Steam Big Picture

Steam Big Picture allows its users to navigate Steam, but make it better for home entertainment systems using a controller. I feel like something like this would be a success since it's the first computer based UI for home entertainment. Origin doesn't have anything like this and uPlay only allows partial use of a controller. Big Picture allows you to browse and search the steam store, browse your library, and message friends. Pretty much anything you can regularly do on steam, you can do on Big Picture. This allows easier support for playing PC games all in the comfort of your living room.

Skyrim

Skyrim is a giant map that that you could explore greatly. There are different climates in the game such as snow and rain. When you go up a mountain, you'll see the amount of snow go up. You'll run into bandits and guards in random places. Along with the huge immersive map, you'll also find enemies such as wolves, spiders, giants, and of course dragons. The map is meant to be explored with many dungeons which can get just as immersive.

AAA v Indie

AAA v Indie

The main difference between the two is the size of the team that they have for developing the games. An AAA team can consist of hundreds of people, while a team for indie games can consist of a single person. While there is few people working on indie games, that does not affect the outcome of the game. Super Meat Boy sold 200,000 copies on the first day it came out, and it still very popular. There are also some poor quality AAA games, such as Batman Arkham Knight and Assassin's Creed Unity which had poor ports over to PC which made them unplayable. Assassin's Creed Unity is said to have killed the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Connor Kenway - Assassin's Creed III (2012)

Character Name: Connor Kenway (Ratonhnhaké:ton)

Appearance: Assassin's Creed III

Family: Haytham Kenway - Father (Templar)
             Kaniehtí:io - Mother


Backstory: While playing hide and seek with his friends, he is ambushed by Templars demanding where his village is. Connor demands to know the leader of the group, as Charles Lee tells him. Connor then promises that he will find him, and then knocked out by Lee. As he awakes, and approaches his village, he finds that it is in flames. Trying to rescue his mother, she refuses to let him. As he is being dragged away by another villager, he witnesses his mother's death.
Upon touching the Apple of Eden later in his life, he goes on a spiritual journey lead by Juno, telling him to follow a certain symbol that will lead him on the correct path: The Assassin's. He then travels to the Frontier and receives training from Achilles.

Traits: Connor is extremely motivated which causes him to be impatient and naive.

Abilities: He is a skilled free runner among trees, and hunter.

Level Design

Cristian Locke

One career path I am considering is Level Designer. They are responsible for creating the environment or world in the game. As a level designer you are responsible for how the gameplay is going to be.

            Your main responsibilities for Level Designer include:

·        Develop levels based on existing game design documents

·        Design, build, script, and tune 3D levels

·        Implement and script combat, cinematics, and lighting

·        Understand how their level(s) fit in the overall game experience and story

·        Communicate with other team members to design levels, and to explain how the level functions

·        Collaborate with artists and programmers to ensure smooth and feasible design

·        Bring levels from their initial pen-and-paper designs to fully polished and playable products

·        Clearly and intelligently communicate your design intent to everyone on the team

·        Work closely with designers to create and refine gameplay experience

·        Work in the studio’s specific toolset

·        Combine the team’s assets to create levels that are compelling and fun

·        Must be capable of analyzing and critiquing game designs and levels

·        Be familiar with the studio’s products

·        Document the level’s creation process from start to finish

·        Be able to respond correctly to feedback

·        Correct bugs discovered by testers

·        Prioritize tasks and meet deadlines on time

·        Have a desire to be a part of the team

·        Carry out any additional tasks the studio may require

·        Demonstrate a passion to create levels

(praliedutzel.wordpress.com)

Qualifications include:

·        Serious passion for games and level design

·        Experience designing, building, and populating levels

·        A strong knowledge of and experience with level editors

·        Experience building 3D environments

·        Shipped game titles, or 1-3 years industry experience

·        Experience with creating or working on a mod

·        High degree of creativity

·        Good understanding of design principles and construction techniques

·        Excellent verbal and written communication skills

·        Positive, enthusiastic, and professional attitude

·        Strong decision-making and organizational skills

·        Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

·        Ability to relocate to studio’s location, if not already living nearby

·        Excellent documentation skills

·        Ability to collaborate with other team members

·        Provide screenshots, videos, or playable samples of levels you’ve created

(praliedutzel.wordpress.com)

·         

Sources

https://praliedutzel.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/level-design-qualifications/ 

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012)

Game Title: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive      Publisher: Valve Corporation

Year: 2012                                                              ESRB Rating: M

Platform: Last gen consoles, Windows, OSX       Genre: First-Person Shooter  

·        Fun Factor: The game is very fun to play. There are many game modes you can play and even community servers you can join as well. For me, the most fun you can have is getting four of your other friends and queuing up in a competitive game.

·        Learning Curve: The game is very easy to pick up but difficult to master. With every gun comes different spray controls that you yourself has to learn. 

·        Graphics: The graphics are pretty much what you'd expect from a source game. It looks good, but keeps it simple at the same time, and is a huge step up from Counter-Strike: Source

·        Audio: The audio is very simple for a first person shooter. The guns are realistic yet it doesn't feel like you're playing a high end FPS like Battlefield. It's easy to distinguish between each gun and grenade in the game which is very helpful for making call outs to your teammates.

·        Controls: The controls are your average FPS controls you would find on a keyboard/mouse. WASD, for moving, E to execute commands like defuse/plant the bomb and open doors. You can even change the controls in settings to your liking.

·        Story: This game is strictly multiplayer which focuses on the competitive aspect of it. There is no story to the game.

·        Characters: There are no main characters for the game

·        Level Design: Like every FPS, there are some good maps and some bad ones. Since this is a competitive game, you would expect the maps to be balanced, but there are some maps that are heavily sided towards one team.

·        Changes: What I would do to change this game is to balance the guns and some maps better. While some maps are great to play on, some aren't. With the guns, sometimes you would be aiming right at someone and the game won't even register that you hit them at all.

·        Recommendation: I would recommend this game if you're looking for a fun game to play with friends. It gets very addicting trying to get your competitive rank to the highest you possibly can. 

Similar Game Comparison

Skate 3
Skate 3 is undoubtedly one of the better skateboarding games out there. You start your own board company, and recruit more team riders by competing in contests and what not. You can build your own saktepark, and customize street spots. You can even join friends online to play with. There is a lot you can do in this game. While it's a great game, I still find that it has its flaws. You're just kind of thrown into the game with no real back story to who you are and the skills you have as a skateboarder.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
If you skateboard, and play video games, then you know what tony haw's pro skater 2 is. It's one of the many games that got a bunch of people into skateboarding. You play as any pro skateboarder of your choice and go at it with many ramps and giant drops. And of course, the infamous balance bar. This too is a great skateboarder game, but again it has flaws. Since you play as any pro skateboarder that the game allows you to chose, there isn't much for a story itself.

Tony Haw's Proving Ground
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, like Pro Skater 2 allows you to chose any pro skater of your choice. This time, you're out on the streets. In this game you can locally play split screen with a second player. While it's fun to play with friends in this game, playing on the same map gets boring after awhile.

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)

Game Title: Rise of the Tomb Raider                   Publisher: Square Enix, Microsoft Studios

Year: 2015 (Xbox 360/One, PS4), 2016 (PC)      ESRB Rating: M

Platform: PC                                                        Genre: Action - Adventure 

·         Fun Factor: The game is very fun and it's hard to put it down once you've gotten into it. It's high paced game play keeps me on the edge of my seat, and the low paced areas of the game keep me in anticipation wondering when the next big thing is going to happen.

·         Learning Curve: The game is very easy to get into. Right when you get into the game, there is a small tutorial that prompts you to press a certain key depending on the situation. 

·         Graphics: The graphics are very good. Since it's a next gen game everything is highly textured and runs great. Unfortunately I can't run the game to it's max (thanks gtx 650) but it still looks great on medium settings. 

·         Audio:  How would you rate the music and sound effects of the game?

 The sound is also great. Each explosion makes it seem like I'm actually in the game.The music the game isn't that memorable though. It sounds like generic orchestral music you would use in a game like this, but it sounds great nonetheless.

·         Controls: The controls are very easy to remember once you've learned them. They're very common keys on the keyboard you would use and doesn't have you reaching all the way across to execute a certain command or something in the game. 

·         Story: The story is very immersive, and as I said it is very hard to put down once you've picked it up. There are high paced areas of the game where you are running away from explosions, and heavy gunfire. There are also lower places in the game, like you have to escape a prison or something. They're all great moments.

·         Characters:  If there are characters in the game you played, how would you rate the characters?

Laura Croft is the main character in this game (as in every other Tomb Raider game). She is now not hesitant to kill which makes wondering what she is capable of compared to the last game.  

·         Level Design:  How well were the levels designed?  Did they fit well with the overall concept of the game, and work well with the controls, learning curve, and/or characters?

 Level design is very good. It is very easy to follow, and know where you have to go.

·         Changes:  If you were to make changes to the game, what changes would you have made to the game? There are no changes I would make tot his game at all.

·         Recommendation:  Would you recommend this title to others?  Why or why not?

      I would highly recommend this game. The story is great, very well paced, and looks amazing.

The Legend of Zelda (1986)

Game Title: The Legend of Zelda                        Publisher: Nintendo

Year: 1986                                                            ESRB Rating: None

Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System          Genre: Action-Adventure 

·         Fun Factor:  I would say the game wasn't overly fun but it was fun enough to keep playing. Once I would die, I would find myself wanting to continue on where I was exploring. For me, it's almost the same thing over and over, just with a slightly different setting and different enemies. 

·         Learning Curve:  The game is very easy to pick up. Just go into the cave, pick up your sword and start mashing A. If you have full health, you have the ability to throw your sword which makes killing enemies very easy for the sword goes through plants and walls. 

·         Graphics:  For the time, the graphics were pretty good. I was able to distinguish what enemy is what, and what certain things are on the map like doorways.

·         Audio:  The music is very repetitive for it plays the same song over and over on loop. Sound like when you're health is low is very helpful for when you have to be more careful and look for more hearts or fairies. 

·         Controls:  The controls are very easy.You move around with the D-Pad,  A is sword, and B is item

·         Story:  There isn't really a story to the game. You're just kind of thrown into the game with very little knowledge on what do do and where to go. All you know is that there is a princess named Zelda and you have to rescue her from Ganondorf. 

·         Characters:  I wouldn't really consider Link any sort of character in the game. There isn't any real development like there are in other Legend of Zelda games like Twilight Princess or Wind Waker.

·         Level Design:  For the concept of the game, the level was pretty good. One thing I didn't like about it is the real use of any kind of map. It's just a green dot on a gray square and you have no real sense of where you are and where you need to be.

·         Changes:  One change I would make to this game is to add an actual map. I had no idea where I had to be any of the time and I just found myself mindlessly wondering around.

·         Recommendation:  I would recommend this game to the hard core retro game enthusiasts. If you're coming to this game from any other Zelda game, it'll be hard to pick up since there isn't any real story to it.