Sad Mario Greco is Sad - GDW Progress 1

First cue music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ4gvv-k6xs

Mario Greco is sad. Not because some prick ruined his day, not because his imaginary friend ditched him. It's because Mario has been lazy the past week and didn't get much homework done.

Okay three sentences in and I'm already sick of speaking in third person.

Basically I've had repressed thoughts creep up on me again, and prevented me from getting schoolwork accomplished the past week. It consisted of repetitive click motions on Facebook and Twitter, which likely has little impact on developing a healthy social life. Having Valentine's Day tomorrow which reminds me of my 20 year streak of being single doesn't help either. So guess what? Now I have to work my ass off this coming week, conserving my position in solitary confinement even more.

What might my schedule consist of? Hmm... Accounting assignment, Graphics PGM parser assignment, Game design Assignment, some business game pitch assignment, lots of books to read (despite me being a slow reader). Oh yeah of course, there's also my Game Development Workshop (GDW) game, which is an entire video game I have to create with five other classmates by the end of March. Apparently there's some looming milestone for it that's due soon that I'm not too aware of. Fantastic! Where is my GDW game at now?

It's just code. That's it. As you can tell, I am the lead coder of the game, and there's a ton of work still to do. I also need to be more on top of what my other group members have accomplished, making me a bad leader. So how could we have "nothing" accomplished when all game dev students were supposed to have a working game last semester?

It's because I left my old group (for reasons I don't want to state right now) for a new group that didn't have much material to begin with. So great, unlike other students we have to start from scratch, and making an entire game takes a long time; so it's not like one of those assignments that can be completed the night before it's due. It needs to be built over time. But given other incomplete assignments and stupid resurfaced thoughts, my progress has not been well recently. All my game can do right now is recognize mouse and keyboard functions, input sound, input textures, and switch between "2D mode" and "3D mode". That's it. Pathetic.

So here's my plan of getting my stuff done:
1) Accounting assignment (due Wednesday)
2) PGM assignment (due some time very soon)
3) Design Assignment (due next Monday)
4) GDW Milestone 2 (apparently due next week)
5) Business Game Pitch (due God knows when)
6) Read books, read lectures.
7) Study for midterms.

Oh yeah I forgot, midterms are coming in two weeks, and I have to sign up for them too. It's nice to have reading week next week, but we all know that reading week is also known as "catch the %$^& up week". I also plan to make two YouTube videos during that week, very important ones at that. You may be wondering why I'd put those two YouTube videos in the middle of schoolwork rush hour. It's because one has to deal with promoting the game that I've spent half a year developing on my spare time to people across the internet, to hopefully get my name out there in the game industry. The other one has to do with myself, why I'm eccentric, and often (yet unintentionally) reclusive. That video is meant for people who know me personally, as well as those in the game industry to understand who I am so that they won't be caught off guard by my true nature. Both videos are very important to me, and I need to complete them as soon as possible. However, with school and homework in the way, I feel like I'm trapped in some constant loop.

Anyway, that's my sad story. Give me all the sarcastic "boo hoo's" you want, because I know it's not the saddest story in the world, however it ticks me off, and I can't wait to have everything I want complete, to be complete. Everyone wish me luck, and now it's time to get things done. Thanks for reading! :)

Formal Critique: Pokemon HeartGold

Pokemon HeartGold for Nintendo DS is a remake of Pokemon Gold for GameBoy Color.

Although Epic Mickey is currently the latest game my family owns, the last time I purchased a game before then, was Pokemon HeartGold for Nintendo DS. It's technically a new game since it released March 14, 2010, and I picked up my copy just two days after that. As a crazed Pokemon fan, I could ramble all about "mah pokemanz", and how much I love them. However I am a game designer, and I should analyze the game as such.

I love my "Pokemans".

Pokemon (pronounced Poh-ck-eyy-maun) stands for "Pocket Monsters". For those who never really got into the Pokemon franchise, it is a kid-friendly adventure and role-playing game (RPG). The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri, a Japanese man with Asperger's syndrome who had a fascination with collecting insects.[1] When Nintendo introduced the Game Boy, its link-cable system caught his interest, and spawned his idea of "insects crawling through the link-cable". This was what brought the idea of the "Pokemon" trading game mechanic to life, which was ultimately the root of which the Pokemon series was born. The main objective of the game is to become the Pokemon master. In order to become the Pokemon master, you must capture Pokemon, train them through battling other trainers' Pokemon (or wild Pokemon) and work your way up until you can challenge the Pokemon Champion. But before you reach that point, you must collect eight gym badges by defeating eight gym leaders, and then challenge what's called the "Elite Four" before challenging the Champion him/herself. Pokemon development company, Game Freak (a second party game development division of Nintendo Co., Ltd.), has always been conservative with the Pokemon formula; four directional movement, carry six Pokemon at a time, battle other trainers, collect eight badges, challenge the elite four, "gotta catch 'em all", etc. Even though each Pokemon game is a more or less a rehash of previously constructed game mechanics, people just eat them up, including myself.

As I've said before, the game mechanics require the player to move the protagonist (can be male or female) in a four-directional fashion across a region of the Pokemon world. In Pokemon HeartGold, that region is called Johto. If the player stumbles upon a grassy area, a cave, or the player surfs on water, a wild Pokemon may appear and challenge the player. The player has three options; defeat it (it faints, they don't die [2]), capture it and add it to the player's team, or run away. Now of course, in order to capture other Pokemon and battle trainers in the first place, you need your starter Pokemon. In Pokemon HeartGold, your choice is between grass-type Chikorita (right), fire-type Cyndaquil (left), and water-type Totodile (center), as shown in the following picture:

I chose the fire-type Cyndaquil as my very first Pokemon.

That's right, I forgot to mention, a large part of the Pokemon formula is their elemental type. When Pokemon battle, a rock-paper-scissors type of combat occurs. If a fire-type attacks a grass-type, the damage is super effective. However, if a fire-type attacks a water-type, the damage is not very effective. There are also individual statistics that every Pokemon holds, and they differ between Pokemon - even if they're of the same species. Yes, like animals in the real world, there are more than one Pikachu, for example. My younger cousin received this game as his first Pokemon game for Christmas 2010, and chose Cyndaquil (which made his big cousin proud). However, since I've been playing Pokemon longer than he has, the attack, defense, speed, etc. stats of my Pokemon are a lot stronger than his. But considering that today I barely have time to play video games for fun (as I am in university), my cousin has the chance to train his Pokemon, conquer the game, and ultimately challenge me. In my opinion this is one of the greatest beauties of Pokemon - Multiplayer.

Pokemon Trainers

In multiplayer, you can battle and/or trade Pokemon with fellow real-life "trainers". I would love to see the day where my cousin trains his Pokemon to high levels, and then defeat me in battle. Also note that contrary to popular belief, Pokemon is actually a very strategic game where battle is turn-based, and trainers must use wits to overcome his/her opponent - not so much with brute force. There are different attacks of different elemental types that Pokemon can use (for example, water-type Starmie can use electric-type move thunder as an attack), and different stat-boosting moves that a Pokemon can use (to temporarily boost its attack stat during battle, for example). Another factor in the battle mechanic is the Pokemon's "level", which is a number that gives other trainers an idea of how strong the Pokemon is. Once a Pokemon reaches a certain level, it may evolve into a stronger Pokemon. For example, my cousin's Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava at level 16, and last time I checked it is at level 19. Meanwhile, my Cyndaquil already evolved to its final evolution, Typhlosion, at level 36, and is now at level 59.

As you can tell, there is a lot in Pokemon that keeps it fresh, interesting, and ultimately mysterious. Like The Legend of Zelda, the player can freely roam around, complete side-quests/activities that may not exactly tie in with the main story, and even stumble upon hidden areas. Such hidden areas may contain rare items, or even rare, legendary Pokemon. Additionally, back in the day of the original Red and Blue (Green in Japan) games, the creator snuck in an extra Pokemon called Mew that can only be acquired through trading, and through a programming "error".[3]

Mew is one of the rarest Pokemon in the game!

Of course, we should also look into the control GUI of the game. Control interface sports a simple layout, is easy to use, and a lot can be accomplished with it. When the player is in "overworld" mode, the player can use the directional pad to move the player around, and press the "A" button to talk to other people. In "menu" mode, the player again uses the directional pad and "A" button to navigate through his/her Pokemon, his/her items (that can be used to advance through the game, or used to help strengthen Pokemon). Since Pokemon HeartGold is played on the Nintendo DS, the touch screen can be used to navigate through the menu a lot easier than the former mechanic. Finally, in "battle" mode, the player can use the directional pad and "A" button to choose whether to attack, switch Pokemon, use an item, or run away. If the player chooses to attack, he/she can use one of four moves that the Pokemon knows/can learn. Again, since this game is played on the Nintendo DS, the touch screen can be used to select options a lot easier than the traditional button mechanic.

Nintendo DS sports a touch screen that allows menu navigation to be a lot easier to use.

As for the music of the game... Pokemon HeartGold holds some of the most memorable melodies in video games. There is a different background tune for every city, and every route division. Each are pleasing to the ear, and appropriate its area. For example, the cave music - although it is eerie - is appropriate for its area, and its melody is deep. The music contributes a positively to the overall game experience, because the design theme of Pokemon is to explore, grow in strength with your Pokemon teammates, and make it all the way to the top. As you progress through the game, the music changes and builds. When the player starts his/her journey, the music is cheery and innocent. Once he/she gains all eight badges, and before he/she challenges the Elite Four, he/she'll reach his/her hometown again. Listening to that same cheery music again will instantly remind the player of the start of his/her adventure, and naturally he/she will reflect on the amount of progress he/she made since that beginning. As the player makes his/her way to the Elite Four, the music builds and becomes more intense.

The main aspect of Pokemon that make it unique and incredible compared to other RPGs is how well it integrates its social gaming aspect. Social games like FarmVille consist of having the player work toward growing crops and farming animals, to ultimately make money. In Pokemon, trainers train their Pokemon, earn money from defeating in-game trainers to purchase items that can be used to strengthen their Pokemon even more, and ultimately battle/trade Pokemon with real-life friends or even strangers over the internet. This creates a whole community of Pokemon players, allows people to make new friends, and/or strengthen the bond with current friends. This is why Nintendo releases two "versions" every generation (Each generation sports a new set of Pokemon); one version has some Pokemon that are unobtainable in the other version, and vice-versia. Other RPGs are usually one-player games that cannot communicate with other player's games, however Pokemon does, and that why I think the franchise is such a worldwide megahit - it brings the world together. Now all we need is a Pokemon massively multiplayer online (MMO) and Earth will gain the status "World Peace Achieved!" Okay maybe I'm being a little too idealistic here, but hey, anything that brings the world together is definitely something good.

FarmVille created by Zynga is Facebook's most popular game.

I must say that there are aspects of recent Pokemon games that are unessential to the franchise, such as the "triathalon", or the online "mini-games". However they are fun to have, it's great to take a break from battling, and it's all in the same game! The best part is that you can play these mini-games with other friends too!

What I think is truly essential to the Pokemon franchise is allowing it to take the next step. As I've stated before, Game Freak has been very conservative with the franchise. However I feel that bringing it into the realm of massively multiplayer online (MMO) is an essential step to the growth of Pokemon. Not only that, but improving the AI, both of the characters, and the game itself. With Pokemon HeartGold, the AI's difficulty is based on their Pokemon, essentially their level and statistics - not so much the trainer's intellect. If a trainer has a level 7 Pidgey, he won't be tough to beat. If a trainer has a level 88 Charizard, then he/she'll definitely be a tough cookie, especially how Pokemon of higher levels have a more complex move arsenal. However in my idea of a Pokemon MMO, the atmosphere will feel much like the anime cartoon. There will be no non-playable trainers, and the only AI would be the Pokemon and their many behaviors blended into one unique "personality" per Pokemon. Also rather than rely on Pokemon "levels" to track strength, Pokemon will have an internal stats system that is unknown to the player. This will prevent supernerds who lack "lives" from creating a team of Lv. 100 Arceus', giving everyone a chance to particpate and challenge other trainers in the world. Of course training Pokemon will allow them to be stronger, as their internal stats will improve. What I mean is that for example pitting a Blastoise against an Igglybuff will obviously give Blastoise the upper hand, however there is still a very slight chance that the Igglybuff can defeat him/her.

Obviously Blastoise (left) would defeat an Igglybuff (right) with ease. However who's to say that the opposite could never happen?

Let's say that in the Pokemon MMO, the player gets frustrated with his Blastoise, and/or overtrains him/her. The Blastoise may feel resentful toward his/her trainer for that day, and ultimately lose to a new trainer's Igglybuff should they battle. Pokemon should start factoring experiences between trainers and Pokemon, and more importantly, trainers and other trainers. This is what Pokemon should move on toward. Additionally, the game itself should be more intelligent. Every time a Pokemon attacks in Pokemon HeartGold, the text below the battle screen will say for example, "Charmander used tackle. The attack was super effective! Charmander's attack decreased! Charmander's defence increased! Charmander is paralyzed, it can't move!". The menu system (both in battle mode and outside battle mode) in Pokemon games are too systematic, and need to loosen up. For example, Apple's iPhone. The system is very casual, very intuitive, and doesn't give the impression what you're dealing with some robot.

Anyway that's my critique on Pokemon HeartGold. I know that I expanded to the entire Pokemon series quite often throughout this post, however I think that it is essential for the series to keep its child-friendly charm, its theme of growing with your Pokemon team (among many other themes), the ability to trade/battle/associate with fellow trainers, and the mysteriousness and wonder of the Pokemon world. I think that there are many ways in which the series can evolve without impacting its original charm, and one of those prominent ways is to make it into an MMO. In fact, making it into an MMO will only improve the original aspects that Pokemon series holds - especially the social aspect.

Thank you everyone for reading!

[1] http://books.google.com/books?id=RK-nqZKyaIgC&pg=PT58&dq=%22satoshi+tajiri%22&lr=lang_en&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=3&cd=3#v=onepage&q=%22satoshi%20tajiri%22&f=false
[2] http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/1122/pokemon6.fullinterview1.html
[3] http://www.stanford.edu/group/htgg/cgi-bin/drupal/sites/default/files2/gshin_2004_1.pdf

Nintendo 3DS' questionable future and Society's view on games

Hey everyone, I stumbled upon an article from Kotaku which I found from a Tweet from Julian Spillane (A lecturer of mine at UOIT). It claims that the Nintendo 3DS is the anti-Game Boy. In fact, I agree with them. They explain how the original Gameboy was designed to be a cheap handheld ($99) with low-resolution gray-scale graphics, and a powerful battery life (Around 30 hours).

Nintendo 3DS

Now today with the Nintendo 3DS, it will be very powerful with stereoscopic 3D visuals (without the need for glasses), augmented reality games, and system power almost matching that of Wii. Sure, sounds fantastic, but with a hefty price ($250) and the worst battery life in Nintendo's history (3-5 hours), I just wonder what the late Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi-San would say about this. The original GameBoy's competition ridiculed it because of its lack of power, however the Game Boy is what blew their handheld products away with its long-lasting battery, cheap price, and slew of fantastic games like Tetris and Pokemon.

Sure, Nintendo has always been about quality games, and hasn't stopped that trend; however, they've created the Nintendo 3DS which follows the philosophy of, "the more power the better", which has been a proven failure. So I'm not so sure how the Nintendo 3DS will fair in the 8th generation of video games. Also consider that I live in Canada, also known as "The Great White North", also known as "the place that's friggen cold when it's winter". Cold temperatures affect any battery negatively. So you can shave probably another half-hour of gametime off my 3DS. Now pack that with 3D visuals on 100% (because I'd like to get my money's worth) and I've probably got 2.5 hours of gameplay. That sucks Nintendo, I'm sorry. What happened to the 18 hours of gameplay with the GameBoy Advance, or the Nintendo DS Lite? I bet the PSP2 will have a better battery than the Nintendo 3DS. Tsk tsk, Nintendo.

Nintendo Game Boy

You may also consider that there will be a console re-release in a couple year's time (3DSi anyone?), but I don't have the money to update my hardware every new release, and spend full pop on it. No. I'd suggest releasing a better battery in the future that can fit into the same old 3DS, and you've got yourself a deal.

Now the biggest concern for the 3DS is not just the PSP2, but smartphones BlackBerry, iPhone, and smartphones that carry the Google Android OS. Day by day they're taking chunks of the handheld gaming market, with cheap ($1), quirky, small games like Angry Birds. Are they fun? Yes! Are they full of depth, immersion, and quality? No. However people (especially non-gamers and those of the casual audience) seem not to care about that, they just like cheap games that can pass time. That's it. People today don't understand what it takes to make a game, they subconsciously think it runs on magic, and that it takes nothing to whip it up - no matter how revolutionary or ingenious the product is. Meanwhile, when I sent a sneak peek of my own video game to my non-game development friends, they were wowed beyond belief - despite my game being a simple arcade shooter that can be completed in 15 minutes. I'm not saying this to gloat, or to heighten my ego, I'm just trying to prove a point. People believe that when corporations create something, it's like as if it's open to the public, stealing/pirating it won't hurt them, and it took nothing for them to create it. But when a family member or friend creates something that many other individuals usually don't create themselves, it's like that product is an invaluable piece of awe and amazement.

Sony's [codenamed] NGP, also known as PSP2.

So my suggestion for corporations is to give an idea on how their products are made. Sure, getting the people to say "Wow, that's like magic, I have no idea on how that was done" is a good marketing mechanic, until a certain point in time where that "magic" becomes part of everyday life. For example, back in the 1930's Disney's animated movies were incredible, unique, and magical. The amount of appreciation people had for animation back in the day is unrivaled by the appreciation of animation today. Today, the general public see animation as if it takes nothing for a company to create. There's no astonishment, no "Wow" factor. They subconsciously think it runs on magic, and put little thought into how it could have been created. Why? Because they've got more important things to think about; like their job, supporting their family, paying bills, and stalking celebrities through magazines. What about children? Their minds aren't on such things, right? Yes, however any child I've spoke to does not know how a television even works. I asked my seven year old cousin how he thinks a picture is displayed on a TV. He answers "umm... some kind of camera?".

If people knew how technology works, then maybe they would appreciate their product, and realize that we still live on the same planet as our primitive ancestors. Maybe there would be a less desire to pirate, and customer value of technology will adjust proportionately to the hard work developers put into creating it.

This is why technological corporations need to work together to enlighten the world on how their products are made, because society is only becoming more ignorant as people take "magic" for granted. I'm sure you're wondering now, "I thought you were talking about the Nintendo 3DS?". Well I was, I just went off on a tangent, and was forced to change the title of this article to match that.

Anyway to wrap up, I'm looking forward to the Nintendo 3DS, I hope Nintendo will soon correct its negative qualities; and I more importantly hope that in the future people will understand how technological products are made, so that they'll have a more appropriate view of their value, not take them for granted, and remember humanity's roots on Earth. Thank you for reading!

Bad Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES

I know what you're thinking, "The Angry Video Game Nerd already did a hilarious review of that game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES!". Yes he did! In fact, you can see it right here.

The Angry Video Game Nerd was not pleased with this game. Neither was I.

Now here's a game designer's take on it. It may not be as hilarious as the Angry Video Game Nerd, but whatever.

I played this game when I was a kid, about six to seven years old. You don't understand how freaking difficult this game was for a kid of that age. Not challenging, just a pain in the ass.

The Gameplay mechanics were simple; you walk back and forth in a sidescrolling platformer fashion with the d-pad, press "a" to jump, and "b" to attack. Simple. The controls were fine. Whenever you move to the overworld, you can move up, down, left, and right in a top-down bird's eye view fashion. Nothing bad, but nothing fascinating.

What I enjoyed was that you can choose between the four turtles, which all hold different weapons. However there were no "lives" or "continues" in this game. If you lose a life, you basically lose a turtle. Once all four are defeated, it's game over, and it's back to the title screen. No continues. How annoying is that? It's also not like the developers utilized each turtle to be an asset for a puzzle or challenge in the game. No strategy like that involved. The turtles were simply there with their individual weapons, so that the kid can pick his/her favourite one - before he/she is quickly forced to choose the other characters after they lose that turtle, thanks to the sheer difficulty of this game.

The sound was fine too, nothing really horrible, but none of them matched the tv show's music, not even the title theme, which is a disappointment for fans. One thing I have to note is whenever your character is low on energy, you'll hear a high pitched alarming sound. A sound that only pulls at your nerves - especially when you're playing through a level that was painstakingly ridiculous. It sort of reminds me of the "low energy" noise from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, except much worse.

I hate this game.

The story wasn't deep or compelling, it was just about the Ninja Turtles having to again defeat their nemesis, Shredder. Occasionally April O'Neil would instruct the player/turtles on what to do for each level, and give tips here and there - however none of them were useful.

The level design was good, it's not like it was bland or repetitive. Enemies were different for each level, there was always a different theme to each level (ex. sewer, underwater, overworld maze, etc.) So that was nothing bad either.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Hey this doesn't seem too bad of a game, why do you consider it to be a bad game?". Well, now I'm getting to the main reason why I hate this stupid game.
The game flow?... there was no game flow. The entire thing was ridiculously hard. Especially the water level. Oh gawd that friggen water level that helped me become the bundle of nerves I am today - at six years old! Let's start with the first level. It mostly was a pain in the ass, and it introduced the annoying A.I. that was set to kill the turtles in swarms. Actually, I'll go off on that tangent if you don't mind. The A.I. wasn't bad, each enemy was different in terms of looks and behaviour. However there were TOO MANY OF THEM CROWDING DIFFERENT AREAS! Just one attack after another, annoyance after annoyance. Let's say that I'm trying to reach an item that is protected by the platforms in a corner on the screen, and you have to travel in the opposite direction, get by a swarm of enemies, jump to the upper level, and travel in the direction leading to the item. Now you've got a gap that is impossible to jump over. You're likely to fall down the first hundred times. Then you'll have to fight past the swarm of enemies again, which are all placed at random which throws the concept of strategy out the window. There may be a heath regain icon along the way, but when you touch it, it doesn't come back. But the enemies do, at random spots, and in swarms. Then you figure out that you can simply walk over the gap. What a joke! Anyway now I have to return to explain how that water stage was such a crippling experience for my childhood. First off, you have to find bombs under water and shut them off. Second, you're on a timer, so you have to hurry the hell up. Lastly, the stage is so annoying and painfully hard that you require time an patience to complete it. But how could you complete it when you have to beat the timer?! It's not like the developers were generous with the time, and allowed you to complete the stage with let's say a minute of extra time. No, it's to the second. Even with the timer aside, the very basis of the stage was a stab to human central nervous system. The fact that you're underwater made the controls different and slippery, and you had to use you button tapping skills to route through a tight area full of electric seaweed. Like what the hell? This game is for kids, have a little mercy! Eventually I made it out after 1.0937 x 10^7 tries, but then the following maze level was like a punch to the balls; you struggle to complete the water stage, and then the next level just laughs at your face with its difficulty. It's like "oh you struggled so hard to beat that water level, but here, we'll kill you off anyway." It's like all effort gone to waste. If it was an adult playing this game, they would have made the wise decision by putting down the controller, and say "I don't have time for this, I have stuff to do". But I was a kid back then, which meant lots of free time, and ultimately lots of game time. So what better did I have to do than to try and beat that friggen water level that I would be reminded of whenever I looked at that friggen game cartridge. I had to beat it, and look at where my efforts brought me? To lose at the next stage. What a load of crap. They called this a kids game? More like an innocence killing hell hole that is addictive as hell but painstakingly annoying. This is why the game is bad, it'll drive you to insanity! Look at this wall of text! It's all one paragraph! This whole paragraph explains how this game was a bad childhood memory for me. It split me from society, and increased my urge to play this horrible game, over and over, just to try and beat it so I can say "HA! I WIN SUCKER!". But no, that day never came, and to this day I haven't beaten it, or even touched it for that matter.

That God forsaken water level...

I hate games that are addictive AND harmful to your nerves with its annoying difficulty. If it wasn't so addictive, I would have put the damn game away and pop in Super Mario Bros. If it wasn't so difficult, I would have been able to enjoy the game. But no. It's like the developers locked my childhood-self in a cage, and left the game with me as a means of torture. What a horrible game. I'm going to go play it again.

Good Game: The Legend of Zelda NES

I now was asked to write about what I thought was a "good game". What instantly comes to mind is the original The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). You may be thinking, "Isn't The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time your favourite game?" Yes, that is my most favourite game, but the original Zelda is what started the unique design formula that inspires many (including myself) to this day.

Right off the bat, you start off in the middle of nowhere, you have no arsenal, and you have a choice between three paths and a cave. This is what the Legend of Zelda formula is at its core: you don't know what to do. This allows the world and the quest of Link (the protagonist) to be mysterious to the player. This promotes surprises and moments where the player says "ah-ha!" after completing a puzzle. As the player continues his/her quest, he/she will learn more about the quest, improve his/her arsenal, and finally restore the triforce and save Princess Zelda form the evil clutches of Ganon.

Classic.

The gameplay and controls are very simple compared to today's games. There's just the directional pad for movement, and "a" and "b" buttons to use weapons. Link can carry many weapons and items in his catalog, which is accessed by the start menu. However, he can only have two on hand at a time. Those weapons/items can be assigned to either the "a" or "b" button. The Legend of Zelda was a pioneer of this intuitive catalog system, which expanded the game further without making it more complicated.
The A.I. wasn't very complex, however there were many different AI behaviors that always kept the world of Hyrule fresh. The player would have to learn to adapt, and figure out the best way to defeat all enemies (or even come to the decision that some enemies are unbeatable, and require the player to dodge them).

The sound wasn't spectacular as it was 8-bit, however its music and sound effects were one of the most memorable melodies and jingles in gaming history. Whenever the player unlocks a secret that leads to a new item (an example of an "ah-ha" moment) and picks up the item, a "da-na-na-naaaaaa!!!" jingle plays, which congratulates the player on making an important step in the game. The sounds were very distinguishable, and their melodies were pleasing to the ear - even the songs that loop again and again. Today's game music is a lot more complex and realistic, however thanks to the constraints of the NES, the developers were forced to create beautiful melodies to compensate for the lack of harmony and depth. Unfortunately, given that today's technology has improved, many developers show a lack of care for creating memorable melodies, and just create some music of some sort. This is not to say that all developers disregard melodies today, as you can see in Super Mario Galaxy, many of its tunes are incredible and unforgettable.

The mysterious fairy's fountain.

The levels were ingeniously crafted, as they were full of unique puzzles, challenges, and secrets ready for discovery. The overworld itself was well designed, with each division holding a theme (forest, desert, graveyard, etc.) As the player conquers each dungeon, he/she can use the items gained to access the succeeding levels that were previously inaccessible.

The main theme of the game was: you start helpless, but then you build up your strength, wits, and experience, to ultimately save the world. In order words, it set the story for all future Zelda games; it's the story of the boy who became a man. Sure, in this game you do not see Link physically grow into a man, but he develops mentally and strength-wise into an mature adult, along with the player as he/she leads him to grow. This is why his name is Link, because he is essentially the avatar of the player - the link between the player and the game.

Now the best part of the game's design is that there were absolutely NO cutscenes, yet the story was so deep considering that it was entirely implicit. Sure there was an introductory paragraph on the title screen, and during the game every now and then a non-playable character may give you a hint, but the game never explicitly laid out the true underlying philosophical story of the game. This is what makes the original Legend of Zelda a true piece of art; not just gaming art, but art in general. It is a shame that succeeding Zelda games began to rely on cinematics and descriptions, regardless they have always kept the tried and true fun gameplay mechanic that the original Zelda set out. Hopefully soon the Zelda developers will look back and take a lesson from the ingeniously crafted implicit story of the first Legend of Zelda - as it is what I believe should be the standard of narratives in video games; implicit user-guided stories.

Ten Minutes of Epic Mickey

I was asked to play a game that I never played before for ten minutes, and write my experience in the form of a narrative. I purchased Epic Mickey on Wii for my brother for his birthday last month. I never really had time to play video games last semester due to the crazy amount of work I had to do (That’s right, I’m in a gaming program, and I barely have time to play games. The irony captivates me). So I decided to give the game a spin.

I watched the introductory cutscene, very animated and cute, however this wasn’t part of the actual gameplay, so I didn’t count it as part of the ten minutes. It did give me an idea of what the story is about. Mickey Mouse passed through his magic mirror into an alternate world, accidentally ruined another world created by a magician, and then ran back to his own world. Many years later his mistake came back to him in the form of “the phantom blot”, and pulled him into the world he destroyed, now called “wasteland” – a world of forgotten characters. After Mickey’s decent into wasteland, a scientist grabbed hold of him and pinned him to a board. Then for unknown reasons, he tried to extract his heart using some machine he apparently created. Mickey’s heart was too powerful for the scientist to extract, and Mickey broke free. In the shadows, a rabbit called Oswald observed what was taking place. I don’t remember what happened next, but something happened to the machine that caused it to short circuit, gain a mind of its own, and start attacking Oswald. The scientist fled, which left Mickey to destroy the machine. A another character suddenly showed up (I think it’s some sort of gremlin, but a comical and cute one), and told Mickey how to destroy the machine. Finally, the gameplay begins.

Mickey Mouse regains his classic look for Epic Mickey.

During the scenematics, there are no voices or text; just a bunch of noises and grunts. But during the gameplay, the gremlin speaks to Mickey/user in the form of text. Being the slow reader that I am, I decided to skim read what the gremlin said, and just play the game. So using the Wii Nunchuk, I made Mickey move toward some control system that the gremlin told me to destroy. Along the way, I noticed another track that led elsewhere. Being the type of person who likes to traverse each path that precedes the destination, I went down that path, and discovered a closed door. I couldn’t open it, and nothing interesting was around it, so I went back and continued along the track toward the control system. Once I reached the control system, I gave a few shakes of the Wii remote as the gremlin instructed me to, and it caused Mickey to destroy the system. The gremlin then told me that I had to destroy the other control system on the other side of the room in order to fully shut down the crazy machine that was attacking Oswald and Mickey himself. With that, I tried looking for the other control system, but I ended up falling off the platform that the first control system was on. So I continued my search, and couldn’t find it. Eventually I figured out that I was running around in circles in the right hemisphere in the room. I blame the camera system for misleading me. Anyway, I then found the control system, destroyed it, and the machine shut down. Suddenly a cinematic plays where Mickey spots Oswald run away, and he follows him along with the gremlin.

The gremlin introduces paint and thinner to Mickey, and how he can utilize it along his way to find Oswald. To be honest it is quite an interesting game mechanic. Paint restores objects and terrain, and thinner gets rid of it. Sure, the areas where you can use paint and thinner are in fixed areas, but it can still serve as a puzzle element. I found a pile of rocks blocking my way. So the gremlin told me to use thinner to get rid of the terrain, which caused the rocks to fall through what now is an abyss. Then I used paint to restore that terrain, which allowed me to walk over it. Obviously the gremlin telling me when to use the paint and thinner would defeat the purpose of the in-game puzzles, but I assume that as I progress through the game, he will start to give fewer tips as I’ll have enough experience to play the game on my own. Anyway I eventually stumbled upon some enemies, and the gremlin explained that I can defeat them in two ways; use thinner to kill them, or use paint to turn them friendly. Being the goody-goody gamer that I am, I used paint to turn them friendly. I then tried using thinner to see what would happen after they have turned friendly, and it caused them to revert to their evil selves. So I used paint again and they became jolly absent minded creatures again.

Mickey attacks mecha robot! It's super effective!

Later on I found a small tower that housed a treasure chest. Directly next to the tower was a glowing platform. I stepped onto it, and then the gate that protected the treasure opened up. At the same time, a catapult that held another gremlin in a cage moved toward the ground, and locked into place. The guiding gremlin told me that the treasure chest is on top of a platform that is preventing the catapult from catapulting the caged gremlin into the sky. All the while, the caged gremlin is on top of a platform that is holding the gate around the treasure open. So I had to choose either to save the gremlin, or to open the treasure chest. However, since I shifted through my gremlin’s message too fast, I didn’t catch everything he said. So I played stupid, and moved toward the treasure chest. Before I reached the treasure chest, my gremlin told me again, “opening the treasure will cause the other gremlin to be catapulted into the sky, you really want that to happen just for treasure?” Now being clearer on what the outcomes are, I turned back, and chose to free the gremlin. He thanked me, and gave me a Mickey Token, or something along those lines. Then the gate of the treasure closed. I believe that allowing the player to guide the story is the main advantage that games have over movies and novels, however in this case I’m not too sure if this decision has an impact on the rest of the story, or if it’s just one of many means to get more Mickey Tokens. Either way, this sort of conflict is good to implement in games, as it reminded me of real life conflicts; if a listener didn’t grasp the description of a future outcome by a speaker with 100% clarity, although he/she may have received 90% of the information, he/she is still likely to play stupid and assume that nothing bad will happen. After all, that is just what happened to me in this very simulated conflict. Thankfully the gremlin reminded me of the outcome again just before I was about to open the chest (Which heightens my belief that “guides” are important in games that have user-guided stories).

However the only beef I have about this impressive conflict system is that all messages are in text. It’s unrealistic to have the game automatically lock your controls before you open the chest, so that you can read the reminder from the gremlin. I understand that without locking my controls, I would have opened the chest before I could read what the gremlin wanted to tell me. But I feel that a realistic conflict such as that, would require a realistic conversation system, where the messages are delivered in speech instead of text. Here’s my idea on how the conflict should have flowed; first off, the camera should be at a better position (as the camera system cripples the game) as I approach the chest, and then the gremlin would literally pop out in front of me, alarming me of the outcome again. Then at that point, I would instantly have the option to pass right by the gremlin and open the chest, or pause my movements myself to listen (no automatic controls lockdown needed), and then turn around. Again, if there is a realistic conflict system, everything that it needs to deliver itself should be realistic too. In this case, this means that the animation and communication between character and player (or character and character) should be realistic too, in order to effectively deliver the simulated conflict to the player. Whew, that was a lengthy explanation about something so short in length, yet so important in terms of game design.

Amazing concept art for Epic Mickey.

Anyway, after I freed the gremlin and received my Mickey Token, I found the entry to the next level, which is a projection screen that acts as a portal to the cartoon on its display. On the display was “Mickey and the Beanstalk”. As I approached the projection screen, another cutscene took hold of the game. Mickey asked the gremlin, “why a projection screen?”, and the gremlin responded, “because it would only make sense for cartoons, no?” or something along those lines. Then they jump into the next world, which somewhat reminded me of the level system in Super Mario 64, where the player would jump into paintings to access new levels. I then caught a glimpse of the new level, which appears to be side-scroller level. Anyway, at that time my ten minutes of gameplay was long overdue, so I decided to quit the game. The game then reminded me that any progress after the last checkpoint would be lost, so I assumed that jumping through the projection screen was my last checkpoint (As that was a cutscene). I quit the game, and shut the Wii off. Gawd that was 1672 words! D:

Revival of this blog

Hey Everyone, it's been a while. Thanks to school I haven't made a new YouTube video since September, and I've also been trying to finish the game that I've been developing on my spare time since August. So I've been fairly busy during my time away from making YouTube videos. Anyway, I am now in my second semester of second year at UOIT for the Game Development and Entrepreneurship curriculum. One of the courses I am taking this semester is called "Game Design and Production I". One of the requirements of the course is to set up a blog. I wanted to do WordPress, but installation wasn't working, so I decided to go with my old GameIndustryAnalyst blog here on blogger. From now until the end of April, this website will focus solely on homework and assignments given by my professor to be completed here on this blog. I know this may at first sound boring (as I'm sure no one would want to read another person's homework), but this isn't your ordinary homework, this is all about my learning and experiences as a game designer. Do you remember my video on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GciBlMVBlTM)? Well my future blog posts here will be something like that, but on a smaller scale, and more frequently posted. So if I were you, I wouldn't pass off this blog too soon. Please just check it out, post some comments, and tell me what you think. In the meantime, once I finish my game that I've been developing on the side (which I hope to complete very soon), I will start to post some new YouTube videos.

Please stay tuned, thanks!
Mario Greco, aka the GIA