Week 10 - Thief III Comparison

Thief III

Thief III falls under a different genre than Unreal Tournament 3 or Guitar Hero II although I suppose they share some abstract models between the three games. Thief is mainly a stealth based third person game. Unreal Tournament is a first-person shooter and Guitar Hero is a music based game.

Unreal Tournament 3
In Unreal, the first thing I noticed to be the same were the style of lighting. Both games feature low lit environments, while Thief pushes the envelope for dark environments. From what I can tell, Unreal has a better layout in terms of heads up display. I can understand why thief doesn’t show as much as you don’t need to have a read out of everything at all times. It also helps to be in a third person view so that movements are more precise. Unreal is set in a first person view to have a better view at your target. One of the similarities found in both games are the use of an overlay to show position such as a map or compass. The art in the game also have a striking resemblance to each other. While thief is set in what looks medievil times, unreal also has surroundings that look very rustic or of the same era.

Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II is in almost no way similar to Thief. The gameplay is totally different, as is the genre. The lighting style, music, mood, the nature of the game is entirely different. Off hand, I cannot think of any similarities between Thief III and any of the games in the Guitar Hero series.

Week 9 - Lighting Design

Unreal Tournament 3
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.

Guitar Hero II
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.

Week 8 - Puzzle Design

Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3)
There aren't really elements of gameplay that are identifiable as puzzles in this game, however there are certain types of games within the shoot em up style of play that could be considered puzzle like. One such example is on levels where you have to capture an enemy node which usually means several enemy nodes. It is your job to capture a number of nodes and not allow the enemy to capture them back. This is difficult, as it takes time to destroy the protective shield around the node each time, and the second problem is that while you are capturing another node, your enemy is trying to steal one of yours! I would categorize this under "Trial and Error" puzzle types. There is no straightforward way to solve this puzzle except to create a strategy that will allow you to be successful.

Guitar Hero II (360)
Puzzle Types: There aren't really any "puzzles" in guitar hero II, but certain elements could be considered similar to a puzzle.

Code/Configuration: this game is all about button combination. The game is played by pushing the correct buttons at the correct times to produce the right sounds. When the player is successful at meeting these requirements they gain points that brings up their score and score multiplier. The better players do in a song, the more fans they get and as a result they are able to earn more money, unlock new items, etc.

Cause and Effect: Pushing buttons on the controllers causes certain things to happen on screen. By tilting the guitar shaped controllers upward the player uses star power and this in turn helps them by making notes worth more point wise.