Posts filed under 'Uncategorized'
So, for Inquiry #2 I am thinking about using the RPG Dragon Warrior. I was very frustrated at first because I didn’t quite know what to map or how to map it without drawing out a blueprint of the game world. After discussing my initial thoughts and other people’s thoughts, I feel like I am heading in the right direction now.
I was able to get pretty far in the game, and after seeing and hearing some of the other ideas people had I will probably do a timeline of the play options available to players. I will probably have to restrict it to the first 2 or 3 minutes of game play, but I think it’s going to work. I liked that there are a lot of choices the player has to make to play the game, such as whether to keep fighting an enemy or running, especially if your hit points are down. I also liked that the movement in this game is not restricted as much as it is in many other games we’ve played. The player can basically go where ever they want to, or they can search for specific items that help them advance to the next level.
February 26th, 2008
I chose to play, map out, and write about Super Mario Brothers 3 for inquiry 2. I chose this game because I enjoy playing it and since I have been playing it so frequently recently I have become somewhat farmiliar with the characters. The power-ups and different levels in each world as well as the varitey of enemies that have to be defeated gave me plenty of material to write about. I have decided to map out the different power-ups that mario can go through. There are growth mushrooms and feathers that give him the racoon suit as well as other items he can collect during the game that allow him to shoot from a distance and be invinsible for a short period of time. It has been frustrating figuring out how to visually represent all these possibilities against time or space in the game. The periodic table of visualization methods was really helpful in giving me ideas about what type of concept map I could use. This project is very abstract so it will be difficult to do but I am enjoying the change in pace from other papers!
February 26th, 2008
The most frustrating aspect of this assignment is the term “map.” It is hard to get away from the conventional idea of a map and I guess it does limit how one sees the videogame world. Maybe a better term would have been a diagram or visual representation. It seems to be even harder with videogames because the thing that seems the easiest to do (map the videogame world) is what you should not do for this assignment. I’m doing Super Mario Bros 3 and I have a few ideas on what I want to map. I am debating between the power-ups or the different spaces that Mario can step on and how each of them differ (how they can help or harm) within just one level. The problem is actually visualizing how to map these things. I think the good thing about this assignment, though, is that there really should not be a right or wrong answer.
February 26th, 2008
Alex and I are both mapping and writing about the NES game Kirby’s Adventure. I am, at least for the time being, planning on making a few maps to depict different aspects of the game. One would be the basic commands to move throughout the game space, similar to the circles embedded within eachother from the example witht the game shift. Another would be a flow chart on what happens when you inhale different enemies and the powers you obtain and how the choices with who or what to inhale affects the gameplay.
Since neither Alex or I are not very familiar with video games, talking with her was very helpful, we were able to bounce ideas and strategies off of eachother so we could both better understand the different aspects of the game that we are trying to map. I am still a little frustrated about what exactly the map should be. I know it is not a map of the game world but it is also not supposed to be a walk-through of the game. I am a little unsure as to whether or not my idea of the flow chart for inhaling enemies and their powers would be boardering on being a walk-through.
February 26th, 2008
