Introduction into games technology

In the past I have used a variety of consoles and own a fair few myself. All of which are very different in their own ways. The ergonomics of each controller differ in many styles and especially in the newer consoles a vast degree of anthropometric data was taken into consideration in the design. The links provided for this blog show off some of the different designs and I especially found the link on the Playstation 3 controller very incite full with this helpful Gif animation

the earlier consoles were less structural than this, taking the original Nintendo entertainment system controller as you can see this controller was not designed well and was awkward to handle. The Playstation dual shock controller I find is the easiest to use as the design is simple but effective and is very easy to just pick up and play. The concept for the PS3 controller has changed now since the launce opting for one virtually identical to the PS2 apart from the R2 and L2 buttons are now triggers which was adopted from the Xbox 360 for ease in racing games. The original Xbox controller I found horrible to play with as it was very large with buttons in difficult and awkward places making it hard to multi task. I think this was corrected very well in the design for the Xbox 360 Controller. One of the more outlandish designs I feel is the Nintendo 64’s controller with I think is ergonomically perfect and fits snugly in grip and does work well with the 95^th percentile. (That means 95% of people should be able to use it to its intended function.
The Nintendo Wii remote I think is a very clever design and by far the most different from any other controller out there with the nun-chucker remote very well designed. However there were a few design floors which in simple maths

Sweaty palms + Wii remote + forceful movement = broken television.
By large all the modern day controllers are pretty much perfect with a bit of tweaking here and there and have defiantly learned from the mistakes of previous designs.

Storytelling in games.

After reviewing some of the links and also great experience of playing many different types of games I don’t think having a story in a game is fundamentally important for all types of games. I mean you have the obvious like sports games such as pro evolution soccer which has massive sales but no story. Some sports games do try and incorporate a story such as virtua tennis and all the WWF/WWE games but even in these games the story is there to provide single player capabilities in a largely multiplayer game, so maybe in that aspect it is essential to boost sales. Sorry I’m sort of arguing with myself here.

There are many games that do rely on stories for 100% of their games, after reviewing the links games such as Max Payne and silent hill both 3^rd person action adventure games rely souly on there being an exceptional story to provide the user with the emotions that will keep them engrossed throughout the game. Games such as the GTA series do need a story line but its does not need to be as fundamental or as well written as games such as resident evil or splinter cell. FPS games such as halo or half life do need a small back story but there is less of a need for one closely related to a film as the main point of these games is game play how well it works and just generally going round blowing the shit out of things.
Games such as the Sims or second life have really no need for a story at all because these type of simulation games provide all the necessities for the user to create their own stories which is the appeal of these types of games. So in conclusion there are many different games on the market to day and the vast majority of them have some form of story in them. From expert scripts written like films to games where the user creates their own stories.

Art Direction for games

After looking at the links to what it takes to be an art director and the writings of some art directors. I especially liked the web page from gameasutra showing “the day in the life of an art director” which gives me a great in site into what is involved once you become an art director. I view the role of a director as some one who has complete control over the way a game should look and feel. The director will have overall say on what the design of the characters, buildings etc in a game should look like and what effect they should have on the game play. He will then leave it up to his team to come up with designs and provide feedback until the result is perfect. I think to become an art director in the computer games industry you need good leadership skills in conjunction with excellent technical skills, imagination and ability. Also I think experience and passion for computer games is key. An art director in the computer games industry is not dissimilar to that in film or music as it is the director’s job to know what will sell and how to produce and encourage his team to produce an effective piece of media. I am defiantly aspiring to become a art director in a games company and even though from reading the challenging application forms online I think, from seeing what current directors feel about their job it can be very rewarding, and highly paid ha-ha.

Begin Knowledge of Game design

Reviews of links –

The first link is the web page written by Chris Crawford and its is arguing the point whether Computer games are an art form, he provides some good points for his argument that they should be considered an art form by describing art as

“something designed to evoke emotion through fantasy”

which essentially is what computer games are. This was obviously written some time a go as he refers to Pac-Man when talking about games and how there is no art in games but in today’s market there is defiantly a lot of passion that goes into the production of a game and can give people the same if not more enjoyment than say music, theatre, film or art. His writing also compares games to sweets and comic books in the way they attract kids by the way they are presented. I think that times have moved on now and computer games are defiantly played by a large number of adults throughout the world.
The next website is the gameasutra explaining the role of “levels” in games and how they have changed. Originally levels were increasingly challenging as they got further through the game but now the term level involves designing maps scenery and working on missions to fit the level and make sure the game flows freely. Now the transitions between levels is virtually seamless in a lot of games where it is getting harder to tell at what point the game becomes harder to play.
The random terrain website is a good website for someone getting in the industry as it provide lots of feedback from other designers and gives lots of information in that field

Blog entry
Upon looking at the role of game designers in the industry I have come to the conclusion that there is really no such a job as a “game designer” this was prevalent back in the late 70’s where games such as pong and Pac-man were developed usually by a single person or 1 or 2 people. Nowadays though computer games are built with teams 20, 30, 40 people strong and it takes this team to produce a good game. Game play I feel is a term to describe, not to be too bland but how the game plays. A good game will have a good flow and will keep the player constantly involved in a game by not being to repetitive and just being downright awesome. The Design principles do differ between genres also, for example FPS’s should have a clear structure where the levels flow but it is also clear where to go by creating the levels with as little ability to free roam as possible as this will make the game very hard to control. Role playing games however have the ability to introduce some sort of free roam as this can enhance the game play. Simulation games have little need for game designers by way of story or levels as a lot of this is created by the users. Racing games should be clearly structured with levels clearly prepared to only allow users to go one way. Sorry about the rambling but I’m really not the best at structuring my writing lol.