Connecting gamers to the protagonist

I talked about something to do with you playing as the protagonist which is to understand WHY you are supporting this protagonist for his journey or mission. Now I will talk about the connection of a player to the protagonist and why it is important.

Firstly, Metal Gear Solid 4. I was never interested in this game because it is Stealth and I'm not much of a stealth fan except for Silent Hill (MGS1 was too difficult for me). I heard so many things about MGS4 and people calling it Best Game Ever, when ever I hear that I think oh this is just another fan excited for this game, soon another game will come out and they would call it BGE.
Until I decided to rent and play MGS4, my god I was blow away, Best Game Ever indeed! This right here is gaming design at a WHOLE new level.
One particular thing I would highlight that makes MGS4 triumph over majority of games is the connection between you and the protagonist.

Snake is an old man, in fact he is dying from a disease. The more you play MGS4 the more you get to experience Snake's journey and how the disease virus is taking over and slowly killing him. The cutscenes makes this really emotional and thus makes you emotional towards Snake because you feel sorry for him. A Legendary hero, dying? Much like how we felt sorry for our badass anime samurai Rurouni Kenshin in Reflection as he was dying from a disease.

The most crucial part in MGS4 was the Microwave room, my goodness as I was playing that I nearly cried because I saw a Legendary Hero who wanted to sacrifice his life for the whole world, crawling through an intense heated room that slowly kills him and not to mention his side effect disease weakening him. This is something every game should have in their Storymode, you play story mode for a purpose and the purpose being to experience This Protagonist's Story. Why are we experiencing his story? what is so good about his story? the word good is the whole point.


Moving on to GOW3 my best ps3 game and GOTY 2011. I wouldn't connect the emotional expression and appeal with MGS4 because GOW3 doesn't come close to it. But while watching the cutscene full of traitors and deceptions, you side with Kratos and you want to support his revenge.
My favourite part in GOW3 was after all the hard work Kratos did, it was all for nothing. Zeus "LOL" so loud and you could slowly see the anger expression in Kratos face. From that moment I expected Kratos to jump on Zeus and kill his ass off. I would explain the emotion a gamer would feel during this bit below, as the player would be in a "shocking" expression and immediately vote for Kratos to instantly beat Zeus to a pulp.
During other courses of Kratos journey in GOW3, the emotion for me were not expressed much. Though every time he wanted to perform the God Kills, that is when ANY player would get excited. Seeing yourself beat the hell out of Poseidon in First Person View would blow any gamer's mind. In fact these are all memorable experience and doesn't relate to Emotion Connection in games.


The formula to getting an emotional connection with the player and the protagonist is to give the protagonistfeelings. Feelings can be sadness, anger, happiness, joyful, scared and so on. The reason why I fully understand this Connection Emotion and WHY IT IS VITAL in games was from watching Asura's Wrath latest trailer. Everytime Asura gets angry, instead of me getting angry along with him, I rather get amused by it.

This is not weird and it is something that can happen in reality. Let's say you are in a class room (yea back in school days) and you see 2 students you know thus you rarely talk to; both arguing about something and ready to engage in a fist fight. You get anxiety and adrenaline would start to rush making you get excited. First of all, why should you care about one of them if you rarely speak to them? You'll laugh when one of them starts talking smack and doing less action. Accordingly if its someone you know you would try to back them up or tell them to stop and calm down.

This is the same experience with Asura's Wrath, you don't really know his back story or why you should support him nor play as him. Even if the story is about Asura's revenge against the gods for his betrayal, everytime he gets angry; you'd get excited because you are cheering for the fight and you want to see Asura kick that prick's ass.


Another example of Emotion Connection is in NG3. I remembered at Tokyo Game Show when the Consequences trailer came up. I was excited to watch the trailer after longing for new infos. Until I saw it, I felt sorry for Ryu; because this is the person I love (no gayness here), he killed so many people and now karma as taken its turn on him. Similar to Samurai X- Reflection.

It is apparent that Team NINJA understands this Emotion Connection with the player and protagonist. As they want players to experience the Journey of Ryu Hayabusa and how he would have to deal with his cursed arm. Who will die first? a mass murder Ryu or the World? (obviously you would die 100 times in Master Ninja  )

Although I haven't played Metroid Other M but I believe it must be using this player emotion connection with the protagonist Samus.


In terms of Game Designing, this is something every game developers NEEDS to embrace! Third Person games can easily adapt to this, ergo it would be difficult to make an Emotional Connection to the Player and Protagonist in FPS games as well as other genres (racing, strategy). COD Black Ops did try to give an emotional connection to the player however the protagonist was really bland and you couldn't really get a feeling out of his emotion. Your overall emotion and experience with Black Ops Protagonist would be confusion, psychological twisted feelings.


Just imagine Halo 4. What if we could FINALLY get a true backstory of Master Chief making us to support his killing against Aliens. Or get an emotional feeling through Chief and why he sacrifices his feel will to fight for the Earth (reference to Spiderman sacrificing his free time to save us). In Halo 3 we could get a slight feeling of sadness and pity with Cortana. I would say every gamer would feel this, though it is something Bungie tried to achieve. And I could say the acting and role of the actress for Cortana did a great job as her voice actress.


One thing I would like to say is the mysteriousness of why we love Gordon Freeman and why we consider him a badass:/ We are meant to play or in fact be Gordon Freeman yet we value him as a Badass even though he doesn't say much or does anything.



Emotion Connection can never be achieved in FPS if "you are the protagonist". However if you play as a protagonist, you can still have a chance of getting an emotional connection with the protagonist. Yes you can get emotional connection through other characters in the game like HomeFront but this is about you getting a feeling for the Protagonist and why you should support his ideal.

Future of the Games Industry: Revolutionising Game Design

Man the gaming Industry is one hell of a cluster ride especially when it comes down to innovation, revolution and ideas.

Back in the days we've played the same types of games and genre that looked the same and played the same but with different story, characters and gameplay. Everytime we enter a new generation, the hardware becomes more powerful, the game designing will evolve, not by a little margin but vastly!

In todays era anyone can see just how spoiled gamers are; who represents the Gaming Industry. Is the problem the younger generations or the problem are elitist who have been gaming since Atari? When new games comes out that looks like a previous well received game, gamers would brand that new game as copying the previous title. You can't have a new game today that borrows inspiration or idea from other games, without some elitist/fanboy/gamer calling out the game as derivative.

The designing in games are starting to change, and we could perceive that formula right from great games such as Half Life that introduced a unique way of Scripted cutscenes during in-game. Before jumping into a game, we would be instructed how the controls and system works by going through a tutorial lesson, nowadays we can start a game by learning the system+controls along with the story without going through any tutorials. Controls schemes in games are starting to become easier and takes less time to understand, game system are also easier to blend in and work with.


Gameplay Motivation
Now the big change in terms of game designing is how the motivation plays while gaming. When you play many games today, you just start from 1 point and keep running straighth defeating respawning enemies until you get to a safe point. This is how games are made today but ultimately the flawed part is the getting to the safe point. How fun is it to get to a safe point? Why must we keep encountering the same enemies spawning out of no where?
This is why I and many disliked games like Ninja Gaiden 2. Although the gameplay was solid, the problem was actually playing the game. You start from 1 end and run to the other end defending the same respawning countless enemies that spawn out of no where and in the corners.
This is where Dead Space 2 reinvented the 3rd person Survival horror genre. Each area you go to, you don't encounter enemies popping out of specific points, or respawning enemies coming to get you. The pacing for enemy encounters were very well done and doesn't make the player bored when encountering enemies.

Half Life 2's pacing was nicely done and man that game does deserve the '40 award'. One point you are solving puzzles, next you are riding, following to defending yourself against enemies, to helping civilians.

Protagonist Personality and Life
In todays games we have 2 types of player protagonist: 1. You are the protagonist and 2. You play through the eyes of a protagonist. Many like option 1 because you feel like you are the hero of the day, the person to save the world is you and whatever comment that protagonist will say will be determined and said by you. However the problem isn't number 1 but in fact number 2. Number 2 protagonist as we get his backstory and brief history of who he/she is, the problem is we don't fully understand why we play as him/her and why we should support him through his/her story.
I was thinking about Ninja Gaiden 3 ending referencing to Left 4 Dead.
I was hoping that when you finish Ninja Gaiden 3 and the credits roll, you'd see a comment saying "Total enemy killed: 30,768. You are now branded 'A Mass-Murderer'".
why? well it makes sense, enemies are there to kill you and you kill them while they beg for mercy, you are branded a murderer. How about Halo? Master Chief the Saviour of Humans from Covenants, how many Covenants have you killed? you are NO different to your enemies whom you call Covenants.

My point is, when we play as a Protagonist, there should be a FULL reason why we players must vote and support that protagonist. Why should I be killing Nazis as a soldier whereas I'm not different to them? there should be a reason why I kill Nazis and why it should affect me and the protagonist.
The first time an assassin carries out his first ever mission and kills for the first time. Do you think his reaction, emotion and personality would be the same? No, it would twist inside of him and either he wouldn't take the assassin killings anymore or he might go mental and actually like killing.

Dantes Inferno provides you a roller cluster ride into hell, we are there to save Betrice but we don't know why we should support Dante during his course in hell. Though the cutscenes that plays makes us learn who Dante really his and what he did in his past life.
God of War 3 doesn't really provide the player a reason to vote for Kratos during his course, the story was nice but sort of had plots holes. The only game I could say that allows the player to understand their protagonist is Metroid Other M. While I personally haven't played this game yet, I can understand that the key part of the story is understanding all about Samus.
This is one of the keystrokes Ninja Gaiden 3 is going for, so that we players can understand what ticks inside Ryu's mind.

Just DON'T be surprise if Halo 4 provides a story that makes us learn all about Master Chief just like NG3 and Metroid Other M does for their protagonist. I believe EVERY game should have a plot in the story about the protagonist's life, what happens when they do what they should do during gameplay.

Enemy A.I Reaction and Emotion
Who would see this coming, games giving enemies a solid reaction and emotion. I am not talking about when A.I makes gestures about you like F.E.A.R 3 "get your f**ing head down", "get down on the floor now" or Half Life 2 "mumble gumble*radio static*". I'm talking about comments and reactions from enemies when you take cover or attack them. Halo: Combat Evolve was actually the first game I believe to give Enemies a dynamic Reaction pattern. Each time you shoot those grunts, they will try to fall back or cry out loud for mercy. The elites might cry out of frustration or make remarks about you while taking cover.
I know other old games did this like Blood 2 but I'm talking about how the enemies in the game doesn't feel like shooting targets but more of a -you are you and they are your enemy/opponent-.
Giving enemies reactions and emotion would allow the player to feel that, they aren't just fighting lifeless A.I bots but characters that are trying to kill you for a reason.
Comparing Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ninja Gaiden/2 Enemy A.I. In Ninja Gaiden 1 the enemies are just there in the game, placed for no reasons are all; basically they are there to kill you without a reason. But in Ninja Gaiden 3, you sort of get a hint why the enemies want to kill you, they make gestures about you and cry for help when they are dying.

Out of my head I can't really remember the games that provides enemies with good a.i reactions and emotions. Killzones Helgast do make reactions and remarks about you. But that game makes you feel like the Helgast ARE the bad guys. Though a good example is Batman Arkham Asylum, I love those bad guys so much. Everytime you get into a fight, they all interact with each other by making gestures, if you get hit by one of them ; one of the groups will yell out "ha, Hit him again!". Not forgetting with each enemy or groups you take down, Joker will always give an update to the goons what just happened, with this it causes a dynamic changes to how enemies will approach you. For an example groups of 4 enemies, you take out 1 of them; Joker will update the bad guys that one of them is down. 3rd person will go look at what happened, if you managed to take him down too; once again Joker will announce an update causing the remaining bad guys to panick, since they are panicking, both of them will approach the downed enemies together. Though one thing I love most of all is whenever Joker makes an announcement update, it always feels like you are constantly being watched by The Joker.
The sort of understanding the feeling of enemies is a game I recently saw Hitman: Absolution.
The way each characters talks and interact with themselves makes you feel like "wow these are actually human beings just like me". By the time you take one of their men as hostage, they become more aggressive and agitated and more determined to kill you. Whilst in that process, you still feel intermediate and feel something spark and change between those enemies. (watching the walkthrough felt like I was watching a movie man).
In comparison to Splinter Cell Conviction, the enemies there just feels like the same normal bodyguards you've encountered many times and when you are caught, they give off the same pattern reaction and use the same dialogue context.



Another thing I wanted to talk about is the presentation visuals in games. When you look at HUD in games you can tell how vast they've all evolved.

Doom HUD


Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter


Metroid Prime HUD


Doom 3

I couldn't find a picture of Syndicate 2012 HUD and trust me, it's another vastly improved HUD system. You don't see How much Ammo you have left displayed on your gun, the ammo is displayed to the side of your gun like a hologram.
:UPDATE:

Here are the HUD system evolution in Racing games

Gran Turismo


Burnout 3 Take Down


Split Second.

I thought Split Second had the best HUD system that doesn't clung up the screen until I saw this:


Ride Racer Unbounded.
Nothing clung up the screen, you see your point, laps appear interactivity on screen and do not stay static.
I mean I was already blow away by Split/Second's HUD design, then this came up that wow me again. It instantly reminded me Splinter Cell Conviction style of HUD interactive:


3rd Person HUD evolution.

Resident Evil Zero Inventory sccreen


Dead Space Inventory screen

This is why I'm proud of the Gaming Industry, the amount of innovation achievements they keep introducing is just stunning. Designers are always so open minded and some of the stuff they can think of are incredible, however the problem is down to the artist and programmers who would deny the designers of their idea is not possible.

Many of these achievements I see today, I would always thank all 3: designer, programmers and artist. Designers are the one who think of these breakthrough ideas, artist are the ones who draws how it should look like and programmers are the ones who would make that idea work and function.

Like I said before each time we enter a new generation the hardware becomes stronger allowing developers to come up with new innovative stuff.
Just imagine the 8th generation, man the amount of ideas that would be so possible!

Uncharted 3 flawed Climbing system

Ok I've finally had the chance to play Uncharted 3 as I'm currently playing through Campaign mode now.
This is not a review as I just wanted to point out the opportunity flaw this game missed.


We can all say that the best developer in the world is Naughty Dogs developer, they've pushed the PS3's graphical capabilities as well as introducing a great unique memorable character Nathan Drake and telling a great immersive stories in the Uncharted trilogy.

One important thing I wanted to talk about which is the reason why Uncharted failed in this opportunity is the climbing system or platforming. Uncharted is broken into 3 different gameplay segments- Gun shooting, platforming/climbing and puzzle solving. The segments were further improved upon greatly in Uncharted 2 which we saw as a big jump. Now for Uncharted 3 we would expect more jump and newly improve features, however Naughty Dog failed on this and only focused on character development, graphics, multiplayer and story.

All you do is jump when climbing, you are not really doing much or interacting with Drake virtually during climbing.

The problem with ANY game's platforming or Climbing system is that it doesn't connect to the player or draws them closer to the climbing. Tomb Raider pioneered this climbing system, however Uncharted revolutionised it (my words are opinion if you don't agree). Now many games are copying or using this climbing system which does not immerse the player. The worst game to use this climbing mechanic is Enslaved- Journey to the West. I still find The Escapist: Zero Pronunciation review of this game to be 90% accurate. Because one of the flawed highlights to the game is the climbing system, all you do is move the analogue to make Monkey's head face a specific direction and then jump to that location. How is this meant to be fun and engaging?

Unfortunately Uncharted 3 uses the same "old" feature, imagine platforming as you are climbing like you are meant to do. Suddenly you've died up to 6 times, will you keep climbing normally or  rush your climbing? Because I know 80% of all gamers will rush their climbing.
This is WHY logic comes to your head, "if I can climb by rushing, why did the developers put this climbing system there in the first place? it's a waste of time".
Another example is God of War, Kratos uses the Chain Blades to climb and to platform, also you can speed up (rush) your climbing. Many gamers will rather speed up their climbing than climbing normal like they are supposed to.
Which brings up the question once again, if Kratos can climb normally and can also climb faster, why can't the developers just allow Kratos to climb faster without the player speeding up the climbing?


This is why I am bringing up this flaw, however a game which was controversial and bashed by everyone manages to capture how a climbing system should be implemented in a game which is Ninja Gaiden 3. Apart from Ninja Gaiden 3 another game allowed the user to connect with the protagonist whilst climbing is Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The most impressive thing about Shadow of the Colossus was "Physical" reaction you get from the player-->protagonist-->boss. It just felt so good because you know that your character depends on your action during climbing.You control how the character climbs and if you fail, the character will fall.

You will always hang on to the Grip button if you don't want to fall off.

How does this connection work? There is a Grip Button which allows the protagonist to hang onto any ledge or soft surface in the game. Once you are holding down the hold button, the character will never let go, this is when you use the Analogue to control the direction the character is meant to progress. The reason why this method connects mentally to the player is that, when hanging onto the bosses, the bosses will wiggle and shake their bodies, thus weakening the grip system and your hanging focus. Which means while climbing and the boss shakes its body, you can fall off; this is why you depend on the Hold button.

The reason why I love this game's climbing system is that, YOU ARE THE ONE CLIMBING. Other games using old climbing system only allows YOU TO DIRECT the position the character would climb to.


As I mentioned earlier, Ninja Gaiden 3 stepped up it's game by introducing a new updated way of climbing, which is called Kunai Climb.
You run up a wall and to hang on, you hold both Left Trigger and Right Trigger at the same time. Doing this will allow Ryu to hang on to the wall permanently. Now to climb up you just have to alternate your button presses, Left: Right: Left: Right etc. Depending on how fast or slow you press the buttons controls the speed of Ryu's climbing. This is exactly what I mean by connecting the player to the protagonist when climbing. Because it feels like you are climbing instead of feeling like you direct the way the character climbs.
Each time I perform Kunai Climb, it always feels like I'm controlling Ryu's arm.

Use Left Trigger to control Ryu's Left Arm and use Right Trigger to control Ryu's Right Arm

This was a major step forward in Ninja Gaiden 3, if only good developers can see this and recognise this, they would implement it to their games. I was deeply disappointed with Uncharted 3's climbing system and a missed opportunity to update the climbing was missed. In fact Dragon Dogma manages to use this Grip/Hold system to allow players to hang and climb on bosse.

I believe that this Hold/Grip system will suit games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted instead. If the developers can find a way so the player can get into a Climbing trigger mode, when in this mode would grant the player to be able to use Hold/Grip function.
Or simply sacrifce a button map and add a Grip/Hold button instead.

things to do

Before being absent here, I've written some articles about gaming industry or relating to Game Designing which I didn't post here but did at other site.
I've played a lot of games that leaves good impression on me and some don't.

For an example I've finally played Uncharted 3, and I am not impressed by the game play.
Because I'm just getting back to updating my personal blog, I already wrote what happened during my absent and reasons.
Now I will write about a few things I need to post here.

*Uncharted 3 gameplay feels old
*Ninja Gaiden 3's modern gameplay design
*connection between the gamer and protagonist.

I'm not dead....yet (update on what happened)

Ok it's been a while man. A lot of things happened.
My last post was about Euro Gamer Expo...and the Ninja Gaiden 3 excitement.

WASTE OF TIME
Anyway as you know ever since I perceived Ninja Gaiden 3, I stopped reading the Train2Game book and was constantly enthusiast about NG3 and constantly digging information about the game every single day. Now that the game has been released, I love it but was disappointed due to the fact that it was rushed. Now I am back to normal, I seem to be focusing more on life and important things and I play games less often (just like I did before hearing of NG3).

Over the few months in 2011 I was playing my ps3 man all the time: Darkness 2, Mortal Kombat, Syndicate, Child of Eden, Ico and Shadow of Colossus HD, Spiderman Edge of Time, etc.

LIFE PROBLEM
You know personal life problem also occurred, because I was jobless and was looking for a job however my cousin decided to use me and did something terrible. It's like they planned everything out so right that they got away with it.
Basically my cousin was banned from driving, I was jobless so I decided to help him out as a payback because he did a favour for me when I was during a difficult job as a Cold Caller/ Door to Door knocker.
So I was helping him for a few months in Early 2011, however he needed a car so bad because of his job. And he said if he gets a used car, we'll use it to travel to his work, he'll teach me how to drive, he'll register all my details on the car as well as Insurance but he'll pay for insurance.
A jobless person like me never thought about getting a car now as I need a secure job first but if it's to "help" (help someone in the family) then yes I agreed.
Originally the ban was meant to be lifted in Sept and he would get his car back, once he gets his car back he would give me the used car...that was the deal.

I mean for a few months everything was going alright, but when he leant his brother the car, his brother got a ticket with the car. I told my cousin to sort it out, he said his brother would.
Many months pass and he guy just kept getting tickets.
Even though these things were happening, I was still searching for Ninja Gaiden 3 news, I didn't let this problem bother me too much.
I was given a court order because I didn't pay for a ticket, my dad got involved in this mess. And this was when the truth was revealed.
I told my best friend about this and he told me they were using me, I didn't want to believe it but analysing all his actions, it made sense. Because they kept ignoring my calls all the time, basically running.
His brother even got a police speeding ticket, which was the reason why I brought it to my best friend's intention.

In the end I ended up paying £600 for the tickets, all for nothing, I only test drove the car about 4/5 times.
This was the problem I couldn't study much. In fact there's still one more ticket which a parking company are still asking me for it.
I did change my details from the car but the problem is my cousin's brother kept telling the company he doesn't own the car, while I tell them my details on the car has changed I don't have it. Basically like a ping pong game.
I actually did go to the police when I perceived their games, however crappy police station, the lady said they couldn't do anything about it. Only thing I can do is to go to a solicitor.
As you can see, from the start they planned this all out so they can get away with it.
100% fraud!

But Jesus Christ is good, I paid for it in no time, 2012 arrived, I was still searching for NG3 news. I did managed to get back on track with Train2Game for a month. But I was busy again as I needed to take Life in the UK Test which i did pass.


NEW MAN
Also another thing occurred. I'm a Christian, I follow God/Jesus Christ.
"lovers of the world are enemies of God" or "Lovers of God are enemies of the World". (only ones who are Christians and devoted to Jesus would understand this quote).
I perceived this quote and know what it means and follow it, however I kept sinning, I was addicted to porn. Not as in addict like watching it constantly, but I watched it a lot and most of the time and wanted to stop. I would pray to Jesus so he should give me strength to over come this, but nothing was happening.
Also I was looking into dating sites because of my good friend that got me into it.
Only been on 1 date but did not like the way many women acted, I just felt like the place was not for me.

I watched someone's testimony of how Jesus sent the holy spirit to reveal the person's porn addiction. Which was a demon of perversion, that lurks around him. It makes sense because the demon is the one tempting the guy to watch porn, and this demon can cause problem in the family. Which is no different to me and my porn addiction. That story touched me so I prayed to Jesus to relieve me of my addiction and instantly I was cleansed! I feel no more temptation! Praise to God! As I've been asking God to help me with this, I just had to wait for the right time, right time to understand.
So I decided to quit the dating site (in fact before the asking from Jesus, I attended church the last Sunday because I haven't been for a LONG time).



FREE
So now I'm more free. I will try to update this blog, add some more ideas for Ninja Gaiden 4 blog, read the Train2Game book, live life and worship and follow Jesus Christ/God.

Euro Gamer expo

Yes no update all these time that's because I've been so immersed in NG3 that I only search for news on that game almost every day. Now that I finally played it I can get back to work.

Also I finally got to shake hands and speak to Peter Garza who is the localization Producer of NG3 and Team NINJA.

Man it is VERY incredible how these hard working people dedicate their lives to games in order to please their fans. They work hard every day. Lately they had been flying to different conventions: Gamescom, Tokyo Game Show, and now Euro Gamer Expo. How do they do it? Also people should remember that the working force of Japan is completely different to other countries.

Trust me, these people work very hard to make games yet they love it because they enjoy making games. And then you hear minorities complain about game development work force, their negativity about long hours, low pay, no time off etc.
Meeting Team NINJA brought it to my eyes that being in the game development is hard work but you do it because you have passion for making games.


That is all for now. Time to finally get back to study after drifting off for long months!

update progression

What am I doing now as in my studies?

well I've finished the Game design document I was working on, it isn't fully complete, it's only half complete (near complete) to show off if I truly know what I am doing. Think of it as The Prestige, Huge Jackman wants to learn the Transporter man's trick but Christian Bale only provided him the Turn.

I'm working on Flow plan and Level Floor plan. I need to get half of the To Do List done before continuing with my studies.

Also Google+ I got into it. If anyone wants an invite I would invite you.
It is something I wish to succeed because it doesn't invades people's privacy unlike Facebook.
Google+ gives you control on limitation on how much your friends/families and others can know about your lives and all.