Unit 6 Assignment 2 Critical Analysis Of A Video Game

MGSV Critical Analysis

Ever since the original title on the MSX computer system the Metal Gear game series was always a big name title for whatever system it was hosted on but with the progression from 2D into the 3D Metal Gear Solid series it became a truly stand out and revolutionary title, changing the gaming landscape with incredibly tense stealth focused gameplay, the latest and greatest of graphics at the time of each instalments release and a serious and complex story that helped push games from the days of simple stories involving plumbers saving princesses in bright cartoony worlds to the multitude of dark and emotionally impactful stories. The fifth main instalment in the MGS series, Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, was released for PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4 and PS3 in 2015 and follows the story of Snake (otherwise known as Big Boss) between the events of MGS Peace Walker and the very first Metal Gear game. MGSV is easily the largest and most ambitious game in the series with its incredible graphics, the new systems and gameplay mechanics and the shift from linear and tightly woven environments to large open world maps as well as a mission based structure. The game has 3 primary locations, the recreation of Mother Base that was destroyed at the end of the previous game, an area in soviet occupied Afghanistan wilderness, and an area of war torn wetland out in Africa.

The game follows the previously established militaristic Sci Fi art style the series has used since its inception but now with more of a 1980s style to a lot of in game objects with many varying and fascinating designs of characters, locations, vehicles and other in game items giving the game a highly unique look. The models and textures in the game are incredibly detailed and highly realistic which were all created from the ground up by the developer, Kojima Productions, use the FOX engine, also developed by Kojima Productions, to run at a smooth and constant 60fps on PC and current gen console which all adds together to make one of the best looking games to date. The way most of the realistic looking characters and animations were able to be created through techniques like real wold modelling (where the likenesses of objects and people are used to create in game assets) and motion capture from the biggest movements to small facial expressions which helped to make each of the characters feel life like and real. As well as great visuals the game also has amazing sound design with realistic sounds found in every action from the sound in each weapon and footstep as well as even small insignificant items in the environment like a glass bottle or bucket that the player can bump into and knock over creating a sound that will alert a nearby guard and ruin an attempt to sneak into an enemy stronghold. But another key part of the sound is the dialogue in the game which is backed up by fantastic voice acting which can help to convey all kinds of emotions and subtleties the characters may have, the in game dialogue also can hint and lead the player to small in game objectives or shed some light on the events of the story. The core gameplay itself retains the series famous stealth focus and heart pounding tension as players are encourage to take the stealthiest possible approach to each to each mission and use a wide range of weapons items and techniques to avoid being detected and be as nonlethal as possible to earn higher rankings and rewards for each mission. Being detected by an enemy will give you a brief period of time, dubbed Reflex Mode, to silence the enemy before all the enemies in the local area enter combat mode in which the enemies will be aware of your presence, request reinforcements and hunt you down, making any mission far more likely to end in failure and lowing your overall rating. However the player has the option to hide from the enemies and wait as they move through phases of them searching the area for you before entering alert mode where they return to semi normal patterns of patrolling but are more aware of your possible presence and eventually returning to their unaware state where they will take normal patrols and be less suspicious of anything they see or hear. 

The game makes another departure from series norms as well by giving the normally solitary Snake an AI companion to take with him on his missions, these companions range from a dog who can find and mark enemies and items as well as create distractions for the player, the beautiful sniper Quiet who can scout out an enemy outpost, be used to take out specific targets or fire upon any enemy in her range, to a the mechanical D-Walker used as a speedy means of transport across the map, with each buddy having their own strengths and drawbacks players will get best results by strategically selecting which buddy is best suited for each mission. The now large open world maps also feature day night cycles which will change how easy it is for enemies to spot you as well as what formation and the amount of guards will be in any one area, adding an extra element of strategy to the missions not before used in the series. The game will also use environmental events and changes such as sandstorms in Afghanistan that make it harder for enemies to spot you, but drastically reduces the visibility the player has as well, or the rainstorms in Africa that where they do little to obscure the enemy from seeing you they will help cover up the sound of your movements making it easier to sneak up on an enemy.

After waking up from a coma after 9 years in 1984 Snake is forced to deal with the fact he has lost his left arm shortly before the hospital he is in is attacked by unknown soldiers and a strange fellow patient helps him to safety before mysteriously disappearing before being rescued by returning fan favourite character, Revolver Ocelot. From there the story takes a 2 act structure and focuses on a small cast of characters and their psychological scars as they struggle to recreate their private military company that was attacked and destroyed in the last instalment and their attempt to take revenge on those who attacked them as they uncover a worldwide conspiracy. The character you play as and that takes centre stage is Snake/Big Boss, a legendary soldier who after being betrayed by the country he swore loyalty to and his former military unit had previously attempted to start his own private military corporation, but was attacked by the organisation created by his former friend and commander, Major Zero. Now after these events he views the world with far more disdain and bitterness thus making him far more open to committing seemingly immoral actions in order to meet the ends he’s after. 

In the events of the story Snake has a small number of
comrades that help him, Kazuhira Miller, Snakes second in command and one of the commanding officers in his private army who was there when their base was attacked nine years prior and also suffered many injuries in the helicopter crash that put big boss into a coma, now blinded by his anger towards those that attacked them he consistently encourages Snake to be to show little mercy and use any means to bring them closer to their overall goal. Alongside him is Snake’s old ally and right hand man, Revolver Ocelot. Ocelot serves as a constant counterpoint to Miller, offering different and often less brutal solutions to the objectives and problems in the game, this representation of one acting as the angel on your shoulder and the other a devil separates how we see the actions taken by the characters as a whole, with Ocelot’s logic governing his emotions and Miller’s emotions governing his logic leaving Snake caught in the middle of their conflicting ideals. Sadly the villain, Skull Face, is quite arguably the weakest in terms of character that the series has had, whereas most villains in the MGS series have had their own fairly complex motives and from certain angles can be argued to be less villains and more than antiheroes the main villain of MGSV where having his reasons he views as logical and acceptable, these do not translate well to the player and make him seem like a generic genocidal madman rather than a complex and nuanced character. 

During the game the characters will touch on their philosophies about what is right and wrong, what it is to be alive and the place of soldiers in the world. The game also touches on dark themes such as the use of child soldiers, torture and biological warfare which may make some players uncomfortable but overall adds to how genuine and gritty the dark world the soldiers of MGSV inhabit, with heavy subject matter like this its rather clear that the intended audience is supposed to be more mature and probably anywhere from the ages of 18 and above with very little of the game aimed at anyone under that age range. Whilst not the best story in the franchise it is solid and has good pacing up until the end of act 2 where the game abruptly stops, though when compared with many of its contemporaries it still has a highly intriguing and compelling narrative. Since its release it has come to light that the final act of the game including a climactic boss battle was cut from the game due to time constraints and is now only featured as an extra where the player can view the assets and parts that had been finished up to that point. This lack of a true ending leaves the player feeling rather incomplete and that the game was released in a rather unfinished state.

In summary while the game has a few may have some rather large issues and is not as revolutionary as previous titles with one of the least interesting stories in the series, it still offers hours of entertainment for players and is well worth picking up.

Unit 71

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nG6h4UHhHnyknC3yAoUib61AZQL8jesNneG-FwRTx7c/edit?usp=sharing

Unit 69: drawing concept art for computer games

Unit 69: drawing concept art for computer games

Within video games concept art is used as a key part of the process of designing nearly everything in a game from environments to characters and objects. Concept art is a way of helping to visualise a desired aspect of the product being developed and often help with things such as scaling objects, characters and enemies to the world they inhabit.
The art is often created when a designer gives an artist a description of the item to work with along with an art style.

The art style used in its development can help as a key part in shaping how characters, objects, and environments can create certain types of atmosphere. An example of this is that of how the concept art developed in the creation of the popular fantasy RPG, Dark Souls conveys an atmosphere of tension in its environments, and a sense of malice and danger in that of its enemy designs.

 The image on the left is an example of some of the art used in designing of one of the most popular and memorable bosses in the series. The dark armour, tattered cloak, and smog like particle effects help to convey the feeling of an intimidating and deadly foe. the design of the helmet and cloak also help to give it a unique and iconic look. The image to the right is an example of one of the game's high level enemies. Similar to the image on the left the dark armour gives the enemy a sense of malice, this coupled with the demonic style horns on the helmet makes the armour appear truly evil, quickly conveying the danger this type of enemy poses to the player.


During the process of developing parts of the game things can be changed or cut entirely. This image shows the development in the famous Ornstein the dragon slayer boss with particular emphasis on how the crown of his helmet changed to reflect the switch in roles he was given later in his development. It also shows the many layers of the armour and all the details in each piece, giving 3D modellers a better way of seeing how to layer each part of the character when they begin the process of creating the 3D model.
The two images below show that during one stage in the game's development the developers intended to have the first boss encounter had been planned to have the enemy standing in a different position as it is now standing on the roof as opposed to the first floor, where it was eventually placed, and even using an entirely different enemy type.



The Devil May Cry series also does a great job of creating the feeling of isolation in an abandoned dark demonic castle. The dim light and the long shows the concept art depicts helps convey a sense of unease and dread in its environments with the darkness surrounding the environment conveying a sense of danger unseen. The use of vibrant colours contrasting against darker palettes makes the key parts of the art stand out and makes the surrounding ares seem more empty and desolate, thus helping to keep the viewers attention on the most prominent features whilst boosting feeling of being surrounded by a vast dark and unfamiliar emptiness.

Understanding Theory and Applications of 3D

Understanding Theory and Applications of 3D

Used in many industries, 3D is often used to create things such as art, movies and games, with this being an increasingly popular trend within the last two decades. Its increased popularity has lead to more and more ambitious, detailed and complex results and techniques from the medium.
3D models are used to create and render almost everything in things such as video games and movies animated in this manor. Within movies the 3D models and CGI had been used as an addition to the more traditional ways of making movies but in 1995 the first feature length 3D animated film was released by Pixar, Toy Story. The models used were cutting edge at the time and the techniques where new and exciting to most who saw the movie upon its release but compared to today's examples of 3D models, even within the Toy Story franchise, it is very visible how dated they have become especially when comparing the level of detail characters of the series contain. The improvement in modelling techniques and the software have led to vastly superior and near lifelike models as well as a vast array of unique art styles.  Animation within 3D projects has also vastly improved over time with techniques such as keyframing being a simple but effective means of animation in which the animator sets certain points within the animation that which the animation will then flow seamlessly between, creating a fluid animation that the model will then follow.

The place this wide and varied use of 3D is most evident is within the video games industry, where games like battlefield use 3D to create models and environments designed to closely mimic objects and environments found within the real world, this style became particulary popular among First Person Shooters during the seventh console generation where games became more focused on simulating realistic combat reflecting that of real world's conflicts at the time t, or games like the popular team shooter Overwatch that use a cartoony art style to create a distinct look, for a while this art style mostly saw popularity among the Indie game industry and saw very little success on the mainstream consoles of the generation, but as time passed people became tired of the now over saturated realistic artstyle and these more outlandish and unrealistic art styles have been increasing in popularity since.

Polygonal 3D models are also now often used in architecture whereby architects will use it to incorporate all the 2D information within a 3D space, with architects using it as a key part of the planning stage when designing structures such as bridges and buildings. it benefits the process by allowing the architect to look for errors that may have occurred during the drawing process, helping to get a better visualisation of the project and also works effectively as a marketing tool. Another area to recently adopt 3D modelling is that of art. it is becoming increasingly popular for artists to create their pieces within 3D modelling software such as Maya. A prominent example of such anj artist is Ray Caeser, who using 3D models creates art that is beautiful and disturbing. 






A key part of 3D modelling is geometric theory. Within geometric theory a basic initial mesh is used for an object that is later improved upon using different textures, with the mesh being built up of different polygons. Polygons are simple 2D shapes that contain three components, the vertice, the edge and the face. The first two are created upon the forming of a single line with the latter requiring roughly three at a minimum making up a basic triangular polygon. the vertice is the point the polygon, the edge is the lines making up each side of the polygon and the face is the large area in the centre of all edges and vertices. Adding more vertices creates more complex shapes such as quads, hexagons and decagons. These polygons are what is added together to create the complex models and environments used in many forms of media, this is known as mesh construction which is the most basic part of creating a 3D model upon which the rest is developed

Game Engines

Game Engines

Havok Engine - This engine specialises in more open games and rendering physics in the 3D environments they take place in.  over time different modules developed that improved much of the visuals and graphical content using many aspects such as destruction, cloth and improved physics. Through the engines use of "Dynamic simulation" it is able to render realistic 3D environments with an example of this being its capability to render things such as a box's destruction and the subsequent pieces as well as the shadows each one would create.
The engine soared to popularity during the seventh generation of consoles with many games on platforms such as the Xbox 360 and the PS3 using the engine to great effect. In 2000 Version 1.0 of the software development kitv was released to the public with the most up to date version being 2011.2 which is still used in the many current generation games such as the recent Dark Souls 3. Unlike engines such as the rage engine, the Havok engine is open thanks to its licensing acts.

FOX Engine - Created by Kojima Productions, the FOX Engine is a closed engine owned by Konami that, due to its versatility and array of capabilities it has been used in various titles in various genres already even though it is fairly new engine such as in the sports, stealth action, and survival horror genres. First demonstrated to the public in a 2011 Konami E3 conference, the engine was used to show off its possible graphical capabilities showcased a lush jungle landscape with a boy and a horse, similar to some of the assets later found in Metal Gear Solid V.

An example of how the engine can be used incredibly effective is the immensely popular third person stealth action game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, in which it was used to render a vast and beautiful open world sandbox bursting with detail and giving the player a sense of wonder at the freedom and immersion it creates for them, along with complex enemy AI and dynamic time and weather systems helping the world seem alive. But its not just vast games like the previous example in which the FOX engine is a great tool to use, in the infamous P.T. released in 2014 the FOX engine was used to create incredible sensations of dread, claustrophobia, paranoia and sheer terror in the player. In P.T. the FOX engine was used to create a small map of a narrow corridor filled with detail and creating an atmosphere that is unrivalled in the survival horror genre.

CryEngine - Created by the German developer, Crytek, and initially used as a tech demo for Nvidia, the CryEngine is an open game engine with a third party licensing scheme designed to allow people outside the company use the engine if they agree to certain terms. the first CryEngine was initially used the the first Far Cry game and has had many evolutions since then with the current engine being the CryEngine V. The engine has many parts that help it simulate immersive worlds for players to enjoy by using features such as natural lighting and dynamic soft shadows with penumbra, character animation and character individualiation systems, AI editing systems, key frame-accurate sounds in animations, dynamic pathfinding and high quality 3D water.The engine has even been used by the Australian Defence Force to train personnel on a virtual helicopter landing pad. The current iteration of the engine is available on a wide variety of platforms including Playstation 4 and Xbox One with features such as DirectX 12 and Virtual Reality supports

Unreal Engine - The first version of the Unreal was revealed to the public in 1998, with its initial showcase being in the game Unreal. Though designed for FPS games primarily since its inception it has been used in many genres like Stealth and RPGs. It's current iteration is the Unreal Engine 4, which can run on nearly all current mainstream platforms such as IOS, Playstion 4, Xbox One, Microsoft's DirectX 11 and  12 and Android among many others. The Unreal Engine has been a popular one ever since its first version with games such as BioShock Infinite being created in previous versions of the engine. The engine is possibly the most engine in the modern games market, with it's simple third party policy making it a popular choice amongst larger companies and indie developers alike. 
The engine is one of the most advanced ones on the market with some of the most advanced features of any engine that easily render 3D photo realistic environments and add a further sense of immersion with its physics such as its life like water and fluids, its destructible environments and lighting programs.

Unity Engine - The open cross platform Unity Engine  was created by Unity Technologies and unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in 2005 and since then has been used across a massive 21 platforms. With its huge range of platforms its compatible with it swiftly found success in many areas of the game industry with some of the most prominent areas being the indie game market where it bacme a vastly popular choice among those looking to use systems in place like Steam's Greenlight, and the Mobile Games market due to the developers high control over the delivery to mobile devices. Included in the engine is an asset server and access to Nvidia's Physx  physics engine. There is also the Unity Web Player which is a browser plugin compatible in Windows and OSX.

Rockstar Advanced Game Engine - The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine or RAGE is an engine, developed by the game development company Rockstar's RAGE Technology Group, began as a step up from the Angel Engine and has been used across an incredibly wide range of platforms including Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Wii, Xbox One and PS4. Since its inception Rockstar has managed to add some third party components into the engine such as the Bullet physics engine and the Euphoria character animation engine. The engine also supports DirtectX 11 and Stereoscopic 3D Rendering on PC.

Game design brief

Games Design Brief

Idea 1 (Main Idea). Devil May Cry / JoJo style game

Gameplay: For our first idea we decided to create a game based on the style of gameplay found in the Devil May Cry series and a style of fighting based on the popular JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series' "Stands", spirits with special abilities that appear from a user and fight. The demographic we would be aiming for would be a teen audience due to the violent nature of what we are aiming for but the lack of intense gore we feel stops it becoming a Mature Only game.

Protagonist: The protagonist Kenny Lown (K.Lown) becomes possessed by a demonic clown spirit after trying it on in a costume shop, be begins making his way through town and becomes driven to murder all in his way. In combat the clown spirit emerges from K. Lown and does the fighting.

Starting Weapon: Because of how we chose to we wanted the style of combat to be we decided the player's starting weapons, wielded by the clown, are a giant hammer melee weapon, and Water Balloons, a low impact projectile weapon. Due to the nature of the appearance of clowns being ridiculous and the juxtaposition that creates when compared to the murderous intent of the clown spirit in this project we decided that the weapons should have a "silly yet sinister" feel to them.

Unlockable Weapons: In order to vary the player's combat some of the possible unlockable weapons would be Balloon nun-chucks melee weapons, Balloon Rapier melee weapon, Cartoon Chainsaw melee weapon,

handkerchief chain with low damage, good range, able to pull enemies closer as well, and custard pies as a mid impact projectile weapon and an upgrade from the water balloons.

Items: In order to keep with the Devil May Cry style of gameplay, we decided to try and incorporate many varid items for use in combat such as;

Acid Flower (activates on low health, cancels enemy attack to prevent death, one time use)

Silly String (use to immobilise enemy's for a short time)

Trap whoopee cushion (enemy triggers it, cloud of gas released and damages enemy)

Candy floss (Candy Floss S heals %33 of your health, Candy Floss L heals %75 of your health)

Puppet Show (distracts enemies for a short period of time)

Balloon Dog (tracks enemies, pops on impact and deals low damage briefly staggering enemies)

Snake Tin Prank (Trap that damages single target when triggered)

Save Point: As the save point, in order to keep the clown them, the save point we want to use a circus style tent.

Enemies:

Stage 1: Skaters

Stage 1 Boss: Skate Leader

Stage 2: Jocks

Stage 2 Boss: Coach

Stage 3: Biker Gang

Stage 3 Boss: Biker Leader

3D model dersigns: For this project we decided to base our 3D models off those found in the game JoJo's Bizzare Adventure: Eyes of Heaven.

Idea 2 Survival Horror: After stumbling across the crash site of a crashed alien space craft the player is knocked out by a strange clown and soon wakes up on an operating table, the player then has to try and escape from the nightmarish alien Clowns and the horrifying experiments they're trying to perform on you.

Idea 3 FPS: one of our back up ideas is a simple FPS more based on the movie Killer Klowns From Outerspace, where you play as the hero of the film as you chase down clowns after they kidnap your friend Debbie.

Game Motivation

Games Motivation Survey

These area shown on the chart are areas that help to motivate players to pick up certain games and keep playing long after the initial go. some players play completely for the action, such as those who play games like Call of Duty and Battlefield where the primary draw of the games are the quick paced PvP matches with little in the way of story. where as some players are far more interested in things like story and creating their own unique character within a world. An example of this is the Elder Scrolls series. others play to overcome a great challenge such as a difficult boss battle, such as those found in the rather brutal Dark Souls series.
As a brief summary of these points, action is based almost entirely on frantic fast paced gameplay, creativity allows the player to create and change what they want within what the game allows, social is the focus on player interaction with other players, mastery can often refers to games with complex and lengthy timed moves or combos such as those found in the fighting game genre, immersion is how invested the gamer is and if they feel connected to the world often used in psychological horror games to convey a sense of true dread and oppressive fear of the unknown and achievement is often represented more as trophies to present to show you have accomplished a certain goal in a game but can refer to feelings of triumph such as being stuck on a boss for a lengthy period of time and finally overcoming the challenge. 

These are my results from a survey to analyse the type of gamer you are.

I personally did not really agree with the results I got. online i tend to play far more solo then socially as i quite often enjoy the feeling of issolation as you take on a great challenge with the odds stacked against you, i also feel that this helps add to the immersion of the game as its often hard to feel like a battered and battle worn knight with any random 12 year old screaming YOLO over the voice chat. I also tend to spend a great deal of time creating characters physical appearances, skill sets and backstories as it also adds to the immersion and is one of the aspects i enjoy most about RPGs, so I feel that creativity should be far higher. On top of that action should also be higher as a fair few of the games I play are almost entirely based on action and quick and stylish combos such as the Devil May Cry series. Immersion seems fairly correct as I have previously stated as does achievement, as I enjoy the great sense of victory when defeating a particularly troublesome boss such as those found in the Dark Souls series, and mastery reflects my own want to learn more lengthy moves and techniques like the various ones found within the Devil May Cry games.