Cultural appropriation is an issue that is addressed often in these days of being a 'Global Village'. Many people feel that they a being robbed of their cultural aspects only to have them be abused and commercialized. In most cases this is true it seems, but in other cases it can be an acceptance and welcome of differences.
In the video game industry, cultural appropriation runs a full gambit from artistic and respectful to rude and offensive. This is primarily to help players identify with what's going on usually through stereotypes or cliches. This includes Mario (Super Mario Brothers - Nintendo) speaking in a New York/Italian accent, or having the black character rap during the credits (Gears of War - Epic Games, Call of Duty 4 - Infinity Ward). Games fall back on stereotypes time and again because it is easy, but is it right.
The sad truth is, no matter what you do, someone is going to get offended. Be it someone calling racist (Resident Evil 5 - Capcom), or complaining about representing holy symbols in games (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo). Rarely are the arguments grounded, with ignorance of games and their plots/history still prevailent in news media. However, it goes to show that the best intentions and even non-intentions can go astray, often with a single opinion sparking the fire.
The are some games that take good approaches to introducing people the other cultures. Muramusa: the Demon Blade - Vanillaware is an action/rpg title for the Wii which explores classical Japanese mythology in a style meant to resemble traditional watercolours from ancient Japan. Another title is Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft. While it does take some liberties with the events of the Crusades, the different cultures are represented well with no side being clear good guys or bad guys, making the player question if they are doing the right thing along the way. On top of that, when the game is loading it states that the game was developed by 'a multicultural team of various religious backgrounds'. This was to show that research was taken seriously onto what aspects of the various cultures were depicted in the game.
I feel that cultural appropriation is alright so long as it is done with respect and consideration. If an ethical group does not agree with your depiction of them in a game, find out why to try to compromise. Unfortunatly, as strong as the push is for games to be 'art', they still stand as a business first, and with freedom of speech being what it is, studios can't really be stopped completely from doing what they want. Still, respect is a cornerstone to understanding, and should always be taken into consideration.
Sources:
wikipedia.org
gamesradar.com
IGN magazine
gametrailers.com
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Quest for the Holy Grail
This is a quick board game based off of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. It required that there be branching paths and that the players have a taboo of some kind. To achieve these design objectives, I had the first section of the game to be linear, and then players had to choose a trial from the movie as their final path (the beast, the chasm, or the bridge). Each space on the board had a silly task for the player who landed on them to perform (singing or discribing the sound of a landing cow). Each player started the ame with 3 Chances. If they refused to perform a task, or landed on a Chance losing space, then they lost a chance. If a player said 'it', then they would lose their next turn for each time they said 'it'.
The rules for the game are as follows;
Ye are upon a quest for the Holy Grail. Thou shalt begin thine quest by placing thy playing piece upon the Castle space. Thy comrads and thyself shall determine turn order by rolling a die of 6 side, with the highest number rolled going first, and the others following in a clockwise fashion. Each player has 3 Chances. Ye shall not have 4 Chances, and 5 is right out. Ye shall lose a Chance by failing to perform a task, or by simply being terrible at rolling die of 6 sides. Once all ye Chances are lost, thou must return your piece to the start of the game, or to the last Cross you crossed. A word of caution; 'it' is a forbidden word, and will cost ye thy next turn to speak this word. By the way, who was reading these rules to everyone? Anyway, whosoever lands upon the Holy Grail wins. Now get to it. (Did ye fall for that?)
Below is an image of the board. Anything can be used for pieces.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Review: Soul Calibur IV
Soul Calibur IV is one of the latest additions to the series of the popular weapon-based fighter games. It was produced by Namco, and released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Players face off against a single opponent in one-on-one, free-roaming combat. There are a wide variety of arenas, weapons, and characters to choose from, and almost every one has a unique set of moves. This allows for a greatly varied set of play sessions with only the basic components of the game.
The primary modes of gameplay are story(a few scenario battles tied to a common plot, not a good one either), arcade(fight through a series of progressivly tougher opponents), and versus(player vs player). Secondary modes include 'extra' versions of arcade and versus where the different weapons have different attributes (nullify ring out, auto-counter, etc), a tower with an endurance section (never ending opponents, no health recovery) and a challenge section to unlock equipment. However, equipment can be unlocked by playing arcade, story, and versus repeatedly, so some may find that more appealing than most of the 'very' difficult challenges.
It's the difficulty of the game that may turn some away if it's their first time with a game like this.while most of the characters are not difficult to find a few moves that work in most situations once the basic mechanics are understood, there is no 'easy' setting for the game, and the AI can range anywhere from average to merciless, even on standard modes like arcade. At that point, a person would need to put some serious practice into a favorite character or hope one of the cheap moves they learned will get them through.
The difficulty can be ofset by creating a custom character. Players can make up to 50 characters of their own design ased of of the fighting styles of pre-existant characters. This includes skills the character has. More skills are available to a fighting style that's been used more, and different clothing and gear allocate points towards different types of skills. Stuck on a challange that requires countering? Build someone who automatically counters instead of blocks everytime. The opponent blocks everything and breaks your grapples? Make some of your stronger moves randomly unblockable, or make it so you do some damage even with a blocked attack. It's also fun to just try building yourself or a favorite character. However, I find that the options for creation are fewer than when the idea was introduced in Soul Calibur III.
Anyway, it's a fun game, and is easy to pick and play with friends. Patience and practice will get you through most of the challenges, but fortunatly you don't need to be hardcore to get everything out of it. 8/10
Players face off against a single opponent in one-on-one, free-roaming combat. There are a wide variety of arenas, weapons, and characters to choose from, and almost every one has a unique set of moves. This allows for a greatly varied set of play sessions with only the basic components of the game.
The primary modes of gameplay are story(a few scenario battles tied to a common plot, not a good one either), arcade(fight through a series of progressivly tougher opponents), and versus(player vs player). Secondary modes include 'extra' versions of arcade and versus where the different weapons have different attributes (nullify ring out, auto-counter, etc), a tower with an endurance section (never ending opponents, no health recovery) and a challenge section to unlock equipment. However, equipment can be unlocked by playing arcade, story, and versus repeatedly, so some may find that more appealing than most of the 'very' difficult challenges.
It's the difficulty of the game that may turn some away if it's their first time with a game like this.while most of the characters are not difficult to find a few moves that work in most situations once the basic mechanics are understood, there is no 'easy' setting for the game, and the AI can range anywhere from average to merciless, even on standard modes like arcade. At that point, a person would need to put some serious practice into a favorite character or hope one of the cheap moves they learned will get them through.
The difficulty can be ofset by creating a custom character. Players can make up to 50 characters of their own design ased of of the fighting styles of pre-existant characters. This includes skills the character has. More skills are available to a fighting style that's been used more, and different clothing and gear allocate points towards different types of skills. Stuck on a challange that requires countering? Build someone who automatically counters instead of blocks everytime. The opponent blocks everything and breaks your grapples? Make some of your stronger moves randomly unblockable, or make it so you do some damage even with a blocked attack. It's also fun to just try building yourself or a favorite character. However, I find that the options for creation are fewer than when the idea was introduced in Soul Calibur III.
Anyway, it's a fun game, and is easy to pick and play with friends. Patience and practice will get you through most of the challenges, but fortunatly you don't need to be hardcore to get everything out of it. 8/10
Getting into the Video Game Industry as an Artist
Article answering some questions on entering into the videogame industry. Original article at www.animationarena.com/getting-into-video-game-industry.html by 'Arenamaster'.
Many artists are interested in getting into the video game industry. However, many of them are unsure as to how they get into this industry.
A mistake some make is trying to start their own business from scratch. That really isn’t a viable option anymore as video games have become a major business. Quality is important, and if you don’t have the skills, experience, or resources, a fledgling company will just drown in debt. Joining a mod team is a good way to get your feet wet as far as building games go, and they are always looking for new talent. However, modding is more for hobbyists and people interested in the coding aspect of games.
To get in with an existing developer you should have a good knowledge of traditional and digital art. ‘Game Artist’ is a general term for a wide range of jobs. These include texture artists, character modelers, and concept artists to name a few. What you choose to specialize in should determine what tools you should focus on honing your skills with.
For being a traditional artist, anatomy is probably the most important thing you can study. This will help you greatly when drawing not only people, but creatures real and fictitious, and even objects. Daily practice is important too. If you want your 2D work to be digital, Photoshop is the standard and is used just about everywhere. On the side, many up-and-coming artists have adopted an anime-based style in their artwork. Unless you have a unique, bold style, avoid this as it won’t help you stand out from the saturation of rivals when it come to showing off your portfolio.
With 3D, it’s not important to know the ins and outs of the various programs out there, but to understand how they are similar. Most 3D programs work in the same way. 3D Studio Max was the traditional choice for learning game modeling, but the company has recently shifted their attention to film. Alias however, has gone the other way; moving from film into video games. Nonetheless, choose whatever you feel like.
For animators, while it’s true a lot more movement is handled with motion capture or physics engines, there are still many things that simply can’t be generated by a machine. A good grounding in animation is still required to make a dragon fly or a robot transform.
Finally, there are many schools now that offer courses in the field of video games. Talent and hard work will get you a degree, but with art, what you can do is just as important, if not more so, as your diploma. Make sure your demo reel that goes with your application shows only the best of what you can do because that is what the businesses are looking for. Most places want at least a couple of years of experience out of their applicants, but if you can show you have the skill, your inexperience can be overlooked, you’ll get the job, and inexperience won’t be an issue in the future.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Templar Casual Game
I've come up with a little platform game for either the nintendo DS or the iPhone. It's based on the Templar Knights and their search for treasure.
You play as a Templar trying to get to the top of each tower in the stage. Each stage consists of 5 levels which act as checkpoints as long as the player has continues, with a return to the start of the stage once those run out.
You play as a Templar trying to get to the top of each tower in the stage. Each stage consists of 5 levels which act as checkpoints as long as the player has continues, with a return to the start of the stage once those run out.
To reach the top of the tower, player use boxes and boulders to reach new heights, traverse hazardous terrain, and activate out of reach switches. These objects are interacted with via the devices' touch screen, or by pushing them with your character.
There is also a co-op mode, and a level editor. Co-op allows for a second player to help comlete a special set of co-op levels. The characters can jump on each other.
The level editor allows player to make their own levels to share online. For quality control, the levels can only be submitted once they have had a play through by the level's creator.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Review: Battlefleet Gothic
Battlefleet Gothic represents battle amongst the stars with fleets of larger than life space craft.
I very much enjoyed this game. Ships are represented with miniature figures that players can decorate theirselves (meaning that even if another fleet is the same it is still unique), and each ship is worth a certain amount of points. At the start of a standard game, the players decide on how many points they are going to limit their fleets to. They then place markers to represent plants/moons, then place their fleet on the edge of the play area, and finally determine turn order.
Player keep track of their fleet on sheets of paper with sections divided for the elements of the ship. Up to 5 (if I remember corroctly) ship types can be recorded on a sheet. These record weapons and their location, damage, range, speed and 'admiral rating'. The admiral rating is for issuing special orders to a ship, and each ship has their own admiral.
Attacks are determined by rolling several six-sided dice. There is a chart included to help determine how many dice are rolled when variables are involved.
The game has something few battle games have: balance. This is because of two primary factors; Firstly, the mechanics are simple. The more detailed parts are on the same chart as was mentioned earlier, or are listed in the ships' details. In this way, there are a few rules, and each ship has their own way to use them. Secondly, the game was playtested extensivly with people who gave their opinions about what worked and what didn't. This was invaluable in making the game what it was supposed to be; fun.
An excellant thing to play. And if you pick it up, don't feel limited to skirmishing. Expansive campaignes and scenarios can be played out. The simplicity creates flexability. Have fun!
9/10
I very much enjoyed this game. Ships are represented with miniature figures that players can decorate theirselves (meaning that even if another fleet is the same it is still unique), and each ship is worth a certain amount of points. At the start of a standard game, the players decide on how many points they are going to limit their fleets to. They then place markers to represent plants/moons, then place their fleet on the edge of the play area, and finally determine turn order.
Player keep track of their fleet on sheets of paper with sections divided for the elements of the ship. Up to 5 (if I remember corroctly) ship types can be recorded on a sheet. These record weapons and their location, damage, range, speed and 'admiral rating'. The admiral rating is for issuing special orders to a ship, and each ship has their own admiral.
Attacks are determined by rolling several six-sided dice. There is a chart included to help determine how many dice are rolled when variables are involved.
The game has something few battle games have: balance. This is because of two primary factors; Firstly, the mechanics are simple. The more detailed parts are on the same chart as was mentioned earlier, or are listed in the ships' details. In this way, there are a few rules, and each ship has their own way to use them. Secondly, the game was playtested extensivly with people who gave their opinions about what worked and what didn't. This was invaluable in making the game what it was supposed to be; fun.
An excellant thing to play. And if you pick it up, don't feel limited to skirmishing. Expansive campaignes and scenarios can be played out. The simplicity creates flexability. Have fun!
9/10
Friday, November 6, 2009
Review - The Path
'The Path' is described as a short horror game based on the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. It was made by 'Tale of Tales' and is available for download through Steam for home computers.
Path is unique in that it breaks what is conventional for video games. It only has two rules: go to Grandmother's house, and stay on the path. Following these rules results in a failure for the player. The rules are meant to be broken because the game is about growing up.
There are 6 chapters and an epilogue in the game, each represented by a girl. They can be played in any order (except for the epilogue which is played last). The girls are of various ages ranging from 5(?) to late teens, and each of them has a different view of the world, theirselves, and what life is about. All of them are naive to the dangers of the world that are reflected in them, and that is where the wolves come into play.
The wolves are all metaphorical (except for the youngest girl). They range from a natural disaster, to idolizing bad people, to hedonism. In order to succeed in a chapter, the player must give in to the girls' 'wolf'. Once players reach the epilogue, they play as what I believe is either a seventh girl, or the seventh wolf (It's a game that make you think). Also, as you wander the forest you may come across various items. Different girls interact with these items and provide deeper insight into the girls' minds. After all this, players are left before Grandmother's house with a girl whose broken from suddenly 'growing up', and the house's interior has become a twisted reflection into the darker parts of what the girl has become.
The display is minimalistic. There are breif control instructions at the start of the chapters, but otherwise no commands are displayed. The forest loops infinatly, and a crude map appears every 100 meters to show where you've been. The only real landmarks are what appear at the edge of the screen. Pawprints indicate the direction a wolf area is in, white swirls show where the girl from the epilogue is who'll be around key items and can return you to the path, or there may be a small icon of an item if your collect enough flowers.
The game can try your patience at times with how slow the girls walk, and running pulls the camera up and pointing down so you can't see around you. This, however is by design to make the players feel defenseless and to force them to observe their surroundings. There is a ranking system for each chapter, but this is generally a farce (possibly to drive completionists and perfectionists nuts). A good game that has to be tried to truly be understood.
Path is unique in that it breaks what is conventional for video games. It only has two rules: go to Grandmother's house, and stay on the path. Following these rules results in a failure for the player. The rules are meant to be broken because the game is about growing up.
There are 6 chapters and an epilogue in the game, each represented by a girl. They can be played in any order (except for the epilogue which is played last). The girls are of various ages ranging from 5(?) to late teens, and each of them has a different view of the world, theirselves, and what life is about. All of them are naive to the dangers of the world that are reflected in them, and that is where the wolves come into play.
The wolves are all metaphorical (except for the youngest girl). They range from a natural disaster, to idolizing bad people, to hedonism. In order to succeed in a chapter, the player must give in to the girls' 'wolf'. Once players reach the epilogue, they play as what I believe is either a seventh girl, or the seventh wolf (It's a game that make you think). Also, as you wander the forest you may come across various items. Different girls interact with these items and provide deeper insight into the girls' minds. After all this, players are left before Grandmother's house with a girl whose broken from suddenly 'growing up', and the house's interior has become a twisted reflection into the darker parts of what the girl has become.
The display is minimalistic. There are breif control instructions at the start of the chapters, but otherwise no commands are displayed. The forest loops infinatly, and a crude map appears every 100 meters to show where you've been. The only real landmarks are what appear at the edge of the screen. Pawprints indicate the direction a wolf area is in, white swirls show where the girl from the epilogue is who'll be around key items and can return you to the path, or there may be a small icon of an item if your collect enough flowers.
The game can try your patience at times with how slow the girls walk, and running pulls the camera up and pointing down so you can't see around you. This, however is by design to make the players feel defenseless and to force them to observe their surroundings. There is a ranking system for each chapter, but this is generally a farce (possibly to drive completionists and perfectionists nuts). A good game that has to be tried to truly be understood.
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