of mutated plants taking on a monstrous form.

Their competence: Small Enemies ~ 4/10 vs Boss Enemies ~ 8/10

Their likability: Small Enemies ~ 6/10 vs Boss Enemies ~ 3/10

Their commitment to the cause: Small Enemies ~ 8/10 vs Boss Enemies ~ 5/10

How Does this Affect the Game?

Because the smaller enemies are cuter and more likable with a lower competence level, the player may sympathize with them and underestimate their abilities. However they are very committed and can possibly band together which will make them more powerful. The boss enemies are very powerful but don’t seem to care very much about the cause, so they could be easily distracted or avoided instead of facing such a challenge. The player is being thrown into an unknown environment for unknown reasons, so it will be hard for them to figure things out at first, but their commitment will help them to persevere.

Leave a comment Posted on Year 2

Cultural Game Report

Something my sister and I made up and played often when we were younger was a game we called Kick Swing. We created this game in our own backyard while playing around on the swing set my dad built. We each had giant bouncy balls that were always around, and the incorporation of these two elements gave way to the creation of the game now known as Kick Swing. In order to play the game Kick Swing correctly you must have access to a swing set with free space in front of it and behind it. You will also need a large bouncy ball, it can be smaller if you prefer a challenge, and at least tow players, but three or four is ideal. One player must be the thrower, and all other players become kickers. The kickers are each assigned a swing, and will remain on that swing, actively swinging, for the duration of the game. The thrower is positioned in front of the swingers, facing them, at a considerable distance. The distance at which the thrower stands can be anywhere from around five yards to fifteen yards. When the game begins, the thrower throws the bouncy ball toward a player, trying their best to time the throw with the swings of the player so that their feet will be in position. The player then must attempt to kick the ball, and if they succeed they gain a point. The thrower then gets back into position after retrieving the ball and repeats this action with the next kicker. At the end of the game the kicker with the most points who landed the most kicks wins the game. This game was good at teaching coordination and timing, as well as working together with another player. Both the thrower and kicker have to be in sync and communicate to achieve desirable results which makes it a good learning experience as a segue into team sports. It can be assumed that the players have had prior exposure to actions involved with the game such as aiming and swinging, as well as players having access to a backyard swing set or a nearby park. The swing set in question must also be slightly secluded, or at least have a substantial amount of room around it. Kick Swing takes up a lot of space as the ball can travel great distances in any direction when kicked with the force of a swinger.

Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized

Affordance Design

The affordance I have designed for the classroom is an easily rotatable platform on which the tables and chairs of the classroom could be placed and, if necessary, secured. Because it would be different from the floor itself and slightly raised to a higher level, its form would imply that it is different from the floor itself and may have an additional purpose other than structure. The tables and chairs being on top of it limits the plausible purposes the platform might have, as these objects are not easily manipulated in many different ways. One main component of both the tables and the floor are that they are stable and stay in relatively the same place, which could allow for one of the first thoughts to be that this platform may move. The location of the whiteboard wall and the display screen being far apart created the need for easy manipulation and movement of the tables and chairs, which is extra information that would lead one to quickly figure out that the purpose of the platform is maneuverability so that all students can easily have a straight and unobstructed view of what the class’ focus is at any given moment.