First game review of the year: Fantasy Life, a Nintendo 3DS game I played when I was younger and still play now. The basic premise is that you're an adventurer who has to choose a "Life" (profession) and save the world. These Lives all give the player different skills, which tie into each other, giving the game a lot of replay value and encouraging the player to explore the game to the fullest. This is especially evident in Lives that help the player produce or acquire items, as it allows the player to eventually become totally self-sufficient. There is also some overlap in benefits of certain Lives (namely alchemy and cooking, or any of the combat-based options), which allows the player room to play how they like. The combat system is well integrated and well built, giving different enemies different weaknesses and making the fighting style for different weapons suitably different. I like the "quick inventory" vs regular inventory aspect, which can come in handy during fights. The game also rewards players for progressing in a variety of ways, from giving them a selection of benefits to choose from for completing side quests, to allowing them access to new areas based on player level.
The art style for the game is great. It's cartoony, high-impact, and hard to forget. There's a lot of options for player-character customization, even later in-game. The NPC designs are unique and eye-catching. The soundtrack is incredible, and the game even allows you to listen to the tracks at any time you please, should you spent points on the radio option. The same goes for cutscenes. The story is well-written and engaging, and the plot twists are done very nicely, giving just enough hints for an observant player to begin putting the mystery together before revealing it. The characters are compelling and unique, and you can even invite them on your adventures. Overall, it's a great game. I do have two complaints. One is the fact that certain pieces of gear are restricted based on the player character's gender for no apparent reason. I could understand if the models were different enough that it was cause issues and require making two different versions, but they aren't. It seems like an unnecessary restriction. The other criticism is that the DLC is only available when the player hits level 50. I understand that this encourages continued play, and that a player under level 50 probably wouldn't survive the DLC (it takes place in a very dangerous area), but it seems like bad design to restrict it completely. It takes a long, long time to get to such a high level (I still haven't made it), and I was already willing to fork over my money to find that it wouldn't let me. That's the company's loss.
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We've been talking about serious games, and one category caught my interest: "edutainment." My childhood memories of this concept involve logic puzzles, games on "educational" gaming sites that didn't seem all that educational, and an obnoxious typing game I still resent being forced to play. With that on my mind, I decided to dive a little deeper. First of all, what is edutainment? It's what it sounds like: education and entertainment combined. I'll be focusing mostly on games in this post, but I should mention here that online courses, programs, podcasts, etc also count. What's more is that they sell. One art education site charges up to $299 for some of its broadcasts, and customers pay up. Clearly there's a market for it. Why does it work so well with games? For one, the progression of a player through a game, developing skills and understanding along the way, is very similar to what's known as a "learning trajectory," which is how someone's understanding of a given topic increases as they learn more. In addition, games are interactive–and experience is a valuable teacher. Also, serious games can help one build a professional identity. When you start to think of yourself as a scientist or an artist or what have you, it makes you more devoted to working and progressing. One also has to learn to "think like" someone in their given field–I, for example, have to learn to think like a programmer. Games also assess the player without interrupting the flow of the game. Feedback is a useful tool, and games can keep track of more than just the end result; they can keep track of the process. That can be very important information to improving oneself. So, to summarize:
Citations
Beato, Greg. “Turning to Education for Fun.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/education/turning-to-education-for-fun.html.Dicerbo, Kristen. “Taking Serious Games Seriously in Education.” EDUCAUSE Review, Educause, 19 July 2015, er.educause.edu/articles/2015/7/taking-serious-games-seriously-in-education. My first blog post of this year is about something nobody but a lawyer really wants to discuss: legalities. Game developers need to protect their content and make sure they don't misuse someone else's; nobody likes lawsuits (well, unless you get paid). There are four main types of intellectual property: trademarks, copyright, patents, and trade secrets. Trademarks are your brand; they're there to protect your reputation, investment, and goodwill–and that's it. If someone uses your trademark in a way that's likely to cause confusion, that's infringement. It lasts as long as you keep using it. Non-registered trademarks are usually fairly easy to obtain, but registered ones, while more expensive, provide more protection. You have to protect it, or you'll lose it. Copyright protects the content of your work, and only that. It protects the physical expression of the work in a tangle medium, not the idea. As soon as you put that idea in a tangible medium it's protected, but registering it gives you more protection. This lasts a long time. If someone uses your content without permission or without citing you, that's infringement. Of course, fair use laws apply, but that's something for another post. Patents protect processes and inventions, but they have to be original and "nonobvious" in order to qualify, and are difficult and expensive (as in potentially thousands of dollars expensive) to obtain. They also don't last very long, but they provide a lot of protection. Trade secrets are pieces of information that have business value, such as customer lists or manufacturing methods, and can protect patent-pending or non-patentable processes. Infringement usually comes from industrial espionage (i.e., someone stole your info) or insider leaks, but keep in mind that trade secrets are only effective if you keep them secret. The laws vary from state to state. Look into at least one form of protective–or all of them if you have the cash. So, to summarize:
Citations
“Do You Own Your Game Content?” Gamasutra, Gamasutra, www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ZacharyStrebeck/20150202/235514/Do_you_own_your_game_content.php. “Gamasutra - Ethics Of Game Design.” Gamasutra, Gamasutra, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2181/ethics_of_game_design.php?print=1. Gonzales, Deborah. “Top 10 Legal Issues for Game Developers.” The Law Office of Deborah Gonzalez, Esq., 2012, www.dgonzalezesq.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Top-10-Legal-Issues-for-Game-Developers.pdf. “Hey, Thats MY Game! Intellectual Property Protection for Video Games.” Gamasutra, Gamasutra, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131951/hey_thats_my_game_intellectual_.php. “Legal Issues for Game Developers.” Gamedesignconcepts / Legal Issues for Game Developers, PBWorks, gamedesignconcepts.pbworks.com/w/page/11829076/Legal Issues for Game Developers. “Let's Talk Sense about Game Trademarks.” Gamasutra, Gamasutra, www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JasPurewal/20140121/209020/Lets_talk_sense_about_game_trademarks.php. “Patent Law For Game Developers.” Gamasutra, Gamasutra, www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131627/patent_law_for_game_developers.php. |
AuthorI'm moving on to my 4th (and final) year as a Game Art & Design student at Durham School of the Arts. I'd like to call myself an artist, but I'm a programmer at heart. Archives
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