CS4067

Strategy Vs Simulation

2008-12-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

I had been assuming up until lately that games in the "Strategy Games" genre were not all war games but my research into this area would seem to have proved me wrong...

"Although the majority of strategy games are probably war games there are quite a few popular strategy games which do not follow the war theme."

This is a comment i made in a post a few weeks ago when i had been assuming that games like Theme Hospital, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Railroad Tycoon were strategy games. However, since then i have found that these games are actually classed as simulation games which leaves me without any non-war games in the "Strategy Games" genre.

Essay Questions

2008-12-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about questions that i would like to investigate in my essay. I'm not sure if it will be possible to cover all these areas but i think that i can use these questions as a basic plan or guide as to what the essay structure should be...

What is Strategy?
Do all games have Strategy?
What are "Strategy Games" and what is the Strategy Games genre?
Where did strategy games come from and how has their evolution progressed?
Why do people play strategy games?
What kind of people play strategy games?
What do strategy games seem to be hugely popular on PCs but barely known on consoles?
Do people that play strategy games have pre-determined strategies that they use during the game or do they adapt as the game progresses?
Do regular strategy gamers read the manual or just jump straight in?

Essay Direction

2008-11-24T06:41:00.001-08:00

I was unsure of what direction my essay should take but following a discussion with Liam, I have a better idea of how to get started.

I want to discuss strategy in games and the evolution of what is now called "The Strategy Genre". Along with discussing milestones with brief examples of the games involved, I will look at what type of strategies people use in certain games.

Some example questions could be:
Do people read the manual first or even at all?
Do people always play with the same type of strategy in games of a particular genre or does their strategy evolve to suit the particular game?

My essay will also include what people consider strategy to be and examples of strategy games outside the computer / video games area.

Strategy Video Games

2008-11-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

Having read wikipedia's page about strategy games I moved on and read about strategy video games and was surprised with the number of sub-genres listed for this type of game.

First though, a nice quote: "Strategy video games are video games that focus on gameplay requiring careful and skillful thinking and planning in order to achieve victory." - wikipedia

The are 7 sub genres listed but i think they can be refined into two main types - turn based and real time strategy games. Wikipedia also points out that these (turn based and real time) can then be split into strategy and tactics based games.

Something that jumps out at me on this "Strategy Video Games" page is that all the examples given for the 7 genres the editor created are war games. Although the majority of strategy games are probably war games there are quite a few popular strategy games which do not follow the war theme.

Strategy Games

2008-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

As my essay will be about strategy games i have decided to have a quick look to see what wikipedia has on this topic.

"A strategy game is a game (e.g. computer, video or board game) in which the players' decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Many games include this element to a greater or lesser degree, making demarcation difficult. It is therefore more accurate to describe a particular game as having a certain degree of strategic elements, as in being mainly based around strategic principles." - wikipedia

This seems like a very good definition. The point was made in class that all games have an element of strategy in them and this definition echoes that sentiment. Regardless of the genre ot type of game, all games include some form of strategy but strategy games are the ones which place more emphasis on having a good strategy to be successful.

An interesting point that is also made is the differentiation between "strategy" and "tactics". This is a point that i came across which researching the game "Go" for my Artificial Intelligence in Games" module. From what i understand, strategy is longer term planning than tactics.

My next topic will be to investigate wikipedia's information about strategy computer games.

Essay

2008-11-12T01:06:00.000-08:00

My essay will cover the evolution of strategy games - where they have come from and where they are heading. The essay will not just focus on computer games but will also look at their predecessors such as board games and possibly card games.

"It can be said that there is strategy in every game" is a working title for the essay. The introduction will include topics such as a history of strategy, defining strategy and defining the parameters involved in strategy.

Some recommended reading is Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

I think this will be a very difficult project and far more difficult than any exam. Some people are more suited to writing than others and i would not have expected a project of this scale doing a Computer Science course.

Portumna Web Site

2008-11-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this Portumna Community & Tourism Website.

The Future of Gaming

2008-11-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

A read an article last week in which a games developer stated that there wold be no more consoles by 2020. Here is a link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/08/18/dlgame118.xml

The guy himself doesn't really have anything to back up his story with an it seems more like a marketing pitch to get attention for the new product he is launching more that anything else but it did get me thinking about consoles vs pcs...

I think it is possible that by 2020 there will not be any consoles but i think what is more likely to happen that the consoles coming to an end is that the line dividing consoles and pcs will have disappeared. For example, at what stage is a console still a console and not a personal computer? If you connect a keyboard and mouse to a PS3 and install an operating system on it or even just browse the internet using the built in operating system, are you using this device as a console or a personal computer.

I think the line dividing consoles and pcs in terms of what they are used for is getting smaller and over time i think there will be even more overlap in what they do than just playing games and eventually there might not even be any distinction between the two.

Talks - Week 8

2008-11-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

We had two interesting talks last Thursday - the first from Gary who runs a games shop in the city and later in the day, a PhD student spoke to us about his views on games and ideas for his research.

The first talk looked at different ways of getting involved in the industry and different ways to use our degrees. Examples included designing game concepts, art, modelling, marketing, and interactive instruction discs. While i don't think any of these areas would apply to me, it was interesting to hear about them.

The second talk was also interesting as a PhD student discussed ideas he had for his research area. Although his views seemed a bit one dimensional, i still found it interesting to listen to him. He spoke about games as if violent games were the only ones but also admitted that he doesn't really play games himself. While it does sound like a good idea to get someone from another discipline to do some research in this area, his views seem to be already made up and fairly narrow.

Why do I play war games?

2008-10-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

The games i have probably spent most time playing over the years are (in no particular order): Football Manager, Civilization, Age of Empires. Two of these are war games. In short, the reason for spending so much time playing these was the replayability. I'm not particularly interested in playing a game for the story. In Civilization, every game is different and in Age of Empires i never really bother with the campaigns - i just played skirmishes so again every game was different and they can be customized with different rules and opponents.

I think i can split the types of war games that i play into two genres - first person shooter and strategy games.

Strategy games are my favourite type of game by far and war games seem to be the biggest type of game within that genre. I play strategy games becuase i find they keep my attention for longer. I have spent whole days playing civilization while i regularly only play games like crysis for a hour. Once i get killed in a first person shooter i tend to just quit the game rather than jumping straight back in and replaying the exact part of the game i had just played a few minutes before that.

I like games that involve strategy and tactics and this leads me to war games which seem to be the best at this. I tend to try play first person shooters in this manner too. For example, in Crysis rather than taking someone out the easy way i will often look around and plan my attack in a slower way. I get bored fairly fast if i play a game that involves just running along a linear path and shooting whatever moves.

For me, strategy based wargames provide the right mix of action and tactics and are my favourite type of game.

P.S. My favourite game is Civilization IV and i have been playing the Civ series since the first version of Civilization.

What do i learn from Gaming?

2008-10-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

I don't think that i have learnt much factual information from gaming over the years. I may have picked up the names of ancient rulers and little bits about them and their cultures from games like Civilisation and Age of Empires but nothing more.

However, where i do feel games have come in useful has been to keep the brain sharper. Personally, i feel that there is nothing useful to come from shoot-em-ups. They provide a nice break from reality and basic exercise for motor skills and that's about it.

But strategy games can help sharpen parts of the mind. Even games like Football Manager which some say is a glorified spreadsheet can help improve ones analysis of numbers. I found myself getting far quicker at scanning all the statistics presented to me and quickly comparing them other statistics. Games like Civilisation which are turn based mean that you can take your time and plan a stategy, trying to predict your opponents responses.

Although playing traditional board games like chess would probably be more beneficial than any of these and soduko is most likely far better at sharpening the brain than anything like Football Manager.

The Reconstructors

2008-09-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

I've just had a quick go at "The Reconstructors" which is a game designed to teach students about Pain Killers.

I found the game very linear and noticed that i was not even reading what was on the screen - i just kept clicking next and within a minute or two i was bored.

"The Reconstructors" does not seem like a game at all. I didnt find anything in my short time using it that would help immerse me in the game and all i seemed to do was to stay clicking next... I may as well have been looking at a powerpoint presentation with just the facts on it and no filler information and my 2 minutes would have been far better spent.

It leads me to this question in general about e-learning games: Why are there so few (none) i have heard of and what background have the people who design them?

Do game designers work on e-learning games or is it educators with no experience of games that design them?

Ludology and Narratology

2008-09-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

My understanding of the terms Ludology and Narratology is that ludologists believe people play games purely for the gameplay while narratologists say that we play games to experience the narrative.

In my opinion, game design is an art form requires the correct mix of both frameworks mentioned above. However, everyone will have different tastes and some people will prefer a game to focus on a strong storyline with others wanting more action... some people might play a game to experience the story it tells while others might be casual gamers and just play a game for 5 minutes here and there and not pay any attention to the story at all.

So does it really matter if you are in the ludology camp or the narratology camp? I think that elements of both are needed in a game.

Jesper Juul Article - A brief note on games and narratives

2008-09-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

I've just finished this article which is recommended reading for week 2 as part of the CS4067 module. I found this difficult and boring as it seems to me to be a complete over-analysis of games and narratives. For example - I don't see the point of discussing the back story for space invaders... Some games are based on simplicity... You just play the game and don't think about what the background for it is.

Final Year Project

2008-09-17T04:29:00.000-07:00

I've handed in my F.Y.P. form... I'm doing a project proposed by Nik Nikolov:

Title: Database centred website
The student can offer their own application domain for a website whichmakes use of a database. It can be a shop, social network, etc. It isexpected that the graphics of the user interface will be of highquality. The student can pick the development technologies they prefer.

First Week Back

2008-09-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

The first few days of last week felt strange after being away since December. I spent my co-op working for Fidelity Investments in Galway and although i enjoyed it, i was looking forward to coming back to college for my final year...