Assessment 2: Team Contract (Jacqueline and Valarie)

                      Team Contract

A.      Commitments

1.       We will both finish our sections of the project by our stated dates

2.       We will keep in contact

3.       We will consider each other’s opinions on all aspects of the project

4.       We will hand our project in on time for the benefit of both of us4

B.      Team Meetings

1.       We will both attend team meeting

2.       We will be prompt to team meetings

3.       We will both be actively engaged in team meetings

4.       We will cooperate in team meetings and consider each other’s perspectives

C.      Valarie’s Sections

1.       The geographical map

2.       The scenery pictures

3.       The game instructions

4.       The title

D.      Jacqueline’s Sections

1.       The elements of the game

2.       The details of game play

3.       The rationale

4.       Final touches

Assesment 2: Team Contract

Team Contract

Project Name: Fight Club

Team Members: Daniel Buskariol and Carrie Innes

Critical Dates:

10^th April 2012 – Have movie chosen

16^th April 2012 – Have had first meeting delegating tasks

21^st April 2012 – Have draft of map complete (rough drawing)

30^th May 2012 – Have a rough final map completed with all major ideas selected and in use

8^th May 2012 – Have assessment completed and ready to hand in for the

9^th May 2012- Hand in assessment

    Team Ground Rules

      Commitments:

      As a project team we will:

- Not set expectations higher than our capabilities

- Ensure we have a sufficient amount of time to complete tasks

- Meet at the least once a week to discuss progress and challenges

- Meet all personal deadlines

      Participation:

      We will:

- Be open to any listen to ideas from either team member

- Ensure each person completes their selected tasks

- Be honest about each others work and ideas (be it positive or negative) and offer personal opinions to greater the team project as a whole

- Make sure we tackle challenges together and use our combined knowledge to resolve the issues

Communication:

We will:

- Make sure that meetings stay relevant

- Ensure we actively listen to each others ideas and opinions

- Make sure we have effective communication means in case an issue arises (Facebook, Email and Phone number)

- Use personally created examples to assist explanations (drawings and computer generated graphics)

Problem Solving:

We will:

- Offer honest criticism and/or advice to other team members about their work in a polite way

- Put both members suggestions to solve problems together and compromise so we come to a communal agreement

- Agree to meet up in person if the issue is too difficult to discuss on the phone or online

Decision Making:

We will:

- Discuss all the factors in making a decision and weigh up if it is worth it (this includes time to complete decision/cost of decision in terms of both money and impact)

- Make sure the decision is supported by the other team member before making changes to the project

Handling Conflict:

We will:

- See conflict as a way to learn more and make positive changes to better the team as a whole

- Meet in person if the conflict can not be resolved any other way

- Be open to the team members point of view and seek to understand where they are coming from

Meeting Guidelines and Procedures:

- Meetings will be held once a week unless discussed otherwise

- Meeting place will be in Y3A, the library or in the courtyard (a central place which is convenient for both members)

- Sections of the assessment will be allocated to each team member based on their personal knowledge and desire

- Meetings will be at a convenient time to both team members (as discussed previously)

Analysis Draft

The map is adapted into a multi-level three dimensional space where the player has the ability to control via first person, therefore, including a concept with objectives is an important part if developing the game. Navigation was also another crucial feature. The navigation is aimed to guide the player through the game. Here, we have illustrated this by roads.

Wold, Mark 2003, 'Formal Aspects of the Video Game', The Medium of the Video Game, American Heritage, The University of Texas http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr&id=lKZriBxbcwQC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=video+game+map&ots=DFqhNZFGmc&sig=KEeEM7esKsWN_fyTl38cv02lpJM#v=onepage&q=map&f=false

Daniel Buskariol - Practice Analysis

“Extensive player discussions occur around the quality and character of new game maps. Some maps borrow from popular culture imagery; others borrow from more generic settings (villages, desert compounds, high rises, 747 airliners, waterfront docks, factories, and offices). The virtue of a map is judged by its ability to generate "good" game play”

We used ‘Fight Club’ as our movie. We decided to create our overall birds-eye view map by combining multiple generic video game scenes. We’ve combined a “desert compound” scene and a city “high rises” scene into the one map in order to portray the distance between each location in the movie. We used the desert to represent the vast distance between each level and we used the high rises to indicate that each location is actually located in a city. For the action map, we have chosen the last scene where the player has to blow up multiple buildings. We will have legends at certain action points showing the players choice and the outcome of those choices.

Talmadge Wright, Eric Boria and Paul Breidenbach. 2002. Game Studies. Creative Player Actions in FPS Online Video Games - Playing Counter-Strike, [Online]. Volume 2/Issue 2, Page 7. Available at: http://theunshaven.rooms.cwal.net/Storage/Readings/Reading%2009C%20-%20Creative%20Player%20Actions%20in%20FPS%20Online%20Games%20%5BWright%20et%20al%5D.pdf [Accessed 30 April 2012].

Jacqueline Gibson: Reference Paragraph

Aarseth, E. (2006) 'The culture & bussiness of cross media productions', Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media culture, 4:3, pp. 203-211

Content was the main part of the movie 'I Am Legend' which was adapted to our game. Aarseth argues that content is what travels between platforms in 'cross-media production' (Aaseth, E. 2006, p. 205) Therefore, this supports our decision to transfer the content from the film to the game. Furthermore, the 'social davances' (Aarseth, E. 2006, p. 207) in our game differ from the movie version as the main charater, Dr. Neville, has new goals. For example, at the end of the game te payer is able to decide between spreading the ntidote throughout New York to reverse the darkseeker curse or wheher to kill off all the darkseekers to suceed. However, the game still holds similarities to its movie form as its 'output type' (Aarseth, E. 2006, p. 207) is almost the same.

Gordon Calleja on his work digital game involvement: a conceptual model

Gordon Calleja on his work digital game involvement: a conceptual model

We are doing a game relating to butterfly effect which relates to Calleja’s shared involvement theory which states that  one characteristic that differ games from other medias is the character involvement which the presence of the player will impact the environment and the agents of either NPCs or other human players. This is particularly relevant to games involving avatar control as it anchors the player firmly to the location both spatially and socially. Due to limitation of AI technology, human controlled avatars can respond in more unpredictable ways creating a more intense environment whenever humans are present in the environment. This effect relates to the game as the main character’s present is important in determining the environment it follows. Butterfly Effect is a movie about time travelling back to the past and changing something that will have a major impact on the future. going back to the past environment or events which the main character's presence plays a major role in it of which what the player does in the game and the choices made will have an impact on how the game will continue. there will be several ending which all relates to what the main character have done in his past actions.

Calleja G.  2007 Digital Game Involvement : A Conceptual Model  , Sage Publications, Volume 2, Number 3, Page 247, accessed at 30^th April 2012

Nick Allen Article for Assessment 2

The article I looked at was called "War Games" by Chris Sullentrop published in the New York Times on the 08/09/10.

The article "War Games" goes into detail about the reasons why war games are successful. Sullentrop believes that authenticity is the very important in war games as it brings the player into the game. Authenticity needs to be shown in the character, events and weapons used in the game. War game in general are very popular with the 18-29 year old market and attracting these people needs to be the goal of our game. These people want to be able to feel as if they are performing the tasks that real soldiers are doing. In regards to our adaptation this means that fans of the movie need to feel thatr the game stays relevant to the movie in terms of characters, weapons, tasks and events that are occuring. Sulletrop also said that first person shooter is the prefered genre of a war game and so this will be the genre we will use. Overall the "War Games" article was useful as it prvided some good ideas about the design of a war game.

Week 8 Excerise

The concept that a game can have a narrative if the game can be completed works with our proposed game. This is because, even though the narrative has changed from that of which the movie follows, the guts of it has stayed the same. The game will still need to have the player go through certain areas which relate to the movie, and will need to end up in the same place of as the movie. Although, the player has more freedom and more maneuverability to explore and reach the end goal. This helps the game develop its own story, and as the game will end with a goal achieved, meaning the game uses narratives for some purpose (Juul, 2001:2).

http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/

J. Juul, Games Telling Stories?, 2001, viewed on 30/04/2012

Exerice Week8

The main aim of digital game is to enable players to ‘experience’ as a character in a game. In order to experience it, wood suggests that space is essential because he mentions that “The space has to be recursive, based on feedback between the state of the game (relations between the objects) and the state of the gamer, which includes their knowledge, skill, mood, and attention. The idea of recursive is based on 2ways: first, as another means of describing gamers’ engagement with space, one that gives a greater account of the participation of technology; secondly, it gives us a way to thinking about play as a process of creating space.” (Wood, 2012 pg. 87).

Wood, A. 2012 Recursive Space: Play and Creating Space , retrieved on 30 April 2012 < http://gac.sagepub.com/content/2/3/236.short >

MAS TUTORIAL 4 ACTIVITY

In contrast to our flowchart of Tomorrow When the War Began, The Sims are based mainly on spatiality whereas Tomorrow When the War Began is based on agency. Our flowchart creates an illusion and directs the player into certain pathways requiring less logical thought than it would be required in The Sims where "current simulations could be enhanced to allow more room for discussion and critical thinking by changing the way games deal with character use and design" (Frasca, G. 2001). Tomorrow When the War Began use of agency expresses "satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices" (Murray, 1997). 


Source: 
Gonzalo Frasca (2001): Rethinking agency and immersion: video games as a means of consciousness- raising, Digital Creativity, 12:3, 167-174

MAS110 Week 8 Tutorial Activity

Video games are an experiential medium which provide its players with a sense of agency. This is a major factor in differentiating the medium from films, which rely on an objective point of view. Our flowchart of "Tomorrow, When the War Began" (2010) displays this characteristic of video games, emphasized by the use of the first-person perspective. This perspective shapes the player's perception of the game space, allowing them to "act within the game as an extension of themselves." (Taylor, 2002) This also creates realism within the game, giving the player an experience left unfulfilled by films and movies. The first person perspective allows the player to become involved within the world of the game, thus underlining its "interactivity" and "participatory" nature. (Taylor, 2002). By selecting the option of the first person perspective, we capitalize on the experiential nature of video games, providing the player a sense of achievement at the completion of challenges. The feedback we have been given suggests emphasizing the first-person perspective component of the video game by adding more decisions determining the progress of the character.

Source: 

Taylor, L (2002). Perspective, Point-of-View, and Immersion. University of Florida, Florida. pp. 1-31.

Available from: <http://www.laurientaylor.org/research/taylor_l.pdf> (Accessed 30th April 2012).

Academic Reference to video game conceptual map

The academic reference; "The medium of the Video Game" is relevant to Assignment 2 (The video game conceptual map) as it refers to the many concepts we will use in our map. The game is based on the Lion King film, it will incorporate the dimensions of free roam and a linear storying in the form of missions. Mark J. P. Wolf refers to the "use of space in the video game and the individual games worldview".

Wolf, M, 1997. The Medium of the Video Game. 1st ed. California: Library of congress.

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr&id=lKZriBxbcwQC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=films+video+games&ots=DFqhNZFFvg&sig=5NfTtJbFXVnXi62nCZJe9OKDwSA#v=snippet&q=film%20&f=false

Jeremy Farrugia

Our assessment on the Lion King incorporates the free-roam flexibility of the player/protagonist as Simba explores the jungle of Pride Rock. His mission or “rule-based” task is to gain skills and knowledge of how to prepare the duties to be king and grow up and take the place of his father. The spaciality of the Pride Rock area will enhance the playing experience through a detailed portrayal of the African wildlife and flora. The protagonist can choose to interact with other animals of the Pride Rock community, chase and kill bugs for bonus points or perform mini tasks in which he learns the jump/roar/attack feature. The spaciality of this plane will then interconnect with the narrative from which Simba and Mufasa must escape the stampede. “[Spaciality] interconnects the different active planes: rule-based, mediated, play-space and fictional” (Nitsche, 2008)

Evelyn Challinor

Nitsche, M, 2008 ‘Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Game Worlds’, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://ludicine.ca/sites/ludicine.ca/files/PICARD%20-%20Video%20Games%20and%20Their%20Relationship%20with%20Other%20Media.pdf

Academic Writing Paragraph

The player on screen will be shown as Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), with his voice and emotes (on screen emotional responses & actions), but the player will decide how the on-screen persona (avatar) will interact, move and respond to the physical environment. Due to the little character development during the film in relation to Johnny English himself, it is easier to portray the player as him as suggested by Pearce, instead of inventing a new character. “It seems that games are weaker at character development, whereas they excel at adventure, mystery and action” (Pearce, 2004:153). Johnny English Reborn as a film narrative already has heavy elements of adventure, action and mystery and so translating it to a video game with the same main elements should achieve a more complete and acceptable adaptation, with the player adding to the little character development through the choices and interactions within the game and how they affect the ongoing progress of the game.

http://www.anabiosispress.org/VM606/1stPerson_cpearce.pdf

C Pearce , New media as story, performance, and game, 2004
Viewed on 30/4/12

Hannah Correy - Video Game Article

Flow in Games (and Everything Else)
- Jenova Chen

http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1240000/1232769/p31-chen.pdf?ip=137.111.167.137&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&CFID=79735574&CFTOKEN=13399821&__acm__=1335756723_c726cf37076ded49f63a59282d90e6d0

The journal article stresses the importance of user's choice in video games. The implied view is that when the user has choice and can interact with the created game, more enjoyment will be experienced. By allowing for user interaction and choice in video games it will "evoke positive user feelings".
The article links the idea of user enjoyment back to the mid-1970s theory of "Flow" which "represents the feeling of complete and energized focus in an activity, with a high level of enjoyment and fulfillment."(Csikszentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA). It expresses "Flow" as also being in "the Zone", a sensation that can be experienced by all humans during any activity which keeps them captivated and immersed.
This can relate to the creation of my video game map as it is now evident how important users choice is and how greater the enjoyment level can be when a user can interact in the game and determine the course of action.

The movie I am doing for this assignment is Elf,

Class task - analysis of article for video games

Wright, Boria and Breidenbach, 2002, Creative Player Actions in FPS Online Video Games, Game Studios,
http://theunshaven.rooms.cwal.net/Storage/Readings/Reading%2009C%20-%20Creative%20Player%20Actions%20in%20FPS%20Online%20Games%20[Wright%20et%20al].pdf

The journal article focuses heavily on the idea of creative player actions experienced by those who engage in game play. They analyse this by exploring player choice and good map making.

1. Player Choice
By taking part in game play, players can make interesting choices in an innovative world where the objective is to solves problems and possibilities. This can be through "textual (in game chats including creative game talk, game conflict talk, insults, performance talk and technical and external talk) and non verbal (logo design, avatar design and movement, map)" etc.

2. Good Map Making
The article, when explaining good map making, states: "Some maps borrow from popular culture imagery; others borrow from more generic settings (villages, desert compounds, high rises, 747 airliners, waterfront docks, factories, and offices). I think this will be a beneficial idea in our map as it makes it more realistic for a very fictional movie. 






our movie 

Assignment 2 Contract

The assessment will be shared equally amongst each partner our duties include:
- conversing and discussing ideas about the general concepts and aspects of the video game/chosen scene of the Lion King
- being a reliable partner, meeting on time, keeping up and fulfilling assigned tasks by the due date or notifying the other if there are complications.
- maintaing contact and updating the other throughout the week
- being academically honest

Evelyn Challinor
Jeremy Farrugia

Game concept relating to academic reference

The reference to spatial stories in Henry Jenkins web article Game Design as Narrative Architecture relates to the concept used in our game. The concept of spatial stories according to Henry Jenkins is that, " each episode ( or set piece) can become compelling on its own terms without contributuing significantly to the plot development"(Jenkins,2009). The character in our game has to follow the main plot, however is given the option to follow many smaller goals or missions that eventually ends in the character gaining a reward in the form of experience of something that helps him on in later missions.
The fact that it does not alter the story, it allows the player to be able to expereience new things and events that they might not expect to happen. If there was no side story, the game would be very linear and the player will become very bored after doing the same thing many times. 

Reference
Jenkins, Henry 2009, Game Design as Narrative Architecture, Amazon, viewed on 30 April 2012, <http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:BPrPO_YOUOwJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5>

Game Concept Justification - 42857155

The selection of 300 as our film to game adaptation had raised due to it being an action-based film. The film focused greatly on the action and experience through battle that the characters had, rather than an intimate and conversational dominated movie. The film 300 was based upon the actions of the characters psychically rather than emotionally in a large landscape near Sparta. This promoted a sound physical game world. It allowed the game to "provide features for ensuring a variable outcome"(Juul 2003), meaning the film allows for an inclination to the correct choice as they may yield higher experience gains than others or signify better loot,  displaying the fact that this is a correct outcome of the game. Player skill, interaction and choice allows the game to have many alternate paths, yet 300 allows this but overall end up with the same linear outcome. This encouragement to engage in the game a particular way, allows the game to seem easier or your character greater. Although the outcome will not change; Win or lose the battle. Depending on what enemy the player focuses on, how to turn the tides of a battle is all determined by the player input and how the wish for the game to unfold. Overall this conveys a interactive game experience where player choice seems dominant, this allows the player to appear "responsible for the outcome"(Juul 2003) yet the game remains in control.

Jack Huskinson - 42857155

REFERENCE;

Juul, J 2003, The game, the player, the world; looking for a heart of gameness, DIGRA (Digital Games Research Association), 30th May 2012,<http://www.digra.org/dl/db/05163.50560.pdf>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6HkW-kGZQk&feature=related - BOSS SCENE

Assignment Two: Team Contract (Michael Choo, Matthew Sugianto)

Team Members:

• Michael Choo
• Matthew Sugianto

Commitments and Guidelines:

• Only agree to do work we are capable of completing
• Keep issues that arise in meetings in confidence within the team unless otherwise indicated
• Make decision based on data whenever feasible
• Keep each other informed about assignment-relevant ideas, opinions and actions
• Be open to a diverse range of ideas and opinions
• Build on and improve each other’s ideas
• Discuss and address the concerns of each member
• Communication between members will be made via e-mails and mobiles messages as well as project meetings at University
• During these meetings we will direct work flow between members and address any project issues
• Members will also discuss how we can improve the project to address the marking criteria

Assignment 2 Team Contract

Team Members:

• Alexander Zionzee
• Benjamin Rombola

Commitments:

• Only do the work we are capable of doing within the set restrictions and time constraints.
• Be realistic about what is possible to achieve.
• Complete an equal amount of work in relation to what we can accomplish.
• Stay in contact via verbal and digital means.
• Discuss and solve any problems which arise together as a group.
• Constructively criticize the work being done as a team and individually to work towards a better quality assignment.
• Compromise where necessary to reach our goals.
• Have fun and try our best!

Assignment 2: Agreement: Nick Allen & Ben Coote

30th April: progress report; hand in drafts of work assigned - Nick: Game analysis, Ben: Visual Maps
- both persons must be happy and satisfied with the others work and agree to fix any items that the other finds to be of an unsatisfactory nature.

5th May: have full and final copies prepared
- as with the 30th of april date, both parties must be happy with the others work. If not, any items found to be unsatisfactory must be remedied IMMEDIETLY.

8th May: Hand In
- day before provides a safety net if both parties are ill or unable to be present at university on that day. Both parties must be 100% happy with the submitted work.

In the event of ill health, persons will communicate and send/receive work over both Facebook and email so so that if one form of communication were to fail, the other would provide a back up.
Both parties agree to abide by the agreement and accept the responsibility that will befall them if there work is of an unacceptable standard or not submitted at all.

Assignment 2; Jack Huskinson and David Lee

Team Members: 

• Jack Huskinson
• David Lee

Commitments and Guidelines:

• Stick to each others strengths and assist each other where weaknesses come into play.
• Split the conceptual map into two scenes
• Tutorial Map + rationale (Jack)
• Main town (David)
• Meet once a week on a day free to both of us to trade ideas and question
• Productively work on the assessment at a pace that is accepted by both of us
• Work according to the criteria and identify to each other the areas we must change
• Reduce distraction and stay focused
• TRY OUR BEST