Unit 22: Computer Games Design (IT) + Unit 72 : Computer Games Design (Media) Assessment 3

Unit 22: Computer Games Design (IT) Assessment 1: Researching games

By Thomas Berry.

Task 1 

Game title	Story	Picture
Dark Souls 2 (RPG)	Dark Souls II is a sequel to Dark Souls, taking place long after the previous game's events. Characters, items, and references to legends that lived during the first game are sometimes referenced or can be found in Dark Souls II. It is mentioned by Straid of Olaphis, after you unpetrify him, that the land was not called Drangleic before he was petrified and had other names before the one he knew.
dragon ball xenoverse (MMORPG)	Towa and Mira have begun interfering with time, and later the Demon God Demigra is released and he begins to also damage history, and so the Time Patrol, created by the Supreme Kai of Time, and led by Future Trunks and the Future Warrior, are sent back in time to stop them. The Future Warrior can travel through different parts of the Dragon Ball timeline using a scroll named the Book of Endings and Beginnings. Every time the Future Warrior fixes the events which were changed by the Time Breakers, history returns to running its original course. The game's Hub World TokiToki City exists in Age 850.
Risk (Strategy)	Risk is a strategy game for those who like to think while they play their games, there are a few types of strategy games there is normal strategy, turn based strategy and real time strategy.
Silent hill 3 (survival horror)	Seventeen years have passed since the events of the first game and the baby whom the Incubator gave to Harry Mason at the end of the first game, Heather Mason, is now a teenage girl. Harry took Heather into his care to raise as his own daughter.

TASK 2

The gaming world has always been strange to some but a place to relax for other but when you start gaming on your Xbox, PS or computer you can’t help but go back for more, no matter what you do in your life if you have tried gaming that will become part of your life too that impact of gaming on society has been massive people loved it all around the world games companies were coming up with new games and fresh idea to get their games off the shelf’s in a hurry. The impact of gaming can has some down sides to it as well such as

·        Excess playing time: people spend so much time playing games now a days it’s quite hard to tell how much time they are spending on a console, people should only spend up to 4-5 hours on a console at a time, but people now a days are spending 2-3 days on a Xbox, PlayStation and PC gaming, people who are older are spending more and more time away from work, home and family just so they can have some time to play on their console, little kids between the ages of 6-12 are also spending more time on their consoles instead of focusing on school and other functional skills.

·       Social Isolation: Social Isolation is seen in many people who play video games but it’s mostly found in teenagers, teenagers aged 12-17 revealed that 99% of boys and 94% of girls across the socioeconomic spectrum play some kind of computer or video game, People who game on a daily basis are just as likely to talk on the phone, to email, to spend time with a friend face to face outside of school as kids who play games less Three quarters of teens actually play these games with other people, whether on line or in person but it’s not that bad because you could actually make more friends on a game console or computer then you do actually at college or school and you could talk to more people on line then you have over the course of your days at college.

·        Cost: When you get a games console there are certain things you have to pay such as games, stuff to play with your friends, headsets, controllers and much more but the most annoying part is trying get DLC's and some time to actually play on your console also it costs time to play games which is the worse part because if you don't have time to play you console then it’s not worth having it so you've just been wasting your money on nothing and it will just be useless to you. Unless you have friends across the world that you want to talk to and play with on games all day.

From previous studies it is apparent that games have an impact on individuals and society. There are many benefits that games improved hand eye coordination, and concerns. Games also have an impact on how we think and feel when playing them and we can call this the psychological effects of computer gaming. Games include sounds, high score listings, competition, peer pressure, fun, educational value, expectations and levelling. These features are designed to make the gamer become emotionally involved in the game. Gamers can have both positive and negative feelings when playing based on the design of the game and how engrossed they become with certain aspects of the game when playing.

·        Use of sound: The use of sound in video games does a lot to immerse the player in the game-play. Sounds within the game are used to re-enforce the player’s positive and negative thoughts about their performance in the game. According to technopedia, “game designers strive to create a complete environment using audio and visuals”. They state that sounds are embedded into the game to “match the motion” of the surrounding weather conditions and moving clouds. Using sounds like this makes the player become more immersed as the sounds and visuals work together to make the game seem as realistic as possible.

·        High score listing: High score listings were used in earlier games to make players feel superior and the best at a particular game. In fact there is a documentary type movie devoted to the obsession with getting the world record in the early version of the Donkey Kong Game. The movie called “King of Kong: A fistful of quarters” shows the emotional struggle of players competing against each other to beat the record. Some of the behaviour is indeed very strange and it is apparent that the high score listing makes the player think and act differently! Edge Magazine mentions how games have moved on since then and state that they “have evolved a lot since then, but the concept of comparing our performance against others has remained.

·        Competitive games: There are many positives to competitive gaming! With the advance in technology and MMO games, players now have the opportunity to play against or with other gamers from all over the world. Gaming in this way makes it a truly international competition than continually runs 24/7/365. Communicating with people and cooperating with them can be a highly positive experience and one that can make friendships with people who may never have met. Friendly on line competition can boost social skills and create a number of potential associates when people find a common interest whilst taking part in competitive gaming.

TASK 3

Visual styles and elements of game-play

When describing visual style and elements of game-play used in game design with you need to use appropriate subject terminology to show that you understand what each of the principles of game design is. It also helps you use key technical terms related to games design. The sections below give a basic overview of key principles and will help you find examples of key aspects to include to use when designing a new game.

Visual style: This relates to the how the game looks to the player on the screen. It is very important to get the visual style of a game correct during the design phase as having quality graphics will be important to the player throughout the life of the game. Visual style includes the design of how the game world looks the appearance of the main character in the game, any npcs or non-playable characters

Game world: To entice a player into playing their game designers must be able to design the game world so that it is visually appealing to the player throughout the game. The game world includes terrain, architecture and objects.

Terrain: is the design of the landscape that the player moves over. Simply put it is the ground that the player walks on when player the game. Examples of different terrains in the game world would be concrete, tarmac, gravel, grass, sand, mud and even water.

Objects: Objects are items within the game that the main playable character or NPC can interact with. Examples of objects are a post box, gun or flower. Often the main character can collect objects to enhance their inventory and gain additional skills. The visual style and design is important so that it matches the look and feel of the rest of the game world.

Characters & NPCS: One of the key reasons that any game will be successful will because the design of the main playable character is appealing to the player. It is important to design the character so that there is a range of sprites to cover the entire list of actions and movements that the player can perform in the game. Good character design is essential and examples that have stood the test of time are Pac-Man, Mario and Sonic.

Feedback Interface: When designing the visual style of a game it is important to consider the information that you need to supply the player with during game-play. The feedback interface or heads up display needs to be considered to show information to the player on their current status or progress within the game.

Task 4

The Super Sun Bro!
Story Of Solaire.

It is the year of 1928 and Solaire has finally made it to the panicle of his life, He has finally made it to the sun covenant, The most well known of all the covenants but he knew he would make it one day, now to enter the proud covenant he must prove himself worthy by defeating the crystal dragon “Lusarth The Eternal” he must defeat him and collect his heart for inside the crystallized heart lies the true power of eternal life, he must give it to the leader of the sun covenant “Grekalis”, but what Solaire didn’t know was he was not the first knight to be sent on this peril's quest for many knights have gone to the dragons keep but none have returned successful.

In this game you must go around different areas finding shards of light, sunlight medals and bonfires, the bonfires are a quick way to save and upgrade your character, shards of light are there so you can heal your and upgrade your characters heal, sunlight medals are there so you can up grade your characters stats to make him stronger and defeat harder bosses sunlight medals can be found every five levels and in bonus stages  to see how many you can collect in 20 seconds the more you get the more points you have to upgrade yourself such as your weapons and armor. when you get to the boss room you'll be sent on a side quest to collect 4 keys from four different side bosses each boss will have a different key but you must use strategy to defeat each boss and you must find the bosses weakness to get the most damage. once you get all 4 keys you will then be teleported to the main door the keys will go into the lock it was meant to go into the the door will open reveling the crystal dragon standing in the middle of the room waiting for you to attack the dragon will shoot crystal bombs and crystal shards if your too far away and when your up close the dragon will use its tail for its main attack.   

My game will be a 3D platform game so it is more easy to play and so that I may add more detail into it. Shards of sun light look like this they emit a bright light when approached. Bonfires will make a warm and friendly sound when found and approached. Sun light medals will glow bright gold very easy to find every 5 levels.