Metal Gear Assignment

For this assignment we have been paired into groups and have been given a specific 8 bit game to research and found out as much as we can about the games history, developer and key features of the game. The game we have been selected to research is Metal Gear for the MSX2.

For our first task we have been asked to timeline the Metal Gear franchise from the release of the first game all the way up to its newest release. Below is a timeline created in Photoshop which shows the timeline of the Metal Gear Solid franchise;

Core games designs mechanics and theories

This is one of the most important mechanics a game needs, without meaningful play there is no point to playing a game or even designing one in the first place.  There is a reason as to why humans have been playing games since we can remember not only in our own individual lives but as the human race and in history.

There was once a man named Johan Huzinga, he was a dutch historian.  He also wrote a book named Homo ludens which translates in english too Man the player!
This book looked at games and what they mean to us as humans, in it he describes how games have been around for thousands of years and how it is human nature and that games make us human he wrote, "Play is older than culture".

It (plays) is a significant function that to say, there is some sense to it. In there is something "at play" which transcends to the immediate needs of life.

When designing a game meaningful play is mechanic that not only needs to be understood by the designers however it must transcend right down to the players, without this games have no overall meaning and are less likely to impress.

Two kinds of meaningful play!

Descriptive - This is easy to understand, basically you get what you give in games. As the player interacts with the game we expect certain events or interactions too take place for example if we shoot a barrel with a gun we as players would expect visual and audible prompts, such as the character shooting the barrel and the barrel exploding, we would expect to hear gun shots and explosions.  If this does not happen then the game has failed the player.

Evaluative - This type of meaningful play is slightly harder to understand, this is where we as players take a step back and evaluate the game on a more complicated level than just a like or dislike of the game.

Historical Design Essay Plan

Historical Design Essay Plan

The title chosen for this assignment will be ‘Surrealism: A design movement’

For this assignment the design movement Surrealism will be discussed including topics centred around the historical design including the history of surrealism, the growth and population of the design and some of the key artists related to the movement including one of the most famous artists Salvador Dalí.

I decided to choose Surrealism as a basis for my essay for a couple of reasons. The main reason for my choice is based on the fact that; out of all the design movements I have learnt about and researched, Surrealism is the one that stands out to me through its history and its artwork. The second and probably the main reason I chose Surrealism as the basis for my essay was my interest and fascination with surrealist art, more specifically the art of Salvador Dalí who is one of the most famous surrealist artists. The ideas behind his paintings as well as his personality have always intrigued me and by writing this essay I’m hoping to find out more about his reasoning and ideas behind some of his most popular paintings.

I will be setting this essay out in the style of a report; I will give an introduction into surrealism as a design movement and will then use several key sub-titles to break up the report into different sections. The sub titles below will be a rough guide to what the essay will be about and give a brief overview of the layout of the assignment;

·         

•        Surrealism; A design movement
•          The history of Surrealism
•          The designs of Surrealism
•          Key artists of Surrealism
•          Salvador Dalí
•          Conclusion

In order to make this essay as personal as possible I will be searching for a number of key research areas and materials to make sure I gather as much information as possible rather than just using a generic information database such as Wikipedia. I will be using a number of materials for my research such as Surrealism websites and books from the library regarding the history of surrealism as well as specialist books on Salvador Dalí and other key artists in the movement.

Design Movement Assignment

For university, we are being given an assignment relating to a design movement of our own choice. For this assignment i have decided to go with the Surrealism design movement for a couple of reasons. Firstly i love the idea of creating art and design based on the workings of the subconscious and the idea of creating a 'dream world' where artists often painted what they saw in their dreams. One of the key artists in the surrealist design movement was a man named Salvador Dalí. Salvador Dalí is responsible for some of the most famous piece of surrealist art and is a personal favourite artist of mine, I like the way his work seemed 'out of this world' and was nothing anyone had ever seen.

Futurism Mood Board

Surrealism Mood Board

Bauhaus

Staatliches Bauhaus or as it is more commonly known Bauhaus (translating to ‘School of Building’) was an art school in Germany which operated between 1919 and 1933. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius, a German architect who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture in 1919 and is most famous for its approach to the teachings and exposure of design focusing on the crafts and fine arts.

Bauhaus is a very unique style of design and focuses massively on cubic/ right angle style shapes with smooth facades straying away from an overly decorated style of design. The key to Bauhaus was to turn toward rational, functional and sometimes standardized buildings or design.

In 1930 Mies van der Rohe took over the school of Bauhaus and transformed it into a private school allowing none of Hannes Mayers (The schools previous second director) supporters to attend. Unfortunately in 1933 the Bauhaus school was closed down by its own leadership after extreme pressure from the Nazi regime.

However although the Bauhaus school of art and design closed down in 1933, the movement still lives on and is still widely regarded as one of the most influential post-modern movements. Even nowadays it is still widely used with people such as Steve jobs saying Bauhaus is a huge inspiration to him and his designs.