So, What is HCI?
Task #1:
INTRODUCTION:
There are many things which have contributed to those in the game industry. One that should definitely be mentioned is the development of technologies like controllers, computers and more. However, while these different technologies have been improved rapidly, Game Design has been playing the catch up game with this type of new innovative tech that comes along every year, something new and bold. In fact, many game designers face the fact that creating a game which can be easily learned, played, and enjoyed is the real challenge. Since the limitation of their resources, and the lack of research foundation in game design, most of games have been developed based solely on own experiences and intuitions of the designer and this is why many indie companies succeed however a lot do not, Solo developers tend to fail more often than smaller teams whom can work together to achieve a successful video game and I think it is down to who the demographics are of the games they make.
HOWEVER!, the Human Computer Interaction which is also abbreviated as [H.C.I] has been researched for the past few years. H.C.I is the combination of Computer Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Ergonomics, Psychology, and Linguistics, so in laments terms, it studies how a human, like me or you manages to interacts with computer systems. The reason why it is an interesting field is because it has many, MANY innovative ideas and methods that have solved a number of problems in other industries aside from the games industry and while some of those are relevant to Game Design. H.C.I provides useful insight for User Interface Design such as menus and icons for example and the application of H.C.I in games design. It has been proved that once it is learned and used by a game designer, H.C.I processes and the different types of methods can improve the playing experiences or rather the players experience for the user in computer and video games. Some of the relevant works and studies of game design have been conducted with the involvement of Human-Computer Interaction. An example of this would be the research of game technologies in 3 Dimensions which the end goal of that is to enhance engagement and immersion in game playing.
Task #2,#3 & #4
HCI & UI DESIGN
Foreword - In this task I will be analysing three different video games on three different platforms and anaylsing the UI and HCI of those games.
HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
Nowadays, when a VERY LARGE number of computer-based systems exist, the human activities are being computer mediated to ensure failure doesn't ensue. But in designing the user-interfaces for those platforms, the Human Computer Interaction is left behind without consideration. In games design this is often overlooked in most indie games but if you take a look at bigger more triple A titles you'll see that the UI and UX have both been taken into account extensively to ensure both UI and UX coincide with each other. To those new to games development and design, the Human Computer Interaction side of things may be useful when providing recommendations for the User Interface/Human Computer Interface design such as menus, icons, loading screens, important info for the player to be displayed and entry screens to games and levels.
As a sub-category of games development, Games Design is the method and idea of designing the content, assets, props, sound and rules of a game in the pre-build and there is also the other side to consider which is that of the design of game play, environment, story line, and characters during the same pre-build of the game. It is necessary to think about audience needs first throughout the development process. Some possible questions require answers such as: Who is in the audience? What are their requirements? The evaluation criteria used in the design development process springs from answers to these and other questions. Therefore, Designers must understand and advocate for the user.
Comfort is everything when you sit around for hours playing video games, in HCI terms that is called the ergonomics, which in laments terms describes the safety and comfort of computer systems and when playing video games is what console and machine manufacturers take into consideration. Because they want to allow the user to play for as long as they want and as comfortably as they want when using their product.
GAME #1 - Half-Life - Half Life is a game that set the standards for Human-Computer interaction and how games are meant to be made in terms of game play and user-interface. Let's take a look at the different UI and HCI elements of this greatly classic game.
In terms of HCI and the User Interface of Half Life as a whole it is a game tailored to a user friendly experience with the minimalist approach it takes towards the user interface and the way the player interacts with game objects and triggers.
To begin with upon initial loading of the game it took no time at all to install and get to the menu screen you see above. The music was on cue and the player (myself) wasn't left waiting for ages to install the game and for someone like me who wants to get into their games, fast install and loading times generally depend on the ISP and the game provider however in my case of experience with Half-Life it was a seamless installation process followed by crisp loading times and the effect this has is it doesn't have you messing around setting everything up and installing stuff, the game is a couple of clicks and your off playing instantly. For a game developed and retailed on shop shelves in 1998 it really shaped how video games were made from that point onward. If we take a look at the above image you can see I compiled together all the different UI elements, the new/load game interfaces, the options and server browsers too and these as you can see are kept short and sweet, pleasing to look at for a game from 1998 and easy to use in terms of control. Now this beign a PC game it was released later on the PlayStation 2 which i would really like to know how that differs from the PC version, however I can only imagine that it would be even simpler due to the reduced number of cognitive function required to navigate the User interface and set things up.
Now when it comes down to how a user interacts with the game it is hard to say really since Half-Life is a game primarily focused on a typical gaming demographic. What I mean by this is that the game developers haven't exactly considered all types of demographic and rather focused solely on those who are able to use a keyboard and mouse rather than perhaps a controller. Another thing to note is that nowhere in the menu is there a single option for people with certain types of disadvantages, be it colour blind mode or subtitles for deaf people. Non of this is apparent in the game so people are at even more of a disadvantage.
Half-Life's interface has many pieces and different functioning parts that serve a specific purpose; for instance, menus, text, buttons and icons. The interface of a game is the function that allows the user to interact with the game. The Interaction elements are what make a video game different from a movie. When playing a video game, the user can make choices and respond to events, however they cannot if it were a movie, recently there have been games that border this and create games that are like interactive movies.
I think in terms of the immersion of Half-Life, what makes and breaks it is the factors of consistency in the game-play, sometimes you'll come to a room where it is setup as a puzzle and you'll not know where to go or what to do and the lack of hints and tips in this game, well there isn't any but the environmental help doesn't signify or reflect greatly at times and this can cause the player frustration and often break the immersion that this game throws you in and shrouds you with.
Half-Life and their ERGONOMICS: Quite a lot of different computer systems come paired with their control systems that the human aspect of the system interacts with to enable/disable and interact with on screen prompts. But it is about the safety and the comfort of these devices and addons rather than their functionality. If we take a look at three of the different types of controller systems I am using for the three games in task #2, I have chosen three from different platforms, PS3 Controller, Razer Keyboard and Mouse and a hybrid between a controller and keyboard/mouse the Steam Controller.
Half-Life being a PC game naturally requires a keyboard and mouse to properly function, however a rare PS2 port was made for the game to work with controllers, I imagine that that version differs drastically from the PC version as the control systems are more comfortable and familiar to console gamers rather than those on a PC. My experience running through the run down corridors and fighting my way through the waves of alien undead was a rather comfortable and nice experience, the interactions with the control systems were almost second nature because I do play a lot of PC games, If i went back to a controller it might feel rather foreign to me, but that's for the next game that uses a controller. The keyboard and mouse control system is by far the best controller for any game simply because of the endless possibilities you can have whilst using a keyboard and mouse, the ability to bind and rebind keys differently, you have far more buttons and toggle functions on a keyboard than you do with a controller, with a controller you're locked to what you have and can chop or change these, granted controllers are more comfortable than keyboards, keyboards offer changeability in the sense you can buy extensions, for instance on most top of the range mice and keyboards you can get macro buttons which is as you can see in the circled image above are hotkey buttons to use with your thumb, generally used in MOBA games - Massive Online Battle Arenas, but are generally useful for binding keys to your mouse.
HALF LIFE - HCI INTERACTION - GAMEPLAY ANALYSIS
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning."
"Games are adaptive. That gives us flow."
"Games have win states. That gives us ego gratification."
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline."
"Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity."
"Games have interaction. That gives rewards us."
"Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion."
Half-Life is a game that really pushes you to your limits, bringing out other senses other than the five you have, Although you may not use all five senses when playing on a PC, it certainly brings out the other types of abilities, the Adapt, the creativity and the interactions which are just a few of the different abilities it brings out when playing, they're there to challenge you.
This quite above is from a Human Computer Interaction article which stated that the way we interact with video games triggers certain processes in our brains to achieve specific goals and convey a real sense of achievement, the different quotes in red have been highlighted because they are more prominent within Half-Life and to show you that, We'll analyse the game play aspects of Half-Life to show where these types of game play elements and methods of feedback and player control that comes with said problems. So let's begin with the problem solving aspect of the game.
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline." - Contradictory to what this quote states, Half-Life is at times a repetitive and frustrating game when it comes to the A.I opposition and challenges as shown in this game play footage at around 00:43 seconds into the video, the player comes across a room full of enemies and describes their past experiences with these enemies and how annoying they can be and how frustrating that is. Throughout this is a reoccurring theme of how the game puts this weight on you and how it pushes you to your limits by swarming you with a massive challenge of enemy opposition.
Further into the video around 6:24 the level turns into a sort of maze and confuses the player where he starts contemplating his options and strategies for the end game given this particular level is near the ending of the game and really explaining how the end game is a pain when it comes to the supplies the game gives you, because it expects the player to have been collecting all the ammo and pickups through the previous levels in order to be able to defeat the final boss. The conflict and the challenge of overcoming this dilemma doesn't bode well with most gamers as many, experienced and adept players will want to have all the items and defeat the boss smoothly and because Half-Life tends to be a bit scarce with the supplies it can hinder the users enjoyment on the game, but for others that might be just fine and that's a sort of player archetype that exists in Half Life.
"Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity." - A lot of games made by the Valve corporation are centered around puzzle solving in unlikely environments where you would find puzzles like the ones in Half-Life. As I was explaining in the last segment, the player in the video comes across a couple of portals which introduce the player to the mechanics of how teleportation works between the world and the alien world for a puzzle later down the line, this particular player has a little bit of trouble but overall figures out the portal puzzle in the end after some frustration. It is to be noted that this guy is a speed runner and generally these guys often know the game inside out and you'll notice that creative time saving technique when he mentions how the store cupboard can be by passed by using proximity mines to jump up to the other side of the room and get past to the end of the level.
"Games are adaptive. That gives us flow." - Games like Half-Life flow pretty well with player interaction and a factor that helps a player learn the story and keeps them playing is evident in the level design, If a level doesn't flow well, a player is often going to get frustrated to the point of quitting the game because they cannot solve it, few games do level design puzzles well and complex whilst also maintaining the flow of game-play without boring the player. Half Life keeps it short and sweet with how their levels tie together with the puzzles mixed in, more often than not you'll find yourself crawling through vents and killing aliens to access areas once blocked off to you. Sometimes over the space of several levels just to get into a room you wanted earlier.
"Games have interaction. That gives rewards us." - Games like Half-Life are overly generous when it comes to rewarding the player for their efforts at solving a puzzle, granted all these rewards are fixed and predetermined, but more often than not the player will find themselves leaving behind precious health packs and ammo boxes simply because their character is unable to carry them through to the next level due to their full carry capacity. A lot of the interactions in Half-Life consist of solving puzzles, that is the main focus and a more often than not the player will experience different sorts of puzzles, for instance in the level before the one shown in the video, there is a small Easter egg puzzle that requires the player to remove paintings which reveals a secret code to a locked room, inside that room is a shrine dedicated to the CEO of the Valve Corporation: Gabe Newell as well as some of the other developers and some extra pickups the player can have. So little things like this that can be fun, are also rewarding, exploration is encouraged.
GAME #2: - RESISTANCE 3: Resistance 3 is a game that set the standards for Human-Computer interaction on consoles and how games are meant to be made in terms of game play and user-interface. Let's take a look at the different UI and HCI elements of this well made game.
Now a lot of what console games usually have are title screens that are set out in simplstic form such as the one in Resistance 3, Many of these title screens feature a variety of easy to find options and extras for the player to tweak to their playstyle. From this image you can see the game has a heavy focus towards the player interaction side of gaming, multiplayer and co-operative and so on, so forth.
If we open up the extras tab from the main title screen it transists between the different concept art which hasn't gone to waste and offers nice appealing stylized artwork for the various screens. But if we take a look at the different extras that this menu gives you, you'll notice we have different tabs such as Shop and rewards, these types of tabs aren't all that new as many consoles and PC games tendto have in game purchases, many are put off by the idea of purchasing virtual content as opposed to physical useful content, but they bought the game so what more could you ask for with something as well made as Resistance 3 with a compelling story and what not. In HCI terms these menus are a breeze to navigate and don't offer much limitation in what you can and can't select, take a look at the next two options, the game allows you to go back and read prior journal entries and cinematics you may have not been paying attention to before and many games of today wouldn't really do that, they tend to be about moving forward as opposed to allowing you to go back and review prior events.
Okay, so what this game does well that many others of more modern tend not to is not bombard you with screen clutter. Resistance 3 with its user interface is subtle as this game wants to show off the world as opposed to the on screen prompts, which are nice to novice players who haven't bothered with consoles before and it gives you hand hints as to what to do and where to go, even then they're not too invasive they only come around if and when you need them so throughout the majoity of your game the screen is left clear of HUD and UI clutter.
Now this has to be by far one of my most favourite, but little features in Resistance 3, if you ever happen to find a journal entry or technical document regarding any LORE in the Resistance timeline, you are given a little hand written note which is hardly readable for those who can't read joined up writing. But if you do have trouble reading it, you can press a controller button, "X" to open up this neat window which makes the text clearer for you, so I think this really makes immersion for those wanting to get the most out of the game, reading notes that have been handwritten and feeling apart of the story is something all games aim for, but few get right, Resistance 3 is one such example.
Now with Resistance 3, it takes the immersion and realism to a whole new level. This game has little to no HUD outside of this screen. The only HUD indicators you get are when grenades are close. But if you ever want to check your ammunition or weapons you have, you need to hold the triangle button in order to bring up this wheel, it let's you see your ammo and what not as well as your guns and if you have any grenades, if in this screenshot I had any you'd see them appear beside one of the triangle spaces.
Yes that is correct, Resistance 3 is compatible with PlayStation Move and this really confuses me, I can't say much on this as I have never really had any experience with this VR type technology... I suppose it is a bit like the XBOX's kinect or the Wii and their mvement tracking, granted Resistance and the PlayStation move are somewhat dated by now compared to many other current VR technologies, this was groundbreaking for the time of 2009-2010, a good 6-7 years from now and that shows how far it has come, but this was the first bodily interactive control system consoles had, PC's were playing the catch up game at this point and it shaped how the industry implemnted control systems like these into consoles and games. But I can only imagine that you use the right arm stick to look around and the left to fire and do other things.
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning."
"Games are adaptive. That gives us flow."
"Games have win states. That gives us ego gratification."
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline."
"Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity."
"Games have interaction. That gives rewards us."
"Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion."
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning." - In Resistance 3 a lot of the outcomes are based on pre-determined warnings placed around the levels which given hints to the player for what to expect and what the game expects the player to do, In this game play above, the player finds them self within a run down subway and stumble across a old tape recorder with the last words of a soldier on it, a foreshadowing tape as it highlights the dangers in store for the player, of course with this knowledge the player amply picks a suitable weapon, having learnt that the best way to take down a specific type of enemy is to use a shotgun.
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline." - In Resistance 3 there are many dead ends filled with enemies, like a particular example would be when this player experiences and tries to plan a strategy which he believes will save him from having to fight, by rushing past them all he runs up some stairs hoping for the surface just to be met by a dead end and a swarm of feral aliens to which he is forced to fight, panicking he shotguns them all off. This shows that even though his plan didn't work, it gave him a challenge.
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning." - In Resistance 3 a lot of the outcomes are based on pre-determined warnings placed around the levels which given hints to the player for what to expect and what the game expects the player to do, In this game play above, the player finds them self within a run down subway and stumble across a old tape recorder with the last words of a soldier on it, a foreshadowing tape as it highlights the dangers in store for the player, of course with this knowledge the player amply picks a suitable weapon, having learnt that the best way to take down a specific type of enemy is to use a shotgun.
"Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion." - In the video at around 4:10, The player explains that this game is sort of fast paced and rushed, but it also has an interesting story. In fact this in my personal opinion was my most favorite game of 2011, since the story, after having played the first two predecessors of this series, the story was just absolutely fantastic and compelled me to want to find out the conclusion to the series, how they managed to contain this virus and invasion by these aliens. It had very deep cut-scenes that really impacted the outcome of the next chapter, granted it was a very linear game, but what mattered was the story which kept you on edge and wanting to know more.
GAMES #3 - PORTAL - THIS WAS A TRIUMPH
For this game, I'd like to start it off differently and talk extensively about the controller system for this particular video game as it has so much that makes it superior to controller systems such as the XBOX or PlayStation controllers.
The steam controller, The Valve corporations answer to the age old question, Console or PC? well, they combined the comfort of the couch with the familiarity of a mouse and keyboard and combined them into a controller, a revolutionary controller no doubt. The controller features MANY different control systems you can apply to the buttons and track pads which are tailored to the average gamer.
These different types of configurations range from the most recommended by the manufacturer to the most popular among the community. In the image above you can see just a few community configurations imported by other avid PORTAL players who want to give to the community and what I like a LOT about this system is, instead of the games company developing all different types of mapping for the configurations for the controller, they've handed over the tools and programs needed to let the community do that for them, hence giving the Steam Controller to people who could improve upon or better the product for future versions.
The Valve Corporation wanted to make a compromise between the comfort of the couch and the familiarity of a mouse combined with a controller and they did just that with this product, in the next image I'll give you a run down of how the actual mapping works and why this controller in my opinion is superior to the others on the market.
So here we have the typical setup page for the Steam Controller, for the sake of example I have selected a community blueprint from the community blueprints section of the controller setup. Now let's take a look at the controller itself from this image, It reminds me of an XBOX controller more than a PlayStation but this Steam controller has elements of both, for example the use of A,B,X,Y buttons very reminiscent of the XBOX's buttons and also a very nice touch as anyone whom may be colourblind can read what the buttons are from the prompts on the screen. Moving on take a look to the far bottom right, notice how we have a mouse tab yet this is a controller, Well the mouse is built into the right track pad which replaces the right analog stick and this was a very bold move by Valve as typically the comforts and ergonomics of the controller is what makes or breaks whether a player is going to keep using that controller or not.
The sensory features that the Controller has are the built in speakers but also as you can see by the image above, the controller has rumble emulation, or better known as the Dual-Shock feature found on PlayStation. The Steam controller is heavily Human-Computer Interaction focused as the whole controller itself is very dependent on the players interactions and input to retrieve the commands and such. Unlike XBOX and PlayStation controllers the Steam controller receives monthly software updates which add new applications or configurations to enhance the user experience.
A very genius addition to the options found within the Steam Controller settings is the ability to turn on button prompts which display on the screen and tell you which buttons you press or what direction your track pad is directed in. This is Valve thinking about the demographic at a disadvantage, those who have to adapt to normal games, well no longer with features such as these, you need not worry anymore as Valve has implemented measures to cover both colour blindness and those who may be deaf. Subtitles are also found within the game itself which adds to the help for the deaf.
It is crucial to give the same user experience to those with disability as everyone should be able to enjoy entertainment equally and I admire Valve for implementing control measures like these to ensure all can have fun, safely and comfortably.
Onto the game itself, PORTAL! A very intuitive game that pushes your thought process to the limits and tries to make you adapt to your surroundings constantly, Puzzles after puzzles as you travel through a MAZE of scientific tests.
Jumping straight into the user interface and you can see, VERY SIMILAR to the Half-Life user interface it has a lot of features, however due to the engine that PORTAL runs on, it has the capacity to add more, so if you take a look at Half Life and their options, you'll notice the absence of developer commentary and achievements as these weren't really high tech or necessary back then but with the implementation of achievements and the developer commentaries you can get an insight into what was going through the mind when each level was designed and why it was how it turned out to be. As for the achievements they're nice incentives as well as pointers to story based trivia and all these types of additional features contribute towards a pleasant user experience, I know from personal experience that i rather enjoy playing a game through once and replaying it differently the second time and thirdly playing with these additional features to find the hidden things about the game.
If we compare PORTAL to Resistance 3, They are entirely different genres of game to each other, however one similarity is that both games have your protagonist working towards defeating an evil whether it be alien or A.I, both share a futuristic theme and that is evident throughout both. A lot of these types of games really work well as party-based games and as expected both these games such as Resistance and Portal have integrated a newer and fresher player experience by implementing co-operative and multiplayer experiences to the game which without a doubt makes a game ten times better when you have goals and missions to work towards and through especially when you have the incentives of rewards and potential friends there guiding you through to achieve goals. The overall effect these kinds of experiences have can both be... good and bad, Good in the sense everyone has a good time, but bad in the sense that as it is nowadays a lot of online multiplayer matches result in opposing teams and even friendly teams bad mouthing each other and stating who di who's mother. but let's steer clear of that as those types of players only shape a bad image within online party based games.
To continue on with this section, I had a few people sit down and play with the Steam Controller you saw earlier and had them playing this game: PORTAL, To get their experience but also see if there was any difference to how they know it from XBOX's Orange Box as many in there have played on the console version of PORTAL.
After collecting the responses i chose from the ten i received, let's take a look at one of the more seriously taken answers.
The main aim of this primary research was to get to know the differences between the more modern console controllers compared to the Steam Controller that I had these two using, the steam controller is a controller developed to essentially and aim to replace the use of console controllers in the use of Steam games and their service and so to combat that they developed a controller specifically to combat all platforms including their own universally.
However, i asked each of these two several questions to find out whether this controller is better off or worse off than others on the market.
PLAYER #1
Q1]: How does this differ from controllers you've used in the past?
A1]: less bulky and more streamlined in appearance
Nowadays a lot of controllers are large lumps of plastic and offer for some, uncomfort and with the Steam controller that isn't as much the case as it has a very streamlined appearance and feel when you hold it, it was specifically designed to be a snug fit in the palms as the handles are inverted to offer better stability when gaming.
Q2]: Is it more comfortable than other controllers you've used?
A2]: At first touch yes but the analogue thumbstick is too central
Secondly, Dan here wasn't the only one that had an issue with this, quite a few of the people in the control group were slightly dissapointed that the left analog stick was slightly too center for the left thumb, on other controllers these are either too far left or right, taking the PS3 one for example, the analog sticks are far enough left and right to be comfortable when playing. XBOX however, seems really weird to me as the analog sticks are opposite to each other. one at the top and one at the bottom, strange. But yes, the analog stick is one of the bigger downsides to the controller.
Q3]: Would you use this controller over more traditional control systems?
A3]: Maybe, But for that to happen Valve would need to revamp the inverted holding position, as the controller doesn't traditionally feel as comfortable as that of a PS3/4 controller
Again, the inverted holding position, not much more other than to say that this combined with the analog stick issue makes for an awkward playing experience and player experience is everything when taking into consideration the ergonomics of these control systems. Not very pleased with that to be fair.
Q4]: Were the controls responsive to the game you were playing or was there delay?
A4]: if anything the sensitivity could have been turned down
Luckily for this, and my most favourite feature personally is the ability to customise and adjust the controller to suit YOUR needs as opposed to a companies preference, take XBOX or PlayStation for example, both these companies don't allow you the extensive customisation of your controllers and that's what i really love about this controller and it makes it brilliant because, if you have issues like the analog being too far center.. just remap the control assigned to it, to a different button.
Q5]: Were there any sense features such as: Vibration or Sound?
A5]: Vibration no sound
This was evident throughout the playsession as the vibrations worked, but the sound from the built in speakers wasn't as evident even though it was enabled. Perhaps it was down to the game but yes, these features are brilliant especially for deaf people, the vibrations are great so they know somethings up when they are in danger.
Q6]: What are the good things you like about the controller?
A6]: Streamlined and responsive
The controller itself was streamline and more futuristic than any other controllers I've seen and this is good because the better streamline, the better comfort right? well not so much for this, it is sort of a eprsonal preference and well, it is rather comfortable and i assume you can get used to it afterwards but overall it is down to the player who is using it and their preferences, they may opt to use another controller over this one. As for the responsiveness it was immaculate and there was little to no delay between the controller and the functions on screen.
Q7]: What are the bad things you dislike about the controller?
A7]: control setup is more complicated than needed and off putting
A lot of game control setups can be confusing, but after a while they can be quite useful for finding that right setup for you, if not, the community have you covered with other types of preset control maps setup for you to use free.
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning."
"Games are adaptive. That gives us flow."
"Games have win states. That gives us ego gratification."
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline."
"Games have problem solving. That sparks our creativity."
"Games have interaction. That gives rewards us."
"Games have representation and story. That gives us emotion."
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning." - Portal is a game that drives your brain to its breaking point with an array of puzzles which gradually get harder and harder. I decided it would be a good idea to stray away from game-play videos of others playing it and get the opinions and feedback of those I had play it whilst they were testing the steam controller. So, when I had Joseph W. playing Portal, a novice to PC gaming he found the entire experience weird, mainly because he was not used to the controls but found that it was easier for him to be told what to do rather than doing it for himself, So as I was observing him, I more often than not found myself guiding him through just whilst he got used to the mechanics. A lot of the outcomes of his actions tended to end badly or with him dying a lot in the game, when I asked him what he thought of the game he stated that PC gaming wasn't really for him.
"Games have conflict/ competition/ challenge/ opposition. That gives us adrenaline." - Portal is certainly a game that at the end of the day is guaranteed to mess with your mind with the crazy challenges, enemies and competition it throws at you, In many of the levels (Specifically Android hell) the player often finds them-self faced and pitched against sentry turrets which shoot the player when they cross the laser sight, Daniel, the next player who I had play through Portal got to such a stage and actually repeatedly got shot over and over again to the point he gave up. Portal is not for the faint of heart. In my personal experience that was one of the more easier levels but I suppose he hasn't played Portal before as evident by his actions. I sort of wish I recorded it now to show you.
"Games have outcomes and feedback. That help us in learning." - Portal is a nice game and a hard game, but it does make the player learn fast when they mess something up. Usually this results in loss of life and they learn from those mistakes, in fact, I'd say most of the time people die in this game they pick up quickly the sort of game they're playing and adapt to that train of thought.
"Games have win states. That gives us ego gratification." - Portal is a game that loves rewarding the player with comical lines from the evil antagonist. However the game also likes to reward the player and their ego by giving them secret places to explore which also rewards them with snippets of story as to what happens in the facility you find yourself trapped within. Something that is more evident in the second Portal than in the first is the dynamic options that you get when you complete a level, depending on how you did the antagonist will respond differently and sometimes for that, you need to do a bit more work.
CONCLUSIONS: To conclude this project, I'd like to go over the most important things and why H.C.I is important to video games as well as why the three games I chose measure up to those expectations well.
To start, user interface is a big factor in the immersion department of video games and Human Computer Interaction, because what can truly make or break a game for a player is how much clutter is on a screen. If you have as much clutter on a screen as say for instance [World of Warcraft] does, then you'll not have a very immersive time if you were looking to follow the story as much of the screen is engulfed in icons and powers on scroll bars and tabs.
User interface however is only a slice of the overall gaming experience and how that can make or break whether someone plays a game for 5 minutes or 5 hours. No, what else factors into this is what control system you choose to base your game upon. If for instance you market your game with a control system for that of say a PlayStation, you're only going to be exclusively marketing to PlayStation users and this is a narrow market which is why more often than not you'll see bigger triple A games companies shipping their games to multiple platform control systems as every gamer has a preferred gaming platform and if their favorite game series is exclusively restricted to one control system then there would be a public outcry as there was for the GTA 5 rant, when Rockstar only marketed the game for XBOX and PlayStation, PC gamers went through a whole petition to get GTA 5 on the PC and it worked. GTA 5 was made available and sold on steam.
Now in terms of the games that I chose, beginning with Half-Life, Half-Life likes to keep things minimal and focuses more on immersion when playing, the User Interface combined with the narrative works well because the interface is lacking in screen space, minimalist and good for it. Overall immersing the player in a science facility over run by aliens. Killing and fighting through to escape. It is a game that really does do itself justice and why it has won so many awards.
Secondly, Resistance 3, a vastly different game to Half-Life but it shares a common theme, aliens. Aliens that seek to covert or destroy those who refuse to resist. Invading and fighting back against human resistance. Resistance 3 is a game where User-Interface is everything as without the user-interface it has, it would be very hard to know where you need to go next as the game places down way-point indicators for the player to follow whilst battling through aliens. A nice touch that Resistance 3 has however when trying to keep on the immersive side is if you haven't fired your weapon for a while the UI will fade away until as such time as you engage in combat.
Thirdly Portal, Portal is a game that drives you to your limits and can often at times be frustrating, however much like Half-Life it loves to keep the Interface on the minimum as immersion in Valve games is everything and that much is evident with only your primary mode of navigation filling your screen.
Portal when it comes down to control systems was never meant for anything outside of PC really, However it was released along with Half Life 2 Episode 2 on the Orange box to XBOX, but this was only a one off as Valve hasn't pushed for anything outside of PC ever since. Mainly because in my opinion there is a more flexible and wider range of audience on PC compared to consoles and that is ever growing.
Bibliography: References for Secondary research
UNIT 79 RESEARCH REFERENCES FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY
#1: UKIE. (2014). Games industry in numbers. Available: http://ukie.org.uk/research#Contribution. Last accessed 30/09/2016.
#2: Newzoo. (2016). THE GLOBAL GAMES MARKET REACHES $99.6 BILLION IN 2016, MOBILE GENERATING 37%.
Available: https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-games-market-reaches-99-6-billion-2016-mobile-generating-37/. Last accessed 30/09/2016.
Available: https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-games-market-reaches-99-6-billion-2016-mobile-generating-37/. Last accessed 30/09/2016.
#3: John Caroll. (N/A). HCI. Available: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/human-computer-interaction-brief-intro. Last accessed 04/10/2016.
#4: Half Life: http://store.steampowered.com/app/70/
#5 Portal: http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/
#6: Primary Data gathered by myself, help from HNC Class of 2016/2017.
#7 Resistance 3: http://www.game.co.uk/en/resistance-3-72262
