Multimedia Games Development COM429

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Multimedia Games Development COM429

• Week 5 Evolution and Genres

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Lecture overview

• Game beginnings
• Rise of home consoles
• Rise of arcades
• Home computers
• Handhelds
• Next generation consoles
• Games genres

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In the beginning

• Evolution of the video game industry can be
  traced back to pinball and before.
• Automatic Industries Whiffle machine (1931) was
  one of the first coin operated devices.
• Evolved to electric machines (1933) with the
  addition of cash pay out (later banned)

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Early video games

• Generally agreed that W.Higginbotham invented the
  first video game
• Oscilloscope based tennis game

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Early video games

• Spacewar (1961), Steve Russell
• Used toggle switches and allowed two players to
  control ships which fired torpedoes at each other
• Generally accepted as the first real video game

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Early video games

• Ralph Baer (1972) Magnavox Odyssey
• Form of ping pong using a moving ball and player
  controlled paddles.
• Game box, two simple controllers and TV as a
  display

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Early video games Atari

• Nolan Bushnell formed Atari in 1972
• First commercial success was Pong

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Rise of home consoles

• Home Pong (Atari) 1975
• Telstar (1976)
• Fairchild Channel F (1976) used programmable
  cartridges

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Rise of home consoles

• Atari 2600 (1977)
• Magnavox Odyssey 2 (1978)
• Mattel Electronics Intellivision (1979)

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Rise of arcades

• Taito Gunfight (1975)
• Exidy Games Death Race (1976)
• Football/Space Invaders (1978)

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Rise of arcades

• Lunar Lander, Atari (1979)
• Asteroids, Atari (1979)
• Pac-Man, Namco (1980)
• Battlezone, Atari (FPS) (1980)

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Rise of arcades

• Donkey Kong, Nintendo (1981)
• Frogger, Centipede (1981)
• Pole Position, Joust (1982)
• Mario Bros, Spy Hunter (1983)

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Home consoles evolve

• Atari ports Space Invaders to the 2600 (1980)
• Activision formed (1980)
• Atari ports Pac-Man to the 2600 (1981)
• Release of E.T. on Atari 2600 (Failed) (1982)
• Failed release of the Atari 5200 game console
• General Consumer Electronics Vectrex (1982)
• Coleco releases Colecovision (1982)
• Both consoles failed, industry crashed (1984)

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Industry crash 1983-1984

• Video game market collapsed in 1984. Factors for
• collapse include
• Lack of innovation
• Over supply
• Poor strategic choices by Atari
• Arrival of home computer
• Press/public perception (Fad)

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Rise of the home computer

• Home computers began to grow in popularity
• Use as a gaming platform
• VIC 20, Commodore (1981)
• Commodore 64 (1982)
• Amiga
• Apple II
• IBM and IBM clones
• Arrival of developers e.g. EA, Lucas Arts

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ConsolesNintendo/Sega

• Famicom, Nintendo (1984)
• Launched as Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
  in USA (1985)
• Sega Master System, Sega (1986)
• Console market was reborn

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Nintendo/Sega

• Sega Genesis console (16-bit)
• Nintendo Super NES (1991)
• Introduced the world to Sonic the Hedgehog

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Rise of the arcades II

• Street Fighter, Capcom (1987)
• Street Fighter II, Capcom (1991)
• Mortal Kombat, Midway (1992)

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Rise of the arcades IIl

• Fighting games revived arcades but they never
  fully recovered
• Arcades focussed on high end games with
  specialised hardware

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Handheld machines

• Atari Lynx (1989)
• Nintendo Game Boy (1990)
• NEC TurboExpress (1990)
• Sega Game Gear (1991)
• Game Boy Colour (2001)
• Nintendo Game Boy (2003)
• Nokia N-Gage (2003)
• Nintendo dual-screen (2004)
• PSP (2005)

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Rise of the home computer II

• SimCity (1989)
• Myst (1993)
• Doom, Id Software (1993)
• First-person shooter/multiplayer gaming

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Console wars (1990s)

• Sega Saturn (1994)
• Sony Play station (1994)
• Nintendo 64 (1996)
• Market supported all versions

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Console wars (2000)

• Sega Dreamcast (1999)
• Sony Play station 2 (2000)
• Nintendo Gamecube (2001)
• Microsoft Xbox (2001)
• Sega Dreamcast withdrawn (2001)
• Internet connectivity on consoles (2002)

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Console wars (2005)

• Microsoft 360 (2005)
• 3 core processor
• Wireless
• Hard-drive
• Network support
• High-end graphics

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Console wars (2005)

• Nintendo Wii (2006)

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Console wars (2005)

• Play station 3 (2006)

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Games (2010)

• Multi-touch
• Brain computer interface

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Games (2010)

• 3DTV

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Games (2010)

• 3DTV

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Game Genres

• Numerous types of video games
• Each can be broadly classified as belonging to a
  particular genre
• Appearance of games in the same genre can look
  different but will share similar characteristics
  
• Have common design problems
• Share similar gameplay/mechanics

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Genres Adventure Games

• Typically story-based
• High level of puzzle solving to complete game
• First, second or third person perspective
• Typically vast complex world, interesting plot
  lines and diverse characters
• No temporal constraints (not real time)
• Game waits for player action

Myst 1993
Tomb Raider
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Genres Action Games

• Typically real-time games with short reaction
  times
• First-person shooter (FPS) e.g. Doom, Call of
  Duty and Unreal Tournament
• Shooting games e.g. Space Invaders
• Computer generated or human players opponents
• Fast pace with less focus on puzzle solving

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Genres Role-Playing Games

• Role-playing games typically involve heroes and
  quests
• Based in large complex worlds with dynamic
  storyline
• High level of player management of characters
• Characters evolve and gain skills
• High level of combat included to gain
  skills/magic or money
• Diverse range of characters

World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy
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Genres Strategy Games

• Resource management to fulfill objectives
• Trade off related to materials, buildings
• Turn based or real-time
• Can be either turn-based or real-time
• Human or AI opponents

Command and conquer
Rome Total War
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Genres Simulations

• Simulations (serious) emulate real world
• Accuracy is important
• Requires effort to learn elements of games
• Typically simulate complex machinery e.g.
  Aircraft
• Simulations (trivial) simplified to facilate easy
  game play

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004
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Genres Sports Games

• Players typically participate in sporting events
• Manager or coaching roles
• Scenario involved single match or entire season
• High level of accuracy needed to reproduce the
  rules and strategies of the game

Madden NFL 2007
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Genres Fighting Games

• Control figures on screen
• Use combos to attack opponents/defend
• Basic attacks and complex combinations to master
• Short periods of action
• Side view (multiple cameras)

Virtual Fighter 5
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Genres Casual Games

• Easy-to-play, short length games
• Little or no learning curve
• Hearts/solitaire
• Adapted from TV
• Players familiar with format so must be followed
• Players generally want to drop into and out of
  these games quickly.

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Genres God Games

• Games with general objective
• Players encouraged to experiment
• No correct way to play
• Typically open ended

Black White 2
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Genres Puzzle Games

• Intellectual challenge
• Solution is real objective
• Real-time or not

Tetris
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Genres Educational Games

• Used to teach while entertaining (edutainment)
• Generally aimed at a younger audience
• Content must be appropriate

Disney Learning Adventure
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Genres Serious Games

• Apply of game technologies/skills for non-
• entertainment applications e.g.
• Business/medical/educational/military
  applications

Business game Pixelearning
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Genres Multiplayer /Online

• Covers any of genres discussed but includes
  multiplayer network play
• Hundreds/thousands of players
• May evolve into online communities
• Just starting off

World of Warcraft
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Multimedia Games Development COM429

• Week 5 Evolution and Genres