Video Game Theories and Practices.
Designer:
Game Designers are responsible for coming up with the concepts to then become games. These ideas then go through production. They work with other employees of the development department including audio engineers, programmers and artists. game designers make the game playable for the consumer.
Level Designer:
Level designers work on each level of a game weather that be 3D or 2D. They create the environments and scenarios using software like level editor. Level designers work on levels from pre-production to completion. Level designers like the game designers also make the game playable for the consumer.
Sound Designer:
Sound designers create the audio, soundtrack and in game sound. They do this by using electrical equipment to either create or record sounds. Sound designers are also responsible for giving characters, background music and sound effects in game. Sound in games is part of the immersion on it all, this due to sound being on of our senses, we rely on sound in games to notify us where a enemy is, gun shoots, when we’ve collected an item or to tell us where to go, background music in games indicates calm cinematic music when were looking at the environment, Fast passed music when fighting, creeping music when being hunted, loud booming music when being chased or the theme of the game in the last scene to notify us when that the game is coming towards the end. For example, in The Last of US, the final scene between Ellie and Joel, the theme music for the game plays over their conversation as if in the distance. In some cases horror games won’t have any music in certain levels, this is to intensify the atmosphere of the horror aspect of the game, making the player more immersed and feel the true fear, for an example of good sound design in games, look at The Last of Us (especially the Clickers) and Little Nightmares.
Artists:
Artists create the visuals for a game. Using software like Photoshop, Substance Painter and MAYA, They create concepts of environments, characters, props to then pass on to the level designers to bring the game to life. Artists also create all the packaging for the cover of games. The better the visuals of the game, the more immersed the player feels.
Animators:
Animators use pictures to form images into the game, by using specialised software. They are responsible for all the characters, vehicles, prop, environment movements. Animators come hand in hand with artists. The more realistic the animations and physics of the game feels the player can feel a sense of connection towards the game.
Programmer:
Programmers make all the coding for games, this converts the designs into the instructions the video game system can read. This includes software applications and operating systems. They test the program to find errors, then rewrite if needed. Programmers continue to go through programs that are in use, working on updates and adjustments. Programmers are responsible for how the game works and is playable.
Quality Assurance Tester:
Quality Assurance Tester are game testers, they play through the game before final release to find any adjustments or bugs that need fixing. Game tasters help out all the other roles by looking at every little detail of the game then giving feedback.
Producer:
Producers manage the business and financial parts involved in the developing products. Producers tend all the personnel and keep production of the game in the time and budget limit.
Publisher:
Publishers finances the games development, takes on the marketing and release of the game then gets returns on the sales. They negotiate distribution deals, designing advertising campaigns, conducting market research and clearing any license issues the game has.
Game Flow:
Game flow is where a player is between being bored and anxious when playing a game. It is important for games developers to keep this in mind when designing a game because it keeps the player coming back for more. Game Flow comes from a psychological theory that developers can adapt to their games to create challenges. These both match the players skill level and are engaging, this engagement will help the player stay interested when playing the game. Players often refer this as tunnel vision. For example, game flow can offend be found in Call of Duty. There has been many times i have been in matches and found the game flow, but this can quickly turn into boredom. The gameplay can get repetitive after a while, at this point i will find myself switching to a different game.
Immersion:
Immersion is when a player feels they are so focused in the game they don’t notice anything else. Sometimes this could mean a connection to the characters, exploring the environment, listening or watching the story. Immersion can happen in all genres of games, FPSs, RPGs, MMOs etc. For example, developers will give the player the option to create a character, this keeps the player immersed because they care more about the character, they feel a sense of connection. Immersion can also happen in fast passed gameplay, a game like Call of Duty or Apex with fast passed action and gunfights. But this can also happen in RPGs, for example the combat system in The Walking Dead or Detroit Become: Human, the mechanic of quick pressing buttons keeps the player focus on the action and story, because of the fear to potentiality losing a character.
The Rule of Threes:
The rule of threes is used in all areas of games, usually when a player is given a short training course or fighting an enemy. The first hit on the enemy is quite easy, then they will change the way they move, attack or use a different ability. The rule of threes is also used for environments, when solving a puzzle in game the player usually repeats it three times or when the player is looking for an item or gear it’s always in the third chest the player looks.
Character Research:
As part of our project we were asked to record our selves playing a video game and talking about on of these three Cs. Character, Camera and Controls. We picked names out of a hat, i got Character.
I chose to play The Last of Us, I picked Ellie as my character. Focusing mainly on her story line from the first game and leading up to the upcoming squeal.
!IMPORT VIDEO HERE! (LOOK THROUGH VIDEO AND WHY IT’S NOT PLAYING SOUND) ON MONADY!
Similar Games:
For this brief we deiced to create a 2D platform game played through a phone screen. The player will uncover the mystery of the character by going through their lost phone, reading messages, listening to past calls, going to social media and looking at photos.
The is similar to Simulacra that was released back in 2017 and then came out with a squeal in 2020. It’s an horror/adventure game, created by a developer Kaigan Games, it’s the successor to the game Sara Is Missing. A phone is left on the players doorstep, corrupted but still working. The player uses this information, with the help of some of the characters friends, the player must use data on the characters phone to find them.
I deiced to use this game as incineration, to tell the story of a character who is suffering with their mental health, the character goes off the grind, their friends can’t get into contact with them. The player finds the phone and instead of handing it to the authority they deiced to uncover the mystery. At the end of the game the player finds the character, they are given conversation topics to talk to the character and try and convince them to come back.
Justification:
The reason i choose to do a story based game is because there is a massive demand from big story games on the market. EA’s recent Star Wars game, Fallen Order, outsold their previous game, Battlefront, due to the fact it had story, despite the fact the CEO of the company claimed that multiplayer games are the future for gaming . The Last of Us is so popular and the hype around the sequel because of the story and the return of beloved characters. Being a person that mostly plays games for the story and with the massive demand of story games becoming popular again, i could see this game idea appealing to that target audience.
Software:
The software we will be using is Unreal Engine. Since this is a 2D platform game we will have to create widgets to for the main games mechanics. Then use blueprints to instruct the button what we tell the game to do. The reason for using Unreal is that every professional games company either uses this or something similar, this will be getting us ready to progress our skills to uses in professional games design.
Other software like Photoshop will be used to create the games art style, background, icons, photo, social media websites.
The good thing about creating a game similar to Simulacra is that it was a very popular game and got loads of support and good reviews, so people enjoy that type of content. It’s also a unique style of game and gameplay, not many games companies take this approach to do something different.
The bad thing about creating a game that is similar is that it has already been done, the gameplay can get repetitive and if the story is not progressing or the characters seem dual the player can get bored and move on.
Off the Grid/ Our Idea for a game:
One-Pager:
Ten-Pager:
Planning:
Week 1/Week 2:
Being parented up with Billy to create a prototype of this game, we disused time management and planning for each week leading up to the dead line. We pitched both of our ideas and deiced to work on a 2D platform game, thinking this would be less time consuming and an easier project to work on. Creating a ten-pager document and a final one-pager to show case our designs. Gathering feedback on what we thought each on others game and making any changes the other seemed fit.
Week 3/Week 4:
Doing the research into jobs in the gaming industry, game flow, rule of threes and immersion for the brief on our blogs and creating a project plan to meet deadlines.
Week 5/Week 6:
Working on designing the game with blueprints in Unreal, designing icons, the phone system and social media photos in Photoshop. This would be the equivalent to having the game Alpha.
Week 7:
Continuing with working on the game, still working on blueprints, linking levels to each other, working on the general mechanics. Doing a bit of play testing as we go along. Equivalent of the game being in Beta.
Week 8:
Finishing the game and testing it, gathering feedback from other students.
Week 9:
Gathering everything we’ve created, putting in little tweaks in the game, going through our blogs and overall evaluating what we have learned through the project, what skills we’ve either improved, need to work on, our weaknesses, what we most struggled with.
Stages of Game Release:
Pre-alpha:
This is the development of a game that it early to the development process, this version of the game is not released to the public. Developers are still working on the features of the game.
Alpha:
Alpha is the next stage when the key gameplay functionality is implemented, the assets are partially done. The game in alpha is feature complete, the games is usually playable and contains all the key features.
Beta:
Beta is the games functionality is included and optimized, the game may still have bugs, but the overall games content is complete. The developers may have to go back and fix some implementation errors.
Release Candidate (Delta)/RTM/GA:
Release candidate is also known as “going gold”, this is a term used when the game is ready to be delivered. The build of the game could be digitally signed, this allows the end user to verify the integrity and authenticity of the game. A copy of the RTM build also known as “gold master” is sent for mass duplication. RTM precedes general availability. GA, when the product is released to the public.
Gold (Live Release or Production):
Gold is the final release of the game, when the game is released to the public. Even though a game has been released as gold, there still will be some bugs that the developers will have to fix later on.
Documentation:
Documenting the process of the games creation, concepts, blueprints, finalized prototype.
Concepts:
Blueprints:
Evaluation:
Throughout this brief we followed the weekly plan we made at the being of the project, making sure to reach deadlines on time. Being this is only a prototype game, it was just two people working with a limited amount of time, if this was in the professional gaming industry there would be different departments working on the game. In the limited time we were given we managed to create a 2D platform prototype game.
In the first few weeks the planning and designing went well and both found it easy to agree on the final designs for the game.
Half way through making the blueprints in Unreal, we found that hard, working with new software and learning it. We would experience problems with every time trying to code a icon to link to a screen the game would break another mechanic, then having to go back and find the source of the problem. Seemed a bit of an endless cycle.
Speaking on individual dilemmas, i found the research hard because i didn’t give myself enough time work on it, but after sitting down and going through it step by step, managing to complete it.
Quality Assurance Test:
Playtesting in the gaming industry is a vital importance. This helps developers gather feedback from playtesters to fix levels, bugs or modify how powerful items and weapons are in game. throughout our prototype we did playtesting after every new blueprint to check if anything broke or if it suited the game. For example, with the playtesting in our game lot of the buttons would work then not work, we would have to backtrack and try and find a fix for it, this is what professional games developers would have to go through. Another problem we faced was with message button we found that while testing you would have to keep clicking the button until it changed screen.
Feedback:
We gathered feedback mostly from each other as we went along, with the occasional input from our tutor.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Creating the ten-pager, one-pager and designing the icons in Photoshop we both found easy due to it being artistic and both our skills lie in that area. Working in Unreal with the blueprints, we both found hard, due to learning a whole new software. If given the option to go back and redo this brief then i would make sure to create a better time management, since this is one of my weaknesses. Also feel like i wasn’t good at working in pears, half the time i had no idea what i was doing, don’t like the pressure of someone else grade in my hands.
Imogen Carr (GAMING) 