Apple Interactive Concept - Update 5

I have tightened up the look of my game a bit since last. I had a very photo-realistic u.f.o. to begin with. I decided to reduce it down to a handful of flat, neutral colours. This was to keep it cohesive with the game's look as a whole. It now looks a lot more 'Apple Macintosh', with its cool shades of grey. I also altered the look of the scoreboard, which had started out as a simple black rectangle, with red digital numbers spread across it. I then changed its colour scheme, with a light blue rectangle and black numbers. For this latest change, I made the scoreboard a lot smoother and slicker. I added gentle colour gradients to the bar, and made the numbers match the font I had used elsewhere in the game, as well as in my design document.

My AIC

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 4

I have changed the look of my game somewhat. I started with a fairly standard background. Which had a faded blue sky, and a flat plain of green to represent the grass the people stand on. I thought this was too bland, and didn't really follow the look of the rest of the game, with its clean, clinical and mechanical elements. I changed the background to a more appropriate urban setting, with a skyline of variously sized buildings. Furthermore, by this stage, I had included some converted 'Apple People', as well as the unconverted 'blanks people'. These 'blanks' were a single-toned white manikins, statuesque on the ground, like sitting ducks. As well as adding the 'Apple people' I put in someone in the process of being converted, having just been hit by an Apple product, with a swirling vortex of energy around them, warping them into a black silhouette.

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 3

I have scrapped my first idea to make a free falling platform game, based on titles like ; 'Cow in a Shaft, 'The Dangerous Descent' from 'LittleBigPlanet', or 'Abduction', from the App store. I now thought of another fun online game I had played in the past. 'Gun Run' is a bold, slick looking, side scrolling shooter. I wanted to make a homage to this great little game, with my own creation. For content, I thought I revolve the whole game around 'Apple' itself. As we had to create an Apple iOS game, I thought I  would poke fun at the idea, and make a game that would be satirical and not too serious.

The basic premise for my game is that you, the player, is in control of a little U.F.O. which has the 'Apple'logo emblazoned on its flank. Your goal is to covert as many earthlings into 'Apple People' as you can, by firing various Apple products at them. The 'Apple People' are the striking black silhouettes you see in their adverts, dancing around with white earphone leads whipping about them. Really, the goal is to rack up high a score as you can, by converting everyone into these 'Apple People'.

Gun Run

First concept art

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 2

So, my initial idea is to have a free-falling game, which is fun and very simple. I took inspiration from various games across a number of platforms. There is an old flash game online called 'Cow in a Shaft'. As the rudimentary title suggests, it involves a free falling cow hurtling down a shaft, which the player must control not to go too fast or too slow. The cow must leap from platform to platform, which are all constantly moving upwards and disappearing off the top of the screen. As well as this, the cow must try to avoid dropping too fast and fall into the abyss at the bottom of the screen. So it is a basic judgement of timing and speed. This particular online game stuck in my mind from several years ago, and because of that fact, I chose to emulate this memorable game in my own fashion. Although 'Cow in a Shaft' may no be an original concept. I have found other similar games in other platforms. In 'LittleBigPlanet' for example, there is a minigame which is very similar to 'Cow in a shaft'. It introduced the possibility of having up to four players on screen, instead of the one solitary cow. Additionally, LBP has totally different graphics to 'Cow in a shaft', it being released exclusively on the PS3 back in 2008.

After looking into some more games on Apple's app store, I found even more games with the same idea. There was one game, called 'Doodle Jump', which took the concept, and literally flipped it on its head. In this game, you play as acute little 'doodle' monster, who's aim is to continually jump up the screen, with roughly the same parameters and rules as 'Cow in a Shaft'. It took advantage of its platform however, and made good use of the IPad's tilt function, to control the creature's trajectory. Another game in the same vein, would be 'Abduction'. This also involved a cow, which would be trying to travel up the screen, instead of falling down it. It looked a lot like 'Doodle Jump', with practically the same layout and controls (once again making use of the in built motion controls). Albeit with a different visual style.

I originally wanted to make a game just like these ones. But I went on to think of a more interesting and more socially outspoken game concept.

Cow in a shaft

Doodle Jump

Contextual Studies - Greg Costikyan 10 points of Interest 5/10

I have never really thought about the relative redundancy of the term 'good'. In his introduction, Costikyan talks about this. He says good does very little to describe a game, book, film etc. "Saying "it has good gameplay" is about as useful as saying "that's a good book."" I agree with him on this point. Saying something is 'good' generally implies a positive outlook on the game, book, but it does not tell us what it is that is good about it. It is too vague a phrase for defining the exact features of a subject. Costikyan also says "good doesn't help us understand what is good about it, what pleasure it provides, and how to go about doing something else good". Therefore, he says if you were able to understand things with the help of better wording, you could use what makes other things great, and apply it to your own projects.

Greg Costikyan talks about how someone else, called Will Wright, held a speech at a games developers’ conference some years ago. I find it very interesting how , in the conference, Wright describes SimCity as more of a 'software toy', rather than a game. He goes on to compare the game to a ball. A ball is just a toy, until a person lays their own set of rules and clearly defined boundaries upon it. Thus making it into a game. The same can be said about SimCity, which is relatively free form. In which, the player can choose his or her own objective, and try to accomplish this goal. I think this is a good comparison, the similar nature of the ball and the game SimCity, both goalless, until the player applies his or her own goals. In addition, Greg Costikan argues that struggle is needed in a game, to generate the 'thrill of victory'. If there is no build up, no conflict, no struggle, there will be no feeling of accomplishment when you do succeed. Greg uses the example of 'Plucky Little England'. In this example, the player is presented with two simple choices A and B. Choose B, and you win. Game over. Costikyan explains with "There is no thrill of victory, of course; it was all too easy, wasn't it? There wasn't any struggle.'  I agree with Greg, when he talks about the freedom offered by RPG games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. These games are where "adventure is a plot skeleton". Where the players journey through a totally imaginary world, dictated by the Gamemaster, who acts as a kind of "referee and playwright". The participants of the game are led into a world of fiction, much more like a book than a stereotypical video game. I like this sense of freedom he alludes to. I have seen friends of mine become totally embroiled into this make-believe world, even without the digital stimulus of computer graphics. I found this to be quite a special experience of mine.

Structure is important in games. Even in children's 'let's pretend' games, they invent their own rules set. Costikyan gives the example of a child's game. "You can only transform into a bird when you’re on the climbing structure in the park. If you want to attack someone, you have to ‘tag’ them". I can think of similar instances from my own childhood. We developed our own rules and parameters when we played. We had teams with their own bases, within which, you couldn't be killed, or were safe from monsters etc. Where problems arose, was when people weren't exactly clear on the rules. “Bang bang, you’re dead.” “No, I’m not! Who says? Why am I dead?”. Situations like this are to be expected from children's simple games, but this can spell doom for games on the professional level. If not everyone is clear on what the rules are, issues can quickly arise and ruin a game.

Apple Interactive Concept - Update 1

I have has so many ideas on what to do for this project, that I've been stuck on which one to choose. I know I want to make a very simple game. Something that is 'old fashioned', in a video gaming sense. An old-stlye platformer would be the aim. Much of what I have seen of Apple games, is remarkable and very clever. Although the technical looks of these IOS games are not on par with modern console and pc games, they are very impressive, in the fact of what they can add to a game. I personally do not own any handheld Apple products, so seeing the abilities of what the Ipad, Iphone can do in computer gaming terms, is amazing. There are games that 'add' to the real environment around the player. This is called 'augmented reality'. It crosses the seemingly impenetrable barrier between the screen, and reality around you. Although this is by no means a new concept for video games, what with the Playstation Eyetoy, Nintendo Wii and earlier versions preceding it, these apple games are still so imaginative. Some of the games utilize the in-built camera within themselves, turning nearby, physical people, to appear to have a giant rat's head on their shoulders. You can point the camera at a desk, look back at your Ipad's screen, only to see a line of digital ants crawling up it's side and onto the table! It really is astounding to see all of this today. Apple are really encouraging developer's to use the technology available and push the boundaries of what a video game can do.