Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Paper prototype Critiques 1

Ant Lion is a game mainly for educational purpose through casual gameplay. This allows the players to think about things beyond the game. Overall, this game prototype is balance since it has clear rules and results, which are ant must escape pit and Ant Lion must eat ant. Its game model is formal and abstract as it is well-defined and widely applicable. For the aesthetics, it is discovery and submission. Besides, the game is original since there is no similar existed game that combines the fun and educational factor about Ant Lion. The physical prototype they use is a turn based board game, which materials include a board with squares, a dice, and a player token. This physical prototype and the actual game have the same mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics because they have same game concepts, run-time behaviors, and desirable emotional responses evoked by the game dynamics.

The premise of the game Fins of Fury is a tadpole develops into a frog on a search and rescue mission. This game prototype is balance supporting by its background storyline and the level goals. Its game model is formal and abstract as it is well-defined and widely applicable. On the side, its aesthetics model is competitive since the player is emotionally invested in defeating the bad guys and the end boss. The physical prototype they use is a board game, which materials include a hex grid board containing 4 levels, a paper slip of player’s health meter, dices, and a player token. This physical prototype and the actual game have the same mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics because they have same game rules, run-time behaviors, and desirable emotional responses evoked by the game dynamics. Overall, the aesthetics is fantasy, challenge, and discovery. For the originality of this game, there is a RPG game 46 Okunen Monogatar—English version is called E.V.O—from Japan released in 1992, which is similar to the concepts and activities of this game. Both games contain several levels and the player completes a level, by defeating the enemies, in order to transform into an advance form of being.

The goal of the game Mizu is to find the elemental gems through exploring in different environments and defeating the evil chaos. The player’s activities are determined by a roll of dice and depended on the life and attack charts. Thus this game prototype is balance supporting by its charts that show the relation between player’s heath and attack points, and different roll numbers of a dice. Its game model is formal and abstract as it is well-defined and widely applicable. Moreover, its aesthetics model is competitive since the player is emotionally invested in defeating the enemies. Besides, this game is original since there is no similar existed game, which both background and characters are focused on the four natural elements in our world. The physical prototype they use is a board game, which materials include a board with art works, a dice, the pieces of player and evil chaos, and an instruction sheet. The gameplay of this physical prototype and the actual game are not related since their run-time behaviors have much different. Winning the prototype broad game is more depended on luck by rolling the dice, but not the actual game, which requires exploration. Overall, the aesthetics is fantasy, discovery, and submission.

SCHOOL’D is a team based adventure game, which combines puzzle solving and enemy fighting. Its prototype is balance since the rules for each character and enemy, and the setting of the game board is carefully created. Its game model is formal and abstract as it is well-defined and widely applicable. On the side, its aesthetics model is competitive since the players are emotionally invested in defeating the enemies. The physical prototype they use is board game, which materials include a board, the character and enemy models, the stat sheets for both characters and enemies, and a manual. This physical prototype and the actual game have the same mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics because they have same game rules, run-time behaviors, and desirable emotional responses evoked by the game dynamics. Overall, the aesthetics is narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, and expression. For the originality, this game is a simple version of the RPG game Dungeons and Dragons, which was first released in 1974. The concepts, activities, and requirements of the two games are very similar.

10/30 Weekly Progress

What you have done this week for the project?
Our team has been more familiar on how to use the game engine RPG maker XP by online tutorials and books from library. Considering the effective of the production process, we have discussed and changed some small game elements we preferred. In this week, I have searched more in detail about what we need to implement considering our game Dynasty, such as backgrounds, maps, and effects. Also I have created some elements for our game.

Where and when you met with your group?
We regularly met in school after the tutorial and lecture. Also we had online MSN meetings for discussing and solving the minor problems.

What are you going to do next week?
For next week, I will keep creating and drawing the background elements of the game and would add the elements creating by other teammates to the game.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

10/23 Weekly Progress

What you have done this week for the project?
In this week, our team has learned how to use the game engine RPG maker XP by online tutorials and books from library. I have searched for what kinds of images RPG maker XP provide and what we need to implement by ourselves considering our game Dynasty. I am now more familiar with RPG maker XP. Also I have tried to create some elements using this game engine.

Where and when you met with your group?
We regularly met in school after the tutorial and lecture. Also we had online MSN meetings for discussing and solving the minor problems.

What are you going to do next week?
For next week, I will keep creating and drawing the background elements of the game.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

10/16 Weekly Progress

What you have done this week for the project?
Our team has finished writing the background storyline, rules, and level details of the game. We have also decided on which game engine we will use, which is RPG maker XP. We hope we will manage to get through how to use this game engine with online tutorials and books from library. In addition, we have created the prototype for the game and tested our target users with it. In this week, I have participated in the team meeting and brainstorming the ideas. For the prototype, I have written the game manual, and tested the users.

Where and when you met with your group?
We regularly met in school after the tutorial. Also we usually have online MSN meeting.

What are you going to do next week?
For next week, we will start creating and drawing the basic elements of the game, and learn how to use the game engine.