A Short History of Digital Gamespace

Text-Based
Represented a way of making big games with small resources, based all on text so allowed for larger possibilities. The take place on an imaginary space using words and the players imagination, meaning all you have to do is describe the landscape and the player does the rest. They do this by not patronising the player, but rather assuming the player has the ability to imagine these landscapes even with a small amount of description.
The games take place on a map, using description to let the player know the layout and locations. This means if the player is to type in "W" for West, the Western section of the map will be described to you.
Because of this use of text based adventure, the possibilities are opened up for more exciting and outlandish stories than others may be because of their graphical limitations.
You can look up TextAdventures.co.uk for examples of what people are doing with the genre.

Contained 2D Space
Pong and Space Invaders are some of the first examples of these 2D spaces. The use of the term "contained" means that you do not move off of a specific screen, with the action taking place in this one specific location. The edge of the screen is the edge of this area, limiting the player from what they can do. There is a lot you can do in these particular types of games, examples of such being Donkey Kong. These games are defined by the edges of the screen.

Wraparound Space
These are similar to the style of contained 2D space, but allow the player the ability to go off one end of the screen and appear on the other, meaning you can use strategy to avoid danger. Examples of this style would be Asteroids or Pacman. Asteroids is set in this wraparound style because of the infinite nature of space, meaning the player can move to any area, and this style helps allude to the nature of space itself.

Spaces That Scroll Along One Axis
Examples of these are Defender and Spy Hunter. These games allow for changes in scenery, where the player stays in a specific axis and the scenery moves around you. This gives for the illusion of a larger world in the game. These games can scroll upwards or side-ways, with players taking down a number of different enemies from a specific area.

Scrolling Along Two Axes
These games allow the player to move in all different directions, and are 2D top-down games. At the same time they are usually in a contained space still, but allow for greater freedom in the games (see Gauntlet).

Adjacent Spaces One Room at a Time
These games feature self contained rooms, moving from one to another to investigate the environment. A good example of this is Braid, with the player solving puzzles and defeating enemies before completing the room. Other examples of this would be Broken Sword or Metroid.
With this you can put your room on a map, creating a larger space with limited resources.

Scrolling with Multiple Background Layers
(Parallax Scrolling)
This relates to games such as Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Seperation Anxiety etc. This gives the illusion of deep 3D space through multiple backgrounds, giving the illusion of space. It's a variation of scrolling along one axis, even though you can move up and down. It's the background that makes the style special.

Limited 3D Space: Perspective in the Scene
Before full 3D titles, they used perspective in 2D to create the illusion of 3D areas and depth, as well as speed. Collision detection on the sides of the map give a sense of going through a trench, or along a race track. Examples of this are Night Driver and Star Wars, popularised by arcade machines.

Isometric 3D Space
Zaxxon, Populous and Paper Boy. This space allows you to have something different from the standard top-down view, allowing for a bigger picture of the surrounding area. Sim City and Command and Conquer still use this style.

Window to the Outdoors
There are not a lot of examples of this particular style, although it's very similar to the contained space style of games. Examples of this are Duck Hunt and possibly House of The Dead, although in HotD you move through seperate spaces.

Two Spaces on One Screen
This is the advent of split-screen multiplayer gaming, popularised by Spy Vs Spy. This paved the way for classic titles such as Golden Eye, Mario Kart and Halo. Split screen gaming was a more social version of multiplayer gaming due to the need to play on the same screen.

Video Capture
This took us into the world of motion capture, which has subsequently played a huge role in the world of movies and games. Mortal Kombat was one of the first (and most controversial) titles to use this style. This is not a game space as such, much like 'window to the outdoors', as it's more of a way to render the game.

Mapped Space - Prerendered Panoramas
This is when you have a single scene on the screen, and instead of moving through it you point and click, going from prerendered image to prerendered image, and you don't have any influence over this space other than the point and click. This could be seen as an evolution of the text based adventure.

Early 3D Space - One Horizontal Plane
A relatively late invention to the game space, popularised by games such as Doom, Duke Nukem and Wolfenstien. These exist on one horizontal plane, and give the illusion of infinite space and 3D environments, on limited resources.

Full 3D Space - Horizontal/Vertical Movement
Where we are now, with full freedom of movement in the game environment.

Signs of the Time; Semiotics and the Negotiation of the Meanings of Images - Class Work

Work in pairs to choose an ad for a video game or film (still image), analyse it and think about the context it is displayed and viewed in. Consider in terms of signs and signifiers, denotative and connotative meanings.

This ad campaign is for GTA V. The poster features a white woman with blonde hair with brown roots, suggesting she is not a natural. The woman is wearing a bikini and has what is presumably fake breasts, and is holding an iFruit phone, a play on the popular iPhone. The woman is taking a “selfie” picture of herself with the phones front facing camera, showing the popularity of young women doing this, and suggesting the idea of American women being superficial.
The poster is being displayed in Japan, and focuses on the Playstation port of the game over the Xbox version, due to Sony being a Japanese brand. Also in Japan the idea of a poster with a large breasted woman on may not be as appealing as it would be to those in the west, so non-gaming audiences may not be as enticed without innate knowledge of the series already. Especially due to the large size and placement of the poster, as well as the fact that it’s in a busy street, so it will be seen by many.
The poster features nice weather and a large pier with a big wheel on it, making it look almost like a holiday shot. This could have been done to make the world look more appealing to the player, and in turn making the US look more desirable to the Japanese.
The art style of the poster is very specific to that of GTA as a series, being used for the previous title, as is the font that has been a constant feature from GTAIII. This means that even without the title in the picture the observer would be able to recognise the game if they had any prior experience to the series, due to the instant recognisability of the style. This is also important as there is no direct information as to the content of the game, so the company have to go by brand recognition to be able to promote the game, and using such a distinct art style does this well.
The colouring of the “V” in the title also points towards the famous Grove Street families of GTA San Andreas, but also more prominently towards the colour of money, the driving force behind the series. Also with the lack of translation in the title or Roman numeral, it is an implied westernisation of Japan, suggesting that even without translation the game will be recognisable from the style alone.

Signs of The Time; Semiotics and the Negotiation of the Meanings of Images - Notes From Powerpoint

Semiotics and the Negotiation of the Meanings of Image

“Images are produced according to the social and aesthetic conventions.”
“Conventions are like road maps: we must learn their codes for them to make sense, and the codes we learn become second nature.”

“The relationship between a word and things in the world is arbitrary and relative, not fixed.”
“Meanings change according to context and to the rules of language.”
Why call a dog “dog”? The word has meaning to us but there are many signs that define “dog”. There are different ways of attaching a word or sign with a thing.
For example, a thumbs up in Spain can be seen as an insult even if we find it a sign of being okay in England, and the sign is also an international diving sign for being okay.

“Company logos operate according to this principle of instant recognition, counting on the fact that denotative meaning (the swoosh equals Nike) will slide into connotative meanings (the swoosh means quality, coolness).”
Eg. AA’s connotative meaning is that they will fix your car, you will see their van on the road and feel protected, or Mercedes’ logo has the connotative meaning of money and quality. UN logo gives off the idea not to shoot at them in a warzone.

“Video games rely a lot on such instant recognition.”
Red barrel – blows up.

“Image/sound/word = Signifier
Meaning = Signified

The production of a sign is dependent on social, historical and cultural context. It is also dependent on the context in which the image is presented and on the viewers who interpret it.”

“Image codes change meaning in different contexts. For instance, the representation of smiles has meant many things throughout history.”
Happiness, sarcasm, madness, a grimace, a mask for something else,etc. Meanings are in flux, and not fixed.

“Film theorists apply semiotics to the interpretation of films (therefore we must be able to apply it to the interpretation of games, too).”

“Old Marlboro advertisements are well known for their equation of this cigarette brand with masculinity:
Marlboro (signifier) + masculinity (signified) = Marlboro as masculinity (sign).”

“The combination of text and image can be used to direct the viewer’s interpretation to a particular meaning through a kind of double take – the image first looks a certain way and then changes meaning with the addition of text.”
“Text functions in ads to shape the commodity signs of the image, to rein in and limit the meaning of the image in some way.”
Hns Haacke – A Breed Apart.

Museum Visit - Analysis of Two Pieces

(John) Peter Warren Cochrane - 1962

Howard Hodgkin

This is a portrait of Cochrane, an influential art dealer who worked at Tooth & Sons in the 1950's and 60's, who is credited for introducing new European and American artists to the London art world. He's also credited for promoting a new generation of British artists including Hodgkin, the creator of this particular work. Hodgkin's first solo exhibition was held in the National Portrait Gallery in 1962, the year this work was created.
This particular work is notable for it's use of thick lines and vivid, bright colours. What personally attracts me to the piece is that it almost looks like a sad clown due to the use of colour. The thick outline looks almost as though an aura around the character, and the use of bright reds give off the idea of the figure in the painting being passionate, while also looking quite sad. Through the use of vigorous painting but very specific, intentional lines the painting gives off the illusion of chaos while being very precise and intentional in its construction.

Dogman - 1972

John Davies

Dogman was originally modelled by the artist in clay, with a plaster mould then being made, and from this the head was cast in fiberglass and painted. It incorporates what Davies refers to as a 'device', in this case, a dog-like muzzle modelled over the features of the head. In the adding of glass eyes it creates the illusion of reality, making the piece look both natural and bizarre at the same time.
John Davies is primarily known as a photographer, most famous for his research on the English Industrial landscape, observing vast and detailed views.
This piece automatically makes me think of a world of the fantastic, where obscure creatures like this would run riot. However more so I see it as a representation of the animalistic nature of man, and given the realistic nature of the piece it makes me think that looking at it makes the observer in turn take a look at themselves and think of their own nature at the same time.

These pieces are incredibly different, and in my mind are trying to communicate two very different things while both having the same general concept of being of a face. The first in a more direct representation of a single person, while the latter is based on no one in particular, instead being more of a representation of people in general, and the nature of them. In this respect I feel that they share a common thread, with the first work at the same time giving a glimpse into something that Howard Hodgkin saw in the nature of Cochrane.

Museum Visit - Notes On Different Works

These are some of the details on the various works of art we looked at on our trip to the Plymouth museum.

The Year List (Bassaleg Viaduct, River Ebbw, Redstart) - 2012
David Whittaker
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Millenium, St. Ives

Summer - C. 1527 - 1593
Guiceppe Arcimboldo
Oil on canvas

Head of a Man - 1938
LS Lowry
Oil on canvas

(John) Peter Warren Cochrane - 1962
Howard Hodgkin
Oil on canvas

Escaping From His Thoughts - 1936
Roland Penrose
Oil on wood panel

Untitled - C.1950
Scottie Wilson
Pen and ink on paper

Frame Tent - 1968
Beryl Clark
Relief with oil on canvas

Manganese White - 1967
Alexander Mackenzie
Oil and ink on board

Dogman - 1972
John Davies

Many different contexts in art:
British, abstract, broken context in abstract collection
St Ives, lots of artists colonised there because of the light and cost of living, it became a popular spot in the 1950's but soon became passe by the 1960's ('situation' exhibit). Surface depth was a key difference in St Ives.

Monica Kindley - Curator of the Faces exhibit - 83 years old.
Monica was born in Vienna, into a good family but at the time of Fascist Germany. Her family died in concentration camps and she was sent away in the Kinders scheme, escaping the war to England. She grew up in a convent where she originally considered becoming a nun, before going to Hull university to become a painter, but unfortunately wasn't quite skilled enough. Monica would go on to apply for a job at the Tate gallery to become a curator due to her interest in art, but instead started working in the postcard shop there, which lasted for 15 years. During this time she made many connections in the art world, turning to a career in art dealing in the 1960's. She was originally married to Peter Kindlay, but they got divorced and she married Victor Musgrave, who ran Gallery 1.
When curating the Faces exhibit she had specific ideas on what she wanted to be included, mainly focusing on outsider art. This is work from people that weren't artists necessarily, but people who were more separated from art history and not so interested in being listed alongside artists. Many of these are also institutionalised. These people are outside from social norms, and outside of the traditional art world.

My Context

When I was a child my parents got me a Mega Drive. I didn’t really understand the concept of buying a console, or the price individual games were, but I wanted one. My friend had one, and that meant I needed it in my life, so I didn’t feel bad that I was missing out. After a bit of obvious scrimping and saving my parents got me it. It came with the Sega Mega Collection, which was Columns, a tacky motorbike racing game, and a football game. I didn’t like football, and I didn’t care for racing, but Columns was amazing, it was in my eyes a better Tetris, I’d spend hours on it. From here I went to Sonic, and from that I went on to weirder and more wonderful games such as Cool Spot, Zool, Toejam and Earl, and so on. I loved it, the more ridiculous the game the better. At the same time I had an obsessive appreciation to Worms, and also the 1993 X-Men title, and Separation Anxiety, the 1995 Spider-Man/Venom game. Both were side-scrolling beat-em-ups, and I loved them because I loved comics, the stories were incredible and thinking that I could actually play as these character’s made my childish heart sing. From then on I was hooked on the genre, my life was consumed with Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and anything similar I could find.
The Playstation brought me games that would define my experience that would make me understand my love of brilliant storylines, how I decided just how important they were alongside amazing gameplay, and these games were Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and Abe’s Oddysee.
Playstation 2 introduced GTA3, Timesplitters, and Shadows of the Colossus, while the game cube gave me the resident evil remake, which was not only the most brilliant looking game I had ever seen but had also taken something from my youth and improved on it in every inconceivable way, from graphics right down to the script, removing the infamous Jill sandwich line that had haunted me to this day.
The Xbox 360 has given me some of the biggest gifts, allowing me to understand everything I’d wanted from games, from gameplay to graphics to incredible storyline. Games such as Mass Effect and Bioshock, as well as the Assassin’s Creed and Batman: Arkham series’ proved this to me, bridging the gaps between all of these things to give a truly impressive experience.
Through my love of gaming I now see how it branches out and has influenced me in a great number of aspects in my life. My love of Sonic and later Metal Gear got me into drawing, starting simply and then growing an understanding and appreciation of different artists. Even survivor horror games have influenced me to become a massive horror fan, and Resident Evil probably went a long way to help my appreciation of truly awful B-movies.

My Context - Notes

What makes me who I am? What affects me and influences me as a designer and a person? What things in my life has influenced me and my choices, my tastes and my desires? Why do I want to get into the games industry?

When I was born nothing in my life mattered to me, I was an infant and I knew nothing of the outside world. All I could do was eat, sleep and poop, but I was good at it.

Games
Sonic – Cool Spot – Rayman - braid
Worms – Command and Conquer – toy soldiers
X-Men – Streets of Rage – The Warriors - Scott Pilgrim
Tomb Raider – Duke Nukem Time to Kill - Assassins – Batman
Metal Gear – GTA - timesplitters
Resident Evil – Silent Hill – Amnesia - Outlast
Mass effect – bioshock - minecraft

Television
x files, millennium, 24, prison break, dexter, justified, sons, breaking bad, community, Michael j fox, parks and rec, arrow, himym, American horror story, party down, better off ted, rectify, happy endings, poltergeist, invasion, south park, Jericho, the cleaner, awake

Films
the crow, seven, fight club, the shining, beetlejuice, brothers bloom, brick, die hard, man on fire, a man apart, fast and furious, horror. Devil’s Rejects.

Music
Korn – Manson – Zombie *– Skinny Puppy – Ohgr – Aphex Twin – Massive Attack – Prodigy – Kavinsky – College – Lazerhawk – Mitch Murder
The cure - *Zombie - Faith no more – janes – Pumpkins – Chamberlain – Billy Corgan – placebo - garbage
Blink – Primus – Bloodhound gang – MSI -iwrestledabearonce
Kid rock – skynyrd – cash - terry reid

Art
Comics
- Spider-Man
- Batman
- Punisher
- The Maxx
- The Crow
Comics led to drawing, drawing led to art, art led to course

Stories.
Art.
Games.
Horror.

What makes me who I am? – My upbringing, my parents, my friends, my tastes – television, films, music, games obviously, my hobbies, drinking, writing, drawing.
What affects me and influences me as a designer? – Yoji Shinkawa (metal gear art), pixel art, rat fink style monster art, Giger, Gottfried Helnwein, concept art, pencil work, cartoonish exaggeration
And as a person? – Horror, sad stories, engrossing storylines, loss.
What things in my life have influenced me and my choices, my tastes and my desires? – Blockbuster, Reset, K, money, tdr, games, art, drawing, music
Why do I want to get into the games industry? – to influence people as much as the games industry has influenced my feelings, and to create something in a way that expresses my personality.

Context Through The Years - Notes on Other People's Presentations

Important things during those years.

1984

• AIDS
• AT&T broken up
• First Apple Mac
• Sony and Phillips CD players and 3 and a half inch floppy disks
• Video Games Crash 1983-1985. Due to the popularity of home computers there was a drop of 97% revenue, 70 top banks went into liquidation, the saturation of poor games lost confidence in consumers.
• Bob Geldoff - Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Primus and Soundgarden formed
• Spitting Image, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Nightmare on Elm Street, Spinal Tap and Nausicaa came out
• Miners strike caused 100,000 job losses
• Brighton hotel bombing, attempt by the IRA to assassinate Margaret Thatcher
• Womens peace camp
• TETRIS - first entertainment software imported from the USSR to the US
• Kings Quest, NES Zapper, 1942, Paperboy and Punch-Out released
• ET Game - took six weeks to make, 2.5 - 3.5 million copies were left unsold

1986

• Zelda, Metroid, Arkanoid and Castlevania were released
• Ubisoft, Bethesda and Codemasters were founded, also Square becomes independent 
• Technological butterfly effect
• First chipset, IMB chip - IBM
• Atari 7800, 101 keyboard and the CDi player were released
• US air strike against Libya
• Nuclear arms race - USSR v US
• Chernobyl crisis happened
• AIDS awareness campaign
• First around the world flight
• Duran Duran and Guns N' Roses formed
• M25 was completed
• Sex Discrimination Act and Race Relations Act
• Economic uncertainty

1989

• 4th generation of gaming 1985-1989
• Gameboy and Master System came out
• Nightmare on Elm Street on the PC dos, Prince of Persia and Back to The Future came out
• Home and Away debuts
• Rain Man came out
• Lockerbie memorial
• Disney MGM studios theme park
• Kegworth air disaster, HIllsborough disaster
• John Cleese won libe case
• Unemployment level below 7%
• Salman Rushdie - satanic verses - assassination attempts, Hitoshi Igarashi died
• Margaret Thatcher's 10th year as PM
• November 9th, Berlin wall falls

1990

• Still in keeping with 80's fashion
• Ice Ice Baby and U Can't Touch This in charts
• Railway Tycoon started the genre of 'Tycoon' games
• Civilisations was released
• Clive Barker, Church of Satan, Jurassic Park
• Mr. Bean, Law and Order, Lord of The Flies, Total Recall, Edward Scissorhands and Jacobs Ladder were released
• Poll tax riots, Margaret Thatcher resigned, John Major came in
• Nelson Mandella was released, Gorbachov wins nobel peace prize
• Germany was reunited
• WWW launched - went public in 1993
• SNES came out, as did the Super FX chip
• Hubble telescope launched

2000

• Progression in technology - games cost more to produce
• Reminiscing on past and future
• (Big think)
• Millennium dome
• Socialnomics - The need to interact with each other, work with technology not just use it
• Hip Hop popular in 2000 - music made for ringtones