Gamer Grow

As the video gaming industry continues to grow and new, creative ideas are put into production, new genres are bound to develop. Although I tend to only classify a video game by genre according to its gameplay, the definition is much more lenient. 1. a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music. (dictionary.com) Now, approximately 3 generations from the N.E.S. era, many developers are looking back to the games of our past and breathing new life into them. The type of games that results from such an endeavor represents multiple eras of gaming in a single product. This is the essence of the relatively new genre Retro Evolved. A Retro Evolved game isn't the same as a remake or a sequel with graphical or gameplay improvements. A Retro Evolved game is one that takes on the design decisions and conventions of a game that are reflective of a previous era regardless if such convent...

Recently in an episode of 1up Yours (possibly the Live at PAX show ), Shane Bettenhausen expressed how the music editor in the upcoming Guitar Hero 4 is, in his opinion, too complex/complicated and that the would like it to be more user friendly/casual so anyone can make awesome songs. 1) From what I've seen of Guitar Hero 4's editor, it's not complex enough. Though I don't have a lot of details, I have doubts about the level of music that can be created without incorporating some kind of a sheet music style system. Band Brothers, a Japanese DS game, has a top notch music editor that I used to input a Jason Mraz song . Guitar Hero 4 better top an old DS game. 2) If Guitar Hero 4 intends on providing serious music composition tools, then there won't be any options or design possible that will magically imbue the player with the ability to understand and write music. Music is complicated. It takes years of practice and study to come to terms with. I know this from fir...

Everyday I live the third dimension never ceases to amaze and boggle me. From a trash-ketball arcing into a waste bin to a nearly weightless piece of lint dancing in any direction it pleases, motion through volume is too advanced for most people to fully grasp. Sure, we live in 3D (let's ignore 4D for the time being), but that doesn't mean that we've all have a firm grasp of 3D space. Even in our favorite videogames, though the graphics are certainly rendered in full 3D, the gameplay and the controls may be something more deceptive and less dimensional. Could it be that promises of 3D gameplay is really snake oil? Is it possible that our control and understanding of 3D space is limited to how we interface with the game world? Let's start at the beginning. Wheel paddles. Arrow Keys. Joy sticks. D-pads. All of these input types are great for quantified movement and other such mechanics. Because these controllers can only send on or off (pressed or released) signals to the...

I'll keep this one brief and spoiler free. All images are taken from the online trailer of Wall-e. If Wall-e, the fantastic new addition to Pixar's powerhouse of films for all ages, was a game it would be a perfect example of... visual storytelling form fits function characterization through action clean (virtually spotless) design/story telling The dialog in Wall-e is sparse at first. Aside from the lyrics in the music and the audio track from a video feed shown early in the film, Wall-e starts off like a silent film. The crafters at Pixar truly took advantage of the freedom, power, and flexibility of visuals, the heart of films. Instead of bogging down the film with unnecessary explanatory dialog, Pixar let the images do the talking. Throughout the film just about everything the viewer needs to know can be extrapolated from the information easily gathered from the visuals, which are the most advanced and technically impressive computer generated visuals I've ever seen. S...

At last, we come to Counterpoint; the subject that brings mechanics, interplay, and variation together. In music, Counterpoint is the writing of musical lines that sound different on their own, but harmonize when played together. How the melody of a song interacts with the other lines is the focus of Counterpoint. John Rahn puts it best: "It is hard to write a beautiful song. It is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole. The internal structures that create each of the voices separately must contribute to the emergent structure of the polyphony , which in turn must reinforce and comment on the structures of the individual voices. The way that is accomplished in detail is...'counterpoint'" Notice the words in bold. Though Rahn was only talking about music, his language can easily be apply to videogames with a few tweaks. Here's my version... "It is hard to design an intere...

We've already outlined interplay thoroughly in part 1 . Now it's time to look at the interplay in Super Mario Brothers in detail. Keep in mind that interplay works best when it encourages the use of a game's primary mechanic in a variety of ways. In Super Mario Brothers, the order of mechanics are as follows: 0. Idle position (doing nothing) 1. Jump 2. Run, Duck, Slide, Swim, Throw fireball 3. Starman powerup, Koopa shell attacks Click for larger image Bricks: can be bumped continuously, harden, or break. In call cases, Mario rebounds back downward quickly and at a sharp angle restricting upward and horizontal control. Fire Bar: can be ducked if there is a small gap between the fire ball and the floor. Spring: can launch Mario very high or very short with a well timed jump. Pulley Platforms: move under Mario's weight according to a simple pulley system. Water Current: can pull Mario downward or across. It's an invisible force that Mario must struggle against by repe...

In order to describe how a game is played over time, one must take into account the range of effects the players actions have on the characters, enemies, and the environment. Previously on Critical-Gaming, we've described game mechanics as being concrete versus abstract, and existing in one of three levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary mechanics are a limited set of mechanics that make up the core of the player's interactivity and the core feeling/action of a game. Secondary mechanics are typically designed to support the primary mechanic by giving it more variation and rounding out the feel of a game. Tertiary mechanics are actions that can only be executed in limited contextual situations that depend on an outside source (ex. an enemy). In real life, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I translate this as every action is a part of a push-pull system. Because actions are so intricately and intimately interconnected, the effects of a single action can ...

When I first started the Critical-Gaming blog, I used literary critical theory as a bridge to create methods, structures, and a language needed to critique videogames in a variety of different styles. In the end, some elements of literary theory were copied, some were translated, and others were dropped altogether. The whole process was a highly effective learning experience. It's that time again. This time around, I'll be investigating level design and game progression on a level that goes beyond detailing gameplay mechanics and how they can compliment each in potential scenarios. Hopefully, I'll pioneering a way to critique the flow or movement of gameplay through a game. For analyzing an abstract series of elements to uncover larger, more complex even governing ideas, what existing method is better than music theory? I couldn't think of a better one either. As you may have guessed, I'll be using Super Mario Bros. as a model throughout this series. Ever since I s...

I have always felt that the best videogame stories/narrative experiences are the ones that the player contributes to in a meaningful way. In this case, meaningful means through the primary mechanic of the game. What the player does between the beginning and the end of a level (or even between cutscenes) isn't filler set aside from the story. What the player plays is the story, or at least a very important part of it. I've come up with little test you can give to anyone to determine if the game controlled the story or if the player contributed to it. Ask someone to tell you what happened in any game they recently played. As they describe the events to you, be mindful of the language they use. If their retelling is composed of sentences that begin with "I" then they are relating the events of a journey they had control over. If the sentences between with names like "Snake," "Cloud," or "Charizard" then the teller is acknowledging that the...