The purpose of this research post is to look into the mechanics behind how Amusement Parks control the flow of people and how this correlates to the flow of the user in game design.
http://faculty.smcm.edu/acjamieson/f12/ThemeParkManagement.pdf
"...For example Larson (1987) argues that for fast food customers,
satisfaction in a single-queue system may be higher
than in a multi-queue system, even though customers wait
longer in a single-queue system"
Analysis - This is interesting, this analysis suggests that even though a multi-queue system is faster, customers are actually more satisfied when in single-line queues, even if it takes longer. This is relatable to games because a lot of people complain about general mechanics of games like Call of Duty, but in essence it doesn't work if these things are changes.
"Poor management of theme park capacity may result in
considerable undesirable customer waiting or underutilization
of the available capacity"
Analysis - If the park is managed badly, it doesn't meet it's potential. This is a thing that happens a lot with games. For it's design, if managed badly the execution will be bad, even if the game was a solid concept, as for gameplay this helps balance the game, there is a max potential which the player desires and the gameplay and reward is set around this potential and trying to get the most of it.
"Customers also
have varying degrees of tolerance for waiting for thrill
rides during different hours of the day-adding further to
the complexity of park management"
Analysis - People are very affected by small aspects, time is a large aspect. With games such as DayZ that runs similarly to the time of day in real life. This means real time actually affects gameplay, similarly with Animal Crossing, which abuses certain hours of the day where their target audience will be free from work to complete tasks in game that are only available around that time.
Monday, 4 January 2016
Research Post: Tarot Cards
Research for Coherent worlds Module, searching for quotes and information about Tarot Cards to refer to in the research report.
Analysis - Like a lot of things it is unclear where they originate, although it is interesting how it was speculated to be connection to magic due to it's unknown nature, maybe this correlates to a lot of magic folklore.
Tarot Cards:
The Key to the Kingdom - An Enchanted Deck - By Tony Meeuwissen
“The Playe of Cards is an invention of the Devill, which he found out, that he might the easiler bring in ydolatrie amongst men, wrote an early commentator. Whether hell hewn or not, the origins of playing cards are certainly mysterious.”
Analysis - An extract from a very old quote, giving card games a sort of lore. This is offering a story for cards, giving an 'answer' for their creation and origin.
Analysis - An extract from a very old quote, giving card games a sort of lore. This is offering a story for cards, giving an 'answer' for their creation and origin.
“The first picture decks appeared in Italy in the 13th Century. Like so many inventions of that time, they are said to have arrived from the East, and were a with magic and divination”.
Analysis - Like a lot of things it is unclear where they originate, although it is interesting how it was speculated to be connection to magic due to it's unknown nature, maybe this correlates to a lot of magic folklore.
“These were the first transformation cards, in which the symbols became the jumping-off point for artistic fantasy”
Analysis - This could be a strong influence for fantasy art and games such as world of warcraft today, and probably even influenced tales such as Tolkiens Middle-Earth.
Analysis - This could be a strong influence for fantasy art and games such as world of warcraft today, and probably even influenced tales such as Tolkiens Middle-Earth.
“Transformation cards were especially popular in England. Tenniel’s drawings from ALICE IN WONDERLAND show their influence (as does the story).”
“London’s victoria and albert museum , a collector and occasional commisioner of curious and historic card decks, gave Tony Tony Meeuwissen an intriguing assignment: to design a set of court cards for a new deck based on Nursery rhymes”
Analysis - The deck was inspired by fairytales and then a twist was added by the artist to twist the coherent design to apply a different affect to the viewers perspective of these seemingly harmless worlds, this is done a lot especially with fairytales as they seem to mostly originate from horrible tales in the first place.
“London’s victoria and albert museum , a collector and occasional commisioner of curious and historic card decks, gave Tony Tony Meeuwissen an intriguing assignment: to design a set of court cards for a new deck based on Nursery rhymes”
Analysis - The deck was inspired by fairytales and then a twist was added by the artist to twist the coherent design to apply a different affect to the viewers perspective of these seemingly harmless worlds, this is done a lot especially with fairytales as they seem to mostly originate from horrible tales in the first place.
Research Post: Amusement Parks
Research for Coherent Worlds. I will be looking into the history of amusement parks and how they inspire digital games and their creative process.
"The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions. The oldest of these traditions, was the periodic fair of the Middle Ages in which one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England, which began in 1133. By the 18th and 19th century, they had evolved into places of entertainment for the masses, where the public could view freak shows, acrobatics,conjuring and juggling, take part in competitions and walk through menageries."
General public parks for entertainment have been in our culture a very long time it seems, having evolved overtime.
"A wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam-powered carousel (built by Thomas Bradshaw, at the Aylsham Fair)"
It seems by the mid 1800s amusement parks were on there way to becoming very mechanical.
"The second influence was the pleasure garden. One of the earliest gardens was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London...Although the gardens were originally designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity."
The Evolution of theme parks:
http://web.themeparkincorporated.co.uk/2015/04/11/the-evolution-of-theme-parks/"The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions. The oldest of these traditions, was the periodic fair of the Middle Ages in which one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England, which began in 1133. By the 18th and 19th century, they had evolved into places of entertainment for the masses, where the public could view freak shows, acrobatics,conjuring and juggling, take part in competitions and walk through menageries."
General public parks for entertainment have been in our culture a very long time it seems, having evolved overtime.
"A wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam-powered carousel (built by Thomas Bradshaw, at the Aylsham Fair)"
It seems by the mid 1800s amusement parks were on there way to becoming very mechanical.
"The second influence was the pleasure garden. One of the earliest gardens was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London...Although the gardens were originally designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity."
Games have generally been a rather accessible medium, I suppose you could say that in recent years it costs a lot more to buy a games console, making it slightly less accessible to the working class to do it's flux in popularity, causing the price to also become higher.
"The first permanent enclosed entertainment area, regulated by a single company, was founded in Coney Island in 1895: Sea Lion Park at Coney Island in Brooklyn. This park was one of the first to charge admission to get into the park in addition to sell tickets for rides within the park."
It seems as a form of entertainment grows, it is further monetized to abuse it's popularity, this can be seen happening currently with countless DLC and add-ons while also being over charged for a lot of items in the first place.
Analysis - Disneyland is now a cornerstone of culture, it is deep rooted so that It will be around, forcing it’s influence on modern culture for many years to come, similarly with where it found it’s influence, it has now become an influential bible for today’s works, especially in games.
Walt Disney Company
Quotes:
Designing Disney’s theme parks - The Architecture of Reassurance - Edited by Karal Ann Marling
“Disneyland is so much a part of the American Landscape that it’s hard to imagine a time when the park wasn’t there” - Imagineering the disney theme park”
Walt Disney Company
“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
Analysis - A quote from Disney, it suggests that as long as people can imagine and this imagination is coherent to the current world of Disney, there will always be space to grow this magnificent world.
Leslie Le Mon, The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014 - Disneyland: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Place on Earth
“Disneyland was one perfect answer. It provided, an almost sacred space where it is permissible and safe to let one's guard down, take a risk, rediscover imagination, have fun, express emotion, play and deepen family ties. This is powerful stuff even today, in our nation of workaholics and two-working-parent households, and it was certainly powerful in the anxious 1950's.”
Analysis - An interesting quote, this suggests that Disneyland has an affect on people where they can almost become a child again and let loose with their imagination allowing themselves to once again completely believe the well crafted world around them is alive. Due to the amount people work in today's culture it's hard to find such an affective getaway. Games have a similar charm to them, allowing people to easily escape reality and become whatever they want even in the comfort of their own home.
Research Post: Coherent Worlds Chess
For the research report I will be looking into chess. My aim for the research was to delve into the history of chess and learn a bit about the game to give me an understanding of it's origin and how to properly play. This is for the purpose of the coherent worlds report and personal practise.
To start my research I decided to learn how to play chess. I started an account on chess.com and started learning basic opening tactics, how to developing my pieces and how to be aggressive from my first turn. I did this because it helped me understand the games mechanics. From this I have a better understanding of how it relates to digital games.
One of the main objectives to keep in mind is " Control the center and you control the game”
I instantly related the turn-based play-style to games along the lines of Final fantasy, where you literally take it in turns, and Civ 5, in which you take turns, but what you do has a long detrimental effect on the game, forcing players to change their play-style and focus on different goals, while still having an end goal in mind.
The world building of chess is interesting, most books and articles I have read speak about the pieces in the medieval army sense, which makes sense due to the pieces being placeholders for groups of a medieval age army, opposed to be just thought of as single warriors
Here are a few quotes referring to the pieces, giving them a sense of life:
"Generals would love that parallel and they tend to see themselves in that way. But the truth is very far from that," says Beevor. His point is that battle is indescribably chaotic, with luck and chance playing a large role in any outcome.
Chess is used as tactic practise and has been for a long time, but there are major differences between a game of chess and real war. The quote is saying no matter how much you practise, how much you theorise, battle will always have a random aspect that can not be predicted, but it probably does help to be have a good theory of tactics.
"Chess is what is termed a "perfect information" game - each player can see on the board everything there is to know about his opponent's dispositions."
In many games as in real war you lose the aspect of "perfect information". In strategy games the fog of war is usually your greatest enemy, the game gives you limited time to predict your opponents moves. Chess could have influenced this decision as you could relate the close-proximity tactics of chess to calculating real-time quick decisions, your overall thought process could be affected by the initial training of having time to choose your move, opposed to being forced into a situation (which does happen in chess too).
"Chess is the most popular board game in the world, Maybe because it’s a war game. But unlike in a real war, you don’t have to win the hearts and minds of the people, you just wipe them out." - Play Chess in 10 minutes - Brian Byfield
To start my research I decided to learn how to play chess. I started an account on chess.com and started learning basic opening tactics, how to developing my pieces and how to be aggressive from my first turn. I did this because it helped me understand the games mechanics. From this I have a better understanding of how it relates to digital games.
One of the main objectives to keep in mind is " Control the center and you control the game”
I instantly related the turn-based play-style to games along the lines of Final fantasy, where you literally take it in turns, and Civ 5, in which you take turns, but what you do has a long detrimental effect on the game, forcing players to change their play-style and focus on different goals, while still having an end goal in mind.
The world building of chess is interesting, most books and articles I have read speak about the pieces in the medieval army sense, which makes sense due to the pieces being placeholders for groups of a medieval age army, opposed to be just thought of as single warriors
Here are a few quotes referring to the pieces, giving them a sense of life:
Referring to the pawn - “He’s the brave little foot soldier who marches into battle and cannot move backwards. Here’s how he moves…”
Referring to the king - “The king is the most important piece on the board, your job is to protect him. And boy, does he need it... He is slow and lazy, and will expect his army to do the dirty work.”
Brief history of chess:
"Chess was invented, like many other things, in India. In those days, chess was played with dice. Throw of dice was used to determine which piece to move.The original name of that game and therefore of chess is Chaturanga. According to the Indian mythology, the best chess player of all is the king of Gods, Indra !"
"The word Chess is thought to be derived from "shah," the Persian word for king, and the word checkmate from shah mat, meaning "the king is dead.""
chess made it's way to Europe somehow, evolving throughout history to the common form of chess we know today. There are many theories as to how, but none set in stone. This shows how past forms of entertainment have still evolved from entertainment from even further back in history. "The chess pieces can be looked upon as not only parts of a game, but a window into the medieval past where everyone was born into their place and there was not much movement between classes." - The game reflects on the emphasis of class in medieval history, although if you look at the game in depth you see it's impossible to win without the co-operation of all of the pieces. (Quotes from: http://www.chess.com/blog/Shadow_47/chaturangahellipthe-lost-game http://www.ludoteka.com/chaturanga-en.html http://www.oocities.org/pallavnawani/chess-history.html) |
Chess as a war game:
"Generals would love that parallel and they tend to see themselves in that way. But the truth is very far from that," says Beevor. His point is that battle is indescribably chaotic, with luck and chance playing a large role in any outcome.
Chess is used as tactic practise and has been for a long time, but there are major differences between a game of chess and real war. The quote is saying no matter how much you practise, how much you theorise, battle will always have a random aspect that can not be predicted, but it probably does help to be have a good theory of tactics.
"Chess is what is termed a "perfect information" game - each player can see on the board everything there is to know about his opponent's dispositions."
In many games as in real war you lose the aspect of "perfect information". In strategy games the fog of war is usually your greatest enemy, the game gives you limited time to predict your opponents moves. Chess could have influenced this decision as you could relate the close-proximity tactics of chess to calculating real-time quick decisions, your overall thought process could be affected by the initial training of having time to choose your move, opposed to being forced into a situation (which does happen in chess too).
Research Post: NUA Art Test Reseach
Having chosen to do the environment art test I felt it may be good practise to do some research into the company and style to gauge the coherent design of my models. I Will look into the past projects of the company to gain an understanding of what style they may be looking for while considering the appropriate design for my assets.
First I needed to break down the brief, to ensure I understood what was required of me. The game 'Sanctorium' which the asset for is a spiritual sequel to 'Dear Esther' Meaning it will stay true to the style, themes and source content of the prequel in question being in spirit to it, opposed to being a direct successor. Knowing this I can instantly draw from the style of Dear Esther.
I'd have to also stay true to the remote and surreal aesthetic, similarly to a game mention in the brief called Myst. What I need to convey is a meaning behind the design and placement of the models.
The game is based in a large stately home, by gathering some images I'm able to gauge crossing styles in these type of homes.
After this I created a mood board full of images of dressers to decide on the style I wanted to go with. To make it coherent with the stately home I decided to go with an antique look to the model, ensuring the design reflects age and wealth.
To get a bit more inspiration I compiled a few images from two certain games that I think could give a lot of relevant information. These games are Amnesia and Bioshock Infinite.
As for the small assets, I have decided to go with a religious theme due to the nature of the title of the game being 'Sanctorium', which means: 'Church; holiest room or area in religious building'. I would also like to include a slight paranormal theme to the idea, seeing as Dear Esther included ghosts.
First I needed to break down the brief, to ensure I understood what was required of me. The game 'Sanctorium' which the asset for is a spiritual sequel to 'Dear Esther' Meaning it will stay true to the style, themes and source content of the prequel in question being in spirit to it, opposed to being a direct successor. Knowing this I can instantly draw from the style of Dear Esther.
I'd have to also stay true to the remote and surreal aesthetic, similarly to a game mention in the brief called Myst. What I need to convey is a meaning behind the design and placement of the models.
The game is based in a large stately home, by gathering some images I'm able to gauge crossing styles in these type of homes.
To get a bit more inspiration I compiled a few images from two certain games that I think could give a lot of relevant information. These games are Amnesia and Bioshock Infinite.
As for the small assets, I have decided to go with a religious theme due to the nature of the title of the game being 'Sanctorium', which means: 'Church; holiest room or area in religious building'. I would also like to include a slight paranormal theme to the idea, seeing as Dear Esther included ghosts.
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