Journal Wk 1: Why are you here?
I have to say it is a combination of a few different things.
One of them would be wanting to do a subject because i’m interested in it, as opposed to “i think it’s important to learn this” *coughnetworksdatabasesalgosetc*. It is (hopefully) my final semester at uni so I really would like to do something fun and different to all the past subjects I’ve done.
Also, I like games – I just don’t have the time to play as much as I’d like to. I think it would be hard to find a comp student who does not enjoy some form of game. Thirdly I’ve heard lots of good things about this subject from past students, and I have a lot of friends doing this course right now with me, which adds to the fun factor.
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The thing that interests me about games, to be honest I haven’t really thought much about it prior to this. I guess first and foremost I am a sucker for pretty pictures and nice stories, which explains the bulk of games I play and enjoy. Just rambling a few off the top of my head here: the Final Fantasy series, the Zelda series, Team Fortress 2, Valkyrie Chronicles, Okami and most recently Aion.
Apart from pretty pictures, I also enjoy pretty music. Hearing a nice piece of OST from somewhere is enough to make me go find out about the game. I think that a good soundtrack can make the difference in getting you immersed in the game or not.
Pretty things aside, I enjoy wit and humour. So that’s why even though I just got around to playing Monkey Island last year, I loved it. Other bizarre things I’ve done include finishing the Encarta 95 Quiz as a kid – how many hours of going room after room after room answering questions i don’t exactly remember. Ooh yes, and Portal. Glados was awesome!
I like the social factor of games too. Games such as Little Big Planet, Gauntlet Legends are fun because of the co-op factor. I enjoy TF2 because even though it is a first person shooter and I can’t aim to save my life (actually I’m getting better, really.) it is fun playing with friends and the violence is amusing as opposed to being horrifying. I enjoy MMOs as well, most recently playing Aion, a game I shall plug as having beautiful graphics, immersive world, epic soundtrack, good story, and is challenging and social.
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So somehow that turned into a section of me talking about games I like.
Games I would like to play right now would be the NA release of Aion, which as mentioned above, contains most of the things i look for in a game. I’d also like to continue playing Valkyrie Chronicles one day, as I am too poor to afford a PS3 right now.
As for a game i’d like to make, I’d like to take a simple concept and make it an addictive game. Something like 3d Logic or the little flash games at Orisinal. What that concept is, I don’t know just yet. I hope to learn about different types of games and to give them a go.
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Guns and games.
Guns don’t particularly appeal to me – I much prefer martial arts/medieval/fantasy weapons. That aside, I think that the reason why so many people like guns in games is because runing around with a cool gun and shooting people with it is something that is somewhat possible to be done in real life (compared to say, casting a Fireball spell or obtaining a real lightsaber) but you’d get in massive trouble for if you actually went and did it. Having guns in game gives normal people the chance to fulfil this fantasy without being arrested/killed.
