MDDN 243: Adapted Mechanics

Concept 1:

The player would go through different levels, collecting rubbish that is lying around. Each level would have 5-10 different scenes, some could be fields, some could be a parks, and others could be city areas such as streets or car parks.

As the player collects rubbish, a bar measuring the happiness of locals who live in the area will go up. The cleaner/prettier the level, the higher the happiness bar.The player would only be able to complete the level once the happiness bar has reached/passed a certain score, with that score requirement getting higher for every level.The higher the happiness bar at the end of a level, the higher the players score is.

Some pieces of rubbish would turn out to be power ups that increase things such as the player's’ movement speed.


Concept 2:

The player would go around a small map collecting many different types of seed. These seeds could then be planted in the center of the maps, and could grow into many different kinds of plants, with some being endangered, which makes them rarer to find than others.

The player would then have to stop the waves of lumberjacks/loggers from coming and destroying their plants, by shooting any extra seeds they have at them. Different seeds could have different effects on the loggers, with some types of seeds slowing down or even poisoning the loggers. The player would only be able to shoot horizontally or vertically, not diagonally.

The players’ score at the end of the round is based on the amount of plants they have remaining.

Between each round they have a short period of time to replant or add to their collection of plants.
Each time the player collects a new type of seed, it would be recorded in “the encyclopedia of plants”, which could be accessed at any time to check what different kinds of seeds do.



Concept 3:

The player would move around a house, finding items that could be used in recycling, in order to use them to create a water catching system, which would collect water when it rained.

The player would collect items such as milk bottles and pieces of pipe and use these items to construct a contraption to collect water.

The more rainwater the player has managed to collect and hold (so the more effective the design is) by the time a timer runs out, the more points they will get, with the goal being to get a high score.
Different rounds would have different household objects available to use.

MDDN 241: Collection Mechanic

Animal Crossing:New Leaf

Simulation

Animal Crossing:New Leaf is a simulation game, in which the player is the newly appointed mayor in a town filled with animal-people. The player is tasked with making the townspeople as happy as possible by improving the town they live in with new buildings, upgrades, and by by planting flowers and trees to make it look nice.

Collecting is one of the core mechanics in the Animal Crossing series, specifically, Animal Crossing: New Leaf. You are able to collect a range of different objects or animals, such as bugs, fish, fossils and furniture, with many of these collectibles being recorded in an encyclopedia, which is accessible at any time.

Any items you collect can be displayed in your local town Museum, where the only purpose they serve is to impress any friends that visit the town via online play, and to get the player a shiny golden fishing rod or net. Collecting is the main focus of the player. Even if they have already collected every type of fish or bug (which takes at least a year as the game works in real time), there is still a reason to collect them; acquire them to sell, to purchase and complete furniture sets or artwork. There is no way to ‘win’ the game, only the satisfaction you get from collecting every bug or fish or set of furniture.

Animal crossing builds on this collection mechanic, by adding customisation to the game. Collectibles can be sold for ‘bells’ (the in-game currency) which can then be used to customise almost anything in the town. The inside and outside of the players house are completely customisable, as well as their clothes, and even the placement of buildings around the town.

Pokemon: 

Role-Playing Game

The Pokemon series is a Role-Playing Game in which the player starts out on his/her quest to defeat the Pokemon League, and become a pokemon master. This is achieved by collecting and battling different creatures until they are good enough to challenge the best Pokemon trainers in the land; The Elite 4.

Collecting is also a core mechanic for this game series. There are 649 different species of Pokemon to collect, and each one has it’s own unique strengths, weaknesses and moveset. Each time a player catches a new pokemon it’s data is stored in the ‘Pokedex’. The Pokedex can be checked at anytime so they player can check which pokemon they have obtained, and which they have yet to get.

The player is encouraged to collect as many different pokemon as they can in order to build the most effective team to battle other trainers with.If they do manage to catch all 649 Pokemon they are rewarded with an in-game certificate, and the ability to show off their achievement when playing with other people

As the player progresses through the games they battle ‘Pokemon Gym Leaders’, NPCs that act as boss battles. Each time the player defeats a gym leader, they receive a ‘gym badge’. Collecting these gym badges is important as the player is unable to continue without doing so, but there are other reasons to collect them as well. As the player battles their pokemon get stronger, but if they get too strong they will begin to misbehave and ignore the players commands during battle making them completely useless. The only way to fix this is to collect the badges as each badge proves you are able to control stronger pokemon, and will allow the player to control unruly pokemon.

The collection mechanic in the Pokemon series works well with the battling mechanic that is also in the games. Collecting different Pokemon to build a team that can win any battle can be hard to do, as you have to take into account type differences and the moves each pokemon is able to learn. Battling is a good way of working out where the strengths and weaknesses are in your team, and you can then decide which other Pokemon you need to acquire.

Binding of Isaac:

Dungeon Crawler/Action

The Binding of Isaac is a top-down dungeon crawler, in which the player controls a small boy called Isaac. Isaac fighting his way  through the dungeon under his house (by shooting his tears at enemies) in order to escape his mother, who is trying to kill him.

As the player travels through the different levels of the dungeon they will come across many different items that play a vital part in the game. The player can collect such things as bombs (used to blow up obstacles and enemies), keys (which are used to unlock door and chests), coins (which can be used to purchase items), and collectible items. These items are very important as they can increase the players overall health, range, strength, and speed of shots, and movement speed. Without these improvements the player would find it much harder (if not impossible) to progress through the lower level of the dungeon, as the difficulty gets much harder as they progress.

Each item they collect is added to the ‘Stuff I found!’ list in the main menu so the player can keep track of what they have collected so far, and what they still need to get, with the total number of collectible items being 298.

Two other mechanics in this game which make for a unique combination with the collection mechanic are shooting and boss fights. Isaac shoots the tears running down his face at enemies in order to kill them and survive the dungeon. This shooting mechanic is hugely affected by the collection mechanic as many of the different collectible items change how his tears are shot, changing the speed, strenght, range and type of tear he shoots, among other things.

This, in turn has an effect on the boss battles. Isaac’s stronger tears or special items (which can do massive amounts of damage, provide extra bombs, or even summon a creature to help you) can make the boss battles (of which there is one on each floor of the dungeon) a lot quicker and easier, which greatly helps the players progression through the game.

MDDN 243: Initial Mechanics

Tile Matching/Match 3:

Tile Matching game mechanics have been around since the the late 1980’s, with games like Tetris significantly increasing their popularity. In the example of Tetris, players must maneuver blocks of different shapes and sizes to match up lines of blocks, which then causes them to be eliminated from the game. This system of matching block or tiles to eliminate lines is common with this style of gameplay, and has led to a more specific tile matching mechanic, the match 3 mechanic, which involves matching groups of three or more tiles of the same colour or shape in order to progress to the next stage or level, or increase a players score.

An example of a game that uses this mechanic is Zuma. In Zuma the player controls a rotating frog that sits in the middle of the screen, that must fire coloured balls at a line of coloured balls that is continuously progressing to the end of the level. The player must eliminate the entire line of balls before it reaches the end, by matching the coloured ball it shoots from its mouth with the balls in the line, with balls only being eliminated if three or more of the same coloured ball are touching.

Other examples would be the games Bejeweled and Candy Crush. Both games work in very similar ways; the player must manipulate tiles (which are in his case either gems or candy) and match identical tiles to progress to the next stage, with the goal of Bejeweled being to get the highest score possible in the set time limit, and the goal of Candy Crush being to get different baking ingredients that show up in the game to the bottom of the screen in a set number of moves.

This mechanic is often combined with many other game mechanics and features in order to create challenging 

and dynamic gameplay, such as time limits and power-ups.

Crafting:

The crafting game mechanic involves players collecting items in order to mix them together using recipes or blueprints to create entirely new objects, or upgraded versions of objects the player previously owned.

Crafted items are often used to acquire materials that are previously unavailable, and to collect these materials to craft even better equipment. For example in Minecraft the player can use a stone pickaxe to mine for iron, and then craft an iron pickaxe in order to mine diamond to create a diamond pickaxe.

An example of crafting to upgrade equipment or weapons is the Dead Space games. In Dead Space 2 the player collects Nodes which can then be crafted in a work bench  to upgrade weapons, for example increasing their power or reload speed. This was expanded upon in Dead Space 3, in which the player finds parts and then combines them in the workbench, with each part adding a specific and unique feature to the gun.

Crafting mechanics can be essential to a players progress through a game. If they don’t upgrade or craft new items, they will find progress difficult in many cases, due to them having weaker armour or equipment than is required to continue with the game.

Collection:

Collection mechanics encourage players to collect in game items or creatures. Collectibles are usually recorded in a catalogue of some kind in-game so they player can easily access the list and check what they have acquired so far, and what they still have to collect. They can also be used for customization, and upgrades, among other things. Collectibles are found in many different styles and genres of games, and can be present in many shapes and forms.

Collectibles can have many different purposes. In the Sonic the Hedgehog games, there are collectible rings which act as protection from damage, in RTS games such as Rise of Nations or starcraft, the collectibles are resources used to produce and improve units, and in Team Fortress 2,  collectibles come in the form of hats and weapons that the player can use to completely customise their loadout and appearance.

The collection mechanic in games is also commonly used with achievement or reward mechanics. In games such as Saint Row 3 and Batman Arkham City, the player can collect certain items from around the city, and once all of them have been acquired the player then gets an achievement. This encourages the player to take the time to fully explore the map, and rewards players at the same time.

MDDN 243: Collection Mechanic

I have decided to go with collecting as my main mechanic for my presentation. I will look at a few different games with this mechanic, specifically:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf:
Genre: Simulation
-The player is able to collect a range of different things; Fish, Bugs, Fruit, Bells(money), Flowers, Seashells and Furniture.
-Collected items can be donated to the local town museum, in order to fill up museum displays, which players can then show off to other player who visit their towns.
-Collecting items allows the player to acquire upgrades to tools to make collecting things such as fish or bugs more effective.
-After you have donated a collectable to the museum, you can sell any other identical items you get to collect money, and in turn buy a different type of collectable, such as furniture.

Animal crossing New Leaf: Fish displayed in Museum

Pokémon Series:
Genre: RPG
-Players can collect 649 different species of Pokémon, with each Pokémon having a unique move set and abilities.
-Players can collect every type of Pokémon to fill up their 'Pokédex', which earns them an in-game certificate, and the ability to show off their achievement to other players online.
-Collecting different Pokémon allows player to customise their battling teams, and make them more effective.
-Collecting a range of different Pokémon makes it easier to collect gym badges from 'bosses' throughout the game, allowing the player to progress further.

The 649 Pokémon available to collect

The Binding of Isaac:
Genre: Dungeon Crawler/Action
-Player can collect items in the game from chests, item rooms, and drops from bosses throughout the game.
-There are 298 different items to collect, and each one has a unique effect/ability, such as adding extra health to the player, or increasing the power/range of the players' projectiles.
-Collecting items is essential, as each level of the dungeon get harder, and the player will find it much harder to progress without the improvements the collectables provide.

Binding of Isaac Collection in-game

MDDN 243: A Few Quick Notes.

I have briefly looked at a few of the mechanics I listed earlier.

Day & Night Cycle:

This mechanic has varying effects depending on how it is implemented into a game. Games such as Minecraft or Terraria encourage the player to prepare for night cycles; to make shelter and weapons to defend themselves from mobs that spawn at night time.

This is vastly different from games like Animal Crossing, where the day and night cycle (which is real time) has an effect on where and when collectable bugs spawn, with many only being available during the night-time, making night time activity necessary in order to “collect ‘em all”, and ‘complete the game.’

Matching 3:

Matching 3 game mechanics are often found in simpler puzzle games, such as Zuma or bejewelled. This mechanic is essential to these games, in which you typically have to match three objects of the same colour in order to eliminate them, and progress to the next stage or level.

This mechanic is often combined with the countdown timer mechanic to put pressure on the player, and to challenge them.

Collection:

Collection mechanics encourage players to collect in game items or creatures, which adds to the replay value of games in many situations.

And example of a game with a collection mechanic would be the Animal Crossing series, in which you are given the task of collecting all available bugs, fish and fossils in order to fill up your town museum.

MDDN 211: Proposal

I have decided to go with a farm yard theme for MDDN 211 project one, focusing on a combination of farmland, animals, and vehicles.

I will use match cuts and jump cuts to show a happier stereotypical idea of a farm in the first iteration; with a 'happy' atmosphere, showing what people generally think of farms; green grass and cute animals.

In my second iteration I will be using fades, dissolves, and long distance shots to portray the loneliness and emptiness of farms to show the idea of isolation/loneliness of farmland, which will contrast with the initial 'happy' iteration. 

Finally, I will use fast sharp cuts and jump cuts to quickly change between scenes to surprise viewers, and to create a scary/horror atmosphere in the final iteration, as well as close up shots and cross cuts to make the atmosphere more intense. 

MDDN 243: Game Mechanic Ideas

To start project one I have looked at a few different game mechanics and listed some of the games they are used in.

Countdown/Race against time:

-McPixel

-Bejeweled

-Portal (bonus test chambers)

-Arcade Racing games

-Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

Day & Night Cycle:

-Minecraft

-Don’t Starve

-Terraria

-Animal Crossing

-The Sims

Matching 3:

-Bejeweled

-Zuma

-Zookeeper Battle

-Fruit Ninja