6208INT Game Genres: Week 6 : 6208INT Game Genres: Week 6 Dr Jun Jo
School of Information Technology
Griffith University
j.jo@griffith.edu.au
Game Genres : Game Genres Viewed in 2 ways: hardware and software.
In the hardware category:
PC game,
Arcade game and
Home video game.
On the software side,
Skill and Action game and
Strategy game.
Genre - PC game : Genre - PC game Making and playing a game without any extra devices but a computer.
Easy to distribute by CD, Floppy and the Internet
Genre - Arcade Game : Genre - Arcade Game PCs have multi functions for various programs.
The computer starts with loading ROM into your memory.
Game machine has only one function, therefore,
Once the machine turns on, only the game starts.
The game machines store a game into the ROM directly.
4mb, 8mb of memory but nowadays, more than a 16mb ROM.
No HD - the player cannot save game states.
Genre - Arcade Game : Genre - Arcade Game Level design is very important to Arcade Games.
An arcade game has a commercial purpose
The owner does not like a player stay on a machine too long time.
They usually do not include too easy level
Always has a time limit.
If the game is too difficult or too short, the players will loose their interests quickly.
Therefore, the game developer should design levels and a time limit carefully.
Genre - Arcade Game : Genre - Arcade Game Street Fighter (SF) was a successful game.
A good level design - usually finished in 3 mins.
Made both players and owners happy.
To attract the users
Sound, music and graphics are important.
Great control devices providing highly sensible feedback.
Genre - Home Video Console Game : Genre - Home Video Console Game The same as an arcade game in terms of a dedicated game machine.
However, this machine use a ROM separate from the main machine
The player can change it.
The ROM has a form of a Pack or a CD (in Sony Playstation).
The machine price is cheaper than a PC.
Uses a TV monitor.
Easy UI controller.
Genre - Software Aspect : Genre - Software Aspect Skill & Action Games
Strategy Games
Genre - Software Aspect : Genre - Software Aspect There are very few basic scenarios.
Saving a princess, shooting aliens, and so on.
The archetypal game in each category spawned a whole family of imitators, variations, and improvements.
The archetypal game in each category was seldom the big money maker.
Genre – Skill&Action Games : Genre – Skill&Action Games Often called arcade games
Early PC games tended to mimic arcade games.
The largest and most popular class of computer games.
All arcade games and almost all PC games are S&A games.
The primary skills demanded of the player are
hand-eye co-ordination and
fast reaction time.
Five categories:
combat, maze, sports, paddle, and race
Genre – Skill&Action Games : Genre – Skill&Action Games This class of games is characterized as:
Finish in short time - commercial purpose
Easy to operate – especially for beginners,
UI devices Dedicated to games only
use of joysticks or paddles rather than a keyboard.
Dynamic
to get rid of stress, fast tempo
real-time play,
Heavy emphasis on graphics and sound
to provide realistic environment.
strategy games, eg. a grid will be sufficient for a board game.
Short story with many stages rather than a long scenario
Unless you play on a PC or Video Game machine, you cannot save the game and play until you have money.
Genre - Combat Games : Genre - Combat Games A direct, violent confrontation.
Destroy the bad guys controlled by the computer or another player.
The challenge is to position oneself properly to avoid being hit by the enemy while shooting or hitting him.
Genre - Combat Games : Genre - Combat Games There are many variations on this theme, most arising from variations on
the geometry of the situation or
the weaponry of the opponents.
Early stage: space (lack of graphic environment and skill), now ground, sky, 3D
Graphic quality is the key these days
In 80’s Galaxian, Jevius,
In 90’s Doom, Quake, Dune2
Why so many combat games are set in outer space? : Why so many combat games are set in outer space? Space is easy to depict and animate with a computer
a blank screen with a few white dots for stars.
Space is not encumbered by the expectations of the players
nobody can object that it is unrealistic.
Earthbound games constrain the designer to look reality squarely in the eye.
Space is an intrinsically fantasy because it is unfamiliar to its audience.
Genre - Combat Games SPACEWAR : Genre - Combat Games SPACEWAR In 1962 by MIT, Steve Russell on a PCP-1
the geometry of the game is third-person rather than first-person
First / Third Person’s view : First / Third Person’s view First Person Geometry
A screen shows the same scene that the pilot would see.
Third Person Geometry
A player sees his own and his opponent’s spaceships from a distance.
First-person games
more exciting and compelling environment than the third-person game.
difficult to play.
technically difficult to make in 2D.
need to stitch panoramic view quickly.
Need a well structured DB and a vast amount of storage.
Battlefield 1942 : Battlefield 1942
HalfLife : HalfLife
Third Person’s View : Third Person’s View
Genre - Combat Games STAR RAIDERS : Genre - Combat Games STAR RAIDERS Early in 1979
Atari 8-bit
the same weaponry and mechanisms as Space War
first-person geometry
Genre - Combat Games ASTEROIDS : Genre - Combat Games ASTEROIDS The primary difference is in the nature of the opposition.
The enemy is a large number of rocks armed
destructively collide with the player.
Shoot the asteroids around you to pieces and shoot those pieces to pieces…
Genre - Combat Games MISSILE COMMAND : Genre - Combat Games MISSILE COMMAND with several interesting twists.
A purely defensive game.
The player must defend not only himself but also his cities.
The player has no mobility.
Strategic elements involved than in many games of this category.
The time between firing and impact is slow.
Genre - Combat Games SPACE INVADERS : Genre - Combat Games SPACE INVADERS One of the most successful combat games.
Developed in 1979.
The player has limited mobility in one dimension.
The opponents (monsters)
can win by touching the player (landing);
the monsters also shoot back.
march back and forth across the screen.
As the player kills more and more, they march faster and faster.
The success of SPACE INVADERS has spawned a whole series of copies and derivatives.
Genre - Combat Games GALAXIAN : Genre - Combat Games GALAXIAN A simple variation on SPACE INVADERS.
Individual invaders peel off and attack the player.
Genre - Combat Games CENTIPEDE : Genre - Combat Games CENTIPEDE The invaders have been grouped into a segmented centipede;
their side-to-side motion is bounded by mushrooms randomly scattered across the screen.
Numerous embellishments (spiders, fleas, and scorpions) extend the game considerably.
Genre - Combat Games TEMPEST : Genre - Combat Games TEMPEST A three-dimensional first-person derivative of SPACE INVADERS using vector graphics.
Fighting Games Mortal Combat : Fighting Games Mortal Combat
Genre – Maze Games : Genre – Maze Games Navigating the maze of paths through which the player must move.
Sometimes one or more bad guys pursue the player through the maze.
Genre – Maze Games : Genre – Maze Games Clearly encapsulated branching structure.
In a maze game, each branch point is neatly depicted by an intersection in the maze.
The looping structure possible with maze games.
In this way, a small number of displayed intersections can represent a huge number of branch-points in the game-tree.
Genre – Maze Games : Genre – Maze Games PAC-MAN (trademark of Namco) is the most successful of these.
The number, speed, and intelligence of the pursuers determines the pace and difficulty of the game.
PAC-MAN has a very carefully balanced combination of these factors.
The pursuers are just slightly slower than the human player;
Their intelligence and number make up for this.
The overall pace of the game makes it difficult for the player to fully analyse the positions of the five pieces in real time.
Copies, variations, and derivatives of PAC-MAN
Genre – Maze Games JAWBREAKERS : Genre – Maze Games JAWBREAKERS Trademark of Sierra On-Line Systems, By John Harris for Atari 8-bit.
Structurally, it is indistinguishable from PAC-MAN.
Cosmetically, there are a number of differences:
the pursuers are faces rather than ghosts;
the player is a set of teeth rather than a head with mouth;
the maze is laid out differently; the sounds are different.
Genre – Maze Games MOUSKATTACK : Genre – Maze Games MOUSKATTACK Trademark of Sierra On-Line Systems, By John Harris for Atari 8-bit.
Some structural changes.
First, some points, randomly chosen by the computer, must be passed through twice.
Second, the player is allowed to fight back against the pursuers in a very different way (setting mousetraps).
Finally, there is a very interesting two-player game that allows both cooperative and competitive strategies.
Genre – Sports Games : Genre – Sports Games These games model popular sports games.
Mainly for a conservative consumer
They buy a game with a title and subject already familiar with.
basketball, football, billiard, baseball, soccer, tennis, boxing, and others.
These games emphasis physical more than mental prowess.
Genre – Sports Games : Genre – Sports Games
Genre – Sports Games : Genre – Sports Games The rules of the game rigorously specify a precise set of actions
the player is allowed to do, not allowed to do or required to do.
Relatively cheap price but difficult to make
Don’t need to make a story.
Graphic – different view points,
Should consider all possible character movements
NBA, FIFA, winter challenge, summer challenge
Genre - Paddle Games : Genre - Paddle Games PONG-based games.
PONG is one of the most successful game,
It has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The original PONG pitted two players in an electronic version of ping-pong.
Genre - Paddle Games : Genre - Paddle Games BREAKOUT
a solitaire version
required the player to chip away at a wall with the ball. The player received points for each brick destroyed.
SUPERBREAKOUT
with moving walls, extra balls, and other tricks.
CIRCUS ATARI
introduced parabolic trajectories for the projectiles and a complex moving wall of balloons.
Genre - Paddle Games : Genre - Paddle Games WARLORDS
up to four players (one in each corner) defend brick castles against a projectile bounced around the field by their shield-paddles.
AVALANCHE
large numbers of rocks are failing; each one must be caught with the player’s piece.
The game becomes quite frantic as more and more rocks fall at a faster and faster pace.
CHICKEN, (trademark of Synapse Software)
with eggs and making each one hatch on striking the ground, forcing the player-hen to jump over it as she moves about.
Genre - Race Games : Genre - Race Games Originally not true games but puzzles
there is no real interaction in a race between a player and his opponent.
APX skiing game DOWNHILL
The player must avoid the trees and rocks;
the score is based on his time to complete the course.
MATCH RACER
a car-racing game with oil slicks and obstacles.
NIGHT DRIVER
a car-racing game featuring a first-person view
Genre - Race Games : Genre - Race Games
Games and Athletic Competitions : Games and Athletic Competitions A race is a competition, not a game.
Distinguish the two by the degree of interaction between players.
A runner is racing against the clock.
In reality, the runners do interact psychologically though.
A competition that does allow interaction is a game.
Genre - STRATEGY GAMES : Genre - STRATEGY GAMES Emphasize cogitation rather than manipulation.
The major distinguishing factor between strategy games and S&A games is the emphasis on motor skills.
All skill-and-action games require some motor skills; strategy games do not.
Indeed, real-time play is rare in strategy games.
Strategy games typically require more time to play than S&A games.
Strategy games are nonexistent in the arcades;
Five categories: Board games, Card games, Adventures, D&D games, wargames, RPG
Genre - Board Games : Genre - Board Games These games consist of a playing surface divided into sectors populated by a set of movable pieces.
Players manoeuvre their pieces across the playing surface
To capture other players’ pieces,
To reach an objective,
To gain control of territory, or acquire some valued commodity.
Genre - Board Games : Genre - Board Games The player’s primary concern is the analysis of geometrical relationships between the pieces.
Cards, go, chess - human to human or human to computer
Bouble bouble, lemmings, prehistoric - designer planned world
Strategy algorithms are the key
Graphics and sound are not so important.
Woman and children prefers – less violence
Genre - Card Games : Genre - Card Games These games utilise a set of 52 symbols generated from two factors:
rank (13 values) and
suit (4 values).
The games revolve around combinations built from these two factors.
Genre - Card Games : Genre - Card Games Players may gain or lose possession of symbols either
By random processes or
By matching some combination allowed by the rules of the game.
The player primary concern is the analysis of combinations.
must recognise both existing and potential combinations,
estimate probabilities of obtaining the cards necessary for completing a combination.
The number of combinations is very large.
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures takes long time (some takes 1week), patience,
need to save the game to continue – not for arcade
These games derive from one of the oldest computer games, called "Adventure".
The first version was in text with keyboard, recent ones are in graphics requiring a mouse.
The adventurer must move through a complex world,
Accumulating tools and booty adequate for overcoming each obstacle,
Until finally the adventurer reaches the treasure or goal.
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures Scott Adams created the first set of Adventures widely available for personal computers;
Pure text adventures that run in a small amount of memory, so they do not need disk drives
86K, text screen,
Walk north, look east, so on
Background world – usually future time
after the nuclear war, magic middle ages, African Jungle with carnivals, …
Need high quality of graphics and sound to avoid becoming boring
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures follow the scenario already set, only one way to solve.
You have to use a special weapon to kill an enemy, sometimes in a special order.
There is a sequence of orders to solve the problem
use the items on the screen all to solve.
The main character never dies
sometimes loose conscious but wake up soon after drinking life water
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures Types
Text – communicating with the computer by typing
Graphics and some text on the bottom of the screen.
Graphics only
Sierra’s Police Quest, King’s Quest, Larry Series
Explicit description, items
Lucas’ games : based on many Movies
Indiana Jones’ series, Monkey Island secret.
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures THE WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS
(trademark of On-Line Systems).
Structurally similar to the originals,
differing in graphic details, polish, and size.
TIME ZONE by On-Line Systems
use multiple diskettes to link together a gigantic adventure.
As the player solves the puzzle in one environment he moves on to another environment on another disk.
The games are structurally identical to earlier games; the only difference is one of magnitude. They take many weeks of play to solve
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures DEADLINE (trademark of Infocom),
a detective adventure with a number of interesting twists.
lack of graphics but an excellent sentence parser.
the player in the role of a detective attempting to solve a murder.
The game is played in a real-time mode that adds to the interest and challenge of the game.
The player searches not for treasure but for information with which to solve the murder.
This game shows the potential of the adventure system in that the same system can be used, with the storyline and goals altered, to appeal to a different audience.
Genre - Adventures : Genre - Adventures Warren Robinett’s ADVENTURE on the ATARI 2600.
absolutely no text.
Instead, the user moves through a series of rooms presented in rather simple graphics.
Although the graphics and input schemes are radically different, the basic feel of the adventure system has been successfully retained.
Example: Monkey Island : Example: Monkey Island
Kings Quest : Kings Quest
Myst / Riven : Myst / Riven
Genre - D&D Games : Genre - D&D Games A group of players under the guidance of a "dungeonmaster" sets out to gather treasure.
A complex game of exploration, cooperation, and conflict set in a fairytale world of castles, dragons, sorcerers, and dwarves.
Genre - D&D Games : Genre - D&D Games The adventure games have slowly absorbed many of the ideas of the D&D games.
Adventures were pure text games, while D&D games used some graphics.
Adventures were puzzles; D&D games were true games.
Adventures were by and large non-violent, while D&D games tended to be quite violent.
Lately, adventures taking on many of the traits of D&D games, so that it is now harder to tell the difference between them.
Genre - D&D Games : Genre - D&D Games ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES
(trademark of Quality Software),
a game with the basic elements of both adventures and D&D games.
The player must search through a large maze to find and rescue a princess,
but on the way he must fight monsters and thieves.
The player, as Ali Baba, possesses personal characteristics (dexterity, speed, etc.) that are reminiscent of a D&D game,
but he must explore the maze as in an adventure.
Genre - Role Playing Game : Genre - Role Playing Game Originated from Board game and Dungeon Game
Major differences: Growth and Freedom
Growth.
start as a weak entity
through adventure and fighting, gains strength, intelligence, wisdom, money and magic. – numeric value considered throughout the game.
If not enough growth, hard as levels go up.
Genre - Role Playing Game : Genre - Role Playing Game Freedom
characters can go any where, talk to someone, have a rest, buy a weapon, ..
Whereas Adventure, you have to solve a specific problem,
Unlike an Action game, you don’t have to win fighting, you can run away, you always have a choice among items.
Figure of an example of Status Table (Diablo)
Often there are hidden event (unexpected).
Diablo : Diablo
Starcraft : Starcraft
Classifications of RPG: Background Time : Classifications of RPG: Background Time Fantasy – most popular background
Which cannot happen in the real world.
Often concepts are borrowed from western legends
dragon, monster, fairy, witch craft, ..
You can design the story in two approaches: either using the legend as it is or modify it.
Eg. Dungeon Mater, Ultima, Wizardry, etc.
Historic
About a real characters (Samurai/Ninja, War hero, ..)
Include many cultural contents.
Classifications of RPG: Background Time : Classifications of RPG: Background Time Contemporary
With familiar characters or weapons - easy to collect information
Includes hard-to-experience events (navigating jungles, fighting against terrorists, ..)
Future SF
In a scientific city, space, after nuclear war, ..
The world should be scientifically reasonable
healing in a scientific way rather than by magic
RPG - Characters / Elements : RPG - Characters / Elements a. tribes
fantasy – human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, half-elf, gnome
contemporary – different race or nationality
Future – ET, Cyborg, clone, alien, robot
b. occupations
fantasy – fighter, knight, priest, magician (mage, wizard, sorcerer), thief, bard, superman
contemporary – mercenary, spy, doctor, professor
Future – space pilot, space pirate, Mad Scientist
RPG - Characters / Elements : RPG - Characters / Elements c. weapons
Attack item
the more powerful weapon the more expensive.
Depending on the location, the quality or price is different.
There could be some limitations depending on the growth level.
Sharp and cutting weapon: spear, axe, sword, dirk
Hitting weapon: cudgel, hammer, cane, stick
Long range weapon: stone throwing, boomerang, bow, spear, dart
future weapon: beam gun,
Defending items
helmet, armour, shield
RPG - Characters / Elements : RPG - Characters / Elements d. Magic
very important especially in Fantasy RPG.
Attacking Magic: magic missile, electric thunder, confusing, making sleep, paralysis
Defending Magic; magic shield, magic word, reverse spell
Healing Magic: healing, antidote, revival
e. Enemy Characters
opponents of the game.
Human: fighting for evil. Big and awful appearance
Machine: popular in SF RPG. No defined shape
Monster: between human and animal. Borrowed from ancient legend or story.
Genre - Wargames : Genre - Wargames Complex and demanding of all games available.
Their rule books read like contracts for corporate mergers
the playing times often exceed three hours.