Entry Indigo: Week 8

Reflection:

This week's reading was about prototyping a game, particularly physical prototyping. Although, this is something I have seen and heard of it is relatively foreign to me in that this isn't something I've ever done nor have ever truly put any thought into. Which, is what made this so interesting to read and to wrap my head around. But this also made me come across the thoughts,

"What kind of prototyping would I need to do for my game concepts?" and, "how would I then implement these concepts into a prototype?"

Something I also really enjoyed about prototyping was that, although there is some parts that are made somewhat appealing; seemingly, to differeniate more than for actual aesthetical purposes, it really is just focused on the mechanics of the game. It helps to strip away all the other aspects of the game that you will have to eventually worry about, once the concept is more solidified; and, instead just focus on the core aspects of the game itself.

Experience:

This week I played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. This game's genre is classified as a fighting game. I'm pretty late to the party being that fighting games aren't in my top favorite genres but I do still enjoy them; although, the last Smash Bros. game I played was Super Smash Bros. Melee on the GameCube. Once the game begins you're pretty much able to pick which mode you want to play, so I decided to go to the story mode where you are then led into a cutscene. All the characters are forced to fight against Galeem and his army of Master Hands, they ultimately get taken over and we're forced to play as Kirby and restore all of these characters. The cutscene was amazingly done and nicely captures everything although I do wish they would've made the text at the bottom more noticeable as I missed some of what was said because there was no indication of it. And that's that this happened twice as before I bought the game I watched the initial gameplay; but, both times I managed not to notice that the text was there.

Afterwards, your first match is up against Mario, they explain briefly about Spirits and such; although, it was initially a bit much to wrap my head around. But this wasn't too serious as with any game experience is usually the best way to learn. This first match was really just me trying to figure out the controls since they're not explained. Initially this isnt too much of an issue but I found myself multiple times after the fact having to search up the controls since they weren't just blatantly explained. Although, something I really enjoyed is that the same controls for different characters translated a bit different; which, saves the player on really having to memorize anything new and yet it gives each character personality. On top of this, there was also an addictive factor to the matches. As I found myself burning through them and when I found myself stuck, I was persistent until I finally won.

Another thing to note is the amount of detail that really went into every aspect of this, the maps, the Spirits, the music, the character skins, their abilities--really every part of it made my eyes light up like a little kid as I saw or heard things from other games that I've played; and, some of the old maps and characters from the GameCube version. Overall, I was really inspired by every aspect of the game, I of course got to do a lot more but I mainly was inspired by the story mode part of the game. As they do a really great job of not making it so quick and easy to beat. Plus, every time you saved a new character it felt like a new weapon added to your arsenal. And then I would try to figure out which characters fit better against other types of fighters, and so on. I think the main things I want to take from this are the quirkiness, the detail, the personality and the way in which they added it for each character, as well as the switching from characters. I think the most obvious way people think of giving a character "character" is giving them a personality and distinct looks but the way they managed to also display this with the controls; and, in the strengths and limitations of each fighter really expanded on this, even their abilities.