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Unit 8 - Computer Games Development Assignment 1
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Distinction Level Work following the requirements for Pearsons Information Technology Module Specification. -Unit 8
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Grade: DistinctionComputer Gaming Technologies
The gaming market tends to be the most difficult market to keep up to date with of our
generation. It is generally since it has many factors that make it seem vulnerable to being
volatile, as one factor can crash it with either positive or negative impact. These factors are
emerging trends that fall under different sub-categories.
Popular genres
One of these categories is genre. There are many different gaming genres out there. Each
one of these genres varies in certain factors. Some examples of these genres include
“MMO”, “FPS”, “RPG” or “Sports”. A good example of a “sports game” is “FIFA” as it
simulates football. A choice of the genre may influence the graphics, music, or even the
overall gameplay experience of the game. Such as if a genre of the game is “Horror” the
graphics may look darker, and the music may be much louder than in an “Open World” type
of game such as “Minecraft”. The genre may also restrict the overall mechanics of the game,
such as where the player can enter, and the possibilities player can have throughout the
game. In “Minecraft”, the possibilities can be endless meanwhile in games like “Dying Light”
the routes are limited to ensure the player navigates their way around the map so that they
meet all the scary creatures. Graphics tend to be the focus in an “Open World” or “FPS” type
of game where every detail matters and the player must be fully concentrated to accomplish
an objective. This means that if the objective of the game is to avoid a creature the user may
be dependent on a shadow to see where the creature is and how to avoid it. Graphics would
not matter as much in “Platform” types of games as the user generally plays the game just
for user experience.
Some of the popular gaming genres include “Puzzle Platform” such as “Tetris” which was
sold outstanding 170+ Million copies. Which is 25+ Million ahead of its next competitors, an
“Open World” game “Minecraft”. The third all-time bestseller is an “Action-Adventure
Game”, known as “GTA 5” with almost 90 million copies sold. These games are multiplatform
meaning they can be played on any platform such as “PC, XBOX OR PSP VITA”. “Minecraft”
and “GTA” are both multi-player online types of games meaning players can cooperate to
complete their objectives together. This is probably the main reason those two games
earned their popularity as they were one of the first games to offer that kind of gaming
experience. Meanwhile “Tetris” is a classical game being created over 35 years ago as a
“Puzzle Platform” type of game in 2D meaning that users play it due to the gaming
experience it provides.
Player Demographics
On average according to (McDonald), there are two Billion active players online playing
games. These statistics can be split further according to (Lofgren) stating that out of this 2
billion only 41% of gamers are female. This means that males tend to be the dominating
group along with gamers with 59%. (Lofgren) also splits those 2 billion into the users of the
different platforms tend to play games on, the most frequent one turned out to be PC with
almost 56% of users, a gaming console was 53% and mobile was 36% of users meanwhile
waiting for another game to load or just to relax. 53% of users play games with friends to
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, Grade: Distinction
stay connected meanwhile 42% of the users feel like playing video games helps them to
spend time with their family. On average people spend on the gaming industry an
outstanding 116 billion dollars, whereas 50 billion is spent on mobile games alone as
microtransactions. According to (ESA) 27% of game players are under 18 meanwhile gamers
that are between the ages of 18-35 are 29%, that number drops as there are only 18% of
gamers are between 36-49, 26% of gamers are over the age of 50.
Game production Options
Each game developer wants their game to reach the largest audience possible to make more profit
and stay within the popularity zone. There are a couple of ways a game developer can achieve this
effect however it depends on two main factors. The quality of the game and the finances of the
game developer. If a game is advanced both graphically and mechanically wise, the game developer
can find a mainstream publisher, such as “EA”, “Activision” or “Sony” that have a substantial amount
of cash to push the game forward to a large audience using a promotional technique such as social
media. When using a mainstream publisher, a game developer often gives up its say, in the game
making in return for a greater profit meaning that every detail is up to the publisher to decide. The
game developer also has the option of making the game free-to-play in hope that microtransactions
will gather enough profit for the company to survive. This game production technique is very risky as
it is hard to initially attract attention to the game however since the game is free all that the game
developer must do is just make the user aware that the game exists. Crowdfunding is where the
game developer asks the fans of the company to donate some money to help promote the game for
it to get a greater reach. An advantage of this is that it is free however it is very time-consuming and
not always successful. Indie game publishers are only partly helping the game developers. It is more
often called a partnership rather than an agreement, as indie publishers help the company to stay
independent, such as steam, which offers a marketplace for selling games to a large audience for a
small cost. This ensures that the game developer if it has the initial funding can be the one to finally
decide the content of the game. Some of these game production techniques can be combined such
as Crowdfunding and indie.
Multiplayer
In most cases games popularity depends on its multiplayer experience, whether it is online or offline
most users tend to direct their purchases towards games that they can play along with their friends,
as 53% of gamers direct their purchase to stay connected with their friends, therefore, they tend to
purchase the games together. Games like “FIFA” or “Minecraft” offer a great multiplayer experience
as friends can co-operate or have a competition against each other on different maps with different
objectives. In addition, some games tend to be cross-platforms which means people can play
together despite being on different platforms. Games that offer a wider multiplayer experience tend
to be more successful than those that lack it.
AI
Artificial intelligence is used by game developers in online and offline modes of the game. In the
“Horror” genre type of games, artificial intelligence is used on the bots that must either chase or
avoid the main character. In the game mechanics, this is designed by using a Minmax game tree to
predict all the possible moves a player can take and ensure there is a counter for every move. The AI
is then programmed to be as human as possible to check whether the AI is human enough a “THINK,
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