In Ed's recent lecture we watched Games Britannia episode : Dicing with Destiny.
In the program, the presenter, Benjamin Woolley talked about an ancient board game that could have been used by druids for their priestly practice's, such as prophecy and divination. Woolley suggests that the game could have been played between the druid and the king to see if the king would win the forthcoming battle and also suggests that the course of early british history could have been decided on the board.
All in all I found the first episode of Games Britannia quite interesting and I am looking forward to watching the next episode.
Sunday 15 January 2012
Friday 13 January 2012
La decima vittima (The 10th Victim)
Recently in Eddie's lecture we watched the 1965 Italian/French internation co-production science fiction film La Decima Vittima, directed by Elio Petri.
The Plot
In the near future, big wars are avoided by giving individuals with violent tendencies a chance to kill in the Big Hunt. The Hunt is the most popular form of entertainment in the world and also attracts participants who are looking for fame and fortune. It includes ten rounds for each competitor, five as the hunter and five as the victim. The survivor of ten rounds becomes extremely wealthy and retires. Scenes switch between the pursuit, romance between the hunter and the victim, and a narrator explaining the rules and justification of the Hunt.
Caroline Meredith (Ursula Andress) is the huntress armed with a high caliber Bosch shotgun looking for her tenth victim. Marcello Poletti (Marcello Mastroianni) is the victim. He is reluctant to kill Meredith as he is not sure whether she is his hunter, but then later because they become romantically involved. To maximize financial gain, Meredith wants to get a perfect kill in front of the cameras as she has negotiated a major sponser from the Ming Tea Company. [wikipedia]
My thoughts on the film are quite positive. Even though La Decima Vittima is quite dated film and is subtitled it felt like watching a very old prequel to austin powers with the same kind of comedy mixed in. although I probobly would not watch the film again, for that one time it was enjoyable and i recommend it to anyone looking for what in my oppinion was quite an odd film.
The Plot
In the near future, big wars are avoided by giving individuals with violent tendencies a chance to kill in the Big Hunt. The Hunt is the most popular form of entertainment in the world and also attracts participants who are looking for fame and fortune. It includes ten rounds for each competitor, five as the hunter and five as the victim. The survivor of ten rounds becomes extremely wealthy and retires. Scenes switch between the pursuit, romance between the hunter and the victim, and a narrator explaining the rules and justification of the Hunt.
Caroline Meredith (Ursula Andress) is the huntress armed with a high caliber Bosch shotgun looking for her tenth victim. Marcello Poletti (Marcello Mastroianni) is the victim. He is reluctant to kill Meredith as he is not sure whether she is his hunter, but then later because they become romantically involved. To maximize financial gain, Meredith wants to get a perfect kill in front of the cameras as she has negotiated a major sponser from the Ming Tea Company. [wikipedia]
My thoughts on the film are quite positive. Even though La Decima Vittima is quite dated film and is subtitled it felt like watching a very old prequel to austin powers with the same kind of comedy mixed in. although I probobly would not watch the film again, for that one time it was enjoyable and i recommend it to anyone looking for what in my oppinion was quite an odd film.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek [MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research p.2]
Irving Finkel [2005]
Marc LeBlanc [Tools for Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics]
K. Salen and E. Zimmerman [The Game Design Reader: A rules on play anthology]
Richard A. Bartle [Players who suit MUD's]
Noah Falstein [Natural Funativity]
James Newman [What is a Video game? Rules, Puzzles and Simulations]
Jesse Schell [The Art of Game Design, A Book of Lenses, In the Beginning, There is the Designer]
Gamasutra [Features-Formal Abstract Design Tools]
William Green [Subject: Irving Finkel]
PopCap Case Study [Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design]
This is the bibliography of all my sources that i used in my essay.
Tuesday 10 January 2012
Insight: Joylon Myers, Video Game Designer
I recently read an article in The Independent newspaper that sparked my interest. the article was about a games designer called Joylon Myers who was one of the key programmers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. in the article, he talked about the levels he worked on which included London and Paris and the kind of things they had to do in order to make a good level.
he first job that his team had to do was to choose the path of the journey which would dictate the gameplay, directing where detail would be needed and what would be seen from a distance. He then went on to talk about using mapping software to plot a path and using satellite imagery as a template for the scale.
"from this I would block out the buildings and roads in a very simple form. We'd use the basic building blocks to start adding movement and gameplayat that point and see if it working. when we were happy, I would add more detail."
Joylon Myers had previously worked on building paris on a grand scale in a game call The Sabateur and mentions that building paris on the scale that was needed for MW3 didn't seem as daunting as it would to someone else. Myers then goes on to say "It's the detail in surface textures, the layout of props and the lighting that takes a fair bit of time." Myers also says that every prop should have some kind of history and story as to why it is there and every surface needs to convey why it looks the way it does.
Myers then goes on to say:
"Exploring the worlds i've designed and tweaking them to make them even more interesting is a wonderful part of the job. It's even more amazing when you are building an area that you love, as you are constantly reliving memories from the past, both during and after its creation."
INTERVIEW BY DONALD MACINNES, THURSDAY 5 JANUARY 2012, THE INDEPENDENT
he first job that his team had to do was to choose the path of the journey which would dictate the gameplay, directing where detail would be needed and what would be seen from a distance. He then went on to talk about using mapping software to plot a path and using satellite imagery as a template for the scale.
"from this I would block out the buildings and roads in a very simple form. We'd use the basic building blocks to start adding movement and gameplayat that point and see if it working. when we were happy, I would add more detail."
Joylon Myers had previously worked on building paris on a grand scale in a game call The Sabateur and mentions that building paris on the scale that was needed for MW3 didn't seem as daunting as it would to someone else. Myers then goes on to say "It's the detail in surface textures, the layout of props and the lighting that takes a fair bit of time." Myers also says that every prop should have some kind of history and story as to why it is there and every surface needs to convey why it looks the way it does.
Myers then goes on to say:
"Exploring the worlds i've designed and tweaking them to make them even more interesting is a wonderful part of the job. It's even more amazing when you are building an area that you love, as you are constantly reliving memories from the past, both during and after its creation."
INTERVIEW BY DONALD MACINNES, THURSDAY 5 JANUARY 2012, THE INDEPENDENT
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