So... Stuff, I Guess.

So... Stuff, I Guess.

Ohai. Mortals.

So, it's been a fairly unproductive week so far; my weekend was pretty full of Aion for the most part. I managed to get a few hours of work logged today and yesterday. Jira will say I logged about 20 hours as I keep forgetting to set work back to "To Do" rather than "In Progress".

However, it may have been a slow week for work, but it's been pretty awesome for games! As I mentioned, my weekend was an Aion-fest, and then, BOOM!!! Steam Sales! ten hours and £40 later, I am stocked up for Christmas presents this year!

Then again, you dan't want to hear about games do you?

Largely because "you" is mainly comprised of tutors and people who come here from porn. See one of my previous blog posts to know what that's about. Or don't, as you see fit.

Anyway, seriously, now, onto the topic of work.

Most of my work this week has been designing and creating the Defeat Screen and the HUD for the game my group's working on. Things are going well, but I've still got to get the various elements of the Defeat Screen transparisized and thrown together in Photoshop.

Looking at the timetable for our presentation this Sprint, we're presenting work to Chris Janes, who is (I believe) the local coding expert. This means I will have little to nothing to talk about; the way our group is structured, unfortunately, has us with three artists (two of which are noobs) and an artist/coder. So, our game will look pretty awesome, but it's not about to be the next coding masterpiece.

Tom, wherever you are, good luck with the presentation tomorrow, and can I just spend the time you're doing that sleeping?

Right, I will now be getting on with some more HUD creation and a character design.

Praise be to the Emperor of Mankind!

Notes on Games Britannia

Notes on Games Britannia

Ohayou, mortals!

That's right, I'm mixing Japanese in with my local vocabulary, deal with it!

Incorrectly, as well! Ohayou means "good morning" in Romaji (Romanized Japanese). It's 6:30 in the evening!

So I watched the first part of Games Britannia recently, and I have been ordered by the tyrants to make notes on it. While I maintain the philosophy of "I do what I wahwnt!", I also don't wish to bring the wrath of the local dictators down on my head. I will also cease my describing them using very negative and frankly horrifically rude terms, such as "tyrants" and "dictators".

Please let me see my family again.

Anyway, on with the topic at hand!

Games Britannia is a documentary of ancient games, or more specifically those which were played in British history.

For example, we were shown and described the oldest-known game in British history; it was found in a routine digging, as can be observed all over the country, is believed to date from the Roman invasion and occupation of England, and appears to be somewhat similar to Chess in nature. It comprises a board split into a number of squares, similarly to Chess, as well as an uneven number of pieces stretched across two sides of the board. There was also a single, smaller piece in the centre of the board. The board appears to be partially through a game, as the pieces have been moved from what would be considered traditional Chess starting positions.

Several possibilities have been suggested as to the nature of this game; it may have been left in what I believe was a tomb (I fade in and out of paying attention at times, usually during lectures) for the tomb's occupant to play in the afterlife. Or it may have been a powerful tool of war, placing the pieces to represent to movements of different groups of warriors (which would explain the uneven sides), giving the owner a great strategic advantage.

Another topic discussed was a game played by the first English king since the Roman occupation, if only I could remember his name, or the name of the game he played...

See, I feel awful now, because that's kind of an important part of English history, and it looked like a really fun game. The basic setup for this was a board with a fairly large number of squares and pieces on it. There are two players, each controlling their own pieces. One player has a larger piece, representing the King, which starts in the centre, and a number of smaller pieces, while the other player has no King and twice as many small pieces. The objective of the King-player is to get his King to one of the four corners of the board without the King being taken. The objective of the other player is to take the King. Pieces are taken by surrounding them on two sides with smaller pieces.

These, in my opinion, were the most historically interesting topics of the episode, though the rest of it was fascinating as well. Most of the rest of the show comprised either a game based on Indian religion (to my recollection, it may have just as easilly been Buddhism), where the aim was enlightenment and to become one with God; and Chess in British history, and how it became the defining board game of the world, largely due to the expansiveness of the British Empire at the time. There were also a few other games featured which linked to Christianity within Britain, including games frowned upon by the Church (mostly gambling, which was viewed as incorrect use of the Will of God), and games which were played within church.

Overall, Games Britannia was a very interesting watch, with a lot of educational heritage to be seen (I think that made sense?). I very much look forward to the next part.

I'll leave it there; Talos knows this is already a long enough post. Hopefully that satisfies the overlo-- I mean, tutors!

Hail Emperor!

Mo' Notes, Yo

Mo' Notes, Yo

...Says the whitest person in about a mile radius.


Greetings, mortals! I come bearing notes on "I Have No Words & I Must Design" by Greg Costikyan. Long one, this time...

Now, before beginning this epic read of 24 pages, I was set the task (to be completed after reading) of explaining a quote:

"A game is an interactive structure of endogenous meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals."

So, for my notes, that's exactly what I'll do!

The first part of what we're tasked with explaining is the word "game". Well, it's been defined right there. "A game is an interactive structure," yada-yada. In this context, Costikyan is most likely referring to video games, though this definition can be applied to all sorts of things to determine if they are games, including non-digital activities. I'll explain what he means with the rest of this definition.

Next, "interactive". Interactive means allowing the user or player to make decisions based upon considerations of the current game state; these decisions will then change the game state in some way. Decisions which change the game state can range from selecting to use this kind of resource for this purpose, as opposed to that purpose, to using Arcane Blast on that unit at this time in World of Warcraft. Making decisions can be very quick and almost entirely unconscious in a game, but it always involves considering why I should do this rather than this.

However, this provides the player with little satisfaction, and does not describe a game. "I can do this, or I can do that. I'll do this. OK." That's making a decision, but it's not making a game.

"Structure", which can also be described as a set of rules by which the game must be played, is required in games to provide the player with a more interesting experience. A child's game of pretend can be described as a game with the most minimal structure possible. "We can change into animals, but we can only do it at this time, or in this place, or under these circumstances." Why can we only do it then? Because that's more fun. The structure and/or rules of a game make it more of a challenge, and are designed to restrict the player, but that just means that the game becomes more fun, provided the rules are balanced enough to allow the player to win with only a reasonable amount of difficulty.

A structure is needed in all games, and can heavily affect the behaviour of the players. For example, if, in an MMO (massively multiplayer online) game, you collect loot from monsters, and this loot builds up, players can be expected to be carrying a lot of stuff. If the game has world player-versus-player features (meaning the players can just attack each other), and players can get loot from attacking and killing each other, then a player can become a much more valuable target for loot-collection than monsters, as they will probably be carrying more of it. This will make the players much more suspicious and hostile towards one another than a game which doesn't have this player-versus-player element, or which has a structure which will discourage them from attacking each other (such as a bounty system).

"Endogenous" is defined as value or meaning within the structure or organism. The example used by Costikyan is Monopoly money; this has no value in the real world, but in the game of Monopoly, it's very valuable, and has a great deal of meaning indeed. This, according to Costikyan, is an agreement between the players and the game; the players will pretend that Monopoly money, or any other endogenous item, means something to them (even though it doesn't in the real world) to have a better experience with the game.

Games are full of these endogenous items, and they are in fact necessary in the definition of a game. If the items are exogenous (or have a direct meaning or value to the real world) then it ceases to be a game and becomes a serious matter. For example, the stock market could be described as a game (albeit not a very good one), except for the fact that the items (stocks) have exogenous value. Obviously, the stock market is not a game, meaning that this must be part of the definition for a true description of a game.

The "struggle" in a game is necessary for the game to have a satisfying outcome; if it's a simple choice between A and B to winning a game, then the lack of struggle means that the game was more or less pointless. However, if the game does have struggle, then the thrill of victory is present, and will incite the player to play the game more. It may not be absolutely vital for a game to have struggle, but a game without struggle isn't going to do well at all.

The struggle will also need to be balanced; if the game is too hard it becomes frustrating, and the player will eventually give up if the frustration isn't justified. If the struggle is too easy, the game will be boring, and won't present the player with a challenge that they feel was worth the time and/or effort.

Finally, "goals" are necessary in any game to justify playing the game. "If there's no goal to this, then why am I even doing it?" If a game doesn't have an endpoint or victory condition for players to reach for, then there's no point to their struggle. There are some games which don't appear to have goals, such as SimCity or Minecraft, but the fact is that the games are filled with many goals, which the player may then choose from to make their goal in that game. This gives games a great deal of replay value, as the player might then go back to try and achieve different goals, or to reach the same goals in a different way.


Now, my thoughts on this are as follows: this definition of a game is a good one, I think; Costikyan presents his thoughts and arguments well, and i find myself agreeing with nearly everything he says. No doubt that'll go away once I've read some more articles. For now, however, I can accept this as the definition of a game.

For example, if we apply this definition to something which I don't recognise as a game: Dear Esther, developed by TheChineseRoom, which came out on Steam earlier this year, involves a lot of walking about, monologue, and being frustrated at the pretentious, "w"-pressing atmosphere involved. While this game included a very basic structure, a goal of sorts, and a sense of struggle (though not the one the developers were aiming for, perhaps), it has no endogenous meaning, and the challenge is completely non-existent. This means that when I'm playing the game, I have no sense of value for anything I find there, other than a vague sense of awe at some of the artwork portrayed, and once I reach the end, I have no sense of victory. Another thing the game lacks is interactivity; the most interactive thing you can do in the game is walk around, which is a long, long way away from the game-state changing decision-making Costikyan describes. You can walk and you can look, and you can get lost and spend twenty minutes getting back to where you were, and that's it for that "game". As far as I'm concerned, this isn't a game, this is more of a story in the form of software, which was then incorrectly marketed as a game (seriously, go to the Steam page for this; first of all, it's on Steam, second, it has three game genres attached to it). 


So, that's the definition of a game, mortals. I can stand by that, I think. Hopefully it'll aid me in making some good games in the future.

Praise the Emperor!

Just... What Even, Guys?

Just... What Even, Guys?

You and I need to have a word, mortals...

OK, so I was looking around my Blogger after stopping a post which I couldn't find a reference for, and had a good look at my page views. I then discovered the list of sources for my views. I clicked on a couple of these and found that the most common was, obviously, the list of blogs from everyone in my course. However, tied with this, with 4 page views each was a pornographic site.

A pornographic website.

Far be it from me to be hating on good porn, but who the hell is slapping their meat and thinks, "Hmm, I think I'll check out that nerd's video game design blog, see if he's written any funny stuff,"?

Why are people coming HERE from porn?

Why are there FOUR views directed from porn?

Either my lecturers need to start using incognito (or a different browser), or Blogger needs to be a little more honest about where my blog's getting advertised. Either way, I'm ever so slightly disgusted.

Please stop coming straight here from pornography, and by the Emperor, pray to Him for forgiveness, mortals!

Previously, on Hibberd's Mind...

Previously, on Hibberd's Mind...

Ohai, mortals!

The last week hasn't been to most eventful, if I'm entirely honest. I finished an anime series. The ending was disappointing.

However, considering this is more of a work blog, you're probably not reading this to hear about Toradora!, so here's my productivity over the last week:

First, I created some more designs for the "Friendly" cells in my team's game.

I haven't told you about my team's game...

OK, basically, I'm in a group with three other people and we've been tasked with created a love-themed game. So, our game, "Don't Spread the Love", puts you in the metaphorical shoes of an STD-fighting cell which is injected into the bodies of various people in order to destroy infection. You must collect the STDs while avoiding the person's antibodies.

That's a basic pitch of our game, so...

First, I created some more designs for the antibody cells; they no longer look like medieval knights (I thought it was a nice theme, OK!?). Here's a link to the designs, both old and new: http://imgur.com/a/GfJQO#0

Also in the last week, I created some (very) basic designs for the HUD (Head's Up Display). My group and I will probably discuss these today. Finally, I kinda sorta maybe was supposed to play some games to get ideas. I got some, but I didn't tell JIRA that I did. Which means that everyone thinks I didn't do it.

Anyway, the other group members have started to arrive, and we have a presentation to give today. I hate giving presentations.

Apologies for the lack of dry wit, I only got up about an hour and twenty minutes ago (only!), and I'm still very much regretting the decision. My bed and I are deeply in love, but my alarm's jealous.

Praise the Emperor, scum.

The Misunderstanding of My Work

The Misunderstanding of My Work

Yo, mortals, what's up?

So this weekend has been a little interesting so far; I got my pescription glasses at last. I bought a kitten calendar. Work-wise, it turns out that I don't listen;

so we use a thing called JIRA to assign tasks and track progress across our course. Once tasks have been assigned, e-mails are sent out to appropriate individuals. Friday night I receieve e-mails telling me I have tasks, so I look through these tasks, and find one I think I can be bothered to do on a Friday evening. I do the work, and submit it for validation by our group's manager.

The group manager then hits me up on Skype and tells me that I'm not supposed to do work yet, as the sprint the work was intended for hasn't started yet. Still, the work should count and can be used in our project.

If you're wondering why that's the topic of this blog, it's the most interesting work-related thing that's happened to me since the last one.

If you prefer, I could tell you about my glasses?

So, I'm short-sighted. Have been for a while. I've always assumed it's because I do very little but sit at my desk all day and look at various screens, but apparently there is no solid evidence linking short-sightedness with screens or reading (as non-sensical as it seems). Anyway, for the past few years, everything more than three feet in front of my face has had an artistic element of blur. Until today, when I got my glasses. You see, I'm no ordinary teenager; when I put my glasses on, I have the power of... actually pretty standard vision. That's the only unusual thing about me, even though it's pretty damn normal.

Oh, that and whenever I eat bananas, I turn into a mediocre superhero in a blue and yellow costume. But nobody cares about that, and it's easy enough for me to just not eat bananas, so all is well.

Anyway, the call of DragonBall Z is becoming too strong, and I must stop trying to multitask these things. Praise the Emperor!

Notes on Schell

Notes on Schell

Mortals! How are you all?

Having completely ignored your responses, I have been given the task of (pauses mid-sentence to look up Nintendo themes on twin musical tesla coils) reading part of the book "In the Beginning, There is the Designer" by Jesse Schell.

The following are my notes on this rather pleasant piece of literature.

It's important to be confident in yourself, and to be able to build your confidence when you need it; you are a game designer. Doubts are useless to you, and decisions must be made with confidence.

You will fail more often than you succeed, and that's good; when you fail, you learn, and you do better next time.

Game designers must have skills in animation, anthropology, architecture, brainstorming, business, cinematography, communication, creative writing, economics, engineering, history, management, mathematics, music, psychology, public speaking (damn), sound design, technical writing, and visual arts. You will not need to be skilled in all of these, but be familiar with as many as you can.

The most important skill for a game designer is listening, as you will have to listen to many things, including your team, your audience, your game, your client (or publisher), and yourself.

Don't just surface listen, understand more deeply what others are communicating to you, whether they know it or not.

While some people may be gifted at certain skills naturally, this is less important than the "major gift", which is a love of the work; if you love designing games, your own skills will grow, and you will become as good or better than the people who are naturally gifted. The only way to figure out if you have the major gift is to try out the work, and see if it works for you.

Praise the Holy Emperor, Mortals!

Summary of the Weekend

Summary of the Weekend

Greetings, mortals.

Well, it's 2am, the weekend is drawing to a close to even us late-nighter nerds, and here is the list of my productivity so far:

• Had an eye test (turns out my shortt-sightedness is getting worse).
• Started to clean my desk.

That's about it.

So, having put off all of my work, I think it's time to start being a little worried. Only a little.

Actually, I'm not worried at all. I should be, but I'm not; I have anime.

Time to be worried later.

I have come to the logical conclusion that the only purpose of this blog is procrastination in the face of the random papers on my desk still to be cleared.

ONWARDS, TO VICTORY AND CLEANLINESS!!! HAIL THE EMPEROR, YOU BLASPHEMOUS HERETICS!

More About Myself

More About Myself

Greetings, mortals!

So, I promised in my previous post that I would create a new post describing myself.

Let's just make this clear now: no-one cares about this, right?

No?

Excellent, we may now continue without that concern in the back of my mind.

Look, I'll just confess this now: the main reason for this post, and more broadly this blog, is for the benefit of my tutors here at UCS. This blog was created at their wish, and this post in particular was ordered to be created.

So, hello to them!

Please understand that while this is a blog for the purpose of my education and ultimately my university portfolio, I will be maintaining an informal and frankly rude air about it, most likely much in the style of the previous post ("So it Begins"). This isn't very professional, I know, but I feel much more comfortable about it, so please humour me this.

ANYWAY, onwards, finally, to the purpose of this post; more details about myself.

As mentioned previously, I have inhabited this planet as a sentient being for nearly 19 years now (the anniversary of my arrival will be celebrated on the 31st of December this year).

My favourite films include Aliens and Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. My favourite book series include Skulduggery Pleasant (with Derek Landy being my favourite author to date) and A Song of Ice and Fire books (better known as the Game of Thrones series of books), of which I am about to start the fourth book. I don't much dip into non-fiction books, as I find them both uninteresting in comparison to fiction, and annoyingly educational. The last non-fiction book I remember looking through with interest was about various species of spider. I still have nightmares.

I haven't been to many live performances of music, dance, drama, etc. The last one I attended (which was by far my favourite) was an excellent play based upon The Woman in Black. I still have nightmares.

I don't really follow news either (it's a very sheltered life I lead), and the most newspaper-like informer I regularly use (about once per week) is Yahoo News. I still have nightmares.

I have recently been privileged enough to attend the EuroGamer Expo in London, 2012. Whilst I enjoyed every minute of it (two hours of waiting to play Call of Duty Black Ops 2 aside), I feel I didn't receive the correct amount of "swag", only managing to acquire three t-shirts and a pair of posters. I gave most of this to a friend of mine, anyway. He'd better be damn grateful.

Using my highly advanced mathematical skills learnt during my year of AS Maths during 6th Form, I can roughly approximate that I muck about on my computer roughly 30-40 hours per week, approximately 25 of which might be gaming in some form or other. I rarely do any hardcore gaming, being of the belief that I have more fun playing Skyrim than grinding towards a higher level in Guild Wars 2.

I spend very little time playing any kind of non-digital games (unless you include a digital version of Chess on my computer. I'm quite good at it by now!). The last non-digital game might have involved a great deal of drinking by both myself and a number of other people, some of whom I actually knew.

Anyway, that's the end of the mock-interview questions I asked and answered, and frankly enough talking on my part. You can feel free to take your turn at speaking now, if you like, but I won't be able to hear you; there is both too much distance between us (unless you happen to be in worryingly close proximity to me), and there is far too much Sabaton being pumped into my ears.

Praise the Emperor of Mankind!

So it Begins

So it Begins...

Greetings, mortals; this is going to be my blog relating to my Computer Games Design course at University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich. In here I'll be posting all kinds of annoying things which only some people will understand, very few will enjoy, and which may confuse people who don't have experience in various pieces of software such as Adobe Flash and PhotoShop (OK, Flash and PhotoShop are very generic, but come on, surely not EVERYONE knows them but me?). I, meanwhile, will be laughing at your confusion and misery from my throne of minor nerdery.

Let me tell you a little about myself, as little as you want to know. It has been nearly 19 years since the day of my arrival on this planet; the majority of the humans here don't seem to suspect that I am, in fact, entirely human.

The course is now well into it's second week; the first week was dedicated to creating and presenting a presentation of a game in groups of about 5 or 6 people, allowing the tutors to better gauge our skills and levels of work, as well as to help us first years settle in.

That went OK.

We are now falling into our more regular timetable of lectures and work, and have been ordered into groups for longer-term projects. I have yet to see what my role in this undertaking will be, but I suspect I will be a mash-up of basic coding skills and low-quality 2D art. I must remain open to change, however. Survival of the most adaptable.

I will add another page which will describe my interests in some minor detail. I don't doubt that very few people will read it.

Praise the Emperor of Mankind!