Types of Games

Through out my life and time in general there have been many different game types progressing from multistage games all the way to 3-D games. Im going to talk about the types games.

Multi-Stage

In a multi-stage game the game background graphics remain constant but level of difficulty increase. One of the most popular games in video game history belongs in this category and that was a game released in 1980, Pac-Man! In this game as you probably know you control a pie-shaped character travels around a maze that remains constant and eats dots and has to avoid the ghosts. What makes this game a multi-stage is that the background of the game (the maze) stays the same but as you move through the levels the game gets more difficult. To me this is the most boring type of game because it just gets to repetitive for me.

Multi-Level

In a multi-level game the game background graphics change to present new obstacles, requiring different skills to complete. An example of this would be the old Donkey Kong where the background would change and each level you had to use a different skill to be it.

Side Scrollers

In side scrolling game play progresses in a usually left to right fashion where you “follow a path.” I think the most popular and my favorite of this type of game is Super Mario Bros where you move left to right to get to the end of the level.

Parallax scrolling

What makes this different from just a normal sidescroller is that it adds a dimension or depth to the game by having foregrounds move faster than the backgrounds. This type of game was made popular by the game “Moon Patrol.” Although my personal favorite was a game called captain keen for PC.

Isometric

This type of game works to simulate 3-D graphics from a 3^rd person perspective. The first game to display this was the Q*bert and it created an illusion through the ways the lines were drawn that it was 3-D. I personally do not have any experience with this type of game but I would believe it would be kind of weird to get used to.

3-D

Gives full mobility to a character instead of just up/down or left/right freedoms. This is the type of game that is most apparent now in this day in age and the type I most enjoy playing. I like the feel of being able to freely move with the avatar I am using whether it is in a sports game or a game like Zelda.

As technology is advancing so fast when will the type of game where you actually get to live it become a reality?

Reference:

Downs , Edward . "Game Types." COMM 3560: Video Game Entertainment. University of Minnesota Duluth. Power Point , Duluth . 2 May 2013. Class lecture.