I've never really liked playing on games because i was always afraid that i would lose. That's apart of life. You learn from your mistakes and make amends. But for me i am a perfectionist and it has to be done right the first time.
One of the first computer games i can remember playing is the Super Mario brothers on the Nintendo 64. I could only play on the first world on the first 2-3 levels because i was afraid that i was going to lose if i went further as the levels got harder. I feel ashamed about it. It's like in real life that I'm afraid of dying, I'm afraid of dying in games. Stupid i know.
As i got older i have been more involved with games. Although as reluctant as i am, i try to get games that are turn based. I managed to buy a few Final fantasy games and completed 2/4 strategy and 1 turn based. From Final fantasy VII to Final fantasy X-2 guess which was the easiest for me. I enjoyed the final fantasy games but strategy games are still a little hard for me. I'm such a wuss.
Since finding out that i was more into turn based, i have enjoyed playing some of the Koei games such as Disgaea, Makai kingdom and Phantom brave although they have been very long winded to level up, but the storyline is good and i love the art.
I don't play on games as much as i would like, either i can't find the time, too tired that i can't concentrate, have better things to do and think that games are just a waste of time.
Tuesday 30 December 2008
Friday 26 December 2008
First term at a glance
Where to begin?
I guess it's back to the 20th of September, the move in weekend. It was the first time in my life i have moved so far away from my home town Middlesbrough, in fact its the first time i've moved. It was strange at first. but after unpacking half of my original bedroom in to my new one at Liberty park, i felt right at home.
Freashers week wasn't all that great but at least i had time to spend exploring the town and getting use to being away from home. I made a lot of new friends in that week as well, as well as joining two societies: Anime, and the rocksoc (short for rock society).
Then came the first of many weeks of uni life. I got to know people in my class, and saw the sheer size of the class. I'm not keen on being in a large class because i feel insecure. I got to know my tutors which was a little strange since i've never really been involved with my teachers in college.
Classes have been hard, especially with game production.. I have never used 3D max before and i'm still struggling to understand half of the commands and other stuff to prepare the objects for analysis. Since we didnt have the computers at the beginning we didnt have time to go through the tutorials again and i was doing projects that i had no idea how to go about, but i tried my best and even asked my friends how they did certain things and i am going to try them out. Visual design should be easy but the lack of B pencils got me into trouble. Critical studies is a great excuse to relax and watch movies, especially when i have an hour lecture on the morning, a three hour lunch, two hour lecture/ movie in the afternoon, two hour tea and me time, then out at 5:30pm to my two clubs and i dont get back till 11 or after midnight.
3 months later and i'm enjoying uni life, missing everyone at home and low on cash. I really need a job badly so i can eat and have a home for next year. I love Leicester, i like uni, i have loads of friends and i'm living my life like i've never done before.
I guess it's back to the 20th of September, the move in weekend. It was the first time in my life i have moved so far away from my home town Middlesbrough, in fact its the first time i've moved. It was strange at first. but after unpacking half of my original bedroom in to my new one at Liberty park, i felt right at home.
Freashers week wasn't all that great but at least i had time to spend exploring the town and getting use to being away from home. I made a lot of new friends in that week as well, as well as joining two societies: Anime, and the rocksoc (short for rock society).
Then came the first of many weeks of uni life. I got to know people in my class, and saw the sheer size of the class. I'm not keen on being in a large class because i feel insecure. I got to know my tutors which was a little strange since i've never really been involved with my teachers in college.
Classes have been hard, especially with game production.. I have never used 3D max before and i'm still struggling to understand half of the commands and other stuff to prepare the objects for analysis. Since we didnt have the computers at the beginning we didnt have time to go through the tutorials again and i was doing projects that i had no idea how to go about, but i tried my best and even asked my friends how they did certain things and i am going to try them out. Visual design should be easy but the lack of B pencils got me into trouble. Critical studies is a great excuse to relax and watch movies, especially when i have an hour lecture on the morning, a three hour lunch, two hour lecture/ movie in the afternoon, two hour tea and me time, then out at 5:30pm to my two clubs and i dont get back till 11 or after midnight.
3 months later and i'm enjoying uni life, missing everyone at home and low on cash. I really need a job badly so i can eat and have a home for next year. I love Leicester, i like uni, i have loads of friends and i'm living my life like i've never done before.
Sunday 7 December 2008
10. The elements of game design: Story and character
Characters that we come across in everyday life in books, TV, films and games, all ave a significant role just like we do. These characters whether main, sub or background characters all help to make a story come to life. The way how i see it, a strong character brings a strong story. But I'm very picky with what i want to watch and whether i would like it or not, mainly because of the story and the characters. For example: Harry Potter films and books; the books go on forever and start to become repetitive and nothing much happens, and in the films the acting is crap and the story is worse because they can't fit a whole book in 3 hours.
To make a good character, i think you need to give the character a good history, good profile, and a good character design, without these the story is going to fall to pieces. One thing i do find had when creating characters is that i can't design the character how i want them to be and also give them a history and profile to match. Most of my characters don't make sense.
When creating characters, if you have made a great script then you have a great story. And for a great story to happen you need great characters to go with it. Acting and appearance is important because they are what make the character come alive. Acting gives the character a personality and appearance makes us see if this person is the good guy or the bad guy. Without them or a lack of one or the other, then the characters will be lame.
I wouldn't say that I'd find something 'irresistible', that word doesn't exist in the world of TV, books and films simply because everything is pants and repeating the same idea but using different characters. I like to watch Harry hills TV burp because it makes me laugh and he takes the mick out of all the shows i hate. And although i don't find comedians funny, Harry hill is there for me on the Saturday nights for TV entertainment. Also Heroes is another show i like to watch, again not my cup of tea, but it has improved since season 1. Would love to watch season 3 because everyone keeps saying how epic it is but I'm not around on Wednesdays to watch it and I'm not staying up on Sunday nights because i like to sleep.
To make a good character, i think you need to give the character a good history, good profile, and a good character design, without these the story is going to fall to pieces. One thing i do find had when creating characters is that i can't design the character how i want them to be and also give them a history and profile to match. Most of my characters don't make sense.
When creating characters, if you have made a great script then you have a great story. And for a great story to happen you need great characters to go with it. Acting and appearance is important because they are what make the character come alive. Acting gives the character a personality and appearance makes us see if this person is the good guy or the bad guy. Without them or a lack of one or the other, then the characters will be lame.
I wouldn't say that I'd find something 'irresistible', that word doesn't exist in the world of TV, books and films simply because everything is pants and repeating the same idea but using different characters. I like to watch Harry hills TV burp because it makes me laugh and he takes the mick out of all the shows i hate. And although i don't find comedians funny, Harry hill is there for me on the Saturday nights for TV entertainment. Also Heroes is another show i like to watch, again not my cup of tea, but it has improved since season 1. Would love to watch season 3 because everyone keeps saying how epic it is but I'm not around on Wednesdays to watch it and I'm not staying up on Sunday nights because i like to sleep.
Friday 5 December 2008
9. An introduction to game technology
Having looked at a small glimpse of the gaming platforms from 1967-present, I have only ever played on a small fraction. In order I had: A Super NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) for a short time, the Amiga (can't remember which version), PlayStation, Gameboy color, PlayStation 2, and a Nintendo DS lite.
As far as platforms go, there's a lot that do the same thing in similar ways. The one that i find most interesting is the Amiga. Simply because it's a keyboard with the addition of a joystick and a mouse. The games came as floppy disks which didn't store much oh them but from the collection i had so very few were enjoyable. Mr. Nutz was probably my favourite because it was a squirrel. But thinking back now, Trollz was the best. Even though i couldn't play the games properly because i was scared I'd lose it was still most interesting platform i had.
The easiest one i found to use was the gameboy color, simply because you had a direction pad and two buttons. Even though the games were lame (i only had two, and borrowed a friends and still haven't given it back), the controls were easy enough.
The one that looks the nicest is the Nintendo DS lite. I chosen this one because its simple compact design. The lite design is so much better and less chunkier than the first version. The DS lite is lighter, has two screens in which the bottom screen you can interact with it with the stylus. You can play the Gameboy Advance games as well as DS ones, as well as certain games like Pokemon, and Harvest moon, they both have GBA and DS games so if you insert both games you can interact with them. EG Harvest moon DS allows you to interact with more villagers when you insert Harvest moon: More friends of Mineral town (GBA).
Looking back at the early consoles and todays consoles, i find that now we don't use joysticks anymore unless its necessary for the game like flight simulation. But game pads are used quite a lot and deemed necessary to play games. Except for the likes of Rockband/2 and Guitar hero/ world tour where the instruments act as the game pad.
As far as platforms go, there's a lot that do the same thing in similar ways. The one that i find most interesting is the Amiga. Simply because it's a keyboard with the addition of a joystick and a mouse. The games came as floppy disks which didn't store much oh them but from the collection i had so very few were enjoyable. Mr. Nutz was probably my favourite because it was a squirrel. But thinking back now, Trollz was the best. Even though i couldn't play the games properly because i was scared I'd lose it was still most interesting platform i had.
The easiest one i found to use was the gameboy color, simply because you had a direction pad and two buttons. Even though the games were lame (i only had two, and borrowed a friends and still haven't given it back), the controls were easy enough.
The one that looks the nicest is the Nintendo DS lite. I chosen this one because its simple compact design. The lite design is so much better and less chunkier than the first version. The DS lite is lighter, has two screens in which the bottom screen you can interact with it with the stylus. You can play the Gameboy Advance games as well as DS ones, as well as certain games like Pokemon, and Harvest moon, they both have GBA and DS games so if you insert both games you can interact with them. EG Harvest moon DS allows you to interact with more villagers when you insert Harvest moon: More friends of Mineral town (GBA).
Looking back at the early consoles and todays consoles, i find that now we don't use joysticks anymore unless its necessary for the game like flight simulation. But game pads are used quite a lot and deemed necessary to play games. Except for the likes of Rockband/2 and Guitar hero/ world tour where the instruments act as the game pad.
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