Week 6 - Level Design

Unreal Tournament 3

Lighting
The lighting found in Unreal 3 is setup to give a cinematic experience. While most games are colourful, Unreal 3 actually desaturates some of the colour from the game to give a more dark and film like look. The lighting usually gives off some sort of tint to indicate team bases (red or blue). In regular maps however the lighting is mostly image based from the beautiful and panoramic sky textures. There are some maps where the sky is present in a day time setting. Other times the sky is red on a desert planet. Also some levels are set in space where light comes from the planet below and glowing items found on the space station. Although it is a dark game, there is no real dramatic or overly moody lighting found in games such as F.E.A.R where you are literally lurking in the shadows. Since custom maps are aplenty for this game, it entirely depends on how people want their levels to look. Many maps are created to resemble worlds from other games such as Halo or Quake III. In addition to main lighting, light is also emitted from weapons. A shot with an energy weapon can easily light up a room, or at least a good surrounding perimeter around the character. Items that glow, such as health, or boosts can add illumination to parts of the level. The guide arrows in the game are also semi-transparent and glow so that its easily noticeable. Through the use of lighting, the overall look for this game is designed to be a cinematic experience.

Colour and Contrast
Although a part of lighting, the colour and contrast were a big part of the look in Unreal 3. As i mentioned previously, the colours were sucked out to get a desaturated dark film look. This is best demonstrated in outdoor settings where the sky is bright. After the colour has been bumped down a bit, the contrast is cranked up high to make blacks blacker and whites whiter. Rather than resorting to the next-gen console techniques of yesterday, "bloom" was not abused but contrast was instead to get a hi-definition feel as well. The main colours in this game are black, red, white. All other colours are quite depressed or contain those main three colours in various shades. All of these things working together create a highly stylized look.

Scale
Creatures and characters in this game are all roughly the same size. They’re all humanoid lifeforms and so although there are big guys, and slender women, there are no overly large or small characters. While the designers could have gone crazy with characters that were enormous to fight, it wouldn’t be a balanced game since this is mainly a multiplayer or team based game. The main characters are easier to relate to and provide a more lifelike experience, while the alien characters add an element to fantasy so that we know that we are not on earth, but on some earth like planet or space instead. Environments in this game are alike. The paths, archways and stairs are all relative to the size of the characters. They even have stylistic elements that can be compared with ancient Chinese architecture.

Structure and Architecture
Getting around in Unreal 3 can be a daunting task depending on the level. Some levels are designed to have close quarters combat for fast paced action. These structures are usually constructed as a balanced and often symmetrical map with few big open areas and lots of connecting hallways, jumping platforms and stand multiple levels tall. The textures range from futuristic, to abandoned ancient structures blended with organic life often times. Larger maps are more life like in a way that its more explorable, vehicles are around to help you to get to where you want to go and natural phenomenon occur such as wind and dust storms. The architecture of the game is similar to previous Unreal or Quake games. It’s a fantasy world with lifelike structures. These worlds are full of items and strange, and sometimes familiar designs to interact with the player. There are also futuristic technologies such as teleporation, boots or pads that let you jump very high and far and alien items that enhance human ability.

Narrative
You as a player are led through different environments and worlds to advance the plot. Now, while the order of levels isn’t entirely linear, this doesn’t really effect the outcome. Much like Starfox, a player is able to play some maps out of order. In any case, players will find them selves in a few training missions at the beginning to acclimate them to the game. The protagonist, his family/team are the last line of humans and are seeking revenge on the one who wiped out their kind. Level to level, you gain valuable techniques that will help you to defeat the enemy at the end. There are no real twists and turns, it’s just a straight shoot ‘em up game with tonnes of action.

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Guitar Hero II

Lighting
The lighting in Guitar Hero II is used quite heavily. The lighting experience provided coincides with a typical arcade game with super bright lights and colours. In fact, it's so bright that playing for extended periods of time causes eye fatigue. In any case, the very bright colours represent the notes coming towards you that you must hit. When the notes are successfully hit and held, they will glow and get even brighter. Not only do the notes glow, but so does the background stage lighting as well as the various meters found in the HUD. That about covers it for the in game experience. In game menus, the lighting is quite different. It looks like the low level lighting found in dingy backstage bathroom found in concert venues.
The lighting found in Unreal 3 is setup to give a cinematic experience.

Colour and Contrast
Colour and contrast are huge in this game. I cannot stress the importance of colour enough. Without it, the game would be quite confusing to play if you were hit with a flurry of notes and were unable to differentiate between the buttons. It makes use of red, green, blue, yellow and orange appears also in harder difficulties or songs. For contrast, the flying fretboard is a dark brown colour so that there is no mistaking a note for part of the board. Similarly, the floating menus and meters are situated above the background in terms of Z depth, although the background colours usually don't interfere with the level of contrast it takes to keep the meters legible.

Scale
Scale is quite fantastic in the guitar hero series. First of all you have human characters, a stage scaled accordingly to people, the crows is also people and so the bar or venue is sized to people as well. Guitars and clothes also are sized for people. This is where the lifelike scale stops. In a song, the first thing you will notice is a giant fretboard flying towards you. This is out of scale. The notes on the board are also quite a bit smaller as to not cram the fretboard. Considering Z depth, there can be a lot of notes placed between frets, and is unrealistic in terms of real guitar.

Structure and Architecture
Structure and Architecture are a bit unusual since this game is not your typical game world. You go from venue to venue playing gigs with your band. The venues are never shown except for the stage you are playing on. Since every stage looks pretty much the same, even if it was different you would have a hard time noticing since most of your time is spent staring at the notes. The structure of this game is mainly built around the notes, how they appear and how the react when a player does something. While the rules remain the same, new songs bring on new notes and patterns to get used to.

Narrative
There's not much to say about narrative in Guitar Hero II. You choose a character, name your band and suddenly you have a band. You play the guitarist in your band, and must travel the country playing songs. You are rewarded with money and praise if you do well, you are booed and fined by the venue owner if you do poorly and cause a riot. People add to this story by setting personal goals for themselves. People often want to beat each other's high score, or try to get a perfect score. The fun in this game continues to exist because of these personal goals.

Week 5: Formal Abstract Models and Drama

Unreal Tournament 3

Intention – The intention in Unreal is to increase your strategy and skill to not only beat a map, weapon or character but to master it. This becomes apparent when playing a tournament with others online or bots. Players quickly discover what it takes to win. As a first person shooter, players know what to expect from this genre as far as rules and gameplay are concerned. There are main goals to achieve as well as secondary ones. A player may decide to beat the game level by level which would be a short term goal. A long term goal on the other hand would be to master the use of the sniper rifle while jumping or something like having the best kill to death ratio.

Perceivable Consequence – is notable in the game at all times. Whether it be single player or multiplayer, a player can see direct results of his actions. If he shoots explosive projectiles beneath him, he will hurt himself. If he gets close to a player, he will injure him. If he shoots right at the person at hits him, he well cause more damage. Similarly, when playing bots, you will start to notice patterns. Not only do they have preset paths to follow, they also like to jump around and teleport. A player with enough experience can predict where a person or bot will land after a jump. A well placed shot will ensure a victory. All of this applies to the player too, since he or she must be wary of others using this against them.

Negative Feedback – in Unreal is present always. The simplest form is during gameplay when you are getting hurt, the player will grunt, your health meter goes down, the screen flashes to indicate pain. If you finally die, you can see your own dead body but it doesn't show you the person that killed you, so that you may take revenge. Of course it reads out that player 1 killed player 2 using x weapon but in a level with hordes of players, its impossible to track down one player and kill him. In menus, negative feedback is produced by a negative buzz or an error sound if you try to do something that is not allowed. Sounds are probably the largest indicator of negative feedback in this game. Players or bots can also insult you when you kill them. This can be considered negative feedback but it could also make a player feel good since they know they are making the other player frustrated. The negative feedback, although annoying adds balance to achieve more realism i believe. Although it might be a fun mod to have no force feedback, or recoil when firing weapons, it would defeat the purpose of a player developing the skill to use a certain weapon or technique.

Positive Feedback – The best positive feedback in this game, is that you know what is happening all the time. Your missions are simple, and explained to you with video walkthroughs. Your level objectives are simple, and are guided when the game detects that you are confused. I dont know too many games that can do that. When you spawn in a level, you hear a distinct whoosh sound that lets you know that your character is ready to go. Visuals also help such as the very large numbers and simple icons in the HUD. As stated previously, players receive feedback from preset voices of bots or players that will praise you or insult you when you kill them. One thing i miss in this game is that the computer voice would periodically praise the players that were doing well by saying things like “Killing Spree!” or “Unstoppable!”. This motivates a player to do better since they know they have a streak going.

Escalation - Unreal begins to peak in action or drama when more of the story unfolds. You are trying to avenge the wiping out of your family from an alien leader. In the final level you are faced with the leader in a 1 on 1 battle. Her AI and awareness are more aggressive than anything you’ve ever encountered throughout the game so far. This presents a challenge to the player and may take many tries to overcome. This sort of escalation is not only limited to the final battle, but occurs in every level. You are always experiencing the same kind of drama when the level is almost complete, or if time is running out and the winner isn’t clear.

Hidden Energy – Hidden energy in this game comes in the form of items. When certain enhancement items are picked up in the game, they are automatically used. This can be a health pack, health boost, shield, extra damage, anti gravity boots, armor, or even some special moves. When a player is equipped with one or more of these, he is temporarily stronger, faster, or more deadly. This is completely unrelated to a person’s level of success in a match. An expert player has just as much of a chance as getting and using these items as a novice. The only difference being that a novice will most likely not know the terrain or the location of these items and will most likely stumble across them by chance. Secondary function of all weapons is also a hidden energy. You are not told that weapons can do two types of damages. Another hidden energy is a weapon you use when all of your ammo is spent in your other weapons, which is more or less a device you use to ram into another player for an instant kill. This is considered a difficult kill, because you have to get within point blank range and kill the person without being seen. Also comparable to a knife kill in other games.

Inevitability – Players are faced with multiple forms of inevitability. Sometimes they are limited by time. Other times they are limited by items, such as vehicles in some levels and another in others. Things that are always the same is the amount of ammo in a level. Once ammo runs out, a player needs to pickup more ammo wherever it respawns in the level. The same applies for health and it is possible to charge the health to 150% while starting with 100. There is no real ending to this game, since there are always characters to be unlocked, different difficulties to beat as well as the multiplayer component to continue the game online.

Guitar Hero II

Intention – The intention in Guitar Hero II are to become well, a guitar hero. You do this by beating each song, on each difficulty to the best of your ability. A player must try to minimize mistakes and really go for accuracy and even throw in a little style. Players are meant to make use of realistic guitar techniques in order to play some of the harder passages the game throws at you. While this doesn’t teach you how to play guitar, it certainly does train one to be able to play along in sync, or in time with music which can certainly be applied to a musical instrument in reality. The ultimate goal in this game is to get a perfect score in all of the songs. Short term goals are completing the songs in any way and earning money to buy new equipment and accessories.

Perceivable Consequence – is the basis of this game. While you are rewarded for doing well in a song, you are also punished for doing poorly or missing notes. If it isn’t known, a player will discover this quickly within the first couple seconds of playing. A player must complete a song not by meeting a certain percentage or number of points. Instead he must keep the rock meter above zero in order to not fail. The game may confuse players as well since they show the current stream of notes as well as future ones. If one gets too focused on what is to come, they may screw up the group of notes before them currently.

Negative Feedback – is quite good in guitar hero. While a player is playing poorly, the game will replace the bad notes with guitar noises to indicate that the notes are not being hit correctly. If a player stops playing, the guitar track will stop. Also if a player does not do good overall, the crowd’s cheers will turn into booing. Some visuals also add to the feedback. Familiar colours such as green and red have a role in this. While the rock meter is in the green it is good, and similarly when it reaches red, it means that the player is in trouble and needs to start playing better or he will fail the song.

Positive Feedback – is similar to the negative feedback, but reversed. While a player is playing well, the game will regularly play riff noises which are different to the noises played when notes are missed. Notes will begin to glow, and the star meter will being to grow. The crowds will chant for you, and from time to time major milestones will be displayed above. For example a 50 note streak occurs, and it will display the text and trigger a riff sound. After a song has been compelted or failed, the game breaks down your score into a star rating, note streaks and hit percentage of each section in a song so that you can improve.

Escalation – occurs in gh2 when solos are approaching in a song. This is usually the deciding factor between a fail and a completioin of a song. The colour of the rock meter going into a solo should be perfectly green and the star power meter should not be empty. Solos are generally difficult to pull off and mistakes should be expected. By having a multiplier, star power, and a high rock meter you can use those elements to ensure that you will still hit the majority of notes, and the notes missed will not effect your meters too much.

Hidden Energy – would probably be the star power. To fill this meter, you must keep a steady streak of notes coming in. Another way to quicken this process is to wiggle the whammy bar during long held notes. Star power allows you to increase the worth of every point coming in. Combined with a multiplier of 8, star power will allow the maximum number of points.

Inevitability – Players are not faced with a time limit overall, but rather an alloted time for each note or group of notes. Once the given time has passed, it is impossible to go back and hit notes. In that sense, this time based game will come to an end of each song. But this game really never ends if you are constantly trying to better yourself and others. If you do well, the game will undoubtedly reward you and vice versa.