Research Blog 5

The last entry of my research blog, I'll be looking at one of the very popular game, The Sims, by a famous game designer, Will Wright.

So far, we've discussed about various game elements that make a game. Some game elements include having a clear goal/ objective, challenges, story, increasing difficulties etc. However, such elements do not appear in The Sims. So is it a game?

The Sims does not have an ultimate goal that very player is heading to. Different people play the game in different way to achieve their own personal goal defined by themselves. The stories are created by the users themselves while playing the game. One interesting element of The Sims is that, player actually do not get bored about uninteresting happenings of real life such as eating, sleeping, showering and brushing teeth etc in the game.

In my opinion, I think The Sims can be so successful even it does not follow the traditional game design concepts is because it empowered the user to create. Perhaps, this also explained why the recent game by Will Wright, Spores, is also doing so well.

Research Blog 4

This week I'll discuss about the GUI design of the Left 4 Dead (L4D).

Generally, L4D's GUI takes the minialist approach. This can be seen in the game play GUI, which is basically made up of 3 main regions of information which the player requires to know while playing. They are namely the health indictor (at the bottom of the screen), the inventory (on the right) and the status of events (on the left) as shown in the red boxes marked out in the image below.

All extra information which are not used so often/ important can be called up using other buttons, such as the 'Tab' button can bring up the scoring chart of the players and the 'X' button can bring up the voice commands. This design is simple yet visually attractive and players do not need to remember which key map to which voice command etc. As such, players do not need to think/ recall too much which allows them to enjoy & focus on the game more.

However, the voice command interface did not follow the convention way of how other FPS games such as Counter-strike and Battlefield did theirs. Players will take some time to understand how to execute the voice chat. Traditionally, player can just execute "X" followed by the number eg. "1" to execute the first voice command. This list of commands are usually numbered and situated on the left of the screen. In L4D, the commands appear in the center of the screen, arranged in a circular manner, player would have to move the mouse in the direction where the voice command is. The image below illustrates this idea.

It might be hard for user to understand how it works initially, but it is actually more useful than traditional way of implementation in term of visibility as the fonts are bigger and more centralised to where the player is focusing while playing. Hence, this allows player to react quickly which is especially useful for a fast-paced game like such.

Research Blog 3

This week entry will discuss about the design approaches used in one very popular action-adventure game, Tomb Raider. As discussed in class, there are two main approaches towards game design i.e. the Holistic approach and the Special Case approach.

Both methods of design have their own pros and cons, and game like Tomb Raider has the best from the both world.

The holistic design can be seen in the consistency of the level game play. Every level, Lara Croft has to face challenges such killing beasts and solving certain puzzles in order to overcome those obstacles. Player will know what to do after they've undergone the first stage.

In each level, the player has to think of different way to solve different puzzles using unique solutions. This game has shown that the level design is individualized and encounters are unique. Hence, Tomb Raider can be categorized as a game designed using the special case approach.

Mixing these two methods will give player a better gaming-experience. However, designers will have to spend more time to come out with more unique puzzles and content.

Research Blog 2

The game that I'm going to analyze in this entry is Metal Gear Solid, a game stealth action game written by Hideo Kojima. I have choosen this game for review because of its interesting story plot and it contains all the ingredients for reward, risk and motivation to keep player entertained throughout the game.

This is the game that have captured the best of both interactivity and story-telling. The first time I played it, I am really engrossed in the story and it kept me playing non-stop just to get more about the story development. The story has well-developed plot. At the beginning, the player plays as the protagonist (Solid Snake) infiltrating the enemy territory. In the middle of the plot, the protagonist encounter several conflicts and solving them reveals more about the story and the character. Finally, the game ended after it reached the climax where Solid Snake defeats the antagonist (Liquid Snake) and saved the female character (Meryl).

The game has a well-balanced reward and risk design. The game consistently provides player with reward, such as more powerful weapons and equipments etc as the level progresses. The risk is also well-designed such that it keeps player in the comfortable state-of-flow as suggested by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the player's skill and difficulty of the game should be a state whereby player feel comfortable about it i.e. not too hard/ easy or not causing too much anxiety/ boredom.















The game can be better improved if it is not so linear, as this will reduce the replayability of the game. Although there is an attempt, where the designer tried to include a branching structure in the story of the game - the scenario where Snake was being tortured, the outcome of the game will be different if Snake choose to give up/ endure. However, this only makes the player re-play the game once to check out the other ending. It will be better, if more of his actions can affect the actual gameplay and storyline.

Nonetheless, MGS is still one of my favorite game as I have completed a few other sequels of MGS after the first version. I think this could be how the game continues to make money:)

Exercise 1 - Research Blog

The game design that I'm discussing here is my all time favorite - Counter-Strike. I have been playing this game for about 8 years (2000-2008).



Hmm, so what make the game so fun?


1) Followship i.e. multi-playerability. This makes players interact and communicate more with another players, as such making the game more engaging as compared to playing with bots.

2) Randomness: Game isn't linear, everytime you play/ re-play the game, you will encounter different situation or challenges. Players will explore different tactics each round to counter his opponents.

3) Challenge: Players have to work in team to solve certain task i.e to planting bomb or rescue the hostages etc. This involve planning and problem solving. For example, player will think of way to flank the enemies etc.

4) Sensation: Players feel pleasurable when they 'head-shot' or 'knifed' the opponents. Or even being the top-frag makes them feel good.

5) Time Pressure: Players have to complete the mission within the given time-frame if not they simply lose the match. This add on stress to motivate players to work harder and thus engaging them.

Areas to improve on:

Generally, the game design is very good in term of simplicity and gameplay mechanics. However, the game isn't realistic as compared to what we have in real-life combat. Features such as jumping and shooting at the same time/ bunny-hopping/ running faster in when carrying knife etc doesn't map to real life combat.

It can be improved if it is more realistic ? or will it be less fun?