You got feedback from the entire class of very smart games people, so make use of it when refining your game!
Next week, Gerard is going to visit, from http://www.bigfriendlyapes.com.au/, and he is a very smart young individual who is both, artistic and technical, so perfect for your needs, and he will give you more ideas how to develop hardware for your game easily and cheaply. Also, second years will come help and support him.
Thanks today for the engaging presentations, I hope you all learned from them.
Next week, there are no presentations, so a break.
Thanks for participating in the Madness session, I hope you got plenty of useful feedback.
My general feedback for all of you would be that you tend to make too much: you are trying to create a game for the hardcore gamer that needs to entertain for 20+ hours. Exertion Games do not need such a design approach, they can be much simpler; because the body is involved, people use their development for bodily skills to make it harder themselves. You need to think more like your 6-year old sister: she does not need much, a simple idea is enough. Ask: why would she play it? You do not need to design a 20-level game, not even a full level, but 1/10th of a level. Keep it simple, try it out, as mentioned last week, the art is to design something where you can add, but can't take anything out.
I have just been to a Fulbright reception, and I met the owner of sykes.com.au and wattbike.com.au, they do work with football clubs and the Australian Institute of Sports, and they have rowing machines and cross country skiing simulators, and they are interested in adding gameplay to them to make it more exciting; if you want to work with them for your project, please let me know and I'll get you in contact with him, I am sure he is happy to show you what they've got, and we could ask for a loan for the duration of the project.
Homework for next week:
- Prepare work to do while Gerard is helping other teams!
- Comment on blog
- Report progress on your website
PPS: Come to think about your projects madness again: I really would like to encourage all of you to use your artistic ability to come up with something crazy! Remember, you want to get in the paper/TV, and what they want is not the best game, but a crazy idea that is east to understand (and describe) in 1 minute. And I would also like to encourage to think more about the essence what you want to achieve. Lastly, target groups: it's ok to create a game that is only playable by your little brother, or only for people over 2m, or ...
For example: if you want to create a long-distance jogging game, think about the essence of why you like it. Do you achieve it in the costume game?
If you are after something else (quick turns, sprints), make it 'crazy' by attaching the tails to police officers.
Lastly, if you want to do the hanging-on-bar over animated river with wooden logs passing by game, you can just say that every player must be smaller than 1.7m so you don't have to adjust the bar.
Hope that helps,
keep up the good work,
Floyd
Am I the first cap of the rank?
ReplyDeleteFirstly I just wanted to thank both groups for their great presentations. You all did a great job of interacting and it was really good to see people talking without having to read off their notes the whole time. I think both groups did really well when it came to expanding on the contents of the articles they had to read off, adding extra research and their own views to their presentation. I really enjoyed it.
The minute madness session was pretty interesting. I liked seeing everyone else's ideas and it was strange to notice how similar three of the ideas were to some games my group had been thinking of (although we went with something else)(team H btw). I hope everyone got some useful feedback. By the sounds of it some groups will have a major effort in refining their game ideas now so good luck to everyone.
I had a comment for the first group the presented the stuff about emotional involvement through physicality. You explained it all really well and I totally agree with your overall points but I had a slightly different take on the first part of your presentation where you were talking about feelings being the cause of emotions. This part of the article was a bit confusing but I thought it refered more to the fact that when you feel an emotion, say fear, biological responses are triggered in your body such as the release of adrenaline, the increase in heart rate and the slowing of the digestive system. these physiological responses solidify and make real the sensation of the emotion. If your body did not respond to your mind's alert to fear the thought of being afraid would quickly disappear too. At one point someone said 'you aren't running because you're scared, you're scared because you're running'. Which is just weird and doesn't make sense. It's more like 'when you saw the bear your brain set off a physical response so that you would feel more stimulated and have the energy to run away'.
However I still agree that this theory has little to do with playing wii games and I doubt they use this science to in anyway enhance the gameplay. I guess the only difference is that the wii's more physical controls allow a greater release for the emotions set off by whatever game you're playing.
Thats about all I've got to say :)
I'm looking forward to seeing the games that people are going to be presenting!! Going to be awesome!
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the person as to how much emotion goes into a wii game. I've seen very intense tennis matches with heaps of people cheering and getting into it, and i've also heared my sister playing wii sports by herself and swearing loudly at the tv and getting very involved in the game. Yet there are other people who would play a couple of games and go.. yeah this is alright but i'd rather a controller. One example I can think of with people playing the wii and getting 'involved' is that seen from how i met your mother where barney and marshel invent their own "wimbledon" using the wii tennis.
Another point I wanted to make is that as much as we can say "nintendo has left out hardcore games" we also have to think that we ourselves are hopefully going to be making a living from games one day, and whose to say that we wouldnt want to branch out to more audiences. I actually think nintendo has done a great thing for gamers as its made playing video games more socially acceptable, and also allowed more people to have fun with games.
I agree with Group 3's conclusion that the requirement of gross body movements in Wii games do not necessarily translate towards 'feeling' a game more.
ReplyDeleteThe immersion factor is paramount in any game, but motion may not always be the best way to achieve this. Intuitive and responsive controls, paired with good gameplay will win every time, regardless of the control input or gaming platform.
During the presentation, I was thinking about flight simulators, and how the flight sticks for these type of games manage to mimic the controls inside an actual cockpit fairly accurately (depending on the extent of one's set up). So, by that rationale, flying a real plane and playing a flight sim are more or less the same thing - in terms of interaction with the controls, that is.
The use of these controls does not make flying a plane in the real world any less exhilarating. You'd still be sitting down, looking out at a screen (the cockpit window) and giving your thumbs and wrists a workout, much like the average gamer at home. Aside from the effects of G-force (which can also be replicated, but not in the average home), how would this scenario be any different from sitting down and experiencing a video game world through a controller?
The short answer is 'immersion', which I believe was the crux of Group 3's presentation all along. Much like a dream, a great game simulates a real experience, and tricks your mind - and not your body - into the belief that you're actually there, experiencing that moment.
Excellent work guys, and good on you for challenging the subject matter.
I completely agree with Luke's comments about immersion. It's not the control-mechanism which determines how much a game absorbs us, and it all depends greatly on context. I remember someone brought up in the lecture that while playing something like Final Fantasy, it's good to just chill in your chair with your controller, rather than waving your arms around. It's also good to remember that sometimes waving the Wii remote can have the opposite effect, and make you consciously aware that you're just waggling, though Nintendo have tried to address this with Motion Plus.
ReplyDeleteA fine applause to the two groups who presented as well. I too share Paco's disdain with Nintendo's treatment of its hardcore audience. I grew up with the NES, moved to the N64 in 97 and stuck with the Gamecube through its harship. To have them turn on all of us after so much dedication is quite upsetting.
Anyway enough moping me from me. To reiterate, good job to both teams.
Hey guys, I appeared in group 4 this week discussing Persuasive Games: Wii's revolution is in the past... I hope you all enjoyed it :) We aimed to make it as entertaining as possible whilst still displaying the facts behind our topic.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what Adam said above, referencing the example someone said in the lecture; that games such as Final Fantasy do not require a whole heap of movement and that is what makes them great; I completely agree with this and would much prefer to follow the story behind the game and relax whilst playing it rather than jumping up and down doing the same motions for the long portion of time the games take to complete.
Sometimes I also find myself in a 'CBF' mood so decide to play games. During these times as well as bored states I like to relax whilst playing the game. Therefore, even though I have a Wii, as many of you will probably agree with me, I rarely play it any more as the thrill of motions in a game has worn off and only tend to actually play when friends/family come around as a group activity.
Anyway... The Madness exercise was pretty sweet. Look forward to seeing all the final concepts complete... as far as my team goes, it was great to hear feedback to help refine our concept.
Also i think it was Team M :S... it was the team which had a group of players in a a defined area which were blindfolded and you had to collect the weapons from the direction of the sounds or something off the floor... I thought this was a great idea but to ditch the blindfolds and chuck it in a playground/ jumping castle or some obstacled defined space; so you would know who you are killing as well as knowing when someone else is going for the weapon at the same time as you to create some form of rush :)... Would be awesome!
cyall
Great lecture really enjoyed seeing everyone elses ideas. Some of the ideas sounded really great but implimentation would be eather hard or costly it showed me just how easily you can go overbored with a idea. Id just like to make a note that the idea you come up with doesnt ncessarily have to be a game that us the designers have to enjoy dont forget other target groups, i know its hard to think outside the box but this might help others to refine their ideas.
ReplyDeletei really love to hear a feedback from other teams, i learn that how important to do the research and knowing what people's opinion about the game that we made... thats so helpfull in the development progress....really great lecture and i really love the last team presentation :)
ReplyDeleteGreat use of roll playing and videos in group 4's presentation :).
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah, that Nintendo wii has introduced gaming to a much wider audience and as future game developers this can only be a good thing.
Madness was a lot of fun! :D. Getting to hear what all the other teams where thinking about was really interesting and motivation.
I really wont to play the Zombie party game!
maybe its nostalgia from primary school from when you play all those group games. (scarecrow/group tiggy, cops and robbers etc.)
and you have zombies! so I'm sold :P.
Sorry if this is just some garbled and verbose version of what was said on Thursday...
ReplyDeleteI think the main problem with the Wii is attention... not Media attention, but our own attention when we play games. When we decide to concentrate on the game and choose to ignore things in our environment.
So stepping aside from games that just fill in our time when there’s nothing else to do, let’s think about the game’s we love.
They might have great art. Or fantastic characters. Or an intricate plotline and story arcs that we Just Have To Know.
What ever it is, it pulls us in (well, for the first time at least).
A good film takes away our ability to consider leaving; it takes our full attention for its entirety. We forget the cinema around us, or the curtains on the side of the screen.
A good book pulls us into the headspace of the author and when we put it down, it’s in the back of our minds during the day, waiting to be picked up and have the story resume with just as much intensity. When we are reading, in our own little imagined representations, we don’t notice the conversations around us, much less the bus we’re meant to catch as it drives past.
And games seem to do both, and go one step further.
They pull us in, asking for all of our focus, and sure, we know we can pause at any moment, but at times it really doesn’t seem like that’s an option at all. There are times when we don’t even notice our own frustrated noises and increasingly loud swearing… at characters and objects and scenarios that ‘aren’t real’.
And like curtains and buses, the keyboard and gamepad fades away (as much as possible).
Sure, it’s what connects us to the game, and its presence is necessary, but somehow, at the same time, it manages to pull us further into game, rather than create a barrier.
It’s the bridge linking us from the hunched over position in the corner to a world inside the game.
Maybe it’s the familiarity from using the gamepad over and over that allows us to not be distracted by it.
By maybe it’s because it requires less from us physically.
It’s easy to ignore the constant clicking (or mashing) of buttons. And the more we play, the more the combinations of buttons become instinctive.
Our eyes are on the screen, our hands move barely with any thought, and so we leave our bodies behind. (Clichéd, but that’s the only way I can describe it)
But at the end of the day,with a film, book or game, no matter how much emotion is asked of us, no matter how much time we devote to it, how much we know about it, we can’t get any closer to it.
And then comes the thought “damn, I wish I could be IN the game”
We can class people into categories like hair colour, whether they add sugar to their coffee, if they jaywalk or wait for the green man.
And if they have faith in the concepts behind virtual reality, or if they consider it to be a pipedream; something to barely think about.
Except that to a point, it is real. It just can’t compare to what science fiction has made us crave for.
And so, we can look at the Wii as an attempt to bring us closer to games. To not just bring our minds into the game, but our bodies as well.
'Attempt' being the main word here.
I think the failure comes in because what it does is bring the attention to our bodies.
And sure, maybe over time we can learn to ignore our swinging arms like we ignore the curtains in the cinema, but for now all it does it create a barrier, reminding us of the distance between the game and us.
The Wii forces us to pay attention to the environment around us, as we increase the level of movement, destroying our ability to focus solely on the game.
So back to our own attention spans:(thanks Wikipedia)
“A study found that the same reading material was judged interesting or dull depending on the level of distraction found in the environment”
So when our ability to focus on the game decreases, so does the quality of the gaming experience.
Reading all your comments, I would like to go a step further and ask what does it mean for game design:
ReplyDeleteif movement is counterproductive to immersion (how do you define it anyhow?), does that mean better graphics with the Wii would make the experience worse because it would create a conflict between being immersed with the game vs. being immersed in the physical environment???
PPS: just added some more game idea thoughts in original post above
ReplyDeleteHey guys! I really enjoyed presenting at Thursday class and it was surely a good experience to enjoy. With the first presentation. The sound effects does really emerge you in.
ReplyDeleteWith games like MGS4, RE4, Silent Hill and Dead Space; atmostfear with sound and music is a really good thing.
Also, guys where are all the comments! Only 11 Online!
PS! I loved awnsering all the questions in the end! I would have awnsered 20 more if I could! Seriously! Its good to have the confident of talking to so many people about something that you love and know about.
Great presentation from both of the group..!! Both of them have good interaction with the audience.. and add some fun things like funny picture, video, and sounds (love it!!)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed it! :D
Everyone have great ideas for the game.. and we got great feedback and more ideas to develop our game..
Halo this is Patrick
ReplyDeletePlease accept my apologies for not commenting on the last two weeks’ lectures. I had short experience with online communities such as blog so it took me sometime :.(
How could I miss to comment on those great lectures! Darnnn!
Since I’m poor at making reviews or criticism about others’ ideas, I haven’t got much to say, but Team Rocket did splendid job, interacting with the audience. Indeed when people are engaged, they feel involved; as a result, have more interest in the presentation and so did I? Moreover, I totally concur with Team Rocket’s argument that physicality arouses emotions.
The five senses are the primitive form of emotion. People can feel or think because they smell, touch, taste, hear and see. The aspect of ‘Reality’ contains all these feelings and that is the decisive reason why we are being incomparably more emotional as well as immersed in our real lives. Conventional games, including PS3 and Xbox 360 video games solely relied on vision and audition, yet, they could still be successful. If that’s the case, what would happen if the games involve all the five sense? If they somehow manage to employ them, then the boundary between the reality and virtual world will be significantly faded. For instance, if we are able to see the green environment, hear the leaves moving, feel the gentle breeze and smell the refreshing woods as we entered a virtual jungle in video games, the sense of immersion we experience will be at indescribable level. For that matter, Nintendo Wii did a magnificent job of employing physical movement which is the primary sequence of ‘touching’.
Fortunately most exertion games already handle the five senses, thus, the degree of immersion we feel when playing them is supposed to be higher. Nevertheless, ironically, the numbers of people who still prefer traditional video games are considerable. Floyd has left following question relevant to this issue; “Better graphics with the Wii would make the experience worse because it would create a conflict between being immersed with the game vs. being immersed in the physical environment?” My answer for his question is ‘Wii(considering Wii is sort of exertion game) with better graphic will emphasize the level of immersion’. Fundamentally, the reason why people still stick onto typical video games is due to their realistic graphics that stirs the players to witness them which is a way to get away from the real world. Since the factors that make players feel immersed in the game is the five senses, Nintendo Wii has better potential by having one more sense, the physical activity. Hence, Wii better have advanced graphic quality.
Anyway,, I just wanted to say all the presentations during the lecture were awesome. And I can’t wait to see people demonstrate their exertion games in the theater too! XD
Hey Floyd,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to respond to what your question:
"If movement is counterproductive to immersion (how do you define it anyhow?), does that mean better graphics with the Wii would make the experience worse because it would create a conflict between being immersed with the game vs. being immersed in the physical environment???"
I don't think that gross body movements are necessarily counter-productive to game immersion, but they can be when a game's controls are not harmonious with the gameplay. This problem does not just occur with exertion games either. It is also present in video games that use standard controllers.
Therefore, in any game where the controls are bad, the movement is counter-productive to immersion, and this principle is true regardless of whether the control input requires gross body movement or fine motor skills.
So, just to clarify, you are asking: "If the movement in a game is clunky, but the graphics were highly realistic, then would that make the experience worse than if the graphics were simplistic?"
I can see how it could be frustrating to be unable to play a game that looks gorgeous, but nonetheless, I would still consider an equally unplayable game with simpler graphics to be exactly that. Unplayable.
That said though, I believe I can see the point you are trying to make, which is that games with less realistic visuals could invoke a lower expectation in the player for the game controls to mirror their own movements realistically.
Anyway, good point, and I hope I have interpreted what you meant correctly.
P.S. I just realised that I didn't comment on group 4's presentation in my last comment. Great work as well guys! However, I don't have anything of much use to comment upon, other than to say that I sympathise with how brutal the 'chainsaw decapitation' death scene in Resident Evil 4 feels. Damn, if that sensation were any more immersive, I'd probably die of a heart attack... or my head spontaneously falling off... hrm.
Floyd: Much like Luke above me I think the answer to your question is simple. If the game is hard to control it's not going to be good to play. The Wii tends to use very simple games without complex controls such as the Wii sports games so that the unrealistic nature of the movements you make while playing isn't too jarring.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we will see better quality graphics, story lines, etc successfully combined with movement sensitive controls until movement detection software has reached a point where suitably realistic movements can be used to control game actions.
Also just wanted to say how funny it is that Nintendo has been able to get back on top of the games market by creating things inspired by their former success. Rather than coming up with something completely new they have taken all their old ideas and shoved them into the wii, even using their own old games. Sony and Microsoft may be a big success today but Nintendo once ruled supreme and they are determined to keep reminding us of their past achievements.
Well if we compare video games as a cake, it requires four key ingredients:
ReplyDeleteStoryline
Gameplay
Sound
Art Design
As of now, motion is just the little pinch of sugar before you add, or another layer of icing. Do we need it? No, but does it make the cake anymore delicious? Yes? No? Maybe?
Personally I think Sony and Microsoft have an ulterior motive when they decide to branch into motion gaming besides taking the 'next step in gameplay and immersion'. They want some of that casual pie that nintendo's been gorging themselves with for the past four years.
If you look at Playstation Move's 'reveal' party, most games on the floor where HD version of Wii Sports and the only hardcore game they showed was Socom 4, and the reaction to the controls to that game was average. There was no support from Sony's big first party developers, no Naughty Dog, no Insomniac, no Sony Santa Monica.
Either way I'm totally pumped for E3 this year, especially for Nintendo with Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid and the new Zelda. But I'm getting a sense of history repeating itself; Nintendo releases quality first party titles, great two to three months of gaming, the rest of the year is filled with shovelware releases.
GREAT presentation both groups :p Nothing like college humour make a point. Firstly I’m going to tackle Floyd’s question with a scenario. Say the Wii introduced a game which requires you to uptake the roll of a ballet dancer. When you think of ballet dancers their moves are smooth, fluid and majestic. Lets say you have to do a pirouette by sweeping the controller upwards then swishing it in a circle straight afterwards. But for the player this could be interpreted in another way, for example: Punch the air with the control and furiously make like a cowboy and swing a loop around you head. It is the same thing in context, bringing the controller up and making a loop, but that doesn’t sound something like a majestic ballet dancer would do, right?
ReplyDeleteImmersion only goes as far as the player is willing to put in it, I could opt for the cowboy move, however how is that contributing to making me FEEL like a ballet dancer? Better graphics have nothing to do with it, it’s only the players’ response to the game-play and atmosphere that contributes to player involvement. I’m not lying when I say I tilt my head right and left when behind the seat of a car in Gran Turismo, its just another way of immersing myself into the game :)
Plus, there is no reason you cannot be immersed with the environment as well as the game-play. I would highly suggest playing Dead Space extraction before defining a line between movement and game environment, as well as shooting down anything that came my way, I felt that I HAD to do it otherwise those things would come and bloody jump out of the screen if I didn’t. The atmosphere is dark, I can see the blood on the walls, there’s bodies lying on the floor and the looks of struggle, but this doesn’t distract from the game I’m playing. Rather, it brings further emphasis to my need to escape this situation by downing horrific creature after creature.
Having said that, I think the graphics system like on Final Fantasy, where you can pretty much see the sweat on their brows, would be wasted on a game for the Wii. You’re not going to enjoy the fine details while wielding your remote-come-sword at ghoulies and nasties. I think your really have to sit down and enjoy those details without jumping and swinging your arms like an idiot in front of the screen. Never less I could be mistaken, but only when I see it done will I change my ways, I would love to see a game like Demon Souls on the Wii, sometimes you just want to swing a sword.
Which simply brings me to say that there are some games that belong to the Wii, and many more that don’t. I personally think that’s its only a matter of time before we see a Katamari Damacy spin off for the Wii, but I doubt I’ll ever enjoy God of War 3 the same way on a console sporting a bubbly plumber and blue hedgehog as mascots :)
(Note. I have mentioned many games in this post, do I win brownie points for my name drops? :p ) -Steffie
and damn I went on, sorry for the reading guys!
ReplyDeleteTo answer Floyd's question, I think that for a game to be truly immersive, the controls have to be intuitive to the player. With the Wii especially, there are often problems with connecting the action on the screen to the control performed by the player - for example, in many games where the character is controlled through moving the wiimote, the player is distracted from the game by trying to work out how to make the character go where they want them to.
ReplyDeleteSome games lend themselves to motion control (such as bowling) but most games are hindered by overly clunky motion controls. It's a shame to me that Microsoft and Sony think they've got to use motion control to compete with Nintendo, instead of just making good games.
Anyway, I'd like to thank this weeks groups for their informative presentations.
Firstly, well done to this week's groups for very entertaining and informative discussions! =]
ReplyDeleteI have to also agree with group 3's argument against body movement contributing to emotion. I personally favour 'easy fun' RPG games such as many of the works of Square Enix, ever since I was a child. These games in particular grasped me the most because of the intense emotion that was portrayed in the storyline itself, backed by the dramatic music, lovable heroic characters, and even more so the way in which the player becomes emotionally attatched to the character they are 'role playing'.
To assume the main character's position from beginning to end in a typical RPG, the player steps into that person's shoes, encouters the opportunities the character encounters, fights the battles the character does, etc. The group raised a valid point to illustrate this; when we fail in the game (0 HP for example) we feel it hard. We are tormented by the very idea of seeing our character die in their virtual world. All that effort and time put into getting to that point in the game is built up to create far more emotion than any form of physical movement.
I really loved being evolved in the presentation on Thursday and Kudos to group 3 as well.
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you guys argued, about the Wii only adding to an already existing level of emotion that is found in games. I was also really impressed with sound being used as a key example of one of those triggered sensations.
However I must say that these kinds of sensations are most certainly not a good thing. I think the Wii came up with a far better concept for people’s health, social skills and well-being. Being immersed in games that only feed us breath taking art and magnificent game play are really impressive. But these rather time consuming virtual worlds are too much of a death trap, if not played in moderation.
If games continue to increase the levels of these kinds of sensations were going to see more obesity, more stupidity and more troubled children that never want to leave there console or pc. Feeling an emotional response to a virtual character is discouraging to living out a real life. The Wii’s concept of Mii, putting you into the game still creates a fun and enjoyable game, and doesn’t give children the false belief that they are ancient medieval warriors or giant robots.
Not to say that these interactive fantasy stories aren’t extremely creative and sometimes teach good morals, but most of the time this is a one way street. The game is making you play through its story; you are not creating your story in the game. In this case you may as well being reading a book so at least your imagination gets a work out?
The Wii has defiantly taken a good step towards getting away with this kind of motionless engagement. But still as you showed they also released games like SSB Brawl which continues this trend of the same game play, SSB Brawl does appear to have a good social aspect though, due to its awesome multiplayer game play. Maybe in the next generation of motion detection we will see a far greater connection with the physical movement and the emotion that is triggered by these sensations like storyline, animation/ art/design, sound and interaction.
Also I really liked allot of the different groups ideas in madness and think a few people were being just a little too critical, no need to be so pessimistic.
And in answer to your question Floyd if motion is counterproductive to emersion then I guess it could be defined by a group of a friends playing
Wii, engaging with each other more than the game itself. I do think better graphics would make the Wii worse, because then it’s less about “me” and “you” and more about “it”.
First off, excellent presentations by the groups; both really funny and engaging good job :)
ReplyDeleteI find it really great when people don't just nod and agree with what they have read.
The idea that just because the Wii is interactive it doesn't mean it's engaging and I also enjoyed the second presentation's idea that the Wii basically threw away the hardcore gamer for a more casual audience.
Madness was extremely fun and engaging, it was fascinating to see not only the unique and interesting ideas but also to hear the thoughtful ideas, many of which were very helpful. However, I do think that everyone might have wanted maybe an extra minute to explain their game a little better. But then it wouldn't have been madness would've it?
Finally in terms of physical movement increasing emotion, is a book more engaging while walking? I don't know.
But I will say one thing; I've heard various psychologists say that for males our cognitive processes and our ability to think is closely linked to our body and that we think clearer when we are engaged in some sort of physical activity. Perhaps this might be how physical games will get us emotionally invested...
If "better graphics" simply means more polygons and higher resolution of textures, then I don't think better graphics would help immersion.
ReplyDeleteImmersion into games happens to me when the game could make me forget the fact I'm holding a controller. If it could successfully make me forget that my body exists, I can feel like I'm in the game.
It's like reading books. All I'm doing is looking at black ink stains on paper, but if I could immerse into stories, I would forget that I'm reading. I wouldn't even notice myself turning pages.
I could immerse with Nintendo 64 games or even SNES games. Not because they had beautiful graphics and excellent sound, but because their controller became part of my body and i could use them without paying any attension. How many polygons the colsole can produce, doesn't really matter to me.
However type of graphics really matters. If the tennis court in Wii Sport had reallistic players instead of Mii, and had a small realistically sized ball, it would be harder to play. "hard" might not mean anything bad for hard fun gamers, but for beginners, it will be. The simple graphics for Wii sport was intentionally chosen for new gamers. In that sense, the graphics for Wii sport was excellent for its purpose.
The most important thing about graphics is not whether it's high resolution or high polygoned, but whether it's suitable to the game, I believe.
But sometimes Wii controller gets in the way to immersion because often Wii's sensor doesn't work right, and my movement doesn't get applied in the game. If those problems were solved and I could forget that I'm holding a wii controller, then I would successfully immerse into the game. It's the same as graphics, if the motion system is not suitable to the game, it should be removed.
“Xbox three-sex-tie” hahaha
ReplyDeleteFirstly, congratulations to both team rocket and team 4 for their presentations on Thursday. Both teams brought up some great points about the Wii and although I do not own one myself, not once did I feel left out of the topic. The background information to the console’s history and development was outstanding and convinced me that I had been apart of the Nintendo franchise for years.
In relation to the first presentation (How the Nintendo Wii will get you emotionally invested in video games) I somewhat agreed with the old theory of emotion proposed by American philosopher William James even though the team presenting completely disregarded it. It is fair to say that the mental aspect of fear comes before the physical but what is this fear without the effects it has on the body? And can we experience fear without any physical change? Imagine feeling sad without having the ability to express this emotion. This is better explained in the line from the article… “If you can’t produce the bodily symptoms of an emotion- the swelling tear ducts of sadness, or the elevated heart rate of fear-then you can’t feel the emotion.”
Having said this, the team’s combined argument was spot on and I particularly enjoyed the way sound was used as an example of something that can trigger emotions. It was fascinating to see how many games could be identified simply through sound. It did however make me want to go home and play Halo really bad.
The games mentioned by Floyd in today’s lecture were also very interesting. I loved the idea of hanging from a bar with an image of a river beneath you and again the way I think about games and their applications has changed dramatically.
Now for the “Maddness” that followed, this was a great way to get an outside opinion on our exertion game and its flaws. It was challenging not to answer some of the questions fired at us, however a great learning experience none the less.
Standing ovation for group 4 for their role playing at the introduction of the topic, it was hilarious and certainly a great way to grab the attention of the audience. The topic they presented is certainly one I thought a lot about when first watching videos of the Playstation Move and Natal. It is really quite disappointing to see both Microsoft and Sony taking advantage of the one thing that makes the Wii so unique.
i love the interesting ideas for the games and the different interpretation of "exertion games".
ReplyDeletei loved the history of the nintendo console and the many back stories on what influenced the creation of the wii controller.
though as i feel what xbox 360 natal can do for us as an interface and how we play games, but i'm really skeptical about ps3 move. while naive or simple minded as it sounds, to me its just nothing more than natal and wiimote put together, but i guess its just depend on how sony will market it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUdDhWfpqxg, this i think is a brilliant interpretation of what games should lead towards for both as an interface and a application for very broad use to make games with, especially for exertion games.
The two groups that presented last both provided an interesting and fascinating insight into the nintendo wii console, as well as new competition from microsoft's project natal and sony in regards to different takes and advancements on the wii remote.
ReplyDeleteI agree in the comment that focusing on physical exertion alone is not what makes a good game, a good story, characters and concept are all things I look for most when playing a game.
Whilst the wii's focus is on movement and pysical activity and xbox 360/PS3 is on graphics and realism, I believe that the fundamental elements that make a game are sometimes forgotten.
Look at zelda: ocarina of time for instance. The game came out in 1998 and still is one of the most highly acclaimed games of all time, not because of fancy realistic graphics or physical exertion, but because of its story and the fact that it was genuinely fun and enjoyable to play.
Jayden.G
A late post, but a post nonetheless :P
ReplyDeleteRegarding whether movement is counterproductive to immersion, I honestly agree with the point jayden brought up. My point of view on the question in terms of movement vs graphics, comes back to the fact that both are different ways of involving the audience. Graphics are a way of involving the audience's imaginations, for game designers to more accurately explain what they 'see' in their environments. Movement involves the audience more so physically than in their imagination. Both are different means to different ends. Whether the game is good as a whole ultimately relies on the ideas, instead of with which method they are experienced.
Personally, I don't see why games on the Wii shouldn't have better graphics than they do. I can see why some shouldn't, but when I first heard about the Wii my first thought was that with graphics as good as they are these days, I would love to be able to interact with them more than I had ever been able to with a standard controller. If a game had good stimulus through more ways of involving the audience than another game, say, in graphics AND in the interaction, couldn't it logically be more immersive than games which only choose one? So long as the methods used to express a game are relevent to the game itself, I don't think we should limit ourselves to any specific rules on which methods should apply to which types of games.