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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

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

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

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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?"

 

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

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CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE

U.C.Comic - 001 Stuck in the borderlands

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 CLICK HERE FOR FULL SIZE