CS_Essay_Notes

 intro- methods of teaching, outdated, too generalized to be effective for every child.need to be tailored. Games have the ability to do that.
most effective way to retain information is through action hence being part of a game. how we can remember features in a game but not from a classroom?
with the fear of failing being so apparent in the classroom, at least failing in a game can be anonymous or easy and simple to start again.
 games that specialize in puzzles, problem solving, hand-eye coordination, general motor skills, foreseeing problems before they arise, all are beneficial.
Minecraft in particular, open plan world, freedom to do anything, encourage creativity. tools for architecture, engineering.
Sim city (world peace table top game) teaching you to think realistically about the future, teaching useful information about economy, society, environment.
Civilization teaching history, events, characteristics, resources available at that time.

Story/alternative world teaching new ways of thinking, Bioshock, suggests new ideas to provoke independent thinking.

teachers working together with games devs. because thats the way society, technology has headed.

-I am looking to write about how and will games further progress the way we educate children.

Michael John - GlassLab - http://glasslabgames.org/

-What is it that makes games memorable. Why can someone remember something insignificantly detailed about a game and not something in the class room?

Human psychology tells us that players should enjoy a game that satisfies the need for control, bestows a sense of one's progress, and fosters relationships with friends and others encountered. Yet gamers differ in their individual needs. Each person has their own "player personality" and this variation has spawned a vast industry designed to meet different motivations. Some may want to release aggression (Call of Duty), escape reality (World of Warcraft) or oversee building projects (Minecraft). Others are more motivated by in-game rewards, or have a high "loss aversion" and so find a challenging game unfair or frustrating (while others find it thrilling). A game like Flappy Birds, will most appeal to those who are attracted by repetitive actions, difficulty and have a low loss aversion. Those who have a high loss aversion, however, will find it infuriating. 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/02/electronic-entertainment


-After posting a question on facebook to look for a responce from the public on what they have learnt from games and how they influenced them I got a variety of responses, some that I did not expect at first and this made me wonder what is it about these games that make complex information sink in to the players mind with have to forcefully go over the information numerous times.

Twitter Conversation

Everyone learns differently too and if that's not taken into consideration then the classroom environment can seem one sided. @ArtofMelC

-Can we structure a lesson in the same way we structure a game. We know that people respond and take in information better if they are enjoying and are engaged in the experience but can we take a classroom and give the students the tools to teach themselves to get a desired outcome?

-As the years move on our current ways of teaching are slowly becoming outdated even if some refuse to see it. We need to take a step back and seek out and reconise methods that are working and appealing to the students in order to achieve the results.

-educate teachers about games being a learning tool as well as the students. Work with game dev's to create complelling games for schools.

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_success_failure_and_the_drive_to_keep_creating?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_campaign=&awesm=on.ted.com_j0C95&utm_medium=on.ted.com-facebook-share

http://vimeo.com/86920129


http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/24/5649926/classroom-games-are-likely-to-fail-if-teachers-arent-on-board

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-hansen-shaevitz/video-games-good-kids_b_1974015.html

http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/DH101Fall12Lab4/archive/files/6070f0882cc89baa5a12992aaea56028.pdf

http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/4/24/5636832/glasslab

http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/autism-simulations/#:eyJzIjoiZiIsImkiOiJfZDJhZWRjcGp3M2IxamI5YiJ9


http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/25/5647136/video-game-stories-plot

http://glasslabgames.org/


https://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game


http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/02/electronic-entertainment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/people-getting-dumber-human-intelligence-victoria-era_n_3293846.html

http://www.edutopia.org/made-with-play-game-based-learning-minecraft-video
****Training
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/surgeon-video-game1.htm
http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/september2013/09162013training.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/04/brain-training-video-game-old-age

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23572742

http://www.instituteofplay.org/

• 
  
• http://playmakers.instituteofplay.org/historia/
  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/games-the-new-rule-of-education-video-games/
• http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world#t-725399
• http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
• http://www.infed.org/schooling/plowden_report.htm
• 
  
• http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/sites/abilitynet.org.uk/files/Autism%20and%20Computers.pdf
• http://www.aynrand.org/

CS Actual Essay

Gaming:The Teaching Method.

How can games teach?

Zak Field (1200771)

Introduction

Living in such a technological, the way in which we receive information has changed and

advanced. We have the ability to reach the unreachable, and this is not just referring to the

unteachable students. At any age, there is the possibility to learn something new, a new profession,

opinion or remind yourself of something old. With this evolution of technology, the focus is now on

rethinking how we teach the youth.

'...properly designed educational games, informed by research, have the potential to transform

education.' (Fletcher, 02/'14)

Nowadays, teaching methods are outdated and are too generalized for students. Reverting back to

Jean Piaget's (McLeod, '12) study of cognitive development within children, the fundamental

element is the rate in which a child can learn. The Plowden Report having contextualized his study,

states that 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child.' (Gillard, '04) The system should

lose sight that it needs to be tailored for the individual child otherwise the chances of them retaining

information and progressing with understanding will be slim. This is of course difficult as the

teaching curriculum needs to be at the same standard for each school, and the cost and time taken to

teach each child in a way that suits them would be expensive and impractical. The school system

has been too focussed on statistics and figures, tests and scores, which has created a great deal of

pressure on students. This in turn has generated a common fear of failing, that worry of getting an

answer wrong and being judged for it. This is putting students off even attempting to answer

questions let alone inspiring them to find out more on their own account. School becomes

associated with negativity and embarrassment and the child loses any ambition to progress. They

look forward more to their free time than the hours at school. Games within school have the ability

to change all this. By creating an alternative world, games allow us to play, win and fail as

anonymously as we choose. It creates a safety net that if we fail, we can easily start again.

“Human psychology tells us that players should enjoy a game that satisfies the need for control,

bestows a sense of one's progress, and fosters relationships with friends and others encountered.”

(N.L. - 02/'14)

These are qualities most games have to keep the players interest but the question is how can they be

utilised? The sign of a good game is to always send the player away with something new, whether it

is learning new information or something they didn't know they could do but always with a sense of

achievement.

What benefits would games have in school?

An important issue within the school system is that of self esteem. Students of all ages still

have a fear of failing, made to feel stupid or that others are judging them. There isn't the informality

or accommodating nature that is so prominent in a game. There is the opportunity to progress in a

game and to be rewarded and praised along the way. The player is never given a task or a mission

that is impossible to complete, it may be difficult and you will need to work hard but it is always

reachable. There is also the social aspect, the working together to reach a goal rather than

competitiveness. Typically game communities are trusting and willing to give advice and aide when

needed. The people they meet online are like-minded and just as passionate aiming for the same

goals. Possibly the most popular gaming community and certainly one of the largest is that of World

of Warcraft. At the height of its popularity, since it was launched, 12 million people were playing

the game. Jane McGonigal, a games designer, describes this in more detail as to why

gamers prefer their virtual world over their real lives, or school life in this particular instance. 'We

feel we are not as good in reality as we are in games' (McGonigal, 02/'10). In reality when faced

with a problem, the reaction is to view it with anxiety and possibly depression, not the enthusiasm

and determination you would in a game. Her point is that 'In games, we are the best versions of

ourselves' (McGonigal, 02/'10), the most helpful and willing and driven to achieve because of the

constant feedback and ability to progress.

McGonigal designs games that are live events or campaigns more than actual video games. They

could be considered more of social experiments than games, to change people's outlook on life. She

tries to incorporate the techniques and feelings you get from a game and implements them into

everyday life. Her theory is that if world problems were approached and solved like those in a

game, the world could be changed for the better in a much shorter amount of time. She mentions

World of Warcraft and it's number to demonstrate the might of these players, had they the

opportunity to apply their passion and determination to real life.

Examples of games already integrated into the school system.

Institute of Play is a group of game designers that came together to make games that educate

but also are engaging and exciting for children. Having recognized that it is no longer just about the

acquisition of basic skills and learning facts, but teaching students how to think, solve problems and

being able to communicate concisely. Their aim is to 'design experiences that make learning

irresistible.' (Institute of Play, '14). At a young age, a child still needs to be fascinated and curious

about new information and with the constantly advancing technology, why shouldn't it be used?

“Video games have the power of visualizing things, of creating open-ended environments for people

to explore things, of engaging and motivating learners. What you have is a strong learning approach

that should be added to the educator's toolbox. (Plass, '14)

GlassLab is a company (part of Institute of Play) who designs educational games for schools. They

are aimed at are those who have already learnt the basic skills such as reading and writing. The

games GlassLab design try to teach a more difficult skill; the ability to solve problems and think

critically. For example, they created SimCityEDU, a revised version of the original aimed especially

at children. It requires the child to think about the economy, social aspects and to plan ahead and it

does this by setting them tasks that they have to complete. They have to work in pairs to to build a

city and collaborate to rectify any problems that arise. Using trial and error and their own

experience, they have to figure how to solve certain issues through logic contextual knowledge.

Similarly to SimCityEDU although in board game form, there is the World Peace Game. A teacher,

John Hunter, replicated the world and all of it's problems and let a group of 9 year olds try to fix

them. 'They learn to overlook short-sighted reactions and impulsive thinking, to think in a long-

term, more consequential way.' (Hunter, '11) This was in order to engage the children in real world

issues and to teach them in practise the idea of cause and effect, that they had to consider their

moves in relation to what could happen further down the line. The results have proved to be

surprising, primarily because they children showed compassion and rational thinking and actually

managed to right a lot of the problems.

A game with a corresponding concept is Civilisation, a command and conquer style of game,

although you play as various people who lived thousands of years ago. The game's objective is to

build an empire from nothing taking into account exploration, warfare and diplomacy, as well as

conquering other players. This informs of great historical leaders but also the resources available;

the lifestyle of the people. It also spans over many years and introduces one civilisation to another

that would have never come in contact in real life. Institute of Play created a classroom version of

the game called Historia which was paper based but still involved the same principle (due to its

popularity is now being turned into a digital game suitable for the classroom). The principle is to

teach through action and keeping the students interested and engaged about facts they would

otherwise be taught. This approach works because having their own empire, they have created

something they will want to learn how to protect. By giving them something they will care about,

the interest has evolved from the classroom and into their personal lives.

How do games teach adults?

The game industry has branched out into great diversity for genre and game type. Becoming more

popular are sandbox style creation games, the forerunner of which being Minecraft, an open world

game without a storyline or objectives (except to survive). This game is essentially the tools to

create and explore. The largest grossing indie game to date, Minecraft has now been utilized for the

classroom teaching students maths, geometry, reading and writing, and social skills. The style in

which it has been created means it can be adjusted by the tutor to produce a controlled atmosphere

to which they can teach a specific subject. Not only this but it encourages creativity and

imagination. Unlike SimCity, Minecraft presents more spontaneous problems, as the objective is

survival, the player may be put into a situation that is difficult to get out of. It also causes players to

work together and help each other out.

A more in depth approach to educating whilst playing is its lasting effect upon the player. This can

be through a well told story, the concept for the game's world or the experience the player has whilst

playing the game. A storyline that is memorable is a storyline that makes you question and indeed

pursue more knowledge on the subject. Of course, what we seek in preference is all relative as is

what we retain from the game. In regards to education though, it is shedding light on new

information or a different perspective. For example, the Bioshock back log describes a world

striving for perfection but ultimately falls to ruin because man isn't perfect. The references include

the tension of Communism during the 1950's and Ayn Rand's political and philosophical novels

Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

Alternatively, it is the experience that the player has playing the game that can have the lasting

effect. Sometimes the simplest storyline or in fact no storyline at all will leave a lasting impression

on the player. This means that experience doesn't have to be one where the gamer has their hand

held and shown how to get from A to B, they only have to be fully engaged in the experience in

order to pick up the tools and mechanics of the task then they can complete the objective for

themselves thus creating a bigger feeling of achievement and gratification. It is games like these

(referring back to Minecraft) which allow the freedom and ignite innovation to then consider a

bigger picture. The 'bigger picture' could go as far as career in architecture, it is a rather crude

interpretation but the ability to visualize is still there. This is also the case for The Kerbal Space

Program, a game that demands the comprehension of physics to progress, a game that has now

sparked the interest of NASA and lead onto a collaboration, including real NASA ship components.

'This relationship with NASA, the very beacon of big dreams and imagination, is going to give

players a real opportunity to learn about the universe we're living in.'

Not only will it inspire but it can provide new information to those playing through experience.

Conclusion

The way forward is to embrace the technology we have and to employ a method to aid as much as it

is able. The key to learning and understanding is interaction in any shape or form, with a

component, applying the knowledge or with another person. Games have a way to combine all three

and provide a fully engaging experience, to ignite a passion that may then be converted into an

ambition.

'When you combine this access with the resources kids have—time, a highly plastic brain, and the

freedom to experiment with new behaviours, interests, and ways of being—it is not hard to imagine

a level of empowerment for kids never before seen in human history.' (Dunagan, 11/'11)

Bibliography

Fletcher, S., 01/02/2014, The New Rule of Educational Video Games: Don't be Boring [Video], http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/games-the-new-rule-of-education-video-games/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Mcleod, S., 2012, Jean Piaget, http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html Accessed 15/05/2014

Gillard, D., 2004, 'The Plowden Report', The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education, http://www.infed.org/schooling/plowden_report.htm Accessed 15/05/2014

N.L., 18/02/2014, What makes video games addictive?, http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/02/electronic-entertainment Accessed 15/05/2014

McGonigal, J., 02/2010, TED Talks: Gaming can make a better world, http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world#t-441717 Accessed 15/05/2014

About Institute of Play, 2014, http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Plass, J., 2014, Why Games & Learning, http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/context/why-games-learning/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Hunter, J., 03/2011, TED Talks: Teaching with the World Peace Game, https://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game/transcript Accessed 15/05/2014

Kerbal Space Program Blog, 03/2014, http://kerbaldevteam.tumblr.com/post/78664661747/kerbal-space-program-to-add-nasa-asteroid-redirect Accessed 15/05/2014

Dunagan, J., Jeffery, L., Fidler, D., Maguire, R., 11/2011, The Magic of Kids Tech Report, http://www.iftf.org/our-work/people-technology/technology-horizons/the-magic-of-kidstech/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Game References

World of Warcraft, http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/ Accessed 15/05/2014

SimCityEDU, http://www.simcityedu.org/ Accessed 15/05/2014

World Peace Game, World Peace and other Fourth-Grade Achievements, https://www.worldpeacegame.org/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Civilisation, http://www.civilization5.com/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Historia, http://playmakers.instituteofplay.org/historia/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Minecraft, https://minecraft.net/ Accessed 15/05/2014

Bioshock, http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/BioShock_Cultural_References Accessed 15/05/2014

BA6: Starting an Indie Dev Team

  For this current project we were given the option to design and write our own work brief. For my project I wanted to form an indie group, so I asked around on my course for people that also were interested in forming a group together. Luckily I managed to find someone with a passion for each area of game design.

  So once we had formed our alliances we did what any good student would do and went to the pub to discuss roles and the direction of the game we wanted to create.

Blue Crystal is the title we are going by as an indie developer. The team consists of four members, Rhy Judges, Joshua Bryant, Kai Smales and myself Zak Field.
  As project manager I will be leading the group in a unified direction to ensure the game is completed to its full potential. I'll be overseeing all areas of development working closely with the whole team individually and together making sure that we test and explore all relevant ideas.

GAME IDEA #1
  At the start of the project before we had the official green light from the university to say we could work as a group, we had already come up with some ideas for what type of game we were looking to make. We decided we wanted to create a game that followed the conventions of a traditional platform, much like 'Crash Bandicoot' for the Playstation 1 and 'Spyro the Dragon' also for the Playstation 1. We felt that these were the games that first inspired us to play games and that they hadn't really been visited in the current games market.

Here are some very quick sketches the group came up with when bouncing ideas around for the game.

The game would of worked along the same lines as 'Temple Run' on the iOS with you the player being on a linear path having to move the avatar left and right to make sure they are not hit by falling objects, whilst the speed slowly increases and therefore increases the level of difficulty in the game.

From the start we knew we wanted to create an app; we all got excited about the idea that you could just pick up the game on a whim and just play until your finished despite where the gamer is.

In terms of mechanics for the 'Cliff Climber' game, we wanted to play with the iPad as much as possible without over complicating the screen with control commands. So we looked at another game I personally really enjoy playing on my iPad because of its amazing visuals, beautiful soundtrack and fun mechanics... 

'Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP'

 Sword & Sworcery is a throw back to old fantasy games where you as the character explore a magical forest completing quests given to you by people you encounter. The game with it's beautiful 8-bit art style and it's award winning music makes for a very fun and calming experience once you get yourself immersed in the world. 

Now with any good magical forest, there has to be monsters and with 'Swords and Sworcery' there is no exception. When entering battle mode, you have to rotate the iPad into the portrait position, this will cause new controls to appear which allow you to block with your shield, slash with your sword and displays your health meter.

I really liked this concept and wanted to find a way to incorporate rotating the device into different positions in order to display and use different ways to interact with the world. So I was playing around with the idea of if you wanted to climb up the mountain you'd have to have your device facing upward, whereas if you wanted to move/swing side to side you'd have to have your device in a landscape position.

Also another reason I wanted to create a game for a portable device was after watching the Twitch.com live stream interview of Hideo Kojima talking about his new upcoming game 'Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeros'. He mentioned that the gaming audience in Japan are moving away from large titles and would rather play quick portable casual games.

"Young people are losing interest in high-end games and focusing on mobile and social titles, especially in Japan. I wanted to show people that Japanese high-end games are still worth playing and that big Japanese games still have a future." Kojima 2014.

Whilst discussing the idea with the group, some of the member's said they wanted to make a 3D game with exploration elements with high polished 3D assets and were worried what we would not be able to achieve that on a tablet device.

RESEARCHING MY ROLE

  I knew from the begging of the project I wanted to push for project leader. I like to ensure everything is done on time and to the highest degree in my work and also wanted to learn the business side of setting up and starting an indie dev. So I did some research on what It takes to be head of a team in the games industry and I found that with the role of project manager you are responsible for the amount of work the team achieve and to ensure that the milestones set are hit on time so that the group can progress forward. You need to make yourself visible to the team that you are an authoritative figure so that everyone pulls their weight when working and that no one falls behind. Whilst keeping everyone in the team with a shared vision and purpose of what you want the game to be.

  I read these articles to give me a better idea of my role;

 'Building A Strong Indie Game Development Team' by Alistair Doulin of Gamasutra

 'Aglie Game Development With Scrum: Teams' by Clinton Keith of Gamasutra

GAME IDEA #2

  Later on in the research and development stage we came up with a second idea which saw more 3D based. Instead of having a character that just moved up and down the screen in a not very interesting way we wanted to create a more third person experience where you would control the character running or chasing someone or something up this mountain. This idea made us think of many older games that inspired us in the first place, like the 'Hog Wild' level of Crash Bandicoot and chasing the 'Blue Theif' in Spyro the Dragon.

 We wanted to recreate these experiences in our game with a deeper and more meaningful message. A common concern within gaming is that gamers obsess over the game to such an extent that they form an unhealthy obsession with the game. I wanted to look at monomania and themes of obsessions.

Unfortunately our lecturers thought creating a game like this in a 3D environment might be to much of a hard task for our first game attempt, so instead we decided to make a 2D side scrolling platformer with 3D assests. Much like Media Molecules 'Little Big Planet'

LEVEL DESIGN

  Whilst working with Kai we discussed different ways we could portray the level for the game. We wanted to create something that was clean and polished whilst at the same time achievable for a team that had never worked on making a game before. So as I created a layout of the level I took inspiration from old games such as Mario to create a bare bones plan of how we wanted the level to play.

LEARNING GAMESALAD

  Along side project manager I have taken on the role of game programmer. For the type of app we are looking to create and with the time frame we are given I thought it would be best to use a program such as game salad to code our game. 

After designing a rough outline of our game I decided to teach myself how to program and create an endless runner game on game salad, unfortunately I did not have the funding to buy the official tutorial guide so I used community tutorials on YouTube.

This is an image of the early build of the game I created in GameSalad

I followed the video by 'jamie cross, Gamesalad Endless Runner Sample' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF47UYgMNnA

I managed to replicate the sample and was very pleased with the outcome. Now that I have a better understanding of how the program works I feel more comfortable wanting to create a game of our own for the group.

As our ideas moved forward I sort out different skills and ways of working within GameSalad. I wanted to teach myself the foundations of the program in a way that would sink for me. I went through many tutorials and forums picking bits up but I found that just playing with the program was the best way for me personally to keep the information locked in.

As I progressed I added the assets into the game and even started to add elements of the game in from memory that I hadn't looked up from tutorials.

ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

As a team we discussed what themes and styles we wanted to go for within our game and we all liked the Idea of the Himalayas and Tibetan cultures. 

Kai and myself worked closely when coming up with mood boards and templates of what the level could look like, we liked the use of colour and the interesting artifacts that almost looked like they were natural and formed by the environment .

When first discussing what kind of layout we wanted for our game I sketched up a couple of ideas for what I personally thought the game could look like. I first thought of something underground and dark with some light coming from the surface and subterranean plants. It would of had platforms that would rise and fall, bugs and beasts that you would have to dodge and attack.

Then we did some searching online and found this image and knew we wanted to create something where you could see the world around you. We wanted lots of colour and not so much doom and gloom.

I started drawing a couple more images just for fun and to establish what kind of world this game would be situated in.

Myself and the team did play around with the idea of having a boss battle at the end of our game once the player had reached the top of the mountain. 

It made us think of the game Reus with its giant god like titans that roam the world.

We finally decided that it would be best to do just a runner/platform for now as we had never really coded before and would rather have a small good looking game then a half finished over ambitious game. So Kai started looking at areas in Tibet and Nepal that would make for interesting view points and environments which we could take from and use for our scenes. He created this concept images so that we as a team could talk about the elements that appealed to use and would like to see in the game and that would mold and encourage the look of our characters.

As we were working in GameSalad and wanted to create a 3D looking game we decided that creating 3D assets in maya then taking screenshots of them from different angles would be best for giving the look of 3D when actually its just 2D.

These are some assets that Kai created for our game.

CHARACTER DESIGN

  When coming up for a character for our game we wanted to follow the style of the old traditional platformer where they had cartoon animal mascots. We started by looking at native animals of Tibet, we wanted to find something that the gamer may not recognize so we had more freedom when creating the character to fit our game.

We looked at traditional characters known in games with fun characteristics that just made elements feel more playful and inviting.

From the early designs I worked with Josh to figure out what direction of figure we wanted our character to have. Since the game was a runner we wanted to have something that showed of the fitness of the avatar.

I also suggested that we create some items of clothing for the character to have encase we went down a route where the character would have to actively collect or retrieve something in the games. The bag pack was just a way for us to story ideas on the character without us having to have them on show.

To create drive for the story and motive for the character we needed a villain for our game. I wanted something that would be fun and recognizable to a mountainous area. So we went with a yeti with cartoon features of a villain.

Josh also worked on the cover art for the game.

NARRATIVE DESIGN

When creating a narrative for our game myself and Rhy wanted to create something that would drive that game play as well as lead onto our next project. We we're well aware that with creating a small app for our first game that it wouldn't be a very balanced gameplay vs story. 

This is a passage of the story that we came up with to give our game purpose, since this is a game where the character travels across the land, solving challenges presented to him we wanted it to be all worth while for the hero.

For the island setting that the games story revolves around we wanted to have different biomes so that we could play with different terrain and weather conditions throughout the level.

This is just a rough sketch of what we were thinking of just so that the group had an idea of what we were planning to achieve once I and the environment team had researched the native terrain of mountainous areas and villages. 

To fit with the traditional platformer conventions we wanted to add tokens which the player could collect throughout the game which would add to a score or unlock different abilities and items. We looked at already recognizable tokens in games along with different charms and tokens from Tibetan cultures.

http://ryangadblog.tumblr.com/

http://ksmalesygad.tumblr.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owxT2sAOJQw

https://www.facebook.com/TempleRun/photos/pb.215459165171017.-2207520000.1395931993./241883379195262/?type=3&theater#

http://www.metalgearinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Hideo-Kojima-Twitch-Interview1.jpg

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/03/04/young-people-are-losing-interest-in-high-end-games-kojima-says

http://www.musicgamenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/metal_gear_solid_ground_zeroes_wallpaper_by_jayveerk-d5e2xgf.jpg

http://www.swordandsworcery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sworcery

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/03/24/sword-sworcery-ep-ipad-review

http://www.indiegamemag.com/sword-sworcery-ep-wins-big-at-2012-canadian-videogame-awards/

http://papo493.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/spyro-thieves.jpg

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