History of Game Design

Arising as a prominent branch of game development in the 1970s after the huge success of arcade video games, game designers as we know them today were tasked with designing the bulk of content for the game, including the rules, storyline, characters and overall appeal. Today, game designing is a multi-million dollar industry that's only expected to grow larger as technology advances. Take a look at the timeline below to see how the industry has evolved and expanded over the years.

1952 - Willy Higinbotham creates what is commonly referred to as "the first video game." Similar to table tennis, this 2 person game was played on an oscilloscope.

1961 - A MIT student, Steve Russell, creates the first interactive game, Spacewars, played on mainframe computers.

1971 - Computer Space, developed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney (founders of Atari), becomes the first video arcade game released. Although it was instantly popular, many people found the game too difficult.

1972 - Realizing the potential of video games, Magnavox released Odyssey, the first home video gaming system. Most notably though, Atari is founded and quickly recognized as the leader in the video game industry. Their first released game, Pong, was wildly successful and soon became available as a home version.

1974 - Steve Jobs, one of Atari's technicians and later a circuit board creator, presented an idea to the Atari founders for a personal computer system. Because funds were tied up in other projects, Bushnell referred a venture capitalist to Jobs for funding support. That personal computer, of course, was the beginning of Apple.

1975 - The first computer game hits the markets. Gunfight used a microprocessor instead of hardwired circuits.

1977 - Retailing at $249.95, a large chunk of money at the time, the Atari 2600 game console is released.

1978 - Adding another level of competition and appeal to video games, Space Invaders hits arcades as the first game to track and display high scores. Soon after, the game Asteroids took it a step further and allowed three letter initials to be stored with top scores.

1980 - The first 3D game, Battlezone, is created. The game caught the eye of the US Government, who later modified it for training exercises. Due to the advancing complexity of games, companies begin to form teams to specifically address design. Game designers and programmers soon became separate, distinct careers.

1981 - The gaming industry proves its prominence with the first dedicated periodical, Electronic Games.

1985 - Developed by a Russian programmer, Tetris is released for arcades, video game consoles, as well as home computers.

1989 - Game Boys, handheld gaming devices made by Nintendo, hit the market to much avail. Later in the year, Sega releases the Genesis game console.

1994 - The Entertainment Software Rating Board is created due to concerns about violence in games and the marketing tactics used. Games now receive a rating displayed on the packaging.

1995 - Sony releases the PlayStation in the U.S. By 1997, 20 million units had been sold.

1996 - Arcades switch their focus from traditional video games to the more popular physical riding games, such as skiing, and car/bike racing.

1998 - The Sega Dreamcast is released, one of Sega's last pulls to stay in the market.

2000 - Sony's PlayStation 2 is released. The 500,000 initial units sell out instantly at $300 apiece. The same year, The Sims surpasses Myst as the best selling PC game. Game designers now work in teams of dozens to quickly create the complex games being sold.

2001 - "Next Generation" gaming systems are introduced. The Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube are not only more interactive for the user, but also easier to develop games for. Shortly after the release of these products, Sega announces it will no longer produce hardware.

2004 - The Nintendo DS is released as a purposefully portable system. Sony follows a year later with their portable version, the Sony PSP.

2006 - The Nintendo Wii revolutionizes the market with its controller system, designed to mimic actual physical movements such as swinging a tennis racket or throwing a bowling ball. During the same year, the PlayStation 3 is released as the most sophisticated (and expensive) console.

2007 - Apple releases the iPhone, creating an entirely new device in which to play games.

2008 - The App Store is introduced. With a diverse array of functionalities, games quickly become the most popular and lucrative "apps." Game designing and developing for Smartphone applications becomes a large niche. In a successful effort to get people of all ages involved and excited about the Wii, Nintendo releases the Wii Fit game. By the next year, Wii Sports surpasses Super Mario Bros as the bestselling video game with over 40 million units sold.

2011 - Projected to grow an additional 30% by 2016, the gaming industry produces sales of over 18 billion per year. Colleges and degrees specifically for game design and production are becoming increasingly advanced and popular.

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The History and Movement of Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons. These three words bring many thoughts to many different people. People think about nerds, geeks, dorks. Others think of fun, adventurous, stimulating. Some people think of live action role playing (LARPing). The bottom line is that Dungeons and Dragons has been around for quite some time, and has entertained millions of people around the world due to its open world, open imagination based game. Dungeons and Dragons has expanded into a multi-billion dollar idea that has spawned many copies of the D20 system.

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was first published in 1974. The game quickly grew in popularity and the demand for the basic book sky-rocketed. D&D is a D20 system. D20 systems are role-playing games where each player has a character sheet with statistics, equipment, spells, race, age, class, and other abilities. Players play on either a mat or some other form of board with which the Dungeon Master (DM) molds his story for the players enjoyment. It is called a D20 system because most actions require the player to roll a 20 sided die. D stands for die, 20 the number of sides on the die. In D&D the D20 is used to attack, make saving throws to avoid spell damage, or to use an ability such as stealth or intimidation. Damage rolls on successful attack rolls usually use D6, D8, D10, or D12s. The main focus players have in their characters are the abilities and attacks they can perform. Abilities and attacks depend greatly upon the class of the character.

Dungeons and Dragons has a plethora of classes for players to choose from. They can choose from a basic fighter, barbarian, sorcerer, wizard, bard, cleric, monk, paladin, to even a druid. There are well over 40 different classes for players to choose from and even more prestige (expansion) classes. Each class has different abilities and play a different role in the party. Players can choose from being a melee damage (rogue), ranged damage (archer, wizard), support character (bard), healer (cleric), or a tank type of character (barbarian). Dungeons and Dragons was set up to be a team game that required every player to take his role seriously. Like the common phrase says, "You only as strong as your weakest link". If a groups healer is fooling around in combat, the entire team can suffer. The use of roles ensures everyone has an equal playing field in terms of their importance to the party.

Perhaps the greatest part of D&D is the length games can go on for. One game of D&D consists of sessions. Each session can last anywhere from one hour to an entire day depending on how dedicated and free the players and DM are. Games consist of these sessions and certain games can last several years, even up to 10+ years of gaming. I've personally played in games that have been going on for 3 years now and have grown attached to my character. Dungeons and Dragons is perhaps the only game that people become attached to their characters on a normal basis. Although it may take several gaming sessions, many people begin to envelope themselves in their character and each decision they make.

Many people believe D&D sessions are always a Dungeon adventure that ends with killing dragons or saving the princess. However, luckily for most gamers, the man behind D&D, Gary Gygax, added alignments to each characters. You character may be lawful, neutral, or chaotic. Several DMs make their adventures chaotic only, which leads to many characters doing whatever they want, when they want. Several of my sessions have been focused on internal issues with our party instead of external issues such as what has red eyes and is looking at us while we set up camp at night.

In my experience, the easiest characters to begin playing Dungeons and Dragons are fighters. Fighters must know their Armor Class (AC), Health Points (HP), and what attacks they can perform. Fighters have the least amount of material that needs to be memorized in order to play effectively. Although they are a simple class to play, they can play a great role in any party. Upon learning the basics of the game, experiences players may explore into the Arcane or Diving classes such as the cleric, druid, or wizard. These classes must know the same information as fighters, but must also pay attention to their spells. A good wizard knows what spells to use and when. Casting classes are limited in their spell casting capabilities and if they run out of spells, they must resort to hand to hand combat. A Wizard fighting in hand to hand combat is much like a quarterback attempting to tackle a linebacker in football.

Dungeons and Dragons is a game meant to be played by anyone. The game is only limited by your imagination. I've played D&D with a wide range of characters. From 16 year old punks to 65 year old grandfathers and everything in-between. It takes an open mind to try Dungeon and Dragons out for the first time, but it doesn't take a nerd or geek to enjoy playing it. I consider Dungeons and Dragons to be the equivalent of a video game, except it was first created when video games were barely even known about. Today, everyone knows what video games are and the majority of citizens enjoy playing them. If people were to try D&D just once, I'm sure they would an enjoyable experience. Dungeons and Dragons games can be found in many places. You're able to find groups that play online or you can even walk into a comic shop and ask if they host games. D&D is more popular than most people expect. Through the use of imagination and the collective thoughts of many willing participants, Dungeons and Dragons has grown from a home-made basement gathering to a world-wide game enjoyed by millions.

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Playstation Move - A Brief History

Originally known by several names, the Playstation Move was originally unveiled in June of 2009. There was a huge debate within Sony Entertainment as to what to call the motionless controller. The press had continued to incorrectly refer to it as the Magic Wand or the Wand. Sony eventually called it "The Motion Controller" and on September 2009 the name, "Move" was coined and used as the proper term for the controller.

The controller was in the works by Sony Entertainment as early as 2001. Early prototype versions of the Move were in circulation such as the Eye Toy but these motionless controllers failed to capture people's attentions. By 2008 Sony had finished work on the Move and was ready to launch it to the public.

With the public and media giving the PS3 Move rave reviews, the Move was being applied to all Sony Playstation wireless games. The first game to utilize this was Dual Shock 3, which enabled a player to use the analog stick of the Move for the use of the sword in game. Rumors also at the time speculated that Sony had developed the Move in retaliation against Nintendo Wii's wireless Nunchuck remote, but Sony denied any of those allegations.

The Move was finally released in January of 2010, being just a bit too late for the Christmas rush but right in time for all those viable game players to spend their Christmas money on this new remote. The logo probably has to be the most innovative thing with the Playstation Move, a blue squiggly shape which is supposed to be a representation of the light trail left by the Move as you move it about with the lighted sensor sphere within.

The Move was an automatic success which also incorporated a large selection of third party video game support, something very rare for new out-of-the-box designs such as the Move. Even today the Move sells almost a hundred thousand units.

One in three PS3 games is designed specifically to be used with the Playstation Move in mind. There are a good variety of PS3 Move Games available that are not too shabby as most of the games are quite entertaining and fun. Unlike controller specific games of the past for older game consoles, PS3 Move games don't leave you wanting more. It is no wonder the Playstation Move is so popular, and has made the PS3 into much more than it was on release. Whether or not the PS3 Move was designed in retaliation to the Wii, it certainly was a brilliant move (no pun intended).

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