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Oct 14th, 2012 at 12:56:47 - Introduction Blog (Other) |
Recently in my Game lecture class I was introduced to a new game that I have heard many times before but yet to have the chance to try out myself. This game was first started out designed to be a board game to be played with both a game board and game pieces or just plainly drawn on paper and played with a writing utensil. The game is called the “Battleship”, and the gameplay is described by the title of the game, “to battle your ship against your opponent’s ship.” The game is usually played between two players, and the core mechanic of the game is to “sink” players’ opponent’s ships. To start out the game in the old fashion way, both players each draw out two 10x10 square grids with alphabets “A” to “J” labeled on the vertical column and numbers “1” to “10” in the horizontal rows, one for defense and the other one for offense. Then, different sizes ships are drawn on the board either horizontally or vertically across two to five squares. For example, the game can have an “aircraft carrier” which will take up five squares on the board, or a “patrol boat” that will only take up two squares. It is up to the players to decide the type and the number of ships that can be used in the game. Both players will now draw the ships on to their “defense” board with first initial letter of the type of the ship they are using in every square the ship takes up. After all ships have been placed, the players will now take turn start out the game and call out coordinates of each square such as “B3” and try to sink where think their opponent placed the ships. The game ends when one of the players loses all the ships.
This game was played during class time, and students are divided into groups and given the task of modifying one part of the game to make it either more interesting or challenging. Our group came up with the idea of alliances between players where two players played against another two players, and each player still gets his turn. This makes the game more intense where one of the team can combine their forces to eliminate one of their opponents and gain round advantages in the later game. I believe this exercise is a great approach in designing and prototyping new games, because it gives the students the chance to understand how they can apply changes to different aspect of their games to make their games more fascinating or stimulating.
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Oct 11th, 2012 at 15:37:30 - Introduction Blog (Other) |
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Oct 11th, 2012 at 21:52:42.
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Oct 6th, 2012 at 13:07:57 - Introduction Blog (Other) |
Different games introduce different types of genres, and sometimes it is combined with the core mechanics to enhance the gameplay. One of the games that I have recently introduced by my friend to play is called the “100 Floors”, and it is a mobile puzzle game application that is really popular with anyone who owns an Apple iTouch. The player first started out the game at the bottom of an elevator, and the object of the game is to get to the 100th floor. The tricky part of the game is to solve the puzzles for each floor to unlock the elevator that allows the player to enter the next floor. The objective of the game is tied with its core mechanic, where the different possible ways of solving the puzzles including ‘touching’, ‘shaking’, ‘moving’ the iTouch to create events that will open the elevator door for access to the next floor. The game does not have time limits which allows player to stop the game at any time and continue where they left off. Since it is a puzzle game, the game puzzle will become more challenging as the player progresses further in the game. Players will notice the difficulty increases, and feel frustrated because they couldn’t solve the puzzles. On the other hand, each floor has its own story and design; it provides a fresh start for players to wanting to continue solving the puzzles to get to the next floor. The feeling of being able to unlock another door when the challenge becomes extremely difficult is indescribable. I have tried out about fifteen levels, or floors, and each comes with a unique design. One of the interesting floors is where a gorilla is guarding the elevator door, and a pile of fruits is next to the gorilla. The player needs to first figure out he needs to search the banana in the pile of fruits and then give it to the gorilla to win the level. Overall, the game is pretty interesting, and I recommend to anyone who loves puzzle games, because it takes a quite amount of brain juice to solve each level.
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Sep 25th, 2012 at 21:31:16 - Introduction Blog (Other) |
For this week’s journal, I am going to discuss another game that I have recently played on my iTouch. This game application was first released for Apple iOS devices, but now it is played even on personal computers, this game is called “Angry Bird.” The version that I have tried is the new “Angry Bird Space,” and the basic game mechanics is the same as the original version, but with more physics involved now that the gaming environment has been moved from land to space. For those who have never played “Angry Bird” before, it is a single player game where the core mechanic of the game is to sling. The narrative description of the game is a group of green pigs had stolen eggs from the birds for food, and now the birds are taking revenge by shooting themselves at the pigs. Based on the narrative game, the players’ objective is to aim the sling shot with a bird attached to it, and shoot the bird at the green pigs. Depending on the device the game is played on, the player can be using fingers, mouse or other controllers to play the game. What makes the game even interesting is there are “obstacles” and fences blocking the birds from having direct impact with the pigs, such as wood pieces, ice, stones, and uneven grounds, and they all provide a different level of defense. On the other hand, to allow player a more enjoyable experience with the birds, different color birds are introduced with unique abilities that allow them to create a different level of impacts on the pigs’ defenses. For example, the black bird acts like an exploding bomb and during its impact, it creates explosions.
Now that the gameplay is lightly discussed, it is time to introduce the new “Angry Bird Space!” Like I have mentioned before, the core mechanic is the same, slinging, but now that the setting has been taken to space, the Newton’s physics are integrated into the motion of the birds. Because now the birds are in space, the pigs are placed around or in different planets with gravity pulls. In order for the players to successfully hitting bull’s-eye on the pigs, they must calculate the centripetal force that is acting on the birds as it travels into the atmosphere of the planets. In another word, instead of moving in projectile motion, the bird now moves in circular motion as it circumnavigate around the globe. The new “Angry Bird Space” with the idea of playing in space not only makes the players feel like playing a whole new game, but adding on to its original cool core mechanic, it make the game more challenging refreshing and entertaining.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Sep 25th, 2012 at 21:32:09.
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