Casual Games, A Necessary Sacrifice

Duncan Kennedy, Source Article - http://www.gamesbrief.com/2011/04/two-ends-of-the-same-line-the-casualcore-war/

If you frequent any forum or other medium of game discussion, you’ve heard it, something condescending regarding “those casuals”. I used to be one of those people, in fact, seeing casual gamers as something that would disrupt the way games are published, even how they are designed. In reality, however, we must recognize the importance of this group, and why we sometimes need to cater to them.

It seems that there’s been a recent influx of causal gamers, and more worryingly, casual games, except that this is not the case. Casuals have been around for many years, even before consoles. Maybe they weren’t spending $20 in quarters in the arcades, but they were playing alongside us, especially in the 70’s playing pong for reasons unrelated to the game.  And how successful pong was, whether or not it is related to those looking to do more than play a game, launched the games industry to what it is today.

The industry always has and always will revolve around one thing, and that’s money. The reason Pong was such a success wasn’t because of the quality of the game, it’s because people were willing to spend so much on it. Back in the arcade days it may have been easier to pin the majority of spending on those who put all of their allowance into a machine, but what about nowadays? People aren’t spending quarters, they’re spending upwards of $300 on consoles and games, how do casuals fit in?

Casuals have Facebook, that’s how. Core gamers carve time out of their schedule to play games, casuals will really only play a game as a distraction or if they find that they have an empty hour or so to kill. Because Facebook is free, there’s no high cost to get started. It doesn’t take long at all to start a farm in Farmville, and if you can’t find time to harvest for a few days, it doesn’t matter; you can leave it and come back whenever you have time. The ease of access allows them to keep playing, and maybe spending $5 on making their crops grow faster next time, and so on. They may well spend just as much as a core gamer will on a console, but spread out over several months.

In the end, Farmville may not be the best example of how casuals affect the core gamers experience. Some core companies may well take advantage of the casual gamers who are finding their core desires with easier games. The core audience may not be happy about it, but the money made from these titles allows the developer to release the core games that we so enjoy.

What Type Of Gamer Are You?

Jordan Davis

 

 

            A "Gamer" is someone who plays videos games. It's as simple as that. Now what type of gamer? That's a slightly more complicated manner.

 

            There are two main types of "Gamer". First of all there is a casual gamer. I think before I get into what a casual gamer is I need to define what a casual game is. A casual game is a game that you can just sit down, bring up on your computer and play for fifteen to thirty minutes, be entertained and then continue on with what you were doing before. Some examples of some casual games are Bejeweled, FreeCell and Tetris. As these games don't require you to sit down and play them for hours on end, although some people do play them that way. Now I would define a casual gamer as someone who players these types of games relatively often

 

            Then we have the hardcore gamer also known as a serious gamer. Once again I will need to define a hardcore/serious game. A serious game I think would be defined as a game that requires a fair amount of hours invested into it in order to see any noticeable progress. These types of games can be played anywhere from an hour to more than five hours in one sitting and they often are. Some examples of hardcore games would be, World of Warcraft, Skyrim, and Call of Duty. As you can imagine a hardcore gamer usually focuses on these types of games.

 

            I know that there are middle grounds in this topic like maybe you enjoy all the listed casual games and your friend invites you over to play a game of Call of Duty. Does that make you a hardcore gamer? I don't think so because you played a more serious game but you did so casually. So unless you get like super into it and start replacing some of your casual games with this game. I think that is when you step over the line to become more of a hardcore gamer.

 

            When I think about "Gamers" I know that if someone is a gamer, a hard core gamer in particular that they have a passion for whatever type of game it is that suits their fancy. Frankly I find that to be awesome just the raw passion that drives them to play whatever game it is that they play. However the only downside to this that I can see would have to be the conflict. For example the argument of Xbox or PlayStation 3? Lots of people have passion for both sides thus causing a conflict. I think that that is part of what drives the industry forward.

 

 

 

A Sports Game Fantasy by Jared Robertshaw

Source article: ‘‘Shouldn't the most popular fantasy game in the world have an IGN page?’ by Abe Stein on Kill Screen Oct. 17, 2012.

Millions of North Americans identify as gamers. Millions more play everyday and do not even realize it. Fantasy sports have an estimated “32 million active users in the United States and Canada alone.” Many of these people are avid gamers: spending hours a day managing their fantasy sports teams. The time is right for the video game industry to exploit this potential market.

In the United Kingdom sports management simulation games are very popular. Sega’s ‘Football Manager 2012’ has sold over a million copies and boasts an impressive aggregate Metacritic score of 84. At its heart ‘Football Manager’ is nothing more than a fantasy sports simulator. You play no actual football; instead the heart of the game is made up of buying and selling players and managing your stadium to maximize profits for your team.

This is much the same as what users do on fantasy sports websites like Sports.Yahoo.com/Fantasy.  Users will create avatars, draft and trade players, manage salary caps and attempt to deal with suspended and injured players. All of this is done through and interactive user interface that anyone experienced in perusing videogames many menus would be instantly comfortable with. Many fantasy sports websites are monetized as well offering users better experiences for a nominal fee.

Now it is time for the games industry to start getting in on some of that money. Playstation already offers NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.tv and NHL Centre Ice packages so owners can watch professional sports right on their home console. Fantasy sports could be integrated into these experiences. Live fantasy sports updates made available on screen while you are watching the game much the same as notifications appear during videogames.  If a partnership with Yahoo or ESPN fantasy sports could be made whoever chooses to develop this would have a market of millions on day one.

Avid fantasy sports users currently have to keep one eye on their TV and the other on the computer screen. Integrating these two into a customizable television interface could revolutionize fantasy sports. Friends could chat and trash talk over Xbox live while watching the game no matter how far apart they live. When the game is over people can access their fantasy teams on their television, which means their console is on longer and more likely for them to think about purchasing or playing other games.

The games industry needs to start expanding its horizons. Fantasy sports have millions of people ready to play. It’s just a matter of who is going to draft them first.

Approching Player Imagination: Hand Holding vs. Loose Ends by Kayla Williamson

source video: "Stop sweating the details and let video games 'happen'", a lecture by Pietro Righi Riva on Gamasutra, October 19, 2012


At this year's GDC Europe, indie game developer and Studio Director of Santa Ragione, Pietro Righi Riva, presented his thoughts on how companies need to "design tools instead of structure" for gamers to ensure satisfaction."The difference between toys and games are rules," Riva said, and it's important that we as designers understand that concept. There is a thin line between following a set of prerequisites─perhapes to fulfil a quest or campaign─and obeying orders, which often destroys the enjoyment for people.

A large part of gaming is taking a story and adapting it as a personal fantasy. With too many limitations─or too much information─a player may lose interest and become frustrated. It's necessary to find balance between spoon-feeding the audience and giving them too much freedom. Although players are ultimately responsible for their own enjoyment, it's our job to create environments that allow individuals to interact with actions latent within objects.

Ravi stated that "[We are] not simulating things with games, but we are using real world experiences of players to make them understand the things you're representing." The "paddles" in Pong are not shaped as tennis or badminton rackets for a reason; If they were, then we as the player would expect them to handle differently.  Because games simulate feeling and emotion, the behaviour of the ball would not seem accurate to the audience if the graphics of the game were any different. The fact that Pong makes sense to us even though it's just a few shapes on a screen proves that "representation is freely tied to expectation."

To conclude his presentation, Riva left these words of wisdom for game developers:
"Maybe if you give players a world that is coherent, and you don't mismanage their expectations, you can give up quantifying whatever their doing and just go with it."

As a future game designer, the most critical thing that I can take away from Riva's lecture is the importance of allowing your audience to mold the game to fit their expectations; Everyone experiences games differently, and the more a designer allows a gamer to "play" around with their surroundings, the more likely they are to derive what they personally need to from a game. Some people use video games as a portal to escape, and allowing a player to delve into their own fantasy, and explore a different world may be what they will feel the most satisfaction from.


Kayla Williamson

Mists of Pandaria - The Breakdown.

Source article: http://www.nowgamer.com/pc/previews/1620433/world_of_warcraft_mists_of_pandaria_review.html

     Since the release of World of Warcraft in 2004, there have been many significant changes as far as game content goes. Most recently Blizzard dropped their fourth expansion “Mists of Pandaria” on September, 25. 2012. So what’s changed in those eight years you might ask? First off, new level caps reach an outstanding ninety. Although, besides the tedious pain of leveling there’s a bunch of great new aspects as well. Blizzard created brand new zones to boost adventure and feel in pandaria, a new race and class, introduced scenarios, pet battles, that old talent system you used? Well, it’s been revamped and simplified; of course dungeons and raids are released for you PvE lovers and new battlegrounds for you PvPr’s. Let’s get to the breakdown.

Leveling:

     With a new expansion, of course comes a new level cap. In mists, the player cap is set only five levels above the previous eighty five but, don’t let such a small number fool you for the grinds consist of millions of experience required to ding.

Zones/Raids/Dungeons:

   (The Jade Forest: Level 85-86) - The Jade Forest is a zone located in eastern Pandaria, bordering the Valley of the Four Winds at the southwest and Kun-Lai Summit at the northwest. This will be your starting place until your ding to 86. Temple of the jade serpent is located in the jade forest just east of the zone. The landscape of the jade forest is almost entirely explained in the title. It’s a large lush area full of foliage and distinct Pandarian landmarks such as temples monasteries and farmlands.

  (Valley of the Four Winds/ Krasarang Wilds: Level 86-88) - Valley of the Four Winds is your desired next leveling zone depending on which choice you make. Krasarang is also in your best interest at eighty-six. The valley is a tranquil plain of lush farmland and is bordered by very dense foliage along the south and contains the "impassable" mountains of the north. Recently the valley has suffered a terrible malaise and had overcome the Pandaren that live along the coast. Stormstout Brewery is your level 86 dungeon found in Valley of the Four Winds. As for Krasarang Wilds, your other 86 zone is on Pandarias south coast. Many lost secrets of dynasty crawl along the lands of Krasarang, attracting many prophecy-seekers belonging to both the horde and alliance. But don't be fooled for Krasarang is home to vicious mogu and other dangerous creatures.

  (Kun-Lai Summit: Level 87-89) - Kun-Lai Summit is accessed through the Veiled Stair, which begins at the Grassy Cline in the Valley of Four Winds. Once you reach the summit, you'll be amazed at what you see! In the southern the lands are full of rich vibrant colours, with such a cool feeling like that of fall. When you move closer to the Northern you'll notice the landscape changes. Mountain tops are now covered in glistening snows that give you the cold chills of winter. The summit is the tallest mountains known to all of Azeroth. In the mountaintops you will discover The Temple of the White Tiger. The temple is an ancient training ground ran by and protected by an elite group of martial priests. The temple is also home to the white tiger itself. As you adventure deeper into the mountains you will discover another amazing place. The hideout of the Shadow-pan Clan. The Shadow-pan are charged with protecting Pandaria from the dark evils that are buried beneath its surface. There are a few raids / dungeons in Kun-Lai Summit. Your 5 man Shadow-Pan Monastery located North in the mountains, Northwest of Mount Neverest, then up the path to Winters Blossom. Mogu'shan is your 10/25 man raid. Six bosses inhabit the vaults. The entrance of the vaults is located in the Northeast of Kun-Lai Summit, on Magu'shan Terrace, overlooking the Zouchin province.

  (Townlong Steppes/ Dread Wastes: Level 89-90) - Townlong Steppes is a dangerous place to be. On the other side of the great wall lives the Mantid. A rampaging insect race. The Mantid have managed to break through the Pandarian defenses hundreds of years sooner than expected. With the wall destroyed, the Pandarian is left to investigate the dark secrets that lay on the other side. There are two dungeons located in Townlong Steppes. Gate of the setting sun is a level ninety heroic five man dungeon located within the spine foundry between Dread wastes and Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The other heroic five man dungeon is Siege of Niuzao Temple located in the Western Isles of Townlong Steppes. Dread wastes are your second eighty nine leveling zone. The wastes are the southern portion of Townlong region separated from the rest of Pandaria mainland by the great wall, Serpent's Spine. The wastes have become corrupted by dark and twisted energies. Located in the wastes is another 10/25 man difficulty raid. The entrance can be found underneath a large rotting stump of a tree directly in the middle of the wastes.

  (Vale of Eternal Blossoms: Level 90) – You’ve done it! You're finally level 90. But there’s a lot more left to do in this zone. Vale of Eternal Blossoms is the seat of the Pandaren Empire. Many years ago the vale was closed off to everyone except selected caretakers called the Golden Lotus’. Now open once again to the public, The Vale will be the new Dalaran of Mists. Where dailies and other great things take place.

New Race / Classes: 

     Pandaren are the new race introduced in Mists of pandaria. The most unusual thing about the new race is that after a certain chain quest you have the option to play on either horde or alliance. A new aspect the blizzard decided to add. Pandaren racials are as follows:

Epicurean - Your love of food allows you to receive double the stats from Well Fed effects.
Gourmand - Your Cooking skill is increased by 15.
Inner peace - Your rested experience bonus lasts twice as long as normal.
Bouncy - You take half falling damage.
Quaking palm - Strikes the target with lightning speed, incapacitating them for 4 sec, and turns off your attack.

Pandaren are playable to the following classes: 

• Hunters
• Mages
• Priests
• Rogues
• Shamans
• Warriors
• Monks.

     Monks are the newest playable class in World of Warcraft. Monks are listed as a hybrid class which means that they have more than just one role they can play. They are masters of bare-handed combat, and only draw a weapon for finishing moves. As for monk healers, they are almost of that of a shaman and druid hybrid. Dealing with spiritual arts and older practices to heal the wounded.

Monks can be played by the following races: 

ALLIANCE: 

• Human
• Dwarves
• Night elves
• Gnomes
• Draenei

HORDE: 

• Orc
• Forsaken
• Tauren
• Troll
• Blood elves

NEUTRAL: 

• Pandaren

     When it comes to gearing your monk don't worry. They mimic that of Rogues and Druids depending on your selected spec. DPS/TANK Role monks will gear Agility, Where HEALING monks will typically pick up intellect gear. Monks cannot use shields, but they are able to equip off-hands. Monks are great fighters when it comes to hand to hand combat.

Although, in finishing moves the can and will pull out the following weapons: 

• One handed axes
• One handed maces
• One handed swords
• Fist weapons
• Staves
• Polearms


     In your last aspect of playing a monk specs play a large role. If you'd like to tank, you shall spec inside of the Brewmaster tree. Healing is in the Mistweaver tree and lastly melee DPS is in the Windwalker tree. Have fun!

 Pet Battles: 

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mists-of-pandaria/feature/pet-battle 

     Pet battles are a new feature that has been introduced. Take a break from PvP yourself and play around in some pet battles! Teach your pets new skills to defeat others. The more victories you acquire the larger your skill range will become. Explore the world and come in contact with some Azeroth critters swell, for if you win you may be able to pick one of them up as your very own.

Scenarios: 

     Scenarios are almost like a 5 man dungeon except they can be completed in smaller groups. The main focuses are more on lore and mini quests to complete each scenario.

Below are the following scenarios to be introduced to Mists: 

• A Brewing Storm
• Arena of Annihilation
• Brewmoon Festival
• Crypt of Forgotten Kings
• Greenstone Village
• ALLIANCE/HORDE Fall of Theramore
• Unga Ingoo

New Talent System: 

     The largest thing most people freak out about or have already was the release of the new talent tree. There have been changes in the past, but nothing as dramatic as Mists. In the older expansions, you would select points and insert them into certain tiers. The game still works like this, although you have lost several columns. Let’s try A LOT. Then way the new talent system works is instead of spec’ing every certain level, you now spec only once at levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90. Each talent point you get is specific to the tier for that level, and you can never have more than one talent per tier.

     Other than that you're set. And there you have it a simple thought-out explanation to hopefully help you understand the significant impacts that blizzard has put on all of us, so keep the leveling going, the rep grinds grinding and hopefully the laughs and adventures to keep going for so many more years!

    

"Global Offensive gameplay changes"

Counter-Strike ever was and has been a huge title. Now the company Valve came with a new version, Counter-Striker: Global Offensive, that changed a lot from other versions. It is a new version, than need some improvements, but it comes with some new good stuff. For example new weapons and grenades , they came perfectly for the casual players, but not so much for the competitive. One of the new grenades that doesn’t help the competitive game is the Molotov,  it blocks push made by terrorists or support by counter-terrorists, slowing the game and making it total unbalanced.  For the casual players is just more explosion, fire and fun.

The new version come with 4 different style of games, the Classic Competitive that is the classic style we every played. The Classic Casual is close to the Classic Competitive, the only main differences is that you already start with defuse kit, if Counter-Terrorist, and vest more helmet.  The other 2 modes are Arms Race, called GunGame in the other Counter-Strikes, and demolition, a totally new mode that you play in a small map and if you get a kill you advance one weapon, but just in the next round, the game finish when 1 team win 11 rounds.

Another huge difference is the economy inside the game, in the previous versions when you kill you win $300, but now in the Global Offensive it depends in what weapon you use to kill your enemy. For example if you kill someone with p90 you win $900. Another modification was the cost of the weapons, some weapons now are cheaper, some more expansive.

All maps what the Valve use in this new version are the same of the Counter-Strike: Source, that is not good for the competitive, but ok for casual players. Professional players and designers are modifying the maps for the competitive level of the game, to balance between counter-terrorists and terrorists.

In the bottom lane the game is running good for casual players, but need some improvements for have a good quality to the competitive level as the older versions had.

Andre Molinari

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/08/28/counter-strike-global-offensive-review

Legend of Space Flight Sims Returns

Legend of Space Flight Sims Returns by Cameron Hills
Friday, October 4, 2012
Source article: "Wing Commander creator returns to game dev with new space sim" on Gamasutra, October 4th, 2012

    Sometimes a game captures your imagination with thing no one had imagined before.  Future actions being restricted by past choices?  That may have been a feature of the Ultima games by “Lord British” Richard Garriott, but was practically unheard of in the space exploration genre in 1993 and is still rare today.  The game designer of such games as Wing Commander, Privateer, and Starlancer, Chris Roberts, has today announced his return to PC game development.

http://privateer.sourceforge.net/images/screenshot-5-kilrathi-gothri-explosion.png

    Privateer was a space exploration and flight simulation in the same general universe as his previous Wing Commander series.  <Review>  Starting out with an old scout ship, the player has to decide how he or she will make their money.  Do you spend hours trading commodities, become a bounty hunter, or go after those rich traders as a Pirate?  Depending on your choices, you may be frozen out of important stations in the later game and may even be hunted by the military and other bounty hunters.  Thus, your choices come back to haunt you.
    So what makes Privateer different from other games in the same genre?  Next to Galaxy on Fire 2 (GOF2) it is more complex, next to X2 it is far less complex and time consuming, and compared to Galactic Phantasy Privateer provides a better flight experience.  Privateer hits that perfect sweet spot of gaming experience.
    With Chris Roberts’ return to gaming with his announcement of Star Citizen the PC gaming Space Sim crowd has reason to celebrate.  Our evenings and early mornings are booked up for the foreseeable future.

Also Viewable at
CHillsAIStudent.blogspot.com

The Key to Addicting Games: Game Loops

Source Article: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/173732/Video_How_to_make_killer_game_loops.php#.UG9K7bWd6So    by Gamasutra, July 20, 2012           

           What is considered a good game? What makes games addicting? Being able to make your game not seem like a grind (Maplestory a few years ago comes to mind) is crucial for success. World of Warcraft, the undisputable king of MMORPGs is so successful because of its ability to hook players for months. The premise of WoW endgame is to do raids in order to get new epic gear - so you can do more difficult raids...to get better gear. Rinse and repeat. While you can eventually get the best gear in WoW, the amount of time and dedication required is far too steep for casual players, not to mention expansion packs and patches. This essentially provides many players with constant new content while they pay monthly subscription fees upgrading their characters to see bigger numbers on their screen.

           Besides MMORPGs, many IPhone and Android games also use game loops to great success. For example, an iPhone game called “Tiny Tower” is a free to download game that generates quite a large amount of revenue. In this game you build a tower from the ground up, with the option of building either business floors to make money or residential floors to add employees to the business floors. When you get enough money you can build more floors. The game is simple enough, but is quite addicting due to its cyclical nature and the fact that everything you do contributes to progress in the game.

           So how does Tiny Tower generate revenue while being a free to play cyclical game? Well there is a lot of waiting involved in Tiny Tower, between stocking shops and constructing new floors. All that waiting can be skipped however, for a price. Real currency can be used to buy “Tower Bux”, which can be used to speed construction, upgrade the elevator, and instantly sell all your stocks. This is quite ingenious, as we are living in an age where people want instant gratification and impulse buying is common. While the game itself is free, it makes more money than many pay to use apps by these micro transactions.

           Understanding how to create gripping gameplay and essentially manipulating human nature is crucial to be successful in today’s competitive industry. Whether it’s gripping the player to pay monthly subscription fees or running a game through micro transactions, a lot of money is to be made. Aspiring developers should definitely watch the video in the article to better understand how to make these “killer game loops”.