rising (or, Mark, Stewart, and Andrew’s 1st graded University of East London IM2075 coursework)

{video|source code & compiled:Mac OS X}

Rise Robot Rise (or, Mark’s ?* graded University of East London MS2302-A coursework)

*It looks like I never kept a record of the grade I received for this assignment…

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This essay seeks to present a overview of the current applications of virtual reality and augmented reality, the latter defined as a “real-world environment with [...] superimposed and engaged simulated elements”¹ (or, vice versa, a virtual environment with superimposed and engaged real-world elements), in the context of aiding the disabled to perceive the full gamut of normal Human sensory experience, and in the context of aiding the disabled and injured to overcome psychological conditions and to recover more quickly from injuries which are in part psychological.

Press start to shut down, redux (or, Mark’s 2:2 graded University of East London MS1301-B coursework)

Contents

Overview of the organisation, and of the web-site

Overview of the page and web-site design considerations

Explanation of the design of the logo of the organisation and web-site

Style guide for the pages of the web-site

Bibliography of references

Bibliography

Overview of the organisation, and of the web-site

This report seeks to present several designs for pages of the web-site of the press-start.com¹ organisation; an organisation the primary presence of which will be online, press-start.com is a new non-profit organisation which seeks to further the recognition of videogame culture by: presenting a time-line of landmarks in videogame design, a ‘genealogy’ of videogame design; presenting post-mortem deconstructions of these landmark videogame designs, as an aide to designers of contemporary videogames; and by presenting ‘artefacts’ of these landmark videogames, in the form of screenshots of the games, videos of the games, photographs of box-art, photographs and transcriptions of manuals, and where possible (where either the developer or publisher of the game has granted permission, or where the copyright has lapsed) downloads of the games (and where necessary, the emulators necessary to play the games.) The press-start.com organisation will also fund relevant, non-development related, research, such as into the psychological effects of videogames.

Through presenting this history of videogames, the press-start.com organisation seeks to further the recognition of videogame culture, which some would otherwise see as a subculture wholly dependant on the influences of longer established subcultures for survival and growth, such as movie and book licenses, a subculture with no history of it’s own; the press-start.com organisation also seeks to grow videogame culture by, in presenting this history of videogames, and this ‘genealogy’ of videogame designs, enabling designers of contemporary videogames to conceive of new designs drawn from the whole gamut of videogame history.

A non-profit organisation, press-start.com is dependant upon donations, but also sustains itself through holding fund-raising videogame tournaments.

Although the objectives of the press-start.com organisation overlap in part with several other web-sites (such as the Video Game Museum² for videogame ‘artefacts’, the Home of the Underdogs³ for videogames which have been made freely available by the developer or publisher, or on which copyright has lapsed, and Gamasutra⁴ or iDevGames⁵ for post-mortem deconstructions of videogame designs), none of these web-sites shares the objective of the press-start.com organisation to affect change outside the subculture of videogames; and although these web-sites are presenting the past of videogame design, they present no easy way in which to trace the genealogy of videogame design, as will the time-line of press-start.com; and although these web-sites are preserving the past of videogame design, they are making no efforts to influence or inform the future outside the subculture of videogames itself.

Extraordinary rendition (or, Mark’s 1st graded University of East London SD1042 coursework)

{source code & compiled}

Press start to shut down (or, Mark’s 1st graded University of East London MS1301 coursework)

Overview of the organisation, and of the web-site

This report seeks to present several prototypical designs for the front-page of the web-site of the press-start.com¹ organisation; an organisation the primary presence of which will be online, press-start.com is a new non-profit organisation which seeks to further the recognition of videogame culture by: presenting a time-line of landmarks in videogame design, a ‘genealogy’ of videogame design; presenting post-mortem deconstructions of these landmark videogame designs, as an aide to designers of contemporary videogames; and by presenting ‘artefacts’ of these landmark videogames, in the form of screenshots of the games, videos of the games, photographs of box-art, photographs and transcriptions of manuals, and where possible (where either the developer or publisher of the game has granted permission, or where the copyright has lapsed) downloads of the games (and where necessary, the emulators necessary to play the games.) The press-start.com organisation will also fund relevant, non-development related, research, such as into the psychological effects of videogames.

Through presenting this history of videogames, the press-start.com organisation seeks to further the recognition of videogame culture, which some would otherwise see as a subculture wholly dependant on the influences of longer established subcultures for survival and growth, such as movie and book licenses, a subculture with no history of it’s own; the press-start.com organisation also seeks to grow videogame culture by, in presenting this history of videogames, and this ‘genealogy’ of videogame designs, enabling designers of contemporary videogames to conceive of new designs drawn from the whole gamut of videogame history.

A non-profit organisation, press-start.com is dependant upon donations, but also sustains itself through holding fund-raising videogame tournaments.

Although the objectives of the press-start.com organisation will overlap in part with several other web-sites (such as the Video Game Museum² for videogame ‘artefacts’, the Home of the Underdogs³ for videogames which have been made freely available by the developer or publisher, or on which copyright has lapsed, and Gamasutra⁴ or iDevGames⁵ for post-mortem deconstructions of videogame designs), none of these web-sites shares the objective of the press-start.com organisation to affect change outside the subculture of videogames; and although these web-sites are presenting the past of videogame design, they present no easy way in which to trace the genealogy of videogame design, as will the time-line of press-start.com; and although these web-sites are preserving the past of videogame design, they are making no efforts to influence or inform the future outside the subculture of videogames itself.

By rote revisited… (or, the ‘The Lieutenant’ design document, Mark’s 1st graded University of East London MS1303-B coursework)

Foreword

This report seeks to present a design treatment for the proposed game, entitled The Lieutenant, the gameplay mechanics of which tie it to belonging to the genre of turn-by-turn strategy games (examples of which are Intelligent Systems’¹ Advance Wars² or Quest’s Tactics Ogre duology), but with a greater emphasis on narrative-driven levels and features than that which is often found in the genre.

In The Lieutenant, the player will assume the role of the character of the title, The Lieutenant, a general bound to the service of the remnants of a fallen Empire, as in a dream-like state in her dying moments she is forced to relieve her memories of war, and to question the futility of the war which has brought her to her death.

Whilst elements of this design treatment have been drawn the articles and examples of such design treatments by Tim Ryan³, Chris Taylor⁴, and Francois Laramee⁵, none of these definitions of the structure of, and content required within, a design treatment has been treated as canon, a perspective echoed by the authors of the above articles (Laramee: “There is no such thing as a standard design document”); the resulting design treatment for The Lieutenant is a fusion of the criteria set forth by those three authors, and considers the following elements: a discussion of gameplay theory as it pertains the to the proposed game; the key features of the game, namely the gameplay mechanics, and the types of soldiers and war-engines featured in the game; the battlefield environment; the game-player interface; the plot of the game; a discussion of narrative theory as it pertains to the proposed game; and the visual style of the proposed game, especially the impact of this element on the mood of the game.

Thought for the day: strive harder (or, Mark’s 2:2 graded University of East London MS1303 coursework)

Foreword

This report seeks to present an analysis of the game Lugaru¹ by Wolfire Software², a recently released shareware game for the Mac OS X platform (although the developer states that a port to the Windows platform is currently in development), a game belonging tenuously to the genre of ‘third-person action adventures’; in Lugaru, the player assumes the role of the anthropomorphic rabbit Turner, as he seeks to avenge the slaughter of his family, unravelling a conspiracy by the rulers of the rabbits to sell their people into slavery to the wolves.

This report seeks to analyse Lugaru using a fusion of the game-analysis/critique methodologies developed by Lars Konzack³ and Geoff Howland⁴, considering the following elements of the game being critiqued: the game-player interface; the gameplay; as separate elements, the visual and auditory aspects of the game, and their impact on the mood of the game, the continuity of the game’s universe, and the immersion of the player in the game’s universe; the references and symbolism present in the game; and the plot of the game.

By rote… (or, Mark’s 2:1 graded University of East London CN1044 coursework)

Foreword

Due to the deviation of the system suggested by this report from the specification of the preferred system put forth by the family in a major regard – that the system suggested by this report is incapable of running Microsoft Windows, instead running Apple Mac OS X (which limits the ability of the suggested system only in regards to the fulfilment of the family’s preference for a system which is a viable gaming platform) – the justifications for this deviation (on the grounds of security, and on the grounds that the family have given no reason for their insistence on a system running Windows, and so it is not known whether this requirement is the product of a ‘fear’ of the unknown, that the family is comfortable with Windows, or because the family must be able to run some bespoke software or software which is otherwise only available on Windows) has been placed prior to the listing of the suggested system.