Week 2 Summary!

For week 2, I spent most of my time coming up with ideas for potential games, and unfortunately neglected looking at tutorials or attempting to get a idea of the assets in Unreal 4.  In the second week I was introduced to 'Blueprints', which is one of the key roles in this project, and in creating my game.  

BluePrints

Blueprints are essentially what allows the creator to prototype, implement or modify any gameplay element such as:

Games - set up game rules, tweak gameplay conditions, etc.
Players - create variants with different meshes and Materials or character customization.
Cameras - prototype new camera perspectives or change the camera dynamically during play.
Input - change the player controls or allow players to pass input to items.
Items - weapons, spells, pickups, triggers, etc.
Environments - create randomized props or procedurally-generated items.

The amount of blueprints you can create in a game is endless, and there are plenty of tutorials on the internet to follow, by following some of the workshop tutorials, I was able to get a basic understanding of how blueprints work.

What I intend to do is make a list of possible mechanics/blueprints to input into my game, by using the tutorials found on websites like UE4 wiki page and YouTube, and try to figure out how to fix the problem if the tutorial doesn't work (tutorial done on previous version of Unreal), that will help me to get a good understanding of what kind of game I'm creating.

Here are some examples I learned in the workshop:

Flow

In this lecture, we covered the understanding of 'Flow', Flow in a game is the challenge of making players enjoy the experience and find it comforting enough so it's not to difficult or to boring for them while playing a game, simply put it is the immersion of focusing on the gameplay, while enjoying the challenge for the player.

Here are some videos we watched in the lecture (and in my spare time):

Extra Credit Videos:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDjrOaoHz9s
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LScL4CWe5E
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6UuRTjkKs
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyFSbm79uBY 
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9xkfPLJWf0
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeTjr4q_grE
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z06QR-tz1_o
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHMNeNapL1E
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCri1tqIxQ
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on7endO4lPY

EgoRaptor Videos:

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM

Flow in Games

Breaking it down to get a firmer understanding, there are four main characteristics of flow that author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes:

1. Clear objective with manageable rules
2. Demand actions to achieve goals suitable for player ability
3. Objective accomplishments and responsive feedback
4. Focus on concentration and little distraction

An example of flow for games:

Being able to successfully create all of these characteristics in a game is what is known as ‘Cognitive Flow’.  When designers successfully create this state, hours can pass by without knowing where time goes… It’s a rare effect that only the best games succeed in.  If this state is implemented into games design, the player concentration and engagement will sky-rocket, which after all is the aim on any designer.

Meaningful Design:

Aesthetics of Play:

From the Lecture, pdf, and video I was able to understand the meaning of aesthetics of play where they broke it down into Mechanics - Dynamics - Aesthetics (MDA) which is how designers look at game genres and how we research, develop, and criticise work.
Mechanics: are the rules and coding that goes into the game we play.
Dynamics: are how the mechanics play out when actually playing the game.
Aesthetics: is the emotional response we receive when playing said game.
In the MDA pdf and the extra credits video, they talk about how there are 8 core aesthetics and how they draw us into playing games.

1. Sense Pleasure - the simplest, it's any game that simulates your senses.
2. Fantasy - To take on a role that would be impossible in real life.
3. Narrative - It's all about the drama and story rather than fantasy.
4. Challenge - About the challenge you receive in overcoming obstacles.
5. Fellowship - Games that use co-operation to complete missions. (MMORPG's)
6. Discovery - Finding new items/places or anything you didn't know was there before.
7. Expression - To express the feelings we have towards our games.
8. Abnegation - To play a game to relax and not care about life tasks.

When playing the game the player's will look at the aesthetics and work there way back, while the designers start with the mechanics, sometimes designers tend to focus too much on mechanics alone, its better to get a good idea of what aesthetics will be in your game, otherwise you'll need to change for mechanical designs, which may force you to restart the entire project altogether. So it's better to make small changes early on to help see what the strengths and weakness are of the design.
If we think about aesthetics look before we create the mechanics for a game, we will be able to get more of those core aesthetics rather than focusing too much on mechanics and limiting yourself.

MDA PDF: http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf
Extra Credits: Aesthetics of Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepAJ-rqJKA

Mechanics as Metaphors:

This looks at the idea of people's reactions and expressions of their feelings through mechanical elements. The designer must be able to set limits for the player while at the same time letting said player free to explore. Giving the player a reason to look at everything and not just the narrative and it's sub-plots.
Here are a few examples of Mechanics as Metaphors:

Loneliness: (Jordan Magnuson, 2012)
Loneliness is a depression themed game where the character can try to interact with the groups, or avoid them, depending on the players reaction.  The game uses primitive shapes to help make a deep connection with the player, and through these mechanics it causes the player to respond with different emotions (anger, sadness) to how they will be ignored no matter what the player does.

Spec Ops: The Line: (Yager Development/ Dark side Games, 2012)
This game focuses on 2 major elements:
1.Post Dramatic Stress Disorder
2. How different Modern Warfare shooter games are from the real deal.

One of the major points than keeps happening in the game, (more and more as you get closer to the end) is that the game and the characters in the game keep referring back to you as the player, forcing you to think about the choices you make and what the consequences will come of that.  It's level structure forces the player to keep going down, giving the player a sense of being dragged downwards towards hell. This game chooses to focus more on the drama and what will become of the player rather than the actual enjoyment of playing it, the game itself is kinda boring, but it gives a sense of realism that most modern warfare games don't have. Another great feature about this game is the ability to make your choices through the mechanics in this game rather than choosing a text bubble to say, this connects to the player and forces you to think carefully about how you would react if you where in the same situation.

Train: (Brenda Brathwaite, GDC, 2009)

In 2009, at a GDC presentation, Brenda Brathwaite spoke about how she got the idea and developed the game ‘Train’. She explained that it came from the historical significance of the Slave Trade (most of her games came from that genre), Using her game which focused on her cultural heritage with the Irish take-over by the British for land, she then spawned another sequel that got her to ‘Train’ where she chose to focus that sequel on the subject of the Holocaust.
The game focuses on 3 trains and a number of hand made wooden token that represented jews (1 token equals 100,000 jews).  Players have four rolls per turn, the objective is to get the trains to the end of the tracks, certain rolls allowed them to pick a card which each had an action they’d have to carry out, for example derail the train…  The game ends if the trains get from the start of the track to the finish.
Brenda spoke about how players would interact with the game and how when they figured out what it was they where doing, and that they would carry out their own objective to try and save the people on the trains, some try to derail the trains and some would cry knowing what their doing and how it ends, but no one stopped playing the game.
Like with Spec Ops this game and it’s core design are not meant to have fun, it's aim I believe was get the player to see the theme was a sensitive subject and how they would react to playing it. What Brenda has done has created a game with an empathetic symbol where the player is recreating the event without any control of the way it's played.

Game Jam Ideas:

During the first week, I was introduced to name generating for game ideas, while I started this in the first week of term, I didn't really go into this until the second week.  Using the Name generators from the websites below, I came up with a number of ideas for games, how they would be played, what platform, e.t.c....

http://videogamena.me/
http://dopitch.eatcreatesleep.net/

1. Zombie Drug Simulator: A first person shooter where you take control of a stoner who start's hallucinating and seeing zombies everywhere, similar to the rules of CoD Zombies, you have to survive the waves of zombies, each wave getting more difficult.  There is a time limit as you will lose if your head clears up, so to survive, you have to find various drugs littered around the maps, the stronger the drug, the more health you have.  Multilayer support and vs. mode may be available.  
The Platform would be PC/Console, and the control's are simple move, shoot, crouch, and reload.  The target audience would be aimed at teens (15+) and above.

2. Software Wars: 3D camera view person commanding game, (empire at war) where you are the head of a new software company, and you go to war against the other software companies.  This is played by deploying troops (software designers) in squads against enemy bases and troops, the aim of the game is to defeat and control all the rival companies, proclaiming yourself 'King of the Software World'. You get troops by hiring them with money which you win by overtaking companies, the more companies you have, the faster your income, thus building your army quicker.
This will be PC based with a simple objective of clicking to move your troops and for everything else in the options bar, the target audience will be aimed at teens up (12+).

3. Banana on the Road: An endless runner game where you are a banana running against the traffic on a motorway and various bits of litter that have fallen on the road (gum, wrappers), you win by reaching the junction turn off.
This will be a Handheld Platform device where you can only move left, right and jump, and the target audience is for all ages.

4. Violent Spider Warfare: Imagine that you are a Mutant Spider with weapons attached to you, and you broke out of the testing facility, the aim is to escape the facility without dying and by killing a certain number of scientists will open up the door to the next level, this game will be a 3d person stealth killing game.  You only have a few lives to escape or it's game over, so the main focus to completing the game is by using various traps and the shadows to hide in and attack your prey (So Alien?.....) you complete the game by escaping the facility.
The Platform would be a Console/PC type game, using the thread and aiming it at the wall to move about. The target audience would be older teens up (15+), I'd like this one to be very gore. 

5. Robot Rescue: A 3rd person combat game where you a a robot trying to rescue your creator who has been kidnapped by a group of terrorists, you have to use your various weapons and a radar to collect objects, defeat enemy AI's/grunts, and upgrade yourself so you can fight against the boss.  The setting will probably be in a jungle or forest environment, with the final boss being inside a research facility, there will be a time limit for your health, but by using the radar you can locate a new power supply to give you health for the next level, naturally finding it will get more difficult as the levels progress, as will the AI's.
The Platform for this game will be PC/Console, with a variety of controls and mechanics, and the target audience will be aimed at teens up (12+).

6: Robot Beast Warfare: A 2D side scroller free for all button mashing game (similar to Super Smash Bros Brawl) where you fight as a robot beast fighting against enemy AI's and various other obstacles to get to the boss room, where you fight against another robot beast.  Beat it and you unlock it as a playable character (the game design and layout will be similar to games like MegaMan X and the Super Smash Bros Brawl campaign) 
The platform base will be console/handheld devices with simple controls of movement, attack, shield, super attack, and jump.  Target audience will be teens up (12+).

Here are some names that I couldn't really think of how to turn into games but I think their names deserved to be mentioned:

7. Barbie's Batman Mania (Barbie and Batman, a scary combination)
8. Paranoid Beast Rampage (All I Imagine is a paranoid T-rex)
9. MTV's Ninja on the Oregon Trail (This sounds more like a TV series than a game :3)
10. John Romero's Dating Armageddon (?)
11. Disturbing Snowboard Simulator (Perverted Snowboards)
12. Nuclear Jazz Racing (Mario-Kart rip off)
13. Zombie Farming Simulator (pfftttt)
14. All-Star Bob sled Polo (I do love that song by Smash Mouth)