Thursday 29 September 2016

Photoshop Intro

Original Pictures Used:






Process:

My concept for my header was basically to put some of my favourite characters from games into a real life image, as subtly as possible to give off a more realistic vibe. To cut out the characters from their separate pictures, I used the magic wand tool, the quick mask tool, the eraser tool, and the polygonal lasso tool. I've used photoshop before, but it's been a while. Once I dragged all the pictures into the streetview image, I used the transform tool to make everything look more realistic and subtle. I accidentally didn't put the image into the header setting, so I had to transform the combined photo to fit, causing it to look a little awkward.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Game Analysis Day

Questions:

1. What game(s) stood out to you and why? 

In the 5 games that I played, Pause Ahead and Attack on Titan stood out to me because of their concepts, gameplay, and visual presentation.

2. What games were "good" games? Use some of the vocabulary in the Game Design Elements chart to describe what elements were "good".

I think a good game has to have a objective to keep someone motivated, engaging mechanics, and challenging obstacles. As long as these exist, everything else just makes the game better. In terms of "good" games, I think that Pause Ahead and AOT were the "good" games in my five.

3. What games were "bad" games? Use some of the vocabulary in the Game Design Elements chart to describe what elements were "bad".

In my opinion, games are supposed to always be changing  in terms of enemies, objectives, or graphics. If they don't, I just get easily bored, since it's basically doing the same thing over and over again. In terms of easily getting bored, I think that Flappy Bird and 2048 were "bad" games, since other than objective and game mechanics, there really is nothing to keep players from getting bored, and even those can get tiring if I play a lot of it.

4. Review your favourite game of the day. Your review should be about two paragraphs and should include: 

  • some screenshots of your gameplay
  • a brief synopsis of the story/concept of the game
  • positives and negatives of the game using game design element vocabulary
  • a rating of the game and where to find the game (a link)
My favourite game of the day was probably Pause Ahead. The main focus of the game (and the title) is that players use the pause button to get past obstacles. It's a platformer game with simple mechanics. I find it awesome that, although platformers have been around for a long time, and I have played my fair share of them, the makers can still come up with a new concept and makes the whole gameplay refreshing. I would probably give this game a 3.5/5, considering it's only the best compared to the other 4 games I played.
  The graphics are done in 16-bit, so for that style, I think the art is pretty fun. The obstacles are challenging, and really do make me think. Plus the monologue before every level makes the story and concept even more interesting. Although no level is the same, I still think a new concept and fresh mechanics can't stop players from getting bored, since at some point, the "enemies" become old and won't be able to keep players as engaged as another genre of games might.

Link: http://askiisoft.com/games/pause-ahead/



Game Analysis Chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18V4rcdAmF2Vo9CNdjH1REoM4HtXOBppFfV0q-rIsW-A/edit?usp=sharing

Monday 12 September 2016

About Me

What is your name? First name, last initial please

Your answer
What name do you prefer to be called?

Your answer
What block are you in?

Your answer
What grade are you in?

Your answer
What is your favourite video game(s)?

Your answer
Which video game(s) are you currently playing?

Your answer
Why did you take this class?

Your answer
What are you hoping to learn in this class? Be specific, for example what programs or programming languages are you interested in? What about the creative side of game design?

Your answer
What grade are you hoping to achieve in this class?

Your answer
How can you achieve this grade?

Your answer
What do you want or need from your teacher in this class to be successful?

Your answer
What are you interested in outside of video games?

Your answer
I wish my teacher knew...

Your answer
Tell me something interesting about yourself.

Your answer
 
Who doesn't love Harry Potter? Fight me
Mainstream? Yes. Overappreciated? Yes. Awesome still? Yes
Every self acclaimed hipster has a favourite band that literally no one has heard of
 
 

Final Self-Assessment

1. What was your favourite activity/assignment in the course? My favourite assignment this year/course would definitely be the character te...