Blog 6/Week 11: The use of Social Media in Gaming.

I’ve noticed that the use of social media in gaming has existed ever since the consoles have integrated a sharing function to its users.

Ever since the release of the consoles such as the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and the Wii U, both social media and gaming have merged themselves in order to make the user experience more and more social even if one plays by themselves. Since this has existed, the ability to access your own social media accounts/channels via game consoles is possible: the integration of Facebook, Twitter, Vine, YouTube and all the like has been made possible without switching devices whatsoever. So pretty much gamers who do actively use social media can do so, e.g. Status updates, watching YouTube videos directly from one’s console. Also players can screenshot what they’ve been playing and upload that on their channels or even forums to engage further interaction with other users. Players can also share their achievements as well, they can pretty much see what games they’re playing, what achievements they have, etc. Nintendo have even created a social network for gamers to communicate within the experience, this is called the Miiverse and allows Wii U users to go into forums (each one dedicated to a specific game) where they can chat about the game, draw pictures and also take screenshots of games they’ve been playing. Not to mention this has been integrated into mobile gaming as well. For instance, games like Minion Rush, players can connect their Facebook within the game and they can see a leaderboard of other users who have also linked their Facebook to the game.

The merge of both social media and gaming seem to benefit other users as they are harmonious to each other.

 

 

DFTBA. (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome)

 

 

References:

 

Bannister, K. (April 10, 2013). How social media is changing the video game industry. Retrieved from http://www.noporkpies.com/blog/innovation/how-social-media-is-changing-the-video-game-industry/

 

Quinn, N. (n.d). SOCIAL MEDIA AND VIDEO GAMES: A MATCH MADE IM HEAVEN. Retrieved from http://ionconnect.ie/social-media-video-games-match-made-heaven/

 

 

 

Blog 5/Week 9: Using Forums in Gaming.

Forums in the internet (aka Internet Forums) is where people go online and hold conversations in the form of posted messages.

The use of forums for gaming has been very helpful to players. It aids us as it is used as a communication tool and to help one another. Examples of this is when players can look up on forums for certain topics of interest like a certain section of a game (if they are getting stuck and need some help with it) and they can have a discussion on it, it can have sub sections of said topic, etc. It can be ranging from random topics to informative ones, it really depends on where one looks. It is pretty much one giant communicator of all things gaming. There are a lot of forums out there. For me I’m a recent user of it since I use a forum to keep track of events, need to know info about a certain thing, find subjects that already exist, etc. For gamers, gaming forums benefits them as they will know the reviews of the games, pretty much having the players read on about a certain game or whatever it is and they can voice their opinions about as they please.

 

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

 

References:

 

Gills, M. (n.d). Gaming Forums not only benefits gamers. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@MichaelGills/gaming-forums-not-only-benefits-gamers-a55c47525379#.gc8379ghr

 

Trismoothie. (Dec 12, 2012). Gamers Babble – Gaming Forum [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.websitebabble.com/showthread.php?t=23549

 

 

 

Blog 4/Week 7: Benefits of Video Gaming

Since the invention of gaming, it pretty much is more than just playing, it has become a part of our lifestyle (assuming one does indeed play video games). There are a few who see the negative effects of gaming, especially for young children who produce violent behaviour. There have been studies shown that this is not always the case, there’s more positive than negative results of this.

These are a few that are beneficial of gaming:

• Video games create team players and improve social skills
• Video game bring forth decision making and the fact that it makes one to think of their feet
• Video games improve maths and language skills
• Video games reduce stress and depression

With the last dot point, there has been a study that found that gamers who suffered from mental health issues such as stress and depression were able to vent their frustration and aggression by playing video games as a result showed a noted improvement. The study hypothesized that games gave certain “Type A” personalities time to relax in “a state of relative mindlessness” that allowed them to avoid reaching “a certain level of stressful arousal” as they tried to relax. (Gallagher, 2013).

Like anything else, as long as video games are played in moderation as opposed to playing in extreme levels then it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References:

Gallagher, D. (March 10, 2013). 7 health benefits of playing video games. Retrieved from http://theweek.com/articles/466852/7-health-benefits-playing-video-games

Gray, P (Feb 20, 2015). Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games

MODshop. (March 10, 2009). 10 Benefits of Video Games. Retrieved from http://www.ocmodshop.com/10-benefits-of-video-games/

Blog 3/Week 5: Single Player vs Multiplayer Games.

I’ve actually written a similar topic on this on one of my friend’s blog just over a year ago but I think I’ll touch on it again, perhaps on a different angle this time round.

Are single player games better than multiplayer games? Or vice versa? The terms are pretty much self-explanatory. Each of these types of games offer a variety of concepts and options, suiting the needs of players with certain tastes and preferences. Some people can say that it really depends on the type of game one is playing. For instance, first person shooter games are designed to incorporate multiplayer gaming more so than single player gaming, also the social aspect of multiplayer games is the main thing for players. As for single player gaming, well if one looks for narrative/story and wants to be fully immersed then this would be the option for them. In saying that, single player gaming is all about the experience.

There are heaps of pros and cons for both but in the end, it all comes down to personal preference, one can like one over the other or pretty much enjoy both types of gaming.

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References:

Do, V. (May 12, 2015). Are Single Player Games Better Than Multiplayer Games? Retrieved from http://www.onlysp.com/are-single-player-games-better-than-multiplayer-games/

Giantbomb.com. (n.d). Are multiplayer games more fun than single player games? Retrieved from http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/are-multiplayer-games-more-fun-than-single-player–471464/

Reddit.com. (n.d). Do you prefer single-player, or multiplayer games? Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/2o5y84/do_you_prefer_singleplayer_or_multiplayer_games/

Blog 2/Week 3: Researching in how to write a blog.

I probably should’ve written this as my “Blog 1” entry but I’ll write it now since it’s something I have been looking up as of late.

I recall in week 1 of classes, particularly in Web Design (one of my elective units), we all had to research how to write blogs since this forms as our second assessment in the unit. I looked up a bunch of them via Google and they all look interesting. When I first wrote blogs, I never really researched on how to write one, I basically just sat in front on the computer and thought about what to write. It took a moment but I did it. So I thought that I should have a go researching what makes a good blog. Based on what I’ve research, they essentially say the same sort of thing:

• Find your focus/topic
• Write your own way/ be yourself
• Limit word count (if so desired).

In this case I have to write the minimum of 150 words or more. I found it somewhat helpful, like if I’m having a bit of trouble writing a blog, I can either look up this in research or I can simply find some source of inspiration in a certain subject or topic that I enjoy. But yeah, the results of researching how to write a blog, majority of them sound more or less the same and if you’re thinking of writing a blog especially if you’re doing it for the first time then I’d suggest this research to help you out.

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References:

Kelms, B. (March 15, 2012). The 12 Do’s and Don’t’s of Writing a Blog. Retrieved from http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-12-dos-and-donts-of-writing-a-blog

Warner, J. (n.d). Writing a Good Blog. Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-a-good-blog.html

Blog 1/Week 1: Insta-locking in League of Legends.

So it’s been a while, for some odd reason I didn’t write any blogs of my progress last trimester. Oh well. I’m kinda doing that now since this is treated as one of my assignments for College only this time I’ll be writing fortnightly instead of the usual weekly basis on certain topics.

So I’m back! I suppose. For those who don’t know, I’m a LoL player and have been for the past few months (have to thank my sister for introducing it to me). I’ve noticed recently when I’m in champion select to choose my desired champion for play, I get called out for “insta-locking” a champion as well as getting insulted and what have you. From what I’ve gathered what that phrase means, insta-locking is when one chooses their champion then instantly locks it in before calling their lane or position. A few people have said that it’s frowned upon since it causes other people to no longer choose that champion or that it messes up with the team’s strategy, others don’t see it as a big deal. I’m pretty much with the latter, what’s the big deal about it? I just merely want to play Master Yi as my main champion because he’s my preferred champion, I know I’m not the only one who does this, some people out there have a preferred champion. If one person insta-locks their champion, then we just have to adapt to that, this is a strategic game after all. I mostly play solo in Normals (a game mode in League) and therefore play for myself, I try to be a team player but honestly, some if not most of the time I play in very toxic teams, people just don’t work together (or they just suck because they’re complete noob players) but yeah, sometimes I have good games, other times no.

All in all, I don’t see insta-locking as a bad thing, if you want to play your favourite champion then go for it! I don’t see why not. You just have to be quick though.

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References:

leagueoflegends.com. (2014). People Who Instalock. Retrieved from: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3418820

Blog 13/Week 13: This Is The End (or a New Beginning?)

We have reached the last week of the trimester people! I know, can’t believe it myself (finishing classes like all the yes!).

So this week we had our final milestone due where our team had to do a 5 minute presentation as if we’re selling our game to potential investors then had a few staff members from the College to come in and playtest our game. After the playtest, all of them gave some really good/helpful feedback even though taking in criticism is always hard, I recall one of them saying that when someone is criticising your game that you’ve envisioned it is most likely disheartening to hear but it was necessary. A phrase I always abide by seems to help me through stuff: suffer well (even at times it doesn’t seem that way but still). I hope this kind of feedback happens frequently in the next trimester (like every week or something) because damn son…. It is definitely something that is crucial for further game development. After all of that everyone in the class had to fill out a post-mortem Google Form, let’s just say that I had A LOT to type out while answering the questions. I typed as much as I could and hopefully put my point across for my facilitator to read through (thank god that I didn’t write a thesis because that could take ages).

I have also completed and submitted my Exegesis as this is my individual task as a designer. Hopefully that I was on the right track when I wrote it because most of the time I was writing and reflecting beyond the game itself and wow, it’s legit intriguing stuff. I found interesting especially when I was writing about the psychological aspect of our game, how the functioning of the AI (in this case the souls in game) could potentially manoeuvre like crowds in transport terminals in real life, how they move, why they move, discuss more on the wandering state of the souls but that could take pages I reckon so if you are interested in reading my Exegesis then just let me know.

I have done this sort of thing when I was writing every week last trimester on the last dev blog and I’ll do it again because it’s important to me…. To everyone in my team who I have worked with for the past 13 weeks this tri, I just want to say that despite the trials and tribulations that all of us had to face with the project and with each other, I still remain grateful that I have worked with you all, I know there are a few people in my team that I have worked with previously and that’s awesome that I’ve worked with you guys again as well as working with others whom I haven’t worked with before. I’m really glad that I got to know some of you (and some that I’ve gotten to know real closely). It is very interesting to see what everyone’s work ethic is like and taking on the role of Lead Designer late in the project was very, very stressful yet rewarding. I’ve learned quite a lot and am very eager to learn more about lead roles/more of the things if it ever lands on my lap again.

Oh yeah almost forgot, if y’all want to play our “finished game” then by all means go to the link down below and have a play! (I should warn you though, if you’re wearing headphones or have the volume on high when playing this game, then I’d suggest toning down the volume, just do it. You’ll thank me later). It’s not the best game in the world but it is definitely something that my team and I are very proud of creating and the fact that’s it’s a working game! Feedback is always welcome, I look forward to hearing it.

Here’s the link, go nuts: http://team-mezmerize.itch.io/styx-thegoddessoftheriver

Thanks to everyone that has joined me on this journey and reading my blogs every week for the past 13 weeks, it means a lot to me.

Until this happens again in the next tri, I wish everyone HAPPY GAMING!

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

Ps. I might take a hiatus from writing for a little bit during the trimester break but hopefully I can write something that is my own for once, we’ll see what happens.

Blog 12/Week 12: One week to go people. ONE MORE WEEK.

So this week our team had our final sprint which consisted of one last stand up meeting to discuss what we’ve been doing since the Skype meeting on Sunday night. We all figured that this week will mostly involve a lot of polishing up of our game.

We also had a few playtesters come in to play our game so we could get more feedback about our game and this only lasted the first session on Wednesday because our game had quite a few bugs to fix. From the feedback we’ve been given via a questionnaire they had to fill out, the common trend that they have said is that the tutorial needed more improvement. The tutorial was definitely there, they thought/felt that it was too long and boring for them to go through and eventually they would skip it because they wanted to actually get to the game which I can understand completely. I would be quite impatient too if I went through a very long tutorial and simply just skip it all mainly because I have an attention span of a goldfish and would forget what I’ve read which I would imagine the playtesters would be thinking as well. Our team has been fixing this problem and hopefully it will be up to par once our game has been playtested again next week where the final milestone is due.

In regards to working on our game, I’ve mainly just been playtesting it to sought out bugs (they do occur constantly which is really annoying) and helping out balancing out variables along with other members of our team. But other than that, I was also working on the other unit I take up at College since I had something due during this week and it needed more attention so I worked on that till the due date. I then went back to our Studio 2 game but more so with my own individual task of writing my Exegesis. I have two sets of documents for this, one consists of the dot points/ideas that I could potentially include in it, the other will be my actually Exegesis with a cover page and all just to simply prevent clutter. So far I’m already nearing the 1000 word mark and I haven’t even finished talking about the first topic to which I have contributed to the project which is the Level Design. I plan to discuss the 3D Modelling and Development of Souls as the second topic. Luckily from emailing my facilitator about the maximum word count, they have said that there is none and that I can write as much as I need to. I should mention that before I started writing up my actual Exegesis, I requested the facilitators some sample exegeses just so I could get an idea how one would write it up as well as formatting it, etc. From the 2 samples that I’ve been given, both of them took different approaches to writing an exegesis. Obviously I won’t copy what they have written because the way/style I’ll be writing it will be very self-reflective (kind of similar to how I write my blogs but this time it will be more formal with sources to back up what I’ve been talking about). I’ll give a bit of what I have written so far. I’ve been reading an article regarding Level Design Principles (Deliberate Practices) and I found it very interesting. I realise that I have somewhat followed the method this person has written out on the article but mostly subconsciously and not in that particular order.

The main aspect that stuck out to me are the six key principles of deliberate practices:

1. It is designed to improved performance
2. It is repeated a lot
3. Feedback on results are continuously available
4. It is highly demanding mentally
5. It is hard
6. It requires good goals. (Galuzin, 2013)

If I have read this article earlier on in the trimester then it would have made the process of level design for me to be even more efficient. I had my own methods of engaging in level design. This mainly consisted of: paper designing the layout then converting that digitally using a blueprint application online, floor planner I believe it’s called so to make the diagram I once drew more legible and once that’s been done I then implement that onto a game engine, Unity in this case as a greybox then eventually replace the level greybox with 3D assets and texturing. But after reflecting on this article it would have taken too much precious time. But at the same time this process of deliberate principles will be a very tedious (yet rewarding) process because it is very demanding and involves a lot of repetition, I wished I could’ve seen this method been implemented by my own hand earlier but such is life. This is something I’ll definitely be taking into account during the trimester break where I’ll be sharpening my skills as a game designer.

Here’s to one more week of working on this game, writing my Exegesis and other work that I have to do.

Let’s do this thing!

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

Reference:

Galuzin, A. (Dec 3, 2013). Deliberate Practice for Level Designers and Game Environment Artist. Retrieved from: http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/deliberate-practice-for-level-designers-game-environment-artist.php

Blog 11/Week 11: Audio Shesh (Voice Acting for the very first time), Level Designing (Made it better).

Oh god this week…. there’s a lot to talk about it really, I’ll try and break it down to the necessary details.

So Wednesday is pretty much all things audio related. In saying that, we all got a tour down on level 1 to the film/audio studios to see how they function as well as getting to know some of the equipment we will be using. All of stuff about audio seems very alien to me (up to a degree anyway) even though I did have a bit of experience creating beats using FL Studio many years ago as to fuel my interest as well as experimenting with different sounds. With this audio workshop, I’m amazed with the different concepts used, how some of the different mics function, how sound travels through air, how mics process sounds differently to how we process sound, etc. All of those things intrigued me and since audio is one of my interests, I hope to get back into it someday. Okay, after we got taught how to use the equipment, we all had timeslots to record all the voice acting for our game. Technically speaking, this is actually my first time voice acting for a video game with like somewhat decent equipment in a “sound-proof” room. I know from what we were told that there are better recording studios around Sydney but for me at least, this is a pretty good set up. We’ve been given an hour and a half to get all of the voice acting done and my oh my…. it’s a pretty awesome experience! Yes, I as well as the Project Manager who also did some of the voice acting had numerous amounts of muck-ups (which we be collecting them as bloopers and might find some use for them in the future or just archive it for good memories, we’ll figure it out) but nonetheless we all had a very good laugh. I like how my voice sounded very smooth in some of the dialogue I spoke but thinking in the process as well as post recording I already knew in my own mind that I could do better (being the perfectionist that I am). Apparently I have a nasally and loud voice (okay, I’ll take it as a compliment). I really want to learn how to utilise that into different voice impressions but seeing as this is a skill that I don’t possess naturally, I’d be willing to practise it if time lets me. Voice acting… might pursue that as a potential career. Maybe not. Who knows really? I just love learning the things.

Transitioning now to actual work on our game. You guessed it people, I did more level design because I love it and I like to think it is something I can actually do/can better improve on. Given the level we had, I simply took what we already have and made that stronger. In this case, I re-positioned stuff on the level to make it bigger/basically to have more in it. That mainly consisted of moving the terrain, created more height on the building nodes for the facilities to sit on when spawned and creating another section for the 2 wharves, like adding a sort of tunnel and stair assets leading to them so we would be creating that 3D aspect of souls walking down to the wharves to get on their respective boats. This would also mean that we have to re-adjust the already positioned camera angles which shouldn’t take too long to complete. It’s just a matter to trial and error to figure out where they see fit. I also re-positioned the rock assets and added a lot more of them around the level to enhance that cave and underworld like vibe.

Here’s a couple of screenshots of the current level (along with the addition of particle effects which were implemented by one of the designers in our team):

Current scene of terminal.

Different view of the level from the wharves’ perspective.

As you can see from both screenshots I added more rock assets to give off that cavey feel into the underworld. The particle effects in the terminal essentially made the level more “juicy” in a way that gives it something more. I even added some signs to the level just to reiterate that comedic stance of the underworld actually being presented like a terminal for the AI to wander and make their way to board their appropriate boats.

Here’s a close up to some of them:

Sign depicted above instructing the souls to “watch where you’re going” as they descend to their designated wharves.

This one is conveying that there is only one way out of the terminal and that is through to the wharves and onto the boats (in this case, the good wharf) going to the Fields of Asphodel.

But in regards to what I have done, I redid the level with assets that I’ve found via the Unity Asset Store/Google Images. I’ll link them at the end of the blog. I really wanted to create the signs as well as the other assets by my own hand but unfortunately due to time eluding us I have to make do with what I can muster.

With my individual task of writing my Exegesis, it’s going at a slow but sure pace. I’ve just been informed by my facilitator that somewhere in my exegesis I need to make mention of a psychological aspect about our game (this is required as it’s part of our learning outcomes for designers). That is, affiliate a certain game mechanic in a real life situation? (I’m still coming to terms with it but I think I can make out what that means) Like, from talking to our facilitator/other people, I want to talk about how the AI work, not necessarily from a technical perspective but so much from a psychological one that describes how crowds in a transport terminal work/how do they work/why do they manoeuvre in that way as opposed to another way/etc.? This is interesting stuff, I have no idea how much I will delve into this but research into this is gonna be fun. Psychology is good for the mind (no pun intended).

Alright, let’s research this stuff now and see how it will turn out.

Hope you all enjoyed this week’s blog entry!

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References/Resources:

Marc7260. (May 17, 2012). Building entrance LP – NY style. [3D model]. Retrieved from: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/free-max-mode-building-entrance/672046

Mysafetysign.com (n.d.). Watch Your Step Signs and Labels. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://www.mysafetysign.com/watch-your-step-signs

SafetySign.com. (2015). Enter and Exit Signs. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://www.safetysign.com/products/p3749/this-way-out-left-arrow-sign

Blog 10/Week 10: 2nd Milestone due, more Playtesting with our game, practicing Character Dialogue (I think there’s more).

Our 2^nd Milestone is due this week as per the brief. This mainly consisted of someone playtesting our game who does play games but has never played our game before so this is good as it will give us another perspective of our game as an outsider. The whole playtest lasted longer than expected (we were given 15 mins of playtest time) then they had to fill out a questionnaire that we’ve created ourselves. That also took longer than expected (probably take note for next time to reduce a number of questions to ones that are more crucial I suppose?) but at the same time it was definitely the kind of feedback we really needed to hear. Some examples to what feedback we’ve been given: the opening tutorial had too much information, just put the essentials (player controls for example), bugs were present in game (this is a given as all prototype games have bugs all the time), etc. Design/aesthetic wise, the level design still needs more work (yay for scrapping more ideas and having to come up with new ones and such). So the Project Manager and I will be having a discussion about what we are going to do to improve on it (based on what we’ve written recently in the Game Design Document) in class next week. We’re taking the feedback given into consideration and working on it, again it was good to get an outsider’s opinion just to seek out what we’ve missed in our game.

I as well have been playtesting our game during the week, I aim to playtest at least once a day but if I could play more times in a day then that’s even better. If I find anything that doesn’t seem right in our game (bugs and all the like) then I immediately type it down in a bug list we’ve created in Google Doc. It’s really annoying because the same sort of bugs keep coming up as well as some new ones. The consistent bug that keeps showing up: The Ticketing Minions in game have decided to stop collecting fare from the good and bad souls, they function for a little while but after playtesting the game overtime they cease to function which causes the queueing state of the souls to accumulate until the max queue state is reached. Another bug I saw is at the beginning tutorial, the skip option doesn’t work (player gets stuck and can’t move on to the next phase of gameplay), leading to no gameplay at all. Luckily one of the programmers in our team has fixed this. I figured I should keep the playtesting going as I know there will always be bugs coming up our way and we will try and eliminate as much as we can till the final milestone that’s due in 3 weeks’ time.

The Project Manager and I have begun practising the Character Dialogue which will be implemented as the voice acting aspect of the game. We both have dry read the dialogue as a whole then actually started practicing it together late nights at College as well as practicing it individually. Based on what our facilitator has given feedback on the dialogue, it still needs work to do. So we have to do that and at the same time practice voicing the characters before Wednesday’s session as we will have an audio session then.

With regards to exegesis work, it’s still in its elementary stage, so I need to do more research as well as go through with my facilitator their feedback on my draft exegesis.

So far, these are some links I’ve found/read through some that may or may not be useful for my exegesis:

• http://www.raphkoster.com/2012/03/15/the-best-articles/
• http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/15/garden/making-city-planning-a-game.html
• http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Places/The_Underworld/the_underworld.html

With these links, some of the stuff I’m researching involves: Greek Mythology (specifically the concept of the Underworld as well as the River Styx and Souls), playing some management games and taking notes on how they work (so noting down game mechanics) and trying to find some articles on designing a management game (this last one I’m finding very difficult because I still haven’t found any related articles, hopefully they’ll come up when I research more). I still have a couple of weeks till I have to finish my exegesis so I’ll be chomping at it bit by bit since I have other tasks that need to be done, especially in my other unit I take up at College.

On that note, I’m going to continue working on a presentation I have to deliver for Tuesday’s class in the afternoon.

DFTBA (Don’t Forget To Be Awesome).

References:

GreekMythology.com. (2014). The Underworld. Retrieved from: http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Places/The_Underworld/the_underworld.html

Koster, R. (March 15, 2012). The best game design articles on the site. Retrieved from: http://www.raphkoster.com/2012/03/15/the-best-articles/

Lew, J. (June 15, 1989). Making City Planning a Game. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/15/garden/making-city-planning-a-game.html