From Coleco Vision to iPhone Games - Some High Water Marks in Video Game Design History - Part 4

Street Fighter II (arcade) - Developed by Capcom as a follow-up to their much maligned original Street Fighter title, Street Fighter II (SF2) solidified the company as the industry leader in fighting game design. In searching for the standout design elements of SF2, the search begins and ends with the games incredible balance. Featuring 8 characters, SF2 presented players with more character options than most arcade games up to that point. Faced with this large selection, many players chose one of the games stars (Ken & Ryu) as their character of choice. Armed with their combination of ha-do-kens and sho-ryu-kens, these two seemed at first glance to be the game's strongest characters. However, the beauty of SF2 was the fact that each character had their own strengths and, despite initial impressions, their own vulnerabilities. Despite the fact that most players used either Ken or Ryu, many of the world's best tournament players could be found using the games quartet of boss characters: Sagat, M. Bison, Vega and Balrog. The mighty Zangief was another darling of world class players due to his incredibly powerful arsenal of moves, while those who invested the time into mastering Dhalsim's intricate ranged attacks also garnered their fair share of tournament victories. Thanks to ingenious balancing on the part of the game's designers, each character offered players their own distinct path to victory and placed all players on equal footing among their peers.

Day of Defeat v1.2-1.3b (PC) - This popular World War 2 themed Half-Life mod has since gone onto retail release, but most fans will agree that the game actually peaked with the release of Beta 1.2 in April, 2001. With precious few levels (and even fewer actually being used), most of the games of this early iteration of Day of Defeat (DoD) were played on the maps DoD_Caen, DoD_Hill, DoD_Snowtown, DoD_Dam, Dod_Valley and a selection of Normandy-like maps. The incredible amounts of traffic on DoD servers at the time spoke to the quality of the game, but much like SFII, the standout element for this game was its near perfect balance. Players had the choice of choosing either the Allied or Axis forces, but the choice made little difference to the overall gameplay. DoD, perhaps more so than any other shooter before it, truly allowed the player to showcase their skill set. Missing were the super guns or tactical nukes of other games of the era. Instead, players were armed the most basic options of rifle or machine gun. Battles were won with teamwork and skill rather than firepower and a race to the super weapons. In an era where space themed shooters and a 'bigger is better' attitude dominated the FPS landscape, DoD delivered a gaming experience that demanded collaboration to succeed, and kept the players grounded in the harsh reality of wartime combat. Balanced gameplay, skilled players rising to the top to become team leaders, limited but near perfect maps and a less is more approach to weapons and player classes are what makes DoD v 1.2-1.3b a game that truly deserves its place among the all time best.

Tim Kennedy writes on behalf of AppsPatrol. He recommends you visit AppsPatrol for your iphone app reviews and iphone game reviews.

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From ColecoVision to iPhone Games - Some High Water Marks in Video Game Design History - Part 9

In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history of video game design, we have already taken a look at Bungie's Halo, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series, Nintendo's Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and several others. The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and iPhone Game Reviews, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in game design. In this ninth part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.

Halo 2 - A launch title for the original Xbox, Halo:Combat Evolved not only ensured the success of the Xbox, but served as the launching point for what would go onto become one of the biggest franchises in all of video games. Its first sequel, Halo 2, had more than its share of hype to deliver on and seemed poised to yet again redefine the first-person-shooter (FPS) genre upon its release. Despite its warm critical reception and record breaking sales, a small but vocal contingent of Halo fans felt that Halo 2 fell short in many ways. Animations were lacking and stiff (melee animations in particular were of markedly lower quality than the original), draw-in and pop-up was abound, and a surprise playable character coupled with an undelivered upon - yet promised - story arc left enthusiasts feeling slighted. Regardless of these actual and perceived shortcomings, Halo 2 did many things exceedingly well. Its new vehicle mounting and dual wielding systems were implemented effectively, and the Arbiter character, though maligned, offered a refreshing change of gameplay pace and style.

In singling out a single aspect of Halo 2 for its lasting greatness, we can simply focus on the game's refined enemy selection. While most players praised Halo 2 for its newly introduced online multiplayer element, the single player received a much needed shot in the arm in the form of new enemies - various Brutes, Drones and Prophets.

Much line in the original Halo, Halo 2 demands the player to be well rounded. Intricate and carefully planned battles among humans and the Covenant make way to the all out bullet storms that are interactions with the Flood. Tactical gunfights with the much more powerful Brutes were tempered by frantic wars with swarms of flying drones. The game demanded not only precision aiming and battlefield smarts (take a Brutes helmet out and the Brute will shortly follow), but stealthy assassinations performed under timed periods of invisibility (Arbiter levels). The introduction of boss battles with the Prophets serves as another example of a new character being seamlessly introduced into the narrative and gameplay. In playing Halo 2, players are forced to call upon skills that have been refined over many years of FPS gaming. Battlefield experience from games like Call of Duty helped the player overcome hordes of foot soldiers and entrenched enemies. The Dooms and Quakes of the world helped develop those fast twitch reactions required to beat enemies like the flood and the drones, while the original Halo primed the player for the vehicle battles that made up such a healthy portion of each game. It is because of its varied enemy selection and the demands it places on the skill-sets of even the most seasoned FPS players that Halo 2 will go down in history as a game that pushed the genre forward and truly tested all gamers who chose to rise to its challenge.

Frank Taylor writes on behalf of AppsPatrol. He recommends you visit AppsPatrol for your iphone app reviews and iPhone Game Reviews

Game Design Tips For First Person Shooter Designers

First person shooters (FPS) are one of the standard computer game genres. After the phenomenal success of Doom, many companies made attempts at this type of game. Today there are single player FPS games, multi-player combative FPS games, multi-player cooperative FPS games and all of the above come in both plot driven and straight combat forms. Some of the first person shooters are about problem solving, some are about stealth and some are about getting the BFG-9000 to create the highest body count possible.

The tasks of a game designer in this type of game are to figure out the direction the game will take, create the setting and increasingly create the tools to let players mod the game, adding their own content or even replacing everything but the game engine with an entirely different look and feel.

The game designer must wrestle with realism. This comes in two flavors. One is the type seen in America's Army, where the goal is to replicate reality well enough to serve as a recruiting and training tool. You can't carry a zillion weapons nor can you run across an open field at a hundred enemy soldiers and kill them with impunity. The other is basically an attempt to do the slasher genre of the movies, only more so. Blood and flesh fly from bodies with each impact, leaving stains on the walls and floors. Bullet holes are stitched into the walls and drums explode when hit. It is the latter form of realism that gets the most complaints.

There are critics that attempt to link FPS games with murder, and just about any very violent action will be examined for a computer game link. Dealing with those sorts of challenges is for lawyers and scientists, rather than game designers. The game design end of the issue is to know why you are designing to serve a specific market. If the game is intended to appeal to adults who like black comedy about gruesome death, blood and flesh is likely to be needed. If you are producing a game about hunting cartoon creatures, it would be wrong.

The game designer must determine the goals of the game. Some are puzzles, where the player attempts to learn enough to solve some mystery. Some are tactical games in which battledrills are selected, practiced and used as needed. Others are about obtaining some MacGuffin.

A growing feature in FPS games in interactivity. The classic examples of the genre featured a single player who would do everything, with computer-controlled foes. Later games provided multiplayer modes where the humans fought against each other. Then it became possible to cooperate in team play, and still later reasonable computer controlled allies were available for a player to lead and influence. Now it is normal for a first person shooter to be built around online play in at least some form, with many games providing support for both single humans to play with the computer and multiplayer online games.

In many ways the FPG game designer faces one of the more difficult challenges. That's because they need to be able to take a genre with so many stereotypes and so much public opposition, and create something unique that stands out and gets noticed in the marketplace.

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