Games Research – Minecraft & Grow Home

 

 

 
Visuals:
Both games utilize a low poly art style to appeal to a younger demographic of consumers. However, Minecraft uses a range of colour palettes for different settings and times.
Examples:

On the other hand, Grow Home uses a more limited colour palette as the game takes place in one set area. It makes up for this as the colours used are bright and complement with the low-poly art style, allowing the colours used to pop. It’s also worth mentioning that the green for the land complements well with the red of the player character, B.U.D, which in turn contrasts nicely with the blue on the backpack, the yellow on the glider and plants, and purple in some areas of land and vegetation.

In terms of concept, both games are open worlds that put an emphasis on exploration. With that being said, Minecraft utilises this as a part of its survival genre and so that players can discover new materials to craft and experiment with. On the other hand, Grow Home utilises exploration to make the collectathon much more rewarding as it takes effort to find each collectable in the game. Another key difference is that Grow Home has an end goal to reach, whereas in Minecraft, what can be done is only limited by the player’s imagination.

How Video Game Systems Work

A man by the name of Ralph Baer invented the first home gaming system, a prototype known as the ‘Brown Box’, which was later sold as the Magnavox Odyssey.

Additionally, the system allowed for the first use of gameplay over a phone line was the Sega Dreamcast, in which the system was called the Sega Net.

Using a gaming system over a desktop system
– More affordable
– Tend to load games faster than most PCs (with the exception of expensive gaming PC rigs)
– Designed to be part of your entertainment system, so they can easily be plugged in to your T.V and stereo
– Little to no compatibility issues (operating system, DirectX drivers, correct audio card, supported game controller, resolution, etc)
– Games are written to take full advantage of the hardware as developers know exactly what components are in each system.
– Most game consoles are truly “plug and play.”, so the degree to set them up and use them is significantly lower.
– Has games that allow multiple players.

The Atari game console was founded by Nolan Bushnell, who then went on to produce one of the most successful video games of its time – Pong.
When it came to games, Nintendo had three important concepts they wanted to introduce to the NES:
– The use of a pad controller as opposed to a joystick
– Recreating authentic arcade video games for the home entertainment system
– Selling the hardware at an unprofitable price to gain traction, while the games themselves would be priced appropriately to fulfil a comfortable profit

The core components every gaming system has:
– User Control Interface (Game controllers)
– CPU (Central Processing Unit)
– RAM (Random Access Memory)
– Software kernel (The bridge between the applications and the data processing done at the hardware level)
– Storage medium for games (e.g: RAM, hard drive)
– Video output (T.V monitor)
– Audio output (Speakers)
– Power supply

The RAM in a gaming machine provides temporary storage for the data of a game being played. The drawback of using RAM is that the memory stored is volatile, so if the power of the device is suddenly interrupted, all data stored is lost.

Alternatively, there are an additional two methods to use for gaming:
– Hard drives, which – while not being solid state devices like flash drives – store more memory than them.
– Flash drives (e.g: PS2 Memory cards), which are a solid state device, meaning they don’t use any moving parts, and the data is instead stored electronically with a series of signals that translate to binary code (a series of 1s, and 0s), so they’re less prone to damage. However, they don’t store as much data as hard drives.

Both flash and hard drives store non-volatile memory, meaning if the power supply is suddenly interrupted, the data isn’t lost.

Game Project Booklet

Game Project Booklet

High Concept Pitch – Project Y

Game Summary

You play the role of a sentient alien weapon capable of possessing organisms and technology, which crash lands and ends up in London. As a result of your potential danger, humans and your creators alike hunt you down, in which you use your adaptive capabilities to become a force to be reckoned with, in a stylized but recognizable open city of London.

Features

• The ability to possess people with different playstyles depending on who you possess.
• The ability to possess technology – using your surroundings to your advantage.
• An open world London divided into different sectors – each one belonging to a different faction that you fight in the game.
• Refined traversal – feel the power of movement.
• Missions which the player can approach in multiple ways (stealth, guns-blazing, etc)

Overview

This game will be available on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles (possibly the Nintendo Switch) and on PC, as the controls for the game will prove to be versatile for controllers as well as mouse and keyboard.

The game is tailored so in a way that people playing it will come back to play it again for the cathartic experience – be it traversal (Marvel’s Spider-Man) or combat (Prototype).

The kind of players that play this game would be those who play for the power fantasy the game provides (mostly killers and achievers).

The genre of the game is a third-person, action-adventure, open world game.

The target demographic for this game would be for people ages 12 or over, as the polygonal art style seems suited for the demographic.

The games currently on market as competition are Marvel’s Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2 – though my game will be different as it’d be played on a smaller scale world, yet there’s a lot to do in terms of content.

My game’s unique selling point is that your character is able to possess both technology and people, and can use both to its advantage in some way to adapt to the situation at hand.

My game’s character is a sentient alien weapon that can possess both people and technology, and is being hunted down by two factions:

Human Militia – They witness your power and see potential in harnessing/controlling it, so they’ll stop at nothing to capture you.

The Creators – As the name suggests, they are an undiscovered race of aliens that have created you and have arrived at earth to destroy you as a result of witnessing your destructive capabilities.

Bartle’s Taxonomy

Player Types:

Achievers:
Play the game for the reward, to complete the goal to the best of their ability (getting all achievements, max out leveling, etc).
Explorers:
Play the game to discover – play sandbox type and open world games. They go out to see every corner of the world they play in. They are drawn in by easter eggs or other things that reward the player for searching the game’s crevices.
Socializers:
Play the game to interact with other players online, trading items, joining multiplayer, all for the sake of socializing within a community.
Killers:
Play the game to assert dominance on other players – this can range from griefing, angering other players, or just ‘killing’ them.

Game Research – Spider-Man (PS1)

The objective of this game is to fight enemies in a series of levels that would make the player traverse the environment in different ways, whether it be web-swinging or crawling along the walls and ceilings.

The target audience of this game would most likely be children and fans of comics and the character of Spider-Man.

What makes the game so fun is the variety of level design, ranging from fights on top of buildings (encouraging the player to traverse rooftop to rooftop via web-swinging), chase sequences, or building interiors that encourage a more discreet approach.

I wouldn’t really add any improvements as I think the game works amazingly well in terms of gameplay and (level) design.

Game Review – Infamous: Second Son

Infamous Second Son is an action-adventure AAA video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions, in which the player assumes the role of Delsin Rowe (who is part of the Akomish Tribe), who becomes a super-powered being called a Conduit, which allows him to control certain forms of power.

This character in particular appeals to me as his background of being a small-town delinquent allows for a character who is quite care-free, which opens for the inclusion of a couple game-mechanics (explained later).

The main objective of the game is to hunt down Brooke Augustine (who is the head of an ‘anti-Bio-terrorist’ organization known as the Department of Unified Protection – D.U.P, for short) for she is hunting down other conduits, and making the public fear them. Essentially, it’s about a super-powered being who attempts to throw down the government, and your motives for doing so may vary depending on which path in the storyline you choose, which also affects the public perception of Conduits.

What makes this game fun is the power set. As Delsin, you are capable of harnessing 3 forms of power: Smoke, Neon, and Video (as well as an extra one you get near the end of the game), specifically in that order, each with their own playstyle. Not to mention, what your powers are capable of are also affected by the Karma system, (which essentially allows that player to decide whether they want to play the hero, or engage in violent catharsis) which determines what additions to your powers you get. To name an example, if you went the way of the Hero, you could temporarily slow down time while aiming, giving you time to shoot weak points on enemies, subduing them. On the other hand, if you went the way of the Bio-Terrorist, the rate at which you fire your neon beams would increase, allowing for more destructive capabilities.

What makes this game stand out from others is the amount of freedom it offers, not just as an open world game, but also with its game mechanics, not to mention that its I.P has a good track record of previous games, so people are more willing to buy it.

What’s also worth mentioning is that even by today’s standards, the game still looks so gorgeous that it’s hard to believe that it was made in 2014, not just in terms of the detail added to the city, but also the colorful and vibrant particle effects that emanate when using your powers, be it for traversal or combat. This, in addition to a fantastic photo mode, makes the game all the more beautiful to look at.