Developing contextual awareness 31/10/23
The objective of today's lesson, was to find out about how different game mechanics were adapted and evolved from the 2D game scene.
The terminology learnt this lesson was: verbs, versatile verbs, invisible tutorial and game genre
Game genre- A classification assigned to a video game based on its core game play rather than visual or narrative features.
Verbs- The actions a player can perform in a game
Versatile verbs- When a single action can have multiple uses, outcomes and mechanics
Game Maker's Toolbox. (2017). The Secret of Mario's Jump (and other Versatile Verbs). Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7daTGyVZ60I. Last accessed 2nd Nov 2021.
Invisible tutorials- A tutorial that is spread across different ways to get the message across to the player this can be performed through an NPC's dialogue, signs scattered across the environment, common sense (e.g. giving the player a gun and cueing an entity infront of them which they should hopefully shoot with their input's traditional shoot button: left mouse click, R2, LT, etc.)
Game Maker's Toolkit. (2015). Half Life 2's Invisible Tutorial. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMggqenxuZc. Last accessed 2nd Nov 2021.
Game genre- A classification assigned to a video game based on its core game play rather than visual or narrative features.
The main genre we focused on looking at was the platformer genre. A platformer game is when a player is tasked to navigate from one end of an area to another end, they are met with obstacles along the way and have to try avoid them or beat them to get to the end goal
Developing contextual awareness 31/10/23
In today's lesson I looked at platformer games and their methods of teaching. To recap a platformer game is a genre of games where a player has to combat against and environment through parkour, puzzles and combat to get to the end point of the level/area. The element of challenge comes into a platformer games through 'blockers', which are entities and/or obstacles that are in the path of the player in which the player has to figure out methods of getting safely past them.
In this lesson I have viewed over three platformer games: Sonic (1991), Sonic 3 (1993) and Sonic generations (2011).
Sonic (1991)
In 1991 SEGA released a new title, Sonic for the SEGA megadrive.
This platformer game when loaded up would start you in a level but not teach you how to play, rather you are given an empty playfield to figure out what buttons do what, meanwhile there are no blockers to interrupt you, further ahead it is still an empty playground but there are three coins included, these coins are too high up to grab with a jump which teaches the player that they can high jump by holding the button. The reason platformer games around this time are designed like this is because back in these times games were made with very little memory space meaning that the developers didn't have the memory to include a tutorial into the game.
VERBS
In this game there aren't many verbs present however the ones that were are as follows-
Movement
In the game, your objective as sonic is to swiftly get through the level through the use of your speed to get through so naturally, Sonic would speed up if you hold the button used to walk/move
Jumping
As you progress the game the use of jumping becomes more and more needed to get across to different platforms, jump onto blocks and jump onto enemies, holding this button allows you to achieve greater height.
VERSATILE VERBS
Jumping
Due to this game only having two major controls the only versatile verb this game has to offer is withing jumping, if the button is held once you jump the player goes up a higher distance to reach high up platforms and rings.
TUTORIALS
Invisible tutorial/training ground
Due to the game having a very little amount of storage to develop on, the game's only method of teaching was an invisible tutorial/training ground, where you start the game in an empty area with rings and platforms to allow the player to find out what they're doing without being interrupted so they can confidently find out what they can do and move on to play at their own pace without having the fear of being forced to move on without knowing what to do 
OVERALL OPINION
Despite this game being the first in the Sonic franchise overall I think that it wasn't anything special as it only has two controls and nothing to help teach besides guessing what the buttons do on your own
Something that is strong about this game is the simplicity of it which can be better for some people, especially people that don't really play games and don't understand much of the stuff
An improvement I would give the game is to add may be one or two mechanics as this gives more life to the game and makes it more enjoyable to play.
Sonic 3 (1994)
In 1994 SEGA has developed and published a new Sonic title, Sonic 3 for the SEGA genesis.
In this game the method of teaching is a little different in comparison to the last sonic. Although it does have an empty test are it is much shorter and gets into action much quicker, by introducing movement mechanics and blockers/entities much earlier.
VERBS
In comparison to the last sonic game the SEGA have released this game have released more verbs such as-
Movement
Like in Sonic (1991) movement is a crucial part of the game so naturally these controls have a passive acceleration, this is performed by pressing Left/Right on the directional pad
Jumping
In this game when pressing the respective jump button, you inherently jump and if you hold it, you go up higher. The jumping mechanic in sonic 3 has a feature to it that wasn't in the first game which is, the jumping attack, this can be performed by pressing the jump button again whilst you're in the air.
Crouching
Unlike the previous sonic game the only movements you could do to alter your position is moving and jumping however in sonic 3 you can crouch by pressing down on the directional pad.
Spin-dash
By holding down a button you can make sonic charge up a dash and when the player lets go of the button sonic will begin do dash in the direction he is facing.
VERSATILE VERBS
In Sonic 3 there is one new versatile verb and one that was present in the previous game which was seen to be as-
Jumping
when holding the jump button you jump higher than normal which is an iconic versatile verb, a newly unique one however is when you press the jump button whilst in the air after jumping you can perform a spinning attack.
TUTORIALS
Invisible tutorial/Training ground
Similar to the first sonic, Sonic 3 also only has an invisible tutorial where you can find out the controls however, the area is much shorter and introduces you to the game quicker with a slope which makes you understand that there is a fast movement mechanic to get up it fast which turned out to be the spin-dash and also presents us with an avoidable enemy which can be hit with jump attack, this makes the invisible tutorial lean more to the side of a training ground.
OVERALL OPINION
After playing through the majority of the first level I find that overall the game teaches the player how to play at a steady pace and gets them into action faster however, it can be argued that this may make it more difficult for some players
One strength that this game has is that it has more playability to it in terms that there are more controls and functions making or unique plays while going through your levels.
An improvement I'd make is that the game still has no tutorial system and still feels similar to Sonic (1991)
Sonic Generations (2011)
In 2011 SEGA developed and published their most innovative sonic title at its time for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Sonic Generations.
In this game you are presented through cutscenes, loading screens, save selects and much more. When you load in you are presented with a remaster of the original map in the first Sonic in 3D. Due to the map being a remaster it includes the invisible tutorial at the start. The game has a wide variety of new mechanics and controls. Once you load into the level a new NPC that aids you through the learning process appears names, Omochao.
VERBS
Movement
like all other Sonic games there is a movement button which is respective to your controller's directional pad/default input and passively speeds you up to make you go faster and faster. Moving is done the same way, by moving left/right on the directional pad.
Jumping
Additionally due to the default nature of a platformer game, you are once again presented with the feature to jump, high jump and the mechanic of jump-attacking followed through to this game. Jumping is done by pressing X in which you can do a follow-up action by applying the respective inputs.
Spin-dash
Like in Sonic 3, the mechanic to spin-dash was kept into this game, not only does it serve a useful purpose in a game about being fast but it was iconic to his character by this time. This is done by holding square to charge the spin-dash
Crouching
Like in Sonic 3 the ability to crouch had remained over up to generations which can be performed by pressing down on the directional-pad
VERSATILE VERBS
In Sonic generations there are a good number of versatile verbs as they have only added features into the game and not removed any, the versatile verbs consist of-
Jumping
When jumping you can either long jump or perform a jump-attack, the long jump is done by pressing and holding the jump button and the jump- attack is done by pressing the jump button in mid-air.
TUTORIALS
In sonic generations more methods of teaching have been added to the game since, Sonic 3.
Loading screens
You can find that in the game as you load into something and the loading screen appears, a text box is also present which tells you a tip or teaches you something you might have not known.
Invisible tutorial/Training ground
As the first level is a remaster of the original Sonic's level, the invisible tutorial appears once more allowing you as the player attempt to figure out the controls of the game on your own.
NPC dialogue
When playing Omochao (your guide companion) may shout out a few words of advice to teach the player what and what not to do. Omochao may occasionally also give you a verbal prompt to press a button to perform an action.
On-screen prompt
At some point in the level you are met with a dead end, however you can spot that instead of it being a dead end its just a rock that blocks your path, once you get face-to-face with said rock an on-screen prompt appears telling you to press square to break the rock to progress on.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall this game is SEGA's most innovative Sonic game for its time and is a great game visually and mechanically for returning Sonic players.
Something I see strong in the game is the fact that it has many methods of teaching and everything is visible as the 3D models may help separate the blockers from the background.
An improvement I can give the game is make it visually more friendly to people who are not familiar with the Sonic franchise. By this I mean slow down the pace of the running in certain points as in the first level you are seen to zoom through the entire map and it can be hard for people to understand whats going on and some people may not be able to keep track, this can create problems for beginners making it a little but more difficult to learn.
Valve's "secret weapon" 2/11/23
Valve's "secret weapon"
Analysis of 2D games 6/11/23
In today's lesson I looked at two different games: Rayman (1995) and Rayman:Legends (2013). Whilst looking at these two games I analysed how the game is layed out and how players are taught how to play.
Rayman (1995)
Ubisoft in 1995 released the platformer game Rayman for the PlayStation 1
In the first Rayman game released in 1995 The player is put in a training field with two platforms and collectables, this teaches the player that they can jump up onto platforms and take these orbs. One platform was placed higher up than the other platform which teaches the player that they can hold the jump button to go higher, across the level there are also orbs layed out descending in a row from a platform, this teaches the player that they can interact with an object to collect the orbs, the orbs in the first level act as a hidden path/tooltip to help teach the player know what they can do in the game. In the second level the player is greeted with enemies, after a few attempts the player realises no matter what they try they cant damage these enemies so the only option is to run, further along there are also vines that can be climbed and held onto. In the third level you are given the ability to punch and a text dialogue teaching the player how to use it, later in the level it is layed out to allow the player to test and master the punch.
VERBS
The main verbs in the game were observed to be running, jumping and later on punching
Running is performed via the joystick
Jumping
Jumping is performed by pressing the input's respective default jump button ( for the playstation 1 it would be the X button)
Punching
Punching when unlocked is performed by pressing the controller's default punch button ( for the playstatio 1 it would be the square button)
VERSATILE VERBS
Jumping
The jumping verb is a versatile verb, this is because if you hold the button you jump higher and also (when unlocked) if you hold the button while mid-air you can glide
These versatile verbs occur depending on the status of the player (can only glide mid-air, can only high jump when on ground)
Punching
The punching verb would also be considered a versatile verb, this is because if you hold down the button you can increase the length of the punch
This versatile verb can happen at any moment with the exception of crouching as Rayman is allowed to punch whilst in the air
TUTORIALS
Rayman teaches the player how to play the game through, hidden pathways, on-screen text and also trial and error.
Hidden pathway
An example of a hidden pathway is seen at the first level where orbs are placed in different areas and ways, for example one orb is on a higher up platform than another which gives the player the idea to hold a button to high jump to get vertically higher, another example is seen when there is a set of orbs that drop which makes the player walk towards them to initiate a plant that drops and covers any pits.
On-screen text
An example of on-screen text is when you unlock the punch ability in level three a fairy appears and gives the player the ability to punch, following up with the acquisition of the punch the fairy tells you what to press to punch and also gives a note that if you hold the button down you can long punch all given through a text box.
Trial and error
An example of trial and error is seen in level 2, this is seen when the player is presented with a number of enemies, in nature the player will try to find out a way to eliminate the enemy and shortly after find out that both walking and jumping on the enemy doesn't work which leaves the player with no other choice but to avoid the enemy
PERSONAL OPINION
After observing the first 2 levels fully and about half of the third level I feel that the way the game is taught is and isn't efficient at the same time, this is due to the way the game is laid out you're eventually forced to learn each mechanic but sometimes it can be difficult to understand the first time.
The game's main strength throughout its design is the simplicity of the map which makes everything visually pleasing and easily spotted at the same time to prevent player confusion missing it the first initial time they play through the level
If I were to change something about the game's design I would improve the methods of teaching, despite having less storage to work on I feel that as the game has loading screens and a game over screen it could implement a written tip onto them to help the player if they are having trouble playing through the level/game
Rayman:Legends (2013)
In 2013 after quite a few games coming out, ubisoft released Rayman:Legends for the WiiU becoming their most innovative game yet. Not only was it innovative for the franchise but also for the platformer genre as this game brought in the mechanic of Murfy, a companion that helps the player get past the map controlled by another player on the WiiU's gamepad, Murfy would need to move object and do different activities to allow the player to trail onwards to get to the end of the level (like tickling an enemy or grabbing onto a handle to move a platformer to allow the player to get across).
VERBS
Eversince the release of the first Rayman, Rayman:Legends has added many new controls to the game giving it a more unique experience to other platformer games, the controls found in the game are-
Moving
In natural fashion like every other platformer game, you can move around and this is accomplished by using the directional pad to move in the direction of your will. Holding the right trigger allows you to run instead, if you hold the run button you can charge up a sprint, you can also attack while walking and running by inputting the attack button (X).,
Jumping
Just like moving, jumping is included in almost every platformer and is performed by pressing A. Whilst jumping you can also use the attack button (X) to use attacks mid-air aswell.
Attack
Attacking in this game is performed by pressing X, whilst attacking if you consecutively attack you do a combo-style attack in which you throw a few jabs into one big punch, Rayman can also hold the button to charge and wind up a massive punch that covers a good amount of distance (this attack can also be performed upwards). As previously mentioned, Rayman can merge his attacks into his movement.
Murfy controls
To get Murfy into the game you would need to press Y. To get murfy to go left/right the player needs to press the L/R buttons. For Murfy to do interactive actions, certain inputs need to be carried out on the gamepad's touchscreen.
VERSATILE VERBS
In the game there are quite a few versatile verbs in play which consists of-
Moving
Whilst moving you can input many things to change what you do whilst moving, you can hold the right trigger to run, you can press X to attack whilst moving and you can hold right trigger in place to get a short burst of sprinting.
Jumping
Naturally like other platformers if you hold the jump button you can go up higher however in Rayman you have the ability to use your hair as a glider, if the jump button (A) is held after being in the air, he will turn his hair into a propeller to slowly descend to the ground, Alongside these features, similarly to movement, Rayman can also attack whilst jumping.
Attack
When attacking if you input the attacking button (X) multiple times you let out a short combo and also, if you hold the attack button instead you can charge up a big and long ranged attack.
TUTORIALS
On-screen prompts (button and text)
As you first get into the game and load into he first stage, you are greeted with quite a few on screen text prompts to teach you the controls and mechanics of the game but are also greeted with button prompts too so people know exactly what button they need to press to perform X action.
Training ground
The first level overall is a training ground/testing field as it includes quite the number of enemies (with the exception of the starting area), in which the player(s) can test out the skills they learnt to get past the level with ease and test out features they learn along the way to get the hang of how it works.
OVERALL OPINION
In conclusion of playing the first level I think Rayman:Legends is a great addition to the platformer genre as it brings in new and innovative mechanics and features like Murfy and also encourages co-op play by laying out the game to need a player for both Rayman (or any other character) and Murfy. I also think the game is great as it seems to be beginner friendly by teaching the player in simple ways and makes it easy to understand by showing button examples.
One strength this game has is its playability, it can be played alone, with others or however the player desires to play it. The player also gets variety in their character and arent locked to Rayman allowing them to use different characters that might make the game visually more appealing to them. Alongside this, the addition of Murfy also set a new ceiling for platformer games as his addition was something new and creative and made it more fun to play the game as theres a small element of puzzles in the gae to ensure that the players can get Murfy to get the level completed by correcting the pathway as everyone goes along.
One improvement I would give to the game is to make it more enjoyable whilst being in single player. I say this because the game was mainly designed as a party game for multiple people whereas, if you played alone and went to become Murfy an AI controls your character and takes you over which eliminates the fun in the platforming as its all done for you already, leaving you to just solve puzzles only.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
In 1997 Oddworld inhabitants had released a new title for the PlayStation 1 called Oddworld:Abe's Oddysee which was published by GT interactive.
The game had a hidden moral to show people the true evil of the industrial and capitalist world we live in through slavery and enxtinction where people in charge would eradicate an entire race to make sure theyre still high up in society, ofcourse this is said and made in an alien/creature-like manner so not all of the story is 1:1 to the real world but for the majority it is, the use of the dark colour palette really sets in the mood with the dystopian world. When opening the game you go through a short scene to establish the colour palette of the game which appears to be very dark and dystopian.When loading into a new game you are greeted with a cutscene that tells you how the story starts and is conveyed through CGI and narration to set the mood in and give the player a reason to fight to the end environment of the game. Once you load up a game you are greeted with a training ground so you can attempt to learn the controls however, alongside the training ground you're greeted with animated backgrounds and these backgrounds contain written on-screen text prompts of teaching the player how to play the game to make it much easier to learn.
VERBS
This game has a majority of verbs which consist of-
Moving
Moving- left/right d-pad (directional pad), holding R1 allows the player to run whilst walking and if performing both previous actions whilst crouching, allows you to roll at a swift rate.
Hoisting
Hoisting- When hanging off a ledge via jumping up onto it or barley missing the platform you can move your d-pad upwards to climb the platform and continue on the journey
Entering
Entering doorways- Just like hoisting, walking through the doorways works with the same button, upwards on the d-pad. The use of doors allows you to go to small areas down in the background of the map to get past the enemies or to time moments to get past an enemy.
Jumping
Jumping- In the game jumping is seen to be different from the iconic/default jumping button which instead of X it is set as triangle. Jumping allows you to get through platforms, combining the running mechanic with jumping allows you to jump bigger gaps with momentum.
Interacting
Interaction-In the game you can interact with levers to either open trapdoors, disable electricity and maybe more. This makes the player have to think before they decide as the lever can lead to a bad outcome, an example of this is the first lever that's obviously placed in-front of the player opens a trapdoor killing one of the employees out of the 99 you need to save.
Sneaking
Holding R2 whilst walking allows you to sneak which can enable you to go past guards without them noticing you which can allow you to get to areas in which you normally wouldn't.
Speaking
Pressing and holding L1 allows Abe to speak when he presses buttons, if speaking next to an employee you can bring get its attention(Triangle) in which then you can ask it to follow you (Square) or to stay (X).
Chanting
Pressing and holding L2 allows you to chant to birds through whistling (Triangle) (X) and taunts (Square) (Circle) which commands them to do movements.
Channelling
Holding L1 and L2 allows you to start channelling. Channelling has more than one use in the game, one use in the game allows the bird to turn into portals in which you can send your fellow employees to safety, the other use of the channel allows the user to take over the minds of the guard and control them to shoot and move.
VERSATILE VERBS
In the game there are a number of versatile verbs as described before-
Movement
As briefly described before, in the game your movement can vary in multiple different ways. Whilst moving you can perfrom a multitude of different actions, the list follows as: sneaking, running, rolling, long jumping.
When walking you can perform a run to speed up by holding R1, this allows you to cover more ground in a small fragment quickly or allow you to run from any hostile blockers.
When you crouch and combine it with the buttons to run, the player starts rolling really fast, the best use of this would be to return to an area or to lure something into a previous area in which you can stragergise against the level.
Whilst running, if the jump button is pressed you perfrom a long jump which covers more distance than usual.
Speaking
As you progress in the game, speaking is an essential part to the game as saving your employees is essential to the ending of the game depending on the amount you save. This happens through game-speak, by pressing L1 and following up with any four of the circular buttons to make Abe give out different words to say which command the NPC employees to do different actions, like staying or following.
Chanting
When youre brought up with birds in the area you can perform different actions with them, this is done by pressing and holding L2 and pressing the circular buttons to talk to them, however there are only teo chants meaning thr other two are filled with taunts (like command farting).
TUTORIALS
On-Screen text
When playing the game in the starting area, there is no NPC that pops up to teach you, rather Oddworld inhabitants leveraged the use of their animated backgrounds to implement on-screen tutorials onto them which taught the player how to play the game as they went along the level.
Training grounds
The game also gives you a training ground in the first few areas so you can peacefully and quietly test out the new mechanics and controls that you have learnt to use.
Trial and error
Whilst playing the game it presents you with a lever, an employee and an electric barrier. In nature you would interact with the lever to turn off the barrier however this enables a trapdoor killing one out of the 99 employees which gives the player the initiative that they need to think their actions through as their actions have consequences.
PERSONAL OPINION
Overall after playing into a good amount of the game to understand it I find that the game teaches the player very well and slowly paces you into the game at a great speed, gradually giving you more and more puzzles to solve.
The main strength of this game's design is its theme as it allows for the puzzles to be harder to hide in plain sight and allows the player to recognise things as they go along the game, this allows the sense of satisfaction and relief to be more prominent as players wont spend as long to find solutions and can breeze through the levels.
If I could improve something about the game it would be the button layout, as the button layout in the game is good, it is quite unique and strange to get the hang of even after reading and seeing how to use each button respectively.
Exploring consoles and hardware 9/11/23
Platformer level design workshop 13/11/23
In today's lesson I was assigned to a group to design a platformer level for Super Mario maker to show my understanding of platformer games. We were assigned of making a starter level with the use of 3 verbs.
LEVEL DESIGN
Me and my group agreed to making our own levels in which we would improve and merge into one big level that contained elements of each of our levels. In this process of merging new levels would be added to make the level more smooth to transition into different parts.
Nintendo's level designing
Before watching the Nintendo developer video I sort of didn't imagine that is how level design worked, I thought that they would go into the computer software and experiment until they make a level that clicks well, now I have newly learnt that it is drawn with pen and paper on a sheet of grid paper, the grid paper is used to map out and measure the sizes of the map and blockers into the game's size.
The way Nintendo design their levels
Nintendo Of America. (2015). Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary Special Interview ft. Shigeru Miyamoto & Takashi Tezuka. [Online]. Youtube. Last Updated: 13 Sept 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLoRd6_a1CI&t=1s [Accessed 13 November 2023].LEVEL DESIGN
Here are the level designs me and my group did-
GROUP PARTNER WORK
After looking at eachother's level design we decided to analyse each level and try to merge them all into one which gave us this outcome.
FINAL OUTCOME
After looking at how each level was layed out we decided to merge all of them together and also add new elements like the pipe, it can be used to access a hidden area in which is a dead end making the player understand that the element of deception is at hand here. Overall I am pretty pleased with the outcome of the level as I think personally that it looks enjoyable to get through.
REFLECTION
Included tutorial(s)
The very start of our level incorporates an invisible tutorial as its an empty play field to find out what you can do with your character. Further into the levels small challenges are shown to make you learn what to do as you travel across the level in which you can learn and remember for future levels.
Difficulties
I think the most difficult part of designing levels with other people would probably be agreeing all on one thing as some people may think differently to others. Another thing alongside the difficulties is integrating the drawing onto the actual map which can be difficult sometimes, due to your vision not being able to fully be fulfilled
Feedback
I personally feel that the level design is successful for a first level as it isn't difficult and gives the player a sense of how to play the game. In terms of feedback from other groups they found it in the middle, it was successful but was missing elements such as wall climbing, it was not shown at an early stage unless you went down an optional pipe which teaches you about it there, with this in mind I thought that maybe wall jumping can be added in the beginning so the player can learn from it and apply it to the end/pipe sections. Another problem was the 'pow-block' had no use, this was a mistake made by the group as we thought it would've broke the blocks. What I could change about it is to remove it or give it a working function as the plan was to break the blocks and use the spring to either get to the top of the flag or use the spring to wall-jump to the top of the flag (in style).
Applying psychology to game design 17/11/23
In today's session we looked at how psychology can be applied in game production and game design. In the lesson we were assigned two objectives which were to show an understanding of psychology maps and their use in game design research. The other objective were given was to be able to conduct player-acting with the aim of developing accurate player empathy that will inform your your own design.
As game designers psychological models can benefit because it helps give an understanding of the player-base they are making the game for. These models can help identify how the game in production is viewed which can give game designers a heap of information on spots they know they've done well and also on spots they can improve upon. These psychological models can also help designers overcome personal bias by developing developing accurate player empathy.
In game design we next studied psychological maps including the Bartle type graph by Richard Bartle. This helps to identify four different player types called the Bartle types. This consists of a graph with four sections of different types of players in the games community.
These are the four types of players identified in the Bartle types graph.
Killers- Players with a competitive nature to win at all costs. These players like to compete their skills head-on with other players to see who can win using the game's mechanics.
Achievers- Players that like to seek out and hunt every single achievement a game has to offer to them. Achievers normally strive in people that are completionists and their inner thoughts of competing with other players to see who can reach their goal of every trophy.
Socializers- Players that enjoy the sociable friend-making parts of a game. These players are normally ones to play in groups and tend to try make as many friends as they can whilst they play.
Explorers- Players that enjoy the exploring elements of a game. These players generally like to see all the environments they can find and explore, maybe even explore all mechanics or even all different paths of a story. Exploring in games is not limited to what you can find in the game but anything that may have secrets unravelled.
My personal type
I identify myself as killer, achiever, and explorer but if I had to choose one, I would chose explorer because when I play a story game I like to get the different endings and explore different parts of the areas and if I were to play a fighting game for example I like to make my own combos by exploring all different mechanics the game can offer.
OCEAN
We then looked at another psychological map to define a person's different personality types into games, the OCEAN graph. OCEAN is an acronym which when stretch out reads as: O-Openness to experience, C-Conscientiousness, E-Extraversion, A-Agreeableness and N-Neuroticism
The game elements of each main domain in OCEAN
O-Openness to experience-Novelty
C-Conscientiousness-Challenge
E-Extraversion-Stimulation
A-Agreeableness-Harmony
N-Neuroticism-Negative Emotion
My personal results
I have personally conducted the test myself and the results I got were as followed
Personal result---------Empathy blind spots
O-83%------------------O-17%
C-46%------------------54%
E-35%------------------65%
A-79%------------------21%
N-65%------------------35%
Empathy blind spots are recognised by getting your result and taking that away from 100% to see what your empathy blind spot is, this spot relates to what game types you may not like.
Player-acting, unlike player testing is when you play the game and get the experience in your empathy blind spots to help overcome your personal bias by understanding features and elements of the game and why people would like them, for example I personally do not enjoy FIFA but I overcame my personal bias learning that the reason some people like playing FIFA is because it allows them to roleplay as their favourite football players, as if they are them.
Player matrix
In game design, another element in which psychology is prominent is within a 'player-matrix'. This is a graph of four different sections which branch out into four smaller sub-sections. Within each box of the graph follows a player type and a game in the field. My player matrix follows as: Adventurer, Master, Lone wolf, Soldier. My opposite player types are: Investigator, Dabbler, Party animal, Good sport.
MY PLAYER MATRIX
KEY
BLUE - Player type
RED - Game in field
Challenge matrix
Novelty matrix
The game im testing (90 min playtime)
Gran turismo 5
Player-Acting 21/11/23
INTRODUCTION
In my task when player-acting I was challenged to player-act the architect in the four domains of play. This was assigned to me in response to my empathy blind spots and my opposite personal player type on the matrix.
I am going to be analysing Gran Turismo 5 on the PlayStation 3.
Gran Turismo 5 released on 24th November 2010.
Gran Turismo 5 was released solely on the PlayStation 3 as it is a PlayStation exclusive game, this means it wont be found on any other platform.
Gran Turismo 5 was developed by Polyphonal Digital and published by SONY interactive entertainment.
GAME CONTENT
In the game you are tasked to complete a race track as you compete and race with other cars to reach the goal first. In the game there are a number of verbs which consist of: accelerating, braking, drifting, gear shifting and camera mode. I personally ended up not finding any versatile verbs.
In my gameplay experience a unique mechanic that I haven't seen in other racing games is the ability to change the gears you drive at which determines how fast/slow you go.
In my opinion I found the game distasteful and I personally do not enjoy it because it has a lot of weird mechanics and features that I have not seen in other racing.
I found the game in the middle of easy and hard, this is because I didn't find the game overly impossible but at the same time I would struggle a lot.
I personally saw no tutorial in-game rather than the tooltips and guides on how to get around the main menu UI, so I would say that I didn't find much helpful.
For its time, the game's models and car designs are pretty realistic and are meant to represent real cars in the world.
The game's audio design in my opinion is well put together to make fans of Gran Turismo to stay within the game and hook in new. Personally it didn't hook me in as the game felt kind of bland however there were small elements I was pleased with, such as the game's audio production and the satisfaction of a high speed once switching gears.
EMPATHY BLIND SPOT
After player-acting Gran Turismo 5 I have got an understanding of how architects like this game, this is because they cant just pick up an expensive car and go to a race track. Another thing I also made out is that some people enjoy racing as a sport and activity and would prefer to pursue it safely and swiftly.
For me personally I just don't like the acceleration, handling and the gear shifting mechanic. In game design however I can see this as valuable because it provides more control over the car, more difficulty and weight when actually using it and and it keeps a challenge up to learn. For example, playing a racing game like Mario kart 8 its as simple as, drive and drift. In Gran Turismo 5 you have to micro manage your speed, gear, position and timing. Messing up one of these can be detrimental to your outcome in the race.
CONCLUSION
In this player-acting experience I came to the understanding of how and why people like Gran Turismo 5 and overcame my personal bias as allocated by my OCEAN test and opposites of my matrix.
One thing I wanna take away from this player-acting session to follow through to my projects for the player type I would add more control over their actions, as the architect like building it also means they're creative so allowing them to build up on their own without being locked to pre-sets a game gives them allows for inclusivity. Something I would avoid is making the game too confusing or hard as even though I would make a game for one player type I would prefer to make it understandable to someone who never played this type of game or is experimenting their player types.
Contextual awareness 1/12/23
SLIDESHOW
PRESENTATION
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