Recycling research task

I was set the task to research how recycling is incorporated in literature, films, games, illustration, and animation.

Game
The game I chose to look at was Machinarium, which is a point-and-click adventure game created by Amanita Design, who also made Samorost. I specifically chose this game was because the whole environment that you explore is entirely made from pieces of scrap metal and other recycled materials. Also, as you're navigating through the game the character you're playing as will find scrap objects and material that you can re-use or combine with another object which emphasises the theme of recycling within the game.

Film/Animation

The film/animation I chose to look at was WALL-E, which is about a trash compactor robot that has been left behind on a waste covered earth that is no longer inhabitable. The robot itself appears to be made from the scrap around him that has been left behind by the humans and his own home is a storage truck. The entire film is based on the idea of recycling and gives us an idea of what will happen if we don't recycle more.

Artist & Illustration

The artist I have chosen to look at is Kurt Schwitters, who is a German painter. He is most famous for his collages which consist of random objects or pieces of paper that can be found around the house. In one of his Merz Collages it appears he has put together random pictures he has possibly found in a newspaper, which indicates recycling as he is taking something that he no longer needs and instead of just throwing it away he is re-using it. 

Timeline task

1947
The first ever recorded video game was created in 1947 by Thomas Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann which was playable on a device named "Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device". The player would use knobs to control the tiny light. As every game during this period wasn't electronic this very simple game completely changed society as it enabled many other games to be developed later on.

1972
Between 1947 and 1972 few video games were released that had an impact on the development of video games, until Pong released. Although the simplicity of the game is fairly similar to the first ever video game something was different. Instead of just 1 colour being shown on the screen at a time, there was 2 which later encouraged other games to begin using colours. Pong has been extremely popular and to this day it can still be found on phones and computers, which emphasises how much it has impacted society because although there is much more complicated and interesting games, some still choose to play Pong. 

1980
Along with Pong another fairly old video game is still being played on phones and computers, and it is Pac-Man. The aim of the game is to collect all of the small white dots without being caught by any of the 4 ghosts. As Pac-Man was originally a arcade game this means that it had a 'high score' system, which I think is the main reason for its success early on, because many people would come back to either beat the high score or try to which encouraged many games after Pac-Man to use this system, and many games to the present day do this. As well as the high score something else which was very different was included, and that is the multiple colours on screen at once. This was rarely ever seen on video games because it was quite complex however as technology developed games did too, which influenced some interesting and creative games. 

1985
Another video game that has been and still is an extremely popular game is Super Mario Bros, which influenced and popularised side-scrolling video games to the present day. Previous to this a lot of games were mainly on the same screen throughout the whole game, whereas Super Mario Bros changed this and made the environments change on every level, which later encouraged many more Mario games including Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 in the next year, because of how different and popular it was. Different use of colours on video games became much more popular and frequent throughout every game because of advances is technology. The high score system was also included in this game which encouraged more people to play as it made players competitive. This game also has a lot of different things going on at once such as items, coins and enemies that you need to get which later influenced games to become more complex.

1987 
As the years went on a lot of different types of games were starting to be developed, such as Street Fighter. The aim of the game was to simply fight your opponent and advance through each level. In game each different character was programmed and designed to have a different fighting style which made it differ from other games as it was more complex. Also the use of health bar and timer was popularised and it still used to the present day. The art style in the game was much different to others as it was more detailed  and less pixelated. Street Fighter later influenced other fighting games that are continuously being developed and made more creative. 

1991
As well as fighting games being developed, many puzzle games were too. The game Lemmings led to many sequels, remakes and spin-offs, and also inspired similar games and  brought a more fun side to puzzle games. The aim of the game was to simply guide a group of Lemmings through obstacles, however a certain amount of Lemmings must be saved to advance to the next level, which gets more difficult. The art style for this game was very different compared to previous games and as a lot of things were happening at once which you had to be aware of it made the game a lot more complex and interesting.

1995
Instead of playing as a character in a video game, Simcity 2000 introduced city-building simulation into video games. The aim of the game was to build and maintain a city and prevent it from going bankrupt of getting completely destroyed by a disaster. As Simcity 2000 was a continuous game it means there was a lot of growth and a lot of things that can be changed or improved as the city develops, because of this it makes the game a lot more addictive as players would want to keep improving their city until they're happy with the final result. This impacted the video game community because a lot more city-building simulation games were made because of the popularity, aswell as the development of other Sims games.


1997
First-person shooters are believed to be inspired by the game Duke Nukem 3D, because of this feature it is considered to be one of the most important video games of all time and has influenced many modern video games, for example, Call of Duty. 

2000
The game "The Sims" is a strategic life-simulation game which enables you to basically create a new life on a video game. The aim of the game is to survive, and build your family, home, and skills as the characters life progresses, you also control the Sim and choose what it interacts with which can ultimately change how the game is going. It uses a combination of 3D and 2D graphics techniques which make the game stand out because of its unique style. This game is extremely popular because of how unique it is and the amount of things you can create, which has encouraged more Sims games, such as Sims 2 and Sims 3 along with many expansions of the game, as well as spin-offs. It also popularised life-simulation games.

2003
The game Call of Duty is a first-person shooter game, which has many other Call of Duty games in the series, mainly inspired by World War II. The game can either be played on story mode or online with other players around the world depending on the players preference. However, online is extremely popular and hundreds of thousands still play it daily. Call of Duty influenced many different spin-offs of the game and is well known throughout the world. The aim of the game is to advance through the story mode by doing warfare inspired missions. There is also a compass included on the game which would help you navigate whilst playing, I think this influenced mini maps in later games.

2005

The game Guitar Hero is a music rhythm game which was considered one of the most influential games because of the creativity, as not many games have been made like this. The aim of the game is to complete each song either using a console controller or a guitar controller which can usually be purchased with the game. I believe that because of the guitar controller it influenced many other games to create objects that can be used as a controller in the game, this makes the game seem more realistic and as if they are actually playing the guitar. Later in the series other instruments were released, such as drums and a microphone.

2013
The game Grand Theft Auto V is a open world action-adventure video game. The aim of the game is to follow the lives of 3 protagonist and doing missions to advance through the game. This game is very complex compared to many other open world games, as it is based in a city that means that there would be a lot of people, and in most games the people in the city would be programmed to walk from point A to B and then repeat. However, in GTA V each random person has been programmed to do something that is completely realistic to how people would actually react to something in real life. The size of the map is extremely big meaning there is a lot of places to explore and each different part is unique so you never see the same thing twice. I think this game will later influence open world games and eventually video games will become even more complex.

Unit 1: Inventory task

On Skyrim the inventory is divided into different categories: Favourites, Weapons, Apparel, Potions, Scrolls, Food, Ingredients, Books, Keys and Misc, within these categories each item is listed in alphabetical order. Almost everything referring to the character can be accessed when opening the inventory as you are able to choose to view your map, magic, skills or items. The inventory is also weight based so the user must decide which items they want the most otherwise the speed of the character will be affected, however the weight limit can be increased when the characters stamina is improved. The user can open the inventory by pressing 'B' then easily navigate through it using both of the analog sticks on the controller, or instead they can just open the "Favourites" category using the D-pad which will open a small box in the corner of the screen. The inventory suits the game play because there is many items to be found throughout the whole game, and because it is alphabetically ordered and categorised it makes finding the items a lot easier which will reduce the amount of time spent searching for a specific item, which is something I would include in my own design. When the inventory is accessed it pauses the game, which I think suits the game play because your health can quickly decrease no matter what level you are so when the game pauses it gives you a chance to heal and use potions, or change your weapon.


On Minecraft the inventory design is very simple, however it displays everything you need when playing, including a small crafting bench, 27 slots for items, your character and 4 slots where you can place the armour which will then be displayed on your character. There is a limited amount of slots and the items can be randomly placed by the user, along with the inventory there is 9 hotkey slots which is always displayed at the bottom of the screen when the user is playing, this is convenient because you can easily switch between your essential items by using the keys 1-9 or scrolling using your mousewheel without needing to open the inventory which stops you from moving but doesn't pause the game, this can be a problem if you're being attacked. The inventory can be opened by pressing the 'E' key then the user can simply click and drag where they would like the item to go in the inventory. The inventory suits the game play because the design is very simple and isn't difficult to use. I don't really like the inventory because you can run out of space very quickly and may have to sacrifice items you need, however the simple design is something I would include in my own design.



On the Sims 3 there is two different inventories the 'Personal inventory' and the 'Family inventory'. The Personal inventory can be accessed by clicking the backpack image at the bottom of the screen, the game will still continue as normal unless the user chooses to click pause, however the Family inventory can only be accessed in 'Buy mode' which automatically pauses the game. The personal inventory is limited as it can only store items that a person could realistically carry such as books and laptops, which will allow the Sim to use them wherever they are. The Family inventory is unlimited and can store any item in the game without any problem. I like the inventory because there isn't a limited amount of slots or weight limit so you can store all the items you aren't using at the moment without having to buy them again, this influences my own design because I like the idea and I think it would make the game a lot more enjoyable.

Introduction

 

My name is Emily Brown and I'm 16. 

I'm studying Computer Game Design because I have been interested in games and how they're made ever since I was 7. I would spend hours playing Sims and wondering how it was made, which then led me to drawing and writing out my own ideas for the game. I am interested programming and designing, however I am most interested in designing characters.

My favourite game of all time is Skyrim which I play daily. It has a very interesting story line and with all the side missions there is always something to do, also the graphics are incredible and look very life like.