In-Class Pinball Exercise

Answer these questions as a blog entry:

1) What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball game design?

I feel that good gameplay in pinball design must have good flow throughout the game. You should be actively having to use the flippers as opposed watching the ball do its own thing for the whole game.

2) How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?

The way that designers create new exciting experiences are to introduce new ideas to the game. A few examples are tilting, and flippers.

"Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball" Questions

 

1) What was the big innovation in the 1940s that made all other pinball machines obsolete?
Flippers.

2) In the 1970s, what new technological advance brought pinball up to date and enabled another step forward in the industry?

Solid State - Electronic as opposed to electro-mechanical. 

What types of innovations did it make possible?
Lights, digital scoreboards, sounds.

3) Which company specialized in 1970s pop-culture themed pinball machines?

Bally

4) What technology shook the pinball world in the 70s? Why?

Videogames - smaller size as opposed to pinball

5) By the 1990s, was pinball successful or not?

Yes

6) What was the key innovation behind "Pinball 2000"?

The reflective monitor

7) What was the problem with the license behind the first major rollout of the Pinball 2000 idea with a major 3rd party license?

Star Wars Episode 1

8) Why did Williams decide in the end to shut down its pinball division?

Slotmachines generated more money

9) Do you think this was a good idea?

Yes

10) Does a good idea always guarantee a commercial win?

Not necessarily. 

 

In-Class Google Sketchup

This is my first time using Google Sketchup. The instructions for this lesson were to include:

1) Buildings

2) Vehicles

3) Characters (people, animals)

4) Urban details - e.g. roads/traffic details

Use the large archive of online 3D objects to create a scene suitable for one of the following:

a) 3D Shooter Game

b) Top-down role-playing game

c) 2D Game - e.g. platform game

The first object I found as a building was a baseball stadium. My original intention was to litter the field with houses and bad guys with guns and have a the player shoot the bad guys in an FPS fashion. I decided to have some fun instead. This scene takes place as an "all-star" baseball game. Reminiscent of a Nintendo-esque game such as Super Smash Bros or Mario Tennis. The game has a bunch of well known characters from other video games or movies and has them all playing baseball together in a silly fashion. 

The cast is as follows:

Solid Snake - Umpire

Marcus Fenix - Catcher

Master Chief - Batter

Leonidas - Pitcher

Predator - First Base

Terminator - Second Base

Mario - Short Stop

Link - Third Base

Darth Vader - Right Field

Lich King/Arthas - Center Field

Sauron - Left Field

In order to satisfy the "vehicle" portion of this lesson, I added an Abrams tank in the outfield, with a banner behind it that states, "hit the truck and one lucky fan wins it." Also there is a Deathstar in the background if that is characterized as a vehicle.

As far as vehicle and road details, I chose to use The Two Towers from Lord of the Rings in place of foul posts in order to further the fantasy and quite silly world. The Black Gate is in the back as well in order to make the field more "brutal."

Top down view of the stadium.

Perspective from a potential fan in the seats.

Basic camera view where the player(s) will interface with the game. As either the pitcher or the batter.

Far right side view.

Far left side view.

*Updated* Needed an explosion.

Cartoon Network Game Creator Ben 10 and Batman!

1. The first challenge in the Batman game is pure platform and timing game.
    The Adventure Time game is to defeat all of your enemies.

2. The camera mode is 2d static platformed third person.

3. The user uses space bar to use abilities, "X" to use your special (in the case of Batman), and the arrow keys as movement.

4. The goal of the game for Batman is to reach the portal, upon reaching it completes the mission. The Adventure Time game goal is to defeat all enemies.

Freemind Map

Game Idea Paragraph

Based right after the Civil War, you play a Union Soldier who is haunted by the war and the decisions you had to make. Your goal is to explore a war-torn plantation in Louisiana and interact with the environment and the world to discover what the soldier went through. Combat may take place through flashbacks to the war or through seeing traumatic images while traversing the world.

Collaborative Chess

Starting Conditions:

- All 16 pawns one one side of the board. (Each pawn is labeled 1 through 16)

- White King, Bishop, Knight and Black King, Bishop Knight on the other side.

Winning Conditions:

- All 16 pawns are removed from the board, via basic chess rules.

- Both Kings survive.

Rules:

- Both players control their own colored King, Bishop, and Knight, respectively.

- Neither player controls the pawns. Pawns move forward based on basic chess rules. Players can use the number labels to determine which pawn moves forward.

- Turn order is: Player 1, Pawns, Player 2, Pawns, Player 1, etc...

- If a pawn is capable of taking a player unit, that pawn is prioritized and will move immediately.

- Both player's King pieces must survive.

Basic Game Concept

Based right after the Civil War, you play a Union Soldier who is haunted by the war and the decisions you had to make. Your goal is to explore a war-torn plantation and interact with the environment and the world to discover what the soldier went through. Combat takes place through flashbacks the soldier experiences and through traumatic images in real time while traversing the world.

I, Videogame Survey

1. Videogames emerged from the culture of the "Cold War" - what does Henry Jenkins from MIT compare the period to in terms of a famous board game?

Battleship

2. Who was the inventor of the first Video game according to the documentary?

What was the name of the game?

William Higgenbotham
Tennis for Two

3. Steve Russell is credited with the first true computer-based videogame (in terms of its use with the PDP100 mainframe computer) with SPACEWAR - what popular science fiction book series also influenced him?

Doc Smith's Lensman Series

4. What innovation did Steve Russell's SPACEWAR introduce in terms of input hardware?

The joystick

5. When the USA was aflame with internal conflict in the 1960s and 1970s, what new home entertainment system let consumers finally control what was being seen on the home television?

Who was its inventor/developer?

Ralph Baer - Magnavox Odyssey 

6. PONG emerged out of the counterculture spirit of the early 1970s - its natural home was what type of entertainment setting?

Who does Nolan Bushnell say were generally best at playing the game?

Women

7. "Space Invaders" emerged in the late 1970s as the first game from Japan.

How did the production team intensify the emotion of the game via the use of the four-note in-game theme?

By speeding it up as the game neared its end

8. Steve Moulder reflects that the first arcade games tended to result in the player's defeat and that 'defeatism' in turn reflected the view by the designers that war itself is defeatist. Has this view changed since that time? Do today's latest games still convey this sense? Why? Why not? (use your own words)

Most bigger games purpose is either multiplayer driven or story driven. The story is mean to be finished, victory is encouraged. 

9. Have you ever played any of the games shown in this the first episode of "I, Videogame"? What was your memory of playing it? Where were you, when was it?

The first game that I played was Pac-Man. My memory of playing it was my mother took me to a burger joint and bought me a milk shake and played Pac-Man with me. I was 3 years old if I recall correctly.