Problem Five

Play a game which has customisable character editor and create an avatar for yourself. Justify the choices you made regarding the avatar's attributes and gender, and justify why you chose to represent yourself in this way online.

Short information of the game.

PerfectWorld International, is a MMORPG game whereby player can choose one race out of the given five races which was Human, Earthguards, Tideborn, Untamed and Wing Elves. Different races have different job classes for them, therefore, if a player wants to play an archer or a cleric class, he/she will have to choose the Wing Elves race in order to play that hero class.

Customisation of Character

I have play an Untamed race with the hero class of Barbarian. Therefore, when I customise my male character, I will make it look burly, strong and big in size as the hero class of Barbarian should look fearful and thirst for blood. I have also customise the eye colour to be red so as to look fierce and bloody, also changing the face to a lion appearance since lion is consider to be the king of animals. The hero class i chose also uses heavy weapon thus, making my hero look burly in size can show that he is strong for carrying heavier and bigger weapon.

As for why i had chose to represent myself in this way online because, the first thought of the race and the class of the selected hero as well as also showing others that the race of Barbarians are fierce and strong which cannot be defeated easily. It can also be subjective that because i wanted my hero to look more muscular and more manly, that is why the build is burly and big in size.

Nevertheless, it was fun in customising your own character and create an avatar for yourself in a game which you can play and make friends at the end of the day!

Lastly, if you have any games that has fun customisation for your own character and avatar, don't forget to share your game and also comment on the post if you have any other opinions to it!

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Great Thanks!

That's all for you! See you again!

Problem Four

Tracing back to the roots of First-Person Shooters and the games released as well as the milestone achievements.

Legend

- "#" - Information

- "*" - Achievement

Timeline of First-Person Shooter

1973 - Maze War

#Considering to be one of the earliest examples of, or progenitor of, a first-person shooter.

*Had a profound impact on FPS games in other genres, particularly RPGs.

1974 - Spasim (abbreviation of 'Space Simulation')
#A 32-player 3D Networked computer game by Jim Bowery involving 4 planetary systems with up to 8 players per planetary system, released in March 1974.
*The game was played on the PLATO network, and was heavily influenced by another PLATO space multiplayer game, Empire.

[The games above were not much available to consumers until 1980]

1980~1983 - BattleZone
#It was a tank video game that was released in the arcade during 1980. Then in 1983, the version of the game was released to home computers.
*After the released in 1983, it became the first successful mass-market game featuring a first-person viewport and wireframe 3D graphics, presented using a vector graphics display.

1987 - MIDI Maze
#MIDI Maze, an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST. It features maze-based gameplay and character designs similar to Pac-Man, but was displayed in a first person perspective.
*It was later ported to various system including Game Boy and Super NES the title Faceball 2000. It was also featured the first network multiplayer death matches, using a MIDI interface. Its multiplayer mode gained a cult following: 1UP.com called it the "first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system" and was the "first major LAN action game".

1988 - Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode
#Released in 1988 for the NES, was one of the first video games to place importance on accurate shooting and incorporated a snipe rifle, a weapon later to become a mainstay of the FPS genre.

1991 - Hovertank 3D
#Created by Id Software using pioneered ray casting technology in 1991 that enables faster gameplay than 1980s vehicle simulators and a later advance, texture mapping, was introduced with Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, a 1992 action role- playing game by Looking Glass Technology.

1992 - Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
#Created by Looking Glass Technology, featuring a first-person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine.

1992 - Wolfenstein 3D
#Created by Id Software, released in 1992. It was an instant success and has been credited with inventing the first-person shooter genre proper.
*It built on the ray casting technology pioneered in earlier games to create a revolutionary template for shooter game design, which first-person shooters are still based upon today.

1993 - Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
#From Apongee Software, the publisher of Wolfenstein 3D. The game was initially well received but sales rapidly declined in the wake of the success of Id's Doom.

1993 - Id Software: Doom
#Doom, released as shareware in 1993, refined Wolfenstein 3D's template by adding improved textures, variations in height (such as stairs the player's character could climb) and effects such as flickering lights and patches of total darkness, creating a more believable 3D environment thanWolfenstein 3D's more monotonous and simplistic levels.
*Doom has been considered the most important first-person shooter ever made: it was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general, and has been available on almost every video gaming system since.

1994 - Macintosh: Bungie's released of Marathon
#On the Macintosh, Bungie’s 1994 release of Marathon, and its subsequent sequels, set the standard for first-person shooters on that platform. Marathon pioneered or was an early adopter of several new features such as vertical aiming and freelook, dual-wielded and dual-function weapons, versatile multiplayer modes (such as King of the Hill, Kill the Man with the Ball, and cooperative play), friendly NPCs, and a strong emphasis on storytelling in addition to the action.

1995 - Star Wars: Dark Forces
#Star Wars: Dark Forces was released in 1995 after LucasArts decided Star Wars would make appropriate material for a game in the style of Doom. However, Star Wars: Dark Forces added several technical features that Doom lacked, such as the ability to crouch or look up and down.

1996 - Apogee's Duke Nukem 3D
#Apogee's Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996, was "the last of the great, sprite-based shooters" winning acclaim for its humor based around stylised machismo as well as its gameplay.

//Shortly after the release of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, id Software released the much anticipated Quake. Like Doom, Quake was influential and genre-defining, featuring fast-paced, gory gameplay, but used 3D polygons instead of sprites.

1997 - Rare's GoldenEye 007

#Based on James Bond film, Rare's GoldenEye 007 was released in 1997

*In 2004, it was the best-selling Nintendo 64 game in the United States. It was the first landmark console first-person shooter and was highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player levels and well designed multiplayer maps featuring its Sniper rifle's ability during gameplay.

1998 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

#1998's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six started a popular trend of tactical first-person shooters. It featured a team-based, realistic design and themes based around counter-terrorism, requiring missions to be planned before execution and in it, a single hit was sometimes enough to kill a character.

1998 - Valve's Half-Life

#Valve's Half-Life was released in 1998, based upon Quake's graphics technology. Initially met with only mild anticipation, it went on to become an unprecedented commercial success. Half-Life had a strong narrative; the game featured no cut scenes but remained in the first-person perspective at all times.

*Half-Life was praised for its artificial intelligence, selection of weapons and attention to detail and "has since been recognized as one of the greatest games of all time" according to GameSpot. Its sequel Half-Life 2 (released in 2004), was less influential though "arguably a more impressive game".

1998 - Starsiege: Tribes

#A multiplayer online shooter allowing more than 32 players in a single match. It featured team-based gameplay with a variety of specialized roles, and an unusual jet pack feature. The game was highly popular and later imitated by games such as the Battlefield series.

1999

#Medal of Honour released in 1999, started a long running proliferation of first-person shooters set in WWII. Id's Quake III Arena and Epic's Unreal Tournament, both released in 1999, were popular for their frenetic and accessible online multiplayer modes; both featured very limited single player gameplay. Counter-Strike was also released in 1999, a Half-Life modification with a counter-terrorism theme. The game and later version Counter-Strike: Source (2004) went on to become by far the most popular multiplayer first-person shooter and computer game modification ever, with over 90,000 players competing online at any one time during its peak.

//At the E3 game show in 1999, Bungie unveiled a real-time strategy game called Halo; at the following E3, an overhauled third-person shooter version was displayed. Later in 2000 Bungie was bought by Microsoft, and Halo was revamped and released as a first-person shooter, one of the launch titles for the Xbox console. And later on, The Sequel, Halo2 in 2004.

2000~2007

#Deus Ex, released by Ion Storm in 2000, featured a levelling system similar to that found in role-playing games; it also had multiple narratives depending on how the player completed missions and won acclaim for its serious, artistic style.

#The Resident Evil games Survivor in 2000 and Dead Aim in 2003 attempted to combine the light gun and first-person shooter genres along with survival horror elements.

#World War II Online, released in 2001, featured a persistent and "massively multiplayer environment", although IGN said that "the full realization of that environment is probably still a few years away." Battlefield 1942, another World War II shooter released in 2002, featured large scale battles incorporating aircraft, naval vessels, land vehicles and infantry combat.

#Metroid Prime, released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube, a highly praised console first-person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the Metroid series of 2D side-scrolling platform-adventures.

#Metroid Prime, released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube, a highly praised console first-person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the Metroid series of 2D side-scrolling platform-adventures.

#Doom 3, released in 2004, placed a greater emphasis on horror and frightening the player than previous games in the series and was a critically acclaimed best seller, though some commentators felt it lacked gameplay substance and innovation, putting too much emphasis on impressive graphics.

#Finally, the C rytek games Far Cry (2004)

#In 2005, F.E.A.R. was acclaimed for successfully combining first-person shooter gameplay with a Japanese horror atmosphere.

#Resistance: Fall of Man (2006)

#Crysis (2007), Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

#Later in 2007, Irrational Games' BioShock would be acclaimed by some commentators as the best game of that year for its innovation in artistry, narrative and design, with some calling it the "spiritual successor" to Looking Glass's earlier System Shock.

#Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2 (2008), Resistance 2 (2008)

//In 2006, GamaSutra reported the first-person shooter as one of the biggest and fastest growing video game genres in terms of revenue for publishers.

2007~Present
#In 2010, researchers at Leiden University showed that playing first-person shooter video games is associated with superior mental flexibility. Compared to non-players, players of such games were found to require a significantly shorter reaction time while switching between complex tasks, possibly because they are required to develop a more responsive mindset to rapidly react to fast-moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to shift back and forth between different sub-duties. The use of motion detecting game controllers - particularly the Wii's - "promised to make FPS controls more approachable and precise with an interface as simple as literally pointing to aim" and thus "dramatically reshape the first-person shooter." However technical difficulties pertinent to functions other than aiming - such as maneuvering or reloading - prevented their widespread use among first-person shooters.

P.S: Information above are credited to [http://en.wikipedia.org]

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Great Thanks!

That's all for you! See you again!

Problem Three

Is Game Design, in itself, a form of "Play"?
Justify how Game Design is or is not a form of "Play".

Well to me, i think that Game Design is a form of "Play" because if you want to be a Game Designer, you need to somewhat understand the form of "Play" before you can create a game for others to play with.

For example, as a Game Designer, you may want your game to be a competitive one or chance-based one. Therefore, in a form of "Play", here comes Agon and Alea. But before creating the game, you need to know the two term Agon and Alea before you can proceed further.

Agon a.k.a Competition/Competitive

Alea a.k.a Chance/Probability

After knowing the terms, the Game Designer now can create the game they want from the form of "Play". Example, if i want to create a Poker Cards game, it will consists Alea, during shuffling of cards and Agon, during the play of cards between players which determines a winner. Therefore, if a Game Designer have an idea of making a game like Poker, he would have to know when and where Alea & Agon can be placed in the game of Poker. Nonetheless, after creating the game, the Game Designer can test out the game to see if the "Play" is smooth or whether it fits the game itself before changing or altering the game.

Nevertheless, in my point of view, i think that Game Design is a form of "Play" because if a Game Designer wants to create a game for others to play, he/she must know the "play" before the game can be created. If he/she do not know what "play" the game wanted to be, then it would harder to create a game for others to play with as he/she might not get the inspiration. Since the form of "Play" could help in a Game Design and which a Game Design can give you a form of "Play".

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Alright! If you have anything to share about whether if Game Design is or is not a form of "Play", don't be shy and share you opinions out! Great thanks!

That's all for you! See you again!

Problem Two

A "Thousand-Year Game" is a game that people would still probably be playing in a thousand years from now. Pick a game that you think deserves the title of "A Thousand-Year Game", and justify.

Well, I think the game that people would still probably be playing in a thousand years from now would be this running around game called, "Catching".

So... What is "Catching"? Is it catch fish? Balls? Or you?

Actually, all of the above can be caught. But the most favorable answer would be, YOU.

Here's a  brief explanation of how "Catching" is played:

1. Find an open-spaced area, probably a big one because you would be running around.
2. Gather your players. The more the merrier!
3. You can choose to vote who to be a "Catcher" (Majority wins) OR volunteer yourself to be the "Catcher".
4. After choosing the "Catcher", he/she has to stay in a spot to count from "1 to 10" (For a newly started game).
5. During the 10 seconds count, everyone EXCEPT the "Catcher" would have to run away as far as they could from the "Catcher". (This is to avoid been caught when the game starts).
6.  When the count reaches "10",  the "Catcher" will have to prey on the victims who had run away.
7. To catch someone, the "Catcher" will have to tap the victim on any parts of the body EXCEPT the sensitive areas. (Gentlemen, please be careful & LOOK before tapping!)
8. When a victim is caught, the victim will become the "Catcher" and the previous "Catcher" would become a victim which then he/she must now run away from the current "Catcher".
9. The new "Catcher" would now start to prey on other victims and continues like a cycle.
10. Lastly, there is no fixed rule to end this game. Therefore, you can end the game by voting yourself out.

Why did I chose "Catching" to deserve the title of "A Thousand-Year Game"?

Well, mainly because this game has no fixed time of playing, which is to say you can play at anytime, anywhere and with anyone. It was also because I had played "Catching" before during the past 10 years of my life in school, outdoor & open-spaced area (field) and buildings (shopping mall, house flats) which was why I had a great, fun experience and memories of the game.

Nevertheless, I can still see kids aged between 6 to 12 are still playing catching between themselves. Which then contributed to the popularity of the game and thus having a greater chance of it deserving "A Thousand-Year Game" title.

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Alright! If you have any games that you think it deserves "A Thousand-Year Game" title, don't be shy and just share your opinion out! Great thanks!

That's all for you! See you again!

Problem One

Pick a "non-game" and analyse the Formal Elements of it.

Suggest how you would modify the "non-game" into a "game" that fits into the definition we covered this week.

Image taken from: speedstacks.com.au

Have you play before SpeedStacks also know as SportStack? No? Don't worry, here's a video of how it is played: Amazing Sport Stacking Records

Cool? Well, as you can see, SpeedStacks/SportStacks use a timer to count how fast a player/challenger can build the stacks and collapse them back in the shortest time which then determine it as a winner or a record breaker. So, how can SpeedStacks/SportStacks be change from a "non-game" to a "game"? Since SpeedStacks/SportStacks was considered so be a sport rather than a game.

Here are two ideas/suggestions, how to turn this sport into a game:

1) The stacks can be re-designed into different size from small to big so as to increase the level of difficulty for the player to build up the stacks and to collapse them back into one in the shortest possible time. Alternatively, challenging the other players in precision, time and speed attack.

2) Changing the rules to the international SpeedStacks/SportStacks. Instead of building and colapsing using the shortest possible time, now build and collapse the stacks with the longest time without stopping or knocking the stack out of place. Each second is contributed to 1 point. The highest score will determine the winner.

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Alright! If you have any ideas/suggestions on how to improve/turn this sport into a better game, do not forget to share with me and leave your comment on my suggested ideas/suggestions. Great thanks!

That's all for you! See you again!