Video Game Trends

Arcade/8-bit Art Style

  Dating back to the early 1980s, 8-bit games such as Super Mario and Pac Man revolutionised the way we play video games to this day and even though some of the most popular titles involved rich vibrant environments and realistic gameplay, there is just something about retro style that we cannot get enough of. The top best selling video game of all time is Tetris, released 2006, and has sold over 400 copies, while loosely connected to 8-bit, still resembles that of an old arcade game. In the recent years there have been hundreds of indie games released sporting extremely similar art styles to their predecessors these include; Terraria (2011), Fez (2012), Nidhogg (2014) and Broforce (2015). Also one of the top rated indie games in the Xbox marketplace is Candy, Please, an 8-bit style platformer, with 4.5/5.However it is not just PC and consoles that support these kinds of games, there has been a huge increase in 8-bit style games on mobile devices as well. This, of course, includes Flappy Bird which topped US and Chinese app stores and became the most downloaded free iOS app of all time. Other popular titles include Super Mega Worm (2010) which received 4.5/5 on the Google Play store and Crossy Road (2014) with over 50 million downloads after 3 months of its release.

Character Customisation

  Everyone loves a game in which you can customise your character in a variety of wacky ways before you play, a concept that first began in board games such as Dungeons and Dragons but moved swiftly onto the gaming platform. Starting with the giant that is Nintendo and their introduction of Miis on the Wii. Their first game which came with the console, Wii Sports (2006), is the number one best selling Wii game of all time with over 82 million copies sold, down in third place is Wii Sports Resort (2009) selling over 32 million, followed by Wii Play (2007) which sold over 28 million and Wii Fit (2004) which sold over 20 million copies. Xbox also jumped on this bandwagon in 2008 with the introduction of Avatars and Xbox Live, this then lead to hundreds of games being created that involved the players personal avatars. These include Doritos Crash Course (2010), with 1.4 million downloads, Kinect Sports (2010), selling over 3 million units and several best selling indie games such as Avatar Warfare (2013). However it is not just console specific, several titles have in-game characterisation, for example Saints Row IV (2013) which sold over 1 million copies in a week, Dark Souls II (2014) which has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide and Fallout 4 (2015) which has sold 12 million units totalling $750 million dollars. This also includes Grand Theft Auto Online, launched 2 weeks after GTAV's release, a game which became the fastest selling entertainment product in history, earning $1billion in 3 days and selling over 60 million copies.

One Touch Game Mock-up

One Touch Mobile Games

Relic Rush 

Developer: Crescent Moon Games

Crescent Moon Games was founded in late 2009 with the introduction of their first game Ravensword: The Fallen King. They have developed games across a variety of  platforms such as mobile, consoles and PC, these titles include The Deer God, Paper Monsters and Shadow Blade. Relic Rush was published by Forest Moon Games, the sister publishing company of Crescent Moon Games.

Pyro Jump

Developer: PINPIN TEAM

PinPin Team is a software company based in Paris, France they design games to for both children and adults. They have published their own games as well as games they have created with media partners, cultural centres and museums. Their titles include The King and Salamander, Maths & Memo and Dragon War.

Remember Me reviews comparison

Both reviewers make gameplay and narrative the two key topics within their reviews and have very similar views on them. The story line is generally praised by both and they agree on their opinion of the combat, they both go into a fair amount of detail and explain how it can be frustrating and pretty repetitive. They both respond positively to the 'Memory Remix' sequences as they felt like it gave the game a sense of identity. Except for combat, Bramwell skims over the rest of his play through experience as opposed to Krupa who dedicating an entire paragraph and a half to his dislike of the traversal elements in the game. With a more varied review, Bramwell speaks a little more about characters, explaining some of the protagonist's abilities and experiences, whereas Krupa includes nothing similar, but instead a short statement mocking one of the enemies. Neither reviewers mention platforms, but both websites that they came from did have a list of platforms that the game is available on. Similarly, target audience is not seen as essential by either reviewer as it is only briefly mentioned by Bramwell when he speaks about "fighting game experts." Bramwell is also the only one to touch upon genre and speak highly of it and how the game is a "classic," nothing like this is ever said with Krupa's review. Regarding personal recommendation, Bramwell is a lot more vocal about his own unique experience with the game, describing how he felt emotionally after specific events and ending his review with a short overview,and a rating, Krupa, on the other hand, has little recommendation in his review, but instead has a text box on the web page with a quick overview, a few positive and negative bullet points and a rating.

Overall, while Krupa does touch upon gameplay a lot  in his review and has a clear opinion on the gameplay and its narrative, Bramwell gives more varied information and suggestions, talking about genre, characters and personal recommendation and not just gameplay and story.

First Twine game feedback

Positives

• Good, interesting story overall, feels meaningful
• Story was very good
• Overall story is good
• Game appears really interesting & quite immersive
• Good range of choices
• Lots of options
• Options are good & there are many of them
• Sounds deep

Negatives

• "False" at beginning of sentences?
• Spelling mistakes e.g. "cklimbing"
• Even though you bring your walking staff, you still see "Why didn't you bring your walking staff"
• Few spelling mistakes & issue with the walking staff
• Check spellings, lots of mistakes
• Story needs finalising
• Don't understand the random "false"
• Must be buggy as I took coat but it said I hadn't
• Could have a timer for some quick choices to add urgency
• Spelling mistakes
• Random "false" on some sentences
• Errors when you get ready to hit the creature
• No continuation after you ask for directions to the village
• Few spelling mistakes & "false" at the beginning of some pages
• The word "false" sometimes appears randomly at beginning of passages
• Typos in general
• Some parts were broken
• Not a clear ending, "oh yes, I'm just perfect"?
• More images & clear endings would be nice
• More definitive endings & images

My Text-based Game (draft made with cards)

After having read out my story to my classmate, he said that the gameplay was smooth, fluent and there was no dramatic jumping around the narrative. He also mentioned that he found it easy to follow the story which was helpful. He thought that there were no places that needed more choices added, however there is not real big decision that changed the story dramatically which he thought was a good thing. However there was one action that I had forgotten to continue with so I must add in that choice. He thought that within Twine, the timer would be helpful for the more action packed events towards the end, also sound effects would help create a nice atmosphere.

Text based games

Queers in love at the End of the World

When playing this game I felt pretty stressed out because of the time limit, but once I had completed a few endings I really liked it. It's short, but cute and carries a nice message that made me think. I wouldn't usually class this kind of thing as a game, but because it's all about choice and how they impact the next web page options, therefore I would call it a game even if it is really simple.

With Those With Love Alive

During my first play through of this game, I was really confused and felt super repetitive, but it looked nice with all the coloured text. Then the second time I tried it, I realised that there is lot more than meets the eye and it really has some powerful meanings, it was also a little strange when it asked the player to draw on their body as games don't usually impact a person physically. Again, like the first game it is not what comes to mind when thinking of video games, but this I would say is even more so due to it's trial and error navigation.

Cat Petting Simulator 2014

This game felt a little too long and tedious, but it was funny at times and did make it feel very realistic. This one feels much more like a game because there is a definite ending and you receive scores at the end.

Depression Quest

The combination of the music and subject matter me feel very emotional during this one, but I also felt like I was learning about depression and what it is like having to live with it. It did feel more like an online interactive novel than a game' due to its themes.

Cry$tal Warrior Ke$ha

Whilst playing this game I was a little puzzled as to what the aim was or what it was about (apart from Ke$ha lyrics). It was also difficult to concentrate and read because of the song playing in the background. This one felt more like a tribute to Ke$ha rather than a video game.

Daymare 1: ritual

This game is the most intense of them all, the descriptive language made me feel a little uneasy at times and created vivid images in my head. The themes are very dark and morbid which actually helped draw me into the story as I enjoy horror fiction. This does feel like a game to me as there is a main goal and the concept of collecting objects felt rewarding as it does in traditional video games.

The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo

This game creeped me out because of the sound effects and dark images, also throughout the game it always felt like something was wrong even if something positive happened. The end screen shocked and confused me as it showed a computer screen as though it had been hacked which could imply multiple things. This one is much like Depression Quest, with the sound effects and images, however this was a little more upbeat and felt a little more like a ghost story.

The Domovoi

This game had a nice atmosphere provided with sound effects and beautiful illustrations but because of the large amounts of text I did begin to grow a little bored. You would think graphics would make it seem like a game but it even states that it is a "tale" so to me it just feels like a fairy tale taken from a children's book.

The two games that had the biggest impact on me would have to be Queers in love at the End of the World because it is different to anything I've ever come across and it really made me stop and think about what I really would do if everything I knew was about to end. I also liked the variety of endings and events that could take place and the ambiguity of the story. My second choice is With Those With Love Alive, although I didn't actually finish the entire game, I really enjoyed what I did play, I loved the soundtrack and idea of clicking text to change it to your liking. I also thought the idea of actually physically interacting with the story was really interesting and unlike anything I've ever experienced.