Exercise 1.2 D.O.A .
The game I remember playing most as a teenager that was absolutely DOA was Braveheart. This was a strategy game for the PC that was based on the film of the same name. I remember reading about this game in a magazine and being so excited for it that I not only bought the game, I bought a PC to go with it. This was without a doubt the most expensive game I have ever bought.
The premise was simple – take control of one of the clans of Scotland and through warfare and diplomacy, unite Scotland. Once that task was completed a second part of the game would begin where you could conquer England. |
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Upon playing the game I realized just how horrible it was. Bad design, littered with bugs, and uninspiring gameplay. The game would often crash once it reached a certain point and I would have to begin again.
Essentially what had happened was the game had been rushed to release without proper game testing and gamers like me were left sorely disappointed. Twenty years later it is still not uncommon to hear of a game that was pushed out to quickly because of a fast approaching release date. As a result, games that are not yet ready for prime time are released and game studios are left with a black eye. |
Exercise 2.3 Objectives
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Exercise 2.5 Conflict
In the game of football, your team is trying to get the ball into the endzone to score. The conflict is created by the opposing team who is trying to stop you, gain possession of the ball and then get it into the opposite endzone. While there is a considerable amount of physical force involved, what is not as apparent to those unfamiliar with the game, is the level of mental strategy that each team is utilizing in their path to victory. While physical attributes are important in football, it is this mental strategy that wins games.
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Similarly, poker players also use strategy to defeat their opponents. While holding a better hand may seem like the only thing one needs to win, over the course of many games, it is how the players play each other through raising, calling, dropping, and bluffing. It is not uncommon to see professional poker players wearing sunglasses so as not to reveal any emotion to their opponents.
Both games create conflict – someone must win, and someone must lose. It is how you outthink your opponent, play to your strengths, and attack their weaknesses that will win you the game both in football and in poker. |
Exercise 2.7 Premise
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The premise of Risk is that you are a general or leader tasked with conquering the world with your armies. You do this not just through conflict but also by forming and dissolving alliances with other players.
The premise of Clue is that you are a detective trying to solve a murder in a mansion. As you travel around the board/mansion, you collect clues that will lead you to the answer. The premise of Guitar Hero is that you are a guitar player on the path to becoming the greatest guitar player in the world. Push the buttons on the pretend guitar in time with the screen and you will rock out and win. As a guitar player I can tell you that some of those songs are much easier to play on a real guitar than trying to push all those buttons in sequence. The premise of Operation (I’ve never played Pit) is to play the part of a surgeon and expertly remove the pieces from the patient. Steady hands are the key to victory here which, I imagine, are also key for a real surgeon. |
Exercise 2.8 Story
Without a doubt, the story told in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 was unlike anything I have ever experienced in media of any form. Unlike a film or television series where you get to know the characters, in a video game you feel as if you are the character. The story is set in the dying days of the Old West and you play as a member of a gang that is running out of time and space – unable to outrun civilization and the law any longer.
What made the story so compelling was really quite simple – phenomenal writing combined with excellent voice acting and an incredible score. Rockstar is the company behind this game, and it has a budget that reaches into the billions. It is little wonder that it has the best of the best when it comes to just about anything it needs.
What appealed to me most about this game was the pacing – in many places it was slow. As a history buff, I really enjoyed feeling as if I were immersed in this world; fishing along a fast-moving river, hunting moose in the snowy mountains or playing cards in the various saloons that doted the landscape. It was these quiet moments where the player could take a break from the main story to really get a sense of this world. Yet when you returned to the main story, you were once again engaged with the characters that you were beginning to spend hours with.
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The scene that had the biggest impact for me was quite late in the game. At this point both the player and the character have realized that all is lost and all that remains is to try and save those in your gang worth saving. It is a simple scene where the player rides his horse back to camp, but it is the song that plays over this scene that truly makes the emotional impact of this moment sink in.
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