Learning Photoshop

I'm currently attempting to learn Adobe Photoshop and so far I'm liking it. I'm far from being a professional, but I hope to update you guys as I learn and create.

 Movie poster for Hansel and Gretel that I made.

 Found a tutorial that took more than 20 steps and several days to finish.

                                                                                 Worth it.

Original image. 

Avatar inspired image. This YouTube tutorial required a lot of time, but it came out nice.

The State of Video Games Perception Today and Why It's Changing

There seems to be an age gap for video game appreciation. I wish I could point people with such limited knowledge about video games to experiences like the Mass Effect series or Journey, but then I remember where they are coming from in terms of games. Their games had a low learning curve and story was insignificant if it existed at all. Most games today have more complicated controls with stories that explore emotional concepts (Walking Dead) to worlds that are bizarre and abstract (Octodad). For some adults it must be like watching Scooby Doo and then suddenly changing the channel to find Sherlock or Dr. Who. That's a huge jump in sophistication. Still, these new games should be examined more closely for their emotional and intellectual impact. When I watched Mordin sacrifice himself in Mass Effect 3 I searched so hard for way to bring him back or if there was a way I would not have to sacrifice Ashley or Kaidan in the original Mass Effect. Whenever I can care a lot about a fictional character, be it the Monster in Frankenstein or the creatures in Journey, I know that the medium is more than just some story.

Of course "video games" is an unfitting name for what the medium can mentally and emotionally accomplish for "players" anyway(even the description for participants isn't that great. It sounds like someone playing a sport for fun as oppose to someone experiencing a different world from their own). I read a lot about people in the industry saying "interactive medium" instead, but that sounds so dry and clinical to me. I think there needs to be a new name, but it may be too late for that. 

Fortunately, the name will not matter soon. I think we're moving to a point where more games designers are focusing on building creative worlds with their own immersive story. There's a game called Gone Home that does this really well. I won't spoil it because I'm not sure if you've played it, but you play a young white girl in the 90's returning to an empty home after a study aboard to find that you're whole family is missing. A storm is booming outside and you explore the house to learn why your family is absent for your arrival. I personally have zero similarity with being a white female in the 90's, but my the ending of the game I cried and felt tremendous sympathy for the silent protagonist's family. While I've read plenty of books and watched plenty of shows, I've never forgot that I wasn't the main character. I think this is something that can only be accomplished in a first person interactive medium, which just so happens to be video games. Thankfully games are maturing with new developers and fans who understand the potential of the medium.

Elder Sign (Board Game)

What was the primary game play/type of game? The primary game play is rolling several die to defeat a card’s requirements and thus unlocking the cards rewards before the main boss is released.

This game had complex rules. How were they organized so they could be understood? The rules begin by giving the player a simple overview of objectives and items. Then it goes into more detail about the more nuance parts of the game, such as rolling dice and attaining cards. The rules also had reference pages that pointed the reader to a page with more information. For instance, if the player wants to know more about spells, he or she would read a number at the end of a sentence showing where spells are discussed in more detail.

What worked best in the way the rules were organized? What really made the rules comprehensive were the graphics that accompanied the literature. There would be numbers on the graphics that highlighted important information and which lead back to the rules.

After playing the game, do you have any ideas or suggestions for making the rules more clear? Honestly, no. The rules we’re perfectly clear. The only thing I could possibly recommend is that they provide a video showing the player how to set-up and play.

Was the game fun and briefly why/why not? Was this affected in any way by the way the rules were designed, explained or laid out? The game was fun once we began to play and linked it with the rules. Had the game rules been disorganized or without graphics our gameplay could had been seriously hampered.

What can you take from the way the rules were explained or designed to utilize in your game designs? It is extremely important to have graphics when giving players rules for a complex game.

Game Development Club is Moving Up

We have a new poster for 2014! Our Game Art member designed it herself.

We also hosted Southern Arkansas's University's first game tournament to bring in new gaming students from Arkansas. The event took place at Texarkana's Borderland Games and the winners won prizes that collectively were more than $500!

Finally, Game Development Club  received a Game Lounge from the school. We're calling it "The Den" for now. All that's left is to decorate. 

Bake Sale and a Super Smash Bros. Tournament

Game Development Club made the Despicable Me cupcakes for the Cupcake War. The proceeds from the event went to a children charity and our club placed third in the overall contest (style, taste, and popularity)! 

Thoughts on Gamergate and Media Involvement

Small minority

Gamers are over

             
     Both my sources seem to take the position that anonymous, online bashers are unavoidable but they differ in how they should be treated. Gamesustra, a website used often by professional game developers, takes the stance that they and other gaming websites have fostered a culture of bigotry by writing articles that pit developers against each other and by shrugging off harassment in the comment section. While the writer understands that confronting this toxic gamer environment may result in them losing viewers or advertisers, which it has, the writer is also aware that gaming culture is changing as more diverse individuals and groups create and play video games. Nerdist, a website devoted to all things nerdy for consumer enjoyment, has a similar issue with retaining readers and also denounces these virtual bullies who send death threats. 

     However, I find the Gamesustra article much more compelling than the Nerdist video because the writer accounts for the shift in gaming culture. Nerdist seems to take a more pacifist viewpoint, as if saying “ignore the bullies because there are no other options”. The writer for Gamesustra understands that the online rage is the product of mostly white male gamers having their exclusive solace become something that no longer caters exclusively to them. In this way the outrage surrounding Gamergate and women is similar to any group feeling threatened by a minority, such as when women began to enter the workforce and vote. Thankfully Gamergate is not quite as serious as those other issues, but the death and rape threats that Gamesustra mentions prevents this controversy from being undermined (And it most certainly should not be overlooked).

     Currently I am very informed about Gamergate and am surprised to see how this call for justice has devolved. At first it was simply about journalist integrity in video games, but now it is something that has mixed misogyny and terrorism. While many may believe that I should be indifferent to this issue as a male, I find that excuse hard to swallow as I am also a human being capable of compassion and empathy. I find it very difficult to not have a strong opinion about the industry I dream to work in, which is only strengthened when I consider some of my female friends who plan to enter the same industry.  Hopefully this issue will resolve itself before we enter the gaming industry, although it does not seem likely. 

Stratego (Board Game)

Theme: War game of territorial acquisition.

Primary Mechanic: moving one space at a time and attacking the other player’s tiles so that his or her flag can be captured.

Supporting Mechanic(s): Each tile has a ranking with the higher rank being able to discard the lower ranking tile. The player also has a several bomb tiles which can never be moved once placed on the board. Finally, each player has a few Spy tiles that can take out the highest rank and a few troop tiles which can move as many spaces the player wants.

Dynamic: Arranging tiles to mislead the opponent from where the flag is located and finding his or her flag first.

Goal(s): Create a strategy of defense and outwit your opponent to obtain his or her flag.

Was it fun and briefly why/why not?: Not really, mostly because I was left waiting to make a move until my opponent attacked or moved. It quickly became a game of move and wait, but without the depth of strategy like Chess.

What is one thing you would change to increase the fun factor?: I would add a timer, that way the time to strategize would be managed and players would not feel bored until their next turn. There would be a rush to think of the best plan, a thrill to outwit your opponent before they got you. After all, timing is imperative in war.

Game Idea to Help those with High Functioning Autism

      Each day we imply hundreds of emotions with our word choice, tone, body language, and facial expressions. Those physical aspects of our bodies combine in various degrees of happiness, surprise,sadness, fear, disgust, and anger to describe a person’s emotional state so that we know how to respond. Reading so many variations of emotions can be difficult, but with this mobile game anyone,especially those with mid to high functioning autism, can learn to read emotions so they can respond accordingly.

      There will be six modes in the game: Facial Expressions, Word Choice, Tone, Body Language,Combination, and Creation. In Facial Expression and Body Language mode the player will be presented with an image and must select the correct emotion(s) being shown. In Tone mode the player hears various voices to guess the emotion(s), while Word Choice mode will test the player’s knowledge of written connotations and idioms. Combination Mode will mesh the previous modes together and Creation mode will allow the player to input pictures and recordings to test real world emotions.Players will be timed in all the modes except Creation, receive points based on quickness, and can share their creations and scores on a leader board.

Meet Fiona

In the magical world of Eden where nature is revered, there existed five villages individually specializing in the five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. The six sense, intuition, has long been abandon after the destruction of its practitioners village. Cell, a fourteen year old orphan girl whit bright green hair, lives happily in the tropical village of Eyes with her sentient pet Fiona as she masters the power of sight. Acting as more than a home, Fiona is a magical Venus Flytrap that heals Cell by letting Cell sleep within  her and protects Cell by warning off enemies with her glowing body and sharp teeth. Surviving on the planet's spiritual force alone, Fiona is Cell's best and only friend as they live happily together.

At least until the day the sky turned a dark gray. A terrible screeching sounded throughout the world and a portal of grayness ripped a hole through the moon. A tall woman draped in a black gown seeped through the portal and proclaimed herself as Mother Gray, " The god who would show all the bliss of emptiness". The strange and robotic creature sent a flash of gray across the villages, changing nearly everyone into metallic creatures. Mysteriously, Cell has lost her sight but is able to move around the world instinctively. Enraged at the atrocity Mother Gray has committed, Cell departs with Fiona to smite Mother Gray.

Fiona in her habit during the day.

Where Cell sleeps and where enemies are devoured

She glows at night (I used a black light and glow paint)

Nerdy Bake Sale

Made some Pokemon sugar cookies for Game Club's bake sale! It took a few hours, but here is a link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rLCwWl_Gyc 

Scramble (Board game)

Theme: Word based game that uses letters as a scoring system.

Primary Mechanic: Arranging the letters in the player’s rack to place on the board for the largest sum of points possible. This can be done by placing letter tiles on spaces for Double Letters (DL), Triple Letters(TL), Double Words (DW), and Triple Words (TW).

Supporting Mechanic(s): Players can Challenge each other if they believe a word is not real, in which case the opponent does not receive points if the word does not exist. Also, in some games players use a clock to determine how long a player has to make a move.

Dynamic: Combining the previous player’s words to make a new word that will give a large sum of points while preventing the next player from making a new word that will give lots of points

Goal(s): Be the player with the most points when the game ends.

Was it fun and briefly why/why not?: The game was fun, mostly because I had the chance to look up words I never knew existed. My opponent would play a word and I was certain it was wrong until we used a dictionary. Even if I am wrong about the authenticity of a word, I still appreciate learning a new word.

What is one thing you would change to increase the fun factor?: Sometimes I had to make decisions whether to use a DW or TL, which was an interesting element of strategy. I think this should be expanded into subtractive points, in which players can place words on TL, TW, DL, and DW spots and cause other player’s to lose points. Subtractive tiles would function the same as regular tiles, but would add a new sense of strategy. For example, is it smarter to add points to your score or cause an opponent to lose 20 points if he is 60 points ahead of you? Depending on what letter tiles are left or what special tiles are near this decision could be crucial.

Independent Game Developers at 2013 Anime Convention

While at an anime convention last year I had the opportunity to meet some Independent game developers in Arkansas. They have a company called Emberware and we're showcasing a game called called Dot Wars (along with its code).

The Game of Life (Board Game)

Theme: Be the richest person.

Primary Mechanic: Using a spinner with numbers and following it to move.

Supporting Mechanic(s): Making life decisions, such as going to college, buying a house, or buying insurance. Other mechanics include randomly picking a career, salary, and landing on spaces with events. All of these Mechanics effect how much money the player will obtain.

Dynamic(s): Finding the best way to collect and save money.

Goal(s): Have the most money at the end of the game.

Was it fun and briefly why/why not?: Yes, because there was tension with every decision made and every time we spun the spinner. Knowing we could lose money or collect a huge sum at any moment was exciting because victory was always possible.

What is one thing you would change to increase the fun factor?: In the game the player is not given the choice to get married. However, depending on where you land, this may or may not effect your avatar. I think marriage should be made a choice with a risk versus reward system. The reward would be that the player receives additional income, but may have to pay for the spouse’s Mother’s health bills, lost of his or her job, or anything else. If the player does not wed he or she can avoid the risks, but never have the advantages. This would give the random game a bit more strategy and the player a bit more agency.

The Good and Bad of Game Design

     NYU’s Game Center video about Designing Narrative Choice into video games showcases the concerns of combining gameplay with a story. The speakers for this video believe that player choice allows the gamer to communicate what he or she wants and feels. This means that the choices the player makes should have consequences that entertains or enlightens the gamer while furthering the narrative. The game designer can cheapen the story and the player’s choice if he or she provides various choices, but allows only one choice to let the player move forward in the game. This is an issue seen in many games when the player can select a dialogue choice, but is forced to choose a particular dialogue option after exhausting the other choices.  This creates discontinuity and lessens the player’s sense of agency.

     However, making all the narrative choices in a video game can also weaken the importance of a story. If players feel like there is a right or wrong decision to be made, they may continually restart the game to see if their choices had the consequences they wanted. The writers for the Walking Dead video game found a way around this by telling the player their action would have a consequence, but not when or how those consequences would appear. This allowed players to make fun, impactful decisions while keeping them invested in the current narrative.

     This video made me reconsider games with discontinuous stories and why they are that way. Often the game designer has to work within the purview of his or her team, meaning the choices the designer can add is largely determined by the skill and number of artist and programmers. As a result, designers often sacrifice the story in favor of other game elements. That being said, I think the Walking Dead writers were ingenious for making the story the heart of the game instead of surviving zombies. I doubt the game would have been as nearly as moving if the team had undermined the development of the story.

About Me

I am a Computer Science Game major at Southern Arkansas University preparing to become a game programmer. This blog is mostly a collection of my thoughts as I play and design games, some of which will be digital and others non-digital. The rest of the blog will be a look into my creative endeavors and accomplishments.

Any feedback or questions as you read to this blog is appreciated.