A little bit of this & a little bit of that...

So it's been a while since I posted a blog, which saddens me as i like to write sadly I've been extremely busy with boring stuffs. Anyway I'll try to flesh out this post a bit more than usual to make up for it.

So first off I want to talk about some of my favourite mechanics within games, I won't go overboard on them but will explain what I like a why I like it. Firstly, The Ocarina of Time - It's no secret that this is one of my favourite games of all time (As cliché as that might be) - I love the idea of this feature and would try to incorporate something similar in any game I make in the future. Having several songs that are used throughout the story that change the dynamic of the game, and as this was an older game the player had to figure out what song to use and when (no major hints all the time like most modern games) to access certain parts of levels or access hidden features (like the scarecrows song). The idea of the Ocarina songs is simple for the most part, but going back to the past or being able to teleport to certain areas as well as accessing hidden areas was something i find fun, amongst the songs actually being quite melodic and holding a place for nostalgia whenever i hear them.

Second mechanic that will hold some significance for me is Banjo & kazooie. Again the mechanics aren't the next best thing in the gaming industry - mainly due to them being old games really - but I found the features fun and offer a diversity to keep the games fresh for the most part. Banjo and kazooie work in tandem to extenuate each others abilities, whether it be running faster/flying or swimming the team work allows the player to solve puzzles in several ways and gain access to other areas of the level they thought unreachable. This goes doubly for the transformation of banjo when he has enough skulls that adds several mini games and such when he can become a small ant/crocodile & other creatures.

The mechanics I mentioned aren't crazy in-depth or amazing ideas for modern day games but I feel they are often over looked despite their age & would like to see some newer version of these abilities utilized in more AAA titles (perhaps i've not looked at many games to compare really).

onwards to victory...

The next section is going to talk about Anger in games!? Now, I'm quite fond of MOBA's (Multiplayer online battle arena games) Such as Heroes of newerth and Dota 2, But there is such a stigma around these games and their communities - rightly so I might add. I play more HoN than Dota and I have to say the community is on par for being one of the worst in the genre. People (myself included many times) get so angry when playing the game. This has many repercussions such as losing incentive to play, making more mistakes because you're not focussed and even just rage quitting making the game even more unplayable for the rest of the team. Now, i can't say I'm a saint and don't rage because I do, but I feel it's warranted mostly. I'm a higher level player in both MOBA's and have played the game for a long time. Now my main annoyance I find when playing at this level is that people just don't learn from their mistakes and are quick to blame team mates for their own mistakes. Either way I can relate to getting annoyed/upset/angry when I'm playing a game for on average 50+ minutes with the same people and feeling no enjoyment from playing. I don't know how to combat my obvious disappointment and annoyance in these long games apart from playing music loudly and trying to shut myself out from the team and just try to have fun regardless. 

More of this & less of that

An age old argument amongst the gaming elite: Graphics/Gameplay - Now, as the years go past games are coming to have ridiculous graphics and just as amazing gameplay/stories - here's looking at you Bioshock! I am doing a game design course and it saddens me to hear groups of friends talking about how "X, Y or Z" game sucks because the graphics are awful. I try to not get involved in the discussions as I find that these 20+ year olds have barely played NES/N64/PSOne/Sega etc games and thus have, in my opinion, a very limited outlook on what makes a great game. Retro games are a huge thing for the die hard games of the generation, I'd be lying if I said I don't love getting the N64 out and playing over zelda, Diddy kong racing and other such games. My main sense of argument is games like Minecraft and newly found Cubeworld - Now, whilst these games aren't my cup of tea there's no denying their addictiveness and fun factor despite their lack of graphics and story. I always say the same for old school games, What they lack in modern day graphics they make up for in difficult, game play and story.

For you & me...Let's play...

Mutliplayer games. Well, this will just be a short read for the segment. Multiplayer games are a fan favourite and will hold much nostalgia for the more veteran gamers amongst us - Playing Mario Kart and Goldeneye split screen was nothing short of MAGIC! It seems that every game released nowadays has some form of multiplayer. Firstly I will say that some games just don't require Multiplayer and i feel the design process was/is just an afterthought to try and increase the playability factor for an extra period of time. I don't feel it necessary personally but i do commend developers for doing it. Multiplayer games are one of the greatest features of gaming. It's how you bond more with friends/family, make new friends, guild members, clan friends to play other games with and just increase your fun factor by a thousandfold whilst gaming. Nothing brings me more satisfaction that multiplayer gaming with friends, and the more the merrier I say! A short video below to touch more on some of the biggest names in games and their thoughts on multiplayer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSA84_jW1f4

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

General Ramblings of the senseless....

So I have lots to write & talk about this week – this will be quite a lengthy post with many random topics; I’ll try to keep your interest.

As a future game designer I spend a lot of my time on the internet, playing games, watching streams of games, reading reviews & so on. My most noticeable view lately is that, there just aren’t enough games to capture the attention as of late – Not to say there aren’t any, there’s just not enough. I primarily talk of multiplayer games as that is what I play the most over the last few years, and I have now come to the realization that I, again, need to improve my game base. I used to play everything as a child/teen but as the years went by nothing really capture my attention, at least not enough to make me come back or leave me speechless. I need to play MORE, more single player, more genres, more indie games – Especially as a budding designer.

A game that has had my brain working overtime lately is Evoland. This game has one of the most amazing ideas I have seen, especially from an indie game. The game plays In sorts of an unlock able history of games. You, the player, unlock features throughout chests in the game, such as 16bit graphics, 16bit sounds, and 3D graphics and so on. This idea has me thinking of all the possibilities that could be made to a bigger effect ideally and I’ve been enthralled by it.

Onto the next note; The steam summer sale. This is pretty much the #1 thing all PC gamers await every year. I do have to say that some of the offers are very hard to pass up on and are a damn right steal. However, they are very lack lustre this year and seemingly the same as the year before and the year before that. Most PC gamers will have brought the majority of these games in past sales and nothing has really captured the attention of “An amazing deal” for the most part. This is a shame and I hope Valve step up their game for the remaining few days of the sale.

Esports is a huge industry of sorts. I am a big fan of watching the streams of my favourite players from different games hash it out and the crowds that support them offer a thrill akin to modern sports. The industry is growing bigger by the year which bodes well for the gaming industry as a hole. But I often wonder, with the lack of PVP (player Vs player games) being diverse as such – the MOBA/ARTS scene is taking over – will it eventually bring the downfall of eSports? Fighting games play a role in this scene as well as traditional RTS titles but there’s not a huge diverse option for competitive differences to be brought to the industry, something new needs to help spark the scene more.

The next generation of game consoles is drawing near fast and I’m eagerly awaiting more news to be released.  With titles such as Watch Dogs and Titan Fall being showcased it brings up the question of how powerful the systems really are, more so in comparison to PC’s. How powerful will my PC have to be to play these games at a comparable graphics setting to the next gen consoles? Will there be much difference? I’ve always found PC gaming to be undervalued, the games that are released have always been held back by the current gen consoles, mostly in terms of graphical playability – PC’s are rarely tested to their full potential nowadays & limits the player base of game exclusive such as The Last of Us or upcoming titles like Watch Dogs.

I'll stop the ramblings now as i could write for days and days about random things to do with games. I am eagerly awaiting my next year at university so i can start updating the blog with useful design ideas/work & so on.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

From here to there and there to here.

So another weekly blog update - I need to draw in more viewers some how ^_^. Anyway, I've decided to put on hold the learning process for the remainder of the summer. A few reasons really; I'm really enjoying getting back into single player games (I'll get back to this later) & feel that i'd like to enjoy the summer months before i get back to my studies - I don't want to fry my brain for no reason :)

So I've been playing a few games lately, Tomb Raider, World of Warplanes, Far Cry 3, Borderlands 2 and Sonic & All stars: Transformed. All good games and I find them enjoyable, mostly with unique features and compelling stories (For the single players) which keeps my mind racing with potential ideas.

Onto random ramblings anyway. I backed a kick-starter project called Godus (Made by 22cans) not long back. With their unique take/adaptation on god mode games and constant developer vlogs via youtube I was compelled and will eagerly await this game. As a side part to this, the lead designer; Peter Molyneux will be attending my university to guest lecture so I'm very excited for this.

Along with this game I looked at Ubisofts current alpha game; The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. I feel the game industry has a giant influx in free to play games. I feel that with the success rate of kickstarter project this is both good and bad for the game industry. I have to say though, that companies like ubisoft see to strive to destroy this payment model that is becoming ever popular - I talk primarily of Pay2Win. These kind of games award players who have the ability to just throw money at the game and progress through content at an alarming rate - Whilst I understand companies have to make money, there's other methods to do this. It severely impacts multi player games like this because players would rather not play against others that have amazing items/loot/gear just because they are willing to throw money at the game. I feel this destroys games that have such promise like this and will weaken the genre of any game type that will be created at a later date.

I'll wrap up here with saying that i've not really talked about anything of merit in this weeks blog, but will continue with random thoughts and slowly progress towards useful articles at a later date. Steam sales are upon us and many games are ready for playing during the summer.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

All play and no work...

Another week goes by and i can blissfully say, progress has been made. Though very small amounts (got to start the ball rolling somewhere right?).

To start what seems like an exhaustive process I've finally began following a short series of tutorials i dug up off the Internet to begin learning the UI and general controls of UDK. The videos are well rehearsed, give good insight  and offer a wide array of options for each method of arriving at a solution to creation - I find this beneficial as it will teach more non linear ways to solve any problems and prefer this method of teaching personally.


I don't think learning UDK will be my main downfall - I'm quite quick at learning (especially things i find enjoyable ultimately and progressively). My main problem is all the ideas i seem to have lately. I've been playing quite a lot of games and wrestling the thoughts in my head of what are seemingly cool mechanics for games, but then, How do I implement them into a game? Is it fun? Is it unique? Then goes the story aspect of possible games, Who are the characters? What is the story? What is the world? I like all these aspects when thinking up ideas, both big and small. Though i fear my biggest issue when the time comes to creating my own ideas in a game format is, Will i be committed enough?

Well, the general consensus that seems to shroud the game industry is, from my understanding; Everyone has ideas. Everyone is talented. Everyone is creative. So, ultimately, what can i (anyone) else do to separate themselves from the huge amount of creativity in this industry without being fearful that their ideas and designs aren't good enough.


Perhaps though, I'm over thinking what it means to be a designer? And should focus more on my love and ambition to just create games and ideas for fun rather than what i think the industry needs & wants. After all, games are seldom created by one person.

Being at university seems to have given me a shrewed opinion on what it takes to be a professional designer, albeit that seems the case with most industries in this day and age. It seems the case that we're not going to make our dream game, we're not going to work for the company of our choice, we're not the next best thing to come into the industry. Well, that dampens the moods of all budding professionals. It's a flaw in the education that demeans the students and stunts their growths. I feel the negativity will only impact my ability to want to create and that shouldn't be the case. I need to shoot beyond the stars (cheesy yes) - But what's the point of being told nothing will come of anything and it will generally be menial. I strive to create. I want to be told there's no limit, not shot down at the first hurdle.

So, general ramblings aside. I'm looking forward to getting my hands deeper into UDK and any other engine i feel ready to learn over the summer and eagerly await my next year at university. With the next gen on consoles and games coming out it will only fuel my imagination more to want to create something awe inspiring - If only to myself at least.

                                                   Curiosity is the engine of achievement

It's all fun and games...

It's been quite the casual week in most regards. After still getting over the hype of what happened at E3 and looking more into next gen games/consoles it somewhat slowed my learning process - But more on that after.

I've been very interested in the Project Spark that got announced by Microsoft. This is a game/program that I've always wanted and it seems to create a simple learning curve that holds little to no limitations on the creators imagination - Though most companies often over sell their games (Here's looking at you Fable). The more I've seen of this project the more ideas i've had for several different mechanics and game ideas that i want to create, But as i have to wait til its launch i have gone to the old methods of jotting them down in a notebook for now.

On to business. This week i faced a decision, to learn Unity 3D or UDK for design aspects. Ideally i want to do more research into them both on which is better than the other and for what merits - Mostly though it's a tough choice as i don't know what we will be learning at university next year as several rumors are going around saying X over Y.

Learning both would be advantageous and something i should strive to do. I often see people that seem to have countless ambition and skills in the design aspect of things already and it often deters me from wanting to create anything as i feel i'm far behind already and struggle to get started.

I've been toying around with both programs for the past few days as i find experimenting often the easiest way to learn/pick up things but often times programs can be quite daunting for new people.

I will look more into and make my decision by the end of the week hopefully and can finally start getting my ideas out there...

...What took so long? Right?!

                                          Curiosity is the engine of achievement

//Donny

AFliXTioN GAming: The Last of Us Review

AFliXTioN GAming: The Last of Us Review: CONTAINS SPOILERS Ok so The Last of Us, a game by naughty dog and what a game it is. When this game was first announced back at...

Time to begin...

The summer has been underway for several weeks and though it has been fun to relax and play games new and old i feel it's time to take the next step in my education...Self learning.

Though this is my first year of university studying games design i feel my ambition diminished in my need/want to learn in my own time. Though many people in my course are seemingly underway on blogs/demo reels and so on i feel it's time to put my ideas and creativity to better use.

The beginning is simple, i learn the pro-grammes necessary. Though games design is not as linear as just making computer games i could venture into card games/board games and so on but I'd feel learning in this context is better for me at the present time.

To start with i will begin to learn the programs Unity and UDK (unreal design kit) by following tutorials, reading books and then go from there trying to incorporate my own ideas into a game demo of sorts.

The summer is young and my enthusiasm is at its highest. My plan by the end of the next university year is to gather more knowledge and perhaps complete the following list:

• Internships in the game industry
• A few, playable digital games (remember those free game development tools)
• A digital game or level produced by a team with clear evidence of your contribution
• A few, playable non-digital games of high quality
• An intelligent, insightful and obviously updated blog

                                                    Curiosity is the engine of achievement