Ancient Games - The Royal Game of Ur

Its amazing to think for thousands of years, games have been played across the world in so many different cultures. Some are still played today while others are forgotten. Games such as The Royal Game of Ur, The Viking Game and The Stanway Game all have an antiquity value to them and are important to historical games. From excavation sites that have discovered old games, it was thought that the oldest types of games were racing but we now know that war games and Mancala games were actually created far later.

For one of my modules on the course we were asked to iterate the Royal Game of Ur, changing the mechanics of the game to create some better dynamics for the player to experience and hopefully enjoy more than the original. No one actually knows entirely what the rules are but some have taken an educated guess. You can find the rules at (http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/royal-ur-rules.htm)  I went the British Museum which you can read about on one of my previous posts and we actually got to see the fake original. 

I found when playing this game the player didn't have to think very much only when their pieces were in the 'attacking zone' which its referred to as, which is the centre spaces for both players have to move down. I wanted to change it so the player had more threat and conflict. So instead of the pieces finishing at the end the rules are now to line all your 5 pieces to the end of the board. these pieces can then also come back into the game because it is a fight for the last two spaces. We had to create a Design Document to show our iterations and how the board will look.

This is a good example of how someone might use the rosette square as a tactical advantage. This counter can stay there safely and can pounce on an opponent if need be. This might need to be iterated further because I don’t want players to start ‘goal hanging’, so there may need to be a rule that prevents them from staying on any rosette square for more than, say 3 turns. It is however quite difficult to get on one in the first place because of the exact number of moves the player needs to use.

The Player might use Counter X to attempt to knock out their opponent’s Counter Y, but this could be a sacrifice because it would only take a role of 2 moves for Counter Z. This also means that that counter would have to get back in the queue, when those moves may be better off moving counters that are closer to the start, and saving Counter X for the last two of the opponent’s counters. So calculating the best way of defence in the second conflict zone is quite important in winning the game.


Overall I think the game is slightly more enjoyable and create more tension for the player which is what I think ultimately drives this game.  

3D Model Assessment 1

For my first 3D model project I decided to make a Pelican dropship out of Halo, mainly based around the look of the second and third game. I've always loved that vehicle ever since I first played Halo: Combat Evolved. This is my first major 3D model I've made and I think I've done really well. I was lucky enough to find some really good source material for texturing and also images to help with the actual build.
There are some really good techniques I've used and things like 'dos' and 'donts' i now know for next time, because something you do to the model may come back to haunt you when your further into building it.

I need to get better at being more precise with my measurements, being more accurate with vertices etc. and so that parts of the model doesn't merge within other parts, not that I think it really matters too much but I think its most likely better if you actually get everything to fit perfectly. One stupid thing I did though was make the size of the texture image 10,000px by 10,000px. This gave a memory error on 3DS Max. It wasn't difficult to fix, literally re-sizing the image in PS but I know now its better for the size of the image to be 512px or multiples of, and arrange the pieces better so they consume as much space as possible so it helps with the texture quality. Overall I'm really happy with how my first model turned out and how it looked in UDK with the lighting.
 

La Decima Vittima

Earlier on in the year we watch a film called La Decima Vittima. Its one of the strangest films I've watched and I thought the acting was shit. It had a very unusual storyline. Basically it is set in the near future, and individuals are allowed to kill people in what is called 'The Big Hunt' to satisfy their violent tendencies to avoid countries going to war. In this strange inhabitance people find it the best form of entertainment and its shown across the world. People partake to become rich and famous. Each competitor has 10 rounds. 5 as the hunter and 5 as a victim. The competitor must survive all 10 rounds to become extremely wealthy and retire.
The story reminds me of the Hunger Games which is a better film. Its actually based on a short story written by Robert Sheckley called 'Seventh Victim'. The idea that people would play a game to kill is very messed up and you'd have to be pretty damn sure you were gonna win to sign up. But it does make you think about role playing games we play now, or any type of game for that matter, what if we did lose a round. You wouldn't be able to re spawn, you couldn't try again. Thats it, unlucky. But if you imagine what games make you feel now, with all different emotions and reactions rushing through you, playing the game in real life must be immense.

New Games Journalism

New Games Journalism is a form of writing that is applied to games for the reader to understand what the game is, how its played, almost like a review but in a more relaxed way. It started to become more widely read around the 1960's and was a better way to express certain aspects of the topic in a more creative and artistic form.
I find this writing style so much more nicer than older styles of writing that are more formal. It can sometimes completely change my view on something especially when I read certain Articles. I'm not saying I dislike it, I think formal is good, but it should be in small doses and concise. New Games Journalism is more open and it feels as if the Author is actually talking to the reader giving out his experience and story, and its almost like you have as much time as you want to read it without being in a hurry to finish. 

I read a good article called 'Possessing Barbie' (http://www.alwaysblack.com/?p=30#more-30). Its about 2 people playing a game similar to half-life which is given in the mans perspective who is in a virtual house with a woman. They start talking about how people under-age should have a badge appear next to their name for other players to know. But the man disagrees, he thinks you cant get hurt on games like this and kids know more trash-talk than what he does. Without spoiling the whole story for you, basically the woman makes him feel uncomfortable and guilty and proves to him that people can get hurt online and children more so because they havnt had the experience or the defence mechanism to deal with them types of situations. She mentions "It’s a game but it’s also real. People are affected by other minds, it’s unavoidable. You bring your own morals with you and you set the limits." This is something which I read to be powerfully meaningful but also a joy to read. 

Triple-A Games for Woman? Seriously?

Segregation in the Games Industry

Building A Simple Level