A short history of game space

A short history of Game space

Video games can be built and have been built in a variety of game spaces. From their beginnings games have evolved enormously and they have gone through massive changes, evolving from a text based, imaginary game space, to 2D space and moving on to full 3D ones, where you feel totally immersed in the play.

The stages games have gone through are more or less as follows:
1.Text based games ( these are imaginary games where the space is created by describing the environment. a good example for this is Dundgeons and Dragons brought out in 1974)

Collosal Cave adventure - the original adventure game that inspired the Walking Dead  

2. Contained 2D space ( the screen limits your movement, you cannot move faster than the screen scrolls or further than the edge of the screen at any point in time). A good example fo this type of game is Space invaders where the screen is set in portrait mode to give the idea of height, and hence utilising the space to the best of its potential

Python Space invaders

3. Wrap around Space  - this gives the player more freedom of movement and creates the feeling of bigger space, as in PacMan (see image below), or it creates the feeling of infinite space, as in Asteroids( see image below).

Pac Man on Atari

Asteroids on Atari

4. Spaces that scroll around one axis (this game space used scrolling to give the impression of continuous  movement in a 2D space. Super Mario Bros used horizontal movement, while Spy Hunter privileged vertical movement 

Spy hunter on Nintendo

Super Mario Bros

5. Scrolling along 2 axes (as a player, you can now chose which direction to go across the x and y axes. Good examples from this category are again, the newer versions of Mario, Metal Slug, Sonic)

Sonic retro Casino night. There is a very interesting link here as well, if anyone would like to read more details about Sonic, seeing that it seems to have a come back. You can listen to the music as well. Casino night zone

6. Adjacent spaces ( "Games like Berzerk (1980)took place in multiple  rooms in which  users  were able to imagine that their characters  were invisible  to enemies in other rooms.  If a user's character was hidden from the enemy's view,  the user would not be seen and therefore not engaged. Thus the user would have to manoeuvre to stay hidden  and,/oraccomplish  desired tasks."Dariusz Jacob Boron - A short history of Digital Game Space)

Berzerk Berzerk Voice Enhanced is an impressive hack of Atari's Berzerk that adds speech from the original arcade game. Berzerk VE has, by far, the most speech of any Atari 2600 game, with the phrases "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!, "Chicken, Fight Like A Robot", and "Humanoid Must Not Escape" spoken during gameplay. Mike has also restored the original Arcade color scheme and reworked the artwork to more closely match the arcade original. Mike also created a high-quality label and manual for Berzerk VE, which was released at the 2002 Classic Gaming Expo where it quickly sold out.
atariage

7. Scrolling with multiple background layers (each layer of the background is moving at a different speed and therefore creating an impression of 3D space. This space was used in the game Double Dragon (1987) to create the impression of a deep and dense background, while at the same time, the front layer moving faster it gave the impression that it was a 3D space)

Double Dragon - King of the beat 'em ups

8. Limited 3D space (the impression of a 3D space is created here through the perspective lines, and the rules of perspective. When using a one point perspective, the player feels like he is "racing" into the distance, which is the case with "Knight rider"

Knight Rider 2 - PC game

9.Isometric 3D space (looking down on a space and by using shading and perspective, a 3D environment is simulated. Examples of games in isometric 3D space: Zaxxon and Paperboy

Zaxxon

Paperboy, released in 1991 by Tengen

10. Window to the outdoors The whole television screen was used as a window or a plane.                           Best example is Nintendo's Duck Hunt where the player's input devis was a gun and he had to shoot            ducks or clay pigeons  3D space was suggested by making the ducks/pigeons smaller and smaller as they flew away from player.

Duck Hunt, first released in Japan on April 21st 1984, for Nintento  Entertainment System (NES)

  11. Two Spaces on one screen Best example for this game space is Spy vs Spy, a multiplayer game where one has to find the enemy while searching through a labyrinth of rooms, so the payers would have to master mental mapping skills

Spy vs Spy - a two person game, based on a long running cartoon from MAD  Magazine,  it was forst released in  1984 for Atari 8bit, Commodore 64 and Apple II computers. 

  12. Video Capture Each costumed actor  was video recorded  punching,  kicking  and  so on.

The  short, flowing  animations  were then played  back in the game  at the speed  of the fast-paced action.  Rather than controlling bitmapped,  drawn  characters,  players could experience  manoeuvring a real actor. Mortal Kombat was a very popular arcade game using this space brilliantly.

Mortal Kombat II - Arcade game

Mortal Kombat 4 - First title form the series to use 3D computer graphics

  13. Mapped space - Prerendered panoramas Every animation was pre-recorded. and every viewpoint was precalculated. The computer did not need to run a game engine  that would calculate  its visuals in real time: it needed only to store the information  that was needed for each particular  scene.  This way,the animation  was smoother  and more realistic. (D J Boron). Example of a game using this space is Myst.

Myst Island game map

 Best known image for the game Myst

 14. Early 3D space - one horizontal plane In Wolfenstein 3D, the player was placed in a first person view mode and had to explore a series of dungeons in an immersive world. The ground level was on one level with the corresponding horizon, so aiming could only be done from left to right, while up/down direction could not be taken into consideration. The next stage in this category was created by Doom in 1993 where the ground had different heights, and player was engaged from above and below. This was a 2.5D game space

Wolfenstein 4 - originally released in May 1992 for DOS

Doom, released in 1993, shortly after Wolfenstein, again, for DOS, but this time,  the player will have a much larger arsenal of weapons as he will have to deal with non human enemies.

 15. Full 3D space In this game space, players are allowed full freedom of movement. Most first person shooter games that exist today are based in 3D spaces. Some examples are Far Cry, Call of Duty, Quake.

Image taken from Far Cry3. The scenery created was just amazing, and this is just a sample of the high end artistry displayed in this game.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 - the attention to detail in this game is amazing, all scenes are very cinematic, and have got a really realistic fee to them.

Quake III, the first in the Quake series focusing on multiplayer action

Theories of fun - lecture and notes

Theories of Fun

In this lecture we discussed Johan Huizinga's take on games, play and theories of fun.

Huizinga was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of the modern cultural history.
In his book, Homo Ludens (1938),  he discussed the possibility that play is the primary formative element in human culture.
Huizinga talked about Homo Ludens as the "man who plays", while Homo Sapiens is the :man whi thinks". 

That's how we got to know about the science called Ludology. The Oxford Dictionary defines Ludology as "the study of games and gaming, especially video games:ludology, like the games it studies, is not about story and discourse at all but about actions and events"

At the same times we discussed Narratology in the lecture, which is:" the branch of knowledge or criticism that deals with the structure and function of narrative and its themes, conventions, and symbols." according to Oxford Dictionary again. 

There is a big debate going on in the modern society regarding which of these two sciences is more important: Ludology or Narratology. And, I believe that the debate is well founded, as the controversy is just as the one with the chicken and the egg. If there is no game play (i.e. actions and events), the narrative wouldn't exist, but at the same time, a good game needs to have a good story behind it, otherwise, it will not be enjoyable and hence will not be played. I think that the perfect "marriage" between narrative and game play ( narratology and ludology) is what makes games what they are, and gives them their status in today's society. By their status, I'm referring to the fact that games play a very important role in education, learning social skills, etc, and they are and should indeed be, sitting alongside books, films ( documentaries or fiction) and all other media used by our society in order to collect information and develop culturally.

Johan Huizinga summarises the definition of play as a "primary animal and human drive", "play is older than culture - animals played before humans taught them how to". 

These are two very relevant statements that Huizinga has made and stood the test of time, when referring to play. Children play on their own, they find various ways of entertaining themselves, wether it is just simply looking at their hands and moving their fingers, as babies, or making up complicated rules for new and innovative games as they get older. They do not need anyone giving them lessons in how to play, in fact, it is better when they are being left alone with their imagination. As adults intervene in children's play, the fun seems to disappear as common sense tends to take over and spoils the whole make believe environment. If you watch a small child playing, while pretending sticks are swords and friends are wild animals, or carpet is the ocean and a nappy box is the Jolly Rodgers, is very easy to see how play is free, voluntary, never a task ans is done at leisure. There is never a time limit (unless set by the adults), it doesn't have to follow common sense rules (if need be, the ship CAN be bigger than the ocean).

There are various theories as to why animals are playing:

• to discharge of superabundant vital energy (same as children)
• trying to use their imitative instinct (same as children)
• it helps them develop physical and social skills (same as children) (It has been discovered through studies that Chimps have a "play face" to let the others know they are just playing)
• "play is about power (Raph Koster -  A Theory of Fun) - there are always winner s and losers 
• "play is an innate desire to compete" (Johan Huizinga) (however, we mainly like to compete against someone of the same ability)

However, for people, as well as the previous reasons given to play, there are others as well, specific for humans as homo sapiens (man who thinks), therefore play will have other meanings and implications, slightly different and more elaborate in comparison to the animals. 

• Play is cathartic, whether it is real or digital games, play is definitely a way of releasing ideas and emotions in a constructive way.
• Play is central to the way man and animals develop, as play is by all means educational. 
• Play is different from ordinary life
• play is seen as the direct opposite of seriousness, but play can definitely be serious as well (when a game is spoilt, it becomes serious)
• play is not foolish
• there are set rules and unspoken rules when it comes to play
• play is not necessary but is needed at the same time
• play equals freedom, it frees us from ordinary life
• play is never a task, it is done at leisure, during "free time"
• play is necessary to society and it naturally contributes to the well being of the group
• play is fixed in time and space ( "a game plays itself to an end" - Johan Huizinga)
• play promotes the formation of social groupings

Any game played is pleasurable because we know the rules and it is nice to play within them. Once the rules are broken, the play ceases to exist, or the enjoyment vanishes, and just the same, as game with no rules, cannot really exist.

Orientalism in the digital age

Orientalism in the digital age

Video games inherently provide a schematized image of the world.
From this point of view, we can say that games depict only certain aspects of a culture, and base the whole scenery/theme around them. This might mean that some cultures are depicted in a false way, not true to reality, but true to the perception the we ( the world in general, and the western nations in particular) have about that specific culture. This is the case when it comes to especially the oriental cultures.

"Edward Said's classic work has analysed the Orientalist discourse of the 19th and early 20th century, which recreates Islamic society as a timeless and exotic entity". To create a "Middle Eastern impression" in games, the creators have used certain motifs, which are commonly accepted as describing the "Orientals", such as headscarves, turbans, tiles and camels. The characters are mainly caliphs, bedouins, belly dancers.

"Games portraying a contemporary and a historical and fantastical Middle East, constitute separate categories, mostly using different imagery, narrative and gameplay."

"Roland Barthes gives a diagnosis of how imitative arts comprise two messages: a denoted message, which is the analogon itself and a connoted message, which is the matter in which the society, to a certain extent, communicates what it thinks of it."
So, I think, that, even though, games are built around oriental cultures, trying to depict reality as much as possible, most game developers are based in the west, and they might have a distorted vision of this reality. Also, messages sent out through the games are mixed as well, depending who plays the game and what cultural background they have. In most games, the narrative is very similar - a girl (daughter, sister, princess) is being kidnapped by the evil (vizier, caliph, demon), and the hero is on a quest to save her. But these narratives are typical for common medieval, fantasy settings, such imagery being particularly dominant when relating to the 'Middle East', reinforcing stereotypical notions of arbitrary cruelty and barbarism. This what I am referring to when I'm saying "mixed messages". For the western cultures, the 'Middle Eastern' are seen as barbaric and cruel, because the way we were brought up, and the values we were taught and accept as "normal",  but I'm pretty sure that looking at the same set up from a middle eastern point of view,  the same "barbaric" situation is seen as just"normal", this for them is ok, if they are fighting, they are probably doing it to defend honour, to make sure the good prevails, etc.

And this introduces the concept of "Others". This is a very complex concept, which in video games is being simplified by the fact that, even though most action games have got as a preferred virtual battle ground the Middle East, "generally, the player controls ( in a first person shooter game) the American or coalition forces, while enemy units are controlled by the computer. Usually playing for the other side is not allowed" "In many cases, the in-game narrative links the elements used to describe the enemy (head scarves, dark skin colour, loose clothes) to international terrorism and/or Islamist extremism"

A different example id Delta Force : Land Warrior which  "presents a scenario in which Arabs from several countries have banded together into a terrorist organization bent on undermining the activities of the US. Full Spectrum Warrior is set in the fictional but overtly Muslim country of 'Tazikhstan', 'a haven for terrorists and extremists' (Leonard, 2004). While the US or coalition soldiers usually are humanized and individualized by their nicknames or specific visual characteristics, the enemy is collectivized and linguistically functionalized as 'various terrorist groups', 'militants' and 'insurgents' (Machin and Suleiman, 2006). At the same time, the moral mission, professionalism and courage of the forces controlled by the player are emphasized by the in-game narrative and scripts. However, the enemies are presented in a way that suggests they are not 'real' soldiers, thereby removing the legitimacy of their actions (Machin and Suleiman, 2006).

History and games presentation

History and Games

     For this project, we needed to chose one aspect in games that we feel strongly about and research and discuss about it.  We were again split in a group of 5 (me, Zoe Rice, Tom Donachie, Matthew Fenn and James Dyer). We have decided to discuss history in games, how it is being depicted, how it intertwines with fiction and what is the right balance between reality and fiction in order to create a good gameplay. We each chose a different game to talk about and then put everything together.

For my part of the presentation, I have chosen to talk about Japan in games. I am quite fascinated by the Japanese culture in general, past and present, and I really admire their discipline, applied into every single aspect of their life. I have read the Shogun about 10 years ago, and Memoirs of a Geisha about 5 years ago, and I find it really interesting how their century old traditions are being kept even now. 

To remind myself about the details of the Japanese Civil War (the most talked about period in Japanese history) I have watched a documentary on it: Japan: Memoirs of a secret Empire. (I only watched one episode, where they were describing the time of the Portugese missionaries landing on the island). It was really interesting how the differences between cultures were described here. 

  The Japanese were living their life based on culture, poetic and flowering rituals, but at the same time, they were going through an intense and rigid struggle for power. Their culture was very developed and they also had a very complex political system, hence, when the Portugese arrived and realised all this, they treated the Japanese as equals, which was not normally the case when new territories were being discovered during those times. 

There were massive cultural differences between the two civilisations, which instilled a lot of respect: while the Europeans were eating with their hands, the Japanese were using chopsticks, while the first were having baths once in a few months, the latter were taking them daily. Even though the initial idea was to convert all the Japanese people to Christianity and implement the European culture and traditions, eventually, the Portugese realised that this culture they have come across, was more advanced and  even though it was different, they have learnt to accept their traditions. One thing that puzzled the Europeans initially was the way the Japanese were writing: top to bottom, rather that the traditional left to right. But when asked for their reason to doing it that way, the Japanese answered with: "a Man's head is at the top and feet at the bottom", so it's only normal to write that way too. Simple and logic explanation, that was immediately accepted.

I have also learnt a lot about Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the most important figures in Japanese history, as he was the Shogun that established a Dynasty that ruled Japan for 250 years. Tokugawa Ieyasu is the  preferred choice of main characters when Japan is depicted in games as well. 

The games that I have looked into, in order to see history is being depicted and also how Ieyasu is being portrayed, were:

-Paradox Interactive (PC)

- Samurai Warriors ( PS3, Wii and Nintendo 3DS)

- Sengoku Basara (PS3, Wii)

- Civilisation (PC)

- Kessen (PS2)

- Nobunaga's ambition (PS3)

Here are what we came up with after our research:

                            

                         

                            

This is how Tokugawa Ieyasu was being portrayed in Sengoku Basara - a long way from the original :)

  As a conclusion, James talked about how some games are picking certain events in history and base the events around that, while introducing a fair amount of fiction as well. In other games, the actual historical events have been changed completely ( one very good example was Sniper Elite V2, where  Hitler has been assassinated, while in reality he committed suicide).

And, I do agree totally with the idea of combining fiction with reality in the historical games/literature or movies, as the gamers/audience finding more exciting this way, and also, because if anyone is really interested in learning about history, there are plenty documentary games, books or movies available.

A few examples of documentary games can be found on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/

History and games - research work

History and games

     For this project, we were again split in groups, and I was part of the same group of 5 ( Tom Donachie, Matt Fenn, Zoe Rice and James Dyer). We had to chose an aspect of the games that interests us and discuss it in detail. We have chosen the historical element of games and we tried to research how it is presented and used, how much the creators stay true to the real facts and how they intertwine them with fiction for a better gameplay and to create more drama.

In “Privileging Form Over Content: Analyzing Historical Videogames,” Adam Chapman argues that in order to understand historical video games, scholars must go beyond analyzing only the surface-level content. Chapman compares games to historical films, in order to demonstrate how different epistemological approaches can be applied to different mediums. Historical video games, he concludes, requires analysis that privileges form over content.

(http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/games-and-historical-narratives-by-jeremy-antley/)

  History always seemed to provide a massive source of inspiration to game developers, whether it's World War II, the Civil War in Japan, the American Wild West, Ancient Greece, or the Roman Empire.
However, some games manage to preserve really well the historical facts, while others are so far from reality that they manage to create a completely distorted vision of events.

  I know games are not meant to teach anyone history, so, from this point of view, I totally agree with the ones who only depict certain elements from the period they are being set in. As with the historical films, it is really difficult to follow through in all aspects ( events, characters, costumes, dialogue, etc) and create an enjoyable experience as well, so of course, some events are being distorted for added drama, some artefacts are being introduced to improve the stage visually, even if they don't belong in that time period.  -  Does it really matter that Gothic architecture is featured in Assassins Creed when it has no place in that time period?  (http://www.criticalgamer.co.uk/2009/10/21/history-in-video-games-a-closer-look/)

Games can be platforms for building, and not simply consuming, knowledge. 
(http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/games-and-historical-narratives-by-jeremy-antley/)

  I, personally, am fascinated by the Japanese culture, so I had a closer look at games that depict this subject. I found quite a few that touch this subject, even if, some of them are not totally dedicated to Japan ( I.e. Paradox Interactive, Total War series, Civilisation, The Way of the Samurai, Samurai Warriors, Sengoku Basara, Kessen, Nobunaga's Ambition)

  Most of these games refer to one of the defining events in Japanese history -  the end of the civil war and the unification of the country. The most important figure in this "process", was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Following the battle of Sekigahara, during which all his remaining opposition was crushed,  Ieyasu was invested as Shogun by the Emperor  and he established a Dynasty that would rule Japan for 250 years. 

  The same Tokugawa Ieyasu and the battle of Sekigahara were featured in the novel Shogun  by James Clavell in 1975 (even though, the names were slightly changed - in the novel Ieyasu  is called Toranaga). There has also been a TV adaptation of the book in 1980, so this historical period, clearly presents a lot of interest to the public. 

  So it's only fair for games to try and portray these events and allow the player to feel part of them. With games, however, the player has a lot more control over events in comparison to a novel or a movie. In Paradox Interactive, the developers have tried to keep the narrative as close as possible to history, while allowing the player, at the same time, to take a few different avenues. So if a history lover plays the game, the decisions taken regarding strategy, will probably be quite true to the historical facts/events, however, if the game is played by someone who would like to explore the avenue of "what would happen if...", we could have a totally unusual story developing. This is where the pleasure and fascination lays with video games.

In the same way, real life historical characters are being portrayed in quite different ways, even when it comes to the artist's job. The same character mentioned above, Togukawa Ieyasu has got quite a few different interpretations in various games.


 While the real person looked something like this:

Image of Tokugawa Ieyasu on a Katana Tsuba (guard at the end of the grip of a bladed Katana Sword)

Drawing of Takugawa Ieyatsu in history books

Monument of Takugawa Ieyatsu

...in games, it was portrayed like this:

This is Takugawa in Sengoku Basara

Kung Fu Clean

Kung Fu Clean  - a game based on scrolling along 2 axes

The theme of this project was to research and come up with an idea for a game based on scrolling along 2 axes.  I was part of a team of 5, alongside Zoe Rice, Matthew Fenn, Tom Donachie and James Dyer.

We had a couple of meetings where we have discussed the classics in this type of game and decided that the ones that influenced us all, were the ones mentioned in the first slide listed below.

 Dariusz Jacob Boron, in his essay: "A short history of digital gamespace", talks about the games that allow the player to scroll along to axes and describes very well how this has improved gameplay and what this game space a is actually all about. He says that : "Gauntlet (1985) and SimCity (1989) permitted  scrolling  along  both the x and y axis on a two-dimensional  plane; players moved through puzzle  world with free rein over the flat plane of the perpendicularly  positioned  viewing screen.  Later versions of SimCity, rather  than giving the player a bird's-eye  view, evolved to provide an

isometric viewing  angle. The  combination of two axes  of movement  and a drawn

perspective  allowed  players in side-viewing  games such as Blades of Steel (1987)  and

its football  equivalents  to move from left to right, but also allowed  up and down

play. The  simple eight-button controller  sufficed  for these games  and many  of the

games to follow.  Chiefly,  the lelt hand controlled movement  while the right hand

controlled the action buttons to shoot,  jump, kick, etc."

As a group, we have chosen totally different examples of games using this particular game space, such as Sonic, Mario, Metroid and Metal slug. These are the games we have played and have influenced our future view on games in general

Just a few visual examples of some of the games based on scrolling along 2 axes

Just wanted to mention a few restrictions and opportunities that this type of game have encountered / produced.

Our game - very simple game mechanics: you need to get from A to B and score points. Because of the type of game space, where you can only move left - right ( or forward - backward) and jump or climb, it is pretty much self explanatory in regards to the game play. We have introduced however, on the y axis, drains to climb down into ( and collect extra bonus points - similar to Mario) and also trees, to climb up on ( that's where you need to jump from and break the drain cover in order to gain access to the drain itself and the bonus points). So we have used the y axis in all its expanse. :). The x axis was used in a normal way, starting the game from the left side of the screen (or starting point A) and moving along till you get to finishing point ( B), while trying to collect as many points as possible (points represented by pieces of litter collected, as this is a street cleaning game) and at the same time fighting off the litter creating "enemies" (pigeons, hobos). At the end of each level the player will have to fight the Big Boss which is a hobo with a shopping trolley. Weapons used by player will vary from broom, to squeegee, or trash picker).

This slide explains exactly the where and when, the action takes place, what its purpose is and who the characters are (and by this, I mean the enemies as well). The first level is set up in the day time in a park. Player will be able to chose one of four characters to play as, and depending on character chosen, the "weapons" will adapt. Also, the moves used when fighting will be specific for each character, as the names invoke famous martial artists. 

This is basic sample of the level concept. This was designed by James Dyer, and it shows the basic elements we wanted to include: we have litter, in the form of banana peels, we have a checkpoint in the form of the sidewalk lamp (which turns on once you have passed the checkpoint), we have a tree to climb, and an underground level to jump into, in order to collect extra bonus points/litter).

These are our characters ( designed by Tom Donachie). First one is Chuck, second is Jackie, third is called Jean Claude and the fourth one is Bruce. They all have different / specific kicks and punches in their arsenal, and at the beginning of the game, the player can chose which character to play as. Because the characters are based on martial artists, they will, of course, perform the trademark punches or kicks that define each one of them. :)

Not much more left to say about this slide. We have chosen simple, arcade style controls, as the game itself makes reference and intends to take us back to the arcade era of gaming.