Asymmetric Level Design: Version 1

Asymmetric Level Design: Week 2

A quick run through of the design so far, only the capture point has been created. But it involves a high ground as well as a lower ground allowing for multiple routes around it. The level is also symmetrical at the moment, as asymmetry will come much later on after the level has been tested with real players.

Symmetry Vs Asymmetry

For my final year project at uni, I am studying the difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical maps in competitive multi-player FPS. As I have just finished writing out the proposal for the project, I would like to be able to discuss the project in a less academic and more casual way, so I thought what better time to rebirth my blog with the research and my own individual views on the topic. I will also try and keep this blog updated with any progress I have made on the project, as well as any other interesting topics that pop up in my other modules.

For a designer symmetry can make life a lot easier, only having to design one side of a map and than being able to mirror it saves a lot of time. The designer would than have to create a specific art style for both sides to make it clear whose side you were on, to go for an easy example a red or blue team. Whereas one side would perhaps use a lot warmer colours on the higher end of the colour spectrum, and colder lower colours for the blue team. To differentiate the sides more different props and models can be added to the level, as long as these do not give any other tactical advantages like a higher view point or a better hiding place, generally in a symmetrical level if you can hide behind something one one side, you can probably hide in a similar spot on the other.

Team Fortress 2 uses a cold industrialised colour scheme to represent one team, and a warm rustic feel for the other.

Team Fortress 2 (2007) Valve Corporation

Of course this doesn't correlate to a real environment and could perhaps take some of the immersion out of the game, it is very rare that any natural environment is symmetrical. Asymmetrical maps usually have asymmetric game modes to go with them, usually with one team defending with another attacking, and in some cases one team usually have a very slight advantage, for example higher ground, or more cover. Symmetric maps generally have symmetric games modes, where both teams have the same objective, capture the opponents flag, capture the neutral point, etc. Even modern games that try to aim to have more natural environments use symmetry to make their levels fair, this is something that I hope to break, or if I can't at least solidify the fact that for a map to be competitive and fair it has to be symmetrical.

After the proposal has been handed in and marked I will upload it onto here to give a more grounded idea of the project in the near future.

The 2 Hour Video Game

I recently flicked through an article on IGN about the "2 hour game", in short this is a very to the point narrative driven game (Although not always) which can be completed in one play through. Two examples at the moment is Journey on the PS3 and Dear Esther on the PC, both are very story driven, and may be considered more art pieces than a fully fledged game.
Looking at other entertainment mediums there are plenty of examples of similar ideas. For example when you go to the cinema you pay around £7 for a 2 to 3 hour film, in this 2 hours (If the film is good this is!) you learn all about the characters and generally have a good time! A better example to relate to this new style of gaming would be books, say you buy a series of books you spend a few weeks or a few months reading the story, learning the lore, and having this big overarching story. However you may only want a quick burst, hence there are also plenty of short stories out in the market, which generally can be read within a couple of hours. So video games seem to be heading in a similar direction.
With a video game like this you are probably less likely to go back to it time and time again, after you have played the initial play through you will probably leave it in the back of your collection, than one day dig it out to have another play through just like you would with a DVD. So is this new craze just an interactive film? Some people would argue that this does not count as a game.
Sometimes I look back at a game and think to myself "Did I really spend 20 hours on this?" And perhaps when my life and work picks up I won't have time to indulge in games as much as I do now. Maybe in this busy lifestyle many people have, having this quick burst of video games is a welcome break without moving into the casual games.

I started playing video games quite late in my life, I got the PS1 when the PS2 was released and got the Xbox 360 about 2 years after release. However when I did get the Ps1 I spent a long time playing platformer games like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, but this is a genre that I miss now being a 19 year old student. The video game industry is dominated by first person shooters and war simulators, perhaps it is just because I am no longer the target market for these video games, or that it is a genre that has slowly died out.

I watched a video today of Double Fine studios Tim Scafer talking and Ron Gilbert discussing the adventure genre, and how it has not necessarily died out, but is shadowed by the huge sales that some games can get now a days.

When I was playing games like Crash I remember my whole family playing it, me, my brother and my dad would play it, it is what started my Dad on video games, I feel now a days video games can embrace such wide audiences, and that there is games designed for people that perhaps 10 or so years ago would perhaps be ridiculed for playing video games. The platformer genre is not dead, it just has a much smaller player base than other titles that can attract other players, but to me it still feels like a genre that will be very close to my heart, it is the genre that got me, and I'm sure a lot of other people into video games. The last platformer game I played was Sonic Generations, and as I've gotten this far without a real purpose I think I'll do a quick run down of how I feel about the game.

Sonic Generations is the celebration of 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, bringing the best (and what others may say the worst) of his 20 years in video games. The game consists of 2 levels designed around a video game in the series, one designed in 2D and played with "classic" sonic, and the other is the 2D/3D hybrid which has been used in Sonic Unleashed and Colours (Colors if your American). Everyone will have the level they will automatically love playing, due to the nostalgia associated with playing this game in your childhood, the music the level design, even the enemies from the specific game. The game is just a love letter to the fans, concept art from the past and a soundtrack of 50 of the best songs from the games, and remixed songs for modern interpretations of old levels and vice versa. This is what I love about the game.

I have a huge gripe with the boss battles and the story both felt rushed, and considering there is usually about 7 bosses per Sonic game they should of added more boss fights to the game, there never felt like there was an overarching threat in the game, no big boss that needed to be defeated, if you are getting this game for a amazing story, your buying the wrong game. The Rival battles are a much better experience than the boss battle, the fight against Shadow in particular, a one off race on the Space Colony Ark, it seems as if a lot of work just for music/level design just for one small fight made the whole thing actually seem like a much more intense fight, and was the one I went back to and played multiple times out of all the boss fights.

The hub world is split up into 3 sections, classic, dreamcast, and modern, personally I preferred the Dreamcast levels as this were the ones that got me into the sonic games to start with, so I automatically had a bigger nostalgia feel towards them, but most of the levels are well designed, and are not just copy and pasted reskins from the original games. As with the bosses it would be nice to have more than just one level per game, especially as classic zones like Ice Cap zone and Casino Nights (Not including the DLC) could of been included, there is such a wide catalogue they can choose from it would be nice to see more of the levels from the past reinvented (Sonic Heroes SkyFleet Zone please!) Obviously not everyone will be pleased with the level choice and perhaps they could of chosen a better level from Sonic Adventure as Speed Highway and City Escape play straight after each other, and perhaps another level would of provided a more distinct difference. It would be nice for future DLC to add new levels but unfortunately I do not see this happening.

Overall if you are a Sonic the Hedgehog fan I would recommend getting this game, but if you are you probably already have! If you are not a huge fan, but you do want to pick it up I would say get it on PC, it was dead cheap on release, so now it may be even cheaper, it is a good nostalgia ride, just ignore the pathetic story and have fun in the main levels.

Are games work?

Blizzard recently admitted they have lost 2 million subscribers from WoW, in one year. One commenter said the reason he quitted was due to the fact MMOs seem to feel like they are work and dictating how, and when, you can play. I have dipped in and out of MMOs a year of WoW, quit that to play Aion, quit that, went back to WoW, quit again, played Rift, got to level cap, quit. So my views may not be great especially at the level cap where the so called "game begins" as I can quote from my friend.

When I finally managed to reach 50 on Rift I ran straight to the main city and bought all of my final skills, and then sat their on my new level 50 mount... and than I thought, now what. So being the n00b I am I told my friend and asked him, now what? He said raid, complete instances and PVP, all much fun I'm sure, but even though i as tempted by better looking items it felt as my XP bar wasn't moving that their was no set goal for me any more. So all that was left was raiding, and being in a slowly dying guild I decided I had to find a new one. However after being rejected multiple times for not being a high enough tier, I quit.
To get a higher tier in MMOs the main idea is to raid, and bringing this post back to the original topic, to raid you must group up with a bunch of individuals to set up a time to raid together, unless you face the HUGE wait for the game to randomly match you. This is where it starts to feel as if it's dictating how and when you play, the jump in jump out slow grind that I as a casual MMO player was gone, I had to be a social gamer, which I am admittedly very bad at. And even if at times the grind felt like a chore, especially with the amount of times I died, due to my gear not being good enough, the game felt like a chore, like I wasn't doing this for fun, but to be able to say to my mates that I had reached a level cap in an MMO. And this is probably why I am not a big fan of MMOs even though I never say no to the chance to try out a new one, it just always feels like a grind but one I must complete.

The same thing can be said about social games like Zyngas Farmville, social gaming is becoming huge, and big companies like Ubisoft, and Activision are trying to get into this market. But these are other games that decide to dictate when we play, in Farmville you plant your crop than have to wait a few hours till you can "harvest" it, all for a few virtual coins. And yet this is one of the most popular facebook games out at the moment, the constant grind of planting, harvesting, and replanting is attracting thousands of people, when in reality it is the same repetitive task that you may do in your job for example. Perhaps the reward of seeing your coin pouch increase in size is just as exciting as getting your paycheck in at the end of the month? All though I see both of these examples as a constant grind I do see where the fun factor is, and all though for me it's not fun I'm sure there are thousands of you out there enjoying your "work". :)