Colour Scheme.

I think we have all dabbled in the colour scheme, and have all brought about similar results. I thought that I would actually paint an example puzzle to really see how it looked in the world. While I was I ended up making the colour schemes the same. I don’t necessarily think this is the best path to go down. It would be nice to have a different palette for each as an identifier of which world your character is inhabiting.  I tried to go with something really sort of bluey greens for the shadow world. I think it would be a good idea to also have the lights visible in the shadow world so they stand out as these real hot spots  in the world.

The other thing I dabbled with was doing some character concept art. We hadn’t discussed setting to much so I just left my mind empty and had a look at what it came up with. The idea to put the lights as the supernatural light emitting seeds, sprouted (excuse the pun) from being able to add an extra element into the puzzle of being able to walk into the room without any lights and have to pick them off of some plants that are already casting shadows. Using their shadows to reach and pick them. This idea really still could be done with any type of light.. flashlights, flares ect. I also just thought it would be kind of cool to have something that establishes our world as a little unique. Completely open to change these are just ideas. I already have some new idea of character designs that I am working on and will post soon.

Let me know what you think.

Gaming is Emotional.

Much like any art form gaming is an emotional act. Players engage with the characters and world of a game, as an active participant. Putting time and thought into their actions in the world, to achieve outcomes. Games are able to make the simplest gestures and actions emotionally engaging. Easily seen as emotional games are RPG’s which have epic spanning stories with love, loss and grinding. Tale of Tales short game, The Path is a beautiful example of this. The player is emotionally engaged in the outcomes of game which are mostly not desired. Another great example is thatgamecompany’s Flower a stunningly simple game able to emotionally engage players.

Gaming in the 80′s

One of my favourite games that graced the gaming world in the 80’s would have to be The Legend of Zelda.

Considered an early rpg, The Legend of Zelda really took advantage of the video game being in the home. The player was now able to really embark on an epic quest over multiple sittings. To really be consumed in the story and world of the game. The improved graphics allowed for more complicated gameplay. Many of basics of Zelda’s mechanics could be seen in the Atari game Adventure (1979) which sees the character collecting items to explore a dungeon and retrieve a chalice. The Legend of Zelda evolved these concepts into a much more realized world, with a much more in-depth narrative of a ordinary boy receiving a call to destiny when a dark lord takes over the land, and kidnaps the princess. Much more engaging than, find the chalice.

Since the original Legend of Zelda there has been 14 other games in the series. While years have past between these games many of the core mechanics are much the same, fight your enemies, collect items to get stronger, explore dungeons, save Zelda. Nearly all of these mechanics have evolved, with the edition of 3D gameplay. Exploring dungeons that are now in three dimensions, allows much more complicated puzzles. While the narrative outline has stayed nearly exactly the same, now being able to be told in more cinematic, engaging ways. But still the same story under there.

Junkyard (Acid Rush).

Group:

Ryan

Anderson

Nelson

Louis

Nick

Theme:

Our game was set in a junkyard in which you are stranded with all the other players.

Goal:

The goal of the game is to escape the junkyard however the only way that you can do this is to collect batteries and take them back to your vehicle. Other players can hinder you in collecting your batteries and so can the wild dogs roaming the junkyard for a meal. Once you have collected four batteries for your vehicle you can make your daring escape. From there it is a race to the finish.

Movement:

All movement is handled by a dice roll. In which you can freely move in any direction (except diagonal). If you are carrying a battery your movement is 1d6 -1. On each turn after a player moves their character they are able to roll the dice again and use the value rolled to move any of the monster creatures. This can be used to move monsters away from themselves, or to move a monster in front of another player to impede their quest.

Combat:

Combat is handled by each player rolling 1d6. The highest roll wins. If the rolls are equal the defender wins. The defeated player returns to the centre of the map (spawn point).

That is pretty much everything a picture of the game is below.

Narrative Gameplay.

In many early games not a lot of coherent narrative seemed present.

Most consisted of a certain coloured square (the player) fighting or avoiding a different coloured square.

A story can partly be seen as simply an introduction and an excuse for scenery. However I believe that this scenery is an important in giving the gameplay meaning. Any Mario game is built on a love story, it gives the character’s quest motive, travel the land slaying the evil lord’s minions, save the princess. Narrative can also be used to control the gameplay. Ideally the gameplay difficulty will increase along with the building of the story so it is at its hardest during the climax of the story (when fighting Bowser). Story is able to emotionally attach the player to what they are doing.

For the case of Crystal Castles, the core mechanic is to lure the monsters so they can take as few of your gems as possible, making this game an action maze chase game much like Pac Man. In the Legend of Zelda it is important that Link is a boy. The game calls upon the mythos of the ordinary boy being called to destiny and the story of boy coming of age. Ultimately the narrative is able to ground the player in the game, as well as giving the players actions meaning.