Pinball Playfield Exercise

The first pinball game I played was Disney's Wall-E, and it was great.  It was medium to fast paced and had cute sounds, which kept it true to the movie.  It was fairly simple but probably the most complex out of the three games that I played, and fairly easy to get rewarded with points (as well as sounds and lights) for hitting a series of targets.  Since I love computer pinball, I have played a bunch of different kinds, and this is a fairly good version, although typical.  The mechanics seem really good, the responsiveness of the flippers and their angles, but the ball just looks small and I think that takes away a good connection with the game since it is much harder to follow on screen.  As for the playfield components, the wire ramps weren't very long or complex at all, but they had original effects when the ball went through them.  This game was pretty easy and rewarding, as well as fun to play and watch.  I liked this game a lot.  Belowthe playfield components for Wall-E are mapped out and identified.

The next game that I played was RapidMotion pinball, and I thought it was really cool.  It was a non-traditional adaptation of the game, and as such it was pretty confusing at first and I had no idea what I was doing or what was happening.  Honestly, I still don't, but it was pretty fun anyway.  It was really fast paced since the playing area is so small, and basically all the walls were bumpers.  I guess in a way part of the challenge is to first figure out what is happening.  There are three balls on screen, one is bronze and that is the only one affected by gravity.  You interact with it via your flippers, and if it hits one of the other balls that are bouncing around at the top of the circle, they turn bronze instead.  There are different sort of power ups, or maybe they are just points, that you can collect in the center of the playfield that appear randomly.  You ball can be captured in one of three holes at the top that periodically open up, and I guess it is either captured for a time or it is just taken away.  I'm really not sure what exactly happens.  Also your gutter has a shield which depletes each time the ball comes in direct contact with it.  When it is completely gone the ball can fall into it and you lose that ball.  The best part was that there is something wrong with the high score saving system (I think, otherwise there is no real high score list), so it ended up showing that I got the World High Score and was therefore the World Champion.  Awesome!  What a way to reward the player.  (You can see in the screen cap above that the top score listed is, in fact, MY score. Nice!)

Here are the playfield components for RapidMotion:

The last pinball game I played was Starsky & Hutch, and honestly, it sucked compared to the first two.  It was just too fast and the flipper response was like a millisecond too fast as well, so it was pretty impossible to hit the ball and make it go where you wanted it to go.  This reminds me of the early days of computer pinball where the physics just didn't feel right at all, probably because the physics just don't feel right...at all.  Also the sounds are really repetitive and annoying, especially if you lose multiple balls in a rapid sequence "Not cool" "Not cool" "Not cool".  I guess just human voices, especially Ben Stiller's voice, are not ideal if you don't want to antagonize the player. Other than that the playfield was lacking more areas of visual interest besides the three bumpers at the top, especially since the phsyics make it pretty rare to go up a ramp.  It just needed one or two more areas where the ball could interact with some elements.  As you can see below in the map of the playfield elements, there is almost nothing for the ball to interact with in the bottom half of the playfield.

Finally, the questions.

What is "good gameplay" when it comes to pinball design?
I guess in a way it depends on the player and what they prefer, but in general I think good gameplay for pinball is fast paced, absorbing, and has real world physics in its player interactions (so the player has a pretty good idea of what will happen when they hit the ball a certain way).  It should also have many areas of interest to avoid the game from becoming boring quickly.

How do pinball playfield designers create exciting experiences?
To create exciting experiences, they create areas where the player can use skill to complete challenges to earn points.  There are multiple areas and a variety of ways to earn points, to keep the player on their toes.  They also incorporate some element of narrative to make the game more interesting, even if it's only a picture that relates somewhat to the overall theme of the game.  Basically they incorporate "good gameplay" in their design for ramps, bumpers, rollovers, and any other element of the game; they try to make it so that the ball interacts with these elements in exciting ways and with some element of speed.

Cartoon Network Game Creator - Batman

A) What options are available to you as a 'game designer'? 


The options that are available are pre-created characters and basic level designs that can be edited, as well as basic enemies and obstacles, power ups, collectables, etc.  You can set the goal of the level as well. 


B) How are these options provided?


They are preset options that are available in a side panel. The build process is set in steps, so there needs to be basic decisions made prior to actually designing the level itself.

C) What types of elements are provided for you to use to 'build' the game? 


There are environmental elements like water and walls, floors, disappearing platforms and walls, enemies, lasers, missiles, collectibles, teleportation devices, etc.


D) What limits are set on the level of the game play able to be customized?


The limits are the size of the level, it is a very small screen that the character can navigate.  Also there are a set number of options for each step (only a certain number of characters who have certain powers, only one view available, limited number of types of platforms, enemies, types of obstacles, basically everything they give you there is only a small number of options [if any] available to use).


E) What does the process of using these game creators teach about the notion of the 'difficulty and achievement' balance? Explain using an example from your research.


It really shows that the level of difficulty has to be worth the achievement.  For example, there is no achievement really for winning.  So the level of difficulty has to be enough that the player won't die an extreme amount of times before the goal is achieved, otherwise the gameplay is boring and frustrating, and the player will not see the point in trying to continue to play.

King's Cross

This is a two player game where the object is to trap the King before he eats all of your pawns.  The two players take turns moving four defending pieces and eight pawns, while the King moves around by the use of two die rolls.

The game begins set up like so:

The white King starts in one of the four center squares, while two pawns and one defender stem from each of the four corners.  The King can only move North, South, East, and West (board either says which side is which or players agree on the directions); same with the pawns.  There are two knight defenders, and two rook defenders, and they retain their range of movement from the original game of chess, except that they can also move backward. The movement of all pieces, including the king, can go off the side of the board and continue on the opposite side, as long as there is nothing blocking the move.  For example, if a player moved North from the top left corner, the next space it would enter would be the bottom left corner.  If it moved West from the top left corner, it would move to the top right corner, and so on.

The game starts with the King's move, which is two dice rolls or two die.  One roll determines the number of squares it can move (1-6), and the other roll determines the direction it moves (1=N, 2=S, 3=W, 4=E or any agreed upon arrangement).  Then one player moves, and they move first their defender and then a pawn (if they so choose).  The object of the movement is to either block the King from eating a pawn, or to try to trap the King by surrounding it on all four sides.  The other player then moves; they can move the same pieces as the first player if they wish.  Then the King moves again in the same manner.  

If the King runs into a defender, it's turn ends in that spot.  Neither piece is otherwise affected, they just can't move past the other.  In the below example, if the King rolled to move 6 spaces West, it would only be able to move one square before it's movement was stopped.

The game continues on in this way until the King encounters a pawn. In the example below, the King would encounter a pawn if it was moving West as it made this move.  The King only eats a pawn if it is in the path of its movement.

When the King hits a pawn, it eats it and the pawn is gone from the board.  After it eats a pawn, the King earns a new roll.  After the first pawn it eats, it then has two moves per turn (two separate rolls of the two die).  When it eats another pawn, it earns a third move per turn.  The King will continue to move three times per turn until the game is over, even if it eats more pawns.

If the King is blocked on any side at the beginning of its turn, it can't complete a move in that direction.  If it has more than one roll per turn, it has another chance or two to move in another direction. Thus, if it is surrounded on three sides, it has to wait until it gets a roll in the one direction it can move in. 

The game ends when the four defenders successfully surround the King and it can no longer move.  This can appear a number of different ways, since movement can go off the board. All the examples below show a winning board.

Anthrophobic ball

This game is similar in appearance to the Labyrinth game, where a ball is rolling through a maze that tilts on a central axis. The gameplay differs in that it is a two player game, where players control a series of gates set into a fairly complex maze to change the path of the ball. There is one board, and two peripheral gate control switch sets.

The object of the game is to get the ball into your goal, and therefore to prevent the ball from reaching your opponents goal. There is also one edge of the board that is a drop off into oblivion, and both players lose if the ball falls off the board. The tilting mechanism is automated and random, so the closing of gates needs to be done quickly and shrewdly. All gates throughout the maze can be closed by either player, whoever hits the switch for it first, but will stay closed until a ball hits it. After the ball bounces off of a closed gate it reopens and can be closed again by either player.  

The game is competitive, but can also be cooperative at times when the ball is in danger of falling off of the edge. The board itself can be a variety of shapes and sizes to appeal to players of different skill levels, and could even have more players than two if the board is made for it.  It would simply have more goals and more peripheral gate controls.  These boards could be also be used for less people than there are goals by dividing up the goals so that players have more than one goal, or to ignore other goals.  

Other ideas for this game could be to put it on a computer, so that the maze itself can change, and levels can be added to make it more difficult (tilts more extreme, ball sped up, etc.) or even to make it one player.  Another adaptation of the game would be to have one player in control of the tilt of the board, and the other in control of the gates, in a competition to get the ball into their own goals.  

Tempest

Student Name   Meghan Earley

Today’s Date  8-19-11

Game Title Examined  Tempest

Year of Publication     1981

Game Publisher       ATARI

Game Developer      ATARI

Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)

 Shoot em up I suppose.

Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

It's flat but it represents a 3D world, but there is only 2D movement.

Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

 Either top down or side-on. Depending on how you look at it.

Gameplay – what does the player have to do?

 You have to move around the perimeter of a hole-type area and shoot enemies and their missiles that are coming up the tube at you before they get to the top.

Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.

 Yeah it's pretty intuitive, although at first for some reason I couldn't figure out what was going on.  But within a few seconds I got it.

Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)

 It's patterned I think, but it seems random.  I mean obviously you have only one purpose in the game: to destroy the enemies before they get to the top.

What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?

 The graphics were very basic but had different colors and the idea of 3D, so not as old as some of the other games that I played.

Describe your views about the game from the point of view of

1. ease of play

 Oh man, it was impossible.  I tried playing with the keys and it was not sensitive at all, and impossible to control the pointer/gun/ship that I was supposed to control.  Playing with the mouse was about a billion times easier and much more fun.

2. enjoyability

Fun!  Except for the first few minutes I tried to control it with the keys.  That was terrible and I was about to give up.

      c) level of engagement/immersion

 Pretty engaged, it takes more quick thinking and more quick movement than some other early games.  I might not be able to hold a conversation while playing this.

Had you played this game prior to this time?  If so, when?

 No.

Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this?

None that I can think of.

Lunar Lander

 Student Name   Meghan Earley

Today’s Date  8-19-11

Game Title Examined   Lunar Lander

Year of Publication   1979

Game Publisher    ATARI

Game Developer      ATARI

Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)

 I guess a kind of puzzle and sports game, if you consider being an astronaut a sporting activity.

Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

 Flat environment

Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

 Third person perspective.

Gameplay – what does the player have to do?

 The player has to control the thrust and rotation (which affect speed and direction) of a lunar lander to safely land it on a flat surface.

Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.

 Yeah it's relatively easy to understand, although you would have to know which keys to press.  But it's fairly easy to understand the concept of limited fuel and how slow you have to land it once you've crashed a few times.

Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)

I guess it is patterned, the levels are the same each time you play through them, but each level is different from the last.

What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?

It shows that they were still at the basic starting points of the technology, it was the first vector game so they were starting to get somewhere with it, but it is still very simple line drawings.

Describe your views about the game from the point of view of

1. ease of play

 It is easy to play, control-wise.  Very simple.  But obviously very difficult.

2. enjoyability

 I didn't find it very enjoyable.  It was very slow and not very rewarding.  Or maybe that was just my gameplay.

      c) level of engagement/immersion

 A minimum level of engagement, I didn't think that it was very engaging because it took so much gentle adjustment to get the thing in the exact positition, and then preserve the fuel, etc.

Had you played this game prior to this time?  If so, when?

No.

Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this?

I can't think of another game it reminds me of right now.  I've played many games like this but never liked them long enough to play them again, so I can't remember any of the names. But obviously this is a much copied game.

PONG

Student Name  Meghan Earley

Today’s Date  8-19-11

Game Title Examined    PONG

Year of Publication   1972

Game Publisher   ATARI

Game Developer  ATARI

Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)

 Sports?

Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

 Flat environment

Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

 Top down

Gameplay – what does the player have to do?

 The player has to move a paddle up or down to reflect a ball towards the other player in a way where they are unable to block it.

Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.

 Yes, very. All you need to figure out is what keys to press, or if it is the mouse that moves the paddle.

Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)

 It is patterned, the ball launches from the same spot in the same direction (I think) every time, and the rest is all based on your movements.

What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?

 It was very limited, very basic electronic audio and visuals.

Describe your views about the game from the point of view of

1. ease of play

 It's actually not very easy, unless you play on easy, but that's what makes it so engaging I suppose.  If it was super easy to play you wouldn't feel rewarded when you won, so having it be pretty difficult and frustrating at times is what makes it so addictive.  But other than difficulty of the game itself, it is really super easy to play.  Super easy.  Much easier if you play with the mouse instead of the keys.

2. enjoyability

 Of course it's very fun, that's why it still exists.  When it gets frustrating you're still not emotionally involved like most games these days, so you don't get so angry and upset for losing so many times.  This makes it really fun, but not the sort of game that really has any sort of emotional impact on your life.

      c) level of engagement/immersion

 Fairly immersed in gameplay, I mean you have to be paying attention enough to guess where the ball will go next.  Other than that it's not super involving, you could talk to friends while you do it or listen to someone talk, it's basically a reflexive game that doesn't require much more involvement than your visual attention.

Had you played this game prior to this time?  If so, when?

 I have, a bunch, it's the basic of basics really.  The only time I ever played it on a computer before this was probably in the early '90s at a neighbors house, it was fancier looking than this but had the same gameplay.  Other than that I've only played it on a phone, which is harder and less engaging.

Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this?

 It reminds me of Breakout, which I like a ton better than Pong.  I don't know why really, but maybe the ball going vertically seems easier to predict.  Basically Pong is the same thing as Breakout but against another player instead of breaking a bunch of bricks.  Same paddle and ball idea, with the same physics of rebounding etc.