Dragons Flying Backwards

With games getting so amazingly complex, glitches come natural. Having your console working with the internet, your game will never have to suffer permanent programming mistakes like they use to.
Skyrim is a fantastic game! But IT has glitches as well. Even when they fixed one problem another occurred.
Watch this video. Dragons are now flying backwards.

The Artist

In response to Bob's post.

Check out the trailer.

If you look at games like LA Noir I definitely see the artistry of "The Artist" showing up in video games. Over the last 10 years artists have had more and more creative input in the video game industry. The writing/dialogue has become much better. Voice over work has become more impressive and with technology improving the freedom to be more artistic visually is becoming endless.

Here's a screen shot of LA Noir.

Presenting

There was so much discussion on "Presentation" last time, I feel we should have had a whole lecture dedicated on that. Just a thought.

I mean the idea is only as good as the lecture.

I hope this next one will be better.

Team One Presentation

Dear Class,

For those of you who saw our Tam One dry-run presentation, any suggestions on how to make it better?

Big thanks on behalf of Team One,

Bob

The Artist

Dear Gang,

I recently saw the feature film, "The Artist," it's in B & W with no dialogue, spare a half a dozen at the end. The film is carried by the beauty of the images, performances, and a great musical score. It been well-received.

I'm probably crazy to ask, but does anyone see a place for this aesthetic approach in video game development?

Would this approach open up video game market to other demographics?

Best, Bob

Suggested Screenwriting Books

Dear Gang,

While those of us in the screenwriting program have libraries full of screenwriting books, I thought those of you on the animation side and elsewhere might enjoy some titles I have enjoyed:

From UCLA Faculty:

Essentials of Screenwriting by Richard Walter

Writing Screenplays that Sell the Ackerman Way by Hal Ackerman

Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434 by Lew Hunter

Former UCLA Faculty:

Re-write by Paul Chitlik (it's a great intro to basics, not only re-writing.)

Others:

Story by Robert McKee

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Writing for Emotional Impact by Karl Iglasias

Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin Russin and William Downs

Writing the Character Centered Screenplay by Andy Horton

Writing Screenplays that Sell by Michael Hague

While these books are not the only books out there, they are all excellent. I suggest that you go to Amazon and read what is said about them to see which is the best fit for your personal tastes/objectives. Likewise, I am happy to answer any questions you have on them.

Enjoy, Bob

Believable Characters

Ign.com posted an interesting article about characters and storytelling in modern gaming mentioning several games discussed in class:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/121/1213415p1.html

There's a certain part of me that doesn't see the video game industry evolving much farther than it already has in terms of story. Games inevitably will improve, change, provide new semblances of gameplay--but there's a certain security blanket that Hollywood has adopted that video games seem to have taken on as well: the blockbuster, the hero caper, the art house, etc. Both platforms/medias have it. Sometimes a game slips through the cracks that blows us all away (an indie sleeper), but even the days of graphical explosions has diminished with the need to garner a wider market.

Gameplay and the ability to better immerse the player seems the way of the console/PC. The new Zelda game has garnered rave reviews and is said to be the future of motion controls. Rumors about the next generation Kinect having lip reading technology has sent the internet abuzz. Has storytelling reached a zenith when it comes to gaming, or are the new ways of telling the same story a way unto itself?

Transmedia and video games

Hey Gang, I was researching Jeff Gomez the CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, a transmedia company and thought it provided an interesting perspective and learning opportunity on the larger context of cross platform storytelling which includes video games. Enjoy.

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2011/04/11/5-questions-with-jeff-gomez-ceo-starlight-runner-entertainment

Titles

Hey Gang, Does anyone have thoughts on what makes for a great game title? Simplicity? Irony? Vividness?

Principal Office reference images

Here are some images to help us create the principal's office with its judge's bench twist -- just one of the gameplay rooms in our school.

Beauty in simplicity

A lot of you might already know this game, but I was recently introduced to it by my friend and has been enjoying playing this game so much that I wanted to share it with you.
Minecraft


This game is a survival & creative game where you dig and build whatever you want. There are some creatures that come at you at night like zombies, skeltons and self-exploding creature called "creepers".

As you can see, the world is made up with 8bit blocks so the visual is very simple. The great thing is every time you start a journey, the game will generate a new world that is completely original, so no two players have a same world. The world can be as big as eight times the size of the earth. Eight times!!
The game play is very intuitive once you get into it, but it is hard until you get used to recipes of creating tools you need for different purposes. So if you are interested in playing, I highly recommended watching some of you-tube videos that teach some methods. Also here is a wiki page that has all the info about the game. Wiki

There are many things we can learn from a success of this game. For example, customizability(is there a word?) of this game is beyond imagination. People create not only their own castles but models from different films and games from scratch. There are even some people that created some simple forms of computers inside the game. Also, you can make your own textures for each materials so the look of the world could be different. There are no limitation to speak of.
While most games nowadays strive for hi-res images and pretty effects, this game has pretty much went back time. There is something calming about seeing 8-bit images. Even with this primitive graphics, I often find myself scared to death or amazed with the beauty.
You can play on servers with people or play offline and dive into your own world.

As we go into the final polish for our projects, this game might be a nice refresh and pure fun to take your mind off from the work.

Close Combat

The following is a link from a pretty intense boxing game, which was one of my childhood favorites- Mike Tyson's "Punch Out." Could give us some ideas about how characters could defend themselves once they've run out of bullets. Very simple, but I submit it as food for thought. I wasted countless ours of my childhood playing this game.


http://youtu.be/hu69QEH


Dorian

What is Winning?

In most games you follow the traditional story arc: introduction to gameplay/basics, multiple quests in ascending order of difficulty, reaching a tragic low point quickly followed by a final fight against the source of all evil (followed by credits). A game like Skyrim (and most of the Elder Scrolls games), however, has multiple avenues for "success." You can jump into the main quest and perform all of the actions desired of you--or you can ignore it entirely. You can explore the world and take quests as they come to you. Winning becomes leveling up to a certain point, defeating a Daedric god you would have no idea existed if you stuck to the main quest--you have an open world sandbox where winning isn't a one-path-solves-all. Morrowind (the third game in the series) can even be beaten in 11 minutes (you can find a playthrough on youtube) simply because you have the freedom to go wherever you want and create almost anything within the world.

Now, this argument leaves out sports games, racers, etc., but the gaming industry as a whole has adopted the Hollywood structure when it comes to constructing a majority of their games. As Joey said in class, it has become THE industry for storytelling. And yet, what is Skyrim in terms of film comparison? Does it have one?

Cliche' and Analysis

Hello All,

One of my favorite websites is Cracked.com. For gamers, I think it is an absolute must because it not only has massive amounts of funny articles concerning video games but also these articles often cut to real human truths concerning modern games.

Here's the link followed by some article-specific links you should definitely try.

http://www.cracked.com/

Strange trends in gaming.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-ominous-trends-in-video-games/

Laws of Gaming

http://www.cracked.com/article_16196_the-7-commandments-all-video-games-should-obey.html

Thanks,

JOey

EXODUS version1.5 -another side-

a total remake of the beta version - changed a lot, so try it out if you have time

probably gonna take around 30 min if you are familiar with flying games.

http://solid-jellyfish.com/exodus

Where do I have to go now?

Designing the interface certain things like guidance come up. As a group we've never discussed how the player guides themselves towards a chosen mission.

In Skyrim they make it difficult by turning the trail finding ability into a clairvoyance spell with a limited charge depending how powerful you are. At times it'll show you a path but you have to figure out how to follow it.

















In Fable they make it easy for you by having a glittery golden trail towards the chosen mission. In your preferences you can turn it off if it's annoying or you would like it more difficult.





















I don't think our character needs magic, but I do think that it would be neat if the path finding ability wasn't to straight forward.

So, how does she find her way?

Acting/ Directing in Video Games

Can anybody speak to the acting/directing of the cut scenes?

In all the cut scenes I see of video games, the directing doesn't seem very cinematic; there are a lot of gaps in action and in-organic dialogue.

 I understand there are limitations in video games and game play comes first, but in animation (which this technically is) there is normally complete control over performance.

Thoughts?

Let's Play...The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Hello Everyone!

I've posted a new walkthrough in the "Let's Play" section for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Amazing world. Check it out:

Who loves stealing shit?

Sly 4. That's all I have to say. Check out the game play with the developer commenting.

Click here.

Minor Character Design #2

Another one of the possessed children the main character saves. He had friends who were bullies and were willing to make him a scapegoat, so his greatest fear was being caught and sent to the principal. He is the shortest and fastest one.

some designs from EXODUS

and the game lab's website is here: http://games.ucla.edu/, there's some unity tutorials on it - and also some video/board/ar games that relate to the lab...enjoy.

So, what do you think?

I was super excited to hear about the possibility of another class to further develop the projects we have been working on this quarter, but is anybody else interested in actually producing games?

My main concern is that our skill sets are mostly arts and designs but not technical. I believe creating games with the level of sophistication we would like them to be takes a whole lot of programing and engineering.
For example, this is the job list of Blizzard (WoW, Diablo). > LINK
It seems to me that there are a lot more engineer jobs than designer and artist jobs.
This discourages me a bit because it looks a lot harder to break in the industry if you are not technically based.

With that in mind, I still am very interested in trying to make games possibly with our own ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts.

school house plans & images

Here's a few school plans we might be able to use as maps:






And a few reference images for fun:






janis

GTA San Andreas Jet-Pack

This video really reminded me of the jetpack in James Bond, except a thousand times more gangster. Incredibly exhilarating game play, but this is a cheat that is not part of the regular story of the game, to my knowledge. I suppose if it was it would give the player-character too much of an upper hand against all the other forces of the game, unless the cops and rival gangsters had jetpacks as well.


http://youtu.be/jom8nIYql2U


Dorian

Assassin's Creed review

Hello All,

This is the link to the review for the latest Assassin's Creed Game (revelations). We spoke at length about defining our gameplay, and I think this review makes an interesting argument.

There is a gameplay style, combat (tower defense), that does not belong in this game. So the question I send to you is this: Are there any game play styles that do NOT belong in our story?

Thanks,

JOey

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1212370p1.html

Minor Character Design

One of the possessed ghost children who the main character saves. His greatest fear was getting bad grades and disappointing his parents. His specialty is science!

Sorry, I don't know how to write descriptions well. Augh!

Skyrim and the Future of Gaming

Skyrim has finally been released after countless years in development and it is incredible. I've only been able to play an hour or so, but the scope of the world is breathtaking. It's hard to imagine that each object in the world, be it a cup, spoon, book, or sword, has all been hand placed and can be interacted with by the PC. Not to mention the fact that every place that you see (faraway mountains and valleys) are all places you can go, regardless of how distant it may appear.

Games have come a long way from the 8-bit jumping plumber with a need to save a fairy princess. The video game industry has become the top-selling entertainment business in the world and it isn't slowing down any time soon (unless your a first person shooter franchise that tweaks one or two gameplay options and sells the same package for a whopping sixty dollars with no shame of any kind. Looking at you Modern Warfare 3.). The question is: where does it go next? We've surpassed the age of exponential graphical leaps and bounds (limited by consoles and the business angle of constantly releasing a new system every two to three years). We've seen each genre done countless times with a new-take here and a new-take there. How does the video game industry rise above what it has accomplished? Is Skyrim, a game that takes years of work and dedication, speak of the future--or does the Hollywood blockbuster model of Call of Duty games reign supreme in stocking stuffers of kids across the country?

I definitely recommend Skyrim to any avid or casual gamer. You will not be disappointed.

Warning: make sure you have copious amounts of time to forget your life. The game IS enormous.

Gameplay Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjqsYzBrP-M

Horde Mode and Multiplayer Options

Multi-player mode is huge in the game industry. I think it would be possible to have at least one other player in story mode. We only have one Protagonist and she is the one we play through the story but Fable solves this by making the second player into a limited action character. For example, the second player can fight enemies with you or for you but cant unlock doors or talk to people.

Here's a bit of the multi-player game play of Fable 2.

Horde Mode co-op is also becoming a huge trend, games like Gears of War and Left for Dead being the reason. It would be great if we could create such a mini game outside of the open world story mode and create small maps in which you and 4 other friends can fight horde after horde while trying to get to a certain point for example. So, you can unlock achievements without going back into the open world and get into more side missions. Sometimes I just want to fight!
Here's game play of Horde Mode in Gears of War 3.

At one point we were talking about the sangria drug causing side effects and when mixed with the blood of aliens one will gain their powers. We could have these people as hordes in this game mode.
Here are some of the Gears of War Monsters:

Grand Theft Auto 5

I'm sure everyone has seen this by now, but here's the trailer for the new addition to the Grand Theft Auto series. Click the banner and check it out!

the nothing - the darkness

Here's how "the nothing" character from The Neverending Story takes shape. Our Darkness character will probably be less formed than this, but thought it might be a good springboard seeing as how it is pretty damn scary looking...





janis

World Map Designs

This is an old school Nintendo world map design, from Super Mario Brothers 3. I find it's design brilliant and entrancing, and it is interesting to look back to the very basics of world maps in video games. All the different levels follow the same theme, a harsh and outlandish world overwhelmed by ice. All of these levels are within a single world that is but one step in a long journey Mario must endure to save the kingdom from Bowser's cruel tyranny.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW6ZvV6btcs

Death and Children

What do people think about the use of violence against children in video games? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is about to hit the shelves, and a leaked video of a terrorist attack in London shows a young girl attempting to shoo away some pigeons before being blown up by a truck-bomb in front of her mother. Now, while Modern Warfare isn't one to shy away from controversy (their previous title had the player walk into a Russian airport and gun down countless innocent civilians), is there a moral line that video games should not cross when it comes to such violence? Is there a point where entertainment and morality cannot blend? I certainly don't think so, but what do you think?

Also, a link to a video game trailer which directly incorporates such violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg&ob=av3e

Open World Side Mission ideas

Hello everyone.

For Camilla, I think a certain amount of inspiration can come from the Open World of Red Dead Redemption, especially in terms of side missions.

Here's a game guide with walkthroughs of the side missions.

http://www.ign.com/wikis/red-dead-redemption?objectid=748481

Many of the side missions have almost nothing to do with the main storyline, which I think gives the game a replay option far above other games.

Side Missions include:

-Bounties

-Gambling

-Land Grab

-hunting

Happy Trails,

JOey

When looking for inspirations for characters...

A Creative Universe

Random posts of cool designs and interesting creatures. Links lead you to more and more arts.

National Geographic

The best nature photos. Colors are vibrant and articles are educational.

Mugshots.com

Mugshots of all sorts of people in the world. Sometimes there are links below the picture that has more information about what the person is convicted for. It is visually interesting to see people's faces, and also could be inspiring to read the stories.

Happy brainstorming!

metal gear solid / Boktai

Metal Gear Solid | Boktai

Both of these 2 games are from Kojima Production, Konami.
And they share a similar gameplay - you have limited power t

o defeat your enemies, so you have to hide most time in the game.

Metal Gear Solid
summary
1) high concept: it’s a hero game - you are one chosen to save the world
2) genre: 3rd action game - hide and defeat your enemies

who are you?
Solid Snake (now Old Snake) - a clone of Big Boss - the former greatest solider in the world - and a defected one - who is really old

what are you suppose to do?
Your life time rival - Liquid Snake (previously Ocelot) - is going to take over the whole world, and you need to find a way to stop him






















what can you do in the game?
you are a soldier, you have guns, you have high-tech equipments, but you are not a super hero - you are the same with your enemies.

gameplay video 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQj12sETg1s&feature=related
sneaking into Shadow Moses

gameplay video 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc4HmsmjVqE
zombies

gameplay video 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzXcKGp-AA8&feature=related
cutscenes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUjR-PVRVhs&feature=related
battle

one thing make the cut scenes in MGS series so smooth they were using same rendering style

Boktai | 僕らの太陽
KONAMI attached a sunlight sensor to the game card. And people (better) play during day time as sun can give them powers

a intro video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoUmaaaAh80

basically our character have a sun gun - it will be charging power when the sunlight sensor can catch lights. And that will be your only weapon. Also the card has an internal clock which will turn the gameworld into night when you play at night.

gameplay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuIhd1v0Ixc&feature=related

end with a CM for Boktai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXfYYgMh-Tc

Brainstorming Titles

Vermillion, Carnelian and Mordant are names of a dark red.
Martyr, Renegade, Mutinous, Turncoat are words that describe an outlaw or someone who suffers by believing something other then the rest.
Blood Sister, Descendant, Kindred and Menage describe family relation and things.
Pedigree means purebred.

Suggested Titles I personally like:

Top choice:
Carnelian Blood Sister
I love the word Carnelian because it sounds like Chameleon and her name is Camilla. Also, the word blood is being used in such a way that it doesn't sound like horror or Vampire stuff. And I think having the word sister in there helps describe our game even further. One of the reasons why I love our story is because of the brother/sister war.





















Some other titles I like:

Carnelian Renegade

Vermillion Descent
To me this title gives a sexy/seduction impression, which is great.

Mordant Martyr
This is more hard core sounding, which I like as well.

(Note: When she's in her true form, I imagine her to have scaly dark red skin. Her bio dad could have scaly dark purple skin)

Group 2 - Darkness-looking stuff

FF to :44 to see the Nightmare King in action: Nemo Releases the Nightmare King!

Thank you Lucas!

Until today, I didn't know how to post. But, today I do, because of you.

Game Recommendations on Links Page

The videos and pictures I showed in my Game Recommendations presentation on Monday are now in the Links page.

Enjoy.

The Descent

So, I just watched this super scary awesome movie "The Descent". Basically this group of women go extreme spelunking down these tunnels and they discover something down there while they can't find themselves back out. So, I was thinking about Dorians idea of a city within a mountain again and thought this could be a great path of discovery. First she finds a mysterious entrance that leads her to a huge cave. She has to then crawl through tight spaces and scoot through tunnels to find clues on where to go next in this labyrinth.
When I was a kid I read this book about these humanesque creatures with glowing green hair that lived in mountain caves. I always loved that story. Here is what these creatures look like. And instead of evil we could make them into good creatures of the dark. Just an idea of a general look and feel of what this part of the game could be.

A Hidden Ancient City

Overgrown ancient civilization anyone? I can see a whole city overgrown with roots instead of just moss and bush. This would be a great way the city could be revealed to the player the first time. A tiny carved piece of artwork peeking through a vast array of roots and moss. Hidden benieth is an entry to a dark tunnel wich leads to the lost city of the original Acteoniens.

Outfit Idea for Camilla

I found this image by accident and it reminded me of our character Camilla. This is what she might look like after being with the natives. Just like when Leia from Star Wars has braids in her hair and has a dress on after being with the ewok.

Main Character of "Anabelle"

Note: This is not Anabelle.

Mortal Kombat 9

I really like the way this video game's story is so detailed with all of its characters. Brilliant and classic character designs

Creatures!!

Hi there,

I think one of the best things about games is that you can interact with creatures that are totally imaginary and awesome looking. Here are some new games I found that have very nice creatures. It's hard to believe they are games not feature films...

Saeko

Video Games and the Silent Protagonist

Question I had concerning the silent protagonist:

What would you say about the risk of alienating or distancing the player from a PC via the act of speaking? As soon as a character speaks, they become an other that is not me. They are a person I experience a journey with, much like a film or television show. I help choose their actions, yes, but they then use words that do not come out of my mouth, may never have come out of my mouth.

I experienced this feeling with my brief play of LA Noire. I wanted to connect with the main character, get to know his back story, but he was so adamant not to share it. Even when I was choosing his responses to NPCs, when I would have rather been comforting he would be forceful--and that was the right way to go. It just seems like the bread crumb approach leads the gamer on, but it also leaves them as a slightly distanced god/angel entity that pokes and prods but is not that character.

I grew up playing the Half-Life series and have to say that the character of Gordon Freeman is the most real to me. Though he never says a single word I know what he wants, why he wants it, and what he will do to get it. It doesn't matter that he is a scientist turned slayer of alien demigods--I believe in him (and in turn, me).

What do you guys think?

ParaNorman

Laika (Coraline, James and the Giant Peach) just released this poster for their upcoming film. The plot according to Wikipedia:

In the comedy thriller, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman, who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst of all, moronic grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

combination of gameplay/story telling

this is an issue i have been thinking for a long time.

for game designers, how are we going to combine gameplay and narration together? (not including traditional RPG, but action/adventure games or action RPGs - like Kingdom Hearts)

Some developers' solutions are limiting narration and use least amount of words -

like team ICO's work - ICO, Shadow of colossus,

other developers choose to use a lot texts in the game to give instructions to players so that those stories won'r distract players from focusing on playing: like Zero: Red Butterfly(probably only has japanese version), Resident Evil(have Wesker's side story as a clue), or Silent Hill.

and like Metal Gear Solid series - I bet it has the longest cinematic scenes ever - but the transition between gameplay and cinematic scenes are really smooth - especially in MGS4 - as they finally could load new content to memory while you are playing.

trailers & cinematics

This is not quite gameplay, but I thought I would post some game trailers that my company has made...

blur studio

Batman: Arkham City

Bioshock 2

Prey 2


- janis

Video Game Resource

Hello everyone. Here is a link you should definitely check out as a resource.

http://www.ign.com/

IGN has information on just about every video game ever made. Also, there are ample game guides, video reviews, playthroughs, and trailers for upcoming games.

They even have games broken down by consule. Worth a look.

-JOey

Let's Play: FINAL FANTASY 7

To continue with the Final Fantasy series here is a wonderful "Let's Play" for Final Fantasy 7:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGn5Cf_ZrU8&feature=related

Again, another very popular RPG originally released on the Sony Playstation platform. A compelling story with ery complex characters and an insanely enormous world.

You can also check out the link on the "Let's Play" page of the blog.

Let's Play: FINAL FANTASY 8

Hello Everyone,

You may have heard me talk about "Let's Play" on Youtube. These are videos where a gamer will play through an entire game with a bit of commentary. One of my favorite "Let's Play" gamers goes by the name of Necroscope. He has posted a "Let's Play" for Squaresoft's epic Final Fantasy 8.


This is what you call a Role Playing Game or (RPG). In this game, in particular, the story and world are enormous. The characters also contain a lot of depth and complexity. So, if you are not familiar with these types of games (RPGs) or anything from the Final Fantasy series this would be a perfect way to see it.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlWvStzrFc&feature=related

You can also find the link on the 'Let's Play' page here on the blog.

LOCATIONS!!

Here are the webpages for the strange locations we went over in class. Have fun checking them out:

http://www.aquiziam.com/ten-strange-places.html

http://mystic-places.blogspot.com/

http://matadornetwork.com/trips/8-more-strange-places-on-planet-earth/

Welcome!

Welcome Class!

This blog will be used as a sort of sounding board for your projects. A place to post ideas, questions and general video game knowledge.

More to come,

Lucas