Sunday, 30 March 2014

Games that inspire me!


  • Roller Coaster Tycoon
  • Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  • Mass Effect Trilogy 
  • Army of 2
  • Crackdown
  • Command and Conquer
  • Warhammer 40,000
  • Wizard 101
  • Jet Pack Joyride
  • Assassins Creed
  • Too Human
  • Film Replica Games
  • Sniper 2
  • Tomb Raider
  • Far Cry 3

Blog Task: compile a short bibliography


My bibliography

  • Website

    Ancient.eu.com.

    In-text: (Ancient.eu.com, 2014)
    Bibliography: Ancient.eu.com. 2014. [online] Available at: http://www.ancient.eu.com/image/95/ [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Bbc.co.uk.

    BBC - Primary History - World History - Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Bbc.co.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Bbc.co.uk. 2014. BBC - Primary History - World History - Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worldhistory/royal_game_of_ur/ [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Britishmuseum.org.

    British Museum - The Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Britishmuseum.org, 2014)
    Bibliography: Britishmuseum.org. 2014. British Museum - The Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_royal_game_of_ur.aspx [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_269234_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_269233_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_274978_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_12740_1&content_id=_269235_1 [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_274951_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

    In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_12740_1&content_id=_269177_1&mode=reset [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Mastersgames.com.

    The Rules of The Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Mastersgames.com, 2014)
    Bibliography: Mastersgames.com. 2014. The Rules of The Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/royal-ur-rules.htm [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Website

    Wikipedia.

    Man, Play and Games

    In-text: (Wikipedia, 2014)
    Bibliography: Wikipedia. 2014. Man, Play and Games. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man,_Play_and_Games [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].

Blog Task: Games Britannia “Joystick Generation”

In episode 3 of 3, of Game Britannia by the BBC was all about computer games and how they interact with the society. How society influences the games and how games influence the society.

An example of this in the 60s, 70s and 80s when there was a lot of violence on the streets there was also a lot of violence in video games with a lot killing.

In the episode, they said that people play games differently than they would in real life and it can really bring out the true personality in a person. For example, Grand Theft Auto. People like myself would not go round in real life and steal cars, shoot people and beat people up just for the hell of it. It is games like this give people an escape from real life and all the troubles and worries that come with it. It gives the player an immerse experience to relax and relive any stress that they might have.

However, as said before, games also influences society. Therefore, I feel that games like these would also encourage people to do crimes that are implemented in these games. Even though this is only the minority.

Blog Task: pictures from your BM trip and EuroGamer

Unfortunately, I could not afford to go on the British Museum trip. As I had no money at this point. I really wanted to. However, I will try to go on this trip next week.

I went on the Euro Gamer trip 2013 which was brilliant. I managed to play on the new consoles.I have always been a faithful Xbox 360 fan but I really hated the Xbox One. I didn't like the controller. Plus, I didn't feel the aesthetics of the games were as good as the PS4. The PS4 controller felt very similar to the Xbox 360 with the PS4 special feature, like the position of the analogue sticks, the extra button and the touch pad. I didn't really get a chance to use the touch pad but I can see it's potential. This also gave me some good ideas for new mechanics that could use the PS4 touch pad.

I also tested some new release games that they were beta testing at this convention. One game that sticks in my mind was Assassins Creed: Black Flag. Overall, this is a brilliant game with some great new features from its pre-decedents. However, I found a huge bug in the game. I obviously told the developers that were there and they have now fixed this problem as the the game is now released on the market. The bug was to do with aerial assassinations. When an AI was running underneath the player from side to side I would try to aerial assassinate. The player's character would jump off the building or ledge and stop in mid-air and then travel sideways before descending down onto the AI for the assassination.

If I get the chance I will definitely go on this trip again next year.

Blog Task: Games Britannia “Monopolies & Mergers”

The 2 or 3 Game Britannia by the BBC was all about modern board games and how they have changed since the ancient board games that were covered in the first episode. One thing I found really interesting was how Monopoly was used in World War 2 to hold secrets and maps. The main and most important information I learnt by watching this episode has changed my approached when designing games now.

This information is:
The most popular game include luck and skill in the same game.

References

Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_274951_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].

Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_12740_1&content_id=_269177_1&mode=reset [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].

Blog Tasks: Royal Game of UR

The Royal Game of UR was the game that I used to iterate for my iteration assignment.


Rules

R.C. Bell

RC Bell used his path stated above and dice throws, which give a different flavor of game entirely, were as follows:
  • 0 - move 4 and have another throw.
  • 1 - move 0 and the turn finishes.
  • 2 - move 1 and have another throw
  • 3 - move 5 and have another throw
  • 5. Each player places an agreed amount into a pool.
  • 6. A piece can only be entered onto the board by a throw of 5 and moves as indicated above for further throws.
  • 7. If a counter lands on a rosette, that player must pay an agreed fine into the pool.
  • 8. If a counter lands on an opposing counter, the latter piece is captured and sent off the board from where it can only return to the board by the throw of a five in the usual way.
  • 9. An exact throw is needed to bear a piece off the board
  • 10. Only one counter is allowed on a square at any one time.
  • 11. The first player to bear all pieces off the board wins the pool.

Quotes
This is the Royal Game of Ur, a board game made between 2600 and 2400 BC.

In the 1920s, the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley was digging into the ruins of a long-buried royal city, and among many amazing treasures, he found several games. This is one of them.
bbc.co.uk

References
  • Ancient.eu.com.

    In-text: (Ancient.eu.com, 2014)
    Bibliography: Ancient.eu.com. 2014. [online] Available at: http://www.ancient.eu.com/image/95/ [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].

  • Bbc.co.uk.

    BBC - Primary History - World History - Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Bbc.co.uk, 2014)
    Bibliography: Bbc.co.uk. 2014. BBC - Primary History - World History - Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worldhistory/royal_game_of_ur/ [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].

  • Britishmuseum.org.

    British Museum - The Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Britishmuseum.org, 2014)
    Bibliography: Britishmuseum.org. 2014. British Museum - The Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_royal_game_of_ur.aspx [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Mastersgames.com.

    The Rules of The Royal Game of Ur

    In-text: (Mastersgames.com, 2014)
    Bibliography: Mastersgames.com. 2014. The Rules of The Royal Game of Ur. [online] Available at: http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/royal-ur-rules.htm [Accessed: 31 Mar 2014].
  • Ancient board games in perspective; papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium with additional contributions.  
    Published by British Museum Press (2007)
    Shelved at  794 
    ISBN 9780714111537
    Note  
    Subjects Board Games. 
    Citation Finkel, I.L. (2007) Ancient board games in perspective; papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium with additional contributions. London: British Museum Press.

Blog Task: Games Britannia “Dicing with Destiny”

In this lecture we watched 1 of 3 episodes of Games Britannia. The episode was all about ancient board games, which we ended up doing an assignment on iterating one of these game to improve it or make it different. I learnt many new games that are out there, which make me spark new ideas anyway. I find when I see games or play new ones I use the mechanics from one and see how I could implement them with others from other games. I used this same approach when I completed my iterating assignment. I used some mechanics from the "Royal Game of UR" and added others from other games; plus some of my own ideas I came up with.

I found that a lot of the ancient board games focused on divinity or fortune telling. This could be for many different faiths or to giving advise to noble on what they should do if they have big decisions to make like going to war.

I have also done this for a board game that I have been working on for the year with Greg Rutter. We have kind of merged two games, one is a computer game and one is a board game and made it into a huge board game. We have merged Warhammer 40,000 and Command and Conquer. This has taken us so long because we have added each asset then play-tested it. We then had to keep tweaking and play testing until each asset was balanced before adding anything new. The game is virtual completed which we will present at the game festival at the end of the year.



References

Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_269234_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].

Learn.ucs.ac.uk.

In-text: (Learn.ucs.ac.uk, 2014)
Bibliography: Learn.ucs.ac.uk. 2014. [online] Available at: https://learn.ucs.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_269234_1&course_id=_12740_1 [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].