Unit 72: C5 - Difficulty and Structure

The difficulty of a game is determined by how challenging it is to the players. In gaming there are several different genres and even more variations to how you developers can manipulate the difficulty in those genres, for example:

A puzzle game like Tetris where the challenge is too place blocks in the most efficient way with each full row disappearing to conserve space else lose if the blocks reach the top, although this task alone can prove daunting to some for more experienced players there are higher levels in which the speed of the falling blocks increase until it's finally game over.



In other genres such as Action/Adventure there are games that will incorporate a few several different types of challenges all in just one level, For instance: The game below is entitled 'Kirby Superstar Ultra', it is a Nintendo DS HD remake of a previous game in the Kirby franchise.

Kirby Superstar Ultra contains many different stories as well as mini games that all have unique challenges.

The concept of most Kirby games generally involves the player running through different environments, defeating enemies and gaining abilities as you do so (although abilities are usually only used for short periods of time). The difficulty in these situations vary like so: the obstacles become much more challenging and dangerous as you progress onto later levels, the enemies become a lot vicious, resilient and in some cases even have a life bar (mini-bosses and boss characters) and certain abilities either become scarce, are hidden or must be activated.

As you can see in this picture, 'Time' can also be crucial to  how difficult  some levels or stories are. This screenshot  has been taken during the story 'Revenge of Metaknight' and throughout the entire story you have a time limit in which you must complete it or else fail the game.

It is very important to keep the difficulty well balanced for an appealing game. Most games normally increase the difficulty gradually so the player has a chance to adapt to how the each level should be approached while still being challenged. In a lot of games however there are bonus levels mixed in that provide the player with either a slight break from the action, some cool-down time from puzzles or extras that'll assist in future levels to come.

Unit 72: C4 - Game Fundamentals

In this post I am going to identify the different fundamentals within the game entitled Ninja Gaiden Black.

GOALS

This game's goals usually involved slaying various enemy creatures until eventually reaching the boss character of each chapter and then finally defeating them to advance to the next chapter and progress through the story. Disregarding the obvious, there are other goals in NG that require skill and patience to accomplish these goals are: collecting Golden Scarabs and completing Fiend Challenges.

CHALLENGES

Ninja Gaiden's challenges usually consist of running through the main city's environment scaling multiple types of terrain and ledges to find artifacts that'll allow you to solve puzzles that'll lead you to that level's (or chapter's) boss room. Most areas in NG generally have swarms of enemies that spawn to impede you (possibly respawning in areas that have been cleared already or even constantly spawning for a set amount of time in which you will have to survive). One of the many reasons NG is so popular within its fanbase is due to how overwhelmingly challenging it can be when dealing with NPC's; enemy AI's are quite intelligent and force players to devise strategies and utilise their skills with their most favourable weapons available to defeat them.

PLAYER ACTIONS

As this game is a hack 'n' slash/ adventure to be able to travel anywhere you must either defeat multiple enemies in each level or scale difficult platforms within a time limit. One of the many things that makes Ninja Gaiden so fun, adventurous and challenging is also mastering the multitude of combos for each individual weapon, not only does mastering combos allow for a more enjoyable playthrough (making the fighting seem less repetitive) but also reawrding the player by dealing out massive amounts of damge to enemies. Ryu Hayabusa is an amazing ninja capable of many feats: he is able easily run walls and climb ledges, jump and land from great distances, wield very hefty weapons and use mystical ninjutsu that harnesses the elements (all of these skills are essential to his survival as well as progression through the game).

REWARDS

Ninja Gaiden has items placed all around the world (generally in chests however not limted to), these items allow the player to replenish their health and nimpo and on rare occasions obtain weapons or magic scrolls. In NG there are optional challenges in the game that although difficult are very rewarding, giving the player special items that cannot usually be found in buildings or chests. These special items usually bring Ryu from the brink of death or boost Ryu's powers (health, nimpo, attack, defense, etc.) but they can also give the character even more rewarding items, such as: if you find and return the Golden Scarabs that are scattered throughout the game to Muramasa (the items merchant) he in turn will gift Ryu with special bracelets and weapons that cannot be obtained otherwise. Like I mentioned above challenges like collecting Golden Scarabs can seem quite tedious when aiming for a particular item such as 'The Dark Dragon Blade' because you need all 50 to obtain it and they are quite easy to miss or forget about but for the players that are determined to get them all the rewards are more than beneficial.

GAME MECHANICS

The game mechanics in NG usually revolve around clearing obstacles until being stopped in certain areas and having to defeat every single enemy there to proceed. Whilst in battle the score you bank will be calculated by the amount of Karma you gained from enemies killed with bonuses being added for higher combos, more kills and faster times.

Unit 72: C3 - Game World

As I've mentioned in my initial ideas post, I am going to base the game world of my first game (or Game Brief #1) in an arctic setting and so I have conducted research on Antarctica's climate, in hopes of gaining more insight before creating my game.



 

Antarctica (left) and Australia (right) on an Orthographic projection

  

 Antarctica is the continent at the southernmost region of Earth. It is known to be the coldest and driest of all continents with temperatures that drop below -89°C resulting in the majority of it being covered in ice (estimated at around 98%). Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent on the planet and has an area of or around 5,400,000 square miles (making it almost double the size of Australia which is known to be around 2,941,299).

Due to a few new ideas in my game, I've decided to add a lot of mountainous areas and plant life (pine trees) for an area I've decided to call the "White Forest". For some visual aide I researched what an arctic forest might look like and here's an that I found to perfectly depict what I have in mind.

The original concept of "White Forest".

A variation I've made with the snow on each tree being more prominent and the atmosphere seems much colder. Also note the mountains in the background, similar areas will be used for the final part of my game.

Here's another shot depicting how I want my forest to look. This image travels deeper within the "White Forest" and shows us what the tree tops might look like at dusk.

Another variation I made, I tried to make the dusk sky look a more vivid and breathtaking as well as add life to the tree tops.

Conducting more research on Arctic environments I discovered numerous creatures that I hadn't already known inhabited these lands, creatures such as:



The Rockhopper Penguin

The Leopard Seal

The Arctic Fox



The Orca Whale



The Polar Bear

The last two I have decided already would act as the more powerful enemies in my game.

  

Unit 72: C2 - Initial Game Ideas



Game Brief #1 -

This game will have an Arctic setting; a lot of snow, ice, sea water etc. as well as a few areas with certain gimmicks like fog or mist to give even more variety to certain areas or levels.

Due to the Arctic environment in my game there will be many obstacles relevant to the ecosystem, such as:



Arctic Grayling (top) and Arctic Char (bottom)

•  Collectables that might relate to a real Eskimo's life; certain types of fish as health consumables and possibly differing in size (bigger fish healing more health)

•  Natural disasters may occur at random e.g. avalanches, tidal waves and even fissures which will dramatically change the way in which you have to deal with the environment and enemies.
• The animals inhabiting this land may have varying dispositions towards the player; Penguins being mostly friendly however there may be certain ones that may only trust the player after testing him, another ally species could be the Sea Lions (possibly helping you travel over the sea). I have already decided that Polar Bears will be hostile towards the player when in the wasteland and I will have a Polar Bear as a final boss, other hostiles I'm considering are Walrus' and certain Whale species like: The Narwhal  The Orca and maybe the Blue Whale although that and the Beluga Whale species may be exceptions that actually assist the player.

After considering different perspectives I decided upon a top-down view that follows the player via scrolling an example of what I mean would be the game 'Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap'.

 



Game Brief #2 -

This game will have an jungle setting; a lot of vines, grass, trees however this game will focus more on the ancient ruins that reside within the jungle and its stone architecture. Similar to my first game brief this one will also fall under the Action/Adventure category however puzzles will be much more prominent throughout it (and so I guess you could call it an Action/Adventure/Puzzle hybrid).

When brainstorming I became quite fond of the idea of making a game similar to N+ where the player will have the ability to jump great heights (keeping excellent control of their trajectory) and attaching themselves to ledges and walls as well as the ability to actually fend off foes (unlike in N+) with melee weapons. Whilst still trying to be original I figured I could come up with some interesting and entertaining puzzles that allow the player to advance unto further levels, some of them are as follows:

•  Collectables like keys that'll unlock certain doors although because these are ancient ruins you're exploring they won't have the conventional form but perhaps: orbs, gems, stone discs etc..

•  I'm thinking it would be cool to put certain bosses in this game as well but ones that are too powerful to be attacked head on and so you must use your surrounding area to trap or defeat them. Certain smaller enemies may also need some thinking to beat however may still be destroyed through melee attacks.
  
• Sliding Image puzzles where the player will have to slide each piece into the correct position to activate the doors or unlock chests.

• Power and Wisdom doors, that will only open to the player if answered correctly (with hints usually leading up to these doors) or if the player passes a trial of strength where they must battle hordes of enemies that will spawn for a set amount of time. These doors will be very rewarding as they reveal treasures and weapons lost by time.

• Mind Maze puzzles where after activation you must travel through a maze and unlock the door before you're consumed by darkness. These mazes may also be used to travel back and forth to places that have already been cleared for extras as well as possibly missed keys.

This game with incorporate a 2D side-scrolling perspective however multiple puzzles (like the Sliding Image puzzle) will force the a fixed screen view unto solved or abandoned.

Sliding Image Puzzle

Mind Maze Puzzle



Unit 72: C1 - Visual Style: Genre and Perspectives

 In this post I will show you the evidence of my brainstorming and researching on multiple game genres and their visual aspects.

The type of game genre usually defines how a game is played and what you'll end up doing throughout it, for example: New Super Mario Bros. fits into the Action/ Adventure genre and in it you play as a plumber in a fantasy like world filled with dinosaurs that stand up right and speak, these same monster and dinosaurs are your character's enemies in the game (because they can't stop kidnapping the princess he likes) and so you  usually end up squaring off against them and defeating them with the powers you can gain on the way there (fireballs, shell armour, becoming giant, invincibility etc.) most enemies however you'll probably defeat by just jumping on their heads, squashing them to death.

 

The Super Mario Bros. franchise has for years successfully created their games in both 2D side-scroll platformers as well as in their multiple 3rd person releases, favourites of these times among fans would most likely be the 'Super Mario World' made for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES) and the first ever three-dimensional platform game in the series, 'Super Mario 64'. Both of these games were completely different to one another visually, sure the obvious reason being the dimensions but also the perspectives at which the games were given changed the way people played them entirely.

Starting with Super Mario World on the SNES, this game as to most of the franchise used a two-dimensional side-scrolling perspective and so to advance the player would have to constantly move to right hand side; jumping, sliding, crawling, flying and smashing through whatever obstacles appeared on screen next (as the view followed the player).

Due to this way of advancing through the game; enemies, items and switches were all interacted with most of the time by simply jumping on top of or running straight into as well as clambering up and down different ledges and pieces of terrain although with there were variations when Mario had obtained a new power like his 'Cape' power (see picture above ^) which allowed him to fly high altitudes at an impressive speed.

 

Below is a YouTube that shows you a brief outlook on how the game is generally played:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naD6mNeHIsE


In contrast to this 2D platforming Mario game, came the Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64.

Flight Cap = Win!

Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary game in the Mario Bros. franchise, as aforementioned it was the first ever 3D Super Mario game and thus set a trend the for later games to come (e.g Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy). Making Mario into a 3D platformer gave players a lot more freedom than they had whilst restricted to the previous side-scrollers; now with the new analog control and dynamic camera systems you could move in multiple directions and approach challenges in new and interesting ways.



Even basic movements like jumping were drastically improved thanks to the newly implemented analog controls.

Super Mario 64 like most Mario games still fell under the Action/Adventure category for genre even with the transition to 3D and as always the player would have to control Mario plunging him into different dangers to save the (once again D:) captured princess.




Here is YouTube video compilation of all the boss characters from Super Mario 64 in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tEuN8KckTY

As mentioned in the "Initial Game Ideas" post, I tend to set A Frigid Adventure in a top-down perspective where the camera with follow the player and scroll across the map. The visual style I decided upon after looking Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past as that game has influenced mine tremendously and its target audience is mroe or the less same as mine; considering the games success I can garuntee they chose the correct target audience and so if I want my game to thrive and sell millions I believe I too should chose a similar visual style for my target audience who are male between the ages of 8 - 15, my reason being that I believe the genre (Action/Adventure) sounds more appealing to young males than anyone else, this belief being slightly reinforced with the protagonist being a young man who is strong, courageous and adventurous which young males will think is “cool” and can aspire to be like. Another reason I believe my game is more suited to males is that it isn’t very glamorous, it is set in a an arctic wasteland that is overrun by feral beasts, the protagonist just wears a basic outfit (fur coat, pants, gloves and boots) and tends to fight more straight forward and efficiently rather than flashy and dramatic fighter that moves around a lot.

Unit 72: C3 - Game Character & NPC Development

Game Brief #1 -

As I've mentioned in the post entitled 'Initial Game Ideas', my game is going to be set in the artic (Antarctica to be exact) and so I've decided to make my character an Inuit Eskimo whos' ancestors migrated across the sea away from Alaska.

Born and raised in Antartica my character 'Kobu' was trained to hunt by his father 'Alignak' at the tender age of six, so that one day he too would be able to provide for his family and continue the Inuit bloodline through his offspring. Due to the harsh environment, frigid weather and violent creatures that roamed the land, he has been taught everything crucial to his survival there and so he is always equipped with warm clothing and tools used for hunting and climbing, such as: Tomahawks, Spears, Boomerangs, Climbing Hooks, Spiked Boots, etc..

Kobu wielding a Tomahawk.

Besides Kobu the other NPCs in my game will consist of different creatures that inhabit the land. The more notable ones will be the leaders (or more dominant) of each species in my game; The five main being:

I think it is worth mentioning that Kobu, from the player's perspective has no voice and for the majority of conceptual images has his face covered. This is extremely similar to Link in almost if not all the Zelda games, where the only voice acting heard from him is in sound bytes for when he is attacking, jumping or recieving damage. In each cutscene where Link appears to be conversing with another character he still has no dialogue and appears to communicate through subtle sounds (like quiet grunting or sighing) and hand gestures; nowhere in any of the Zelda information books does it confirm that Link has the inability to talk therefore I assume this was purposefully done to allow the player to imagine how he'd sound based on the aforementioned sound bytes: his voice and tone left up to the player to decide. This is a techinique I find very interesting and considering A Frigid Adventure is heavily influenced by Zelda already and the artwork I have done so far gives Kobu a little mystery to him (despite the story told to us) I want the players of A Frigid Adventure to think for themselves how Kobu's voice sounds and although we do on occasion see his face, what expression he generally wears... Is it one of anger and contempt? Passion and emotion? Or resolute and determined? I'd also like to think that the way in which individual players will base this persona of him on the experiences they've through their own playthroughs.

Here's a link ( haha get it?) of a cutscene from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, note Link's performance during it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4zjmacjdCE

Kuma - The tyranical polar bear. After demonstrating his fearsome power, the other species soon bowed their heads in respect or migrated away from "his" territory out of fear that they'd be killed or enslaved. Now the leader of a vicious empire of: Polar bears, Narwhals and Walrus, he stands atop the mountains in hopes of a rebellion to cure his boredom.

Qalugia - "Speared warrior or the red sea." This fearsome foe is a legendary narwhal whale that has been said to only emerge from the sea to slaughter tribes and destroy entire villeges leaving only a red behind.

 Tuugaaq - "The tusked golem." A hefty and well-aged walrus that has experienced many battles with humans as well as other dangerous creatures. He leads his own pod of walrus around the outskirts of the land and has been placed in charge or guarding the "Path of Transcendence", an long and deep strip of ice bridging together the two mainlands.

Piru' - "Wild Flower of the East." Unlike the two mentioned above, Piru's tribe of penguins dislike violence and loathe Kuma's tyranny over the land. Knowing that staying put would result in their demise, the penguins migrated to the east-side of the land (out of Kuma's grasp). Although their tribe consists mostly of emporer penguins, once every 100 years or so a new leader will be born in the form of the rockhopper, this era's rockhopper is Piru' and so he is their current leader. Though only brief, Piru's and Kobu's meeting results in Piru' holding a great deal of respect for the skilled hunter so much that he occasionally aides the protagonist in his journey.

 Amaruq - "Mother Wolf." This beautifully coated wolf leads her pack across the arctic denying Kuma's rule and the evil he poses. This wise and powerful master of the White Forest will test Kobu's spirit as a man, earning her trust and respect is incredibly helpful the opposite however is dangerous as her children who inhabit the forest live and abide by her will.

Here's a Feral Wolf, a renegade child of Amaruq whose coat represents its heart steeped in darkness. These wolves go against Amaruq's  disciplines  and kill without necessary motive.