Lourdes Castro: Journal Entries

[Lgcastro]

Bullsh*t

Game Author: Uknown

Game Studio: Unknown

Original Platform: Playing Cards

Control Mechanism:

The control mechanism of the game Bullsh*t would be placing the cards in order of the deck from Ace-10 and the Jack, Queen, and King. This would affect how the game continues to move forward until a winner is declared.

The control mechanism that I used when playing this game, was the same as the original, personally when playing it was the most effective. I’m not sure if there is another control mechanism used when playing this game but if there is I am not aware of it.

Game Play and Mechanics:

The gameplay of this game is you take one standard deck of 52 playing cards and you split them up in the evening for all the people playing whether it's 2 or 5 players. Then after you split up the cards the youngest player within the group normally goes first. The players then start to discard the cards in order from Ace- 10 and then Jack, Queen, and King. As each player goes around discarding the cards in order each player is allowed to lie and include cards that are not in the correct order during their turn. If there is another player that believes that person is lying, they can call them out by yelling Bullsh*t. This will then stop the current play of the game and reveal the cards in question of the bluff. If the player was lying, they must collect the entire pile of cards. However, if they were telling the truth the person that called them on their Bulls*t must collect the pile of cards. The game continues until one player runs out of cards and then that player becomes the winner.

Strengths and weaknesses of art & design:

I would say that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. For starters, the game is easy to comprehend. The rules aren't too difficult just putting down cards in order of the deck and choosing whether you want to lie about what you decide to put down. One of the weaknesses I can guess for a game like this is not knowing what order the deck of cards is supposed to go in. For someone like me who doesn’t play too many card games very often compared to someone else who always plays then I would probably have the biggest disadvantage when it comes to speed and accuracy of discarding cards. Another weakness would be not being able to keep a straight face when trying to lie about the card that you put down, if you don’t have a good poker face your opponents are going to see right through you.

What made it fun:

What makes this game fun is being able to see how far you can go while trying to bluff your way to being the winner. There are so many different strategies and tactics that you can use to try and win. It is also fun playing with the people and reading your opponent with your intelligence. Noticing when they are shaking or moving a certain way and deciding if they are lying or not. Another reason I think this game is fun is that every time that I play it, it reminds me of the scene from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Where Andy plays the same game with Ben’s family and he is supposed to be undefeated, but his family helps her to win against him for the first time and it always makes me laugh because that is one of my comfort movies.

Now that I've played it why would this game be considered Influential and how does it fit into the evolution of games:

I believe this game would be considered influential because it helps to show us strategy and competition as it compares to more of the games that are being made and played today. We can learn a lot just from reading people in this game and being able to read the room when it comes to plays games like poker. Which heavily requires you to read the person rather than just the cards that are being delt.

Star Rating: ★★★★

[Lgcastro]

Name of the game: Pong

Game Author: Nolan Bushnell

Game Studio: Atari Inc.

Original Platform & Control Mechanic:
The original platform of the game pong is on a computer and the control mechanic is either with the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard or moving your computer's mouse up and down to control the bar or the “paddle”.

The control mechanism I used was I tried both I found it harder to use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard just because I felt like I didn't have as much control over the bar as I did when I used the mouse.

Gameplay and mechanics:
The game is a digital replica of the real-world game ping pong or table tennis. So, in Pong, the players are playing against the computer. The player has control over their paddle moving it up and down on either the left or right side of the screen. While the computer is also moving the paddle up and down hitting the ball back and forth until someone misses then the other would earn the point. In order to win the player must get ten points and then the game will be over.

The strengths and weaknesses:
Some of the strengths and weaknesses of the game Pong are the main strength is its fun and easy competition to try and beat the computer that you are playing against. Another strength is the game doesn’t take much skill to play and play it well. One of the weaknesses that I think is that the game might be considered to be a little boring or might not seem very fun after a while of playing it. Yet the simplicity and easiness of the gameplay might be the very reason that the game is still so popular even today.

What made it fun: This game is fun because of how simple it is to play, there is no learning any hard-to-follow rules or long stories that might be essential to gameplay. This game is just simply do it and try to win. This is also a kind of strategy to the game being able to predict where the ball is going to land once it bounces off the wall. Along with the levels of difficulty getting harder and faster as you level up against the computer. Pong is also geared towards all age groups it is fun and easy to play for all. Unlike other games like chess and checkers where you have to know the rules and how to play the game and sometimes that is also geared towards people a little bit older that will understand those rules.

Why would this game be considered influential and how does it fit the evolution of games:
I would absolutely consider this game to be influential to the evolution of games today because it was the very first start of computer-crafted games. Now we see all of these hyperrealistic first-person and third-person shooters and looking back at the history computer games started with just "A dot and a line". Games would not be able to be as complex and beautiful as they are today if we didn't start with the simple and work our way up from there.


Rating: ★★★

[Lgcastro]

Name of the game: Centipede

Game author: the two lead designers were Ed Logg and Dona Bailey. Centipede was one of the first arcade games to have a female player base.

Game studio: Centipede was released by Atari in 1981

Original platform and control mechanism: the original platform of the game Centipede was arcade, and the control mechanism was two buttons to move your shooter from left to right across the screen and one button to shoot the enemies.

Control mechanism that I used: the control mechanism that I used since I played it on the online arcade version was the left and right arrow keys in order to move my player, and the spacebar on my keyboard to shoot the enemies.

Gameplay and mechanics: the gameplay of the game centipede is the player controls, a gnome character on the bottom of the screen, using the two arrow keys on your keyboard. The player then uses the space bar or the button that would be in the real arcade game to fire at the huge centipede that is at the top of the screen moving from left to right. There are mushrooms that cover the entire level and once the centipede hits a mushroom it descends one level getting closer and closer to the player. Each centipede takes four shots to destroy. The catch is when the centipede is shot in the middle it splits into two. once each centipede is completely destroyed, a new centipede spawns at the top of the screen. Getting faster and faster each time. There are smaller enemies, like fleas and spiders that travel across the screen in order to harm the player.

Strengths and weaknesses: some of the strengths and weaknesses of the game centipede are, one strength would be the game centipede is easy to strategize with as the player would try and strictly aim for the head of the centipede in order to avoid splitting the centipede into two. Another strength would be the game is simply fun, racing against the clock to defeat each centipede as they spawn, faster and faster. One weakness of the game would be not being able to predict what path the centipede is going to take, and if the player predicts the centipede to take the wrong path, it could harm the player and end the game. Another weakness could be the game is very repetitive. Yes, the centipede spawn randomly, but the gameplay and mechanics are ultimately staying the same.

What made it fun: the main thing that made playing the game centipede fun to me personally is growing up. My dad would always love to talk about the video games that he would play as a kid centipede being one of them. When he finally took me to arcade as a kid The arcade that we went to just so happened to have the game centipede and I played it for the first time. Also watching the movie pixels that came out a couple of years ago with Adam Sandler and seeing them play centipede in real life against the aliens was just super cool to me. Now being where I am today in the program that I am in and seeing how far video games have evolved to what they are today, knowing where they started is mind blowing. Another thing that made it fun for me is when I play video games, especially shooters and fighters like centipede, street fighter, Mortal Kombat. My main approach these games is simply button mashing and hoping for the best.I really like a game that you can button mash and not be punished for pushing the wrong button.

Now that I’ve played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?: Now that I’ve played the game centipede I believe that it would be considered influential to video games now because games like this were the start of every little kids dream. Like we read in the articles from this week it’s all fun and games to be able to play video games from your home console, but there is nothing like being able to stand in a physical arcade with other people around you that are all interested in the same thing having fun together. I think games today have yes evolved, but there was really no going back to how much fun it was to play games in a physical arcade years ago.

Rating: ★★★★★

[Lgcastro]

Name of the game: Karateka

Game author: Jordan Mechner

Game studio: Jorden Mechner published and created this game while he was attending Yale University.

Original platform and control mechanism: the original platform of the game Karateka was the Apple ll. Karateka is one of the earliest martial arts fighting games that was fully inspired by Japanese culture, art, films, and manga. The control mechanism of the game is moving your character from left to right fighting the attackers and clearing obstacles.

Control mechanism I used: the control mechanism I used was playing on my keyboard using my arrow keys to move my character left and right side scrolling throughout the level. The W key on my keyboard to high kick the enemies, the A key on my keyboard to punch the enemies, and the S key on my keyboard to low kick the enemies.

Gameplay and mechanics: In Karateka an unnamed protagonist journeys off the mountain to rescue the princess. As the player tries to get to the princess, there are several enemies and obstacles trying to get in his way and stop him. The protagonist enters of fighting stance in order to punch, high kick, and low, kick each enemy. The health of the protagonist and each enemy is displayed at the bottom of the screen, each decreasing by one notch after every hit taken on either side. The health bar of the protagonist and the enemy slowly regenerate over time. The game is won when the hero defeats every obstacle and saves the princess. The game is lost if the protagonist's health bar hits zero.

Strengths and weaknesses: the strings to this game are the use of vector graphics in the visuals of the game. The game as a whole is not entirely difficult but more of a strategy and timing aspect. As someone like me who loves to button-mash any fighting game whether it’s Karateka, Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat I will continue to enjoy the game playing with no strategy whatsoever.

What made the game fun: the main aspects that made this game fun in my opinion were the graphics and the super vibrant colors. I know that if I were in the 80s as a little kid, I would’ve loved playing this game trying to save the princess. Once again, I love me a game that requires no strategy or planning. Just simple button mashing. Another thing that made this game fun was I was actually able to play it through the emulator unlike the other few where either the instructions were not clear enough to comprehend or the game itself just didn’t work on my computer.

Now that I have played it, why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games? I don’t necessarily believe this game would be considered influential because yes, it may be one of the first martial arts fighting games, I believe Street Fighter and later on Mortal Kombat to be way more influential as it appeared to the audience much more. On the flip side, I do consider it to fit into the evolution of games when it comes to fighters because without this game streetfighter and Mortal Kombat wouldn’t of been developed.

Rating: ★★★

[Professor Watkins]

Graded to here.