Level Design

Finished!

Deceptus the game that team Smash created is completed for this term. It is still a game in the works but we have displayed what we had so far and now we have a small amount of time to relax. Things on the go now are the exams and then Christmas. During the break I would like to still keep in contact with my group and see if we can work on the gaming during that time. There are some aspects of the game that we are missing and I hope we can get caught up before starting a bunch of new requirements.

I also have to get some gaming time in. Games that I will be playing is Batman: Arkham City, Spiderman: Edge of Time and Assassin's Creed Revelations. After creating a game and doing things that real game designers do I find myself looking at games differently. Texturing and how they got their things to work always run through my head, before taking game development I would just play a game and have fun. Now I play games and sort of critic them on what was good and what could be done better and even sometimes what I could have contributed to the game such as telling them what would have made the game better or more fun for me personally. Game Development is a true learning experience and I just need to keep moving forward and I believe I will find what part of the team I will fit in and that I will enjoy the most. Every year of the program I learn new things that I am interested in and would not mind doing in the future as a real job. I just hope that we as a team make an interesting game that people would like to play.

Batman Arkham City

Spiderman Edge of Time

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Its Game Time

The One to Rule Them All!

This week was very hectic. I completed some homework assignments, finished project management schedules, dates and assignments  and I am still working on UVs and textures for my level and game. The following week we will be presenting our idea and game to our colleges and professors. The game is a prototype of what we intend to make over the course of a year.

I mainly focused on the level design, UVs, texturing and project management of team Smash's Deceptus. We started off slow but we are trying to finish strong. Every year we make a game and every year we start late. We always say that we will get cracking earlier the following year yet it never happens. As a team we need to become more organized and get cracking earlier. Overall as a team we all have our strengths in certain areas in creating a game we just need to organize them and put them to use efficiently and effectively.

The level we decided to prototype is the main character waking up in the basement and he must escape the level. The rest of the game is trying to escape a house of a killer. You must collect clues and keys to unlock doors to the outside where you confront the killer.

Adding UVs to the level

Level Design

Alright so after talking to my group members and looking at what we needed, some things needed to change in my level design. I created a new one from scratch but with the same floor plan idea. I placed the items in the level and added the necessary things to it so it could run properly in the program. After loading it into the game some of the objects were not showing. Pieces of the wall and couple objects were not visible. After spending couple hours trying to figure it out my patience levels had just been depleted and I deleted the level and started from scratch again. This time we created one shape and extruded it to give it depth. I added the items with success, applied the things to everything properly and tried it in the program again. Everything is looking good now and next on the list will be to UV all the objects and apply textures.
Others things on the go are working on some homework assignments and the business aspect which is project management. Using Microsoft Project to build the schedule including times, dates and payments.

Basement Level

Video Blog!!

 This week we did a video blog. We pretty much discussed what requirements we need to do and how to do them. As of right now I am working on my level just doing some final touches and adding all the objects into the scene.

Video Blog 

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF_i9EQH75U

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSjsmxr3lJo

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7zPXtI9Q28

Continuing Modelling

So after modifying the design of the basement a couple of times to fit everything and make it perfect for our game I came up with a new design. I created the floor plan to scale and added a crucial stair set that leads to the second level. Right now I am having some trouble with creating small windows but I'll keep going at it. The staircase isn't to scale right now, its big, the reason for this is so I can add detail to parts of it and then scale it to size. The objects that my fellow team members are creating will be placed inside of the area. There is a torture bed, a wooden chair and a slop bucket. (Most basements have a big wash sink, this will look like that) We want our level to be realistic so the player can feel like he or she is in the actual game. On the texture we are going for cement walls with cracks and pipes that give off steam. I looked at a bunch of examples before making the layout so that it would be to scale and look identical to an unfinished basement but obviously with a killer's feel.

Level Concept

Level Design

The pictures above describes the level design I created from examples of actual floor plans of unfinished basements. There are a lot of scribbles all over the place and it is just describing the measurements of how to draw the layout with proper dimensions. The second picture shows the actual level that will be shown in our game, as you can see it is unfinished but once the objects go in and it is scaled to size it will look and feel like a real basement that someone that you know might have...

Time for Some Modelling

Another week another thing on the go. This week I was doing some modelling, and no I was not posing while someone drew me, I was creating a model with a skeletal body by adding joints and now putting weights in the appropriate positions. This allows me to make my character move in a way that it looks realistic. What I have come to realized is that creating models take a lot of time, I know stating the obvious is not always the best thing but I feel it needs to be mentioned.

Potential Team Logo

As for Deceptus, the game Team Smash is creating, it is coming along slow and steady. We are creating designs for our floor plan, the first level we are creating is the basement and because it is a regular house the structure of the floor plans would be very straight forward. The things inside the house is what will make the game stand out from the rest. It is a fear filled game and the basement is where the antagonist does most of his fun, torturing victims and ripping them apart. It will have cracked cement walls and torture items spread across the area. Torture beds and dull knives will be scattered around the area with stale blood on them.

The game starts off with the main character waking up in the basement tied to a chair. We want the player to have a certain feel right from the start, the first thing the player sees will be the torture beds and the equipment used to rip people apart. Another key aspect that the player will first come across is the sound. The character will be breathing heavily and a loud thunderstorm will be going on outside in the background.

Running out of Clever Names for Post Titles!!

A little late on my blog post this week and I must say I am pretty exhausted, brain dead is the only word that is coming to mind. A very busy/hectic week but now I can finally take a breather. The assignments I was working on is finally completed for now, the two I was working on was creating a scene with a block wall and creating a sphere to knock them down and the other was creating a camera system that could move in certain positions (i.e. first person view, third person, static and over the shoulder) The sphere one took some time as I was trying to create a sphere in Maya and apply physics to it so that it would crash down into the wall however I kept coming across problems. The way I fixed this was I used the directional vector of the camera and determined the aim of the ball, therefore when a ball shoots it will always shoot from the middle of the camera position, I added havok physics and gave it velocity to shoot forward. The ball shoots out and crashes into the wall and it is the most beautiful thing ever.

Breaking the Wall Down

The reason I worked on these assignments is because I feel they will help contribute to our game. The game will need a hit detection and what game doesn't need a camera system?

Speaking of our game we had talked a bit about it this week and we need to get cracking on certain aspects. Team Smash has some concept drawings and ideas we just need to put them into action. Below are some concept drawings that some of the team members thought we could use in the game.

Torture Item - Knives laying around basement

Torture Item - Chain and Hook

Torture Item - Chair Main Character Wakes Up On

Main Character Body Structure

It just keeps coming!!

Well here we are again, another week another post. It feels like Ive just had the same week twice, assignment after assignment and then there's the game we are creating. However things are finally shaping up, I am now working on an assignment that could be used in our game (the whole two birds with one stone) it is pretty much collision and adding physics.



At first I thought the engine we were using was very hard but after looking into it, it is very helpful. There are a lot of functions that help you and by just using the things embedded into the program already, things can be created much simpler.
There is one problem I'm still having and that is...FATAL ERRORS!... Everything started fine but I added a function that was already included in WildMagic called applyForce and everything went downhill from there. I tried everything to fix this mysterious error and the more I changed the more I messed things up! In time I believe I can get it, I just have to keep playing with it.

On another note we had our milestone this week. This milestone was for our designs and how we would be implementing these things into our game. I believe our idea is strong and we have somethings that are very crisp and somethings that need work. For example I believe Deceptus (game title) has a strong feel of our theme which is fear, the only thing we need to get into motion is our sound. How the game will look in design is covered but we did not think about the sounds. Sounds that we will look into include rain, thunder, creaky floor boards, screams from victims, footsteps and most importantly heaving breathing/panting. We are probably going to record our own sounds from different objects and people.

I hope our game is a success and people will enjoy it!

Homework Time!

Its time to get into a new and exciting way of creating games. We are using a game engine this year. Right now I'm going through the assignments and deciding which I should attempt. Doing the homework assignments plus the other assignments from my other courses and starting to study from my midterms its been a very non-focused week. The ninja model I have been working on has reached a critical stage, the model is complete and now we will be adding UV textures. The week to come will be mainly focusing on homework assignments and studying for midterms. In case you guys missed the video post of our discussion on creating a game I'm going to re post it.

Ninja Model

Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRck1YYie10

Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzkjgkNoNX0

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas!

This week in the race to completing our game we sat around and thought about our theme. What objects we will use, how can we make our game have the right feel? Going through pictures of objects we would like to use we came to the conclusion that the style of our environment would be Victorian. We created a video blog this week however due to some technicalities it is still in the works of being setup for viewing.

The first level will be a basement, it will have the look and feel that frightens the players. It will look like a Saw torture area. This is where the character wakes up and breaks out of his bonds.

Saw Torture Room Example

The second level is two floors of the house, it will be placed in the main floor (including the kitchen, sitting room and dining room.) It will look like a very neat old grandmother house, this will allow it to have a very creepy and suspenseful feel to the game. The second part of the level will be the second floor. The player will walk up the wooden stairs as it creeks and cracks. The player will see a long corridor with many doors. The doors that can be accessed will be different torture rooms, each with its own unique design.

Dining Table Example, will add small teddy bears and other creepy objects.

Finally, the last level will be outside where the player confronts the killer. It will be at night and a thunder storm will be constantly occurring. Dead vegetation will be around the perimeter of the house and a single dead tree will be near the killer.

Scary House Example

Video Blog

Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRck1YYie10

Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzkjgkNoNX0

Deceptus!

Here we go; right back into school time like if the freedom of summer was a thing of the past. My group, Team Smash (earlier known as Team Lightning but due to some difficulties the team was separated and we felt it was not right to keep the name) got together and wrote a commitment determining what each of our obligations to the game will be. We also had a very long and detailed brainstorming session where we came up with our game idea. 

In my previous post I had mentioned a ninja game with the main character being a small ninja with a big temper however after hearing the themes that our game must be characterized under I felt that the game I first had in mind wouldn’t be suitable. After talking for a while we came to the conclusion of basing our theme on fear. We created a game that has a feel of an interactive experience. The player is a character that is tied up in the basement and must find his way to escape out of a house to save his life. 

The game is called Deceptus (trapped in Latin). The first scene the player sees a man digging a grave in the rain and then the player is sent back in time couple hours before the grave scene. The player wakes up in a dark and frightening room, the walls are covered in blood and there is torture equipment all around him. You must escape your bonds and find items to use to pick the lock of the basement and try to make it to the next level. This will be timed and if you cannot make it within the time you die and have to start over. The second level the player must escape the house but the only exit is locked with eight keys. The player must explore the frightful house, this including the main floor and the second floor which includes doors that cannot be opened and other victims screaming for their life. The third level the player makes it outside to find the killer digging a hole for his body, they get into a fight and the player kills the killer. 

The mechanics of the game will be a first person interactive experience, placed in a three dimensional environment the player must look for clues, pick them up and use them in order to open doors. While opening a door a quick button selection will appear and the player must follow the button sequence to complete it properly. Fast button sequences will also appear the player must act quickly to stop something from falling or dodging falling objects.  

Brainstorming Our Ideas

Back To The Grind

First week back to the hard work and the ups and downs of game development. Learning from my mistakes from last year I will try to create a new game with my team. I would like to start early and have some ideas as to what I would like to produce. The first step is to brainstorm.

Brainstorming our ideas is a good way to see what we want and what ideas we want to bring to the table. Since this is the first week we are all getting settled and trying to get back into the rush of things. My idea that I will pitch to my group is a Ninja based game. The main character is a short ninja that was picked on all his life. One day his village gets attacked and all their secret scrolls are stolen, only the mini ninja can get them back.

Gameplay -
I would want it to be a three dimensional role playing game. I would want the player to be heavily involved in the game making decisions that would change the outcome of the game. His main weapon would be a sword and for the projectile weapon a sling-shot. I want to make the colour scheme very vibrant to stand out from other ninja games.

This is just an idea I have come up with and I will post a drawing of the ninja I would like to use as a main character in a few days. With the readings and knowledge that I have gained from courses I have previously taken I believe we can complete a respectable game if we start early.

The Completion of the Our Game!!!!!!!

YES! We (by we I mean Team Lightning (the group I am a part of)) have completed a game we are working on. As discussed in previous posts the game is a 2.5D fast paced vehicular racing game. We will be presenting our game and all our ideas that we put forth into it on a upcoming day.

We are very proud of it as it is our first game we have created. It is not the game we intended to create when we first thought about making a racing game. Our ideas were to large at this point in time and we took on to much at one time. Our team believes that now that we have the basic structure and a working game. We can now add more on top of it and after a period of time we will have made the game we first thought of.

Team Lightning's OverDrive is a high paced racing game. A player must dodge obstacles to reach the end of the level, once completing the level a cut scene will occur and then its on to the next level. The cut scenes are a comic book style where as there are images on the screen and they are laid out by panels. The dialogue is heard of what is going on and then the player must continue in order to complete the story and win the game! I really enjoy the story for the game, when we first thought of our game we sat down and brainstormed all ideas of how we should make it and what our main idea of the game should be. After we went right into the story breaking down our main idea into parts (what was needed in the story and game-play) that would make the idea a success. We thought this was the best way to go so that we would not miss any crucial or even minor parts we would like to implement in the story and therefore the game. After chaining all that together to we realized, "wow, this is some crazy stuff we're looking at here." Then began the making of the game, at first we were very courageous (best suited word) in trying to do everything. Even though we wanted to implement so many things we did not stop and say we should cut some stuff back and try approaching it another way. (Remember, first time doing this) So we started on an insane journey and after reoccurring roadblocks our courageous and valiant efforts came to an abrupt stop, the hope for making OverDrive started to fade away and Team Lightning was slowing giving up. A major issue we could not overcome was implementing models into the game, they would either work in the code but crash the program or the error in the code was insane to fix.
Side note* This game was created for a school project and needed certain aspects in the game to be evaluated.
After a bumpy first huge milestone (the ending of first semester) we barely dragged our beat up bodies from the barely existing OverDrive and even more, the faith and hope we had for the glamorous OverDrive  cease to exist. After taking a break from the game we headed into second semester. A new criteria and a new set of motivations, we started right away and this time we had more of a grasp on the situation. We created what was possible this time and our concept designs were broken down into plausible and impossible instead of what we wanted to do and what we did not like. This time since implementing models was not a part of the criteria we could avoid that for now (work on it after we get all other requirements met) and work on what we needed to be done. It was not a walk in the park but we stuck through it got help when we needed it. Implementing sound and textures were exhausting but we overcame the struggle, documenting everything was not to hard but very tedious, especially when we changed something in the game, that meant we had to go back and change something.We (team Lightning) tried our best and gained a lot of experience and knowledge from the events that have taken place within the year and now we can move on with this knowledge in our pocket. 

Visual StoryBoard!

This week my teammate and I went to the gaming lab to try and create a visual storyboard. After spending couple hours in trying to figure out how to hook up all the equipment we began our process in creating the storyboard.

The game we decided to describe was God of War 3 for PS3. We played about an hour of gameplay before stopping the recording device. It captured all the things we went through during our gameplay... even our loses. The game was extremely slow and hard to play because the devices hooked up to our laptop, because the game was so slow to pick up our controls it was hard to play the game, but we got through it! After playing the game we had realized that God of War had a lot of aspects we did not look at before. This assignment let us look at the actual mechanics of the game and what they used in order for it to be smooth. The orbs obtained (red, green and blue) and the save point was a good example of particles and the close ups on Kratos showed good examples of light effects.

God of War 3 for PS3

The storyboard we create will describe all movements and main scenes in the game-play we went through. We will try to be as descriptive as possible as each part of the board will have a different aspect of the game.

Game-play of Kratos about to go into a save point

Another interesting part we looked at was the menu systems in the game. Simply but very descriptive and easy to use. The menu system also had scrolling system which took the player into different menus, some that upgraded the weapons and some with status updates. All menus were interesting and crucial to the game's mechanics and dynamics.

Menu before starting the game

Homeworking!!

For one of the assignments we need to complete, we need to play and analyze an art game. The art game is used to to create beautiful images and to make the player have a mesmerizing experience. It is not very strong in the story aspect.

The game I decided to critique was FlOw for the Playstation 3. It is an art game that can be purchased on the Playstation Network.

FlOw for PS3

The game starts off with mellow music and a simple set of instructions on how to play the game. after realizing that there are only two different types of movement the player can do he or she can move onto the next screen. The game title appears and the player immediately starts the game swimming around as a single cell organism trying to eat other things in order to grow larger and into more beautiful looking species. After eating certain objects the once single cell organism will have grown into a large organism and then the game will move deeper into the world starting off as a new single cell creature and growing into a different type of artistic being by devouring things around it. This process of eating and evolving continues for six levels. (meaning there are six main single organisms that transform into amazing creatures.) The game is very interesting but I find that art games are not for me. I need a story and other key parts that are in regular games. Even though I do admire the art and graphics in a game I cannot get into a game with just art and amazing music. Overall it was an interesting play and I would recommend it to people that love to draw and have a lot of appreciation towards art and how a game can make use of all its elements.

Game-play for FlOw 

The Gaming Continues!!

Today is our milestone for our game that we are working on. Today our prototyping code should be done and our finished art. We have our preliminary code and basic menus completed. The art is completed and it is in our design documentation. The game is being completed slowly and we believe we can accomplish it within the time.

The coding aspect of our game is being dealt with by other people within our group so most of the milestone that is due is being dealt with by my teammates. In our game we will be using four main levels, this will have four main texture maps. One is for Egypt, Antarctica, New York City and one is used for the Grand Canyon, this will allow players to feel that he or she is actually in the driver seat in the location where the character is at the time.

The game will also include roadblocks and other obstacles that will restrict the player from driving through the level with ease. The roadblocks will push the the vehicle back slowing it down. The obstacles in the game will create a challenge making the user keeping wanting to play until he or she completes the level.

The trailer for our game is below, we believe that if we show the game-play and a cinematic we can drag the attention of gamers to come and try our intense racing action game.

MarioKart BoardGame!!

During this week my partner and I worked on creating a board game from a video game that is already in the market. We chose to do MarioKart for the Wii, it is a lot of fun for the Wii and my friends and I spend a lot of time laughing and playing this game.

MarioKart Wii

The board game is very straight forward and is based off monopoly and snakes and ladders. The board game layout is based on the popular track called Rainbow Road.

The items in the game include:

Blue shell - player in first place goes back six spaces

Red shell - knock person in front of you two spaces back

Bullet Bill - advance six spaces

Star - quick-play card that enables invulnerability for one hit

Banana - drop on current space, if anyone lands on this space they lose item held

Mushroom - advance three spaces

POW - all players go back two spaces except user

Lightning - all players lose items

The board game in its prototype stage

We have created the board game and asked our friends to play the game in order for us to understand how people would react to the game, doing this will allow us to see if our game is ready for the World and if people would purchase it. When creating our actual product for retail we could include something related to MarioKart in order to attract more consumers.

People play testing the board game

Overall I believe the game was a huge success and that if it was released into the market it would be purchased by consumers.

The Documentation continues!

The documentation documents as long as they are, are needed in our full design of the game. Like stated earlier it is essential in getting an in-depth idea of what the game is actual about.

The concept design document is almost completed and now I am turning my attention onto the scope document which is one page that describes the high-concept and core features. This is one page document describes what makes our game stand out from other games.

I would like to put a lot of colour and concept designs on this one page to grab the attention of the reader. I don't want to make it boring but it needs to be detailed enough that all our points are understood. The design must stand out and bring people in towards accepting and wanting more of the game. I believe it needs to "sell your game" so that people will remember and look for it when it comes out or try and find more detail about it. Team Lightning's OverDrive is a 2.5D vehicular action racing game that will have a playable demo soon and we hope that people will want to play it.

Concept Design - our primary design that describes our game. A vehicle equipped with guns blasting though an insane explosion.

The game is coming along and with the documents being implemented the programmers of the game can also look at these reports and see them as sort of a checklist. After finishing an aspect of the game they can say "yeah okay, let's move onto the next thing," organization is very important in making a game because it can get confusing and something can be missed. We hope to bring our game into the real world soon and that it can give the player an experience.

I believe racing games are very standard and if we can make OverDrive stand out from the rest it will be something that players can enjoy.

Documentation

Creating the documentation of a game consists of a bunch of reports that are needed to keep the team and the group on track. From background story to a detailed breakdown of what people are doing the reports are kept for organization.

Lance Lionheart holding a custom made light machine gun in one hand and a pistol in the other. Lance is all about blowing things up and getting the job done.

Vincent Molotov a evil genius that worked for a company that stole his invention and now is seeking revenge.

I have started the "Concept Design Document" and this pretty much describes the game in difference aspects. So far i have covered the story and background of each character in the game. Creating each background story gives a feel for each character. This is an ideal thing to do because without a story inform users who your playing its just another random creature that can move and shoot. I believe people need a story to get fully involved in a story and that is why the story and detailed information about each character is very important.

The story we have created is about three characters that join a highly classified agency that takes care of the world without anyone knowing. I don't want to get to much into the story because I don't want to ruin anything but the organization is called Lightning (like our team name : D) and the main obstacle they must face is a evil genius that creates a super engine and wants to use it to take over the world.

I really enjoy creating and expressing the feel of the game because if people think your game is "lame" before they even play it then they won't experience this amazing game that will hopefully be finished soon.

In Progress of Making the Game

Finally I have a chance to post about the production of a game that a team of us are creating. It is a 2.5D vehicular combat racing game that will be played on the PC.

I am creating the beginning documentation of the design aspect of the game. Talking about the background story and the actual story of the game gives us a grasp of what we intend to make the game to be. Rules, gameplay and mechanics are also included in the part I'm working on right now and I will try to complete this rough outline before the end of February. This gives me a month to break every part down into detail and create a respectable report of our game. I will be getting help from some other people in the group however, most other teammates are working on the mechanics of the game (getting it to actually work)

I have designed the ideas of what we will be implementing into the game onto a piece of paper. This will allow us to know exactly what we need and what we already have done. It is more for us as the team to be organized and keep us in line to create the final product. 

Game Design for OverDrive the Video Game

New Game

I just beat Star Wars: Forced Unleashed II for the Playstation 3. I have to say I had a great time playing. This is the second time beating the game but on a harder difficulty. Not to brag or anything but yes, I beat it on unleashed mode. The game itself was very fun, doing so many different moves and who wouldn't want to have force powers.

Starkiller holding his two lightsabers to signify that this game is a sequel

I have played Star Wars: Forced Unleashed and found that game very entertaining. However the second one I found more fast paced and Starkiller (the main character) had more power. There were some new moves that were implemented in the game and my favourite one would be the mind trick. Controlling your enemy's mind in order for them to see their allies as enemies was great. Sometimes if no one was around they would scream out "I don't belong here!"and jump off a ledge falling to their death.
In certain parts I would just grab three people at a time and make them dance around for a bit before I threw them straight up into the air. The games had its ups and downs, some parts were very challenging while others was a breeze. The one part that really got me upset was the ending. I believe it could have been more amazing however it is a short sequence and defeating Darth Vader was fairly simply. The ending sequence for the dark side was very short and not worth it however the good side had a longer scene and ties some things together. Speaking of the good and dark side, I really enjoyed having to pick between the two as it gave the player (me) the opportunity to control the characters outcome. Overall the game was very fun and I would recommend it for people that enjoy Star Wars or if a person just wants a fun hack and slash action adventure game.

Starkiller about to strike. The game has ominous colours to set an intense mood

10min Break Down!!

Games that are good and bad come across the gaming world all the time. Some sneak under the radar with so many games coming into the market we tend to miss some really interesting games. Going out of your comfort zone and trying new games allows new and exciting situations to be experienced. Some tittles are turned into a shadow by big titles such as Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto and we as gamers should go out and try every kind of game.

A game I recently have started is Trine for the Playstation 3. It is a download-able game that can be purchased on the Playstation network. It is a one to three player game, set in a science fictional world.

The game begins with a narrator introducing the story. It is taken place at a once bright kingdom. The King has died and there is no heir to the throne. This created chaos, wizards and knights battled for the throne and many died. However, even though the situation already looked gloomy this was not the problem. The magic that once gave the kingdom brightness turned to misfortune and the dead began to rise. They fed off the energy of misfortune every night. With all this tragedy occurring, the villagers had no choice but to abandon it.

The Thief

The Thief is now introduced. She is a sneaky person that goes to a castle to steal treasure that is now unprotected. She uses arrows for attacking and a grappling hook that can get her into small and hard to reach places. When she reaches the treasure she touches it and begins to feel a tingle.

The Wizard is the next character to be used. He wakes up from a deep sleep and is aware of the undead army that he sees through his "spy glass." He had been working on a fake fire ball spell to impress ladies to increase his status however, it had backfired and knocked him unconscious. He can create objects with his and wand and levitate them. The Wizard reaches the shrine and touches the object as well.

The Wizard waking up from his accident.

The Knight is at the other end of the castle and had been training to become apart of the king's army. He is not the smartest person but what he lacked in knowledge he made up with strength. He uses a sword and shield to attack enemies. He reaches the treasure and wants to kill the thief in order to look like an amazing hero. He touches the last spot of the treasure and becomes paralyzed.

The Thief reaches the treasure

They disappear and realize that the treasure is a legendary object called "Trine." It bind the souls of the three individuals and imprisoned them into one being. They now go through the underground tunnels to find a way to reverse the effect of the Trine.

When playing the game by yourself, you can switch between characters in order to use each ability. This allows the player to have the traits of each character, allowing the user to flow through the game. However, when played with three players each person is one character, this make the game much harder because you must rely on each other to over come obstacles.

Each character is very useful in the game. The wizard can create platforms, the Knight can defend and attack opponents and the Thief can attack enemies from long range. Each person has their own unique skill but when used together they can over come any obstacle.

I found that I was really immersed in the game, since the story was very interesting. This made me want to play the game even more to get even deeper into the world of Trine. The cut-scenes felt like a story book with very vivid and vibrant graphics.

The Knight fighting off an undead warrior

The reason I discussed the story in detail is that I believe that even though this game has very fluid movement and has consistent game-play, the strength of this game was more emotional than mechanical. The easiest and most simplistic way to say this is, the game looked nice and the story connected well with what a user expected from each character. However, as stated before it is not the only good thing to the game. The game-play is a 2D side-scrolling action adventure, with fluid motion in user-interface, A.I interaction and enticing background sound that enhanced the gaming experience. Enemies in the game know they have one goal, to attack and defeat the user at any cost. I've seen the undead warriors jump over gaps and follow the user at all costs. The control took no time to figure out and was very easy to handle.

The Wizard making a creative path

Overall the game is very entertaining and I will continue to play it. I would recommend anyone to play this game either with some friends or by yourself.

The Game I Think Is Not Fun!!

The video game, a creation made for people to enjoy and play for hours on end. However, the sad truth is that every game will not suit every single interest of every person in the world. There are some games people like and those same games can be the worst creation a person has ever played. Neither is right or wrong in their decision, it is just how you feel towards a game.

One game I didn't like was Mobile Suit Gundam (PS3), it was one of the worst games I've ever played. I have played video games for about 18 years of my life and as soon as I thought of a game that "was not fun," Mobile Suit Gundam popped in my mind, it has to tell you something.

I remember the day, it never seemed so bright... everything was perfect. The day I got my Playstation 3 including: 1 system, 1 six-axis wireless controller, 1 AC power cord, 1 AV cable and 1 Blu-ray (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby). However that day was another significant day for me, that was the day I would first unwrap Mobile Suit Gundam and pop in what was soon to be an experience I would never forget.

Mobile Suit attacking an enemy from a distance

I first looked at this as my first game into a brand new world of gaming but this was sadly not the case. The game-play was very dull. The player is a Mobile Suit and it is set in the eastern half of the world, where a war has been going on for one year. From my understanding you are on one side of the war and every mission that you must do is related back to winning the war. However I'm not really sure, I was very confused and could not get into the story. The missions were very bland and repetitive. Each mission was usually timed and you must destroy a bunch of enemy mobile suits in order to clear the level. Each suit had weapons built in, some with swords, a shield and small guns, others with small guns and larger rockets. Most suits were equip with a random assortment of these types of weapons.

A typical landscape

The sound and level design suited each other. The levels were very generic with a lot of open land, not much to look at. Some mission would be placed near enemy bases so there would be a generic base with lethargic buildings and yes, surrounded with more open land. The background music was again standard, and it was sometimes quiet. Sounds like guns shooting and swords swinging where also implemented in the game. The game overall was very simplistic and very slow.

The user interface was very confusing and felt awkward. Moving the Mobile Suit felt like reversing a big truck, very slow and hard to manoeuvre. Attacking was also very slow and it made me think that I should just put the controller down. The flow of the game was very choppy since the story was very confusing and most missions were very similar as stated earlier. A good part of the user interface was the interaction with enemies. As slow and tedious as the fighting was, the enemies always came to the user and would always try to defeat the player. 

Game Over.

Overall the game did not meet any expectations for me to be a good game. Maybe it is because this was my first game on the Playstation 3 and I had very high expectations, even so, the game did not grab my attention in any way. I would recommend this game for players that would enjoy playing a bad game, because now I have an experience I can laugh about and have some insight on games I really do not think is fun.

The Game I Think Is Fun!!

There are many games that I have played in my 20 years of experience. Some bland with a hint of depression while others fierce with exciting entertainment. From jumps and fire-balls to  rocket sliding (Vanquish) and attack dogs (Call of Duty: Black Ops), the generations of gaming have given us a lot to talk about. But what makes a game fun? The massive explosions! The roar of a chainsaw ripping through an alien! Or the electrifying sound of a ballerina.. tap dancing to your favourite song..? I don't know what fun is for everyone but I do know my preferences.

From Left to Right: Spider-man 2099, Amazing Spider-man, Noir, Ultimate Spider-man

The game I would like to discuss is Spider-man: Shattered Dimension for the Playstation 3. I found this game amazingly entertaining with its quick pace changing environment. Before I describe this game I would like to first mention that I am a Spider-man fan and this had a factor for having fun with this game.


From beginning to finish I had an amazing experience in the game. This is one of the games I completed 100% (including trophies), the game put me in an environment that was inviting and entertaining, allowing me to keep playing for hours on end.   

Spiderman 2099 in his futuristic city

The game-play mechanics for the game were very unique. The user can play four different spider-men in four different environments, each with his own unique fighting style. Amazing Spider-man (normal red and blue suit) has very stylish moves using his webbing to create objects to attack enemies. He is the regular spider-man most people know and love. Ultimate Spider-man (black suit) is all about strength. He has an ultimate form that you can change in and out of at any time. It increases your strength, almost making you invincible giving the player a feel of unbelievable strength and control over your enemies. Spider-man 2099 (the futuristic suit) is very quick, moving through stages very fast with levels where he literally would fall hundreds of feet, dodging falling debris and other obstacles. Spider-man 2099 has a unique power that slows down everything around him giving him speed that cannot be matched, giving the player the upper hand in a pitch. Noir (retro suit) is a spider-man in a dimension where the year is 1934. Noir uses stealth to take down enemies from the shadows, even if they realize that he is in their territory it is to late.

Ultimate Spider-man leaving destruction where ever he goes

The level design as seen in the pictures portray a specific mood for each level. Most Noir stages are very dark and eerie. There is hardly any background music, just small sounds, I believe this was a good choice as it sets the mood perfectly. However there are some distinct sound bites when Noir takes down an enemy from the shadow, he brutally knocks his foe unconscious and webs them up. Spider-man 2099's levels are very advanced which lost of flying cars and futuristic buildings. The other dimensions are very bright and colourful, creating a world with vivid colour allowing a player to understand each place that where the hero lives. The sound for the game as a whole is very entertaining with cartoon styled noises. A sound that I really enjoyed was when you use the webbing. This was a big deal for me because even though the spider-men have their own unique style they all have a main similarity. The webbing in each level is a distinct noise that a person should not become tired of.

Noir using one of his stealth take-downs

The game controls were very typical and I liked that because each game's story, game play, etc. needs to be different but getting use to an awkward control scheme is not fun and takes unnecessary time and patience to learn. A major advantage that the game has pertaining to its interface is that in certain areas when facing a boss, the player would go into a first-person view, going up close and personal with the boss, punching them using the left and right analog sticks as his fists. The artificial intelligence in the game is always ready to attack Spider-man no matter where he is. Some enemies do randomly wander around in the area but for the most part each enemy will try to defeat the wall crawling hero.

Amazing Spider-man about to unleash his fists of fury!

The story created a very smooth flow of the game. I believe the story is if not the biggest factor in making a game. At the beginning of the tale, Mysterio (a main villain) steals a legendary tablet. Spider-man tries to stop him and the tablet is cracked intertwining different dimensions together. Now each Spider-man in his dimension must find all the pieces of the tablet while fighting off super-villains who come in their way to restore the balance. Each Spider-man fluidly moves through each level, the stage usually has different achievements a player must overcome to clear it. Each stage has its own unique achievement a person must overcome, for example in the Deadpool - Ultimate Spider-man level he must destroy video recording devices because the villain is trying to put him on a television show.

Overall I found the game really entertaining and yes, I would replay it multiple times and yes, I would recommend it for anyone who wants to embrace a world where a guy can stick to walls, web-sling and save the world from destruction.

The Unbeatable Team!