Eleven million and sixteen million people. No, its not the population of two small countries, its the total number of users in Blizzard's World ofWarcraft and Linden Lab's Second Life. These two online games have redefined what it means to be massively multiplayer in the past five years by drawing in record numbers of users. Both rely heavily on social interactions between players in virtual settings; however, these two programs have vastly different visual styles, social connotations, and different types of interactions. Some would argue that Second Life is not even a game, but rather a glorified chat room with... Continue reading

Eleven million and sixteen million people. No, its not the population of two small countries, its the total number of users in Blizzard's World ofWarcraft and Linden Lab's Second Life. These two online games have redefined what it means to be massively multiplayer in the past five years by drawing in record numbers of users. Both rely heavily on social interactions between players in virtual settings; however, these two programs have vastly different visual styles, social connotations, and different types of interactions. Some would argue that Second Life is not even a game, but rather a glorified chat room with... Continue reading

When I first saw that the final project of this class would be to build a complete, original game of our own design, my first thought was "Finally! Now I'll have something for my portfolio!" After completing three years in the Computational Media program, about eighty percent of my creative projects have come from a single class, and I had created only one video game. For a major that boats to prepare students for jobs in the video game industry, it looked like all we were going to learn was theory rather than gain practical experience. This class was a... Continue reading

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Game: T-Totaler Team: T-squared Our Presentation: Download Final_Design_Presentation Additional Documentation: Download Final_Design_Documentation Continue reading

When I was a child, girls just did not play video games. Sure, we could play the educational computer games like Math Blaster, but we were considered "weird" if we played "real" video games. None of my girl friends owned a gaming console; the only reason why I had access to a SNES was because I had an older brother who got it for Christmas one year while I was given more Barbies. I liked to watch my brother play, but like everyone else, I thought that girls would never like video games or be good at them. For me,... Continue reading

Game: T-totalers Group: T^2 (Team T-totalers) Download T-totalers Here is an in depth description of our game. Download Game_Design_Presentation This is the powerpoint we showed in class. Milestones/Schedule MILESTONES Week of 25-31 Management: -29th schedule Programming -install flash -become familiar with Action script 3 Game Design -29th basic level design (4) Writing -work on assets list Art -start sketches for: -menu design (Jerry) -character design -map design (Lisa) -create dummy assets Playtest -29th testable maps Class: -29th: Group eval due, schedule due Week of 1-7 Programming -show WASD -increment/decrement drunk meter -menu (Jerry) Game Design -final version of maps -agro... Continue reading

Gaming conventions such as hit points and lives have become so common place in video games that it is becoming increasingly harder to find game without them than with them. Likewise, elements such as winning, losing, and score are automatically assumed to be a part of any physical game played by children or adults. However, there is an alternative to this model. The New Games movement, and its child, the New New Games, are games that challenge these concepts that so many people assume define game play. These movements question whether or not you need to have winners and losers... Continue reading

I am often told that I do not play a wide enough variety of games. A quick look through the games in my collection seems to confirm this – most are published by SquareSoft or Square Enix and almost all are RPGs. I believe that the reason for this is that for me, these types of games best encompass what it means to be a game. The game that most exemplifies my collection is Final Fantasy 7 for the PlayStation. Released in 1997, this is the first of the Final Fantasies to use 3D graphics and is the best selling... Continue reading

From its birth, chess has always been a war game. Its board and pieces represent the field of battle and soldiers in abstract form. Chess has been used for hundreds of years to practice and learn the tactics of warfare. Despite this, during the Middle Ages chess underwent a cultural transformation where it began to become associated with love. Couples would play chess as they flirted with each other. An example of this can be seen in a stained glass window at the Hotel de la Bessee, where a couple playing chess are leaning in close to each other, with... Continue reading