Context of Practice 3 Research: Different Game Genres

For my context of practice module I wanted to look into what different game genres there are and what are the pro's and con's of them as to be able to decide on which one to go with for my module.

Shooter
In terms of this kind of game genre it is probably one of the oldest ones there is to hit digital form and how I imagine this to look is very much on a 2D format much like games like asteroids or others that are none stop shooting. This kind of game genres involves working in a large environment that can either be viewed from the side as the player moves horizontal or vertical, or can be viewed from a top-down perspective which could be interesting to make. Although this would be a challenge to make, as I do not know how I would go about making a 2D level with this kind of animations on it, I really am not interested in making this kind of game. Sure, it would be fun to test out, but I feel that I wouldn't get too much enjoyment from it in the long run, and I would prefer to create something I am more passionate about.

First Person Shooter
The next genre I wanted to look at was creating an FPS, or a first person shooter. This is more up my street as I am able to create a rich in life 3D world for my character to walk around. Although I am not particularly interested in making a first person shooter, making the environment for it would be different as it gives me a chance to use my environmental story telling that I got from the last context of practice module to good use in order to create a really well detailed and engaging environment. My only concern with this is that it does not link well into what I want to look at in terms of colour and light and how perspective can be changed in an environment, and to be able to twist this may be difficult in a first person shooter and will distract from the genre.

Adventure/Exploration
This is a genre that I am very interested in as it covers a wide range of different games and I feel that it can be incorporated well into my module and the subject of perspective as a whole. It could be an interesting project and I feel that again I could create a really nice 3D environment that could be explored fully using skills like environmental storytelling as well. It is how I am going to add a mechanic to create the perspective challenge that I am struggling to see happen with this genre as it is very broad and doesn't usually include a certain aspect of game play besides this exploration aspect, which I actually really enjoy. This said this might be a nice genre to mix in with another one as I really like the exploration side to a game and finding those hidden secrets is all part of the fun of the game.

Platform
This is a very interesting genre to look at, because again it is an old one and is really fun to make. The platforming genre typically will not have the best story line to them and will usually be all about what you have to do to get through the level without dying which is a nice concept for me as then I do not have to think much into the back story of the game and the character, the game is simply fun on its own trying to get around the level. But this them means that the level may not be as detailed as you'd like it to be. A platformer for most gamers is about trying to get to the end of the level as fast as you can without dying or messing up on a certain part, and is not about looking at the environment and how beautiful it is, this definitely takes a back seat to the game play which is not something I want to create.

Role Playing Game
An RPG is a really interesting game genre as there is so much that you can do with them and they rely on you having a really good and interesting back story, characters and narrative which is something that I am very interested in looking at as you can really become fond of the characters and you will learn so much about their lives and who they are as people and what they do in the world they live in. This genre of game can be done so perfectly which is what makes it really scary for me. The RPG is huge and something that requires you to have a very high quality of writing in the narrative something that I am not necessarily confident in doing. Also this kind of game for me looks like it could require more deeper knowledge of scripting and programming for it to work, something beyond the capabilities of an environment modeler.

Puzzle
I then wanted to look at puzzle games as this has been something that I have really been interested in looking at recently. With puzzle games you can very easily incorporate it into another game genre and then adapt it. This is definitely something I would be interested in doing as it has so many different possibilities to be interesting and engaging. The theme can very easily be changed around then and adapted to make the game more interesting and worth playing. This genre is also one that will link in very well into my written aspect of creating a world were the perspective can be altered.

Simulation
This type of game genre can be very interesting and exciting to play as you can take control of other people's lives in games like The Sims or built up a city in builders like Banished. There are a lot of possibilities in this kind of genre and they are very well designed. My only problem with this genre is that it can be very difficult to program everything to work and creating an environment for it would mean building up the scene with a programmer which is something that I do not have access to or the time to figure out how to do that. I think for now this isn't a genre that I want to go into.

Strategy
This is another that is very similar to simulation in the way that you would need programming or a lot of scripting to be able to get the game to work, but this is one that I could definitely create the environment for and it might be exciting due to the fact that you need to think about where the bases will be and where the players will want to be getting to in order to complete the game. It would be an interesting concept that would be exciting to try out at some point.

Survival/Horror
The last genre that I wanted to look at was survival/horror which has always been a very interesting topic for me to look at. The idea of making a horror game is very appealing to me, and it could have an element of change of perspective in it to confuse the player and change how they look at the environment, but for me this is very similar to what I looked at last year with environmental storytelling and is maybe something that I want to steer away from this time even though they are always very fun to make.

In the end I have decided to go with my main genre being puzzle as I think that this is an interesting one to look at and have a go with. The puzzle genre is something that could be made more interesting and interactive as lately ones that have been made are just puzzle levels or games that include a puzzle feature. I then also wanted to include an adventure/exploration aspect to the game as well so that I could add a level of immersion into the gameplay as well and really make the player feel that it is them that is playing the game and figuring out the puzzles.