Final Post

I was not sure if we needed to do another post, so I am going to do one just in case. Anyway the game came out great and I am looking forward to expanding it next semester. Hopefully the networking stuff will not be that difficult. I also hope we can find another artist to join our group as currently we have none. Anyway I am looking forward to finally going home for Christmas break and relaxing. I have a copy of Uncharted 2 sitting next to me (as well as a few other games) that I am dying to try out, but can't until the exams are done. Luckily I only have 6 days, 23 hours, 36 mins and 15 second before my last exam is done, but whose counting?        

Finish!

The games due date is Monday, but thankfully my group and I have completed almost all of the requirements. The only issue is the animations. I kind of had them working in a test program, but the game crashes when using them. Other than that everything seems to be done and working in the game. I have even started studying for my exams to get an early start. All of my modeling, elective, and project management assignments are done. I have 50 XP right now, but am waiting to see if the partial system homework needs to be made with a tool or not. If not then I should be up to 65 XP. Overall I think the game turned out nicely. I am still kind of disappointing as  some of the things we wanted to add to the game where nearly working, but other homework and time restrains caused us not to finish them. The first semester game is always the toughest, especially when working with a new engine. Hopefully next semester we can fix up a lot of the messy code, implemented the things that where cut, add some more functionality to the engine and dive deeper into Havok. Anyway I am looking forward to finally revealing the game on Monday at the GDW presentations as well as improving it next semester.   

Almost out of Time!!

My group is currently is crunch time has we are trying to get everything done for the game. Trying to get all the requirements done and working together is turning into a nightmare. Thankfully we only have a few more requirements left. We are going to be spending most of the time left to get them all done. The game is turning out pretty good, much better than our first semester game we made last year. Once the game is finally done I can relax for like 12 second before I have to start worrying about all my other homework. I had to set aside some of my other courses homework in order to work on the game. I still need to complete all of the IK stuff for my model, as well as all of the texturing, including normal and specular maps. 

The texture so far.  

I also need to properly UV map my level for the game. On top of that I still have homework for the game engine course as well as cybercrime and project management. Luckily all of these things are due a week after the game, so I should have time to get everything done. I am looking forward to Christmas break as I will finally get away from all this homework!!         

Still a Long Road Ahead

Progress was slower this week, but was still quite decent. I was able nearly finish my level for the game; just a few more textures need to be fixed. It is now implemented and fully functional. The artist in our group finally sent over the proper textures, which helped improved the visuals. I also started tackling a few more requirements, but am having problems with a few of them, but at least they are started. I still have no idea how we are going to implement features such as animations systems. As of right now it seems impossible. I am also having trouble with my character for the game, the IK system seems to be all wonky. I got the arm working, but I still need to get the manipulators controlling things such as the fingers. At least the weight painting is done… which was MUCH more work than I could have ever imaged. I also finished a large assignment for one of my electives. Hopefully with that out of the way, it will leave more time to work on the other assignments, like the game engine homework. Hopefully I can increase my 35 xp to 65 before the exam.              

Holy Progress Batman!

I have to say I am very pleased with the amount of progress my group was able to accomplish this week. It seemed like every day a different feature was solved and implemented. We were able to cross off a bunch of requirements from the long list. I feel that the overall game is really coming together. Shaders should also be in the game soon, but we are having a problem with the converter. We still must conquer large requirements such as the animation loader. Hopefully we will be able to solve these problems soon. I also began skinning my character, but I am having issues with the IK, as the arm is not moving correctly. The deadline is quickly approaching, but I think we should be able to get it all done, hopefully.       

MIGS

This week’s progress was not spectacular was a large portion of the week was spent at the Montreal International Game Summit. Overall it was a wonderful experience. The talks where very informative, I was able to learn a lot about game design though the speakers. Especially the Prototype Gears of War and New Horizons for Game Design. I was also able to network much more this year. My group was able to talk to companies such as Gameloft and EA, both of which seemed very interested in us. Bringing business cards also helped. For the game I was able to work on it a bit after MIGS. I believe I have mostly finished my level for the game. There are still some issues I need to iron out. For example when a rotate something, the physics seem to stop working. I think I am going to have to see the TA about this one. It is also getting very aggravating as it seems like everything we try to work on in the game; we always hit a brick wall. There are still a lot of requirements that my group does not know how to implement, and I am getting kind of nervous as the game is due in about a month.       

Back on Track

I was going to post this earlier, but the internet was out for the entire campus. Now that mid-terms are out of the way, we have finally gotten time to work on the game. I was able to spend most of the weekend working solely on it. I added bump and specular maps to my character using mud-box, which made it look a lot more interesting. I have also started to rig the character so that it can be animated. I have to say I am happy with the progress. Although it seems that the more we progress, the more problems we run into. So far my group is having troubles implementing shaders, bump maps, menus, game states, practical systems and the stand alone tool. I am hoping we can get shaders in there as it will make everything look a lot better. I am also going to MIGS next week so I am not sure if that will have a huge hindrance on the progress.

Here is the character from mud-box; I feel that it came out quite well.  

Midterm Madness

One midterm down and just two more to go (including the one for this class). Direct game progress has been very minimal, but studying for the midterm has increased my knowledge of the engine and should be beneficial for the game in the long run. I also received my 20 XP by showing my work to the TA during one of the tutorials. The model I showed last time has also been fully UVed and is ready for Mudbox. As I said in my pervious blog posts, once the midterms are finished I should be free to work on the game. I have even done some of my other homework ahead of time so that after the midterms I should be free to work solely on the game. 

Starting up again

I was able to do a few of the homework questions (M-2 and almost M-8). They should be able to provide experience to be used when working with the game engine. I also meet with my group and we came up a list of classes we will need for our game. We also divided the workload so everyone knows their respected responsibilities. During this meeting, we also iterated on the scope of our game, what we will do this semester, what we will save for next semester, and what will be cut out. I also looked into some of the sounds we will use is the game and how they will affect the atmosphere and theme of the game. We were also able to solve the programming issue that I spoke of in the last blog post. It seems the challenge this semester will not be coding the game, but understanding and using the engine. I am also using the examples as an aid to understand the code. I also UV mapped half of my character model; I just need to mirror the attributes. With mid-terms creeping up, progress of the game will be slow, but should resume once they are over.

I was going to post of picture of homework M-2, but my other group members seem to have already done that, so here’s this instead. 

Stalled

For this week my group designed and modeled the basic outline of the level. I also finished my character for the game and he is ready to textured. I also create a few more pieces of geometry for the game. The basic outline of the game flow was also created. Unfortunately we cannot progress further as the programming section has stalled. We are having trouble understanding how to use Havok with the engine. Until this is solved the games cannot progress much further. Once we have overcome this burden, I do believe progress will greatly increase. I also plain on starting a few of the homework assignments, which will eventually find their way into the game.   

Getting Started

  For this week we continued to get together to discuss the planning of our game. We have such things as weapons, and enemies figured out. We also decide on a scope and preliminary level design.  I have also been working on my model for the Intermediate Modeling Tech class which is coming along nicely. I have also modeled a piece of geometry for one of the levels. Having a designated artist on our team is also a big help as they have agreed to help texture the models, something I have always disliked doing. Unfortunately a lot of homework will be due next week so work on the game will most likely stall. We should be able to get some more progress once things have calmed down more.     

A New Beginning

For the first week, my group and I came up with the general design for the game. We have the story; genre and direction of the game ready to go. We also expanded our group with two other members. This should allow us more freedom and to increase the scope of our games. Once we get the Wild Magic’s engine running on all of our machines we should be able to begin prototyping our game.   

Extra Week Game Progress

Unfortunately, I have no real progress to report as we had planned the game to be done on the original due date. We felt that the game was “done” when we presented it at the lightBox event. Obviously there are improvements that could have made, but there comes a time when you have to drawn the line. We were able to utilize the time to finish almost all of our homework for all of our classes. This includes the game doc which has grown to mammoth proportions but is now complete, which feels good to say. The post mortem is also done. The only thing left to do is to work on the business of gaming pitch and study for exams (both of which I have started). It really does pay off to start homework early. I am looking forward to going home and relaxing a bit once school is done.      

Twelfth Week Game Progress

This week we finished up everything that had to be done for the game. I finished adding all of the geometry for all the levels. Everything that still needs to be textured has been properly done.  We also created the games overall aesthetic quality by adding in the shaders. We also balanced the game do that each level had its appropriate difficultly. Gameplay was also improved with the addition of power-ups.  We also finished the doc for the game. Last minute additions were also added like a “The End” screen. Glitches were also eradicated though playtesting the game and fixing the problems in the code. Overall I am pleased how the game turned out. Almost all of my expectations for the game have been accomplished. I feel that we have created another complete game that will showcase our skills as game creators. As I am writing this I am on the train to go to the lightBox. I am looking forward to see other people enjoy the game that we have created.     

A screenshot of the final game

Eleventh Week Game Progress

Most of this week’s work was concentrated on the homework two for the game design class. For this week we completed the final menu for the game. We also created a secondary HUD for the game. I have also textured some of the geometry I have created. I have also started working with shades, but I will still need more time to get them working properly. Another big thing my group worked on was getting some bugs worked out. Likely we have squashed a lot of the fatal bugs in our game, but we will need more time to get them all. We have also started to implement some of the suggestions from play testing. My group is very happy for starting our game doc early as things are starting to really pile up now.       

Something that still needs to be textured

Next we must concentrate on creating a secondary menu and finishing up the homework, as it is due the soonest. After the homework is finished we must finish making the environments and textures.  Also I hope I have not made my blog post too short, I simply try to get to the point with these posts.  

Tenth Week Game Progress

I have finished another track and have almost finished working on the menus. I also play tested the game again with a more diverse audience then last time. The next step for me is to finish creating the environments for the other tracks and to keep texturing everything. I still have one more to track to finish then I am finally done with the track making. There are still a few bugs to iron out, which will hopefully not take too long to fix. I am happy to say that the game is very close to reaching completion and it is coming out just as my group as envisioned.

Ninth Week Game Progress

For this week I was able to implement a rough version of the menu as well as other functions. I also began to texture objects within my tracks. A lot of work was dedicated to the game doc which is mostly done and ready for iteration. Unfortunately my group is having a serious problem with F-MOD which is hindering progress. Hopefully we can fix this problem and get back on track.   

Soul Calibur Broken Destiny Game Critique

The game I am critiquing is Soul Calibur Broken Destiny for the PSP. I recently purchased this game and am enjoying it. I usually don’t by games that are new, but it was on sale for $5 and I figured my PSP collection needs more games. 

Game Play Mechanics-

This game has upheld the original mechanics from the past Soul Calibur games. You must fight and apposing character, the first one out of energy looses. Similar to other fighting games, you can attack high/low, block or kick. You can also throw players outside the stage, causing an immediate victory. The characters have different moves, allowing for players to choose their favourite and build a strategy with them.    

Sound-

The sound in the game is impressive. The games music sounds orchestrated, which is nice to have in a portable game. All of the 28 characters have different voices, which allows for distinctiveness in the characters.

Game Flow-

The game flow is very limited. In terms of progression, there is very little to do. All of the characters and levels seemed to be unlocked at the beginning of the game (although you can create new characters in one of the modes). Past Soul Calibur games had you unlock characters and stages, which allowed for an incentive to play. The majority of the game is simply to fight, there is not real way to progress. I personally find this to be fine, as I can have fun just by fighting with the plethora of different characters and stages.   

User Interfaces-

The user interface is very basic but works well. It allows of quick and easy navigation. One complaint is the character select screen. Previous games had the full polygoned characters appear when you highlighted them. Broken Destiny simply had an image of the character. I felt this was less exciting, but it might be a limitation of the UMD drive not being able to load all of the characters quickly enough.  

Level Design-

The levels are simply confined to the stages the characters fight on. Although small, these stages are well designed. Each includes a plethora of detail, such as leaves moving on trees or the cracks in walls. The levels are also beautifully rendered, showing the power of the PSP. On top of that they are also destructible. The floors crack when players are thrown onto them and railings collapse if they take too much damage.         

Story/Quality of Writing-

The story in this game is not very good. In past Soul Calibur games, there was a story mode. This mode was limited, but showed some back-story on the characters. In Broken Destiny, there is no story mode, which I find disappointing. There is mode called “gantlet” which serves as a trading mode. It has some story, but it is very poor. It is simply filler to keep the player interested when in that mode.   

A.I.-

The A.I. of the game is very good. When on easy settings, they allow time for players to attack and they rarely block. On the more difficult settings, they will pull of complicated combos and will never let their guard down. This allows for both new and experienced players to enjoy the game.    

Eighth Week Game Progress

Despite having the week filled with midterms I was able to make progress in the game (much more than I thought I was). First, I was able to successfully integrate another group member’s art into the game. I also began working on tracks and have partially completed them. I have also done some texture work for the game. I was also able to create a piece of functionally for our game. We also had our first play testing section which was very insightful into what need work and what worked perfectly. Once my group are finally done with our midterms, we will start to focus on the documentation of the game. I will also have to start to create more geometry to fill in the levels as well as texture them.       

Seventh Week Game Progress

For this week, I spend most of my time studying for midterms. I had little time to work on the game. I did reorientation the tracks I made so they are facing the correct direction and did some work to the HUD. After midterms are finished, I will be able to focus more of my effort onto the game. I also believe the game will start to come together and the final product will start to become realized.

Sixth Week Game Progress

This week has been the slowest in terms of progress ever and I don’t see next week getting any better. With midterms coming up, it is hard to work on the game. I was still able to get some sound effects as well as find new textures for objects. Work for the game doc was also done. This slowdown has happened with our other games in the past because of midterms, so it is not that big of a concern. I do know that after midterms, progress of the game will go much faster

Fifth Week Game Progress

For this week, we implemented the FMOD code I created last week into the main game and I completed the track I started last week. We also worked on the game doc. Progress of the game is becoming a standstill as many of our assignments are piling up and midterms are coming up.  

Forth Week Game Progress

I created some pseudo code for the AI and other systems. I also created the environment for one of the tracks. I also upgraded the model on my vehicle (so it was less blocky). I was also able to get a key piece of functionality working for FMOD, which means that my group can now implement Ben’s artwork. I have also started working on another track.   

Vehicle still needs some work.  

Alan Wake Game Critique (Homework)

The title of the game I am critiquing is Alan Wake. The game itself covers many genres which include third person shooter, action game and psychological thriller. It was published by Microsoft Game Studios and was developed by Remedy Entertainment.

In the game you play as Alan Wake, who is trying to find this wife that has been taken by the “darkness”. The “darkness” posses as the enemy in the game as it manipulates the world around Alan in order to destroy him. The player’s objectives are to usually reach check points without being killed by people posses by the darkness. Other times the objective is to kill all of the posses or “taken” people in a certain area. The overall goal is to progress the story and reach the end of the game.[1]

In order to attack one of the “taken” you must first douse them in light, making them venerable, then shoot them. The light is emitted from Alan’s flashlight. The light must be rationed as if it runs out the player will be defenceless agents the enemies. Ammunition must also be rationed as it too can run out leaving the player unarmed. The player must also traverse and navigate the environment, trying to get to the required location.

The player’s character represents someone who believes they are losing their mind. This can be shown though the light and dark themes. The light is a metaphor for Alan’s sanity, which is what he uses to fight the darkness. [2] The darkness represents his insanity, which is what is fighting. They player is also the “hero”, as they are trying to rescue Alan’s wife.

The “information types” I could identify are the amount of supplies the player has. Things like how many batteries, ambition, flash bangs etc. All these greatly affect how the player can perform. There is also the type of enemy the player is facing. The stronger the enemy, the more complex the strategy the player will need. There does not seem to be any hidden information or emergent rules/behaviours.  

On the menu mode, the thumbstick is used to move the cursor up and down and the “A” and “B” buttons are used to select and cancel the different options. In gameplay, the main buttons that are used are the left trigger which is used to aim, the right trigger which is used to fire. Other buttons during gameplay are the “A” button which is used jump, the “Y” button which is used to insert batteries and the left and right thumbsticks are used to move and control the camera. [3] 

I personally felt that the controls where perfectly mapped for this game. I never found a spot in the game where I felt my experience was hindered by the controls. They felt very fluid and responsive. At times enemies would appear out of nowhere, I was able to react quickly to attacking enemies because the controls were so smooth. This help keep the game fair as the player has the ability to react to such sudden attacks.  

The sound plays a major role in Alan Wake’s experience. There is no much music during gameplay, but the sound effects are properly used to set the mood of the game. As the player walks though the forests, the trees rustle, the wind howls, etc. The voice work makes the characters feel believable, which is important for a story driven game. The enemies also have impressive sounds associated with them. The “taken” speak with distorted voices and poltergeist objects emit unnatural cries when they attack. Also, the sound of emitting light on the enemies is also entertaining, as you can hear the sound of their “shield” being burned away, which is ultimately satisfying.  

                                            Alan using light on a "taken"

Special features of the game for me were the games environment, story, and graphics. I thought the environment was very impressive as in encompassed such as large area of forest. I found it impressive how the game could work so well in such a large environment (enemies never got stuck, camera worked correctly). Another big feature was the game story. The game is a physiological thriller, so the story itself is every important. The story was written by Sam Lake who wrote for the Max Payne games. [4] The graphics were also very impressive, which is to be expected as it used a very power engine which was developed just for Alan Wake. The engine uses Umbra Software rendering technology [5].

The game seems very similar to other third person shooters, only that Alan Wake contains the features such as the massive forest environment and a physiological thriller story. It also feels a lot smoother than other third person shooters, which might be thanks to the wonderful controls.

I believe the intended audience are players who enjoy action games, but want compelling story and a unique environment. The story plays a very important role as it is the main push to finish the game. I personal found when playing it that I could not put the game down because of the story. The story, mood, graphics and control are essential to this game. Things that were not essential were the some of the games extras. They could have left out some of the “driving” positions of the game as well as some of the supporting cast. I would personally not change much in the game, but I would have made it longer. The game had a weak ending, but then offered DLC. I would have also expanded the weapons to have more variety.  

The learning curve of the game was quite small as most of the new features are introduced slowly. They are also thoroughly explained. Someone who has played action games before should have no problem. Those who don’t will simply take longer to learn the game.

 The NPC’s perform perfectly; they follow the player correctly and fight alongside them without any problems. They enemies sometimes will sneak behind the player, but the camera will pan letting they player know they are there. The A.I seems to be at the appropriate difficulty for the different parts of the game. I have never seen an NPC run into the wall or get stuck on something.         

[1] "Alan Wake." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Wake>.

[2] Snider, Mike. "Six Tips for Deciphering 'Alan Wake' - Game Hunters: In Search of Video Games and Interactive Awesomeness - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Web. 27 Jan. 2011. <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/05/six-tips-for-deciphering-alan-wake/1>.

[3] "Alan Wake - Controls." Allgame. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. <http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=49854&tab=controls>.

[4] "Sam Lake." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Lake>.

[5] "Umbra Software - Newsdetail." Umbra Software - Company. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. http://www.umbrasoftware.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=41&cntnt01origid=51&cntnt01returnid=54.

Third Week Game Progress

Unfortunately, I became very sick, which greatly hindered this week’s progress on the game. I had planned to work on the game on the weekend, but I was so sick that I could not do anything from Wednesday night up until Sunday. I even missed class for the first time because of this. Despite this I was able to fix up some problems with the models and brainstorm some new ideas. Since I am now feeling better I hope I can catch up on the work I missed.                   

Suikoden Tierkreis Game Critique

The game is called Suikoden Tierkreis for the Nintendo DS. I recently purchased this game at Wal-Mart for only one dollar. Needless to say, I did not have high expectation for this game giving its low price. To my surprise the game received positive reviews online. The game is a turn based RPG which is very similar to Final Fantasy. 

The game play mechanics are very similar to other RPG’s. The player gets into random battles and must defeat monsters in order to gain levels and progress the story. The combat system is very easy to use. There is an option to auto battle, which I find very convent as it saves a lot of time during mundane battles. All of the games menus are easy to navigate and are clearly labelled. The level design is also well implemented. The over world gives you an ability to warp large distances, saving lots of time. The environments contain branching paths which bring in a risk vs. reward strategy. If the player branches off from the main root, they run the risk for getting into more battles, but might find hidden items. The environment backgrounds are hand drawn and the characters are 3D polygons, the game has put little markers to prevent confusion of where the exits are. The game also flows very nicely, new characters and environments are introduced as the player progresses. I personally found that this kept me “hooked” as I wanted keep playing to see what else the game had to offer.  

The story is engaging and the characters are interesting and believable. This is very important for this game as the story is usually a major part of RPG’s. The game is also very polished. All of the background are hand-drawn, and look wonderful. The game also has full voice acting and full motion video cut scene which is very impressive for a cartridge based DS game. I found the music to also be of very high quality as most of it is orchestrated and very memorable.   

On the left is an example of a voiced cut scene, on the right is an example of a turn based battle.

Second Week Game Progress

For this week, I mostly modeled geometry in Maya, I was able to implement some of the concept art into models. I also recorded some of the dialogue needed for the game. I have been working on the Concept Designs and Scope Documents that where needed for the Game Design and Production I class, as well as completing milestone 1.        

First Week Game Progress

For the first week of working on the game I felt I have made excellent progress. I completed the games dialogue, meaning that the next step would be to record the voices. I also implemented a small class within the games code. The last thing I did was draw concept art of some of the objects in the game. The next step is to create them in maya.  

Here is an example of some of the art I did.  

Plant vs. Zombies for 10 Minutes

Upon starting up Plant vs. Zombies, the first action I did was enter my name. After I did that, I clicked the “Start Adventure” button. After an intro the game displayed a tutorial explaining how to plant flowers and collect sun. After the tutorial, the game told me that the zombies were coming. Once the zombies were on screen the flowers began to shoot them. This helped me gain motivation to plant as many flowers as possible to destroy all of the zombies. Once all the zombies were defeated I was rewarded with a new type of plant. The game then gave me a tutorial on the new plant. The plant introduced a new level of strategy into the game as I could now choose to go for an offence or defensive layout of the flowers. Defeating the second level of zombies then introduced another type of plant, further changing the overall strategy of the game. The introduction of new plants altered the flow of the game. I responded to these changes by altering my overall strategy to accommodate the new plants.     

Good game: Marble Madness for the NES

Game Play Mechanics- The game play involves getting to the end of each level before the time runs out. This mechanic works well as it encourages many playthroughs in order to get the fastest time. The player is given infinite lives, but dying cost precious time.    

Sound- The sound is very good in this game. All of the music of the arcade version has been properly converted and is a pleasure to listen to. The music also help the levels come to life as it properly reflects the tone and overall design of its assigned level.  

Game Flow- The game starts off on an easy level. In this level you are able to get accustom to the controls. There are also no enemies or hazards to worry about. Each level after that will become increasingly difficult to complete. Each level will also introduce features not seen in other levels, keeping the game fresh and challenging. 

User Interfaces- The game uses the D-pad to control the marble and the “A” button as acceleration. Despite the original arcade machine having a trackball, the NES version is able to provide quick and responsive controls. There is also an option to modify the angle you are controlling the marble, to accommodate different user play styles.    

Level Design-The level design of Marble Madness is it strong point. Each level is wildly different, each having it own challenges, enemies and colour schemes. Some levels have gravity reversed as other levels have hammers that come up from under the ground to hit you. The different levels are so wildly different that they encourage players to gets there fastest time, only so they progress further can see what levels lie ahead.      

Story/Quality of Writing- There is no apparent story in the game. It is almost meant to be abstract.   

A.I. – The enemy A.I is very good in this game. Out of the other versions of Marble Madness, I personally found that this one had the “fairest” A.I. Whenever an enemy killed me, I felt as if it was my fault, not a flaw in the game. Defeating the A.I also takes strategy as you must try to dodge their attacks and return with a counter attack all when racing against the clock.

Bad game: Pac-Man for the Atari 2600

Game Play Mechanics- The original game play of Pac-Man has been lost in this conversion. The game play is the same on paper, but the horrible A.I. and maze hinder the game play.   

Sound- The sound is absolutely horrible in this game. The wonderful original arcade sound effects have been converted into horrible ones that don’t even resemble Pac-Man. The sound effects in the Ms. Pac-Man conversion were much closer to arcade quality. 

Game Flow- The same maze keeps repeating, the only reward is the high score. This is not a flaw as most Atari games have this type of game flow.

User Interfaces- The game uses a typical control style and works well. The joystick moves Pac-Man.  

Level Design-The iconic level design of the first Pac-Man has been butchered for the Atari port. The maze isn’t as well designed at the original and the warps on the sides of the maze are gone.

Story/Quality of Writing- The story is essentially the original Pac-Man, nothing has changed.

A.I. – The enemy A.I is borderline broken. The arcade version of Pac-Man actually had ghost follow your character. The Atari 2600 ghost seem to only move in random parts of the maze. They also flicker uncontrollably, making it almost impossible to tell where they are on screen. This causes the player to collide with a ghost that they did not see. Some might argue that this is the systems limitation, but Ms. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was able to have the same amount of ghost with almost no flicker.    

First Post

Hello,

This is the first test post of my blog! I will be posting information about my group’s game development as well as critique of games that I play throughout the semester.

Thanks for looking!!