Tuesday 9 January, 2007

GameLog for CS 80K assignment due 1/12/07
Start time 8:05pm
End time 8:55pm

I decided to play Tiny Toon's because when I was younger I had rented the game a lot because I was a Tiny Toon fan and found that the game was enjoyable on many levels. Coming back to the game after many years I still find the game quite fun but on a different level.

Tiny Toons is quite a standard platformer which is to no surprise because of the period it came out in, but even with the fact its not original has still been fun and entertaining. The characters are well thoughout because they are from a TV show and their moves reflect that of those in the show. For example, Buster Bunny can hop high and Taz can do a short inveriable devil spin. Each different ability works on a certain level or better against certain creatures. All and all the characters are very fun to see the differences and try playing, but the one interesting thing I found was how they were animated. Just like a standard sprite they are in 2D but the interesting thing is that they are not outlined in black but instead in the color of the character. For instance, the duck is green and outlined in green which makes it hard to see him with a green background. This is not a big deal but I thought it strange.

So far in my play I am yet to encouter a story at all. It starts you out much like the original Mario with no explaination. The game seems to be moving in a certain direction with each stage numbered but what is going on is unknown to the player. The story isn't there so that game relies on gameplay which works out well since platformers are fun. There is the common jump and try not to fall off the edge and also the time the jump for when the bad guy is turned around. At this point everything is standard but it is still the beggining of the game so it could change. The level design seems to be reasonable but the scheme is off the wall. One level your outside jumping from place to place then the next level your in a unknown castle with some odf the same enemies and a evil scientist as the boss. Maybe these actions go along with the show but as for level design, the levels are good but the flow is not.

Players should stay reasonably interested in the game because it has fun elements but the game is on the original nintendo which translates into: unforgiving. The game is very hard at point even on the first area. For example, there is a girl that chances you at the end ofd the second level of each area. She apparently loves you and you lose if she gives a kiss but the problem is no matter how many lives you have if she touches you you go back to the beginning of the area and that can happen over and over again. The game is hard and that is why it will be rewarding if I am able to beat it.

I will continue play and then write more.

I realized that I didn't write enough about gameplay and since I played it some more this morning will do so now.

In the first few levels I had a difficult time timing jumps but that got easier as it went through. Its is very easy to jump on the purple rats but timing the jump onto the flying ducks is hard because they move up and down instead of horizontally. The ducks are placed at sdpots to give you a kind of second jump so that your shot up again and hopefully land on the farther platform. Part way through each stage there is Hamilton the pig who exchanges 30 carrots for one life. When I was first going through I had trouble getting on certain platforms so I collected a lot of carrots translating into many lives. The frustrating part was that I had all these lives but I would still get kissed by the girl at the end ofd the second level which makes the gamed restart to the beginning of the area. I was able to defeat the skateboarding scientist and get to the second area during my first session.

I realized that I didn't write enough about gameplay and since I played it some more this morning will do so now.

In the first few levels I had a difficult time timing jumps but that got easier as it went through. Its is very easy to jump on the purple rats but timing the jump onto the flying ducks is hard because they move up and down instead of horizontally. The ducks are placed at sdpots to give you a kind of second jump so that your shot up again and hopefully land on the farther platform. Part way through each stage there is Hamilton the pig who exchanges 30 carrots for one life. When I was first going through I had trouble getting on certain platforms so I collected a lot of carrots translating into many lives. The frustrating part was that I had all these lives but I would still get kissed by the girl at the end ofd the second level which makes the gamed restart to the beginning of the area. I was able to defeat the skateboarding scientist and get to the second area during my first session.