Showcase blog

This was the second DTC showcase that I have been to as I was in the showcase before for my DTC 355 class for the animated short films. I really enjoyed this showcase because I was able to view the films of some of my peers from DTC 375 and see what they had created. I also enjoyed it due to the fact that I was able to view the other games that were a part of our class. The one that I was able to play surprised me a great deal in a positive way. I was able to play the pirate board game and it was really fun and entertaining. The visuals were awesome and the gameplay always kept you interested. I liked it because it was one of the more simply games to play but at the same time had a fun dynamic to winning and keeping score. I had a great time playing the game and was impressed by the theme and mechanics and would for sure play it again if I had the chance.

Blog 8

Freestyle: Bogost talks about art and music along with a handful of other things in his book. These two concepts of art and music I believe are a significant part in not only video games but in other media like movies and television. I also think that music and art go hand in hand when it comes to games and movies. Think for a moment about a game that you regularly play. How would that game change if it didn't have music incorporated in it? Pretty boring right? Music is what gives games and movies that feeling in certain moments. Like when a character of a game or movie enters a dark or creepy environment or place, the ominous tones in the background make the player or viewer feel that intense or creeping fear that is associated with such a place. Even in certain events where one may fine themselves in a battle. The music may take a turn into an intense fast paced movement like what happens in Skyrim. Even in games where there is music in the menus, it is needed to make the game interesting to the user. This happens in movie menus as well. The music helps to promote what the movie is about. Scary movies usually have a dark tone where as action movies may have a more fast paced type of music playing in the background. I think the use of music in games and movies and other media helps to push that media into being art even more that just visuals.

Blog 6

Hey! You want to hear something crazy? Did you own that at one point in time if you were wanting to listen to music you have to actually buy an artist's album and listen to it on a disc player? Crazy huh? Also if you wanted different artists on one CD you had to burn the songs onto a blank disc? Say what?! That's how I created my first playlist as a kid. Not simply pressing the plus sign on ITunes and clicking and dragging songs from my library. I had to physically choose what songs I wanted and then burn them to a blank disc. Also did you know that the USB is kind of a new thing? Well, back in my day there were these things called floppy discs. I know, they sound a little funny but those were how information was stored and transferred from one place to the next. Think about something the size of your palm carrying all this important info but the amount was minimal compared to what is available today. And guess what?! My Need for Speed was called Mario Kart on the N64! Instead of NOS we had toad heads and power stars and on Mario Kart even some turtle shells were involved. I probably sound insane but that's how it was. Oh the simplicity of being a kid growing up in the 90's. I even remember when cellular telephones were nothing more than a plastic brick with numbers only used to call people. None of the text messages or touch screens or phone games even existed. Man, back in my day, life was pretty simple.

Blog 5

As a kid, I remember always having to go to the library be it the school or public to get a book to read or having to go to the store to get pen and paper in order to turn in an essay or project. Back then it was all about physically turning in your work. Now a days, like at WSU, most things are online. Turning a piece of work in has become more and more digital as time has passed and the things we used to see in our past are slowly fading. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the technologies and advancements that we have today. I am surely grateful that I don't have to lug around a bulky CD player in my back pocket anymore and instead have replaced it with either an IPod or simply my phone although it was the more simple technologies that made the experience of listening to music or even reading a more personal and deeper experience. I would still choose to read a regular old book than a digitized version on a Kindle although the advantage to these technologies now have greatly increased the capacity of what we can have on our person at a given time. So, I guess there are both positive and negative sides to moving into a digital age. My parents used to tell me that if you physically write something down on paper it is easier to remember that information later and I actually found that to be somewhat true. For this reason, I am somewhat concerned for future generations of children that are being brought up in the digital age. Not because they will miss out on the simplicity of a CD player but because they will more than likely move away from physically writing things down and memory will be less important.

Blog 4

In this blog I will look at theme vs mechanics along with what makes a good game. I believe that theme and mechanics walk hand in hand and that a good game should involve a balanced ratio of both. Again, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a great example of both of these ideals. The theme is rich in content where the player chooses a character with a back story and enters a world of magic and dragons. It is as though you have been thrown into The Game of Thrones. The mechanics of this game are amazing as well. Battles in which you engage in with certain types or species of people or things are intense with the ability to switch between first and third person at the user will. This makes gameplay that much better. Also, you can travel anywhere you please be it the very top of the highest and coldest mountain or the a nice swim to the bottom of the deepest lake or river, the world is your oyster as they say. On top of that, you have the ability to hold a conversation with almost anyone allowing the player to gather as much knowledge as possible by having certain replies to certain moments in the conversation such as real life. I also agree with the articles that we read about how a good game should have story arc in order to pull the player in even more. With a beginning, middle, and end a game connects with what people are used to.

Blog 3

I am just going to talk a little bit about video game interfaces and how they are today and what they may look like in that future. Now a days, there are all types of game interfaces from the extremely complex to the surprisingly simple. One example of a complex and dynamic interface would be the congested World of Warcraft interface. It is one of the most intense video game interfaces that I have ever encountered and perhaps ever will and based on personal preference it can be more or less a fight for space on the screen of the user. A contrast to this would be the simplistic interface design of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In this game the only things on the screen are health, stamina, and magic. Everything else is hidden within the confines of the pause menu which allows you to navigate to find certain items and whatnot else. This simplicity allows the user to feel more immersed in the game and to not worry so much on what the user has but more on what they are doing. In some games you are even able to turn the HUD off completely leaving you with just the game visuals only. These are the types of interfaces we see today, but what is in store for the vide game world of tomorrow? I honestly think that the games we have today are already close to a breaking point which will force a more simple interface overall for most games other than World of Warcraft. I think that first person shooters will soon become more simple with the need of memorization of control in order to play. I believe that if the interface of certain games was truly minimal it would actually increase the realistic potential of majority of games such as first person shooters and allow gamers to use their brain a little but more.