Perspectives

For this task I will assess the different types of perspectives a player can experience during his or her gaming experience. I will be assessing the first person, third person, aerial, and lastly side scrolling view of a video game perspective.

What is perspective? Perspective is essentially the way you view something, during gaming perspective is very specific since it only has 4 main types where a player can perceive the game environment. Another reason to why perspective is important is because it can affect your gameplay for example, if you were playing a shooter and you were playing it from a 3^rd person perspective you would not be able to play the game as accurately as possible in the sense that the player would be unable to shoot with his or hers utmost accuracy thus diminishing their score in that game. Whereas in a first person shooter you can immerse yourself in the game world more discretely and actually feel like you are controlling the main characters actions as if they were not restricted. The reason as to why this is important in the gaming industry for both the players and the game creators is because if you were to have a game where you could only play from a third person perspective it would mean that you could not play at your maximum but you can still enjoy the game’s environment and the things around you, however in a first person’s perspective you care more about the competitive side of the game rather than the artistic side of the game this would mean that you cannot make a competitive game have features which is a hindrance towards the players, you would need to have a fair playing field for all the players playing this game. The reason as to why it is important for those who create the game to have such features disabled that make it harder for the player to play the game is because of the fact that less people would enjoy a competitive game if they cannot play at their best and it would seem unfair to them which would put them off the game.

What is a first person perspective?

The first person perspective is the perspective which a player perceives when they are playing the game, they see it through the main characters eyes and whenever the character moves the player also moves along with them because of the fact that they are looking through the players eyes, although they can control the orientation of the camera they can never be able to see the main characters face if the game is a locked perspective type of game. If this were the case it would mean that you could only see the main characters face in a full motion video, the artwork on the user interface and on the box in which the game came in.

Why is first person perspective more important to have than other games?

The main reason why it is more important to have this perspective available in some games and not in others is the reason that it improves game play and that is the sole purpose for having this perspective is when the game is created for the player’s enjoyment and for the players experience through the game. This is only done when the manufacturer of the game wants the player to feel the full experience the main character feels throughout the story mode of the game. Another reason is to improve the game play of the player as I have stated before.  An example of a first person game would be Halo 3, this a first person shooter (FPS) and provides an extremely good view of the game from one point and allows the user to experience what they would experience from a 3^rd person game through the visual arts displayed in the cone field vision given to them by expanding the games environment to such an extent that it actually rivals games that are coming out as of today.

What is a third person perspective?

A third person perspective is possibly the only perspective which rivals first person it is extremely popular for games that have beautiful scenery and graphics. The perspective of a game is important because it determines the type of game it will be even before entering the game itself which means that this a deterministic factor that the manufacturers of the games must take into account, a third person perspective is an over the shoulder type of viewpoint where you can see the entirety of the character and the scenery of the game. Games with a third person perspective is what people who want to play the game more for the story rather than the competitive side of the game this means that it is more sought after for people with a very distinctive taste in gaming.

 What types of features does the third person perspective provide for the player?

When playing a game in third person you can experiment and observe the things around you with ease you can look in front of you behind you on your left and right. This means that the player can experience a sort of full view of what is going on around them whereas in a first person game you have to look in a restricted viewpoint which is sort of like a cone relative to a third person game you have vision of the entire area surrounding your character. An example for a third person game would be skyrim, although this game has a first person view it is mainly based around third person because of the fact that it was stated by one of its developers to be exactly that, the felt that they needed to add a first person view as well in order to give the players a choice of how they wanted to play the game. This game the player freedom to how they were going to play the game, and because of this feature alone skyrim had found a blind spot within the gaming industry to allow both first person and third person within an adventure/RPG type game. The main reason why it worked out so well for Skyrim is because they had a lineage of other games which built up a kind of trust relationship with its loyal customers which allowed them to get feedback from them and input their feedback into the game whilst still in its Alpha stages, this allowed them to improve their game prior to their final release.

what is side scrolling view?

a side scrolling view is a view which follows the character as he progresses through the level. this is mainly used in 8-bit games such as super Mario or flash games such as flappy bird. these games are very simple and basic however they can somewhat be complex dependant on how much work has been put into the project.

The advantages of side-scrolling view is that it puts little work on the designers of the game because it lets them create simple movements for the character, it is cheap to create and is playable on many devices which creates a huge advantage for wanting to market their product.

A disadvantage for this type of perspective is that it looks bad artistically and it makes the player think that little to no work was put into the making of the game.

what is aerial view?

 an aerial view is a perspective which allows you to view your character from a birds eye view, this means that if you're for example playing a first person shooter if you were to have a aerial view you could easily see anyone that would try to kill you. for example in call of duty modern warfare if you get a certain amount of kills you will be able to enter an aerial view to get an advantage of other players. 

a disadvantage however is the fact you cannot aim properly or play the game effectively because of the fact that you cannot control your player as accurately as possible.

Unit 40: Video game design

Video game genres

I will be discussing the different types of video game genre available to to public, and evaluate the different ways you can play the game be it solo or duo.

The genres I will discuss are:

• Sports
• Adventure
• Action
• Simulation
• Strategy
• Puzzle
• Role play
• Management
• Educational
• Viral marketing

Sports

The sports genre allows the user to experience a simulation of the sport they want to play on a screen, the can control the players or player and control the rules of the game. It is the perfect experience for people that want to get into a game and enjoy a sport in real life. There are games for almost every type of sport for example FIFA 15, this is a game where you play virtual football against a computer or another person.

Adventure

Adventure games allow the player to experience a sense of reason to their simulation it gives them a role to accomplish which is great as a pass time for gamers. It provides an end game and a point to start off which entices players into playing the game. For example the last of us, follows a storyline which provides a scene where you can interact with NPC's. An example of an adventure based game is a game called Skyrim, this game focusses on selective gameplay it allows you to explore the environment and complete quests. An adventure game should have these features if it wants to be successful.

Action

Action games are based around fighting with NPC’S or multiplayer gameplay, it focusses on three main aspects, reaction time, hand eye co-ordination, and lastly the knowledge to counter moves that your opponent has played. There are various amounts of action games one of them being, mortal combat, mortal combat is a game which provides all of the three main aspects which action games are based on, however to have the core features that make the game that genre doesn’t make a successful game. Mortal combat is a game which introduced another aspect this aspect being a story line and an end game to the action game rather than attempting to beat your highscore playing the same game mode.

Simulation

Simulation games allow the user to experience the game as if it were to be in real life or to experience things that are available in real life however the user doesn’t have access to or needs training to use this tool. There is a vast amount of simulation games because they are usually created when an expensive or difficult to operate tool is created. One example of this type of game is tractor simulator, this is a simulation game that allows the user to experience the controls and feel of driving and operating a tractor. Simulation games can vary in the content they provide because they are usually extremely specialised and detailed in the aspect they are trying to teach the user.

Strategy

Strategy games are games which revolve around one thing and one thing only to beat the opponent by outsmarting them and being more resourceful with your assets, this type of video game is one of the most difficult to master and win because of this fact. This is mainly based on online gaming however you can also play on the PC, strategy games such as MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) games focus mainly on taking objectives gaining an advantage and essentially destroying your enemy’s base. A game that does this is called League of legends, this game focuses on the aspects that I have just wrote about. League of legends is a game which allows the user to use the skill set of a character to then defeat the enemy user in order to then take objectives from their base one the enemy has been defeated.

Puzzle

Puzzle games focus on mainly strategy however you do not have an opponent most of the time in these sorts of games the only opponent you have is the game itself where you have to use your knowledge and understanding of the game in order to beat it. So you can only rely on yourself in these types of games and not on anyone else to support you or help you it is only you and you have to solve it in one way or another. An example of a puzzle game would be 2048 this game has several tiles set up and if you shift the tiles left right up or down if the tiles with the numbers that have 2 – 4 – 8 – 16 – 32… and so on meet in ascending order you are well on your way on getting the 2048 tile. Because you cannot get any help from anyone in order to solve the game it makes it that much more interesting because of the fact that you can only play it and you are the only one that can solve it because if you let someone else solve it, it means that you will not feel the accomplishment of solving the puzzle itself.

Role play

Role playing games are games where you have no online interaction at all you can only interact with the non-playing characters and beat the game by taking advantage of what they offer. This is similar to a puzzle game however role playing games have a story line to them and allow the users to get a faint sense of adventure and a vivid understanding of the character they are playing. An example of this type of game would be Runescape. Although in Runescape you can interact with others by speaking to them a game mode within that game denies any access to the usual interaction you would be able to do if you were not playing in this specific game mode, runescape covers all the things needed in order to be considered an RPG and much more.

Management

Management games don’t have a story instead you have to make your own story by creating characters managing those characters, you are essentially the creator and what you do with the tools given to you are what you use to make the game enjoyable essentially. An example of a management game is Sims this game allows you to control a city and what happens within this city, you cannot lose the game nor can you win it which provides a new type of game mode called “management games”

Educational

Educational games are classed as puzzle or strategy games most of the time since they teach you how to problem solve and get to an objective faster, these types of games are mentally intense meaning that you cannot play this for long periods of time without losing some of your capability to play this game. An example of an educational game would surgeon simulator since it teaches you how to become a brain surgeon.

Viral marketing

Viral marketing is in almost every game it is called “micro – transactions” they allow the user to obtain boosts/bonuses within the game in order to achieve their goal faster. An example of this would be candy crush saga where you can buy lives if you run out instead of waiting for them to refresh.