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Farming Fun?

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I knew very little about Rune Factory until my friend Jettoki began playing it. I teased him about the silly sounds and cute anime style, but he insisted on its merits. I picked it up myself and found that it wasn't what I expected.

Check out our thoughts about Rune Factory on our new blog He Games, She Games.

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
 

Classic Kong

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One of my favorite parts of being a video game design student is getting to play games for homework. This week, my assignment was to play Donkey Kong, the Game Boy title from 1994.

Usually, my main focus while playing a new game is the fun factor. An academic setting can really help to break me out of my narrow point of view and see a game in a new way. While playing Donkey Kong, I was supposed to look for design elements and good ideas to inspire a class game project.

What strikes me most about Donkey Kong was the simplicity of the levels. Many levels were entirely visible from the start – making for easy strategizing. It reminded me of the simple mazes I used to have in travel fun activity books, but better. This maze involved a couple of stops and active enemies to avoid.

The foes in Donkey Kong were refreshingly different from the 3D platformer enemies I’ve grown accustomed to defeating. Some enemies can be easily avoided, but their heads can be used as platforms to jump to a higher level. Other enemies wouldn’t kill you outright upon contact with them, but they could knock you off ledges and be a general nuisance. These annoying enemies didn’t have complex A.I. behavior, but the level design was sophisticated enough to make them a formidable obstacle.

I had a hard time getting past the first level in Donkey Kong. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m very bad at Mario games, so it should come as no surprise that I had trouble controlling Mario in Donkey Kong. This game is much older than games I normally play, and the control scheme was much more simple. Instead of worrying about all the angles to make a jump, timing was most often the most important factor. I found myself climbing up the broken ladders, sure that I was out of the deathy barrels’ range, only to discover that the collision was slightly less accurate than newer games and I would soon be dead.

I hold no grudge against Donkey Kong. In fact, I really admire all the creativity in the level design and the simplicity in the puzzles. It’s great to see a game that focused on design before graphics and made the most of the limitations of its time. While this game may not be fun for someone like me accustomed to modern mechanics, I still find it an admirable classic.  
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New Blog!

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After months of writing about games by myself, I thought it would be fun to write with someone else. A good friend of mine and a fellow game blogger, Jettoki is the co-author of He Games, She Games. Each week, we play the same title and then write about it. Unlike this blog, the games analyzed on He Games, She Games are almost exclusively recent releases.

Click below to read our thoughts on Stuntman: Ignition, one of the games I tested this summer.

He Games, She Games  

Patience for the Prince

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I downloaded Prince of Persia: Classic to play with my friend over the weekend. He had told me that it was supposed to be great and he was very excited to try it out. Assuming that it would be worth the $10 or so, I decided not to waste my time with a demo and go straight for the full version.

First, my friend and I took turns playing. When one of us would complete a level or die repeatedly, we'd switch off. This worked pretty well through the first few levels. The visuals looked great and the Prince moved swiftly. The combat mechanics seemed a little rough, but I thought that I just needed more time to get used to it.

We progressed until the fourth level, when suddenly we got stuck. Perhaps it was the fact that we had found so few of the health increase potions. Maybe it was the combat system. Whatever it was, we both got frustrated because we had an incredibly hard time defeating a common enemy. Once in a while we did beat the enemy, but there was no checkpoint right afterwards, and a misstep in a difficult jump sequence made it all worthless. Prince of Persia: Classic is very unforgiving.

I stopped playing the game after multiple attempts at the fourth level. I was ready to give it up entirely. Fortunately, my friend is more patient or perhaps just more stubborn. After a short break, he continued to play through the game and is nearly finished now. However, it was not without repeated swearing and complaining that he progressed that far. While he did not face the same block that we found earlier, he still didn't seem to be having a lot of fun.

It seems that we may have run into such frustration for two reasons: not finding the life potions and the lack of consistency in combat. The fact that we didn't find all the potions to give our Prince more health was entirely within our control, but the combat was not. Although we could have looked up the secret locations to extend our health or explored more on our own, many of the potions were well-hidden. Areas that don't appear to be accessible until you jump to them suddenly become visible. However, this leap-before-you-look philosophy can be very dangerous. As I mentioned earlier, one bad jump can set you back several minutes, especially when there are difficult enemies. While the areas become very obvious once you discover them, it seems to work well only upon repeat plays of the levels. I am not the kind of player who enjoys returning to games over and over, and I think this type of play may have worked better in the arcade setting.

The second most frustrating part of the game was the combat system. If you tried to counter an attack one way and it failed, the next time that same method would work (and vice versa). It was incredibly inconsistent and lacked a cohesive pattern. In this way, it felt less like a skill-based game and more emphasis was placed on chance. Also, attack animations could take a long time, and button mashing would cause the Prince to execute all the commands in order, but slowly. It felt like watching a slow computer, clicking away while the cursor spins and you just have to watch while your Prince dies.

Although I did not play the game for as long as my friend, I experienced enough frustration to show me that Prince of Persia: Classic is not my type of game. If you want to read a more in-depth review from my friend who played with me, check it out here: Design Review: Prince of Persia Classic.  
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Profitable Penguins

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When I heard that a little site called Club Penguin had sold for $700 million, I thought that it must be a mistake. This idea that some online community for children could sell for that much money was simply astounding. One of my professors asked me to create an academic presentation on Club Penguin, so I soon had the opportunity to answer my burning question: What made Club Penguin worth $700 million?

I signed onto the site and created my own happy penguin avatar. I was immediately struck by the cute factor on the website. It had a nice visual style that didn’t look overtly “kiddish” (i.e. exaggerated cartoon style or abundant embarrassing imitations of children’s handwriting). The colors were tasteful while remaining bright and cheerful. The penguin theme really worked – it unified the social areas and gave a nice blue and white color theme. Competitor site WebKinz is full of cuteness as well, but the bright rainbow of pinks, yellows, oranges, and purples detracts from the content.

I explored the world, expecting to find a myriad of games. I was surprised to find no advertised game signs to point me in the right direction; I had to hover my mouse over normal-looking objects like a boat or a coffee bean sack to even see the text indicating that it was a link to a game.

With such little focus on the games in the community areas, I expected the social aspect to be booming. Unfortunately, I found that a lot of my penguin peers were not very chatty. Most penguins moved quickly from one area to the next. Some penguins did seem to hang out on the screen but said very little. I tried asking a few questions and consistently did not receive a response until I asked a question a few times. The other penguins didn’t seem unfriendly; they just weren’t interested in long chats.

If all the penguins aren’t hanging around chatting, where is the draw in Club Penguin? As a non-paying member, I had little access to what appeared to be the greatest attraction: the materialism element. Penguins all over the site were dressed in flashy outfits, walking fluffy pets called puffles, and inviting each other to parties at their fancy igloos. Paying members can earn in-game currency through the minigames, which they then use to buy clothing, accessories, pets, furniture, appliances, and technology for themselves and their igloos. The penguin avatars can essentially become walking status symbols.

In order to get the currency, players must log many hours in the minigames. After playing a few of these minigames, I found that the currency was relatively easy to obtain. The minigames are mainly simple flash-based games with very basic controls. Generally, games use the mouse or the arrow keys (with or without the spacebar). I was very surprised to see that there are only about 14 games total on the website – ten single-player, four multiplayer. The games seem very easy at first but quickly become more and more difficult. Fortunately, players can continue to play the easier levels over and over and still receive the same amount of currency. In this way, it caters to a player base of all levels, but those with fewer skills will have to have more patience.

As a college student, Club Penguin does not really seem like my type of game. It is cute and fun (for about half an hour) but it’s not nearly enough to keep me coming back. What I began to realize is that Club Penguin is not a runaway success because of the social element. It’s about the status and fulfilling fantasies; kids want to build their dream homes and ideal wardrobes while playing some fun games. Maybe once in a while they’ll meet someone new, but only if they have time after playing some of those minigames again.  
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Social Contrast

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I recently had to play two "light" MMOs for class: Toontown and Puzzle Pirates. Even if both games were designed for different age groups, the social interactions in each were dramatically different. It seems that Toontown is much more focused on social interactions. One of my first tasks in Toontown was to make at least one friend. I found it very easy to make friends here, as I asked several people to be my friend and almost all accepted. Unfortunately, this ease of friending makes the friendship more hollow.

In Puzzle Pirates, all of my first tasks were independent. While my duty puzzles did help members of the crew (each of us had a duty like carpentry, bilge pumping, and sailing), each was a series of puzzles that I completed alone. The constant “duty reports” reminded me that I was working alongside a crew, but these interruptions didn’t really encourage social interaction.

After completing three duty puzzles in Puzzle Pirates, I decided to explore the town. I went into a building that looked like a restaurant. I tried to check out a few games at tables where I saw one or two people seated. However, most of the activities were limited to paying members. I then went over to a table with a crowd of people. It was a central table that allowed players to access multiple parlor games. However, none of these people appeared to be talking to each other, at least outside of games. The multiplayer games may have had conversations, but the crowd in the outside world was silent.

Toontown had a very different atmosphere. There was much more chatter, from the taunts of enemies to the very vocal creatures at the headquarters. Even if these animals didn’t have a mission for you, they would talk to you. I received several friend requests and even was surprised when a message appeared on my screen later, stating that one of my friends needed help in battle. I teleported to them immediately and found that two of her other friends had done the same. There were four of us in battle, all determined to help our friend. This friend was someone I knew nothing about other than the facts that she was in danger and she had asked me to be her friend. If her other two friends knew as little about her as I did, then the game must have done something special to establish a connection between us.

How does Toontown unite people better than Puzzle Pirates? Toontown keeps everyone on the same side. While you fight against enemies, you can always have a friend in battle and you never seem to fight other players. In Puzzle Pirates, the spirit of pirates reigns true: pirates are out for small crews or for themselves. The activities are more isolated and there are more selfish goals. It does not seem like gifts are encouraged like they are with the big gift button in Toontown’s “Cattlelog.” While I am not opposed to social interaction, I am more inclined to play a game like Puzzle Pirates because it feels much less invasive and the social dynamic is less of a focus.