Exercises

Two games

2001 Playstation 2 Jak and Daxter- Naughty Dog:

Christmas morning, gift opening. This big beautifully wrapped box sits under the decorated tree. Opening it I realize that my dream has come true. I have finally received my PS2 and of course the game I have longed to play; Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. For hours and days and weeks and months I have enjoyed this game day and night. Some might call it obsession; I call it dedication to saving the world, of course! Now, lets talk about the game. Jak and Daxter has four major characters including

Jak: the main protagonist.

Daxter: the secondary character from the video game series. He is Jak's sidekick, and is always getting into trouble.

Then there is Samos the Sage: the most prominent in the first video game ‘The Precursor Legacy’. He serves as a guide throughout the series.

Last but not least there is Keira: she is Samos' daughter and Jak's main love interest in the series.

Jak and Daxter is very similar to platform games such as Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 where the player can progress through the game by collecting and gathering specific items. Players might to be exposed or awarded special powers such as double-jumping, a rapid spinning kick, and sustaining only limited damage through falling from great heights. The character’s life is determined by a life meter that goes down accordingly if he/she gets attacked or falls off high platforms. What I absolutely adore about Jak and Daxter is the decors and the magical environments that you get to explore throughout the entire game. Jak and Daxter takes place on a fictional planet created specifically for the game. It has different areas that have various themes such as snow,swamp, jungle, be aches, and volcanoes. Everything about this game evokes a ‘cartoonish’ style. Though this might seem childish, this game can be played and enjoyed by people of all ages. Though quite easy, some challenges are a bit harder and more challenging for the older, more experienced crowd.

2008 PC Left 4 Dead- Turtle Rock Studios:

Close but yet so far from being similar is the famous cooperative first person shooter, zombie killing game called Left 4 Dead. This videogame takes place in Pennsylvania. The city is highly infected by the "Green Flu"; which is a highly contagious virus causing extreme aggression and loss of higher brain functions (in other, easier words, zombies). Four survivors Bill, a Vietnam veteran; Zoey, a student; Louis, an IT Analyst and Francis, a biker go on a quest around the city, killing the infected on their way to every safe house.

This game is largely based on teamwo

rk and group cooperation. It is by working with your team mates that you advance in this game. ie: If a player falls off a ledge, then they may automatically hang onto it and can only be helped up by another player. Same thing goes for reviving a team mate that is wounded. You can play L4D in different modes including campaign, versus, survival, and single-player. The main difference between the two is the realism that lacks in Jak and Daxter compared to Left 4 Dead. It remains two completely different styles. I was always more compelled to videogames that were more realistic than cartoony.

Though Jak and Daxter has revolutionized that aspect for me. That magical, infantile and fun environment makes playing so much more enjoyable for me.

Inventing three Games

Pre-School Video Game

For this particular category we had to come up with a video game that young children would be able to play and even learn while playing it. This is quite challenging since young children (3-5 years of age) have very low attention spans. Therefore the game must be entertaining while educative. This is what I came up with:

Played on an ipad

The game would have easy but yet challenging levels that the child must accomplish to move up. A cartoon man, woman or child would be standing with only their underpants or only few pieces of clothes and one or no accessories on their head or on their feet (ex: a hockey player boy has a hockey stick in his hands.) The child has choices of clothing or accessories on the side bar (ex: a doctor white uniform, a suit with a tie, a football uniform, a ballerina tutu, ect) The child must drag with his/her finger the clothing or the accessory that is the more suitable for that particular person. The child is therefore learning what people in society wear for particular activities or jobs. They also associate for example that a hockey player needs skates to play, or a golf player needs a golf club. The child can also learn to manipulate on the ipad and build their motor skills.

One button game

For the one button game I thought it would be interesting to create something more traditional yet addictive. There are always games online where one has difficulty leaving their computer screen because the game is so DAMN ADDICTIVE! So yes I thought about doing this one using:

PC

The scene takes place deep in a rain forest. An explorers hand and arm, in this case the players’; holds a bug net (like the ones used to

catch butterflies.) The scene is cropped so all the player sees is the hand and arm of the fictional character. The player must catch particular bugs to be successful. They must catch the butterflies only and not the bees! The space bar must be pressed for the character to raise the net and therefore catch the wanted bugs. Catch three bees and your out. Levels would increase the difficulty of the game as the player passes one at a time. To add to the fun the character is running/walking in a forward motion changing the perspective and the beautiful scenery. This game would be created in more of a realistic genre.

Turning on your team-mates

For this particular section I leaned towards a “World of Warcraft” approach. Usually in games, especially online and team based games you don’t usually go around killing off your team-mates. So this took some thinking on my part and I thought about the television shows I watch and one in particular came to mind; Survivor. I’ve been watching it since it came on television which was in the summer of 2000. This game starts off as two separate teams winning challenges for their tribe and people get voted off little by little often backstabbed by their own team-mates who they thought were their alliance. This is a perfect example of a game where one must go against their own team-mates to get further in the game. So I came up with this:

Xbox, Playstation, PSP, PC

The game starts off with two opposing teams, the Indians and the Cowboys (the player gets to choose it’s team.) Both have strengths and weaknesses. To stay alive in this game you must learn to live like your fellow team-mates. (ex: if you are an Indian you must know how to build a fire, and hunt for animals using nothing but a bow and arrow.) It is all about team-work; if you decide to take off and leave your team-mates behind you will probably end up dying. Through out the game you must learn how to interact with the opposite tribe in order to find sufficient resources. (ex: to barter and trade fur for weapons.) This game is similar to the Sims and closely related to the television show Survivor. Though you become closely aligned and attached and may even create bonds with the other tribe fights evolve where you face difficult challenges of having to kill people you became close to. You may also want to switch tribes as the game progresses. This creates tension and conflicts and a lot of backstabbing.