Computer Game Story Development - TASK 2

The Sims 3 is a world-wide popular and strategically challenging role-playing game which focuses entirely on recreating a virtual life of your own. This best-selling computer game which was released in 2009 proceeds as expected; by creating and controlling your own Sim in a manner that replicates real life situations, from including themselves in particular activities such as; reading, exercising or even going to work. This game is completely indefinite – which means the player controls exactly how and when the game should end, if it is ever to do so.

The Sims 3 manages to interpret real life to very detailed extremities through firstly, the locations used. As we enter the alternate virtual world, we are presented with our first location; the neighbourhood. This is an important location to the entire game as it is the main element contributing to basically everything your Sim is able to do. From an aerial view, it shows a populated world, very much like real life. This fits appropriately when placing it into the RPG genre as players are able to see an overall perspective on places of their possible business and leisure. The freedom to do anything within this neighbourhood gives this simulation a more realistic touch again when looking to the prospect of involving your Sim with another Sim romantically or even going out for a meal, like one would do. Although gameplay is inactive, another location called Create a Sim Mode is introduced. This location is yet another important aspect of the game even though it is opposite ends of the spectrum to our first location. In this location or ‘mode’ we are free to create a Sim. Age (toddler > child > teenager > young adult > adult > elderly), body, hair and facial features can be adjusted to our preference while even traits and birth signs can be of our choice. This is a big if not the biggest convention used in role playing games as a lot of the time; the players want to feel as though they are actually inside the game or even base their Sim on themselves so the simulation is even more real and they are able to immerse themselves fully. In this location, we see a random Sim standing in a very plain room, in front of a full length mirror and with an edge of a sofa showing. On the left hand side there is a menu where we can adjust the physicality and traits of our Sim. This location although very basic gives the player their first taster of how their Sim may look after Create a Sim Mode has been completed, what the surroundings of their character will be e.g. walls, interior, colours, flooring, furniture and how their Sim moves and communicates. Our final location is the Create/Build a Household Mode. Going back to the very first location mentioned, the player can either move into a pre-set household which is shown on the map of the neighbourhood, which can be selected with or without furniture. Alternatively, players are free to build an entirely new household themselves. They are able to do this by selecting and paying for a piece of land and then going into the build mode. Players then simply select the materials they need to make a house, such as platform for the ground, walls, windows, doors and a roof. Once the house is made, furniture can be added. Anything the player’s Sim can afford and desires can be dragged into the frame, placed where they want it, with the finished product being something made entirely from the players preferences. This is similar to the Create a Sim Mode as these are the only two locations pre gameplay focusing on what sort of Sim is going to reside at the household designed. 

Conditions within The Sims 3 are very player orientated. This means that there are not really any specific rules or goals to meet in the game unless the player wants to do so. For instance, your Sim has the option to make a wish or aspiration to come true. These wishes are set by the game and are in accordance to what core interests you have chosen for your Sim. Let's say you picked your Sim to have an interest in music, an aspiration to learn how to play an instrument could be set. If it is met, you are rewarded with Lifetime Happiness points. These can be 'spent' on anything from fertility treatment (which could make your female Sim have twins, or even triplets in some cases) or more practical things such as 'hardly hungry' which delays the process of your Sims hunger, which would be particularly attractive to the player as feeding your Sim is an on-going chore and some find it annoying when trying to get on with much more exciting things. Although the conditions of this virtual life game are different to other games conditions (the usual idea is to resolve a problem within the storyline which gets you onto a new level/mission). In Sims this is a completely different type of game play as RPG games just interpret life and recreate things we would do every day.

As this game focuses on interpreting lives and immersing the players into a virtual world and life, the actions your character/Sim can make are entirely down to them. Much like a real life person, the Sim is able to do pretty much anything a real life person can do by clicking the character and selecting the action they want. Other than actions, speech can be controlled. Although the Sims speak in their own language, otherwise known as ‘Simmish’ through the actions and physical expressions made by the Sim we are given an idea of what they could be saying. For instance when a Sim is flirting with another Sim, love hearts surround them and they become closer knit and proceed to carry out the action or speech they are directed to do.

The Sims 3 has no other representation or meaning than to give players the freedom to create an alternate world where they aren’t controlled by the system. To do things freely and as comfortable as they want is a satisfaction to fans of simulation games as when a game is realistic to the point they able to recreate themselves (be someone other than who they are and live how/where they want) lets them escape the real world and immerse themselves into this virtual world they have created entirely by themselves. 

This game is set up in three stages; the beginning, otherwise known as the set up (Create a Sim and Household Mode), the middle (confrontation) which could be the Sims interacting with their future friends or partner and finally, the end (resolution) meaning the Sim has reached the greatest age they can and have fulfilled everything their Sim has wanted to achieve in their virtual life. What makes Sims unusual is the fact it is indefinite; the game can go on for as long as you like. This can be adjusted in the settings, where the longevity of each stage of the Sims life age can be delayed or brought on earlier (meaning the Sim doesn’t age how one usually would, you could even set it so your Sim ages in real life time). 

As the storyline for The Sims 3 is entirely down to the player, we could say that those three stages can only be applied to the ones mentioned. We don’t know how the player is going to lead their Sims live as they could do it completely opposite to how I have said.The Sim’s narrative is made up entirely of incidents. Almost like the ‘domino effect’ every decision or action made by the player affects the overall story narrative within the Sims game. Involving your Sim with another Sim in a relationship would be one way of causing this, as the life of this Sim would differ from a Sim which was single - characteristics and emotions would be different, causing them to act differently and lead different life styles. The plot of this game is uncertain and will never be similar throughout, as everything done creates the next stage of the story.

Although Sims 3 does not have another game in which it links between (there are no games before or after that differ from them, as they are basically the same game/storyline with improved graphics and opportunities). For instance, before Sims 3 was Sims 2,which was the first to be released. To make the game more interesting, makers of The Sims 3 have released different expansion packs to improve the game, such as; Pets, Ambitions, Supernatural and Seasons. These different packs give the player more choice of things to do, such as the Supernatural expansion pack which lets the Sim turn into something spooky such as a witch or zombie.

As this game lets the player pretty much create every surrounding and aspect of the Sims life, race and gender of the characters are completely ambiguous. Of course in the game you have pre-set background characters which are seen around the neighbourhood, contributing to the idea of the world being as diverse as it is. Having a range of different ethnicities is important as this game wants to not only appeal to a larger market and make everyone feel welcome, but show the range of characteristics available to choose from when creating your Sim. Being able to adjust or choose a certain skin colour and ethnically specific facial features will make the player feel as though they are normal and that their Sim can be just as perfect – or imperfect as themselves. 

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(EUROGAMER EXPO) Call Of Duty – Ghosts is the next installment in the gaming series which has released 14 titles since 2003. It is a game of the shooter (shoot em’ up) genre, which is set in a war zone. This particular game is set 10 years after a horrifically devastating mass event which saw the down fall of the US government which stripped the country of its power. This is where the characters known as the Ghosts, who are remnant soldiers in the Nation’s operations force, come in and are set to save their country. They have all seen a great fraction of their force defeated by the new and superior powers which are out to cause even more destruction and ruin US further. Rather than fighting for their freedom or liberty, these soldiers are merely surviving and saving what is left of their country.

As the game is meant to be set in a worn-torn and distressed looking world, the location has lived up entirely as expected. As we see a first-person view of this location which is set in the US after invasion of a hijacked space system, we see nothing but devastated landscape; ashes cover remnant buildings and vehicles which have exploded from impact of great height. As one of our characters (Ghosts) walk through, surrounding him we see great fires beaming from the sky, destroying the cityscape above. Since this is a war based game, scenes of destruction are used to extremes. Using locations such as burning rain forests, flooded and partially destroyed cities appropriate entirely back to the idea of the game being about combat and war. The creators of this game have over exaggerated the scenery slightly to make the players obvious of how futilely bad the situation is, making them more determined to defeat the antagonist within the game and increase the anger building in the player.

The ultimate succession for this game would to be to defeat the federation and try to restore the country back to its former glory. Anything contributing to the squad you are in (if you choose to be in a squad) or anything to do with working in a team to surround the enemy for instance, automatically improves the score and how well you do in the game. Reward wise, the character can pick up hidden objects which may or may not help them through their combat to victory; various weapons which are known as Easter-eggs (because you won’t see what you have picked up until you have achieved the targeted point streak set by the game). Once you have past your goal, you can go to your inventory and select this item and use it to defeat the enemy with or without your squadrons. 

As expected and obvious from the genre of the game, involvement in shooting and killing your enemies with weapons collected throughout the game (or bought with reward points) is basically the biggest goal of the game. Characters are able to fire while taking cover/in camouflage helping them get further in the game without being caught and killed by the antagonists. If the soldier does a specific action in the game, they can unlock or pick up the objects collected (hidden Easter-egg objects mentioned). 

The game’s main symbolism is to create a realistic atmosphere of a warzone for the player. As in real life the player will hopefully never experience such brutality, the creators have decided to give them an insight into how it might be like to be a real soldier within this world and give them the encouragement to feel brave in this game. Although it is virtual and is hard to picture what it would really be like, player immersion techniques such as the use of cut scenes send us the message clearly; that the ‘bad guys’ or antagonists need to be defeated for the country to ever be as it once was.

To begin with, the storyline is presented to us through a cut scene. This is basically the set-up of the game and begins to unroll the overall plot of the game. We are informed of the devastation going on and told what needs to be done to resolve this issue. Gameplay can then begin, as our character(s) decide to confront the enemies by defeating and destroying them and everything they have done. Confrontation then leads to the resolution. This is achieved if the player has been able to complete the goals and missions set by the game and has defeated the enemies. The resolution would be that the federation have been ruined, then allowing the US to eventually return to how it was somewhat 10 years ago. 

Each incident which happens within Call of Duty would lead the character to a new confrontation. Although the basic narrative storyline is set in stone and the character has to continue the way set by the creators, the freedom to run or kill anyone could lead the character down the wrong path meaning the game isn’t played the way it was intended to, making it impossible for them to get to the end of the game. Call of Duty have released 5 games which link to one another. This develops an overall storyline that the audience can follow and anticipate when the next installment is due (such as Ghosts which is due to release November 5th, 2013).

Within COD, there are no females. This is down to the fact during the war or in warzones; women are not generally associated or used mainly down to the fact soldiers are mainly male. The fact that the game’s majority of audience would be males could also contribute to the fact females haven’t been used as women are usually scene as weak while men are seen as strong. If a female character would be of option to the player, I feel that they would poke fun. This is because they are playing the game to maintain their masculinity and would find seeing a woman wearing what they think is ‘male’ clothing and involving themselves in ‘male’ activities to be abnormal and unfitting for the game. Race is not an issue that can be talked about within this game as the outfits cover the skin and face, making it hard to see what the characters ethnicities are. I can only assume that as this is based in USA, that there would be multicultural soldiers available to choose from as 8.8 million of African Americans populate the US alone.