With the limitations in place of the 1980's the games
created must have quite strenuous limits; with this in mind creating a game
must in itself be limited, following the trend of other successful games such
as Pac man, Centipede, Tetris etc. Being 2D games that involve a repetitive but
addicting task such as collecting points or arranging blocks, with this in mind
creating a game to be successful a game that I think would work would be a game
were you begin in the center of the screen and then you must move left to the
edge of the screen dodging enemies and traps to collect a specific item that
was stolen from you and then move all the way to the right side of the screen
to return the item you retrieved from the far left dodging more enemies and
traps on the way.
2. Play three
games—one from the 1980s, one from the 1990s, and one released after 2004.
Compare and contrast how levels and environments are designed in all three
games.
The level and environment creation in Centipede is a simple
yet elegant one, the level is a black screen filled with mushrooms at points
around the screen with a centipede moving down the screen going from side to
side. The player was situated at the bottom of the screen and fired up towards
the enemies. Metal slug 2 has a very different level design that of a
sidescroller/platform style game it has a war setting to the game with
platforms and guns firing against enemies in a fast paced game either single or
co-op player. Age of Mythology Age of Mythology is again very different not
only because of the limitations that were in place but because of the demand
for such games. After the success of the Age of Empire game series Age of
Mythology was created in 2002 with similar play style but a different story and
game play systems. The level design in this game was much more refined that the
other two games as it was created later in the timeline of video games, not
only was it a 3D game but the levels were quite intricately designed on a large
scale along with mountains, islands, forest and much more giving a greater game
play experience.
3. How does a game’s
genre affect the way its levels and environments are designed? Choose one level
from three different games—each from a distinct primary genre—and compare how
these levels are designed with regard to setting, goals, puzzles, and
risk–reward system.
Titanfall is a very new very well-known first person shooter
the level design in the game ranges from open ground with building pockmarked around
to a heavily built up and developed urban area.
Being a sandbox game the level itself in GTAV is more of a
world containing the whole city of Los Santos which in of itself is a revised
Los Angeles
Smite is a moba game similar to others in the genre but
vastly different to games from other genres. The level design is inherently
different to that of a sandbox and a first person shooter game.
In Titanfall the way to traverse the map is to run, jump and
kill your way to victory, while killing may be a pivotal part of the way Los
Santos was created it is in a much different way to Titanfall. Smite is a very
one task game you choose a god as your character and must make you way up your
opponents lane destroying their defences as you go so that you can kill the
titan winning you the game. Although the word titan is used the games are
contrasting in level design with large beautifully rendered and created urban
environments to play with in Titanfall, this fits with the setting of the far
future on distant planets so that the design and creations of such levels are
completely within style and setting. In Grand Theft Auto V you play as one of 3
characters at any time Michael, Franklin and Trevor and while Trevor may be bat
crap crazy he does fit into the world that has been created for the game. Los
Santos is a very distant place to the far flung planets of Titanfall with
buildings one could expect to see in today’s world with a visit to Los Angeles.
The goals of these games differ greatly at most if not all points with Smite it
is a very one minded game the level puts you in a mirrored map and you must get
to the other opponents objective and kill them keeping in mind to keep yourself
alive in the process, you play as gods of myths and legends such as Zeus, Odin
and Anubis using skills and abilities to best your opponents. The goal of GTA
is for the most part to commit crimes of various natures and the seedy
underbelly of the town Los Santos is the perfect place to do that, kill, steal
and drive your way to victory beating the cops at every turn. The risk and
rewards from genres so far apart can hardly even be compared, I mean how can
you pit a Greek gods goals and desires to that of a mech pilot or even a
criminal, but that means that we get varying play styles and experiences out of
these games with some offering the temptation of the one last kill that
headshot or the melee attack over a swift shotgun strike, but through it all
the risks keep us all coming back for the rewards those piles of money the new
mech the shiny new gun or even a shot at league matches.
