#30 Self Analysis

Looking over the articles I’ve done I did notice a wide variety of topics that I wouldn’t normally go for. My biggest find was the movie Cyberbully. It hit home with me from my own years of being bullied and led me towards different topics than I chose the last two class cycles. I did notice I still went for the same genre and of the darker variety but I expanded on it. My Personal Game Idea is very dark as exampled in the Gameplay Pitch but it’s me. I’m not a bubbly person and my thoughts tend to be dark about some things. But Death and the world of the damned has always been an interest of mine and it’s a great way to express it.

Anime and manga are big inspirations to me. Each has its own unique story and moral value to learn. These are just a few that interest me as a viewer and a gamer. In my opinion anime/manga go hand-in-hand as they can be easily combined. A great example is Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 and 4. The 4^th game is an anime series and the 3^rd has a movie next month. But the biggest draw for me is the story. I am a writer and I’m published so I get drawn to a great story. A game can have amazing design and great battle sequences and mechanics but what is it all without a great story to tie it all together?

I don’t see a real pattern in my article except that they are topics that draw me in. I wanted several of the anime and movies so many times. Most of the games are ones that interest me and I look forward to one day playing. Research for this assignment has taught me a lot and made me really think about being a game designer. I may not like people and I don’t do well with crowds but I look forward to one day being on a team.

My twin sister and I are raising our nephews and we want to teach them that gaming isn’t bad like so many people are trying to say. It can expand their imagination and take them to new worlds that they would next see or experience otherwise.

I also took the suggestion of using a blog and created one. It’s been interesting creating and maintaining it but it’s worth it learning as I go. http://bgillilandda.blogspot.com/

#29 Anime/Manga: Fushigi Yuugi

Positives:

+Viewers get to learn about the Four Directional Gods of Chinese lure.

+Viewers get to travel with the group and meet each member in time.

+ They get to experience Miakis’s confusion and life as she learns the new world and her role as the Priestess.

+ They get to experience the travels and trials with the team and all the fun they have.

Negatives:

-Death is inevitable and nobody is immune, not even Nariko.

-The team comes across many obstacles such as one member being turned bad, a love triangle, death and a false member.

- Miakis gets drawn back to her world for three months the team’s time and misses on many events and issues.

-

Thoughts

~ In a world as magical as their’s they should have ways to either prevent Miakis from being take back to her world or be able to bring her back easily.

~Nariko dies saving Miakis. They have a Healer that is suppose to be able to save the most tragic of injuries yet he can’t save his teammate?

~  The false member on the good team is a twin and both are on the bad team. When he dies his twin is throw out of his mind in a sense. There should be a way to pull him back.

~

Would Like:

* A way to prevent Miakis from leaving or to draw her back easily.

* the healer to save Nariko

*resurrect the twin of the bad group

*

#28 Anime/Manga: Naruto

Positives:

+Viewers gets to watch the life of a bubbly Naruto and experience the ups and downs he has to live with as being both a Ninja and a Vessel for a Demon soul.

+The character Sasuke wasn’t in the original idea. One of the writer’s daughter created him and they felt he made a good addition.

+ Naruto connects with people of all ages on different level with all that he and his friends experience.

+ Viewers get to watch team 7 grow and develop. Sakura goes from love sick over Sasuke to independent and a power kinoichi. Sasuke goes from stonewall silent to traitor to just another missing-nin. And Naruto goes from a false happy child to a determined and powerful Ninja.

Negatives:

- Several favorite characters die in the series bring to light that they aren’t immortal.

-Sasuke goes bad and even with all the attempts at killing him, Naruto still wants to save him.

- Even after years of proving himself the Villagers still treat Naruto badly and often he risks his life to save them and they all but spit in his face. Partly because the Hikage keeps the secret of his parentage from everyone including Naruto.

- Even after they find out the story of Itachi, Sasuke kills him.

Thoughts

~ The council is corrupt and the Village needs to come together and disband it. Hokage should have the last word.

~As a child Naruto should never have lived alone. He should have been raised in a loving home with at least Iruka.

~  Naruto has to experience much more than any child ninja or not should experience. Someone should have stepped in at some point and said enough

~ All of the other children are taught the basics by their ninja parents. Naruto was ignored then expected to catch up when school started leaving him the butt of the jokes for not knowing.

Would Like:

* Disband the council

* Naruto raised by Iruka or at least living with him.

*Somebody to stick up for Naruto

* Somebody to teach Naruto early on the basics.

#27 Personal Game Idea: Death Becomes Us (PS2-PS4, RPG)

In Death Becomes Us the Grim Reaper hasn’t been doing his job collecting souls and it pitched the Universe off balance. So Death gets five begins to go around the world and gather the souls and to gain living souls as well. Living Souls are people that are on the verge of death or deserve to die for deeds they have done.

Positives:

+ Players get to visit locations around the world in connection to souls they have to gather.

+ A moral meter keeps track of each character’s choices and they start to change appearance wise in connection to the meter.

+ Characters are teamed up in pairs to build each other up and support each other. They build experience together; take hits for each other and tag-team enemies.

+ There are challenges the Grim Reaper throws at the characters to prevent them from succeeding. Players must use the characters to figure out the challenge and to get passed it.

Negatives:

- The game is one to mess with people’s morals. Instead of taking the soul of a little girl dying painfully of cancer most would kill the drug dealer selling to kids and they would be wrong.

-Any characters that go too dark on the meter can pull down the team. Town’s people won’t allow them in or trust them so the whole team will be affected.

- Choosing just what exactly falls under good and bad when taking souls is difficult. Players have to figure it out on their own and hope for the best.

- Characters can die permanently. Their actions will deem if they get healed when needed and if they are too damned then the Angels won’t heal them thus ending their lives if they can’t get health potions.

Thoughts

~ Seeing as the characters travel around the world it would help to have something to keep track of their locations. Having a world map that can zoom in to locations and general areas would be very helpful.

~A soul counter would help keep track of the souls gained and lost. Some being lost due to tricks by Reaper and some expired from being held too long. Players would need to go and turn in souls before that happens.

~  A beacon that would flash across the screen when Reaper is near would help the players to keep tabs on their and his location.

~ Going online would add an interesting aspect to the game. It would allow teams to fight for souls or join up on missions.

Would Like:

* A map with zoom abilities.

* A soul counter

*A Reaper beacon

* Online capabilities

#25 Player’s Path for 5 seconds of Gameplay: Suikoden III(PS2, RPG)

Positives:

+Players get to choose to play between three storylines of the three main characters.

+They learn the style of fighting their character uses and their ranking in the ‘world’

+ Players learn about runes and their uses which is part of the main focal point of the game.

+ Being able to view the game from three different points of view with a fourth onlooker point-of-view

Negatives:

- A lot of the storyline and events is repeated and players must do the same or similar actions.

-Players learn of the ranking their character holds in the world and learn how bad they have to fight to prove their selves.

- There aren’t tutorials about how to fight; players must figure it out on their own.

-

Thoughts

~ Players have to wait to gain an actual team with the youngest character. He has to prove himself to gain team members.

~Players have to figure a lot out on their own. They are only given little hints and tips about what to expect and do.

~  Players only see a small clip of each character before they must choose who to play as. To make the best choice they should know more about them and the style of fight they use.

~

Would Like:

* An actual team for the youngest character.

* A tutorial for fighting and runes.

* More information about the characters before players choose who to start as.

*

#24 Analysis in Game Balancing: Suikoden V (PS2, RPG)

Positives:

+The game starts off with informing players the game is set in Queendom. This balances the game because it doesn’t let the citizens sympathize with the Prince as he runs and he has to earn trust and prove himself. Yet at the same time it allows him a chance to prove he isn’t like the bad guys that took over the Queendom.

+There are 108 stars players must get to get the best ending. To keep an overload of characters from needing a lot of information and stats there are only around 60 playable characters. But every character is vital to get the best ending.

+ Some characters are locked on the team for most of the game. To balance this out players are able to rearrange positions of players and change out the others whenever they are talking to Lucernia.

+ Even each ending has a balance. In one ending the Prince’s bodyguard and love interest dies. She held one of his family’s runes and when she dies he gains it giving him two. To prevent fear of him over throwing his sister and other people from gaining the runs he leaves with them.

Negatives:

- It would be too easy to be able to gather all of the characters through the whole game. So to balance the influx of members they have to be recruited in certain chapters of the game or they are lost.

-Again it would be too easy to just walk up to characters and say hey join me. Players have to complete tasks to get many to join but some are affected by actions and events from early in the game and how the player responded.

- Even after the players get required characters they have several chances of losing them thus preventing the perfect ending. This makes it so players have to work for the best ending.

- The castle expands as characters are gained but when this happens then already settled characters could move location.

Thoughts

~ Players have to go through trial and error with characters and obtaining them. Finding them isn’t always easy and if players don’t ask around then they can over look characters.

~An interest for the game would be a rank or percent bar that would show the player just how close they are to reaching the perfect ending.

~  Some characters that could really help with the game are found only at the end of the game. People want time with them and to learn about them.

~ Going to new locations is hard enough but when players go to several it can get confusing. So a map would be helpful. It would balance the effort of exploring.

Would Like:

* More hints on character locations.

* A percent bar of sorts to show progress.

*A map of the castle to show who is in what room and of each town.

* Get all characters before final chapter.

#23 Use a Lens: The Lens of Fun

Positives:

+Fun is desirable in every game. Defying analysis adds to the fun of not knowing and discovering new things.

+Sometimes fun can be found by making the event a challenge into its self. For example, the worker who wants to beat his own time at doing his work. He makes the job a game he can enjoy and look forward to.

+ Fun can be a curiosity. Like wandering what happens if you press the giant red button. It feeds the child inside everyone.

+ Experimentation can be fun as well. Like a writer creating a new story or an artist making a masterpiece.

Negatives:

- Some companies draw a fine line between work and play and if it’s fun then it isn’t work. Fun can get write-ups and loss of work.

-Curiosity does run out for some people and when it does they get bored.

- Fun is a stimulation of the pleasure center of the mind. If it’s not stimulated enough then people tend to not enjoy something and deem it a waste of time.

- Creators have to be careful not to add in too much or to little stimulation or players will leave the game.

Thoughts

~ Fun is different for everyone. What one person enjoys another may need a bit more. Finding the best medium is key when luring in new and potential customers/player.

~People that can’t enjoy their work tend to be miserable in their everyday life. They should be allowed a little enjoyment during the workday. This can also increase productiveness.

~  People don’t want to be overly excited for long periods of time. To keep interest there needs to be levels of fun from fun to exciting and from funny too hilarious. Keep it changing but not too much or you lose interest.

~ People need to experiment with their interest. It allows fun and entertainment as well as creativity.

Would Like:

* To find the happy medium of fun for people.

* Encourage experimentation.

*To allow some play in all work.

* Different levels of fun.