Thursday, 1 October 2015

Genres, Descriptions, Examples and My Game Idea.



Genre Genre Info Example


Role Playing Game (RPG)
In this type of game you take control of the protagonist and can control them completely in areas like combat and dialogue
My example is Fallout 3 for Console and PC, you take control of ‘The Lone Wanderer’ and you guide him through the story with dialogue options. The exploration/adventure aspect of this game is massive.




First Person Shooter (FPS)
In this genre you will see the game from a POV angle. Very popular in today’s industry with games like CounterStrike and Call of Duty. A lot of other genres will also have aspects of FPS.

My example is Counterstrike Source for PC, this game is fairly old but still popular with fans of the CS series. Many deem it the predecessor to huge modern games like Call of Duty.




Sport
Sport genre is fairly self-explanatory, just involves a recreation of the Sport it’s portraying. Sports games include Football, Rugby, NHL, NFL, Basketball and Baseball among others.
My example for Sport is Fifa. This franchise has been ongoing for a while and a new games comes out annually. You basically just play games of football and can even take control of a manager aspect and guide your chosen team to the top of the league.




Platform
Platform Games will include aspects of climbing and jumping from platform to platform. Many platformers will incorporate another genre as well, normally shooter.
My example is Ratchet and Clank 3 for PS2. This game is essentially a platform shooter. You control a fictiocus species of Lombax called Ratchet and have to destroy a evil Robot leader. Aspects of Platform and Shooter.





Puzzle
In Puzzle Games you will have to solve a puzzle or similar in order to advance. These games challenge your brain to think outside the box.
My example is Tomb Raider 1 for PS1, although this game incorporated shooter aspects too it was never its strong point and the best bits of the games were the Puzzle areas. Also incorporated a lot of Platforming areas.





Strategy
You will have to use your wit to proceed. Normally having to put yourself in the characters position. Popular games are Battle Strategies were you will have to guide your army into a battle and use your wit to outsmart and win.

Mount & Blade Warband for PC in which you build your army up from peasants and lead them into battle. Choosing whether to take over armies or be bad and take over towns.




Survival
Survival Games are games in which you essentially have to Survive. Gathering resources to build homes, killing and cooking animals to eat and making weapons to defend yourself. The main enemy in these games are natural environments and animals.
My example for Survival is Rust for PC, you have to gather resources to build weapons and tools, you can also use these resources to build homes to live in. Resources include Twig, Stone, Wood, Sheet Metal and High Quality Metal. The main enemy in this game is online players but also natural environments like heat, cold, starvation, thirst or being killed by a Wolf or Bear.



Beat Em’ Up
Beat Em’ Up Games involve a lot of fighting, that being the main draw of them. Using anything you possibly can to kill your enemies.
My example for this is The Warriors. Although not a complete Beat Em’ Up games as it is more story driven then most Beat Em’ Ups. The main objective of most levels are fighting with other objectives such as robbery and graffting.






Hack and Slash
This game genre involves also a lot of fighting. With your normally controlling a protagonist with lots of enemies for you to ‘hack and slash’ through. Normally with some sort of melee weapon. Games are mainly fast paced with a lot of action.
My example for this genre is Blood Will Tell, this is a Japanese PS2 game. You take control of a young Japanese man called Hyakkimaru who has had his body parts stolen by 50 fiends. The object of the game is to work your way through these Fiends one by one, each time earning your body part back. Each body part has something useful with it such as your arms have a blade inside them and your knee having a cannon sort of weapon. You also start the game in Black and White because you have no eyes yet.




Simulation
Simulation games are games which are completely focused on things that could be accomplished in real life.
My example for Simulation is Sims 1 for the PC, this game entails you creating a family and creating their home. You are basically like their guardian angel and have to tell them to do everything from going to the toilet to getting a job and eating dinner. A very weird idea when you hear it but The Sims series is hugely popular.




Racing
Racing Games are games in which you will participate in a race. Mainly Car racing but others can include Go Kart, Motorcycle, Bicycle and Planes. The main objective is to win races. My example is Diddy Kong Racing for the N64 in which you control one of many Donkey Kong related characters and compete in races. This game is very similar to Mario Kart series but stands up on it’s own as being a great game. It does share similar aspects like collecting Power Ups and Weapons during the race to use against your opposition.

Computer Gaming in the Media:


Kids who spend too much time at the computer are missing out on other activities fundamental to their physical, social, intellectual, and emotional development. Time spent in front of the computer or game console is time taken away from playing with friends, being read to or doing a project with you, and other activities.

Most of the bad effects of video games are blamed on the violence they contain. Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts and behaviour according to a scientific study: "The effect of video games violence in kids in worsened by games interactive nature. In many games, kids are rewarded for being more violent. The act of violence is done repeatedly . The child is in control of the violence and experiences the violence in his or her own eyes" This website has a lot of good Pro's and Con's of Computer Gaming and has been used for some of my research: http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games

The future of gaming could be very bad, for example: this generation of children could grow up to influenced highly by the video games of today in the way of violence, sexism, racism etc. and then when of age hand down these traits to their children as 'Children See, Children Do', this will be bad as it makes the child think these attributes are right and children are highly influenced by elders. On top of that when they future children see these old video games they will assume that this was the norm and may even try to act out some of the things they see.

Psychological Effects of Video Games:

In a recent study it proves that video games can help your hand eye coordination. Surgeons that play video games have a lot lower chance of making a mistake while performing a procedure. It is recommended that surgeons play a specially developed video game before surgery in order to 'warm up'. The study found that surgeons who played video games for at least three hours a week made 37% fewer mistakes and performed the procedure 27% faster than those who did not play video games. I found this article here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/surgeons-play-video-games-to-prepare-for-surgery/

This was taken from a survey I found which measured the social skills of a child addicted to video games to one not addicted: The results showed that generally, there was a significant difference between the social skills of students addicted to computer games and normal students. The conclusion was: As the study results showed, addiction to computer games may affect the quality and quantity of social skills. In other words, the higher the addiction to computer games, the less the social skills.

Investigators discovered people who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. They also found that those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period. Although other experimental studies have shown that a single session of playing a violent video game increased short-term aggression, this is the first study to show long-term effects from playing violent video games, said psychologist Dr. Brad Bushman, co-author of the study.

“It’s important to know the long-term causal effects of violent video games, because so many young people regularly play these games” Bushman said. "Playing video games could be compared to smoking cigarettes. A single cigarette won't cause lung cancer, but smoking over weeks, months or years greatly increases the risk"

Find the full article here:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/12/11/negative-effects-of-violent-video-games-may-build-over-time/48918.html

This next article is highlighting the bad effects on the brain on Video Games, its key areas are different in a way like you would think, e.g. they talk about unhealthy eating whilst in on your computer, for example they let these kids play video games for 35 minutes and they put a bowl of sweets near them to see how many they'd eat, this is an extract from a article regarding the 'Sweet Issue'.

"During the experiment, a bowl of M&M's was placed next to the computer, the teens were told they could freely eat them, but were warned that high consumption of candy in a short time was unhealthy"

Those who played the violent video games ate more than three times as much sweets as the other teens, the results showed. This of course could lead to unhealthy eating habits such as skipping dinner meals due to needing to "finish this level" or "I can't pause". This will increase the chances of heart problems later on in life.

This comes from the same article as the 'Cheat Test'. It estimated how many children would cheat on a game that could win them free iPads.

"After played the game, the teens were asked to solve a 10 item logic test in which they could win one raffle ticket for each question they got right. The raffle tickets could be used to win cool prizes. The teens were told how many answers they got correct and had the opportunity to take the appropriate number of raffle tickets out of an envelope containing many tickets whilst not being watched. However, we knew how many tickets were in the envelope so we could determine if a player took more than he or she had earned. Results showed that teens who played a violent cheated more than those who played non-violent video games - over 8 times more."

Full article here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201401/violent-video-games-decrease-self-control

Good and Bad about Video Gaming:

Positives Negatives
One positive that computer gaming brings is it makes you more in touch with your technical side which in this day and age is handy to have. One negative is that it can make people very violent towards people as they’ve seen it on the game they think it works in real life too.
It is widely regarded that Computer Gaming enhances hand eye coordination. People become very attached to their games. I even remember one story in which a young child killed his Mum and Dad when they grounded him for playing too much.
It is also known that it helps Puzzle solving in daily routine and helps you think outside the box. Can make children socially awkward or isolated, in game you don’t need to speak to anyone or make conversation so they feel like that in real life too.
Video gaming also enhances your knowledge of English and Maths, I can vouch for this because I have learnt a lot of words and a lot of phrases (both bad and good) from video games. A lot of hardcore gamers can sometimes confuse fantasy with reality and assume that a lot of what they see in the games happen in real life too.
Patience, gaming can bring a lot of patience as you could either be waiting for a new game to come out in 2 months and you have to wait for so long for it to come out or even in game when you are waiting for that perfect sniper shot.


Some games reward you for the wrong things, like crashing cars and killing people. If you are young and playing these games you can be easily influenced if you have a fragile mind.
Simulation games can bring you extra skills that you could even use in real life such as plane Simulators, Flying Schools use these to actually train up pilot so they are used to the layouts and the mindset you need to be in. Can make children distracted, in school and other social places children can be thinking about these games or due to lack of sleep from playing these games can be away with the fairies.

My Game Idea:



This is my Game Concept, the Game is titled ‘Refugee Ralph’, the art style is very basic as it is only the first concept for it, I made this on MS Paint and the Green blocks represent floors that you can jump on, the Blue dot represent Border Patrol, the Brown dot is the main character, Ralph. The grey blocks are obstacles and the Red Star is the Family Member you need to collect to finish the level and progress to the next. In the full version I would use really nice realistic textures on the Platforms and represent them as Grass, I would also introduce hills and mountains like I have in the first platform.

The object of Refugee Ralph is as follows; you control a Syrian Refugee named Ralph, his plan is to get from Syria all the way to Germany to live a happy life with his family. The main enemy in the game is Border Patrol who are trying to stop Ralph but intercepting him, they want him back to Syria. To finish each level you have to collect your family member from that level (Country) and then you can proceed to the next country slowly progressing all the way to Germany. There are quite a few levels as there are quite a few countries between Syria and Germany and when you finally reach Germany the End Boss will be German Borders in which you will have to either maneuver around them or go all Guns Blazing and attack them head on.

I was planning to introduce items you could collect such as Coins that you could use in the Shop to upgrade Ralph such as the Extra Touch Clothes in which in takes an extra touch for Ralph to be caught. Also Speed Shoes in which you can run faster in them making more of a chance to get away from the Borders.

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