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Monday, February 24, 2014

A Hunger Games Video Game?

 Some friends and I were playing a lot the Hunger Games Minecraft Mini-Game, and me and the same friends watched the first two Hunger Games movies one night for fun. So I came to the idea that there is no Hunger Games Video Game. The closest we came to is the Minecraft Hunger Games Mini-Game, but it isn't exactly cannon. It's just a spin-off. I am talking about a full fledged game based on everything from the book. This seems likely to happen, as the Hunger Games premise is perfect for a game. You play as a kid, and your goal is to win the Hunger Games by either killing the other children or out-living the the competition. It doesn't seem hard, but it is. The pressure of making a game that is worthy enough of the best-selling books and top grossing movies is difficult. The most difficult part is what the game is about story wise.
   There are about three options to choose from when it comes to the story. The easiest but most risky option is to to make it a direct rip from the book/movie. Have it that you play as Katniss or Peeta, and you are forced to complete certain tasks based of what the did in the movie. If you play as Katniss, you would be faced with the same tasks that you were faced with in the story. There would be no free choice, and it would be more like completely small tasks than playing a game. There might be a multi-player option, but it is unlikely. If so, it would not be like the game, but more of a co-op. This is a very bad path to take as it be more boring than fun, and more of a ploy to get more money. Sadly, a lot of companies do this, and the sales are usually terrible.
   The next is a little similar to the first one, but is a lot safer. The Huger Games starring Katniss and Peeta was the 74th, so there are 73 other Hunger Games stories to tell through the game. There could be different stories if you wanted to be from another district if you want. This will most likely be in story form, similar to the first, but there might be multiple choice options, like if you want to run to the cornucopia or not. It would be more flexible than the first, but multi-player would be hard to implement in this style. Still possible, but it would be very different than the original style of game.
   Then there is the most intuitive and probably most profitable game style. It is the style that doesn't really have a story, but more gameplay. In this style, you would be able to customize your character, to choose your district, gender, skills, and all other facts that your character would need, like what they are allergic too and all the following. The age could work as a enemy difficulty system, but it could just be another customization, with difficulty being it's own thing. It is possible to not have a difficulty, but it would be best for the game. Next, you could choose your map to play, with a lot of options to choose from. Not just randomly made maps to play on, but possible the same maps Katniss and Peeta played on for their two games. That would be interesting to see. It would be very multi-player friendly, especially for online. Local multi-player would work as well, but you would be able to screen peek. But that happens for about all games, so not a huge problem.
  Now, this would be the best, as it will give the player a lot of options with experimenting on different characters and challenges. There could be achievements for beating the game with bad traits, beating it on the hardest difficulty, and shooting someone in the head with a boy. There could be lots of possibilities with it. It would let the player play longer, and entertain them a lot more. It would also be possible to take this style and include it with one of the other two, which could work well if using the second style of gameplay. The first wouldn't be as effective.
   A Hunger Games video game seems inevitable, and the creators don't want to create a trashy game. Hopefully they design it the third way. I would at least pay money for that. There are other ways to make the game, but these are the most likely. One strange way they could compliment it is by using the same style as the Hunger Games board game and you must survive in your district before the games, and hope you don't get reaped for the games. As long as the developers create an enriching and involving game, it is sure to be a success.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Minecraft is Earth After the Apocalypse? -Also, sorry. :(

   Hello everyone. Sorry it has been two weeks since I had posted anything. I thought I had posted something last weekend, but it turns out I never did. I just found this out today when I went to write my post for this weekend. I messed up. So I will post last weekends today and do this weekends tomorrow to make up for it. Again, sorry I was late, I had no idea I didn't post it.

  Well, here is a very interesting theory I have thought of. I was playing some Minecraft recently, and I was thinking some of the story-line behind it. I know it's just a sandbox game, with no real story, but the boss fight with the ender dragon and credits shows there is some kind of plot. I was trying to think of what the story might be. The largest factor of it is why are there no other people other than Steve. Although, there are NPC villages, but they are small farms, not civilizations, like cities today. So one logical inference would be that Minecraft is in a time where it is early on in the New World, where people were farmers in the West. But then you would eventually come into large settlements, which we do not.
   Also, there are monsters that roam the earth, like zombies, mutant spiders, and skeletons, not to mention creepers and endermen. How would these come to be? Why are they here? How come they keep coming? Well, the one thing I keep coming to is a Nuclear Apocalypse. Yes, Nuclear Warfare goes across the entire world, which destroys all human life, but those in farms, far away from large cities, which would be the primary target. And all the creatures would be the results of the nuclear radiation. The humans would become zombies. the spiders would become radioactive and grow exponentially. The skeletons would be another variation of the mutant humans, and the creepers would be animals which were transformed into messes. They are green and blow up, as they are the most radioactive.
   But there are missing holes. Why is Steve alive in the middle of where the nuclear explosions took place instead of at the villages? Who are the endermen, and why is there The End? Why can Steve go into the nether, but the humans before him couldn't? Why are there Strongholds and Abandoned Mine Shafts? There are answers to all of these. I will start with the easy ones.
   First, the Strongholds and Abandoned Mine Shafts. I guess I will include the Desert Temple and Jungle Temple in this one. Well, the Strongholds and Mine Shafts are underground, which protects them from the explosion, but if humans took shelter there, the radiation can pass through the ground reaching the humans. Also, they are torn down and old because no one has used them in a long time. The Jungle Temple's and Desert Temples would remain, as they would be in areas not used for population. The End Portal would also be in the Strongholds for purposes which I will explain soon. But now, the nether.
   Steve can go in the Nether, which is essentially Hell, by configuring the right Obsidian pattern and setting it on fire. So why can Steve do this? Well, it is magic, obviously. But the reason the humans before him couldn't do it is because they did not use or believe in magic, so it would be out of the question. Steve was able to enter it, as he did not know of the time before him, so he is like a new creature. Now the End.
   This is a pretty big problem. Why is there endermen and The End? Well, I have some answers, or at least speculations. The End Portal would be in the stronghold because the endermen found it to be a good spot to be the doorway into our world. But why would they come in our world? Well, they use our world as a resource for there world. That is why endermen pick up blocks and disappear. And the reason we would never see them before is because they were shy of coming with all the people on earth. Now they can come as there is less people. And the Ender Dragon is there leader, or "god", as you might say. The reason to kill him is unknown, but a good reason why is most likely because he will become in a "greater state of being," taking from the credits. This leads to the next thing. Why Steve is here.
   Well, taking from the credits, it says he is nature, he is the night and day, he is everything. So, taking from some of the text, we can assume he was formed from the earth, not born, but made. But after reading some of the text from the credits, leading to some more radical thinking. But I'll leave it at that. Maybe I will touch back on this topic later, who knows. Also, who knew there could be a story behind Minecraft? I sure didn't.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Conservative Gaming

  Have you ever been playing a game, take an RPG for example,, and you are in a tough spot, and you have an item that woul really help you out? But you only have one or two of said item, and you don't want to use it, for fear of needing it more later? This is something my friend and I call the Max Elixir Syndrome, due to us talking about max elixirs in Final Fantasy, but I will just call it conservative gaming.
  This discussion cam up between me and a few buddies I now online speed-running SMB3, and we started talking on the subject. Most of us were prone to this game-style. When I would play Pokemon, I would never use my revives, potions, antidotes, or anything, for fear of needing it greater later. Although, for some reason, I wasn't hesitant  on using the master ball, which I wasted on a Venomth. XD Anyways, I still suffer from conservative gaming, and often have a hard time with games for never using items. It now even grew into a phase where I never use magic in other games unless it is a boss battle. I have it really bad at Rogue Legacy.
  Now, some people who are conservative gamer's don't have it as bad as others. I don't have it that bad, like I use revives and potions in Pokemon if it is a gym leader, or elite four, but never use it otherwise. Actually, I have noticed this has effected my gameplay in a good way, as I have become better at video games. I have learned to not rely on items and magic. But this is bad, because if I want to play online multiplayer in games, I tend to lose due to me being conservative.
  So how do you guys play games? Are you conservative, or do you use your items frequently? Leave a comment!

Also, sorry for not posting last week, as I said, I was camping. Hope you guys enjoy this one. :D