coreymartingames.weebly.com€¦  · Web viewThe music that will be selected for the game will consist of high speed guitar solos, techno-rock style music and also some fast rock

Section 1: Forms of Feedback:

(a) Visual:1. Iconic:

The icons for a game usually are used to give feedback to the player through the use of images which can range from things like green crosses for health or lives to gun icons to show a weapon pickup or upgrade. They are used so that a player can see them and easily figure out what they represent in the game or what they will do in the game when they are touched or picked up. All games use icons for a variety of different uses throughout their gameplay and also during loading screens there is sometimes a logo in a corner to show the game is loading. An example of the use of icons in a game is the weapon icons in “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat” to the right.

2. Colour Psychological:

The use of colours to show different events in a game during gameplay is an important addition to games as without them there would have to be text all over the screen which would take away from the gameplay of the game whilst with a colour change then the text can be gotten rid of and this

therefore makes the game more fun to play as the player doesn’t have to read text all the time when something happens. Most games use simple to understand colour changing like if the player is shot in most FPS games then the screen will turn red to show that the player’s character has been shot and injured or in a racing game if the player crashes then the screen sometimes darkens to show the car has been damaged. An example of colour psychological used in a game is in “Call Of Duty 2” as when the player is shot the screen starts to turn red as shown on the left.

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3. Camera Techniques:

In games camera techniques are sometimes used to give feedback to the player as the player can notice them right away and understand what happened in the game without having to read text that would have to explain what happened which would take away from the gameplay of the game. In racing games the camera will sometimes shake if the player crashes to show that they have crashed whilst also in FPS games the camera will also shake to show that the player has just been shot. Foreshadowing is a common technique used in horror games as it includes focusing the camera on an object that will be of importance later on in the game’s story. Also the lighting can be used to cause different special effects through the game like a room can be made to darken to show something is about to happen or lightning can be used to make a player jump if there is silence for a long time. An example of camera techniques being used in a game is in “Need For Speed Shift 2” when using helmet view when the sun glares through the window.

(b) Physical:1. Vibration:

In games vibrations are used to show that something has happened as it means that text won’t be required for the player to read through to just find out what happened and instead they will know right away what happened and therefore will feel more immersed in the game. In racing games vibrations can be used to show that someone has hit the player or that the player has just crashed whilst in a FPS game it can be used to show that a grenade just went off near the player or that they have been shot which would cause the controller to vibrate in their hands. An example of vibration being use in a game is in “Ghost Recon Future Soldier” as when something explodes near the player the controller will vibrate to let them know easily and quickly which is shown on the right.

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2. Audio

Games use audio to add a feel to the game and also are used as feedback to the player so that they can figure out what just happened in the game and will be able to get more immersed in the game thanks to this as then they will hear the sounds in the game without having to read a pile of text just to find out that something just happened. Ambient audio is also a big part of games as they add to the gameplay heavily like in racing games it makes it so that the player can hear their car and also hear if they crash the sounds and also in an FPS game where it lets them hear the gunshots and explosions around them so they feel more immersed in the game. Music is a part of games that helps add to gameplay as it adds to the feel of the game as it can cause the player to get ‘twitchy on the trigger’ and can make them more immersed in the game as it lets them know something is about to happen like in horror games where when dark, freaky music is played it makes the player tension up. Foley effects are also added into games to make the gameplay better and make the player more interested in the game and what is happening in the game as when a door suddenly closes they will hear the bang of it closing causing them to turn around to it to see what just happened. An example of where audio is used in games is in “Resident Evil 2” when the player is near stairs they might hear footsteps on the stairs which would cause them to go to see what is there causing the sound which is shown in the image below.

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Section 2: Information Communication

(a) Information-Rich Game World

In games nowadays there is amazing graphics that are getting close to photo-realism which everyone is impressed by but this only adds a small amount to the gameplay of the game whilst if there was more information and power sent to the A.I then the gameplay would be much better as they have a huge influence on how the good the gameplay is. It is also when a game has a very realistic world which has a lot of information in it and a lot of these games that include this are simulators like “Microsoft Flight Simulator” for example which is used to train pilots before they are allowed to go into a plane in real life. In most games there is not much information for the A.I which causes the A.I to seem to be stupid and not work right like in an FPS game where the A.I walks into a wall or is facing the wrong direction which is caused by it lacking in information to use so then it can’t decide what it is supposed to do right and therefore sometimes in games there has been inserted an A.I that learns as you play the game like in “S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call Of Pripyat” where the A.I starts to learn and eventually can think and act without using its original programming like when they sit on boxes or start learning how the player will act in certain situations and can even learn how to play a guitar after a while.

(b) User Needs

Nowadays there isn’t as many strategy games as there used to be as the games that are most popular are all FPS games like “Call Of Duty” which has made them stop being made as much as companies are all trying to sell FPS games so they make more money. In the old strategy games the player had to think before they acted as the A.I worked better as it was able to come up with different tactics and strategies to beat the player but in the FPS games that are popular nowadays the A.I doesn’t use tactics as much as they are mostly all about ‘run and gun’ which means no tactics are needed when being played which makes it easy for the player to win. In old strategy games like “Command and Conquer Red Alert” the A.I was smart as it would use different tactics to try to beat the player like sometimes they would have a small force attack the player from one side causing the player’s units to go there whilst then launching a surprise attack from another direction with a much bigger force so the player is beaten or at least left in a bad state as this causes confusion and makes the player make mistakes which makes them easy to beat then for the A.I.

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(c) Rapid Input

In new games especially the game needs to be able to render what button the player pressed and also then use that information to perform the action that is needed on screen instantly so that the player can play the game in real-time and not have to wait for a while until the game performs the action. In most FPS and racing games this is required to be done instantly as in an FPS game the player will be rapidly pressing buttons and moving around to beat all the enemies on screen in which the game needs to be able to keep up with all the actions performed by the player whilst in racing games it will need to be able to respond rapidly as in these games the player will be pressing different buttons constantly like in “Forza 4” for example they will be pressing the left trigger to

brake but then instantly changing to pressing the right trigger to accelerate which the game needs to be able to respond to this and perform the actions the player has chosen but if it didn’t respond and perform them instantly then the player would get annoyed as then they would need to press the buttons before the actions are performed and needed in the game.

Section 3: User Psychology

(a) Memory

In the game industry companies need to think about the player’s memory like the player’s short term memory for example which stores information for immediate use by the player like in a game like “Ghost Recon 2” where when the player hears a gunshot they will remember it for a while and where it came from using their short term memory to use that information when making the next decision. Then there is also long term memory which has two different types of memory which are episodic memory which holds our memory of the past and of different events in our lives which can be then linked together so that we can remember different events in the past. Then there is also semantic long term memory which contains all of our memory on rules, facts, concepts and skills we know in which we can’t learn a new skill unless we know something that we can relate to it. Long term memory is seen as being virtually unlimited in size meaning that we can constantly keep putting more stuff into it to remember.

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(b) Reasoning

Human reasoning is the process in which we use to come to a conclusion from the information we have got and the knowledge we already have of it and having gathered this we can even figure out something new. There are two types of reasoning we use, the first is deductive reasoning which is when we take any facts or figures that we know and use them to come up with a conclusion. An example of this is when in a game there are two routes in a game like “S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call Of Pripyat” where one route takes the player a shorter but has more enemies whilst the other is longer but has less enemies than the other one and then we check our equipment and the route better for us we take and also if we see the up and down arrows on the keyboard then we will assume that when pressed an object will move up or down. The other type of reasoning we use is inductive reasoning in which we use the process of making up rules in which have come from the number of experiences which as the number of experiences increases the better we can make the rule thanks to this. An example of inductive reasoning in a game is in an FPS shooter game like “Ghost Recon Future Soldier” where if the player keeps getting killed in a mission when they do something like running out in the open then after a few tries they might figure out that they need to take cover instead and to not run out as they will just get killed.

(c) Perception

This is the way in which we think of things such as an image, bit of sound, any objects and also any motion happening and this is thanks to the way in which we use our senses to gather any information that is around us at the time and it can also makes different people see an object or image as something different from each other like in the image on the right where some people might say. There are different types of perception which include physical perception which is different from normal perception as it is how anything that is relevant can receive information from objects in the real-world and can range from something we touch to something we hear. An example of this type of perception is when in a game like “Resident Evil 2” the player hears a sort of grumbling sound they will think that a zombie is nearby which will make them start looking around and will get them into the feel of the game.

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Section 4: Control Method Design

(a) Prototyping

This is when a part of a game can be made from the designs to give the makers an idea of what the game could turn out like and therefore if there are any major problems with the game they will be found then and will be able to be fixed before the construction of the game can start so that there will be less bugs and errors in the game when it is being tested after being finished which will speed up the production of it. It also makes it so that if the game won’t turn out as well as originally thought of in the original designs then they can change the idea before spending the money on the game and then finding out later after having spent all the money on the game leaving them bankrupt. This is usually one of the most important processes in the making of a game as it can help make sure the game will be successful and not a failure in the end up. In order for it to be effective in the making of the game it needs to be applied from the very start of the designing of the game so any problems that can be seen at the start can be fixed before they can get hidden behind other problems like a small glitch creating a bigger one which then causes the smaller one to get overlooked during the creation of the game. The game “World Of Tanks” had a beta test which was released which helped them get rid of a few glitches and to help give them time to see what the layers wanted in the full game to help make it more successful.

(b) Measuring Functionality Against User Satisfaction

This is a process that includes checking the game to make sure that it meets user requirements which includes the user in the centre of the design which means that the game will constantly have tests done which will then be evaluated and then the game will be readjusted to make it better than before which then eventually turns into the final design which is then made. Some techniques that are used during the evaluation process of the game are walkthroughs which is when the evaluator gives the tester a set of instructions to do in the game and then sees how the tester explores the prototype and learns how to use it. The next is to have an interview with a tester and to ask them a set of questions about the prototype and the final one is to create a questionnaire for the testers to answer and the questions will range from own answer ones to select an answer ones. The evaluator can use the different techniques to check how useful the HCI of the game is and what about it needs adjusted to make it better for the players of the game to make sure the game will be successful which would include, how far did the tester get in the game? Or how many errors were made during certain tasks by the tester?

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(c) Heuristics Analysis

This is when a group of evaluators check the interface of the game to check for any problems that the player would come across and to get these fixed before the final version of the game is made so they are fixed by then and won’t be in the final game. This is usually done with multiple evaluators instead of just one as if there is only one they can’t find all the problems but if there is multiple then they can find more than the one person would as they would all notice different things that are wrong in the game’s interface so that there will be more problems fixed. They are only allowed to communicate with each other again once all of the evaluation is done which means that they can’t be biased and that they all will have given their own independent views on it. The results from each of the evaluations can be recorded in a number of ways which include it being in a written report or as a video taken by an observer of the evaluator commenting on the interface as they go through the test. The written reports have an advantage as they are more formal than a video but they require more effort from the evaluator and then need to be read by an evaluation manager. Also an observer can be used to speed up the process and reduce the workload on the evaluators as they

only need to understand certain parts of the interface and they can assist the evaluators through any problems they have with the interface.

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Interface Design:

Visual Style:

Colour: It should have many colours for things like the cars to be customised and also have a dark background as the game is set at night but also will need to have the right colours for the lights and stuff in the city as well like amber and blue for modern car lights. The street racing cars will probably be of any colour as everyone has different tastes and it should show something similar to this to match into the style well of the street racing and touge racing. The speedometer should have a colour that will stand out from the rest of the parts in the interface as the player will need to be able to see this properly.

Pixels: It will be in 3D and hopefully HD like 720p roughly as then it will have the graphics to compete with the other games of its class like Forza and Gran Turismo as they have amazing graphics so this game will need to have just as good graphics as well. Also the different parts of the interface will have to be in as good quality as the rest of it as if they are of worse quality then the player will wonder why they look worse taking away from the game therefore. The speedometer will be looked at a lot so it should be in the same quality as the cars meaning it will have a lot of pixels in it which would be around 720p.

Genre: It is of the racing and open world genre so it should include things like a speedometer, positioning in a race, the amount of laps left in the race the player is currently in, a mini-map for when the player is in free-roam mode so they can find their way around the map and also have the car in the centre of the screen so the player is focusing on the car which is usually the way a racing game is.

Light/Dark: It is set at night so it should be very dark to give the right feel to the game instead of being bright which would make it seem as though it is set in the day time instead. The cars should also get shadows on the road that are darker than the road from the street lights to make it fit in better to the night time style of the game.

Perspective: It will need to maybe have a few different perspectives for the player to choose from like following behind the player’s car or also a cockpit view from inside the driver seat of the car so it will feel more real for the players that want more of a simulation from the game. The reason it shouldn’t be bird’s eye like some racing games is because it doesn’t give the player as realistic of a feel as if they are sitting in the car seeing what the driver would see which causes them to lose interest easier whilst in the driver’s seat view they will concentrate better and will also get more immersed in the game as it is more realistic this way.

Game World: The game world is set in the city and the mountain so it will need to have a couple of different types of terrain to it so each area of the game world will have the right one for them and not be different from how they should be like the city area should be smooth tarmac whilst the mountain part of it will include rough bumpy tarmac and some bits of dirt on the sides of the road in case the player cuts the corners so it will seem worse maintained therefore being more like a real mountain road. The objects in the game will also need to fit in to each area right like the city part of the map should have things like buildings, people walking and street lights and cones whilst the mountain part of the map should have rocks on the side of the road, small buildings at the top

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scattered around and both areas should have traffic driving around to make it feel more of an open road style game instead of boring with no challenges to it. The buildings in the city will include skyscrapers and very expensive looking buildings everywhere whilst also being very built up with buildings everywhere whilst the mountain part of the map will be olden styled and be spaced out to show it is more of a less looked after place.

Character: The character won’t be shown much in the game as it is mostly in car based and when he is he will need to be well detailed and will have brown hair and blue eyes and will be called Ryo.

Audio Style:

Voices: All the characters will have Japanese style of voices to them as the game is set in Japan so they will need to sound like they are from there to fit in. The main character will have a young voice to him as he is young in the game and the main opponent will sound more of a young adult around 25 years old as he will have been in the racing scene a long time.

Sounds: The main sounds that will be found in the interface of the game will be the engine and tyre sounds from the cars which should be recorded from real cars driving to make sure the sounds are as close to the real sounds as possible and also there should be music playing in the background but it shouldn’t be too quiet so the player can’t hear it but also should be kept down in volume enough so it doesn’t take away from the car sounds in whilst the player is driving around.

Music: The music that will be selected for the game will consist of high speed guitar solos, techno-rock style music and also some fast rock or metal songs so they will fit into the high speed style of the game whilst also giving a dark and fast feel to the game which will make the player want to go faster which means it will fit into the game better. A few examples of music it could use is stuff like Hizaki-Race Wish or Deluhi-Frontier which are fast and heavy to add aggression to the feel of the game and also they are Japanese to fit in with the setting of the game being in Japan and also some M.O.V.E songs like Dogfight as they are the type of songs people think of when they think of mountain drifting as they are the songs played in Initial D.

Genre: It will include sounds that would usually be found in a racing game like the car engines and tyres screeching to make it sound like a racing game whilst also having the high speed, heavy music to add to the fast pace and aggression of the game with the street racing style to it as well.

Core Game Mechanics:

Point of the game: It is for the player to beat all of the opponents that they race in the game to become the fastest in the game and then they will unlock everything in the game whilst also getting the option to replay the game in a harder difficulty but with a few bonuses like extra parts or special cars that weren’t there before.

What they exactly have to do: The player is to go through the game racing beating all the different opponents in races which will be found in different areas driving around or through being challenged by them whilst also finding different cars and buying them and upgrading their cars to make them faster.

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How do they complete the entire game: They will complete the game by going around and beating all the opponents in the game in races and then beat all the bosses of the areas and the final boss in a race.

Rules of the game: The player will be restricted to only driving cars and will be able to drive around the map as they want like they can drift or they can drive normally but each will have different consequences on the player’s car.

What you can/can’t do in the game: The player can drive around the map in the game and also customise their car and race other racers in the game but they can’t get out of the cars in the game.

Game Modes:

Difficulties:

The game will have a few difficulty settings which will be available for the player to select at the start of the game and also at certain points of the game and will be the following: easy, medium and hard as these will be easy for the player to select he appropriate one for them as they will have short bits of information about how hard the A.I will be on the different difficulties.

Singleplayer/Multiplayer:

The game will have a singleplayer mode which is the story mode in the game which will be offline based and for mulitplayer it will have online and split-screen modes so the player can race against other players of the game.

Sound/Music/Effects Level:

The game will have the sound from the cars like engine and tire noise, the surrounding sound from other cars and objects in the game like people speaking and will also have music playing in the background whilst the player is playing the game.

Player Action Needed:

The player will be required to drive the car around by turning it and accelerating and braking in the car. With a few others they can do like pulling the handbrake and turning the indicators on and off.

Feedback Required:

Input Devices:

The devices the game will need to be played are going to be a controller for the console the player is using like an Xbox 360 controller for example or a keyboard and mouse if they are playing it on a PC. It will also accept the usage of a steering wheel so the player can use one to play the game as well.

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Onscreen Output:

The start-up screen will appear first when the game is put in to the console and will have many different options for the player to choose from. The different options will lead to the singleplayer campaign through the story button, the settings of the game through the options button, and the mulitplayer modes through the mulitplayer button. The actions will be input through the buttons being pressed and then the actions these buttons are for will be performed by the game onscreen. The game can be paused by the player at any point in the game by them pressing the start button on the controller. The level complete screen will show the player if they won or not and also how much they won by. The game complete screen will show the ending credits with the game playing in the background.

Feedback:

The feedback the game will give to the player will depend on what is player does in the game like if they crash the car the controller will vibrate and the screen will shake to show this and also the player will hear a scraping or bang sound so they will hear it crash which will let the player know the they have crashed in the game.

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Start Screen

Background image of the game which will show an image of the black Impreza from the intro of the game driving around the mountain from the game and also a White Supra racing on the Wangan.

Story button which will have a steering wheel to click on.

Multiplayer button which will be shown as three cars together.

Options button which will be a spanner.

Pause Menu

Continue button

Options button

Exit game button

Middle of Game

Will have current gameplay showing in centre of screen like the car and landscape. It will have the HUD around the screen with the speedometer and gauges being at the bottom of the screen. It will also have a mini-map at the top left of the screen and the player's current position and percentage

of the race done at the top right of the screen.

End of Level/Game

For level it will say they have won the race whilst when they beat the game it will say they are the new fastest racer around.

It will also show the rewards and new unlocks at the bottom of the screen.

Failed Level

Will say the player lost and how much by.

Will have a retry or exit game button aswell.

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