Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Rant!!
As the Final Game Project kicks off, here is what I think about this course.
Who should be a Game Designer? As Soren puts it (paraphrased by me) "I believe game design should be done by artists because they're more creative. Programmers tend to think in a linear fashion" Although he says that some programmers can make good game designers, ultimately, the GDD of the Final Game Project is to be done by the Designer track students. So much so as Josef says "Leave the programmers out of the GDD" This caused the designer track students to hand up the GDD without the knowledge of the programmers.
When I reminded Josef that we've done 6110 which both the artists and programmers attended, he claimed that all students take 6110 but ultimately, it's the design track students which will be the game designers.
What is this? The pre requisite for the design track is "MAYA profiency". I then questioned Josef whether MAYA is required to do game design. He answered in the negative. So? This does not make sense. You say that designer track students will be the game designer. The prerequisite is MAYA and YET game design does not require it. This makes me wonder if they actually knew what they're talking about.
It seems to me that they're designated Game Designers because their track is "Designer". That's like saying I can be both Genetic Engineer or Mechanical Engineer simply because my track is "Engineer".
This leads some of the students in the Designer track to have some really misguided notions about Game Design so much so that she firmly believes that she is the Designer and that everyone must listen to her. How can one liken Mario Kart to 3D Pacman?
Truly, I still firmly believe that
1) Game Designers are NOT programmers
2) Game Designers are NOT artists
3) Game Designers are NOT musicians and Audio Engineers
Game Designers' role in the Final Game Project should be given to whoever has a great idea and is able to sell their idea to their teammates. Do NOT give a reason that "Programmers do TDD so the Design Track students do GDD". This is stereotyping in a very wrong sense.
Final words: Jaime and Adrian, thank you for your guidance in this module and I do firmly believe that what you taught is correct.
Who should be a Game Designer? As Soren puts it (paraphrased by me) "I believe game design should be done by artists because they're more creative. Programmers tend to think in a linear fashion" Although he says that some programmers can make good game designers, ultimately, the GDD of the Final Game Project is to be done by the Designer track students. So much so as Josef says "Leave the programmers out of the GDD" This caused the designer track students to hand up the GDD without the knowledge of the programmers.
When I reminded Josef that we've done 6110 which both the artists and programmers attended, he claimed that all students take 6110 but ultimately, it's the design track students which will be the game designers.
What is this? The pre requisite for the design track is "MAYA profiency". I then questioned Josef whether MAYA is required to do game design. He answered in the negative. So? This does not make sense. You say that designer track students will be the game designer. The prerequisite is MAYA and YET game design does not require it. This makes me wonder if they actually knew what they're talking about.
It seems to me that they're designated Game Designers because their track is "Designer". That's like saying I can be both Genetic Engineer or Mechanical Engineer simply because my track is "Engineer".
This leads some of the students in the Designer track to have some really misguided notions about Game Design so much so that she firmly believes that she is the Designer and that everyone must listen to her. How can one liken Mario Kart to 3D Pacman?
Truly, I still firmly believe that
1) Game Designers are NOT programmers
2) Game Designers are NOT artists
3) Game Designers are NOT musicians and Audio Engineers
Game Designers' role in the Final Game Project should be given to whoever has a great idea and is able to sell their idea to their teammates. Do NOT give a reason that "Programmers do TDD so the Design Track students do GDD". This is stereotyping in a very wrong sense.
Final words: Jaime and Adrian, thank you for your guidance in this module and I do firmly believe that what you taught is correct.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Completing this for the sake of completing my assignment
Well, it's come to the point where by i have to talk about many things that's written on the TODO list. It says to comment about the history of video games.
Those things can be googled easily. Maybe I'll talk about my own history of games.
My first memory of me playing video games is got to be a console. It only has about 6 games inside. No changeable cartridges. The 2 controllers are permanently stuck to the console. I believe they were all sports games and different variations of pong.
Next I know, I saw this popeye game at a shop and as all good little kids do, whined until my mother got me one. However, when I got it, the graphics look different from the one I saw. Only after some time did I realise, What I saw was the NES and what my mom got was the Atari. The gameplay of the 2 popeyes were similar however, I remember being kind of disappointed in the graphics.
I remember ET on the Atari. That was one horrid game. I cannot figure out what on earth I was supposed to do. I remember evading people chasing me, falling into pits (a lot) and just gaming over before I knew it.
My next console would be the NES. That would be when I would say I was playing way too much video games. The NES came bundled with it's Titulur game: Super Mario Bros. I remember playing through over and over and actually was very pleased at finding out the warp zone secrets by myself. No Gamefaqs.com! I rent games overnight (and tried to complete them within that time). I went and played games by the hour at shops (I think it was SGD 1 per hour).
This was where I started with my other series of games which I love: Rockman. Not Megaman because that would have been in english. This was in an unknown language which I found out later to be Japanese. Rockman, he was so much more responsive than Mario, had more weapons and definitely harder. Dying in Rockman was normal but you don't blame the game for being cheap. You die because you're not skilled which makes success all that much sweeter.
I also player Super Mario Bros 3. This really amazed me as to how they packed 8 worlds into the game and all 8 worlds feel different. My favorite was the Tanooki suit. You fly, you look cute, you can turn into a stone statue!
Some games played on this console:
Contra 1 & 2
Mario 1 to 3
Ninja Gaiden 1 to 3
Rockman 1-6
Dragonball
Samarai Pizza Cats.
Sega. I cannot remember which version I played (I was REALLY young then but I do remember "16 bit" on the console if that helped). Sonic the Hedgehog was what I loved. The music was fantastic, the uber fast sonic. Many things to love. There was actually Street Fighter 2 for this. I remember duking it out with my cousin and having a 6 button controller. I belived the Sega initially had a 3 button controller but the later controllers seem to expand this to 6.
Some games played on this console:
Altered beasts
Golden Axe 1 & 2
Sonic 1 to Knuckles
Streets of Rage 1 & 2
Super NES. The SNES came with the newest Mario game: Super Mario World. I believed this game I found many if not all the secrets, by myself and without a game guide no less.
This console was where I started with Japanese RPGs. Final Fantasy 4 (or 2 as it was known back then). Fell in love with its music, story, characters and battles. Also the first game where I grinded at the last part of the game to earn "Meteo" (all the spells had only 5 letters max).
I also started Zelda here. I don't know why I didn't play Zelda on the NES. This was where I first consulted guides.
Bomberman! I remember getting a multitap just for this. I still believe that bomberman is still the number 1 party game.
Some games played on this console:
Final Fantasy 4 & 6
Rockman X 1 to 3
Zelda: A link to the past
Super Mario World
Street Fighter 2
Super Bomberman series
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Chrono Trigger
Sega Saturn. I remember having to decide between the Saturn or the Playstation. The 2 strongest factors were: 1 was Sega, the other had FF7. I chose the Sega brandname over one game. Somewhat regretted that as the Saturn does not seem to have that many games though if you compare the same title between the 2 consoles, the Saturn did it better. This was also where I started with my Super Robot Wars series.
Some games played on this console:
Rockman X 4
X men VS Street Fighter
Marvel VS Street Fighter
Super Robot Wars F & FF.
Playstation. So in the end, I did get a Playstation. FF7 was fantastic. Aeries! Why do you die??? The very first shock I had that a main character dies. I really felt the sadness on her death and anger towards Sephiroth for taking her away.
I think I played a lot of game on this console and remember adding something such that it plays VCD as well.
Some games played on this console:
Super Robot Wars Alpha
Final Fantasy 7 to 9
Rockman X 5 & 6
Parappa the Rapper.
Playstation 2. I have it. I love it (still). Everything was good about this. The games, the graphics, the music. This time my first game is Final Fantasy 10. The graphics is really good and the battles are fast. Really got to hand it to Square for their ability to create a new system for each Final Fantasy.
Some games played on this console:
Super Robot Wars Alpha 2,3, MX, OGs
Fatal Frame
Final Fantasy 10, 12
Dynasty Warriors 3 to 5
I've no more time to touch on when my handheld console gaming began but I started with the Gamegear. I was amazed at how they miniturised the games and how it looked. However, the battery life was an issue. I could never have brought it around because it drains the batteries too much. Hence I remember playing it while plugged to the wall. Which of course made me wonder: WHY do I want to play on such a small screen since it's not portable? It didn't last long.
Gameboy color. I remember bring this into NS. I was playing pokemon blue then. My bunkmates saw me playing and 2 of them went to purchase that on the first night out. Spent lots of time challenging each other to pokemon fights and trading the pokemons. Fun.
Nintendo DS lite. Skipped the Gameboy advanced because I saw a lot of games I had played before on the SNES. The DS is a nifty piece of equipment. 2 screens, touch screen, and best of all: Good battery life.
PSP. Waited for the slim version to come out before I bought. Games look good but I still think the NDSL is better for innovative games.
That's it for my history!
Those things can be googled easily. Maybe I'll talk about my own history of games.
My first memory of me playing video games is got to be a console. It only has about 6 games inside. No changeable cartridges. The 2 controllers are permanently stuck to the console. I believe they were all sports games and different variations of pong.
Next I know, I saw this popeye game at a shop and as all good little kids do, whined until my mother got me one. However, when I got it, the graphics look different from the one I saw. Only after some time did I realise, What I saw was the NES and what my mom got was the Atari. The gameplay of the 2 popeyes were similar however, I remember being kind of disappointed in the graphics.
I remember ET on the Atari. That was one horrid game. I cannot figure out what on earth I was supposed to do. I remember evading people chasing me, falling into pits (a lot) and just gaming over before I knew it.
My next console would be the NES. That would be when I would say I was playing way too much video games. The NES came bundled with it's Titulur game: Super Mario Bros. I remember playing through over and over and actually was very pleased at finding out the warp zone secrets by myself. No Gamefaqs.com! I rent games overnight (and tried to complete them within that time). I went and played games by the hour at shops (I think it was SGD 1 per hour).
This was where I started with my other series of games which I love: Rockman. Not Megaman because that would have been in english. This was in an unknown language which I found out later to be Japanese. Rockman, he was so much more responsive than Mario, had more weapons and definitely harder. Dying in Rockman was normal but you don't blame the game for being cheap. You die because you're not skilled which makes success all that much sweeter.
I also player Super Mario Bros 3. This really amazed me as to how they packed 8 worlds into the game and all 8 worlds feel different. My favorite was the Tanooki suit. You fly, you look cute, you can turn into a stone statue!
Some games played on this console:
Contra 1 & 2
Mario 1 to 3
Ninja Gaiden 1 to 3
Rockman 1-6
Dragonball
Samarai Pizza Cats.
Sega. I cannot remember which version I played (I was REALLY young then but I do remember "16 bit" on the console if that helped). Sonic the Hedgehog was what I loved. The music was fantastic, the uber fast sonic. Many things to love. There was actually Street Fighter 2 for this. I remember duking it out with my cousin and having a 6 button controller. I belived the Sega initially had a 3 button controller but the later controllers seem to expand this to 6.
Some games played on this console:
Altered beasts
Golden Axe 1 & 2
Sonic 1 to Knuckles
Streets of Rage 1 & 2
Super NES. The SNES came with the newest Mario game: Super Mario World. I believed this game I found many if not all the secrets, by myself and without a game guide no less.
This console was where I started with Japanese RPGs. Final Fantasy 4 (or 2 as it was known back then). Fell in love with its music, story, characters and battles. Also the first game where I grinded at the last part of the game to earn "Meteo" (all the spells had only 5 letters max).
I also started Zelda here. I don't know why I didn't play Zelda on the NES. This was where I first consulted guides.
Bomberman! I remember getting a multitap just for this. I still believe that bomberman is still the number 1 party game.
Some games played on this console:
Final Fantasy 4 & 6
Rockman X 1 to 3
Zelda: A link to the past
Super Mario World
Street Fighter 2
Super Bomberman series
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Chrono Trigger
Sega Saturn. I remember having to decide between the Saturn or the Playstation. The 2 strongest factors were: 1 was Sega, the other had FF7. I chose the Sega brandname over one game. Somewhat regretted that as the Saturn does not seem to have that many games though if you compare the same title between the 2 consoles, the Saturn did it better. This was also where I started with my Super Robot Wars series.
Some games played on this console:
Rockman X 4
X men VS Street Fighter
Marvel VS Street Fighter
Super Robot Wars F & FF.
Playstation. So in the end, I did get a Playstation. FF7 was fantastic. Aeries! Why do you die??? The very first shock I had that a main character dies. I really felt the sadness on her death and anger towards Sephiroth for taking her away.
I think I played a lot of game on this console and remember adding something such that it plays VCD as well.
Some games played on this console:
Super Robot Wars Alpha
Final Fantasy 7 to 9
Rockman X 5 & 6
Parappa the Rapper.
Playstation 2. I have it. I love it (still). Everything was good about this. The games, the graphics, the music. This time my first game is Final Fantasy 10. The graphics is really good and the battles are fast. Really got to hand it to Square for their ability to create a new system for each Final Fantasy.
Some games played on this console:
Super Robot Wars Alpha 2,3, MX, OGs
Fatal Frame
Final Fantasy 10, 12
Dynasty Warriors 3 to 5
I've no more time to touch on when my handheld console gaming began but I started with the Gamegear. I was amazed at how they miniturised the games and how it looked. However, the battery life was an issue. I could never have brought it around because it drains the batteries too much. Hence I remember playing it while plugged to the wall. Which of course made me wonder: WHY do I want to play on such a small screen since it's not portable? It didn't last long.
Gameboy color. I remember bring this into NS. I was playing pokemon blue then. My bunkmates saw me playing and 2 of them went to purchase that on the first night out. Spent lots of time challenging each other to pokemon fights and trading the pokemons. Fun.
Nintendo DS lite. Skipped the Gameboy advanced because I saw a lot of games I had played before on the SNES. The DS is a nifty piece of equipment. 2 screens, touch screen, and best of all: Good battery life.
PSP. Waited for the slim version to come out before I bought. Games look good but I still think the NDSL is better for innovative games.
That's it for my history!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Back from HK
Finally back from HK. Sunny everyday until quite chao tah.
Played a game on my PSP during the flight. PuzzleQuest!
It's a very interesting game. The game is a twist on the swap 1 tile to form a row of 3 puzzle. How they manage to merge RPG elements into that puzzle is a feat in itself.
You battle among different opponents trying to reduce the lifepoints to zero.
You can choose among 4 classes: knight, warrior, druid, wizard. Each will give different skills. There are 7 types of tiles on the board. Coloured tiles are red, blue, yellow, green and will give you mana to use your skill. Linking skull tiles will do damage to your opponent. Gold tiles will give you gold to purchase items. Experience (star) tiles will give you experience for levelling.
A main story links the main quests together but as like any other self respecting RPG, side quests are available for bonus items, party members, exp, and gold.
Battles are usually slow because damage dealt isn't very high. However, as you level up, your damage per turn is higher and there is higher chance for extra turns as you link up tiles.
It's a very good casual game because it's turn based and you can turn your PSP to standby mode and continue whenever you feel like it. You won't lose any momemtum when resuming.
Maybe someone can come up with a RPG mahjong game soon =p
Played a game on my PSP during the flight. PuzzleQuest!
It's a very interesting game. The game is a twist on the swap 1 tile to form a row of 3 puzzle. How they manage to merge RPG elements into that puzzle is a feat in itself.
You battle among different opponents trying to reduce the lifepoints to zero.
You can choose among 4 classes: knight, warrior, druid, wizard. Each will give different skills. There are 7 types of tiles on the board. Coloured tiles are red, blue, yellow, green and will give you mana to use your skill. Linking skull tiles will do damage to your opponent. Gold tiles will give you gold to purchase items. Experience (star) tiles will give you experience for levelling.
A main story links the main quests together but as like any other self respecting RPG, side quests are available for bonus items, party members, exp, and gold.
Battles are usually slow because damage dealt isn't very high. However, as you level up, your damage per turn is higher and there is higher chance for extra turns as you link up tiles.
It's a very good casual game because it's turn based and you can turn your PSP to standby mode and continue whenever you feel like it. You won't lose any momemtum when resuming.
Maybe someone can come up with a RPG mahjong game soon =p
And finally, a comic from penny arcade!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
First Post
First lesson in POGD course.
Lecturer is a lady from a former Game Studio.
I am currently posting this from NYP.
Apparently, blogging is part of the course. So... here goes nothing ^.^"
First up! Blog TODO list:
------------------------------------Snip------------------------------------------
1.favourite game
2.define fun
3.munchkins
4.history of video games
5.story vs gameplay
6.assignment 3: munchkins expansion cards
7.mmog issues
The above list of blogs is the minimum, you are more than welcome to put down your 2 cents about the games you have played recently or games design articles you have read.
Learning takes place unconsciously, when your ideas are being put into words and part of the process of learning is to formalise games design into a discipline.
------------------------------------End Snip---------------------------------------
1. Favourite Game:-------------------------------------
The main attraction of the series is the ability to see robots from different animes (it's a japanese game) in the same game. I remember when I was secondary 4 and I saw this game having Gundams from Gundam W and Mazinga Z in the same battlefield. I went "I SO gotta get this game". Since then, every game from the series became a "I SOOOOOO gotta get this game"
That aside, the voice acting is top notch too. Banpresto (now Bandai-Namco) will try as much as possible to get the original Voice Actors to reprise their roles from the anime. However, even if they are not able to do so (this is especially so for older anime where the original Voice Actor as passed away), they'll get a replacement which sounds like the original. It's amazing how much lung power goes into "SHINING~~~~ FINGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~". Pretty good lungs.
The game genre falls into a turn-based strategy RPG. You field your team of 10+ robots and off you go. As you off enemies, you gain experience for the pilots, and gold for upgrading of stats and weapons. The strategy comes from how you allocate the exp and upgrades. For the truly masochistic, one can play a no upgrade game. I truly admire these people.
2.define fun-----------------------------------------------
Fun. Something fun incites feelings of excitement, happiness, desire, frustration.
PAUSE...... Playing flOw. =p
Lecturer is a lady from a former Game Studio.
I am currently posting this from NYP.
Apparently, blogging is part of the course. So... here goes nothing ^.^"
First up! Blog TODO list:
------------------------------------Snip------------------------------------------
1.favourite game
2.define fun
3.munchkins
4.history of video games
5.story vs gameplay
6.assignment 3: munchkins expansion cards
7.mmog issues
The above list of blogs is the minimum, you are more than welcome to put down your 2 cents about the games you have played recently or games design articles you have read.
Learning takes place unconsciously, when your ideas are being put into words and part of the process of learning is to formalise games design into a discipline.
------------------------------------End Snip---------------------------------------
1. Favourite Game:-------------------------------------
Not so much as a favourite game but a series of games: Super Robot Taisen. There's just a lot of gratification from having big iron mecha duking it out.
Physics and logic are non issues in this game. No one questions why that 100 tonne, 100km tall robot is able to hover in mid-air and is still able to dodge bullets.
The main attraction of the series is the ability to see robots from different animes (it's a japanese game) in the same game. I remember when I was secondary 4 and I saw this game having Gundams from Gundam W and Mazinga Z in the same battlefield. I went "I SO gotta get this game". Since then, every game from the series became a "I SOOOOOO gotta get this game"
That aside, the voice acting is top notch too. Banpresto (now Bandai-Namco) will try as much as possible to get the original Voice Actors to reprise their roles from the anime. However, even if they are not able to do so (this is especially so for older anime where the original Voice Actor as passed away), they'll get a replacement which sounds like the original. It's amazing how much lung power goes into "SHINING~~~~ FINGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~". Pretty good lungs.
The game genre falls into a turn-based strategy RPG. You field your team of 10+ robots and off you go. As you off enemies, you gain experience for the pilots, and gold for upgrading of stats and weapons. The strategy comes from how you allocate the exp and upgrades. For the truly masochistic, one can play a no upgrade game. I truly admire these people.
2.define fun-----------------------------------------------
Fun. Something fun incites feelings of excitement, happiness, desire, frustration.
PAUSE...... Playing flOw. =p
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