it's already like 12:20 and class has started! i took a nap at 7 that was a bad idea because I woke up 10 minutes ago...sorry to anyone whose project I missed, I'll take a cab and get there as soon as possible...
For my final I made an outfit from my midterm project, for which I designed a collection (or a group, rather) based on the computer game "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic." I was trying to take the ideas from the costumes and environments in the game and translate them into modern, wearable clothes that wouldn't look like dorky game costumes. For this outfit I didn't make the hood thing, but I made the skirt, which was inspired by gun holsters worn in the game.
For my show and tell this week I brought in another game for the Nintendo DS called "Touch Detective." It's a game in which you solve really strange crimes using the touch pad. You examine everything by touching it, to find clues and talk to people and even walk around. I think it's a really beautifully stylized game, and it's interesting how the DS is becoming a platform for such niche titles such as this. The DS is really expanding games to become more than just standard action/adventure, rpg, fighting game, etc. The company who makes this game, Atlus, has also made some other really interesting games, like Trauma Center, in which you play a surgeon who has to operate on people.
So I did a bunch of reading on game engines, and forgot to blog it like 2 weeks ago...awesome. Anyway, about game engines! From my understanding, a game engine is a program that is used sort of as a template upon which a new game is made. It seems like a good idea because it saves a ton of time and money on writing a new program for movement, environment, etc. Basically the game engine is the under-layer and the new graphics, environments and stuff are put into it. This isn't to say that there isn't a ton of programming left for the new game developer to do, but it can save some time on some component of the game. This is probably really important considering how competitive the gaming industry is and how quickly it moves. If a company spent a ton of time developing every single detail, their technology might be outdated by the time the game was actually done! Something that I thought was really interesting is that game engines allow a game to be played on many platforms without changes to the source code. I'd always wondered if they had to make 2 or 3 versions of the game to release on PS2, Gamecube, and PC and I thought it was probably a huge pain in the ass. Apparently, not so much.
For my final project I was originally thinking that I would take one or more of the designs I did for the midterm and render them in 3D using 3D Game Studio...But as my progress with this program has been really slow, I think it would be a better idea for me to actually take one of those outfits and actually make it, put in on a model and photograph it, then bring it in to class. Plus I'll get to sew which I haven't been able to all semester, and have been really wanting to do it...
My show and tell today is on a game that I got super addicted to recently...It's called Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS. Basically it is a cooking simulation game that is a bunch of mini-games you complete to make recipes. I think it's interesting how so many games are coming out for the DS that aren't traditional video games, like puzzle games, drawing games, and titles like this one. They're definitely trying to reach a broader audience than hardcore gamers, which is cool because they're coming out with games like this one. However, I do find quotes like this slightly offensive:
"Cooking Mama is for the parents, grandparents and girlfriends of the Super Mario crowd, and the game never tries to be anything more than a simple bunch of mini-challenge tasks for the non-gaming population." -IGN.com
It's like they're saying video games are only for kids, specifically boys and immature men. Why would people assume that girls don't like bloody adventure games too?
ALso, this game was so popular that a Cooking Mama will be released for the Nintendo Wii early next year. Yay! It will be more Iron Chef style, where you can play against a second player or by yourself in the same way as the DS game. The Wii controller will be used like the touch screen on the DS so you can simulate actions of mashing, stirring, etc.
Here is a link to a couple of videos that demonstrate gameplay...
http://media.ds.ign.com/media/794/794729/vids_1.html
These are the biggest pictures ever. I don't know how to make them smaller. I don't really get the scanner. Also they got cut in half vertically...help?
I've had this show and tell on hold for a long time now! Basically it's these guys who act out (usually classic) video games in public spaces and film them. It's pretty hilarious, but I think only if you know what they're referring to. The other random people in the movies at like, the stripmall or whatever, usually have no idea what's going on. It's interesting that people would target comedy to such a specific group of people...
http://www.mega64.com
I still don't know how to make a link to a site so, you'll have to type it in.
That's a way sweeter name than "Storytron." Anyway. Honestly I've been having a bit of a hard time understanding what this software actually does and how's it's different than other software that makes games already. Does it create graphics? Or is that a separate program. I think it's because I don't understand too much about game programming or computers to begin with. So my understanding of the Storytron is that the guy who made it thinks that narrative is bad because it's not truly interactive. He thinks the solution is to make a program that allows the game designer to be a "storyteller" and think of a general scenario and then throw these characters into it to randomly act within it. The game maker doesn't set any specific events or make the characters do specific things, but they simply react to what the protagonist (the player) chooses to do based on their inclinations which are given them by the programmer. Supposedly this set up allows for the player to truly be creative and make the story happen in reaction to their personality or how they make their character act. It's an interesting concept I think. It can be frustrating sometimes to know that the decisions you make while playing a game don't really change what happens to the story because it is, ultimately, linear. Especially with cut scenes, which really make it obvious that you aren't changing the story in any way. The story unfolds based on if you achieve a certain goal and reach the point at which you get to see the cut scene, or proceed forward into a set storyline. I really like this style of game. But the possibilities that a program like the storytron opens up for a totally new style of game could be really really cool if it works successfully. I'm looking forward to seeing if anything comes of it. One thing that I wasn't so into about the storytron is how unimportant the idea of scenery and stages are to the creator, because I think moving around in an environment is a big part of "interactivity" and to dismiss that is a huge mistake on their part. To make the environment just like a background that characters go to based on their inclinations is pretty boring, or that they need to be there to make something happen. Exploring environments to find stuff or just look around is one of the most fun parts of any game, I think.
I found this really interesting computer game published by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in which you distribute food to third world countries to help them become self-sufficient. It's downloadable for free and there are competitions in which if you score really high you can win prizes. I think it's a really good educational tool and seems to be marketed to children and teens for them to learn more about what the UN is doing to help world hunger and the realities of the situation around the world.
http://www.food-force.com/index.php/game/