Choose one of the indie designers / developers and outline why there work and approach is of interest to you.

Indie games are usually created for the very narrow group of viewers. The reason for that are obviously huge studios with advanced computer equipment and hundreds of workers, which monopolise the game market . Although it does not mean that it is not possible to create exciting games in a small team.

An example of game considered by me as one with the most stunning graphics was made by only few people and it is called Samorost. It’s designer Jakub Dworsky is definitely worth attention because his way of design is very unique.

Samorost 3

Samorost 3

He takes an inspiration mainly from the style of traditional east European cartoons and animations. The other thing which influenced his career was old primitive games such as Goblins.

Baron Prásil, 1962

Jakub Dworsky puts great effort to make every game have exceptional and original art style. For example he was not happy about his perfect hand drawing in the game Machinarium so he drew all the graphics using left hand. When it comes  to Samorost, decision about the final art style was very difficult. He tried to create fantasy world made of photos, the next idea was to do it with pencils, after all Dworsky mixed photography and drawing which looks truly magical.

In my opinion Dworsky’s works are very inspiring and hope-giving. His design process is an evidence that working on graphics in games doesn’t mean to be a craftsman sculpting one of thousands objects. You can still create incredible things and be an artist in small indie projects.

What do you think could be the most exciting indie projects that are in development?

These days almost everyone can create their own game so there is a variety of indie projects in development and finding the interesting one can be challenging.

The one I’m looking forward the most is definitely The Last Night by Odd Tales. The game is being made since 2014 and the major changes have been made since this time.

The Last Night

The Last Night

The main inspiration for the developers was games such as Another World (1991), Flashback (1992) or Oddworld (1997). The other source of inspiration was the variety of Hong Kong city.

The distinguishing feature of this game is an art style which basically is a pixel art style but because of the enormous amount of lighting and shading layers it gives an impression of being realistic. It is worth to mention that developers mixed the twentieth-century way of design with modern technology of animation to get completely new effects. The movements of characters are based on the recordings of real people. All of perfectly matched pieces make a wonderful atmosphere of dark cyberpunk.

Everyone misses the old times of great 2D games but people are getting used to new standards of graphics and mechanics. I think that it is exactly the product which will fulfil this gap.

references:

What do you see as the positives and negatives around copyright?
One positive of copyright is that the creator of a product can benefit from the creation of the product, by allowing third parties to use it in a desired way and enabling a royalty or a one-time payment on the use of the product. This provides an incentive for creators as they can get paid by creating original and new ideas. For example, Nintendo the developer of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have a created a game for the Switch but unlike other games where they are played by people and put on video sharing networks like YouTube, Nintendo will copyright strike anyone playing their game and profiting of it without paying a fee to Nintendo first. On the other hand, a downside of copyright is that it can stop innovation because when an idea or a product is copyrighted legally its design must be specifically outlined, so that if the idea is stolen the case can be fought on how the original copyrighted idea was copied, this can have ramifications for inventors as they might come up an idea like a game and only copy small percent without knowing it and can be sued in turn stopping the innovation, an example of this is from the studio Bluehole which made the game Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) and has been very successful but recently another game very similar has to come to market called Fortnite. Fortnite is produced by Epic games and in a recent interview the creators of PUBG stated “we don’t feel that it’s right” this is because of Fortnites blatant copying of PUBGs game style and use of their product name in their promotional video has tempted Bluehole studios to take further action. If I do make my own game I will have consider copyright laws and how it could affect the development of my game, making sure my style and mechanics are different from other games.

Source and references

https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/22/16349536/pubg-fortnite-battle-royale-battlegrounds

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-switch

http://info.legalzoom.com/pros-cons-copyright-laws-20497.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Breath_of_the_Wild

https://www.polygon.com/pc/2017/9/26/16368170/fortnite-battle-royale-preview-review-hands-on

https://gfycat.com/gifs/search/pubg%20gameplay

 Is it possible to make anything new?

In my opinion it is not possible to make anything new this is because any idea that is created today is just a modified version of something that already exists the only new thing someone can make is a story in a game otherwise most games today are just carbon copies of each other or just a twist on mechanics other games possess. An example of this would be most shooter games out their which have similar mechanics but just a different back story with the same basic play style, like Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and Titianfall. Therefore, I will be mainly using games for influence rather than copying them and their playstyles.

Sources and references

https://www.callofduty.com/uk/en/advancedwarfare

https://thirdpersonblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/titanfall-2-review/

Behavioural modelling is an important part of NPC development for games. Should emotive modelling be part of that development?

Emotive modelling should defiantly be a part of behavioural modelling for NPCs otherwise the NPC cannot convey emotion through behaviour alone effectively. Emotive modelling must be a part of that development process since a NPC uses expressions to convey emotions which synergise with the physical actions of the NPC for example if an NPC is angry they might say a dialogue which is angry or aggressive, but they need also change their physical manner meaning the stance of them standing might become more firm and confrontational this emotive body language further adds depth into the NPC making it more lifelike. But certain occasions may require less emotive language for example the robot in Portal 2 Glados doesn’t seem to have much emotive language this is because she is a life less manipulative robot who is made so the player can dislike her and create detachment from her therefore feel more emphatic for the characters they are playing, so in certain situations using less emotive modelling can be useful. An example of when emotive language needs to be a part of behavioural modelling development is in games like Borderlands 2 where the villain Handsome Jack always has a very mischievous and conniving personality, and this shown through he emotive language where he constantly insults the players with slurs, this emotive language makes his character more believable and unlikable.

Sources and references

https://captainfez.com/2016/03/24/farewell-handsome-jack/

https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/27/5455382/watch-glados-from-portal-explain-the-difference-between-fission-and

Consider your favourite video game. If it contains AI controlled agents how individualistic are they and their behaviours, and, how might you set about improving them?

One of my favourite video games is World of Warcraft this game has many NPCs in the world as it is a MMO where your role plays as one of the selected heroes who must save the day. Most of the newer NPCs in the new expansion have very believable personalities this due to them using very emotive language to convey the threat that you face as a player in the World or Warcraft and also their behaviour is very individualistic for example in one quest you have a very important character from the Lore as a NPC help you charge through a portal into a new world full of new threats and enemies this behavioural modelling and the expressions on his face is very telling of how strong he is and how much he believes in saving the day. But there is one way I believe I could improve the NPCs this by looking at the older NPCs in the older expansions these are just lifeless still NPCs who say some vague forgettable dialogue and give quests for you to do. This can in turn make the game very mundane to play and very lacklustre in terms of story because you feel disconnected from these NPCs but adding more behavioural modelling like getting the NPCS to follow you around and talk while doing the given quests furthermore adding emotive language like making changes to the tone of their voices to show how importance of the quest can make these NPCs more convincing and likable.

Sources and references

http://www.wolfmanzbytes.com/game-reviews/121-world-of-warcraft-the-burning-crusade.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ-4-kqAhVs

Select one example to outline the key concepts of the interactive narrative genre?

It is not very challenging  to make up an interesting story and grab people’s attention. The completely new level of difficulty starts when you are supposed to write an interactive story. How many storylines can be developed from the same beginning and remain thrilling? It depends on skills of a storyteller and the form as it can be a book as well as movie or game.

One of the most interesting examples of interactive narrative stories is „Life is Strange” directed by Raoul Barvet and Michel Koch. Main character has to make series of difficult decisions and then face the consequences of them. She has a special ability to rewind the time but usually attempt to change the past makes things even worse. If you try to go back in time to hide car keys and save someone from car accident it is possible that in the future other people using that car won’t be alive.

Life is Strange

Life is Strange as the most of interactive narrative games is very emotional. It is up to the player to save someone’s life or lose one of good friends.  You should investigate other character’s life to make sure that your choices are right. Due to the interactivity players feel very responsible for their choices and feel connection with game characters.

Life is Strange

The ending of interactive narrative stories is obviously never defined. Players can earn satisfying ending by playing carefully and reasonably. On the other hand it is much more fun to introduce some chaos into the world of game and see what happens.

does the interactive narrative still have a role to play in video games today?

In the past people’s understanding of games was completely different. It was not always connected to visual aspects as it is nowadays. Instead of this people made up various games based on their imagination. That is how interactive narrative genre began and presumably it will never end.

Even though player’s preferences changed, echoes of interactive narrative stories are still hearable in few types of games. It is easy  to notice that modern RPG games become even more interactive than ever before. Obviously it has always been a part of games such as The Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age to create and develop your very own specific character, explore whichever part of the map you want and resolve the quests in the way you like. The thing that became expanded in terms of interactive narrative is dynamic of player’s choices. For example in the Witcher III the most significant dialogues have limited time to answer. The main idea of the modern narrative video games is to design them as impulsive as the real life is.

Witcher III Wild Hunt

Playing the next type of games I want to mention is similar to watching movies. Telltale Games studio made a great job translating such titles as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones into games. This way of narrative opens the story of well-known characters to completely new levels because the only thing that player is supposed to do is making key choices. This type of games is most likely going to be developed in the next few decades. Every year Square Enix, Quantic Dream and some other studios working on interactive narrative video games releases even more thrilling and fascinating scenarios.

In general, interactive narrative has still significant role to play in video games and is being expanded every year but it is mainly related to games based on adventures, open world or advanced scenario.

references:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnvironmentalNarrativeGame

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/191861/Should_games_have_stories.php

http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/

Select one game of your interest and explain why does it have a good/bad game UI

League of Legends has the best UI design, this is due to the fact playing the game requires you to constantly look at the UI to see ability cooldowns and the map. Therefore, the UI has been updated constantly to near perfection. One of the good UI designs in League of Legends is the four abilities located at the bottom of the screen. These are unique to the 136 champions within the game, so they must be located is the same location to keep constancy but also must be able to change icons from champion to champion, as different champions have different abilities. Its location is also appropriate as it is not too distracting from what’s in front of the player but isn’t hidden out of plain sight, if it was located near the middle of the screen it would distract from the gameplay but due to its location the user can keep track of cooldowns easily but just one glance, the cooldown timer is also bold and greys out the ability when on cooldown. This is good UI design as the player can easily identify if the ability is on cooldown. Another good UI design is the map location this can be adjusted from the right side of the screen to left vice versa and the size of the map can be changed this customizability allows for good UI design as the user needs to constantly be looking at the map therefore the freedom to change the size and location makes its clean and easy to see no matter the players preference. There are bad UI design choices, for example the inventory where items are stored cannot be adjusted from within the store when purchasing items but rather requires you to leave the shop and then adjust from your separate inventory this is bad UI design as it is unnecessary and slows down gameplay.

Discuss how technology augments human abilities. Reflect upon the implications of the future of HCI.

Technology has learned how to enhance our abilities like speech, hearing and touch etc. This is done through using technology that already exists and furthering its ability to connect with humans. An example of this is Alexa from Amazon. Alexa uses voice and hearing to perform tasks like googling, buying or doing almost any task done through sitting down and typing. Alexa is also able to have conversations and makes jokes, this has improved HCI as we are furthering what our voice can do. We can now use our voice and improved HCI to make everyday life easier. Certain tech is getting very close to enhancing our touch and visuals, this is through VR headsets like Vive. The Vive uses a display in a headset and mirrors to trick the mind into believing it is in another plain of existence made by world designed in VR, this is an example of technology augmenting our senses of sight and feel, this augmentation could one day allow us to play games by being in the game world. Augmenting human abilities has furthered HCI but ease of use has been sacrificed as these augmentations can be complicated to use and learn therefore its essential to lessen the learning curve for such products that will augment our human abilities. For example, the Vive is not easy to use as its set up can be long and complicated

Sources and references

https://www.vive.com/uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y5ZW72J?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=223937020250&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16581938309877884348&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045736&hvtargid=kwd-95858596860&ref=pd_sl_55pv1da7h0_e