Ball Game

Design idea wk2 – Ball game

Bomb Frenzy

On Earth there are seven Giant Overlords who rule over the seven continents. Foolish terrorists all over the world accidentally arm nukes and set them to go off in 5 minutes. The Giant Overlords notice this and realise they have to save their own continent (they lack the strength to throw the nukes into space) and start picking up the nukes and hurling it at the other Overlords’ continents…

There are 7 players each playing a Giant Overlord protecting a continent. The objective is to have the least nukes on your continent when they go off. The nukes make a beeping noise which gets faster the closer they get to detonating. The environment is the entire earth however the Overlords are big enough that two could not stand on Australia. The scale is such that you can see only continents and oceans, not cities and towns and definitely not people.

The beeping noise which gets faster gives a sense of urgency and induces panic the closer it gets to the detonation time. This creates a frenzied fast paced gameplay similar to the ball game.

Digital vs Non-Digital Games

Journal wk2 – digital vs non-digital games

There are definite differences between tabletop gaming, computer gaming, and sports. The difference is in the pace and demands on the body of each type. Table-top games do not require physical fitness and cannot be realtime. They are generally turn based and require the players to have a certain level of imagination. They also have fantasy story lines and complex mechanics.

Sports on the other hand generally has no story lines or fantasy and usually has a fairly simple mechanic. Sports also requires physical fitness and exertion. Therefore sports also must be played in realtime and cannot be turn based, otherwise its just boring.

Computer games are unique in the sense that they can be turn based like table top gaming and/or realtime like sports. Computer games could require physical fitness (wii) and dexterity. They can have fantasy, they can be without fantasy, they can be turn based and slow and they can be realtime and fast.

Computer games have the ability to visually represent fantasy whereas tabletop games require imagination and only have a partial physical representation.  Sports doesn’t have fantasy although I guess paintball does but that also requires some imagination since paintball guns shoot paintballs, not bullets and noone dies. With a computer game the designer has complete creative control with the visual aspect. Sports and live action games have to work within the limits of human capability. For example you cannot have a game where people are required to scale skyscrapers. Tabletop games can’t really have a strong physical element though they can have a fantasy element. I really don’t like table top games so I cannot comment on them very much. The only appealing thing about table top games would be that you play with other people and interact with people. However in terms of gameplay, anything tabletop games can do, computers can do equally well or better.

The same game would be very different changing from one medium to another. For example if you take dungeons and dragons and try to convert it into a live action sport it would be horrible. The only way I can think of is having everybody cosplaying as the characters and playing…somehow. However when converting to a computer game it works, as seen in Neverwinter Nights which is an adaptation of D&D rules.

Dogma Manifesto

Design Idea Wk 1: Dogma Manifesto

I thought the Dogma Manifesto 2001 made a lot of sense. There really ARE too many damn games about elves and knights etc etc. However I did not agree with everything it had to say. I don’t think the graphics should be so restricted because using certain graphics effects could make the game more immersive and hence, better. For example look at GTA4, when you crash into mail boxes all the mail goes *poof* and flies everywhere, leaves fly about when its windy and rain makes the road shiny and a lot more slippery. These effects make the story and the setting more believable and it feels like you are in the game. Anyway my game idea which is inspired by the Dogma Manifesto has absolutely nothing whatsoever in common with GTA4:

Gatherer Ant

The setting for this game is someone’s backyard, but wait, there’s a twist, it’s from the perspective of an ant. Basically blades of grass will be huge, mushrooms will be like trees, rocks will be like mountains, etc. The premise for this game is that your character is a gatherer ant. Basically it means it gathers food for the colony.  This might sound boring but while gathering food your ant will be chased and attacked by all sorts of vile creatures like frogs, spiders, scorpions, dragonflies, and grasshoppers. To avoid getting eaten or maimed, your ant must freerun through the environment and gather as much food as possible, that’s right, freerun (parkour, urban climbing). Needless to say, the ant is represented in humanoid fashion such as in movies like Antz and A Bug’s life (otherwise how can you parkour?). There is a certain amount of food in each level and at the end of the level you get points based on how much % food you gathered and how fast u finished. These points can be used to upgrade abilities like jumping height and sprinting speed.  By making the points you get actually increase your abilities, it gives even more incentive to get points than just to be better than other people. The game will be in a first person perspective because i believe this perspective gives the most immersive feeling when free running. I guess this complies with the Dogma Manifesto because it said no first person shooters and technically this isn’t a first person shooter since there is no shooting going on. To sum up, in this game you will play in first person perspective as an ant and freerun through the environment seen by an ant to gather food and avoid predators.

Why am I here?

Journal Wk 1: Why are you here?

Why I am here

I’m here because I love games basically. I have played a LOT of games of different genres and I’ve always thought it would be cool to make them. I love free-form space sims however there have been absolutely NO really good ones recently. After playing game after dissapointing game (X2, X3, Freelancer, Spaceforce), I felt as though I could make something better myself. Every time I think like this I end up day dreaming about a game that I would make and all these awesome ideas come into my head. When I saw this subject I just had to enrol because not only does it sound fun but its something that I would seriously consider as a career.

What interests me about games

What I love about games is that they are, despite what other people think, far more deep and immersive than any other entertainment medium.  Basically the way I see it games are movies which are as long and detailed as books and you get to star in it.

What kinds of games I like to play

What kind of games do I like to play? Well as I already said I love free-form space sims and they are probably my true passion, however in general I like any game which has a good story. Story is what keeps me coming back to play more and more. Some games I love are Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, Jade Empire, Fallout 3, Oblivion. However with the latter two I was not happy with the engine. It had way too many immersion destroying bugs, such as the extremely twitchy physics and the extremely BAD and unrealistic character animations. I guess I like immersion too. I like to get totally engrossed in a game the way you get engrossed in a good book.

What I hope to learn

I’m not really sure, I guess I hope to learn more about how to design gameplay. I’ve already done Graphics and Advanced Graphics so this will complete my game making skillset.

Why do so many games involve guns?

Killing people and things in games is fun to do because its something you cannot do in real life. The personal weapon of this day and age is the gun so a lot of games which involve killing also involve guns. Shooting a gun also has a visceral feeling like nothing else, the juicy sounds of bullets hitting the victim and the sprays of blood where the bullet enters and exits, there is nothing really like it. Just the capability for pure destruction and gore makes guns fun to have in games. I think it’s also about realism. To simulate modern combat you absolutely cannot do without guns. Despite how many games involve guns, it still never gets old and nobody gets sick of it.