213CR Concept Development for Games Design - Studio 2 Exploring games and identifying games concepts

213CR Concept Development for Games Design
Studio 2 Exploring games and identifying games concepts 2



Last week we looked at some existing games and their concepts, and gave a small amount of our own insight in to the games main features. This week I will advance further on the game components, and what would be necessary to produce them for a similar game. I will focus on what is distinctive and original about the game, but other key elements will be included for thoroughness.

Here is an example from the lecture:

Doom
‘A PC-based first-person shooter where the player controls a space marine in a 3D environment against a horde of bizarre monsters. The gameplay is action based with no strategic or role-playing elements; instead the game depends on bleeding edge technology providing a rush of adrenaline through its aggressive attention to carnage.’
(sic. Bethke, p106)

These items will be grouped to organise them slightly, else the structure of the games concepts would be chaotic.

Code – which includes game mechanics, 3D graphics, user interface, and mission interactions.
Art ­– which includes 2D, 3D, Character, Texture and Animation/motion.
Audio – which includes Voiceovers, sound effects and music.
Usability – How easy? Level? Meant to be easy?
Context – Demographic, Accessibility, Setting.
Hardware/Platform – PC Keyboard, Console/Controller, Haptic(Wii).
Communications – Multiplayer, VoIP, Text.

Code – The physics of the game need to be defined depending upon how objects and characters interact with them during the general and extreme play of the game. For example “Breakable Walls” need to be defined so that when a user creates damage to the wall that the wall is no longer a division of space, but is passable through by the character. Without such interaction the game would be limited to a less interactive world. The 3D graphics of the game need to be set, including the ambient world, the look of the game, the skins, and the models. The user interface needs to be mapped out including the physical controls, the in-game menu systems and the pre-match game selection interface needs to be created. This means shortcuts will need to be added to enhance repeated play, and the menu systems will have to find a consistent form that is easy for new and advanced users to navigate through.
Art – For 2D work Backdrops would have to be created, but often now even in 2D games there are 3D elements and scenes so also some form of changing to a 3D view from a 2D view. For 3D games worlds must be designed, objects created and character skins made. Character views and the HUD must be designed, persons and mechanical objects. Textures must be made and Animations any motion must be created.
Audio – Voiceovers for game sequences and links must be created, sound effects for all ingame variation of play must be allocated and music for backing must be planned and set out. All these aspects of the game must be considered before production so that they can interlink and produce a consistent fully developed interactive game design.
Usability - Ease of use is paramount, yet difficulty must range progressively so that users are rewarded for playing the game more and becoming more adept at fulfilling in-game objectives. Ideally the difficulty should be at a level where it always demands new levels of ability from the player. On the other hand it is very important that the game is not unattainably demanding.
Context - The game is set in one world from two different viewpoints, that of a D.E.A. assault squad leader and that of a man working against his own agency for the very people he hunts daily as a Loz Zetas Cartel informant. This means that it is likely the game will be desirable to a relatively specific demographic, males ageing between 17-50. This does not have to be true, as one can see with previously released titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Need for Speed 2, but considering the majority of the content within the game is of a grim and violent nature it is unexpected that many housewives will be ordering the game pre-release.
Hardware/Platform - The game could be launched on a console like an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, but depending on when the game would actually go into development, would depend on what platform would best showcase the advanced graphics. The game is reliant on being realistic in order to provide a believable and tense experience, therefore the latest techniques in 3D modelling and graphics should be used, calling on all the power from the next generation graphics cards to launch the game to success. For example if the game was to go into development now, it would call on DirextX10, and therefore end users would have to be using new graphics cards to experience the full potential performance of the game. A keyboard would be most suitable for controlling the in-game action. However a console could easily implement all of the nescessary controls because certain shortcuts that are included as default bindings on the PC edition, could be edited to merely optional shortcut. This gives the users choice about what functions are available via a simple keypress.
Communications - multiplayer and co-operative(if implemented) missions should use VOiP software to enable talking through microphones, however a stable text chat system must also be permanently available for both multiplayer play and single player missions.