EuroGamer Expo, Earls Court (27 September 2012)

With Matt, our cameraman and a couple of guys from 3D company 3Dizzy, I attended the Eurogamer Expo on the 1st day of the event. There were zoned areas for Playstation, WII, Xbox and other platforms, plus a stage for gaming competitions.

Jo from 3Dizzy going through still shots to film, with Matt, the cameraman, and Stereoscopic technician at Ravensbourne.

Jo holding a stereoscopic handheld camera.

At a quick glance there might not seem to be anything that is unique about this image of Fable, however the player is sitting, without the use of any controllers, and using his hand to conjure magical bolts by opening and closing his hand and pushing forward.

A game I will have to find more about...free-running animals in an urban jungle...

Players sitting playing consoles at the PSVita 'ring' table.

Players sitting playing consoles at the PSVita 'plus' table.

Virgin Media stand which had really interesting lighting effects, lit like a game..with low table lighting and top wall lighting, and wood effect panels which gives it an office/home look.

Ed, of 3Dizzy interviewing a representive from Gears of War.

Matt, the cameraman with the 3D camera setup on a tripod, listening on headphones, checking a headsup display, with mini clothes mic added to the interviewee.

Games fan, beside a girl dressed as a zombie, watching other zombies on the display of Resident Evil 6 !

To the player, it feels as if they are holding the gun, the onscreen interface mimics the physical controller. To anyone else, there is the view of them holding the controller horizontally (somewhat differently to the vertical way that a gun would be held), which is controlling the movement of the gun. 

Augmented reality game, called Book of Spells which utilised the use of a simple book card and torch-like wand device. The player is watching a screen as if sitting in a living room, with an additional back-wall screen for the public.

The Book form is mimicked onscreen, and each page turn is also shown.

Objects can appear on top of the book within the creation of a spell, and also moved easily off by lifting the book.

Wand lighting trail drawn on screen in 3D, with the physcial wand.

Close up of the wand and closed card book.

Fire-Making Spell Practice cover screen

Objects such as orange peel and animated creatures are being created in space above the book,
as soon as the page is turned, and new page laid flat. However the pages of the book are arbitrary for the representation of the onscreen view in that the turning movement could occur with any page of the book.

Technology Issues - PG02-02 (Cycle 1) Game Genre / Storytelling (26 September 2012)

gamesindustry.biz
* Crowdfunding platform Gambitious

Team - flexible roles:
Artist
Narrator
Games Designer
Director

5 mins to pitch a game that is missing.

Give team a 20 mins presentation pitch
what game you would like to make.

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Genre
Narrative

---

Think small
Indie game
4 weeks of working on game as a team

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Next week 3: Looking at Games and Popular Culture

Keep playing other games, look for originality, what is missing in the market, unique concept.

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Genre:
1.Puzzle Game

2.Board Game

3.Role playing Game

4.Rhythm Game

5.Military Turn Based Games

6.MMOG

7.Narrative Game

8.Interactive Fiction Game - played Zork


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DanceDance - which genre? Rhythm Game.

- Keep reading Henry Jenkins

- Look at Zeitgeist - spirit of time, looks at cultural word

---

- Eliza - AI narrative, typing feedback - http://www.downloadgamesfree.com/eliza

- Detective/Storytelling Game

- Doom

- Myth - Island

---

Melancholic about old times

---

Zork, 1977, big on Apple

Arpanet

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1.Action Adventure Game, Zelda, N64

2.Interactive Fiction Game, Zork, Apple

3.Role playing Game, Dragon Age

4.MMOG, World of Warcraft.

5.Ultimate Reality Game, Final Fantasy.

6.Alternate Reality Game, World without Oil - social issues, moral issues, philosophy.
- changes thinking
- what is the purpose

7.Action Game, Doom, First person shooter / Quake

With doom and game, art of 'machinima' - movies with game platform.

8.Fighting Games, Street Fighter

9.Sport Games, Gran Turismo / Need for Speed / Football

10.SMUCK, R-Type.

11.Simulation Games, SIMS / SIM City / SecondLife / Habbo Hotel / Farmville

12.Real-time Strategy Games, EVE,

13.Military Turn Based Games, Empire Total War, Age of Empires

14.God-Games, World Turn Based Strategy Game, Black and White.

15.Puzzle Games - Tetris

16.Word Games

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Choose where the game fits -
Narrative,
Simluation
Action
Others

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How did Game Genre develop?
---------------------------------------------
1.Technology
- with a need to push technology
2.Culture
- some are developing through popular culture
3.Zeitgeist
4.Transmedia - other forms of media provide backbone for the game.
World Events

Within the Genre, what is the biggest market?
Depends on the platform.
Can you separate the genre into audiences?

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Pick a Digital Genre.
Rhythm Game

Move over from games to 3D
Adding texture to games
First person shooter - started

----

Debates around video games to mimic real life war situations

What video games teach children

----

Call of Duty - Games and Violence

----

Look at Indie Games

Look at Educational Games

-----

Playstation, Little Big Planet - 8 year olds
Allows you to design levels, and people will test them.
User-contributed content

---

Anyone can design a game!

---

Design a game in 5 weeks

Karl - Character designer
Masses of Pies, incubator company at Ravensbourne
3D games
characters
software working with, 3
unity3D
Matt - Game Designer/UI - likes theory of fun, pressure/pain points
6 mini games, 50MB game download limit

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pitch to a crowd funding site

design a bit of the game, design a moodboard.

approaching brands - toy manufacturer. traditionally 2D.
convince them that they need digital.
thinking about the end user. - user journey.
market research. - profile of a typical user.

company was protective - about market research, signed NDA.

---

UDK - 2d

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part 2

Games and Storytelling
- Henry Jenkins - Game Design as Narrative Architecture

Ludology - just game mechanics
Narrative - storytelling

How Storytelling work within games?

How to think about writing for games?

Nick Momfort - Characteristics of Games Studies

Look at game types:
- Bejewelled - puzzle type game
- Dectective story

Games are not films

Mouse Maze - a bit like a narrative

What is different to traditional storytelling?

Components of Game Narrative:
Inputs:
- Commands (in the world)
- diegetic or hypodiegetic (stories within stories)
- Directives - (about the program)
- extradiegetic

---

Example -
Inputs - controls
Directives - clues, signs
Outputs - feedback

Outputs:
Replies - diegetic or hypodiegetic
Reports - extradiegetic

---

Characters and Related Types:
Player(s)
NPC - not playing character
Other Person

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Game Spaces and Narrative Architecture:
Evocative Spaces
Enacting Stories
Broad Goals - for the space, new scenes
Localised Incidents - prince of persia, what can and cannot be done in the space

Embedded narratives

Games as an information space
discovered, structured,
and restructured by the player

Emergent narratives - World of Warcraft

---

Assassin's Creed - based on an italian city, architectural world
Evocative space

---

Borderlands - also evocative space.

---

Games and Narrative Levels - Gonzalo Frasca

Level 1: representation and events (what happens)
Level 2: manipultation modes (what the player can do)
Level 3: goal rules (what the player must do to win)
Level 4: meta-rules (what player modifications to other three level are allowed)

---

Constructing the Story - Joseph Cambell

The hero's Journey
Three parts to the journey:

- The Departure
- The Initiation
- The Return

Look at Zelda

---

Vladimir Propp - Looks at Character Roles

Main Characters:
Protagonist (Hero)
Antagonist (Villain)
Dispatcher (who sends hero on the journey)
Donor (who will provide with items)
Helper
Person Sought-For
False Protagonist (False Hero)

Supporting Characters:

Family Members
Connectors

---

Experience in storywriting?

Discussion: Propp's lists are easy to learn
- many are non-linear

Can you apply Propp consistenty if the hero is female?

Basic Screenplay Paradigm (Field)

Act 1
Act II
Act III

Lee Sheldon -

1. Linear Storytelling

2. Branching Stories - ie.Fable

3. Controlled Branching - open up, then narrow, open up, then narrow.

4. Web Stories

5. Modular Storytelling - no connections, have completed all states.

6. Modular Storytelling in Action - completion criteria

---

Think about a philosopher - one sentence - find one.

---

The Art of Computer Games Design - by Chris Crawford

---

Michael

---

Write up blog
Look for Reading List
Put together a concept for the game
Put together answers from the notes

---

Evaluating NintendoDS to try out.

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Looking at 3D Game - end of the day, with Kieron, Peter and Britta.

Technology Issues - PG02 - UNITY Notes (23 September 2012)

UNITY notes
--------------

Unity - fully integrated development engine

Assemble art and assets into scenes and environments, add physics, play test, and edit a game
then

Publish to platforms, including desktop computers, the Web, iOS, Android, Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360

Creation of most game types:

Browser-based MMOGs, First-person shooters, Racing games, Real-time strategy games, Third-person shooters, Roleplaying games, Side-scrollers, etc.

Unity Community
http://udn.unity3d.com/

1a.Unity Forums
1b.Unity Answers
1c.Unity Feedback
1d.Unity Scripts and Tips Wiki
1e.Unity Chat

Unity Basics
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Manual/UnityBasics.html

Interface
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Manual/LearningtheInterface.html

Views:
Project View - shows all the project folders
Scene View - shows the scene, with transform object tools
Game View - shows the game, with the stop and play controls
Inspector View - display info about the current game object
Hierarchy View - shows every game object within the scene
Animation View - for creation and modification of animated clips within Unity
Particle Effect -
Asset Store -
Console view - shows logs of messages
Animation View - used to animate objects in the scene
Profiler - user to investigate and find the performance bottle-necks in the game
Asset Server View - used to manage version control of the project using Unity's Asset Server
Lightmapping View - used to manage lightmaps
Occlusion Culling View - used to manage Occlusion Culling for improved performance

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Assets consist of scenes, scripts, 3D models, textures, audio files and Prefabs.

*Always use the Project view to move assets, do not move files in the OS.

Click on Project > Create, to create new objects.
OBJECTS
1.Javascript (UnityScript) - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/34015-Newbie-guide-to-Unity-Javascript-(long)
2.C# Script
3.Boo Script - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/72458-Official-Boo-Scripting-Resource-Thread
http://boo.codehaus.org/Language+Guide

Boo is an amazing language that combines the syntactic sugar of Python, the features ofRuby, and the speed and safety of C#.

Like C#, Boo is a statically-typed language, which means that types are important. This adds a degree of safety that Python and other dynamically-typed languages do not currently provide.

It fakes being a dynamically-typed language by inference. This makes it seem much like Python's simple and programmer-friendly syntax.

4.Shader - rendering of the graphics, Unity has 60 built in shaders, however can make own shaders.
5.Surface Shader - surface is affected by light and shadows
6.Vertex/Fragment Shader - where interaction with lighting is not required
7.Fixed Function Shader - are written for old hardware that doesn't support programmable shaders.
8.Shader Lab - looks like a 'function'
9.Prefab - reusable GameObject stored in Project View (like a movie clip symbol)
10.Material - allows user to adjust properties and assign assets
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Manual/Materials.html
11.Animation - http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/AnimationClip.html
12.Cubemap - collection of six separate square textures, placed onto the faces of a cube.
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Components/class-Cubemap.html
13.Lens Flare
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Components/class-LensFlare.html
14.Custom Font
15.Physic Material - used to adjust friction and bouncing effects of colliding objects
http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/Components/class-PhysicMaterial.html
16.GUI Skin - enables a skin to be applied to the style of an entire set of controls

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Technology Issues - PG02-01 (Cycle 1) Games and Interactivity (19 September 2012)

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?

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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

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Review: Rayman Origins, Sony PSVITA:

PSVITA Console

 Rayman Origins Screenshot

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.

http://www.ericzimmerman.com/texts/Four_Concepts.html

We did not look at this one: http://www.thefuntheory.com/piano-staircase

https://www.ictomorrow.co.uk/home/;jsessionid=A0A18ABB13519CD9ECB49E997CBF76DF

http://powertothepixel.com/events-and-training/pttp-events/london-forum-2012

http://www.vertigo-systems.de/ratio.html?&L=1#ul

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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

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PG02-Prep

Unity Game company is going to work with you on Wednesday from 15.00 - 17.00, therefore, I wish to have enough time beforehand to introduce and discuss your PG02 cycle 1 project brief.

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Some reading for you and I recommend you to read/watch the below for PG02 start.

http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html
1.Game Design as Narrative Architecture
Ludologists VS Narratologists
Focus mechanics of game play VS studying games alongside other storytelling media
Spatial Narratives VS Game storytelling concept

Interactivity is almost opposite of narrative
narrative depends on author/interactive depends on player

http://video.dma.ucla.edu/video/henry-jenkins-what-game-designers-need-to-know-about-transmedia-entertainment/70

Spin-off Fan Culture
Transmedia
Increasingly, convergence culture is giving rise to a still emerging mode of entertainment which links experiences and information together across multiple media platforms, enabling multiple ways of engaging with the content

http://henryjenkins.org/

http://mcs.open.ac.uk/pervasive/pdfs/horneckerNordes07.pdf

Please watch:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
Game 1: World without Oil
Game 2: SuperStruct (500 potential world solutions to global human extinction risk event)
Game 3: Evoke (Social enterprise solutions to save the world)


P.S. I like you to be able to define 'interactivity' ...

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Please aslo see your Moodle VLE space, where you will find all information about your IDM course, etc.
http://learn.rave.ac.uk/moodle/course/category.php?id=397