Myles Harrison – P1 – C – Game Types.
First Person Shooter:
First
person shooters are one of the most popular gaming genres as they spread across
all different gaming platforms such as handheld consoles, consoles, PC and on
smartphones. The view of every single FPS game is from the visual perspective
of the character you are playing which makes it unique. They are also known as
FPS shooters. These FPS shooters had their true breakthrough in the 1990’s with
“Wolfenstein 3D” since then they have taken a violent twist and the current
most popular FPS games are Call Of Duty and Battlefield. These games also have
a storyline which is followed by playing the game. There are many subgenres to
this genre. In online aspects of FPS games you are not attached to one
character as you can respawn once you are killed.
Simulation
Simulation games are mainly on
Consoles and PC’s but they are most popular on the PC platform. Most simulation
games are downloaded through a PC gaming marketplace known as steam and there
are thousands of these simulators all into one category. They range from a
variety of things such as military simulators, driving simulators and farming
simulators. Simulation games were pioneered on Flight simulator and then the
more casual simulator game The Sims. ARMA III is one of the most popular
military simulator which is played by millions of people each day on the PC.
Action
Action games have been around for a
long time and these also have many sub genres attached to them with things such
as survival and adventure aspects. In action games you usually play the
protagonist of a story line. Action games consist of Grand Theft Auto, The Last
Of Us, Tomb Raider etc. These are normally more focused on the campaign/single
player of the game with a smaller role of multiplayer. Games such as Max Payne
3 are focused on storyline but still have multiplayer so that it appeals to
more people.
Sport
Sport games are played across the
world and are mainly focused on the online aspects so that they can be played
with people all across the world. The most popular sporting games are FIFA,
Madden, NBA, Tiger Woods PGA (golf) and MLB. There are also some humorous
sports games such as yeti sports which is more of a spoof than serious games
like FIFA. The first sport game was a two player tennis game called tennis for
two which is mostly known today as the game paddle. Since the games have slowly
adapted from 8 bit games to fully functioning 3D games. Most of the sports
games today are realistic and the players in the games are real people and
their facial features and playing abilities have been adapted to be in a game.
Driving/Racing
There are many different driving
games across many platforms of gaming and many are exclusive to each platform
e.g. PC and consoles. These games are usually in third or first person
perspective and it is the player’s choice to choose what POV they want. Most
driving games consist of racing and open world driving where you are just
restricted to the car unlike games such as GTA where you can go in and out of
cars. These driving games can also consist of boats, planes and automobiles in
general to drive with. Classic examples of popular racing/driving games are:
Forza, Grand Turismo, Need For Speed. One of the first racing games was on the
Atari in 1973 and the game was called space race and it was an 8bit arcade game
where you race against other ships while avoiding obstacles. Since then these
games have been adapted to be completely 3D.
Adventure
Adventure games go across a broad spectrum due to many
sub genres as adventure games can have a medieval or futuristic twist to them.
They can also be post-apocalyptic and be completely unrealistic. Some of the
most popular adventure games are: Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs and Far Cry:
Primal. One of the first adventure game recognised and popular was tomb raider
which was released in 1996. King’s quest was also another pioneer to the
adventure genre. These games are very popular and can link in with FPS games
and action games.
Platform
A platform
game revolves around puzzles mostly such as a protagonist jumping between
platforms and obstacles advancing not the next level. The most popular platform
games are Mario and Zelda which are both very well known throughout the world.
These games take patience but can also be played casually as when you lose the
level or “die” you will only be reverted to a checkpoint rather than the start
of the level. Many platform games are featured on mobile phones also which
shows that these platform games do not require much equipment or any sort of controllers.
These platform games are usually in the same style throughout each level but
can vary from storyline and POV such as 2D and 3D views.
Role Playing
Role
playing games or RPG’s is a type of game genre which main focus is the player
living through the life and role of somebody else but pretending to be them
while they play. It usually follows a narrative or user created narrative. Most
of these games are user have to abide by a set of rules so that all players
stay in character and carry out the roleplaying effectively. A prime example of
this are “Life” simulators which are add-ons created mods or extensions and are
played on multiplayer servers of which the players to popular games such as:
GMOD, ARMA III, World of Warcraft etc. You can take many roles such as policeman, wizard,
knight, robber etc depending on what type of role playing you are doing.
In the video games industry there are different types of
developers. These developers will either be first party second party third
party or an indie game developer The most mainstream and popular first party
developer is Nintendo. Nintendo create all their games just for their consoles
and do not have separately owned studios. For example, their games are
specifically branded for their console such as Nintendogs which is a play on
words of the brand. These first party developers can provide bigger budgets for
their games due to them being available on only one platform so a bigger budget
will mean a better overall game.
Most popular games and franchises are
usually third party which is one of the reasons why they are so popular. Some
third party developer’s examples are: Rockstar and EA Sports. These third party
games have no direct affiliation with the platform holders except for actually
releasing the game on their platform. These third party developers are bound by
no sort of contract to produce a game for a certain console as their market is
varied across all aspects of gaming through their games being on multiple
consoles at once. These Third Parties fund themselves with no help from
platform holders and market their games all independently. A major advantage of
these third party developers is that their audience will be spread over a
variety of platforms which means more audience than a first party game and will
also mean a competitive advantage as their will be fans one each platform. 
A second party can be one of two
things. Firstly, it can be an independent studio which takes developments from
platform holders such as Microsoft and Sony to produce games for their specific
consoles. The other type of second party studios is that some game development
studios are partially or wholly owned by the platform holder and they assign
them to certain games to be produced only for their console. Some second party
games which are widely known in the gaming community are Halo which is created
partly by Microsoft studios and the for Sony they have uncharted 4. Advantages
to second party holders are that the budget will be bigger due to the very
wealthy platform holders giving them money as they will want this game to drive
up many sales for not only the game but for the console also.
