The Most Common Gamer Questions

Every time I tell someone I recently met that I love to play games, I always get the question "What kinds of games do you play?" and "What's your favorite game?"

I always respond "oh, that's a tough question! Tons. I play everything. I can't say which one is exactly my #1 favorite! I've played hundreds!"

Anyway, for people that have trouble knowing what "style" or "type" of games you play, here is a list of a few genres and their descriptions:

Platformer -  The goal of a platformer is to make your way through levels by jumping on "platforms" and avoiding dangerous obstacles or enemies. These games are usually 2D, but there are some 3D platformers too! The most prominent features of platformers are the jumping, climbing and sometimes frequent sidescrolling. Such examples include the arcade-classics Donkey Kong, Mario and the original Metroid, as well as Spelunky. Most classic arcade games are platformers!  

Real-Time Strategy (RTS) - A style of game where the players DON'T incrementally take turns. In other words, it is NOT a turn-based game. Instead, players are given the task of managing and planning strategic events in real-time, such as perhaps managing your army as they go into battle and acquiring new resources, like areas/bases/stronger units, etc. The usual goal of these games is to destroy the enemy's assets and grow your assets. It is up to the player to logically plan their units, their bases, their attacks, their resources, and fight against other players or a CPU. Examples include Starcraft, Age of Empires, StrongHold series, and Dune II. 

MMORPG - stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, where thousands of people can be playing on a server (or many servers) at one time. These games usually have endless hours of gameplay due to developers adding more and more to these worlds! Most involve Medieval-type environments, races, and classes/roles. Examples include Runescape, World of Warcraft, Ultima Online, Everquest, etc.

RPG- stands for Role-Playing Game. These involve taking up the role of a character in a fictitious setting, usually one that is Medieval or with fantasy-related aspects. Very similar to MMOs except they are not multiplayer-heavy. Examples include Fable, Dark Souls, Bloodbourne, Elder Scrolls, Ultima Underworld, and Fallout 3/New Vegas. 

Action-Adventure -This is one of the most common game genres! These games combine both exploration and combat into one game. These games usually require that the player searches their nearby environment for keys or other important objects before being able to proceed through the game. For example, you may need to pick up a specific item before completing the mission, as with GTA and many Rockstar Games. However, these games also focus heavily on combat (action) and/or danger lurking. You must work your way through these environments (perhaps by doing quests/missions) while also fighting off enemies. Examples include Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, and a huge variety of others! 

Simulation - These games usually involve simulating (or being placed in) various kinds of experiences, whether that be career-related, life-related, or vehicle-related. It is up to the player to live these experiences and learn how to manage in these "real-world" scenarios. These games can actually teach the player some significant life skills! Examples of Simulation games include the Sims series, Spore, Farming Simulator, Nintendogs, Kerbal Space Program, FlightGear, etc.

Fighting - These include games where you are usually in an arena and your task is simply to beat up and defeat the opponent(s). Sometimes these games have story missions to play through and/or a "tower" type mode where you fight endlessly until you die. Usually the motive to keep playing the game is unlocking new characters or showing off your skills against your friends! Examples include Soulcalibur, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and Street Fighter. 

I will certainly elaborate more on these topics later on. These were just a few genres/types of games.

 

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Can Video Games have "Infinite" Amounts of Content?

A topic that frequently comes to my mind when considering the future of video games is the idea of "infinite content" and how to make the gaming experience supposedly "last forever". With MMORPGs, such as Runescape, World of Warcraft, and EverQuest, it certainly seems possible to an extent, because developers are consistently adding and adding new items, quests, skills, enemies, areas/regions, and/or other such features; this is what keeps these types of games alive. These games don't necessarily have "infinite" amounts of content, but they have the appearance of infinite amounts of possibility due to continuous amounts of additions.

But what about other types of games? Most single-player games don't seem to have infinite content because most people play the game, live the experience, and move on to the next game right away. Perhaps they revisit the game in the future, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has "infinite content" to last forever. Not to mention that most games nowadays are focusing more and more on Multiplayer content rather than the Single-player, storytelling experience.

Now, what usually comes to mind when thinking of "infinite content" is the argument between Procedurally-Generated Content vs. Handcrafted Content. 

Procedural Generation is an algorithmic method to tell the computer specifically what type of content to generate in a way that makes logical sense in the game world, including quests, new levels, items, etc.

Handcrafted content is actual content that was created and designed by the actual developers and placed in the game manually

Procedurally-Generated Content seems to be a plausible approach to allowing "infinite" amounts of content in the future, yet it is NOT perfect; the major problem is repetitiveness. No matter how much content the developer adds for the algorithm to generate, eventually these amounts of content repeat themselves again and again. This includes things such as the same types of quests/missions, the same types of plotlines, the same types of places/items, etc. 

Handcrafted content is always limited and thus never "infinite." However, most of the time having handcrafted content is a good solution to making the game experience seem infinite. This is because players can play the game without worrying too much about randomness and repetitiveness, or possible algorithmic bugs in the generation that make the game unbearable!

To conclude today, games don't necessarily have infinite amounts of content; rather, it is the experience that these games provide for players that makes these worlds seem to have "infinite" content to last forever. This is what makes games so powerful. 

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Hello, World!

Hello, World!

My name is Aaron Hernandez, and I am going to be writing a series of blog posts about a variety of interesting Computer Science topics!

Such topics I would like to discuss as I learn them would range from:

Computer Programming, Video Games, Game Engines, and the intricacies of Game Design to more abstract topics, like Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical/Physical Simulations.

I will also be offering my own insight into possibilities for future improvements in these fields from my own research!

It is my mission to extend my knowledge to everyone around the world who is interested in Computer Science, and to people who may not be the most skilled with technology. I love helping others learn!

So please, join me regularly while I discuss some fascinating topics about Computer Science!

Regards from a Future Video Game and Software Developer,

-Aaron Hernandez