Friday 5 September 2014

Chapter 1 Questions [1,2,3]

[Question 1]
Imagine that you are a level designer working in the 1980's. Knowing the limitations associated with this era, what type of game would you develop?

[Answer]

Taking into consideration the limitations game development in the 1980's. I would develop a game with a 2-Dimensional perspective, side scrolling, platformer. The gameplay would involve a warrior and dungeon crawling along with multiple different types of enemies.


[Question 2]
Play 3 games, one from the 1980's, one from the 1990's and one released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are designed in all three games.

[Answer]

Pac-Man   [1980]
Pac-Man is a two dimensional arcade game. The player was given control of Pac-Man and had to go around the level eating all the white dots, while 4 different coloured ghosts chase him around. There game consisted of just one level but after completing the same level a few times the enemies became harder, faster and resilient to Pac-Man's power-ups.

Counter Strike   [1999]
Counter Strike is a first person shooter 3-Dimensional game where players choose a side terrorist team or counter-terrorist team. The goal was to reach the objective or to eliminate the opposing team. Multiple maps were included with the game featuring different environments from around the world and obstacles providing vantage points and cover points.

Far Cry 3   [2012]
Far Cry 3 is a first person, action-adventure game. You play as Jason Brody which after a series of events ends up captured on an island by pirates. The game consists of a giant open world map which is fully explorable. The map consists of many objectives where the player can gain tactical vantage points in their current mission or for exploration.

Comparing these three games and their maps if you took the level of Pac-Man and a top down view of any Counter Strike map you can see that there a similarities by pathways and directions possible to travel although Pac-Man uses a level that is symmetrical whereas Counter Strike uses maps that are more varied. Far Cry 3 because of its genre takes its level to a larger scale and adds many more tactical points than say Counter Strike which didn't have many. Far Cry 3 also had many more areas providing cover from enemy fire and a more explorable environment as most buildings could be entered.

[Question 3]
How does a game's genre affect the way its levels and environments are designed? Choose one level from 3 different games, each from a distinct primary genre and compare how these levels are designed in regard to setting, goals, puzzles, and risk-reward system.

[Answer]

Far Cry 3   [2012]
The map is designed as a island in the pacific, the goal is to take down the pirate's that control the island which have also captured your friends and then escape from the island. The towns and areas are designed to look like a modern day pirate civilisation on a tropical island.

Rust   [2014]
The map is designed with a partial post apocalyptic setting where the early game featured zombies as the main enemy type although later removed and replaced with radiated animals including Radiation Wolves and Radiation Bears. The player can explore some of the map finding old structures and towns where there are radiation zones. There is no real goal or objective apart from staying alive. players can create themselves a home or they can choose the alternative "Knock on the door with some C4". <--- Probably the most common.

The Forest   [2014]
A plane crashes onto a large unknown island. The player awakes to a island native carrying away his child. Alt + F4, this game just got freaky. The map is a large island with hills, cliffs, mountains and beaches. It also happens to have a very large forest on it.... The goal for the player is to survive as long as possible on the island, as the nights pass the island cannibalistic mutating freak natives decide to start looking for you. There are no real safe areas or places you can hide that well.

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