Monday 8 October 2012

Collection games

The battle for territory has come and gone and only one came out on top (Well not really because we never finished all the games and the ones we did different people won, so there was no one person but whatever). Now if you are wondering what I'm taking about please refer Here. Since we are in a new week we moved on from Territorial games and have ventured into the unknown lands of Collection games. Now you are probably all thinking 'Oh a collection game how easy can that be,' well you're WRONG (No seriously you're wrong a collection game is not easy to make).

This week in Game Design and Production I our assignment is to make a collection board or card game and oh man was it challenging. Not only have I need really played any collection board games (All I know are the digital/video game ones) but trying to make one with dynamic/ interesting game play was difficult.

Now the basic goal of a collection game is collecting as much as you possibly can, whether you are limited to a time limit or not depends on the game and its game play. Now one of the most commonly known and popular collection games (which is also some people`s addiction, but that`s besides the point) is poker.

Poker:

Now Poker is a type of collection card where players must bet their resources, usually their poker chips which are representational of different amounts of money (My friends and I use Oreo cookies if we play, though we generally have to end our game early because we have a habit of eating our Poker Chips). The goal of Poker is collect as much money as possible by betting and bluffing in order to force your opponents to fold (Folding basically means that players are not going to challenge the one betting). For a glossary of Poker terms (There are so many and I just do not have the patience to list and explain each one) click Here.

There are many different types of winning hands used in poker, the highest ranking hand is known as a Royal Straight Flush. Now for more info on the different types of hands in poker click Here.

 Bejeweled:

Another popular collection game is the online browser based Jewel game, known as Bejeweled. This game was created by a company called PopCap Games (for more info on this company click Here), which makes some of the most entertaining games (well at least in my opinion). Bejeweled was originally a browser based game (as I mentioned before) however it was later adapted as a smartphone (The iPhones and Androids, I play it on my iPhone and I love it!!) and Tablet (iPads, Android Tablets and Blackberry Tablets) game.

The goal of the game is to collect jewels (and points depending on which mode of the game you are playing) by matching identical jewels together. The jewels must be matched in sets of either three, four or five, some of which can give players boosts.  For anyone who has never played Bejeweled you can play it online Here.



Mario: 

Mario, one of the most widely known and popular game franchises ever (Probably even bigger than Pokemon) is a type of collection game (underneath all that story line, plot and adventures). Now for anyone who doesn't know Mario (Please do not let me find the people who raised you because I might hurt them for depriving you of the awesomeness of Mario) it is a video game character (which first appeared in Donkey Kong in 1981, for more info on the game click Here. A fun fact is that before Mario was given the name Mario he was referred to as Jumpman in the original Donkey Kong game.) created by Shigeru Miyamoto (A Japanese video game designer who works for Nintendo. Man I wish I could have his job so badly!! For more info about Miyamoto click Here).

If you have never played Mario here are some sites that let you play some Mario games, now some of them are fan made games that have utilized the game sprites and basic mechanics of the game, but you still can get a feel of how the game play is (Click Here and Here for Mario games online). Now if you really want to play the legit Mario games you can easily find the game ROMS and an appropriate console emulator by searching for it using Google (I won`t be providing those, you will just have to search for them yourself).

Now Mario has been featured in over 200 games, and believe it or not but there are multiple Mario Cartoons, a Movie and Anime series with OVAs (There is also a comic book series and Manga for Mario. Note: OVA stands for Original video animation, which are generally released with the DVDs of anime series or their Light Novel books/ Manga).

Now even though in almost every Mario game players must save Princess Peach from that no good Kidnapping Bowser (I think Bowser is suppose to be a Lizard monster thing but he breaths fire which leads me to believe that he is actually a dragon), players must collect coins, power ups, objects and allies (In Paper Mario you collect Side Kicks which is seriously awesome in my opinion) in order to proceed through the levels and ultimately save Princess Peach from the evil Clutches of Bowser (Why he constantly kidnaps the poor girl only to get his butt kicked by Mario is beyond me, and honestly Peach has been kidnapped so many times you`d think  she would have invested in some capable bodyguards but no that has yet to happen).


Red Jumping Hood:

Now as much as I love Mario and Bejeweled I`m absolutely addicted to the iPhone collection game called Red Jumping Hood. Basically you play as Little red Ridding Hood (who wouldn't want to play as Little Red, she is only one of the best storybook characters ever!!!) who needs to collect flowers for Granny. The catch is you must avoid falling off the platform and getting hit by the big bad wolf and his monster friends who are out to get in your way.

The goal of the game is to collect as many flowers as possible without dying (my high score is currently 1524 and I am constantly trying to beat it) which is a lot harder than it seems as the game begins to speed up after awhile. Some of the enemies in the game include large seated wolves, which required players to double jump over to avoid, Cactus that can increase in size, which players must jump over, and bees, players can kill these little suckers by squishing them with a tap of your finger. 
 Unfortunately I don`t know where to play this game online (for anyone who has never played this game before) so I cannot provide a link for anyone wishing to play, however if you have any Apple product or have any friends who have Apple products, just ask them to download it from the App Store, it`s free to download and loads of fun (Guys it`s really addicting, I love playing it on my phone and I got a bunch of my friends playing it too). So since I can`t give you the game, here is a video of the game play so you can get a feel of the game.
The Game Play of Red Jumping Hood:


In case You Were Interested

Here are some links for info on the games I mentioned in my post.

Poker:
Bejeweled:
Mario:
Red Jumping Hood:

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