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Thursday 7 February, 2008
Gamelog #3
Entry #2
Gameplay:
When I first started playing round two, I could tell I was a little rusty after not playing for a few days, as if I had forgotten every thing I had learned. After a little while, however, I was able to get farther than the first time I had played in a shorter amount of time with fewer deaths. Although I am getting into the flow of video games a bit more, I still prefer board games. I do not think it has anything to do with being able to play them better and winning (I do not have very good luck with board games), but I really like them. I think it may be a different kind of social interaction. With video games, there may be talking among the players, but everyone is staring at the television screen because if something is missed, the player may die. However, with board games I feel there is more face-to-face interaction. Instead of lined up in front of the TV, players circle around a board and a player will not instantly die if they look up from the board at another player and miss a move. I do not know if this is exactly it, but it is something to consider.
When I mentioned to my friend that I do not have as much fun playing video games as I think I should, she said it was something the culture we are raised in teaches us we should enjoy, but that she does not care for video games either. I had never thought of it that way. Each time I check out a new game, my apartment mates get so excited. They all want to play and are so jealous that I get to play for homework. I, on the other hand, look to the game playing with a bit of distaste. I much prefer spending my time designing and building the game for our project.
Design:
I fond it interesting that the music in Zelda bothered me, but I did not find the music in SMB3 as bad. I do not know why that would be because it is still the same thing repeated over and over. I liked how the music was able to set some of the atmospheric mood. At one point when a friend was playing, it was not even necessary to see what was on the screen to know when he had entered a dramatic level and there was danger that may jump out at any moment. Many of the outside levels had lighter, more upbeat music that were relatively indistinguishable. Inside the castle, though, with lava and spiraling fireballs the music was much more serious.
When I first started playing the game, I did not realize that it was a race against the clock. If there had not been an audio indicator when time was running out, I never would have noticed that there was a clock at the bottom of the screen. I was much too focused on trying not to die to pay attention to the rest of the screen. I think the audio indicator is a marvelous idea for this game. Players are likely to become so absorbed that they forget to check how much time is left. If the clock were the only indicator of remaining time, I am sure many players would lose their lives due to careless inattention.
Something I fond odd about the structure of this game was that once a level had been completed, the player could not go back and replay it during that game. They would have to completely died and restart the game to do the level again. That seems like a poor design feature to me because if a player likes one specific level, they may want to play it repeatedly. However, there really is not much to do in each level and there is a time limit so it seems a little pointless to play the same level multiple times.
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