Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=124https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1406For my second entry I will discuss some aspects of the game play that expose themselves after more then an hour of play. First most, I realised that there is a considerable amount of puzzle solving. I felt like the first few stars I recieved were based just on my ability to control Mario, for example the race with the Koomba in level 1. Now, I need to determine where the additional stars are and its starting to force me to think. # How does the game create conflict? In my first log most of the conflict was between me and the controller. I found the hardest part of the game to be making Mario do what I wanted such as avoid falling rocks and jumping. Now that I have become better at controlling Mario the trouble is finding the stars. # How does the game keep the player interested? I am still very interested in the game because I really want to unlock the next levels so that I can play and experiance the new worlds. I know there really fun because I played this game years ago but I still am eager to try them again. # What would you change about the game? What was frustrating? I honestly think this game is nearly perfect. If I was to change something I think I would add the ability to selected more then one Characters for game play. I would like to be able to play as Luigi or Toad. Also I would like it if Yoshi played a larger role in the game. I like how Yoshi was involved in Super Mario for the SNES. # What ideas does this game give you for your own game project? This game reminds me of how fun it is to just play with a game rather then always be pursuing your goals. Im my own game I think I am going to work on and give the players more of a ability to play with the mechanics of the game rather then be so bombarded by enemies that they have no time. # How did you respond to the game's reward structure? I really enjoy the reward structure of the game. Not because I wanted to get more stars. I really do not care about the stars. I enjoy being able to access new levels. I also really want to gain the ability to fly and I know I can do that If I keep playing. # What kind of social interactions did you have with other players? With bystanders? No other people played the game with me and so I did not experience any social interaction. This is one aspect of the game I dislike. Its very much a single player game. While Mario 64 achieves this very well I think that if It was a split screen 2 player game then it would be much more fun. # Your thoughts on the game's use of cutscenes I felt like the cutscenes were just a way of showing off the N64s 3d graphics and so I ignored them. In the end this is a great game that I will continue to play. 2 hours of game play is not enough to fully enjoy this great game.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:52:58 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1406&iddiary=2972https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1406After watching Super Mario 64 being played in class I just could not resist the temptation to try the game out for myself. # our thoughts on the characters in the game The first thing I noticed upon playing the game is that in the introduction menu there is a large 3d image of Mario. This image is animated and appears to show off the N64s 3d capabilities while also allowing me to feel some kind of connection with Mario. As the game play went on I noticed that I really wanted to avoid injuring Mario. Not because I didnt want to lose life but because it just seemed wrong. I guess I care about Mario. # Your thoughts on the game's story, and narrative progression I sort of ignored the story although through the interactions with Toad I was able to discover a little bit. I think the game presents the story in a nice quite way that does not burden the player with having to understand it. # Your thoughts on the gameplay The game play is amazing. The court yard area infront of the castle entertained me for the first 25 minutes of game play. The phyics of the game are realistic and yet still fun. I love just jumping around and making Mario do tricks. I also like swimming. In the levels with in the game I found the gameplay to be so fun I was a distraction from level completion. I honestly have as much fun making Mario jump around and shoot out of the cannon as I do gaining a star. # Your thoughts on innovative elements of the game As I mentioned before, an interesting aspect of the game I found enjoyable was the cannons. There is just something cool about being shot out of a cannon. I also liked how the game allows you to aim the cannon in a special view. Its funny becuase everything in the game is fun to me because I have alot of experience with the Mario series. The game presents features such as Goombas and Toad in a nice 3d way and this is really cool. # What design elements make this a good (or bad) game? The open ended way the game is played to be makes it a much better game. I really enjoy playing games where you have the option of doing almost anything. Linear game play from level to level such as that in Super Mario Brothers 1 is much less fun then the open ended style exhibited in Mario 64. # Your thoughts on the level design in the game I suppose level design is where the game really shines. It is in fact a platformer and this becomes appearent from the level design. Some aspects of level design seem unrealisting such as floating islands but I forgive it. Its a Mario game after all. And so after a solid hour of game play I have just scratched the surface of this complex and very enjoyable game.Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:41:29 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1406&iddiary=2970https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1209Well I went back for another round of gameplay. I was going to just do another skirmish mode when I noticed there was a Campaign Mode. I gave the campaign a try and this opened up a new level of gameplay. This introduced a story to the game and the univerise it takes place in. It seems there is an evil empire battling with the good one and you as a human are somewhere in the middle. The campaign mode is basically alot like the normal game except now you have some kind of story driven goal. For the first mission I needed to conqure an enemy planet by force to gain some item that has imporance in the story. The interesting aspect of the campaign mode is that it limits the players options for research. This forces the player to play with less advanced weapons and tactics. This brings up something that often happens in games. Often times there are many weapons to choose from but one weapon is generally always more effective then another. This is a sign of bad game balancing. Well this does occur to a degree in Galactic Civilizations. This game is basically very good at balance as there is only a select number of attacks and they each have an equal defense. For example shields block lasers, armor blocks guns, flares block missles. The aspect that is more difficult to balance is the democracy and cultural research options. These give the player to take control of the galaxy with out any weapons at all. In this game to prevent these options from cause a imbalance in the campaign mode they simply made them unavaliable. This is extremely common in most rts games. Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:54:15 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1209&iddiary=2588https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1209I am quite excited to write this first log on my experience of playing the Game Galactic Civilizations II. This is a truely a game of stratagy. The game spawns from a rather rare and under appreciated class of games. It is basically a turn based civilization type of game based in a space setting. The game is very open ended but there are some methods of winning. The game employes resource managment and tons of complex stratagy and multible levels. Be forwarned the learning curve for this game is intense. I have logged nearly 40 hours in games such as this and I am still only a beginner. Well, my first experience of the game which in real world took about 2 hours was set up in a map size of tiny and with 5 other races of space civilizations with their AI set to simple. I knew that I was new at this game and I do not really want to lose to hard. I started out the game with a colony race to capture all the avaliable planets. This is reminacent to Civ III games in which in the beginning everyone would race to build settlers. After I did that then I decided I would take a nice gentle democracy approach to the game as this is what my race the Humans were best at. Well after a while I discovered that Democracy is boring and I want blood. So, what I did was convince using my high democracy skills and exploited the computers low AI setting by convincing them to all give me money. After I did this I boosted my weapon research to the max. After a few turns my weapons were much better then ever other race. It was now time to engage in warfare. As a leader I love to exploit the enemy and so after some friendly trading I decided to move all my troops and ships up to another races planet and launch a full scale assault. This was proved to be way too effective. In no time I managed to conqure half of the universe. By this time I got bored with the game as it seemed to easy and I quit the game. For my next log I will attempt to play the computer with the difficult set much higher. The Good: Great features such as custom ship design, planet control, interactive discussions with AI. Nice graphics. The Bad: Very steep Learning curve. Game play can get boring. Game borrows much from the Civ series.Fri, 09 Feb 2007 03:49:21 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1209&iddiary=2574https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1003After an attempt at playing though a much to be desired shmup for the super nes I decided to try my newbie skills on the classic Gradius for the NES. With in the first seconds I noticed the customization avaliable to me though the control of my power bar. This is a awesome feature compared to the previous shmup's i've played as it allowed me to customize the game to my playing style. After starting the game and playing a little while I became aware that shmup's are really challanging. I now appeciate the fatastic gameplay displayed in class. While the side scrolling game play and level design is of Gradius is really great. It feels fresh ever few seconds and so there is little bored time there are a few things I dislike. One, it takes to long to reappear after you died. If I die I want to be back in the game as soon as possible. Two, bullets and enemys can go though terrain. This to me was simply annoying an as a new player it also cost me a few lives. Three, A difficulty setting would be nice. This game was very difficult for a new player like me. I had a very rough time even making it though the first level with in my initial game session. Of course I am completely new to shmup's and so that created more difficulty in the game play. But seriously, I feels like the game was completely designed for experianced players. This brings up a important point, make a game which appeals to all skill levels. Lastly, I would like to mention some interesting attribute of Gradius. It seems to have a frustrating addiction quality. Its something I have not felt since I was a little kid and use to want to throw my controller. There is this super frustration you experiance while playing that only makes playing the game more addictive. It seems this is much less common in present games. And now I begin another frustrating yet fun session of Gradius.Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:29:42 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=1003&iddiary=2296https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=941Note* this log is just for fun not for grade. Acrobat mission is a fast paced vertical scrolling Shmups. Its special lay to fame is a charging ability that changes depending on the power up. I tryed this game because it was the only shmup avaliable to me. It is a good example of a bad game. There is a lack of power ups. As far as I can tell only 2 weapon upgrades and a super bomb. The super bomb does a screen clearing action. The power ups do stack to 4 with enhances your weapons power. There is also a charging ability you gain with a weapon upgrade which allows for an additional special attack. Whiles this is neat its not very interesting and it gets boring quickly as nothing new is added during the course of the game. The part of this game that I feel is most important to discuss is the frustration I felt while playing. It is simply very very difficult right from the start. I was able to make it to the boss of the second level and this took about collective hours of game play. To make matters worse I was cheating by using a save state feature on my emulator so I could save and restart when I wanted. I reloaded from my saved state on the second level boss about 30 times and yet I still never came close to beating it. Granted there is a pattern and so its possible to beat it is very difficult. The other element in the game which is lacking is a way of gaining lives. You are given 3 lives in the beginning of the level and this must last you the rest of the level. This proves to be nearly impossible. So in closing Acrobat Mission for the Super NES is a reasonable addictive game because of its difficulty but the difficulty comes on way to hard and there is a lack of creativity and novalty in the game.Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:19:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=941&iddiary=2067https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=870Well Ive logged about an additional 1.5 hours since my previous log. The stratagy of the game is now becoming apparent. One of the main goals for me now like many rpg's is to aquire more money so that I can buy better equipment and armor. This method of game design in which the play has to work towards a financal goal of aquiring money so that better items or spells can be bought is a common one in present times. Its very effective as it cause the game to become addictive. A play really wants to get that better spell and stronger armor. My player can also now board and navigate a ship. This allows map travel across the seas and opens up a host of new sea enemys. One of the best aspects of this game seems to be its suprises and vast collection of enemys. The player needs to build a good memory so that he/she knows how to combat all the different enemys. Another aspect of this game that is fun is the exploring aspect. The game map is huge, even by todays standards. This allows for lots of game play as the world is explored. The complexity of game play, the size of the map, the vast array of ememys and wide assortment of weapons, armor, and spells is really what makes Final Fantasy I a great game. Its a great game by todays standards and a amazing game if you consider the time in which it first came out. While the story is a little thin like most games of the time. The immersion factor is great.Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:47:06 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=870&iddiary=1931https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=870This is my first attempt at playing any game from the famous and greatly loved Final Fantasy Series. I personally have always been a PC gamer and Zelda fan so while I have played many RPG's in the past I have yet to attempt the great series known the world over. To start the log off let me just give a basic summery of the game. The game is what would now be considered a pretty typical RPG. Nothing suprising or new was found within the first hour of game play. But with consideration of the time of the games publishing, 1987 the game seems to be well done by there standards. The first hour got me though what seems to be a tutorial like phase of the game in which you rescue the kings daughter from an evil witch. This is fairly simple task and the difficulty is low enough that it really requires little stratagy to complete. I think this was done simply to allow the player to become comfortable with the game play. I must say that the frustration in playing the game lies in the slow speed you are force to play the game. I noticed that in the Game Menu there seems to be something that suggest it is possible to speed the game up. I will further explore this on my next session. Some aspects I noticed about the game is that there is a wide range of styles of play. You can choose your parties classes which are made up of the typical DnD assortment. Theres the warrior, thief, Blackbelt or Ninja, and 3 mages. This wide range of mages suggest to me that mages play a important role in the game so I choosed to have 2 in my party. A white mage and a black mage. One of the difficulties I found with playing the game is that there is not help or information screens in the game. Because of this I had to guess as to what the various items and spells did. Being that I have played many RPGs this was easy but for a new gamer this learning curve could make the game a real challange. After further play I managed to complete my first quest and save the princess. This allowed me to go further on the map. In this way the game mantains a linear story line while still seeming open ended to the player. Most players do not like being forced into actions by the game but rather like to make decisions such as where in the game to go for themselves. After I left what I am going to call the newbie island I was attacked in a random encounter by a very powerful creature relative to my current lvl of 2. In this battle I lost my thief. I further explored the map after this not sure as to what I should do when I was attacked again. This time I lost my white wizard. By now my frustration with the game is rising. As a player I do not like to have no idea what to do and I do not like dieing. This does show that the difficulty of the game rises and stratagy is required to advance which is a good quality though. On next session I will go back to the main town and buy additional supplies so I can last longer in the dangerous world. This of course shows that the game has resource management in both the form on money and health.Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:05:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=870&iddiary=1930https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=454Well I played another few hours of Harvest Moon 64. I intended to only play an additional hour but the addictive nature of the game got the better of me. I discovered a new feature of the game that has lead to me having a new objective. That feature is the ability to pay some lumberjacks to add additions to your house. There is a kitchen, bathroom, green house ect. This sounds like a fun solid goal and it is a difficult one to achieve as the amount of money and lumber required to hire these lumberjacks takes a lot of player effort to achieve. I have also begun attempting to woo some of the single girls in the game but this is proving to be difficult so for the time being I think I will stick to the house upgrades. In this open ended game you are required to develop goals or objectives on your own and in this way the "game" almost is a toy, such as a doll would be. But, the objectives are guided by the game makers, for example while I could decide to just see how many times I can run my character around the house it wouldn't be very fun and would not have a reward. Because of this I feel Harvest Moon 64 is still a very much a game. This simulated freedom to find your own path in the game gives me a greater sense of satisfaction when I finally achieve my goal. I think that open ended games such as this are great. Other great examples would be Oblivion or any of the Elderscroll series, Sim City, it a degree Zelda, and Many simulation games. While I am still tens of hours away from completing a dramatic goal such as marriage in the game I feel that Harvest Moon is a very addictive and immersive game that most people with free time should enjoy. Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:28:42 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=454&iddiary=1433https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=454Well I played another few hours of Harvest Moon 64. I intended to only play an additional hour but the addictive nature of the game got the better of me. I discovered a new feature of the game that has lead to me having a new objective. That feature is the ability to pay some lumberjacks to add additions to your house. There is a kitchen, bathroom, green house ect. This sounds like a fun solid goal and it is a difficult one to achieve as the amount of money and lumber required to hire these lumberjacks takes a lot of player effort to achieve. I have also begun attempting to woo some of the single girls in the game but this is proving to be difficult so for the time being I think I will stick to the house upgrades. In this open ended game you are required to develop goals or objectives on your own and in this way the "game" almost is a toy, such as a doll would be. But, the objectives are guided by the game makers, for example while I could decide to just see how many times I can run my character around the house it wouldn't be very fun and would not have a reward. Because of this I feel Harvest Moon 64 is still a very much a game. This simulated freedom to find your own path in the game gives me a greater sense of satisfaction when I finally achieve my goal. I think that open ended games such as this are great. Other great examples would be Oblivion or any of the Elderscroll series, Sim City, it a degree Zelda, and Many simulation games. While I am still tens of hours away from completing a dramatic goal such as marriage in the game I feel that Harvest Moon is a very addictive and immersive game that most people with free time should enjoy. Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:28:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=454&iddiary=1432