Donkey Kong

Time limit for exercise - 20 minutes.

Answer these questions & post on your blog:

1) How would you describe the level of engagement compared to more action oriented games from the same period?

            The level of engagement in the game Donkey Kong is more player involving compared to the rest of the other action games in this period. You play as this plumber trying to save a blonde girl named Pauline from a gorilla who is throwing barrels down at you. Your goal is avoid the barrels and get to the princess. Its not really action based but more upon stratgy because you have time everything correctly so you can avoid the barrels. Other action games are based on survival and reaching a high score while here is about strategy and saving someone.

2) What role does setting and characterisation play in the game?

            Characterisations plays a great role in Donkey Kong because it also gives the player a chance to empathize for the character Mario. An overweight plumber trying to save a blonde kidnapped girl named Pauline from a gorilla named Donkey Kong. There is a small story line to this with a reachable goal so it gives the player a chance to empathize for Mario and his determination to save the kidnapped girl Pauline.

3) How do spells, pickups and power-ups assist the game play?

            There was no spells, pickups, or power-ups to assist the game play in this game Donkey Kong.

Legend of Zelda: The Seeds of Darkness

Time limit for exercise - 20 minutes.

Answer these questions & post on your blog:

1.) How would you describe the level of engagement compared to more action oriented games from the same period?

The Legend of Zelda is a more action-adventure set based game and not so much as mindless action with no plot just to survive. The Legend of Zelda gives a story and you play as a hero who must take down and defeat the 3 seeds of darkness. As the player, your very engaged with the game because there is a storyline and you have a goal other then to survive, but to set free the darkness of Hyrule. Other action games of this period have close to no story line and are all based upon survival and how long you can last and get the highest score. The player can not empathize with survival as much as they can empathize for Link and his quest to free Hryule of the evil seeds of darkness.

2.) What role does setting and characterisation play in the game?

            It helps the player become more attatched in a way to the character. Because the main character has a history and is a hero, it gives the player something to empathize with. In the Legend of Zelda, his quest is to destroy the seeds of darkenss and free the evil from Hyrule. This is a strong goal and background storyline for that period in age so it really gets the player involved with the game and again sets them to empathize for Link and Hyrule.

3) How do spells, pickups and power-ups assist the game play?

            Picks up helped a great deal in this game. There were a lot of parts that if you were low on health you could just venture out and look for hearts to replenish your health so you wouldn’t have to die. If it wasn’t for the health pick-ups and regenerating your health, the game would be close to if not nearly impossible to finish. It assisted the game greatly because it made the game the right amount of difficulty. It wasn’t too easy and wasn’t too hard and it was because of the health pick-ups. The heart pick-ups were randomly scattered in bushes, however, there were also enemies hidding under the bushes so this balanced out your chances of getting a heart pickup and regenerating your health. If it wasn’t for the hidden enemies, the player could simply go to any bush and replenish his health whenever they go hit by the enemy. Because of the hidden enemies randomly placed under some bushes, this takes away that ability to constanlty replenish your health. It does a great deal to help balance out the game play with the hidden enemies and the health pick ups.

"I, Videogame" episode two

1) What kind of company was Nintendo before it made video game and video game consoles?
Toys and playing cards

2) What videogame system did it sell before it made its FAMICOM (known in USA as Nintendo Entertainment System)
Magnavox Odyssey

3) Shigeru Miyamoto was not a programmer - what skill set did he bring to the industry?
Artist

4) How did the limits of the technology affect the way Mario could be shown?
The pixels wouldnt allow great details to the character.

5) Why did US retailers think there was no future in home videogame consoles at the time just prior to the NES release in the USA?
The failure of the game "E.T."

6) What was assumed to the be the 'next big thing' by electronics manufacturers?
They thought it was in personal computers

7) What did Legend of Zelda bring to gaming that was new?
Gave the players empathy for the character and role playing. Exploring the environment.

8) How did the conservative values of the 1980s (Reagan & Thatcher etc) affect the culture of Video games?
It made games more narcissistic and made the character more connected to the player.

9) How were the PC games published by Mystery House like King's Quest different from console games?
It was a puzzle story game with graphics

10) How did Sega's 16 big Megadrive system change home console gaming?
Better sound and graphics

11) How did "Leisure Suit Larry" differ from most genre based games of the period?
It included an anti-hero and targeted adult players

12) How is this aspect reflected in many games of today?
More games now have characters and environments that are more realistic.

13) What is 'motion capture'
A process of which you put markers on an actor and record their movements

14) What is the 'uncanny valley'?
The more it looks real, the more "dead" it looks.

Video Game 100: Ben 10 Alien Force Game Generator.