Final Project... my game: Dino Crazy

Today, I showed some of my classmates my final project for our Game Studies class. I made a game on game maker that had a dinosaur as the main character. The dinosaur could move by using the arrow keys and shoot lasers by pressing the space bar key. If the space bar keys and arrow keys were pressed at the same time they would make him jump or rather fly.

The object game was to make the dinosaur stay away from shooting meteors from space and bad guys that moved down below on the ground. The player could fly and avoid all the evil things while collected coins to produce the highest score.

For the most part, my classmates really liked my game. Although it was confusing for some of them, because I didn't add directions to the game until later. Overall, I really liked the final product of my game.

Are games... Art?

I read an article online called, "Persuasive Games:The Proceduralist Style" by Ian Bogost; where the author talked about are games art? To be honest there is absolutely no real answer for this question. In fact, in the article Jim Preston wrote exactly that. He said, "To think that there is a single, generally agrees upon concept of art is to get it precisely backwards. Americans' attitude towards art is profoundly divided, disjointed and confused; and my message to gamers is to simply ignore the 'is-it-art' debate altogether."

I think Preston told the truth there. The community of gamers can't and shouldn't ask that question because there is no answer for it. Today, we still don't know how to define art. If we can't define art, how could we classify something as art? 

Personally, I think some games could be classified as art. Some games have a deeper meaning for the gamer other than just entertaining them. For example, there is a number of games out there that hold meaning about life, about feeling alone, or about racism. I think games is just simply, just another art form. Sure, not all games are art but some very well should be! 

5 Online Games!

During class we got analyze and play 5 games that were available free online. The first game I played was "only one level." In this game not much tools were used to create different levels for the game and to make the game fun. Instead, the creator of this game thought out of the box and created a fun forever changing game just by tweaking each level. 

The next game I played was, "puzzle platformer." I really liked this game because it didn't really need any complex rules or controls in order to make the game addicting and fun. It was kind of like Tetris in a way because the core mechanic of this game is to use strategy to win.

The game I played next was a game called, "keyboard drumset fucking werefolf." This game was a but different from the rest of the games in a sense that it was a little bit more difficult to understand and to control. The game itself was fast paced and made it hard for a new player to understand the goal of the game. Bit none the less, this was still an awesome game. Even if a player didn't know what to do in this game, the player will eventually figure it out.

Other games I got to player were "dis4ia," and "don't burn the rope."

Here is a lame photo of me about to play "Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf"

Paper Prototype Game

Hey guys! So I made a game called "We Could Be Doing Drugs" and got to test it out on numerous occasions. The first play test, it was during class and it was more of how I could make a game out of pictures. So it was more brainstorming and troubleshooting on that day. But during the weekend I had made a game board and had tested the product on my friends. They seemed to have really enjoyed it but during the game I did make some minor changes in order to make the game actually work smoothly. For example, I had to change the time limit for the game because it had gone on for too long. The final play test was last class day where I tested the game on just two people. The game worked flawlessly and did not drag on or have bumps like the other occasions.

The game has 5 dots or spots on a game board set up as a race to the finish type of game. The core mechanics for this game is a strategic race to the finish. 

Here are the rules:

1) This is a multi player game.

2) Everybody starts at the same letter on 'A'

3) One person needs to be the computer/judge.

4) Going in order of the ABC's the computer/judge has to come up with what players must draw starting with that letter.

5) Players could sabotage other player's drawings.

6) The computer must keep track of time. Players get 20 seconds to draw the picture.

7) The most accurate or funniest picture gets to move up a step/letter.

2nd play session

3rd Play Session

By the way...

Here are links to the two games I played in class.

Jenga:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0035U4O1S

Cards against Humanity:

http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/

Playing Games!

Today in class we discussed about a game's design and mechanics. 

For example, what is this game about? What does this game teach or simulate? Well, in class we got into groups and played a couple of games that could help us realize the mechanisms to each game is different. 

The first game I played with my group was Cards Against Humanity. In this game the a group of players have 10 cards in their hands that can be used to fill in the blanks of the black card which is drawn by one person. The winner is the person with the most black cards and is usually the person who could answer the funniest with their 10 white cards. (This is the raunchier version of Apples to Apples) 

The mechanism to this gave is prediction, because you have to predict what the other players may like in order to win them over and gain more black cards.

Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity 

The second game we played was Jenga. Even though it's the Nightmare Before Christmas edition it is still played the same way as regular Jenga. Each player needs to take out one piece from the tower without making it fall. The person who breaks the tower loses.

The mechanism for this game is spatial reasoning and prediction. Because the player must know which piece could be taken out without making the structure fall.

Jenga (The Nightmare Before Christmas Edition)

More About the Class I'm Taking!

          I just wanted to point out some cool stuff I've been learning in class this past week.
         So what are games exactly? It turns out some major characteristics of game play are that games are fun, they are uncertain, non-productive, governed by rules, and fictitious. So... how exactly does play relate to culture? Play is major! Play could influence culture and could be influenced by culture. In other words playing is important!
         Some of the cool things I did in class was learn about games from an art perspective. Our teacher asked us to play the game "Passage" which is truly a work of art. I don't want to spoil the game for people that haven't played it yet but if you do play it, the game has a deep meaning. The game itself only lasts 5 minutes but in those 5 minutes you (the player) go through life. You see your character age as you walk along a path with your loved one. Some cool things I want to point out though is that if you do play the game you could see that once upon starting the game the right side of your screen is blurry. That symbolizes how in reality people don't really know what's up ahead in their lives. Life is a blur, the past and future.