Because I had a bit of a tough day yesterday, I was feeling quite sensitive walking to college and was feeling nervous about the day ahead. I was nervous that, even though I have done quite a lot more sketches for my Trading Card Game project (from now on, I might just call it the Spirit Rush Project as that sounds cooler,) Neil (Brewis) was going to expect more.
Because of my worries from yesterday, first thing this morning I was able to speak to my college support Lynda about these worries, including the trip, working on a presentation in pairs, having to present my journal/blog next week, and what happened at the Uni yesterday. I found her advice very helpful, and I feel I can certainly understand what she said and made these worries seem very manageable. She suggested to email the blog to Neil (Wood) and only print off a few pages from the past month or so, and to only worry about my contributions about working in pairs. I certainly felt a lot better after speaking to Lynda, and was certainly less worried about what happened yesterday
Went back to the classroom, and we were given a timetable sheet about how and when we were going to do the steps required for each of our projects. It was good that I had already considered this, even though I was a bit behind to where I would have liked to have been by now. I also showed Neil (B) my progress so far on my project, and explained to him what it was I was doing, and discussed with me how I will display my work at the end of year show, which does seem a while away, but it is worth thinking about. He also gave me some feedback on my work so far for the Spirit Rush project, saying that he felt that some of my designs for the spirit characters were too similar, even though I found an idea I liked and tried to stick to it. He also said he preferred some of the designs that were way more basic, but I wasn't too keen on myself. It did take me a while to take in and absorb what he had said, but Neil did say to draw another 10 character designs, which needed to be more different than the ones I had already done. He did remind me about how much he liked the simpler drawings, which I felt didn't really take much of my effort or imagination, and I didn't believe in as much, but then Lynda told me that she would have felt similar to how I was feeling and said to maybe compromise what I wanted and what Neil wanted for my future designs.
I spent lunch with my friend Jake from Interactive Media, and the Paris trip, who is also working on an end of year project, his Final Major Project (FMP), which is what I had to do this time last year. He told me he was working on a Turn Based Role Playing Game with Bug characters. This idea later reminded me a lot of Pokemon, as I was playing Pokemon quite a lot over Easter, but his idea sounded a lot like this but just with Bug type Pokemon, which sounded cool. Another Interactive Media student told me he was working on a board game (like a Snakes and Ladders type of board game, where you have to get from A to B, not something like Monopoly or Cluedo) that can be played electronically for his FMP. I decided to try and draw a couple more design ideas over lunch while they were working over their lunch break, which to be honest I never normally do, as I feel it's super important to take breaks from your work. However, I ust be honest, I don't feel I got much doe over lunch at all, I spent more of it talking to Jake and some of the other Interactive Media students. I also saw a couple more people from school today that I haven't seen in a while, and it was very nice to see them too.
Worked on the designs for the rest of the day, as well as my blog when I was struggling to think of more ideas, and then called Neil over to check on my progress just before the end of the day, and unfortunately he still wasn't happy with my designs, even though I tried hard to make them more varied and more different. He also kept on telling me lots of different reasons why he liked my much simpler and basic designs, which to be honest I don't believe in and wouldn't have been happy to work on as I feel they were too basic and I feel they didn't show off my creative ability as much. It was quite upsetting, especially towards the end of the day that my designs still weren't pleasing Neil, and we did end up disagreeing on the designs, and I felt his comments were a bit too critical and not as constructive as they should have been, and I felt he did use a few harsh words during his criticism, and this did upset me, even though he made clear that he was only trying to help. I'll be honest, I did feel very upset about the criticism I received at the end of the day, especially since I have genuinely tried to accept his comments from tis morning and put them in my designs and just felt like I needed to go home, as it was too much to take on at the time.
Lynda then tried to calm me down and took me out of the room to do this, and explained to me that...
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
28/03/13
Bought Luigi's Mansion 2 today! Calum also wanted this game, and had also pre-ordered the game, so we decided to buy it together. However, because he put a deposit down for the game and I didn't (I wasn't aware I needed to do this to do so) he got a free Boo stress ball with his copy and I didn't :(
Anyway, I feel I got on well at college today, even though this afternoon I did feel a bit rushed as it was hand in day today. Neil wanted my blog to be printed but I was really running out of time, so luckily he agreed for me to email my blog to him, judging how long my posts are, I'm sure my posts would collectively be worth at least a tree's worth of paper.
Also, because I had to print off a few things, I had to buy printer credits this week, and was the first time I've ever had to do so.
I feel that this term I have achieved so much and have also started to think about possible options for the future. I'm starting to regularly hang out with people in my breaktimes and lunchtimes, which is a huge achievement, and I feel that the counselling and emotional wellbeing sessions I've had have really helped with this, and this has made me a lot happier at college. I also like that I am now doing a project of my choosing, where I finally have a bit of creative freedom.
Anyway, I feel I got on well at college today, even though this afternoon I did feel a bit rushed as it was hand in day today. Neil wanted my blog to be printed but I was really running out of time, so luckily he agreed for me to email my blog to him, judging how long my posts are, I'm sure my posts would collectively be worth at least a tree's worth of paper.
Also, because I had to print off a few things, I had to buy printer credits this week, and was the first time I've ever had to do so.
I feel that this term I have achieved so much and have also started to think about possible options for the future. I'm starting to regularly hang out with people in my breaktimes and lunchtimes, which is a huge achievement, and I feel that the counselling and emotional wellbeing sessions I've had have really helped with this, and this has made me a lot happier at college. I also like that I am now doing a project of my choosing, where I finally have a bit of creative freedom.
16/04/13
NEW MODULE ALERT! Which is actually more or less about my reflective writing, which is what I am doing in these blogs.
To be honest there was quite a lot of information to take in today about the module, and I feel that a lot of it does feel quite uncomfortable and way out of my comfort zone.
First of all there is the contents of the module. I am fine with the 1000 word commentary about the course so far, and the aspects of the course that have helped to develop me as a creative person, and I don't mind the reflective writing. I just feel a bit uneasy about the fact that I have to do another presentation, about a success story relating to my work. But apparently I have to present this with another person, most likely from my course, which I feel extremely nervous about, because I just don't see myself working on a project well with the people on my course, and may find this hard to cope with.
It's also been announced that there is a compulsory educational visit to either Liverpool or Oxford, which Neil Wood, the lecturer who will be teaching the Reflective Writing module hasn't decided on yet, so he made each of the students vote for which place we would like to visit most. I really love Liverpool, but I've never been to Oxford so I opted for that. I see Liverpool as more of a fun place, like to go on a day out to do what you please. I've been to the New Art Museum at Liverpool a few times as well, which is nice, and has many interesting displays, many of which are interactive. I actually went over the Easter holidays, and had a great time there, even though we mainly did shopping, which I did feel was a bit of a dodgy move being so close to my birthday. However, my sister bought me a Fix it Felix Jr plush toy as an Easter gift, because she didn't buy me an Easter egg, which was really kind of her.
But anyway, I digress. I suppose there have been some positive things about today. I felt I made some excellent contributions to the class, which I do feel very pleased about, and I really do hope I will contribute more in these lectures with Neil Wood. I also feel that it was hard to get too excited about the last module, to be honest my heart wasn't really in it. To recap, the last module, Professional and Contextual Studies, was more about making money from art and felt more like I was doing business studies mixed with art, and to be honest I really don't see myself as much of a businessman, I am a creative person, and I sometimes wondered if you could get the information given in these lectures elsewhere. However, I do see the importance of knowing what was covered in the module if you want to become a professional artist, however you find out about it.
One thing in particular I did find interesting today was working in groups and constructing an interview about our art and creative practice. One person had to be the "interviewer," another had to be the "interviewee" and the other person/people had to take notes on the interview. Since nobody else from my course was in today, I was put with two of the other art students, who seem very nice and very enthusiastic about their work and art, and between us I feel constructed quite a good interview. I was the one taking the notes about the interview, as I didn't really feel all that comfortable being asked a bunch of questions about my work, especially with it being the first day back, and I was worried I might not understand all of the questions or being able to answer them well. However, when some of the questions were being read out, I was starting to think about what I would say if I was being asked those questions as well, while talking notes on the interview.
Spoke to my college support Lynda after the lecture had ended,
I was going to do some more work on my Trading Card project I started before Easter this afternoon, but I had a tough experience having to return library books and sorting out my student card at the University. Returning the library books in the end was fine, but were slightly overdue so I had to pay an extra 50p (I put in a £1 coin and the machine didn't give me any change. How cheeky!) and also had to return them by speaking to the librarian instead of just scanning them as normal. However, the librarian was very helpful and reactivated my student card for me. I then went to the information desk at the University to sort out the confusion with my student card, as the Uni had deactivated my card since finding my old one at the library after I bought a new one before Easter. The lady behind the desk was less than helpful really, and was really confusing, as she kept on swapping my cards over, and kept on saying that I can't have two student cards. Well if this was the case, then they shouldn't have deactivated my card in the first place, and none of this would have had to have happened! But the lady was quite unfriendly and didn't seem to care about the fact I have Autism and the way she was speaking to me was getting me all worked up and upset.
So I left the Uni upset, and got home and told my mum and dad about what had happened. I still felt quite depressed all evening, which I felt was a total shame as it was my birthday yesterday, and I shouldn't feel like this so soon after my birthday, and because I was feeling like this, it prevented me from doing my work in the evening.
To be honest there was quite a lot of information to take in today about the module, and I feel that a lot of it does feel quite uncomfortable and way out of my comfort zone.
First of all there is the contents of the module. I am fine with the 1000 word commentary about the course so far, and the aspects of the course that have helped to develop me as a creative person, and I don't mind the reflective writing. I just feel a bit uneasy about the fact that I have to do another presentation, about a success story relating to my work. But apparently I have to present this with another person, most likely from my course, which I feel extremely nervous about, because I just don't see myself working on a project well with the people on my course, and may find this hard to cope with.
It's also been announced that there is a compulsory educational visit to either Liverpool or Oxford, which Neil Wood, the lecturer who will be teaching the Reflective Writing module hasn't decided on yet, so he made each of the students vote for which place we would like to visit most. I really love Liverpool, but I've never been to Oxford so I opted for that. I see Liverpool as more of a fun place, like to go on a day out to do what you please. I've been to the New Art Museum at Liverpool a few times as well, which is nice, and has many interesting displays, many of which are interactive. I actually went over the Easter holidays, and had a great time there, even though we mainly did shopping, which I did feel was a bit of a dodgy move being so close to my birthday. However, my sister bought me a Fix it Felix Jr plush toy as an Easter gift, because she didn't buy me an Easter egg, which was really kind of her.
But anyway, I digress. I suppose there have been some positive things about today. I felt I made some excellent contributions to the class, which I do feel very pleased about, and I really do hope I will contribute more in these lectures with Neil Wood. I also feel that it was hard to get too excited about the last module, to be honest my heart wasn't really in it. To recap, the last module, Professional and Contextual Studies, was more about making money from art and felt more like I was doing business studies mixed with art, and to be honest I really don't see myself as much of a businessman, I am a creative person, and I sometimes wondered if you could get the information given in these lectures elsewhere. However, I do see the importance of knowing what was covered in the module if you want to become a professional artist, however you find out about it.
One thing in particular I did find interesting today was working in groups and constructing an interview about our art and creative practice. One person had to be the "interviewer," another had to be the "interviewee" and the other person/people had to take notes on the interview. Since nobody else from my course was in today, I was put with two of the other art students, who seem very nice and very enthusiastic about their work and art, and between us I feel constructed quite a good interview. I was the one taking the notes about the interview, as I didn't really feel all that comfortable being asked a bunch of questions about my work, especially with it being the first day back, and I was worried I might not understand all of the questions or being able to answer them well. However, when some of the questions were being read out, I was starting to think about what I would say if I was being asked those questions as well, while talking notes on the interview.
Spoke to my college support Lynda after the lecture had ended,
I was going to do some more work on my Trading Card project I started before Easter this afternoon, but I had a tough experience having to return library books and sorting out my student card at the University. Returning the library books in the end was fine, but were slightly overdue so I had to pay an extra 50p (I put in a £1 coin and the machine didn't give me any change. How cheeky!) and also had to return them by speaking to the librarian instead of just scanning them as normal. However, the librarian was very helpful and reactivated my student card for me. I then went to the information desk at the University to sort out the confusion with my student card, as the Uni had deactivated my card since finding my old one at the library after I bought a new one before Easter. The lady behind the desk was less than helpful really, and was really confusing, as she kept on swapping my cards over, and kept on saying that I can't have two student cards. Well if this was the case, then they shouldn't have deactivated my card in the first place, and none of this would have had to have happened! But the lady was quite unfriendly and didn't seem to care about the fact I have Autism and the way she was speaking to me was getting me all worked up and upset.
So I left the Uni upset, and got home and told my mum and dad about what had happened. I still felt quite depressed all evening, which I felt was a total shame as it was my birthday yesterday, and I shouldn't feel like this so soon after my birthday, and because I was feeling like this, it prevented me from doing my work in the evening.
Easter Holidays
WHOA I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS IN AAAAAAAAAAGES! But don't tell anybody.
Had a fantastic Easter Holiday full of happy times and Birthday celebrations. I am now 19!
I did have a lot of family days out over Easter, many places to get lots of inspiration from, such as Liverpool, the Trentham Monkey Forest (could make a few games based on that place), Chester and the Peak District, all very lovely places.
My birthday was awesome! I did loads of things for it, including a cinema trip to see the surprisingly great film The Croods, went to Pizza Hut to celebrate with some of my friends from my old Interactive Media course, was lovely to catch up with them, and were all very generous for my birthday. One of them gave me £20, which I am super grateful for! However, I did burn my finger as it caught on the pizza pan when our food arrived, I dropped some pizza down me and the Ice Cream Factory wasn't working, but apart from that it was great.
I also celebrated by going to Frankie and Benny's for lunch with my sister and my cousin (my sister came back home for the weekend before my birthday.) and also having a Domino's Pizza with another friend at my house whilst watching Wreck it Ralph and Avengers Assemble, ON THE SAME DAY! I was really full!
Sunday 14th April was quite sad because Becky had to go home and my Easter Holiday was coming to an end. However I have had a brilliant Easter.
I also feel a great sense of achievement over what I have done over Easter, especially arranging to see friends and family, as that really wasn't easy for me. I remember when sending the invites via Facebook, it took me 10 minutes to click the send button to my friends because I was so nervous! I also had to change the original date because some of the people I invited couldn't make the original date. I also found it weird that some of them had different holidays to my holiday, as they were back at Uni the second week of my Easter Holiday. I also felt like I was responsible for bringing them together, and they were also making other plans to meet up again, perhaps for a cinema trip, visiting one of the Universities and going on a night out or for our respective birthdays, and I just thought "I made this happen!" So a really proud day.
I also feel pleased that I managed to get a bit of college work done despite all of this, and also having the additional distraction of playing Luigi's Mansion 2 and Pokemon SoulSilver over quite a large portion of my Easter holidays. For my Trading Card Game, which I've now decided to name "Spirit Rush" ("Spirit" as spirits are the main focus of my trading card game, and "Rush" because I often feel rushed in doing things such as work for college), I have firstly decided on a name, and also drawn a few more development sketches, making my sketchbook almost full.
For my other module, the art/business one, I managed to write my case study and also wrote a 1000 word commentary on the module, all of this before my actual birthday! I felt so pleased and so relieved about this, as I was so nervous about having to do this case study, so now that's all ready to hand in for Tuesday!
Had a fantastic Easter Holiday full of happy times and Birthday celebrations. I am now 19!
I did have a lot of family days out over Easter, many places to get lots of inspiration from, such as Liverpool, the Trentham Monkey Forest (could make a few games based on that place), Chester and the Peak District, all very lovely places.
My birthday was awesome! I did loads of things for it, including a cinema trip to see the surprisingly great film The Croods, went to Pizza Hut to celebrate with some of my friends from my old Interactive Media course, was lovely to catch up with them, and were all very generous for my birthday. One of them gave me £20, which I am super grateful for! However, I did burn my finger as it caught on the pizza pan when our food arrived, I dropped some pizza down me and the Ice Cream Factory wasn't working, but apart from that it was great.
I also celebrated by going to Frankie and Benny's for lunch with my sister and my cousin (my sister came back home for the weekend before my birthday.) and also having a Domino's Pizza with another friend at my house whilst watching Wreck it Ralph and Avengers Assemble, ON THE SAME DAY! I was really full!
Sunday 14th April was quite sad because Becky had to go home and my Easter Holiday was coming to an end. However I have had a brilliant Easter.
I also feel a great sense of achievement over what I have done over Easter, especially arranging to see friends and family, as that really wasn't easy for me. I remember when sending the invites via Facebook, it took me 10 minutes to click the send button to my friends because I was so nervous! I also had to change the original date because some of the people I invited couldn't make the original date. I also found it weird that some of them had different holidays to my holiday, as they were back at Uni the second week of my Easter Holiday. I also felt like I was responsible for bringing them together, and they were also making other plans to meet up again, perhaps for a cinema trip, visiting one of the Universities and going on a night out or for our respective birthdays, and I just thought "I made this happen!" So a really proud day.
I also feel pleased that I managed to get a bit of college work done despite all of this, and also having the additional distraction of playing Luigi's Mansion 2 and Pokemon SoulSilver over quite a large portion of my Easter holidays. For my Trading Card Game, which I've now decided to name "Spirit Rush" ("Spirit" as spirits are the main focus of my trading card game, and "Rush" because I often feel rushed in doing things such as work for college), I have firstly decided on a name, and also drawn a few more development sketches, making my sketchbook almost full.
For my other module, the art/business one, I managed to write my case study and also wrote a 1000 word commentary on the module, all of this before my actual birthday! I felt so pleased and so relieved about this, as I was so nervous about having to do this case study, so now that's all ready to hand in for Tuesday!
Thursday, 28 March 2013
13/03/13 Andrew Stanton and the Philosophy of the Matrix
This afternoon's lecture we started watching Philosophy and the Matrix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgkBE4Kgq5Q , an hour long documentary which discussed the philosophical, religious, historical and social contexts in the Matrix movie. I thought it was very interesting how the writers and scientists and philosophers who all worked on the Matrix movie considered the subject of reality in very close and very deep detail, and considered what reality could be from many different points of view, and how it may not be what one person might think (it's all very confusing!) but they mentioned how it could be above and beyond one person's experiences.
Social Contexts, being controlled by corporations and big companies, education, can one really have entire freedom. the documentary compares people to "batteries" and we recharge in our sleep.
Religious contexts could include the soul trapped inside a material body wanting to get out.
They focused on people's limits, the confusion on reality, being unable to see beyond what we know and experience.
They also say if people are aware of what you don't already know, it makes people more curious, almost to the point of madness, and this intrigues the viewer.
Also mentions the quality of spontaneousness in the film, doing things without giving them a thought or being aware of what you're doing, your body just does it naturally. Neo uses his own will to achieve what he wants.
Uses Metaphysics, which links back to the question of what is reality? Other than what's physically around us, beyond what's physically around us. Very philosophical and confusing, not sure whether to trust all these theories and not sure if they're all true or not. It's important to have an individual opinion about what they are saying.
This confusing documentary also mentioned a lot of metaphors. This was certainly very philosophical and perhaps confusing, and not all of it may be factual, but it is certainly interesting to see all the different points of view.
We also watched Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg
This was a very inspiring speech given by movie director Andrew Stanton at the 2012 TED Convention about
storytelling, and what makes a story interesting and gripping to an audience, and spoke about how his past experiences
have influenced some of the stories of the films he has directed and been a part of, such as Finding Nemo.
He was a very premature baby, and had to have many blood transfusions, which could be a bit like Nemo's
birth in Finding Nemo, and feels he owes it to this second chance he has to pour his heart and soul into every
project.
Stanton gave many storytelling tips and secrets in his speech, many of which I would like to practice and I
feel that using these storytelling tips and secrets will help me a lot to make storytelling in any projects I do that
involve storytelling much better.
Some tips he provided include:
Timing is very important, especially with jokes, punch lines.
Need to make people care, story must promise audience that the story will lead somewhere worth their time.
Story needs to be rewarding for the audience.
Story needs to be unpredictable. What will happen next?
Characters need a "spine," something that they need to achieve, something they must work on, a goal. This
leads to good and/or bad choices for the character.
However flawed character's personality may be at start of the story, needs to make character likeable, make the
character learn something.
Storytelling has guidelines, not any particular set rules.
The best stories create wonder, something Stanton noticed when watching Disney's Bambi.
Use what you know to create story, and it is really good if you can relate to the story somehow, it's perfectly
ok, if not recommended, that you use your own influences and values to inspire the story.
Actions are also essential in storytelling, creates the most intricate storytelling.
Stanton mentioned his many influences as well, including the 1986 film Lawrence of Arabia, which he claims he saw
7 times in one month, because it was so inspiring to him, and I think a scene in particular he found inspiring
was when one character asked another "Who are you?" which I think did make him consider the inner depths
of the character more, to kind of give the character a spine, a path of self discovery, I think. Other influences of
his included Wall.E, which used merely actions, but incredibly well, to tell the story, and Bambi, which made
him fill with wonder. I honestly found everything he said truly interesting and inspiring, and it was amazing to
see how much depth and detail and work should go into a story alone, and certainly sounds a very inspiring
career.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Milestones in Games
Games for 3D Graphics started in the 1960s, but were all based around the military.
The first thing to be considered a video game was Space War, released in 1962.
Video games started to become commercially available for the home in the early 1970s.
Home Pong was a game played through the TV, used one machine and one game. Released on the Atari system.
Altaria was made in 1977, used very limited colour and sound.
Typical Arcade games were introduced in 1980.
Two different streams of games, home and arcade. Graphics were much better in Arcades. 3D was faked by use of mirrors in arcade machines.
Atari was biggest games company of the 1970s/early 80s.
Space Invaders and Pac-man were released in 1978 and 1980 respectively. Two of the most iconic arcade games of all time.
Nintendo Game and Watch, first released in 1980. Inspired Nintendo DS systems available today, which are the most current Nintendo handheld (well, the Nintendo 3DS.)
Used LED screens, used for alarm clocks. Had one game on it, with two difficulty levels.
Atari 2600, from 1980-1982. Steve Jobs worked with Atari, links Atari and gaming with Pixar and other companies we have been studying.
It plugged into a TV and had the game code information on games cartridges. Was one of the first consoles to use cartridges.
1982 - Pitfall released on Atari 2000, used only 8 colours. Started to use more colours in games.
1983 - crash in the games market, due to the market being over saturated with low quality games. In an attempt to improve the games market, people were making games based on films, such as E.T. and Indiana Jones.
There was a myth stating that the excess games during the crash were buried in the desert in New Mexico.
Known as the Video Game crash.
Atari ran into trouble in 1983 for image problems which made pornographic games. Sales began to fall drastically here.
Home Micros were around from 1983 to 1992, a period of time when they focused on making games for home computers. Games industry was very competitive in the 1980s. However, internal memory was very small, it was 16-64. Very simple compared to today's computers. Initially sold as business machines for the home. Often called Micro Computers.
Most popular home computers for gaming in the 1980s were the Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K, Amstrad cpc 464, and the BBC Model B. Most were plugged into a normal TV set. Cassettes were the usual way to store games. Machines could also be programmed by the user.
BBC Computers were used in schools.
Joysticks were popular for games.
Sir Clive Sinclair was a British Inventor, originally made calculators and the ZX Spectrum. Could be a good case study topic. Wanted each home to have a computer that includes Microsoft Excel and Word, but instead were used for games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIcAyFVK0gE
Development of Apps, most notably Angry Birds. First game to be released for Apple's iOS.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/02/19/angry-birds-review-2
Paradroid was created by Game Designer Andrew Baybrook in 1985. He programmed the game from the comfort of his own bedroom. Had to make whole game compared to now, where making a game is split into different departments, such as design and programming.
Most game genres were developed in 1980s. Home Micros had advantages to earlier consoles, such as having better memory, use of keyboards and better sound chips compared to older consoles.
This allowed game designers to be more adventurous with game concepts and brand new game genres.
An example of this is Advenure/Role Playing Games. Used keyboard and text input to control game. Usually fantasy based. Influenced by Role Playing Games such as Dungeons and Dragons. At first very limited graphics and no sound. Limited memory of machines meant only a few words were recognised.
A few examples include the Hobbit (1984) and Zork 3(1983)
Strategy games, inspired by chess, one of the earliest "traditional" games to be "ported" onto the computer. Most popular strategy games were fantasy and war related. Improved graphics led to more immersive games such as Lords of Midnight.
Theatre Europe (1985) Based on Cold War, nuclear war.
Most popular games, however, remained the "shooters," or "shmups" presumably short for "shoot 'em ups." Came in a variety of styles but broadly copied arcade games such as Defender and Space Invaders. Examples include side scrolling shoot em up Uridium and Beach Head.
Dropzone is an example of this. As is Attack of the Camels, which was copied for a gmae version of The Empire Strikes Back.
Platform Games also migrated from the arcade. Examples include Dizzy, the Great Gianna Sisters and Prince of Persia.
Due to the lack of 3D, isometric shapes were made to create the illusion of 3D. This involved an angled view from above. Examples include Spin Dizzy and Head over Heels.
Beat em ups began in the arcades. Usually involved two opponents fighting in an oriental setting. Dual Play gameplay made these games very popular. Most were limited by the joystick controls, usually a limit of 16. Examples include The Way of the Exploding Fist and IK+
Barbarian was controversial and was branded sexist marketing and in game violence. Woman on box was only side character who spectated. Used as a sex symbol.
Sports Simulators made many different sports into games, such as cycling and the Olympics. Evolved from Track and Field style arcade games. Typically players had to waggle controls at a fast pace to make sprites move. Examples include Summer Games 2 and Daley Thomas Decathlon.
Racing simulators were very popular, fast paced action games. Examples include Revs, Pitstop 3 and Supercycle.
Flight Simulators also began to emerge at this time. Usually focused on controls and aimed for realism. Lack of 3D controls made it difficult to convey a sense of flight. Examples include Aviator and Dambusters.
Open Ended Games, started as a variation of the flight sim as open ended exploration games. Started to introduce 3D Examples include Elite, Mercenary and Starglider 2
Early computer press came in the 1980s in a form of computer themed magazines and journals, which became the main source of news of the industry, which included interviews with designers, hardware advice, game reviews and game demos. the best selling magazines of the time included Zzap!64, Computer and Video Games and Sinclair User.
Star Wars Arcade Machine (1983) had sounds from the film, which up to that point sounds from movies had never been used in a game before.
Other popular racing games of the time included Pole Position and Outrun. Outrun (Sega, 1986, Arcade) had hills and an element of choice. Was made with Bitmap which gave more flexibility and lots more detail.
Virtua Racing, an arcade game released in 1992, was one of the earliest 3D racing games, had very simple 3D because of limited capabilities, but included User Interfaces (UIs)
Commodore Amiga, released in 1990, one of the first consoles to use 3D Polygon Graphics. Games such as Starglider 2 and Interceptor were released for the Commodore Amiga.
Game Boy. Nintendo handheld that used cartridges.
1990s saw the rise of games consoles, such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
However, some games, such as Doom (1993) refused to move onto hand helds.
Playstation One, released in 1994 (the year I was born!!) Very significant. Sony's first console. Virtual Fire was good to represent 3D
WipeOut - Polygon Based.
PS2 and Xbox (2000s) PS2 best selling console ever. 3D games became rapidly more successful. Xbox basically PC but console version.
Top games include God of War (PS2)
Unreal Tournament (PC, 1999) Game could be modified and has evolved from then to the current generation (Unreal Tournament 3, PS3, 2007) Graphics have significantly improved. Uses only normal maps for textures but large processing power.
Lara Croft, introduced gaming equality between men and women. Good for case study for conflict of women in games and feminism.
Mobile gaming (2005-present day) Takes work away from consoles. Produces apps such as Angry Birds, Doodle Jump etc.
Nintendo Wii (2007) brought social gaming back into the limelight. First time since Atari. brought more social contexts in games
MUD to MMORPG (1970-2010)
Multi User Dungeon - Text Based RPG
-Social Games
- Uses Headsets
-multi user
As graphics became better for home consoles, use of advanced arcade games deteriorated.
Bump maps give really good graphics.
Are games art, or just entertainment?
Do violence in video games influence society?
The first thing to be considered a video game was Space War, released in 1962.
Video games started to become commercially available for the home in the early 1970s.
Home Pong was a game played through the TV, used one machine and one game. Released on the Atari system.
Altaria was made in 1977, used very limited colour and sound.
Typical Arcade games were introduced in 1980.
Two different streams of games, home and arcade. Graphics were much better in Arcades. 3D was faked by use of mirrors in arcade machines.
Atari was biggest games company of the 1970s/early 80s.
Space Invaders and Pac-man were released in 1978 and 1980 respectively. Two of the most iconic arcade games of all time.
Nintendo Game and Watch, first released in 1980. Inspired Nintendo DS systems available today, which are the most current Nintendo handheld (well, the Nintendo 3DS.)
Used LED screens, used for alarm clocks. Had one game on it, with two difficulty levels.
Atari 2600, from 1980-1982. Steve Jobs worked with Atari, links Atari and gaming with Pixar and other companies we have been studying.
It plugged into a TV and had the game code information on games cartridges. Was one of the first consoles to use cartridges.
1982 - Pitfall released on Atari 2000, used only 8 colours. Started to use more colours in games.
1983 - crash in the games market, due to the market being over saturated with low quality games. In an attempt to improve the games market, people were making games based on films, such as E.T. and Indiana Jones.
There was a myth stating that the excess games during the crash were buried in the desert in New Mexico.
Known as the Video Game crash.
Atari ran into trouble in 1983 for image problems which made pornographic games. Sales began to fall drastically here.
Home Micros were around from 1983 to 1992, a period of time when they focused on making games for home computers. Games industry was very competitive in the 1980s. However, internal memory was very small, it was 16-64. Very simple compared to today's computers. Initially sold as business machines for the home. Often called Micro Computers.
Most popular home computers for gaming in the 1980s were the Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K, Amstrad cpc 464, and the BBC Model B. Most were plugged into a normal TV set. Cassettes were the usual way to store games. Machines could also be programmed by the user.
BBC Computers were used in schools.
Joysticks were popular for games.
Sir Clive Sinclair was a British Inventor, originally made calculators and the ZX Spectrum. Could be a good case study topic. Wanted each home to have a computer that includes Microsoft Excel and Word, but instead were used for games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIcAyFVK0gE
Development of Apps, most notably Angry Birds. First game to be released for Apple's iOS.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2010/02/19/angry-birds-review-2
Paradroid was created by Game Designer Andrew Baybrook in 1985. He programmed the game from the comfort of his own bedroom. Had to make whole game compared to now, where making a game is split into different departments, such as design and programming.
Most game genres were developed in 1980s. Home Micros had advantages to earlier consoles, such as having better memory, use of keyboards and better sound chips compared to older consoles.
This allowed game designers to be more adventurous with game concepts and brand new game genres.
An example of this is Advenure/Role Playing Games. Used keyboard and text input to control game. Usually fantasy based. Influenced by Role Playing Games such as Dungeons and Dragons. At first very limited graphics and no sound. Limited memory of machines meant only a few words were recognised.
A few examples include the Hobbit (1984) and Zork 3(1983)
Strategy games, inspired by chess, one of the earliest "traditional" games to be "ported" onto the computer. Most popular strategy games were fantasy and war related. Improved graphics led to more immersive games such as Lords of Midnight.
Theatre Europe (1985) Based on Cold War, nuclear war.
Most popular games, however, remained the "shooters," or "shmups" presumably short for "shoot 'em ups." Came in a variety of styles but broadly copied arcade games such as Defender and Space Invaders. Examples include side scrolling shoot em up Uridium and Beach Head.
Dropzone is an example of this. As is Attack of the Camels, which was copied for a gmae version of The Empire Strikes Back.
Platform Games also migrated from the arcade. Examples include Dizzy, the Great Gianna Sisters and Prince of Persia.
Due to the lack of 3D, isometric shapes were made to create the illusion of 3D. This involved an angled view from above. Examples include Spin Dizzy and Head over Heels.
Beat em ups began in the arcades. Usually involved two opponents fighting in an oriental setting. Dual Play gameplay made these games very popular. Most were limited by the joystick controls, usually a limit of 16. Examples include The Way of the Exploding Fist and IK+
Barbarian was controversial and was branded sexist marketing and in game violence. Woman on box was only side character who spectated. Used as a sex symbol.
Sports Simulators made many different sports into games, such as cycling and the Olympics. Evolved from Track and Field style arcade games. Typically players had to waggle controls at a fast pace to make sprites move. Examples include Summer Games 2 and Daley Thomas Decathlon.
Racing simulators were very popular, fast paced action games. Examples include Revs, Pitstop 3 and Supercycle.
Flight Simulators also began to emerge at this time. Usually focused on controls and aimed for realism. Lack of 3D controls made it difficult to convey a sense of flight. Examples include Aviator and Dambusters.
Open Ended Games, started as a variation of the flight sim as open ended exploration games. Started to introduce 3D Examples include Elite, Mercenary and Starglider 2
Early computer press came in the 1980s in a form of computer themed magazines and journals, which became the main source of news of the industry, which included interviews with designers, hardware advice, game reviews and game demos. the best selling magazines of the time included Zzap!64, Computer and Video Games and Sinclair User.
Star Wars Arcade Machine (1983) had sounds from the film, which up to that point sounds from movies had never been used in a game before.
Other popular racing games of the time included Pole Position and Outrun. Outrun (Sega, 1986, Arcade) had hills and an element of choice. Was made with Bitmap which gave more flexibility and lots more detail.
Virtua Racing, an arcade game released in 1992, was one of the earliest 3D racing games, had very simple 3D because of limited capabilities, but included User Interfaces (UIs)
Commodore Amiga, released in 1990, one of the first consoles to use 3D Polygon Graphics. Games such as Starglider 2 and Interceptor were released for the Commodore Amiga.
Game Boy. Nintendo handheld that used cartridges.
1990s saw the rise of games consoles, such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
However, some games, such as Doom (1993) refused to move onto hand helds.
Playstation One, released in 1994 (the year I was born!!) Very significant. Sony's first console. Virtual Fire was good to represent 3D
WipeOut - Polygon Based.
PS2 and Xbox (2000s) PS2 best selling console ever. 3D games became rapidly more successful. Xbox basically PC but console version.
Top games include God of War (PS2)
Unreal Tournament (PC, 1999) Game could be modified and has evolved from then to the current generation (Unreal Tournament 3, PS3, 2007) Graphics have significantly improved. Uses only normal maps for textures but large processing power.
Lara Croft, introduced gaming equality between men and women. Good for case study for conflict of women in games and feminism.
Nintendo Wii (2007) brought social gaming back into the limelight. First time since Atari. brought more social contexts in games
MUD to MMORPG (1970-2010)
Multi User Dungeon - Text Based RPG
-Social Games
- Uses Headsets
-multi user
As graphics became better for home consoles, use of advanced arcade games deteriorated.
Bump maps give really good graphics.
Are games art, or just entertainment?
Do violence in video games influence society?
Saturday, 23 March 2013
21/03/13
Today I finally managed to actually do something creative! I started to get some ideas down for my trading card game! I was really pleased that I have now been able to get to this stage, and I feel I got some really good ideas down! I feel I have based my ideas more on arguably the two biggest trading card games around when I was growing up, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. I liked Pokemon's Energy card idea, and Yu-Gi-Oh has a lot of variety in the game, but sometimes this can be a bit overwhelming and the game is very complex, which I don't want for my game. However, by the end of the day, I felt worried that my idea was swaying a lot more towards the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game, and I really don't want to make it look like that I am copying Yu-Gi-Oh, which is what I am really worried about. As I said, I really don't want to make it too complicated.
Spoke to Lisa a bit more about possible career paths, and Art Therapy, which could be a possible career path, and something I will need to look more into, and speak to careers advisors at college about this. Also discussed this with counsellors, who both seemed quite happy for me to think this, but said that I would need extra training. Also Lisa mentioned that many Art Therapists also have another job as well as Art Therapy, and many do it voluntarily. I kind of hoped you could make a living from Art Therapy, but Lisa said she wasn't entirely sure, and all this could be discussed with the careers advisors at college. I'd also like to perhaps get an easygoing part time job, just to have a bit more financial independence from my parents, and hopefully the college careers advisors
For next week I hope to have had a much clearer idea in my head about my birthday. This weekend I might ask the people I have in mind that I wish to celebrate with, to give them notice in case they're already planning what they're doing in their Easter break.
I have also had a very good week socially at college, and I noticed that I am talking to people a lot more, and I am feeling much more comfortable around people I have been wanting to get to know better, which I feel so brilliantly good about.
Spoke to Lisa a bit more about possible career paths, and Art Therapy, which could be a possible career path, and something I will need to look more into, and speak to careers advisors at college about this. Also discussed this with counsellors, who both seemed quite happy for me to think this, but said that I would need extra training. Also Lisa mentioned that many Art Therapists also have another job as well as Art Therapy, and many do it voluntarily. I kind of hoped you could make a living from Art Therapy, but Lisa said she wasn't entirely sure, and all this could be discussed with the careers advisors at college. I'd also like to perhaps get an easygoing part time job, just to have a bit more financial independence from my parents, and hopefully the college careers advisors
For next week I hope to have had a much clearer idea in my head about my birthday. This weekend I might ask the people I have in mind that I wish to celebrate with, to give them notice in case they're already planning what they're doing in their Easter break.
I have also had a very good week socially at college, and I noticed that I am talking to people a lot more, and I am feeling much more comfortable around people I have been wanting to get to know better, which I feel so brilliantly good about.
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