Précis

What have we done for the last two weeks of class?

February 13: First Person Shooters

Homework Due:

Play DOOM and First Person Lover
Watch the trailer for "Lady in the Lake"

In Class Discussion:

Discussed First Person Shooters

One can control the perspective which gives agency
Movie Example: Strangers On a Train by Alfred Hitchcock

Subjective camera
Following the characters eyes creates tension
The watcher participates in the vulnerability
Tennis Scene: occupying his subjectivity

Movie Example: Lady in the Lake

Shot in first person
Made in 1946
Film Noir
The viewer becomes the piece of conversation
The viewer becomes a character in the movie and becomes involved in the plot (Through direct eye contact from other characters and from direct forms of contact.)
Viewer is reminded that we are not looking at the main character from his point of view (through the camera motions while he's moving, as well as the recurring arm and hand movements that reach from behind the camera.)
Anxiety created through being subjected to camera angles, as well as other characters attention.
uses the masculine gaze ex. when he eyes the secretary as she leaves the room.

Game Example: Doom (1993)

Created before the term FPS
Limited Vision
has a noticeable health meter especially with the face status
Science-Fiction Horror
John D. Carmack developed a new 3D game engine for it
Released as shareware, but over one million copies have been sold
Has many mods
Gory for the time
Player doesn't have complete freedom

Can't move the gun

Controversially associated with Columbine Shootings

Game Example: First Person Lover

by Bjorn Borg
Same generic context and mechanic as a first person shooter
a reskin of an FPS with its non lethal projectiles and bubbles instead of bullets
Economic Context:

Exists to sell product

1 Player
Rules and Goals: Fill people with love/get rid of hate, destroy hate generators
Mechanics: Shooting, looking, crouching, stealing clothes, destroy machines, put new clothes on naked people
Political Context:

Gay Rights movement
Vladimir Putin included as final boss

Story: A rocket set to launch and fill world with hate, sacrifice self to fill world with love
Objective:

incapacitate bad guys with love
clothe bad guys to make them happy
not killing unlike other FPS

Rhetorical Existence to convince you of things

buying clothes
clothes will create joy where there was none previously)

Differences between DOOM and First Person Lover:

switch weapons and move the weapons around

February 16: Adventure Games

Homework Due:

Play King's Quest: Quest for the Crown

In Class Discussion:

Historical analysis of video games:
---Technological context
---Socio-historical context
---Economic context
---Production context
---Reception
---Platform Studies

GAGS-Graphic Adventure Games

Some notable games:

1976 Colossal Cave Adventure
1980-Mystery House and Zork (Infocom)

The first GAG

1984-Kings Quest
1987-Leisure Suit Larry
1993 Mist

increased popularity of adventure games

Show progression in adventure games
Adventure genre core mechanics: exploration with a reason- quest narrative
Socio-historical context: look at the historical context (current events)
audience is aimed towards teenagers
Inspired parodies like peasant quest
Sierra On-line becomes prominent during the time King's Quest was released and played
Lucas Arts rises to importance as they begin to shell out games
Kings Quest:

Context:

Ken and Roberta Williams developed the game within the company of Sierra Online
Developed at a time when the medieval trope rose to prominence
Could be played on home computers
Without walkthrough's available, it likely took huge effort and great lengths of time when it was first released

Overview:

1 Player
Medieval elements including quests, kings, knights and witches
Simple, two dimensional, pixelated graphics
Contiguous
Goal: The current king is to die soon, so he tasks the protagonist to find three objects to become the next king
Mechanics: Walking, typing, and clicking

Easy to die; the player will want to save often

Has a sort of proto-sandbox style where the player can choose to go anywhere they want

Formal Elements:

Save states available
Represented by King Graham's sprite
Aesthetic:

MS Paint
Limited color palate
cartoony, simple
Pixelated
attempted 3-D world with 2-D movement

Sound:

Medieval music
Music upon death

No rhetoric
Hard coded
Other:
- Inspired many satire games such as Peasant's Quest (available on homestarrunner.com)
Differences between browser and emulator versions: speed, story, mechanics
February 18: Role Playing Games

Homework Due:

Read Intro to Game Analysis, Chapter VI
Complete "Historical Analysis" Homework Quiz
Play Final Fantasy

In Class Discussion:

Role Playing Games

Simulated Immediacy: Understand that we are outside of the world of the game
Second person address
Conventionally in a RPG

Party
Roles, classes, and race
A world, usually fantasy
Customization
Character
Stats
Levels
Has a Quest of some kind

Pokemon as an RPG
has a party (you're pokemon)
quest defeating elite 4
stats
customization (move sets)
roles

History:

1812-Kriegsspiele

War gaming
Von Reiswitz

1913-"Little wars"
1971-"Chainmail"
1974-Dungeons and Dragons

Gygax

1980-MUD, Multi User Dungeon

Bartle

1981-Ultima
1997-Ultima Online- very famous MMORPG
1999 Everquest another famous MMORPG

February 20: Indie Games

Homework Due:

Enviro Bear 2000
Rom Check Fail
Spelunky
Memories of a Broken Dimension (see note in Canvas)
Dwarf Fortress (or just read about it)

In Class Discussion:

AAA mainstream games

a term used for games with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion
has hundreds of people working on it
usually expected to be of highest quality and among the bestsellers for the year

Most people are shifting towards indie game
Indie Games

involves one person:

designing
writing
programming/coding
audio/music

3 stages of game industry

development

design, writing, programming, and audio

publishing
distribution
now a days distribution is easier due to PSN and other online buying system

Atari handled all three processes
Activision started the break away from companies handling all three processes

wanted to make their own games

Pitfall could be considered the first indie game

An Atari game made by Activision
Very successful indie game.
Produced to sell Atari console
Original
There was no publisher needed.

Dwarf Fortress

Made by 2 brothers: Zach and Tarn Adams
created in 2006
uses a lot of memory
maps geological processes
creates the world
generates stories and characters
guitar music

Minecraft started out as an indie game then it was bought out by Microsoft
Relationship between Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft

using the imagination to develop the world around the player
generated worlds
craft (Minecraft you build stuff and dwares build stuff in Dwarf Fortress)

Other indie games

Flappy bird
Minecraft
Memories of a Broken Dimension

Reasons for Indie game creation:

Experimentalism: Doing something just to do something
Conceptualism: idea of it is better than the thing itself
Nostalgia: throwing back and looking at what other people want to

February 23: Midterm Review

Technological Context: what the game is played on (ie. platform, console, hardware used)

Socio-Historical Context: when the game was made, released, historical/ current events surround the game

Economic Context: how the game is distributed, marketed, monetized, how it reaches its audience

Production Context: how and by who was the game produced

Reception: how was the game received by the community

Platform Studies: how the technology influences how a game is made and how playable it is in certain cases

Evolution: how the game changes overtime in perception, content, etc.

Pipedreamz:

Technological context: Flash, web browser, computer, internet, web (adult swim)

Socio-historical context: rise or flash games, drug culture, adult swimness

Economic context: adult swim

Production context Mark Essen, Flash

Reception: (reviews etc.)

Platform Studies: Need to know more about flash-->relation between formal elements and technological context

How to prepare for Midterm Essays:

Take a look at building blocks- practice applying blocks to a game for analysis

Logistics:

In class-on canvas
Multiple choice
4 short answer essays ~200 words
Give good, specific examples
thoughtful applications
good, clear writing

Ch. 6 Types of Analyses: Overview

Historical

Illustration of a Theory

Interpretive Analysis

Personal Account

Sample Essay Questions

1) What are at least 3 elements you would normally find in an RPG? Explain each and give examples.

2) Explain how King's Quest has a three dimensional quality.

3) How is Lady in the Lake in a first person perspective? Give 3 examples.

4) What's the difference between an indie game and a AAA game? Give at least one example of each.

5) Compare and contrast any indie game and a AAA game.

6) So far, what has been your favorite game so far we had done in class? Elaborate more with historical analysis about the game (Context, content, etc.)

7) First Person Lover alludes to events and people of the real world, name one. Why do you think this reference was added? What effect does this have on a game's presentation and overall meaning? Can you think of any other examples possibly in other games? What effect does that game's allusions have on that game?

8) Have RPGs existed before the dawn of video games? Explain why or why not.

9) How can indie games be considered "throw backs" to older games? Give at least one example of an indie game that can be argued as a "throw back" (it does not matter if the game was discussed in class or not).

10) Some indie games are well-known because of the stories they tell. Why? Give at least one example for each reason.

11) Why is first person more effective in video games than it is in movies?

12) What are the basic aspects of the adventure game genre?

13)Pick three elements of historical analysis that Fernandez-Vara outlines in Introduction to Game Analysis, explain what each of them mean and how they appear in one of the games we have played.

14) Fernandez- Vara explains that the technological content of a game is the technology the game is built for, such as the console or the hardware. Choose a game we have discussed in class. What is the technological context of this game? How can the technological context add to a game or take from it? Would it be the same game if it had a different technological context?

15) Explain the elements of production that could influence a game to go under the indie genre rather than AAA.

16) Give a few basic aspects of a First Person Shooter videogame.

17) Is there a reason why medieval-based Adventure games gained so much popularity in the 1970s-1980s? If so, name one.

18) Even though Minecraft has been bought out by Microsoft, many people still refer to it as an Indie Game. Do you agree? Why or why not?

19) Did King's Quest open up adventure games for the rest of the community? If so, how?

20) What are the differences between an indie game and a "mainstream" game? Are they significant differences?

21) In what ways was King's Quest significant enough to be discussed in class? Why is it worth talking about now?

22) Describe how a first person shooter and a first person film are comparable to each other. Use examples to back up your claim.

23) What is the difference between First Person Lover and Doom? Are they both comparable in any ways? Elaborate more with using the context of each of the game.

24) Choose 2 games and compare/contrast the history and the way the game is played.

25) How's King Quest difficult than the other games? Describe it with using historical analysis and elaborate more about it.

26) Compare AAA mainstream games and Indie games and elaborate more with context and historical analysis about each of the games from both AAA and Indie.

27) How was final fantasy an important game to play as our homework before? Elaborate your reasoning.

28) Choose your favorite game so far and with historical analysis describe it.

29) Compare/Contrast first person shooter game and role-playing game. Give more details about your reasoning.

30) What was the first access code that Professor Whalen used on the midterm before he changed it in class?

31) Compare diegetic and nondiegetic sounds in DOOM as well as First Person Lover. Do they have different effects on the player? What makes them similar?

32) Compare rules and mechanics in Final Fantasy. What is your opinion on their use?

33) Consider Huizinga's point regarding the creation of permanent communities. How might this apply to ROM Check Fail, and why might it be a special case?

34.) How can Pokémon be considered an RPG? Discuss the traits of an RPG and apply them to Pokémon to answer this question.

35.) Compare and contrast the use of first-person perspective in Lady in the Lake and Strangers on a Train.

36.) How has Minecraft evolved from an indie game into a AAA game?