8. Tweaking Ancient Games

Ancient Game Changes

I went under a number of different changes with Sent. The main change i was looking to put forward was the fact that i had changed the main symbols on the board and they now have different consequences when playing the game. These different effects would then change the game up dramatically so as you have probably now guessed i need to test the game a number of times before i was happy to go with this idea. Everyone should test there games because without testing your game you have no clue how the player is going to feel when playing the game everyone may find the game to hard or even boring because theirs nothing to excite the player. This was not the case with my game as the player would be going under a number of different changes within the game depending on what square they landed on in the game I was also thinking about changing the movement mechanic when playing the game from the basic D6 to a "Number Grid" the way this number grid would have worked is by picking number on the grid in a strategic way, but after a number of tests this was not working for my game and i need a another way to put forward my movement? The grid was no good as players would just pick the highest numbers and then play the last number 7 on the grid of pick the number 7 on the grid. Anyway i am not explaining this very well but will be explained in detail on the first assignment.

Which is something i have to think deeply about when i start my first assignment. Changes for the game of Senet is not easy but its the game i liked the most and changes will be challenging but i am up for the challenge. The game is very set in its mechanics and dynamics.

Image of the game Senet and all the game pieces.

9. La decima vittima

La Decima Vittima (A Film)

This translates from Italian into the British name the (The 10th Victim) This was a very strange film to say the least and it was hard to tell what was going on in certain points just seamed like a lot of random killing and club fights in places and funny in some places but i feel as though it was meant to be a dramatic moment in the film but just left me laughing because the fight scenes where stupidly funny when everyone left the room after the film we where just like what was that film all about also a bit boring in places. Hot Ladies and Guns and Just a killing hunt fest with different parts in-between of random conversations and situations. Did not understand the point of the film was it to say killing is a game everyone is playing the killed games did not see board games in the film and no video games in the film? Some technology in the film.
So overall not sure what to think and how this links in with the other blog tasks but yer IGN 10/10 but me 6/10 overall review of the film. Gave me some ideas for future game development but that's about it.

(Recent Edit)

After looking into the film a bit more and thinking about the topics we have covered i can now see this links into Pervasive Games like ninja or assassin games where you have a target like in the film.

11. Games Britannia “Joystick Generation”

Games Britannia "Joystick Generation" (3/3)

This was all about Video Games. In the last episode of a three. The Development of games over the last years has grown dramatically and technology improvements happen every year. From the basic board game where you could only play with physical objects for movement and tactics but now in the twenty first century human computer interaction is essential.

This episode builds up slowly to finally showing you a game which was one of the most populate third person shooters for its time GTA IV. The TV show must be about 5 years behind as games have moved on since and GTA V is out now. Overall the program covered a number of games like tomb raider and little big planet. These games where all early developments you could say which gave other games ideas of how to make the online community better for multiple player games and little big plant is a great example of this where you can share your levels around the world. These days a lot of games now do this and therefor thanks to other early games ideas have grown bigger and online community and multiplier are now things players look for in most games when thinking about buying them. Overall i found games Britannia a important resource for when thinking about video games as well as board games.

There was also a part in the program where he would interview other people and ask then what video game  they would like make if they could and basically everyone was thinking about making Saints Row 3 and so here is a video of one of the people he asked on the program and hes describing Saints Row in a nut shell.  Also this program was made before Saint Row was a game which is a good point i would like to raise.

Overall a interesting program.

7. British Museum Trip Comments

The British Museum Trip

The good old British museum well..... Luckily i had gone to this place before very recently in the summer of 2013 because i sat crying on the street as the coach went off without me ;( but because i had been there before and i know what was to be expected when going there and i had been to the games area of the British museum before. So i can tell you that the science area of the museum is the best place to be where they show the Solar System and also types of materials which have been collected from all over the world like ruby and uranium which is cool to look at.

Overall when i went on the British Museum Trip it was very good fantastic location where the building is and also a very good looking building, Once inside your amazed on how much history is in there lots of areas to explore and that's all i have to say that's my comment on the matter.

There are a number of very old games in the museum as in the past there where a lot of British explores finding these hidden games and other artifacts. So when explores where looking for gold and riches they would sometimes come across old game games which people would play hundreds of years ago. Egyptian board games and Roman games where the most common finds.

Anyway i have a video from David Attenborough showing the British museum and yes i know this has nothing to do with games but its the most interesting video i could find and a lot of time and effort went into finding a video which is not to long for people to be like 14 mins nah not watching but still very interesting for people to actually click on and watch also its like night at the museum and it was an even last year but only just last year as it was on new years day.
SO CLICK AND LOOK AT IT. because its still about the British Museum. And its in 3D on Sky.

6. Games Britannia “Monopolies & Mergers”

Game Britannia "Monopolies & Mergers (2/3)

The second episode of Games Britannia was all about populate board games new and old board games but the once which had some sort of effect on the people playing them. most of the game in the episode where games which covered popularity games which stand out from all others and why these games where good was explained in the episode like Monopoly and Cluedo or the older version "clue" which was shown in the episode and everyone in the room when watching this episode was like whats the hell is clue? its cluedo which was funny because clue was not in are age generation. So for this episode i have learnt that there are a number of generations of the game before they get updated like monopoly which has been around a very long time and i remember the old monopoly because my parents had the old box which was also passed down from other generations because  my grandparents had  the very original which my family still has today and i remember the box being all red.

   Overall this episode i remember a number of games that where        very interesting like the terrorist game called "War on Terror"
   which at the time was not excepted by the public saying this was      a game which has gone to far because you would put on a                balaclava when you played the role of terrorist which is stupid to      think about as these days a balaclava defines a terrorist and              most video games use this feature and use customization in games    where you can buy a balaclava to put on your player in game.

So a very interesting episode but not as good as the first episode of the series just because i am a massive chess nerd and they said a lot about chess last episode.
 

 

5. Games Britannia “Dicing with Destiny”

Games Britannia "Dicing with Destiny" (1/3)

This was very interested in this TV program from the BBC i found it showed how people treasured there board games almost like seeing them as a god like object in some cases. Board games just like video games of our time, these games are great pass time activities and shows how games where played in the past and sometimes had dramatic consequences on the future within the church and putting forward movement for the war strategies showing a game which involved a king protected by his army trying to get to the end of the board. I was very interested in the chess principles in this episode which Showed the grand chess tournament between the two best chess players of the time when the game was played and how easy it is to lose and game if you make the wrong moves as strategies and strategic movement was very important to people when playing games in the past and made very interesting event for people to came watch. Which is what made the first of the three episodes very interesting as games where taken a lot more serious and used in higher class as well as lower class areas of the world.

The Main Interesting even in this first episode of the Games Britannia was the event where they first started to understand how games could be used for early war strategies. Even though this could be a bit far fetched like Eddie was saying when we where watching the episode. yep that's right i still remember what Eddie said even this far back when we first started games Britannia. This event in the show was when the Romans had invaded Britten and the people who ruled Britten at the time where trying to protect the king.

The chess game reenactment in the episode was also very interesting showing how the game of chess between the two champions was played with the big giant chess board and pieces which i think was in London but i could be wrong here. This is just going off my memory of the episode.

I also remember them also covering a game where they had to get the king to the end of the board which was also very interesting i think this was a big and more updated version of a smaller version of this games where you have to protect your king and get him to the end of the board.

Overall this was the most interesting episode for me as the other episodes just talked about video games which where good at the time but now look silly and way out of date. So i found the board game aspect way more interesting finding out about these new board games.

3. Caillois’s Terminology Overview

Caillois Terminology Overview

From learning about the different forms of terminology i can see how this can fit into my future studies on my course. These different types of terminology help players understand factors in games and no all games are the same using the same mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics if you think they all do then you are sadly wrong here are some of the things i found out about when researching.  

Here is some of what i found out on the internet about Caillois Terminology.

Different Types Of Play

Paidia

Controlled by improvisation and spontaneous ideas.

Ludus

Controlled by structure and rules.

Different Forms Of Play

Alea

Based around overall chance and Luck  e.g. Roulette

Ilinx

Based around Vertigo, things that alter our perception, e.g. Taking hallucinogens

Agon

Based on competition, e.g. Chess and Poker

Mimicry

Based on role playing, e.g. Dungeons and Dragons and Charades 

So when taking about Agon you main goal is to get your target audience of competitive players to like your game is it competitive or not very competitive you could then add Ludus so these controlled set of rules will control the game and every player playing the game will have to understand the game to get very good at it on a to achieve a competitive stranded and there needs a lot of competition to challenge the player and if there not challenged there going to be upset as it to easy. So competition needs to be hard for then the player to feel good about winning and beating them.

An Example of games which are Paidia Games are Sunset Overdrive and Dead Rising 2. This then allows the player to do what they please within the game and can change the game by the free actions you take.