Assignment 1: Researching Games

Student: Shay Wragg           
BTEC Extended Diploma in Games Design
Unit 22: Computer Games Design (IT)
Unit 72: Computer Games Design (Media)
Tutor: Wayne Gallear
Assessment 1: Researching Games

Researching Games 

Genres in games 

A genre is the type of game rather than the style of game, it's how the game plays not what it looks like. 

FPS 

First Person Shooters are played from the protagonist’s point of view which gives the illusion of the player aiming down the sights of the gun and essentially makes the player the protagonist. 

A Prime example of the FPS genre is the Call Of Duty franchise. CoD games are developed by three different companies, Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer games, each developer bri8ngs out a game every year giving each game a 3 year development span. The CoD games are mad using the IW Engine, an engine first developed for Call of Duty that gets heavily modified every year to change graphical and technical aspects of each game.

CoD puts the player in the soldier’s boots in an action packed story within the campaign or against other players over the globe in multiplayer.

Another popular first person shooter is Battlefield that's developed by DICE using the Frostbite engine, Frostbite runs multiple genres of games like racing and real-time strategy games as well as FPS games. 

Frostbite was originally used to create FPS's and campaigns, Frostbite 2 introduced multiplayer and Frostbite 3 is an upgraded version of Frostbite 2.

Action 

Action games consist of missions or levels that the protagonist has to play through while fending off enemies with an array of weapons or attacks, traditionally at the end of the mission there would be a boss with a larger amount of health than the regular enemies. 

A good example of a recent action game would be Destiny.

Destiny was developed by Bungie using the Tiger engine, a version of the BLAM engine that was used to make the Halo games, modified to support multi-threading, cross platform and to support all advanced tech that was created afterwards.

Destiny has the player advance through story missions to earn better gear and frequently run into ‘boss-like’ enemies, although Destiny is an FPS as well as a role playing game, it’s still an Action game.

A game similar to Destiny is the Borderlands franchise that was developed by Gearbox Software using the Unreal Engine. 

Borderlands has the player complete story missions while killing enemies and bosses as well as earning loot. 

RPG 

Role Playing Games gives the player a fully customizable protagonists and tend to have a skill tree or multiple skill tress where the player has to complete quests to ear skill points and unlock new skills through the skill tree. RPG’s take a non-linear approach to the story as the player usually can choose what they say and do throughout the story line, shaping your out comes from the decision you make.

Skyrim is a popular RPG from The Elder Scrolls series created by Bethesda using The Creations Engine which is the engine behind Oblivion just modified to boost the AI behind the NPC’s, it lets the NPC’s react to the players actions for example if the player befriends an NPC the NPC could give the help throughout the game, The Creation Engine also added mills, farms and mines to NPC’s something to do. 

In Skyrim the player starts by choosing the protagonists race and by customising what their character looks like, and then sets out to complete quests to earn skill points. Skyrim uses 3 skill tree’s to progress the character to the players liking. The Mage skill tree progresses the protagonists Magic, The Warrior progresses combat associated skills and The Thief progresses agility and stealth based skills.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is also another popular RPG, it was developed by CD Projekt RED using the REDengine, which is used by CD Projekt Red to creat non linear games. The Witcher 3 follows the story of a Geralt, a Witcher, the player has to complete quests and hunt monsters to level up Geralt and his gear.

Strategy

Strategy games require thought and tend to be slower paced games, the player must command forces to defeat enemies and the player with more power wins. 

Command and Conquer was developed by Westwood Studios using the SAGE Engine which allows for more realistic environments also adding function that when a large event or drastic change in the game takes place the camera will pause the action and pan around the explosion or event showing off the detail put into the environment and debris. The Command And Conquer series puts the player in control of an army and the object is to weaken enemy forces until they retreat or are wiped out.  Simulator Simulation games are made to simulate reality or fictional events. Some of these are War Simulators, Pilot Simulators, Life Simulators etc. Simulators can be used to teach people real skills such as driving or flying aircraft. The Sims is developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio using The Sims Engine which ‘’Uses 2D and 3D graphics, with Sim models being of a high polygon count while objects are pre rendered’’. Each base game uses an improved Sim engine which improves aspects of each game. The Sims is a Life Simulator where the player creates a ‘Sim’ which is a fictional character that can build a house, create relationships with other Sims, go to school/work etc. Surgeon Simulator is another simulation game developed by Bossa Studios using Unity.  Surgeon Simulator starts the player in an operating theater in front of a patient and is given an objective which is to perform an organ transplant. The player must do this without the patient losing a certain amount of blood. Puzzle Puzzle games are made to get the player thinking and makes the player solve puzzles to progress through levels. The puzzles require basic skills like logic, patter recognition, sequence solving and word completion. Portal is developed by Valve using the Source engine that has been used in games such as Counter-Strike and Half-Life.  Portal has the player progress through levels solving puzzles with the 'Portal Gun' which lets you shoot the beginning of a portal and the end of one to throw objects through and put them in the right place.  Tetris is a classic example of a puzzle game, created by a man called Alexey Pajitnov.  Tetris puts the player in control of falling blocks, the player must place the blocks together to delete them and gain points, if the player fails to delete the blocks, they will stack to the top of the screen and then it's game over. Sports Sports games let the player play virtual sports like football, rugby, hockey etc. The rules are the same and the player can play the story modes or online against other players. They're are often tournaments or divisions the player can progress through. FIFA is one of the most popular sports games, created by EA Sports using the Ignite engine that was developed to make sports games look as realistic as possible.  Another popular sports game is NBA. NBA is developed by Visual Concepts using the Eco-Motion engine, an engine that focuses on detail, realistic materials, lighting and facial expressions.  Racing Racing games put the player behind the wheel in a racing tournament or league, whether it's street racing or professional racing such as Formula 1 etc. Racing games are played in first person or third person and normally do not allow the player to exit the vehicle.  The Forza series a hugely popular franchise. It is developed by Turn 10 Studios using different engine every game e.g. Forza Motorsport 5 used the Forza 5 Engine that was upgraded for Forza Horizon 2. Turn 10 Studios created a brand new engine called ForzaTech for Forza Motorsport 6.  The Forza engine focuses on all round realism, things like the day and night cycle, different types of weather such as rain and wind, how the cars drive and how different modifications change the cars properties.  The Forza series focuses on modded cars aswell as racing cars and has a series of tournaments the player can progress through.  Forza's rival is Gran Turismo which is a Playstation exclusive. Gran Tursimo is developed by Polyphony Studios allegedly using the 'PD Engine', little is know about the PD Engine but it makes Gran Turismo look extremely realistic. The aim of the Gran Turismo series is to simulate real driving experiences and the performance of real cars.  Survival Horror The survival horror genre puts the player in a traditional horror fiction scenario. These games are made to make the player feel vulnerable and contain jump scares and all round eerie atmospheres as the aim of the game is to scare the player.  A good example of a survival horror is Until Dawn which was developed by Supermassive Games.  Until Dawn has the player play as eight different characters in a series of scenarios, the player has to choose between things to say, look for clues/helpful items, has to make a choice between different actions and has to successfully perform quick time events.  The game uses a system called 'The Butterfly Effect' which means every single thing the player chooses will contribute to a different outcome, e.g. the player may make a choice that might lead to the death of another character.  The story can end with no survivors, all eight survivors alive or a random number alive, which means the outcome of the game is completely down to the player. Dying Light is also a recent survival horror developed by Techland using the Chrome Engine 6 which focuses on map design, character animations, dynamic weather cycles and NPC AI.  Dying Light is an open world, enemy infested game. The player is sent into a quarantine zone that has been overthrown by infected (Zombies) and the player is given missions by other survivors in order to gain supplies and help the situation and must use parkour skills and homemade weapons to fend off the undead.  MMOG Massive Multiplayer Online Games are games traditionally with one game world that holds a large capacity of players. Players have to progress their characters by doing missions cooperatively with friends or other online players.  One of the most played MMOG's is World Of Warcraft or 'WoW'.  WoW is developed by Blizzard Entertainment using the Warcraft Engine that focuses on character progression and smooth melee combat experiences.  WoW has the player progress their characters by doing quests cooperatively and finding/crafting better items for themselves.  Players have to fight fictional enemies such as Orcs, Griphons, Dragons, Elves etc.  A more recent MMOG is The Elder Scrolls Online which is developed by ZeniMax Online Studios using the HeroEngine which was developed to increase the graphical detail of the game as well to use developer concept art in the game.  ESO generates random quests for the player to complete and progress their character with other players online. The player creates a character from scratch using a similar character creation system used in Skyrim.  Ethics In Gaming Video games have been known to have certain effects on gamers that play for an extensive amount of time, these things can have social and psychological effects on the player.  The bad that gaming brings. These are just a few of the things playing video games can do, gaming can hurt a person psychologically, socially and financially if abused.  Excess playing time Playing games for an excessive amount of time can cause many health or social problems such as anxiety, depression or ignoring responsibilities for example in 2012 a 23 year-old man from China died in an internet café after 10 straight hours of playing World of Warcraft, the other gamers in the café thought the man was sleeping.  Article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2012/02/04/2003524636 Social Isolation When someone plays video games they tend to be in a room alone, this can cause problems over a long period of time. For example if someone didn’t come out of there room for a week straight because they were ‘grinding’ a video game could result in friends wondering where said gamer was for the last week, this extended for an even longer period of time could affect the gamers social skills and they would become more anti-social. Cost Playing video games casually may relatively cheap, but for some gamers it can be extremely expensive. For example an Xbox One is around £300 which is relatively the same as a PS4, to purchase a good spec gaming PC could cost up to £700-£800, in some cases even higher, some people have all three which would total to around £1500. This along with TV’s, Broadband and electricity bills can become extremely expensive.  Separation from reality Playing video games for too long could potentially harm a person mental health, one example of this is a murder that took place in Leicester in 2004 when a 17 year old boy murdered his friend with a claw hammer after playing too much Manhunt, a game developed by Rockstar North where killing is the objective and to earn a higher score means to kill a victim in a more brutal manner, the boys friends said that he was obsessed with the game which led the court to believe that the boys mental health had been affected by too much playing time. ‘’If he was obsessed with it, it could well be that the boundaries for him became quite hazy’’  Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3934277.stm The good gaming brings.  These are some of the things gaming can bring for people that play games responsibly. Benefits Video games do also hold many benefits for players, one of the most well-known is that gaming improves hand-eye co-ordination. Some examples are that some Simulation games have realistic environments that are used to train drivers and pilots, it also helps that games can track progress which can show how much the driver or pilot has improved over a certain amount of time.  Article: http://www.contentedwriter.com/impact-of-computer-games-on-society/ Thinking and strategy skills In 2013 scientists from the Queen Mary University of London and University College London recruited 72 volunteered to research whether video games actually improve hand-eye co-ordination or not. 40 hours over six to eight weeks the volunteers played StarCraft (A more fast paced strategic war game) and The Sims (A more laid back day to day simulation) the participants were tested before and after the experiment, the tests revealed that after the experiment the StarCraft players were in fact quicker and more accurate in performing cognitive flexibility tasks (The mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts and to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. In other words more fast paced games improve the mental ability of gamers. Future Impact Gaming has come a long way since the creation of the first video games console in 1972 with the release of Magnavox Odyssey, 8 generations of video game platforms have been released to the public each defying the expectations of the technology used to make them. At E3 2015 Microsoft revealed a new project called Microsoft HoloLens which is ‘’The first fully untethered, see-through, holographic computer.’’ It essentially allows the user to literally create holograms in the real world. The HoloLens was showcased using Minecraft, this is an example of how games are helping create new technology.  Article: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us The 'hologram' is shown at 2:25. Gaming has gone from individuals playing games alone or with friends to thousands even millions watching someone play through a game. The trend of people recording themselves playing games and posting it online has blew up over the past decade as it now has the possibility to earn money from it and turn it into a career.  A great example of this is a YouTuber called Pewdiepie, he has accumulated over 30 million subscribers and is suspected to be a millionaire, and he made this success because of video games.  The money is from ad revenue from the advertisements companies pay YouTube to put on videos, and the more views a channel gets, the more money they earn.  Competitive Games Competitive gaming is also now an huge part of the gaming industry, there is a company called Major League Gaming (MLG) that hosts tournaments in many different games, one of the most well know is Call of Duty where pro teams will go head to head for a certain amount of prize money, for example, CoD XP 2011 was a tournament on Modern Warfare 3 to win $1,000,000. My game idea. In lesson we were tasked with thinking of a game of the top our heads and draw a sketch of the content of the game, this is what i came up with. Name: Advanced Artificial Intelligence  Plot:  A private military contractor called Covert Inc. have tasked their development labs to create mechanical soldiers to fight alongside trained combat militants in covert operations against the U.S.  The scientists and engineers in the lab have discovered that to create an intelligent 'Robot' to think strategically about about a battle scenario it must first learn to live and act like a human being. To do this they have created a prototype for the 'Advanced Artificial Intelligence' scheme and placed it in a household simulation, with the new programming in the AAI chip that has been implemented into the prototype, it should act like a regular human being by cleaning, watching television in a leisurely fashion and recharge itself.  Little did they know that the AAI they had programmed still contained Combat Scenario Code they mistakenly left on the chip and the AAI was so advanced it taught itself how to live at a much faster rate than the engineers had expected. The Prototype recognized that the household it was placed in was a simulation and mistook it for a Hostage Situation.  The scientists deployed the guard bots they called ''Murder-Bots'' to destroy The Prototype. The Prototype must now break free of the simulation, fight off the Murder-bots and see who's behind the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Scheme. Gameplay: First Level To kill Murder-bots the player must get hold of a wrench which is held by one of the NPC's, each bot drops a gun and after the player picks up 3 guns they can create the 'mini-gun' at the end of the level.  The mini-gun will help the player progress through the next level and defeat the boss.  In the first room the player can pick up objects to throw, they must kill the scientists to receive objects. The Prototype Enemies Scientist - Drops Wrench - Drops Keycard Murderbot - Drops Gun Props - First Level  Wrench - Melee Weapon Gun - Firearm - Three Guns can be used to upgrade to Machine Gun Mini-gun Key-card - Used to access elevator  Toaster - Throw-able Object Fruit bowl - Throw-able Object First Level - Escape The Lab Final level - Fall of Covert Inc. Gameplay - Final Level  The player must advance to the enemy boss but also has the option to pick up six pieces of metal from enemies to create the shield.  To kill the boss the player must use their mini gun to damage him and their shield to block his attacks.  Props Shield Materials Piece of metal  Final Boss - Mad Scientist  After the boss is killed it's game over. Summary  In short, my game starts the player out with nothing, they then must gather materials from enemies they have killed to advance through the levels and make weapons to destroy the final boss.