2012-09-19 – Workshop Notes
-------------------------------------------
See the new Tate Gallery App
- Practical - Experimental Small Projects
5 weeks - Game Design
5 weeks - Met Police - Training Video
- stop fraudsters targeting bank employees
collaboration with other pathways
CISCO - RAPTOR Grant Programme
5-7k - To develop Mobile applications
work with local companies
SME/Startups
Full support to host
Relationship with organisations
Working with Infusion/Living Planet
How to apply, by 30th Sep
Read the proposal
and problem statement
Write a proposal
Cut and Paste Questions into a Word Doc
Meet on 20 Sep
Result by Tuesday - 25 Sep/Review on 26th Sep
On Moodle
look at Postgraduate Framework 12-13
Course Landing Page - PG02
Deadlines - 19 October - Start a blog
a) Write an essay - 'Interactivity' - 2500 words
b) Concept for a game around theme of Time and Space
+ Game Design document (pdf)
x4 members / some prototype/practical example.platform - own choice
Formative Assessment - 10th October
Summative Assessment - 17th October - upload work
Interactive Wall
What is a Good game?
---
What is Play?
Category 1 - Game Play
Category 2 - Ludic activities
Category 3 - Being playful
** Look at Vygotsky - on Learning, Educaction Gaming and Learning
** Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Play - Free movement within a structure - Sales and Zimmerman
where does play come in?
- zone of proximity
What is a Game?
A game is system in which players in engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.
Chess -
*Strict rules of movement
- Look at how rules are written
*Artificial conflict
- Win or Lose
Pacman
- Conflict - Ghosts
*Quantifiable outcome
Measurement at the end of the game
Example: Sims
Game is a voluntary interactive activity, in which one or more players.
- Voluntary
- Interactive
---Cognitive Interactivtity
---Functional interactivity
---Explicit interactivity
---Meta-interactivity
Try out/Debate
Games Theory is new
Rules:
All games have rules
- behaviour constraining rules
- artificiality, definition of time and space
comparison between SIMS and TETRIS
- Is there conflict in the SIMS?
CONFLICT: Housekeeping, not managing a space
Tetris
CONFLICT: Time
Games need conflict, if there is no element of conflict it is a toy.
Flower - Playstation3 - world which is grey, things grow, have to follow
Journey Now
Hangman
CONFLICT: Opponents
Pacman
ICO - playstation 2
Narrative
Less Narrative
More Narrative
polarities:
Goal Driven
Abstraction
Simulation
Arbitrary
Aladdin
Captain Novolin
What is a Good Game?
- Engagement
- Conflict
- Playable
- Fun - what makes it fun?
What is a Bad Game?
Shortest game played? / Boredom
Game is too easy - not challenging
Doesnt hook, doesnt want to come back
Game pattern too simple
Game is too involved, player expectations too demanding to recognise game pattern/
Game is too hard, patterns are perceived as noise
Game becomes repetive
Prepare player for the challenge
Assassins Creed - amazing italian city
- avoids the perception that it is trivial
Facebook game
Write a Game Review
- Games Spot
- Gamasutra
- IndieGameMagazine
---
Events:
Power to the Pixel event, 16-19 Oct
London Games Festival, Sep
---
For next week:
Write a Game Review
Use some of the Eric Zimmerman attributes
Build the argument
Add to Blog
Post the Review - 22 Sep
Set up a Team
Visual Artist
Game Designer
Programmer
Sound Designer
Look at Genre
---
Meet at 10.30am
- Put together a proposal
Urban Operative System
---
Fable 3 - Viewing
Preparation before challenge
---
Kinect Adventures
Bowling Game
---
Review: Rayman Origins, Sony PSVITA:
PSVITA Console
Rayman Origins is essentially a fun 2d side-scroller platform-based adventure. Taking up one of four characters, traverse through different stages, by jumping, punching and hitting obstacles and opponents, gaining points and treasure along the way, and avoiding the nasty opponents. Essentially the plot is that Rayman and his friends have to proceed through different stages to win points and reach higher levels to save their world which is known as the Glade. The narrative or story is arranged around the way that the game is played in the way of a journey, and progression between levels provides a chance to recollect on the achievements of each stage.
The characters include The Bubble Dreamer who is the Supreme being, Globox - the friend and kungfu-like friend of Rayman, the two little Teensies who are mysterious big-nosed magicians with secret powers, Electoons who become imprisoned by bombastic hunters and need to be rescued to return to their homes, The Lums which are important sources of energy, and Swingman who is always happy to lend a hand and a long lift up! Betilla and the bodacious Nymphs of the Glade are also there to grant powers to Rayman and his team when they complete challenges. The Nasties include the Darktoons who have big teeth, and the Psychlops which are very spiky creatures and not to be touched! There are some very big nasty bosses too lurking in the midst.
There are various challenges to be completed, and these are scored with medallions at the completion of each stage. The game is available in Single player mode and also 4 player co-op mode. The difficulty level becomes gradually harder as Rayman proceeds through the more advanced levels. The earlier levels are easier, and so difficulty is increased through game progression.
The player cannot change the difficulty level, but instead experiences a gradual progression in difficulty which also helps to maintain interest in the game. The game is unfortunately not available to be played online which is a missed opportunity. The suitable age is displayed with the 7 Pegi.info label. This contains some possibly frightening scenes or sounds that are considered to be suitable for the category.
The game covers 60 levels so can take a long time to complete. The game does allow you to save where you left off, as you can save the state of the game.
You can replay the game over and over again, without getting bored or tired of it, though it depends on the mood/time of the day.
The game does not allow you to switch the challenges in order to come to a different conclusion, as far as I know as you still have to complete each challenge, in order to progress to the next level. Interactively if Rayman should fall onto or be pushed onto a spiky creature, unless he has deflated the creature by touching an organic tentacle switch, he will be caused to over-inflate and lose a life! The answer being to avoid spiky encounters at all costs! The freedom to move around the levels, but also stay within the game's rules creates a very free sense of play, sense of cost for encounters, and reward for collecting gains. As the game has no time limits, the player is free to take as long as they need, and so the conflict or challenge within the game is to progress within their own time.
In terms of comfortability in navigating within the game the controls are reasonably straightforward. There are some combination moves to learn.
The overall appearance of the game is that it is very colourful and enchanting to watch visually. There are nice parallax features of the scrolling backdrop and lighting which is subtle to watch when scrolling across the screen. The music and effects, that change with each stage. The Punching and smacking sounds are distinctive, and a jewish harp rhythm is played in the background to provide momentum in some places, with oceanic drums, hawaiian guitars, doublebass beats and soprano voices to add atmosphere.
There are no main story sequences as the gameplay is much more important than the story. However there are short intro sequences which set the scene for the game.
There is a 21 page instruction guide for Rayman Origins which shows thankfully that there are not that many controls or techniques to master for the game. The PSVita controls have a Left stick for moving, X for jumping or firing on Mosquito levels, an L button which you can hold to Sprint, and an R button to also sprint. Both square and circle buttons are for Hits and to hold for a power attack. Touchscreen features include Spread to zoom in, and Pinch to Zoom out. The instructions are helpful in reading more of the background behind the creatures in the game, and ways to tackle the challenges however it is not essential to read this, before you start the game.
The overall rating I would give is 9.
Overall the game is very fun to play, with a surprising arcade feel for a small console. The controls are straightforward and this game would be appealing to a wide range of ages. As the state of the game can be saved, a player can choose to play for short periods and return to the game at other times which makes this a very suitable game whilst being on the move, or playing between other activities.
I would recommend that you buy this game for the PS Vita. This is certainly a classic and worth having in your games collection.
END OF REVIEW
My review which is by my username 'reviewboy12' is added here, added on 22/09/12. I gave it 9 out of 10.
http://uk.gamespot.com/rayman-origins/user-reviews/800314/
I look forward to seeing the feedback on the review, from other reviewers!
Here are some links we looked at, also on Moodle soon.
We did not look at this one: http://www.thefuntheory.com/
---
See:
http://londongamesfestival.com/calendar
http://powertothepixel.com/
Follow:
https://www.facebook.com/pg.ravensbourne
Read:
http://www.abiggerfuture2.co.uk/industry/professional_development/training_in_new_technologies
---
No comments:
Post a Comment