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...Huh, that's weird, well, see you next week!.

Video Game Design: Run or Shoot?

Whatever you choose, remember to scream!

   

When designing a Game one of the most common priorities is making sure everything, from visuals to Gameplay mechanics, is as smooth and polished as possible, this is done to make sure they are not an obstacle to the player and his/her Gaming experience.
 
At first it seems like a logical thought, if the player has to struggle with things like the HUD (Heads up display), the Inventory system or character movement, then he will spend less time playing and more time fighting against those elements, but the problem is that most people tend to quickly discard things that feel "Wrong" or "Clunky" without considering all aspects to that element.

  

As we've discussed previously in other articles (Here, and Here), all elements inside the Game have a direct impact on that Game's universe, it's feel, flow and identity, and as such all aspects and qualities of that element, be them "Good" or "Bad", have an impact too, case in point: "Run or Shoot?"

Unplugged Update: May Recap

Yes! We are back! after a sufficient amount of rest, relaxation and battling giant cyborg-spiders, we are back home, and just in time to say goodbye to the month that passed, welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the Unplugged Controllers May 2013 Recap.

Happy "Pose as a team, 'cause sh*t just got real!" Month from everyone at U.C.!

May 2013: "Pose as a team, 'cause sh*t just got real!" Month:

• An Unplugged Look At: Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare: Starting off this month we travel around the world fighting terrorists trying to find the last logical though that might still be inside this franchise.

• U.C.Comic - 006 Left 4 Chicken:On this episode, the guys fight off the hordes of the undead while teaching us a valuable lesson on loyalty, also, chickens.

• Video Game Design: Gameplay Mechanics - The Invisibility Manifesto: Closing off this month we put on our serious pants and discuss balance in gameplay mechanics and how they shape the player's experience, all of this while trying to break the record for most invisibility jokes in one article.

And that's it for the month of May 2013, see you next time, when we'll talk about the month of June (Seriously, what did you expect?), see you then, and remember:

Video Game Design: The Invisibility Manifesto

Invisibility pictures: unsurprisingly HARD TO FIND.

And with that INCREDIBLE Invisibility joke (First of many more to come)  i welcome you to the second Unplugged Controllers article on Video Game Design, "The Invisibility Manifesto". 

 

Last time, we looked at how Core and Individual Mechanics can shape a game's Identity using the Super Mario and God of War games as an example of this; Today we are taking a deeper look into Gameplay mechanics, mainly focusing on how to add meaningful variety and how this can change the flow of the game. There's a lot to cover, and not a whole lot of time, so let's dive right in.

U.C.Comic - 006 Left 4 Chicken

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

An Unplugged Look At: Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare

And that's pretty much the plot of the Modern Warfare series, See you next week! When we'll talk about...

...What?

...What do you mean that's not enough for an article? Oh alright, i guess it's not a real Unplugged Controllers article unless you see me suffer and rage all the way through the ASSBLOWINGLY BAD plot of the series, welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games.

Unplugged Update: April Recap And Thoughts Regarding This Week And The Future

Before going into the Recap, we have a little announcement to make, starting next week, Articles will be uploaded on Saturdays (Hopefully :D) instead of Sundays like usual, this does not include U.C.Comic episodes, those will be uploaded as soon as they are finished and will NOT replace the weekly articles (I'm so going to regret that rule), this also means there is NO article this week, although that's mainly because of my current workload (And DEFINITELY NOT because of Bioshock Infinite).

 

Now, with that out of the way, let's get into the Recap.

Happy Kill-All-Skeletons Month from everyone at Unplugged Controllers.

  
April 2013: Kill-All-Skeletons Month:

• An Unplugged Look At: Assassin's Creed: Starting off this month we traveled through time killing Templars, and discovered an ancient alien civilization who asked us to save the world from the Sun exploding... and i still can't say that with a straight face. 

• U.C.Comic 005 - Rock, Paper Fireball, Cyclops, Smash!: On this episode the party goes back to old Greece to stop the Titans from taking over the world, also, F*ck Teamwork.

• Video Game Design: Gameplay Mechanics - Super Mario or God of War: On the first episode of the series we take a look at the common problems faced when creating videogame mechanics, with special guest: M. Night Shyamalan.

• An Unplugged Look At: Minecraft: To finish up the month we travel to the distant land of Minecraft to find some diamonds, kill some creepers, build some Giant Golden Penis Statues and  make up an entire Storyline.

And that's it for the month of April 2013, see you next week, when we'll visit an Old Friend, see you then.
  

Previously on Unplugged Controllers.

An Unplugged Look At: MINECRAFT

   

  

"Dear diary: Today started out like any other day, after eating my usual 3 Porkchops, 2 Pumpkin Pies and one Whole Chicken Breakfast, i put on my Solid Gold Pants and went outside to punch some trees, but i got ambushed by a skeleton riding a giant spider, so i proceeded to hop on my trusty pig and kill the monster, to celebrate my victory i decided to have some delicious salad for dinner, but first i had to kill some zombies until i got enough carrots. It was a good day."

- Steve

Yup, it sounded even more ridiculous when i said it out loud, be afraid people, because it gets A LOT weirder. So put your Diamond armor on and take out your Shovels, this is An Unplugged Look At: MINECRAFT!

  

Video Game Design: Super Mario or God of War

No, not like that, although...

One of the many great things about teaching Video Game Design (Besides, you know, EVERYTHING) is that i get to use such ridiculous crossovers like the one you see above while trying to explain something.
 

The "Super Mario or God of War" spectrum is a tool I've found to be incredibly useful when explaining Gameplay mechanics and how they shape the overall experience and, more importantly, Identity of the game, and I've decided to share this tool with you guys. So, without further ado, this is the first of many articles on Video Game design, i give you "Super Mario or God of War".
 

U.C.Comic - 005 Rock, Paper, Fireball, Cyclops, Smash!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE 
  

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE
  

An Unplugged Look At: Assassin's Creed

...And that pretty much sums up my experience with the franchise. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Assassin's Creed series. 
 

The A.C. games have always been... no, wait, this is not the correct way to start an article about Assassin's Creed, let's see:

For example, this caption was written by a Muslim dude who enjoys Adam Sandler movies.

 

Now THAT'S how you start an Assassin's Creed anything. 

U.C.Comic - 004 Explosive Start

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

 CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

Unplugged Update: Holy "Did i forget to say i was taking the week off?" Week and U.C.Comic.Comeback

*Insert clever caption here*

Do i really need to say anything else? didn't someone say a long time ago that "A picture is worth 1,000 words, but not worth as much as 1,000 grams of... ´sugar´" i think it was Ozzy Osbourne. But yes, Here at Unplugged Controllers we are on vacation, so for the next few days... and the past few days (Good memory? never heard of her, does she work at Starbucks?) there wont be new articles or comics... which brings me to my next point! (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Easiest Segue Ever.)

U.C.Comic is BACK!... in production, so coming April 2013 we'll have new episodes waiting for you here at the site!. Well, that's it for now, just a short update for all of you, I'll be leaving now, my flying yacht made of diamonds is not going to drive itself. Until next time, when we'll... talk, about... something... see you then!.

U.C. Top 5: The Top 5 Shotguns In Video Games

 "This... is my BOOMSTICK!!" - Bruce Campbell

And with that brief introduction, from the Master of Awesomeness himself, i welcome you to "Unplugged Controllers Top 5 Shotguns In Video Games".

 

Dating all the way back to "HOLY SH*T THAT'S A LONG TIME AGO!" where they made their first appearance, Shotguns have earned a special place in the hearts of gamers everywhere; Loud, Powerful and Deadly at close range, the Boomstick has always been a reliable weapon, able to take down the toughest of Demons/Robots/Aliens/Terrorists/Mutants/Tom Hanks in one shot.

And today we are honoring them, by counting down the Top 5 Shotguns in Video Games, but, as usual, lets go over the rules before diving into the list:

• Only one Shotgun per Franchise.

...huh, that was a short list. So, with that out of the way, load some shells, pump your gun (oh God... that sounded wrong) and sit back, here are our Top five: 
 

An Unplugged Look At: Resident Evil

 

Yes, Chris Redfield just PUNCHED that boulder out of the way, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Resident Evil series.

The R.E. games have always been a polarizing topic for me, on the one hand their co-op mode has been some of the most fun I've had in video games, but on the other hand.... they kinda suck, so today we are diving into the crazy mess they call "Plot" to see if they deserve all the mocking and ridicule (*SPOILER ALERT*: They do), this is "An Unplugged Look At" Resident Evil.
 

Unplugged Update: Fried processors, Manly Dota tears, Kevin Bacon and more...

Last night, as i laid in bed i started thinking about the mysteries of life, the universe and stuff, when suddenly an image popped up inside my head... SHARK PILEDRIVER!!:

No caption needed.

And that's the only introduction i need, welcome to the first Unplugged Controllers Site Update! today's topics are:

• New episodes of U.C.Comic.
• The Article about competitive gaming.
• Gaming news, links of interest and stuff.

There's a lot to cover so lets get going:
 

An Unplugged Look At: Metal Gear

"Its a movie about Batman trying to teach Obi-Wan Kenobi how to be a Jedi so they can stop Lex Luthor from taking over Iraq using goats... and somehow The Dude is involved"

-Me.

Have you ever tried to explain the plot of a movie to someone who has never watched it? have you tried to do that when you yourself haven't watched it either? well today I'm doing exactly that, but with a Video Game, I'm going to try to explain the plot of the Metal Gear games, a franchise i have never played for more than 15 minutes, as best as i can, but first i have to set some rules:

1. I cant play any game from the franchise during the process of writing this.
2. I can only use the internet to research names of characters and locations, not plot details.

Now, before we start i must remind you, this is MY version of the Metal Gear plot, so i'll probably get a lot of things wrong (try every single thing). So, without further ado, here is the Unplugged Controllers version of the plot of the Metal Gear series, here we go:

Gaming Moments: "F*CK YOU" Missile

THE SCENARIO:

The door opens, complete silence fills the room, a lone man stands in the middle, he turns around at the sound of the door opening to see Commander Daniel Shepard, he says:

-"So, it seems you are as capable as they say, those 100 soldiers you defeated on the way here were the best men our organization had."

As he speaks, his hand starts reaching for the sword on his back...

-"Still, they were just soldiers, unlike me and you Commander, we are not like them, we are stronger, faster, smarter..."

Grasping the sword, he slowly starts unsheathing it, the sound of the blade grazing against the scabbard is getting stronger... 

Because nothing says "intergalactic warfare" and "advanced alien technology" like a FREAKING KATANA.

-"We are superior in every sense Commander, we... are GODS!"

!!KABOOM!!

-"OW! IS THAT A ROCKET LAUNCHER?!?!"

U.C.Comic - 003 No Shirt, No Service, No Sanity Check

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

Press A for a story - The Arcane Dinnerware Wizard

Okay, lets get this out of the way right now, i LOVE Role playing in video games, giving my character a story and a personality is one of the things i enjoy the most in games, which is why titles like Fallout 3 and Skyrim have stolen so many hours of my life, but the thing with Role playing is, there are sacrifices to be made, sure, the story is way more enjoyable when your character has a reason to do what he is doing, when you can say "Yep, this is what Commander Daniel Shepard would do!" while he bounces on a pogo stick with C4 strapped to his body, that's when you really get to enjoy the experience, but it also means that when a great opportunity presents itself, your character might not take it, be it because of his moral standards, or his tragic past, Commander Daniel Shepard might not shoot his enemy, even if it would make his life a lot easier, case and point, The Arcane Dinnerware Wizard.

"Dude, trust me, my character would totally do that because of.....uh...backstory?"

 

Roll 1d6 for a story - Dungeons and dragons, Mages and holes.

Recording #1402, date BA - NA - NA

The following is a recording from a Tabletop RPG session, viewer discretion is advised.

 

The scene: The main hall of the thieves guild, the party is trying to convince the lord of thieves to give them the heaven's eye (a magic Diamond).

DANIEL (DM; talking as the lord of thieves): "I must say i'm impressed, still, i find no reason to give away my most valuable possession"

DAVID (Archer, mildly annoyed): "look pal, this isnt about money, we need the gem to save the world, the world YOU happen to live in"

DANIEL (DM; annoying the party as the lord of thieves): "Oh, how typical of you adventurers; please, i'm no fool, the world is in no danger, and neither is my gem, in 50 years no thief has been able to breach my underground vault"

CRISTIAN (Fire Mage, gives a new meaning to friendly fire): "Wait... did you just say UNDERGROUND vault? like, UNDER the ground, THIS ground?"

Pyromancy: so many ways to ruin the DM's plans, so little time.

 

U.C.Comic - 002 Centaurs never look back... or up

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

Gaming Moments: "No brain" ledge

THE SCENARIO:

The storm rages outside the church's windows, Father Pain starts loading his holy shotgun, shell by shell, the thunder and lightning outside marks the rhythm for his motions, but while his hands are busy handling the weapon, his eyes are fixed on the window, staring deeply into the night. A lightning strike! the light it gives lasts for only a second, just  enough to remind him of the undead horde gathering outside his window, they are slow and stupid "gotta be at least a hundred of them shambling demons" thinks Father Pain, in his heart he keeps telling himself he'll be able to hold the church.

Fig. 1: Zombie Horde

As the last shell enters the barrel he falls to his knees and starts what could be his last prayer, he doesn't ask for anything, not even in this time of despair. He finishes his prayer and starts walking up the stairs, he has walked up this stairs every day for the past 30 years, but this time they feel a little bit longer, just enough for him to start regretting his decision, but he doesn't stop. Finally he reaches the bell tower, he used to love the view, as he watches the horde get closer he realizes he doesn't have enough ammunition, he knew that already, but he held some hope, now hope is a lost concept to him. As he readies his shotgun he notices a broken ledge in front of him, he gets close to examine it, he wouldn't want to fall, not tonight, as he looks down a thought crosses his mind "WOULDN'T IT BE AWESOME TO JUMP FROM HERE?!? DAMN THAT'D LOOK COOL" as the most idiotic thoughts of his life cross his mind all notion of logic and reason leaves his brain, he takes a step back, his body is ready, as he starts running, a little frail voice inside his mind says "you know, this is a stupid idea" but he cant hear it, for the loud and strong voice in his heart is screaming "LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY".
 

U.C.Comic - 001 Stuck in the borderlands

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

 CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE