Gamification

Google search, "Extra Credits: Gamification" for the original videos that started this train of thought and to learn more about this topic.

I find that one of the best ways games teach us is through trial and error. I think we should be allowed to take everything in a classroom setting and still be rewarded with points, homework assignment, quizzes, test, projects.etc I really learn a lot from being tested and getting questions wrong. A lot a people do. It's actually sort of exciting to get a test back and see what you got wrong, and after the experience of getting a question wrong, I then know exactly how to do it right; but this never gets reflected in my grade or anyone's grade which makes the grading system a horrible and inaccurate system.

The best format for learning, in my opinion, would be to lecture, have guided practice, independent practice then be tested and retest until everyone understands. It might be a good idea to throw out the ability to fail altogether. Make it so that a person simply completes the class or he/she doesn't complete a class. Make it so that a person must pass all the tests to get any credit for it, but they can attempt the tests as many times as needed. Just like how boss fights can be attempted over and over until the proper method of defeating him is used. If there were no grades, yes, total points wouldn't matter but that's a good thing.

Points should not determine your final grade just as the level of your character in a game doesn't determine if you have beaten the final boss. Points show that you are more likely to succeed when it comes to passing a test, but they don't guarantee it. Making this change is the best change to the structure of a class that could be made.

Currently we have a system similar to Super Mario Land 2: The six golden coins except worse. The school as it stand now, in particular to college, is that a person has to go for 8-16 weeks, respectively, without serious failures otherwise they have to retake the entire class for it to count for anything, and most likely, it wasn't every aspect of the class that tripped them up, but specific parts of it. Super Mario Land could be completed in a much shorter time than a college class, and it could be completed at a person's own pace unlike a college class. In it death, losing all lives, meant all the bosses had to be beaten again which is sort of like having to take a class over again. It's not necessary to make a person beat the first boss that super easy every time they can't beat the super hard levels.

This would also motivate people to study and do research. I've spent tons of time researching how to beat or complete certain aspects of games. If I was allowed to retake a test and I keep failing it, I'd spend a bunch of time studying what I got wrong.

This is exactly what many good games do. Super Mario RPG for example. First it starts with what you know Mario saving Peach from Bowser, then it sets the stage for the new adventure. It tells the objective of the whole game from the beginning, defeat the giant sword and get the seven stars. After that it has toad give you some instructions on how to play. Directly after giving instructions the game helps you apply them with a guided practice. So we have been told what to do and to make sure we understood, we have been hand guided through the process, and they make this part of the game optional for those who already knew, which is the beauty of it. After this the player has a chance to practice their new battle skills on enemies without any assistance from the game. So, the player gets to battle some enemies earn experience which compares to class/homework and points. Then the boss fight comes, tests, and it's more difficult as it requires the player to have LEARNED how to play the game good enough to beat it, but doesn't it just seem silly if a game forced you to continue even if you didn't beat the boss, and if you failed to beat enough bosses at the end you didn't beat the game? What the point of having boss fights if regardless of your performance you progress? It seems silly to me, but this is actually how classes operate.

If you managed to read all of this you are awesome and I thank you for hearing me out."

Sonic World is More like Super Mario Sunshine than Galaxy

Despite the obviousness of it's similarities to galaxy. This game is a lot like Sunshine perhaps even more than it is like galaxy. This game has the most moves and ways for Sonic to interact with in environment in the series, the levels are very open so there's a lot of exploration, both involve the player visiting a isolated new place, the biggest gimmick of the games is an addition to the characters permanent moveset (FLUDD/parkour) for the game; The list goes on. Although, this game could use more of Sunshine's spacious level design since

Sonic is finally properly geared up to make exploration and scaling structures styled platforming fun. These levels feel too small with too little scaleable objects and other interact pieces, for all the crazy things Sonic can do. Large non tubular, with more scaling, and less death pits, levels would be much appreciated here.

How Zelda Dungeons and Puzzles Should Work

 the most fun I've ever had in a video game is when I play as Luigi in Super Mario 64 DS and discover ways to break the game with his added jump height and amazing spin jump.The feeling I get when I've gotten the star in a way the designers didn't intend is one of the best feeling I've ever had. That feeling , more than anything else is what I think Zelda games need to capture.

Have an obviously solution for the noobs, but make the items more powerful, so if a person knows what each item's capabilities and limites, then they can break the puzzle and finish it a different way. Like the cheat trick in the water temple in ocarina of time where you use the hookshot to attach to a treasure chest; getting you to a floor you otherwise would be able to get to, or the trick that allows you to use a deku stick against Ganon at the end, or the trick in the Wii version of twilight princess where you take the iron boots off in the middle of being sucked up into a magnetic force field, and then you walk normally on the magnetic surfaces. This is why sometimes older games are better, there's more fun glitches and more loop holes the designer missed. Oh yeah, there's a way to get a fifth bottle in ocarina of time too. Super fun and rewarding to do stuff like that.

There should pretty much always be more than one solution for every puzzle and task. Here's how it could work. There's tons of environment activity. Like many more things are explodable and changeable. If I shoot a bomb arrow at a tower it falls over. If I stake crates I may be able to  hook shot to the top and get up somewhere higher. Rather than them spending a lot of time testing to make sure the player can't get trapped, they should instead impliment a room reset  and undo system. Even give the option to reset the whole dungeon  which would vital when a person has so many options. Then when you get more items you at times will be able to complete the dungeon in a different way or a lot faster.

They should keep shortness of the dungeons in LBWs or even shorter. This would be so fricking awesome!  When you get a new item that's what really makes you excited. "Oh man what are all the things I can do with this." 

I'd be okay with starting with all of the main items, like in a LBW, but instead of still having dungeons where you're mostly using one item make in each dungeon it's possible to use a lot of items in a way of way. I'd want this to be open enough where the ideal that even the designers don't know of all the ways the puzzles in a dungeon could be solved.

If they could manage to make a such a complex system work, they make even be able to go a step further and implement a random dungeon generater, that could theoretically dish out nearly endless dungeons. I get the idea from the platformer game like that. The randomization process is designed to only put together levels that are solvable. Brilliant concept for Zelda dungeons.

Mental Health (uncut)

Just a heads up because it's discussed in this post, I'm  a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS or Mormon. I was emailing my friend on his mission, and during the process my creativity channels were opened and I received a lot of insights into mental health and other topics. It took a long time to write, and I'm winded, but I want to share it, so here it is. I'd say I might get around to revising it, but realistically I won't.

"I was thinking about something. I don't get sick, my mom doesn't get sick, my ESTP brother doesn't seem to get sick another ESTP guy I used to home teach said he doesn't get sick. Now, all of can get infected and sick or get diseases. You get sick easily and get allergies and so does your dad, but you personally, claim you aren't affected by anything, swearing, crudity, dark humor, etc. things that can be equated to mental germs, which cause mental sickness, poor health, and diseases. I think a person's type is genetic, considering it's basically the software-operating system, running inside of the brain, what else would it be; Resilence to germs and disease may be genetically greater for sensors; thus, sensors may be in part born resistentt to physical toxins while intuits may be resistent to mental diseases.  

I hypothesis we can compare the body to mind and say that the laws of physical health can be applied to the brain as well.
Laws of Health
1. Eat immune system strengthening  and cancer fighting foods which contain immune system and cancer fighting minerals vitamins and minerals. Vitamin c from Lemons, Limes, and oranges, vitamin A from carrots, vitamin E, K, Herbs and spices, orengano (Italian seasoning), etc.
2. Build up the immune system through gradual exposure to toxins. Pretty straight forward and explanatory. I would say using hand sanitizers, and washing hands and cleaning foods and touched surfaces too often hurts a person in the long run.
3. Exercise to release toxins from the body. It releases toxins through the pores and sweat. When overwhelmed with toxins, fat is stored and created in a body deal with the excess ive amount later to protect the body; to engulf and pacify toxins to the body such as chemicals, viruses, bacteria. When that fat is burned off the toxins should be burned off and exit the body throught the digestive track which the body can do now that it isn't overwhelmed with toxins to eliminate;  Also, the increased body temperature during exercise likely also helps kill harmful, viruses, bacteria, and microrganisms. This is probably another reason I like to take really hot baths so much. The high heat: first, kills the bacteria on the skin and surface of the body, then increases a person's internal body temperature killing germs on the inside, anf finally the high heat as well as the waters expands and loosens the pores to allow toxins and germs to exit into the water. So the water doesn't just deal with macro germs and dirtines (dirt and visible stains), but micro-germs and dirtiness.

So then the mental laws of good mental health are....

1. Strengthen the minds mental immune system with immune building and nutrious mental food. When thinking about what mental food is we have to understand how our minds work. First off, our minds are basically the embodiment of all the information we've taken in and how they are connected in the brain. So this makes the information itself the food and how it's connected is the digestion of the food. This concept that information, like nutrients, are the primarily source of nourishment for the brain that strengthens it. So, if the information is mental food, then it's we need to be careful about what we physically drawing from our environments as well as how we interpret it which is digestion. So what's healthy and opposingly unhealthy?

 Healthy mental food is, thoughts and ideas that are: positive, powerful, uplifting, motivating, and helpful etc. Imagination is the ability of man to see in his mind what is possible. If something is impossible, logically imposible, we can't even imagine it. A square circle can't even be imagined.

Here are some supporting examples for my hypthesis that exposure to information is literal food. There was this story I heard from a video with black and white pictures of the father and girl. The father kept the girl locked away inside away from other people with scarce and few interactions until she was around 10. When social services or someone, found her she couldn't talk, I'm certain of, or do basic things kids her age could do like walk, dress or feed herself, I believe.  Then, I'm pretty sure they, overtime, they were able to teach her these things; so, there you go; if a person does take in information: ideas, and thoughs, from the outside world, then there brain atrophies, and they become inept. Of course the properties and amounts needed are likely different than food and water. A person may be able to go longer without mental food and water than they can physical food, but as seen in people who develop alzheimers and other brain degenerate diseases in old age, the brain will suffer and break down, if a person ceases, to feed, nourish or exercise it. Social interaction seems to be an excellent way to feed and exercise the brain which is probably why I love and need it so much and frequently. I haven't looked anything up, but from what I can observe at all the churches I've been to as well what I know and have observed about the apostales, the development of alzheimers and other brain degenerative diseases is lower inside of the church than outside. There are plenty of super old high priests, bishops, stake presidents, and apostales their minds fail none of them. The information of the Gospel is very nourishing  studying it requires a lot of exercising, and system 2 thinking. So, there is inherent worth and value in the gospel afterall. It isn't simply about the reward in heaven to come. Living the gospel brings physical and mental health. 

The Gospel gives us not only a physical health code, but also a mental one. This is a personal gripe that I probably shouldn't have and need to work on. My gripe is when a general conference talk, general authority message, or anything said at church, is critical, chastizing, and negative. Because and when I'm hungry and starving for mental nourishment, it can at times hurt a lot of be lectured and scolded at the dinner table. Well, hmm, vegetables don't always taste good. Perhaps positive thoughts are sweet and tasty foods like are fruits, nuts, and honey, that are good for the body in only in only if you don't each too much. On the other hand negative critical thoughts are vegetables, perhaps some forms of beans, fungus, and meat. They're foods that don't taste good, but are good for you. Huh, so maybe there is such a thing as eaching to many vegetables. Vegetables are high in fiber, so perhaps if you eat too many vegetables, and too much fiber, then the body won't be able to digest it. The fiber and the negativity block out the positive and physical nutrients. Hmm, so positive thoughts and ideas are fuel; they are sugar. All food in the body is converted into glucose which is sugar; however, if a person eats too much sugar they'll get fat. If a person is never constructively critisized they'll get mentally fat. On the flip side, too much negativity can block and prevent the sugar from being digested

2.  Build up the immune system. So, gradual exposure to harmful mental food with toxins makes a person mentally stronger in the long-run. Going to public school probably actually makes a person mentally stronger while home schooling kids, or even possibly really strict private or charter schools probably makes them weaker.

3. Mental exercise, solving problems, using creatively to build or create something helps expunge toxins as well.

I'd add the pure knowledge, sensations and definitions of words, compare to proteins and carbohydrates which seem to be the foundation and staple of a healthy diet. The common analogy of "It's my meat and potatoes," seems to be based on what conventional wisdom has discovered through experience; that protein and carbohydrates are the bare minimum, essential nutrients of a diet. My nutrition class at school I'm taking confirms this. Alright, well that's about it. 

In summary and conclusion

All people should be aware of what information and intepretations come into their mind if they want to be mentally healthy. They need to monitor, sense data, thoughts, and any form of communication.This shall bring all ultimate happiness and glory."

Hmm, I'd like to add to my thoughts, that information with no redeeming value will feed the mind, but's it is analagous to empty calroies. Cotton candy is pure sugar. The sugar probably could sustain a person's life for a while, but it has no nutrients.

The World that never Was; Org. 13 Why I love the concept of them; Dystopic Sensual Daft Punk World

"Organisation Xiii's homeworld, that I'm sorely missing the civilians on the streets"
I actually think it being devoid of people fits the theme of the world. Nobodies are empty shells and it's a big, empty, lifeless world. The only creature inhabiting it are the undead heartless and empty shell nobodies. It's the perfect setting for the homeworld of villains. It one of my favorite worlds if not my favorite. The mystical feeling it gives off is hard to describe. It's sort like a the feeling despair and mystery combined, but that isn't accurate enough. It's like the feeling of a daft punk or Gorillaz song. It's very somber and comtemplative. If for no other reason I like Organization XIII for feeling and impression they distill in me. It isn't precise, and I wish I could think of a better term, but they can be described as Cyber Punk. The feeling is like a good uncanny feeling, it;s like if the uncanny valley was flipped. At a certain range of oddity and mysteriousness the feeling you get exponetially increases. I love the look of their black coat, the concept of nobodies, their world. It all ties together with the theme of emptiness. It's gives the symbolism of a person who's alive, but might as well be dead. Somewho who has emotionally died. Someone who hasn't truly feel good and alive in years. Someone with a void who uses drugs and pleasure to attempt to fill the void, but it only temporarily eases the pain. This person like the nobodies can feign emotion and life, but it's hollow as they feel nothing inside. A dsytopic world where human emotions and flaws bring shame and disapproval, so these nobodies" dehumanize. They eliminate their heart and function only off of their body and mind. They turn into a machine one of million. As there perfect name implies, they are now truly a nobody. It's poetic and beautiful to think about. It's sombering and meditative.

This dystopic, Brave New World, Daft punk, dehumanized type of world is the PEFECT fit as the antagonizing force for a game called Kingdom Hearts. Organization XIII is the perfect antagonist and anthesis of the ever jublinant and emotional Sora whom is full of life and humanity.

Why Open World: Linear Progression Sucks

• "Hey why is this called a Sonic blog if you aren't gonna talk about Sonic!" Shut up, free speech. So because I was bored and for some reason topical events are SO amazing here's something inspired by Egoraptors, "gloriouis" Ocarina of Time video. I too tend to hate open world games with linear progression. Sly 2, 3, &4; Infamous games, and the Arkaham games, are all examples of this like Ocarina of Time. I owned Ocarina of Time on my N64 at one point, but got stuck at Death Mountain and never played it again. I did finally go back and beat it a few years ago, but only with the help of my friend Tom. If he didn't help me I probably would have needed to look a lot of stuff up. With Kingdom Hearts 1 being a sort of exception which I will explain, games should either have closed, confined, linear worlds with either linear or non-linear progression, or open worlds with non-linear, and NEVER open worlds with linear progression.

  Okay so first up, the games I mentioned (You could probably place the Jack and Daxter games and Ratchet and Clank along with the rest too, but I haven't played any of them much so I don't remember). Sly 1 was fine. Like you said it was basically Super Mario 64 except with linear levels; Great, fun, fantastic! But then we get to Sly 2 and it's an "Open World with a...very...specific...things...to...do.... " That's not the only problem though.

  The hub areas in Sly 2 and onward, are big, dark and everything in the environment blends together. Big: Needing to figure out a specific thing to do can become an overwhelming chore when the area you can run around in is huge. Dark: doesn't help me find and differeniate specific details in the environment now does it. Everything looks the same: Everything intuitely looks similar unless you really scrutinize it. Basically the only way you know where to go is if you follow the stupid arrows or the stupid map! How is it exploring and how is it fun if I need arrows and/or a map (*cough* Dream Derp Derpence. I'm looking at you Tron Legacy World!)?! So, it's hard to figure out what to do and where to go, but that's not the end of your problems, now you have to put up with the annoying tasks they give you.

  I have three perfect examples of beyond tedious and frustrating tasks that you have to do in this list of "open world" games. First, is basically the first mission after the intro in both Sly 2 and 3. In these missions you must slowly follow around an NPC who slowly walks around and take pictures of him while he does stuff! In Sly 4 the first mission is almost exactly the same except you at least aren't following some slow NPC. I get that it's supposed to be a stealth challenge, but who cares? From a gameplay perspective is it fun to slowly and tediously walk around and take pictures with an awkwardly controlled camera? Sorry, I didn't know I was playing boring tourist the video game. Good grief. My second example is Infamous 2.

  In it, you must accompany this stupid helpless NPC girl (not that that's why she's stupid) to the place where you need to be, and if you get too far away from her you have ten seconds to get back or else you have to start over from the beginning. What The Fruitcake!!!! What kind of bull crap is that?!! You have all this amazing climbs and ways to get around, that are so much fun to use and explore with, and you're telling me I have to slowly follow this stupid NPC around?!!! It's like having having a super fast and amazing dirt bike with nothing around you but miles of jumps and open land to ride around in, but just as you are about to leave your mom stops you and says, "Now, hold on a second young man. Take your little, 4 year old, sister, Suzy with you." Now Batman.

  Arkahm City has many of the same problems as my previous examples: Darkness, big open area, need map or arrows, tons of fun to explore and climb stuff, but you need to go to a specific spot and way to trigger a specific event. I'm interested in a story centered around batman and I'm interested in an open world, but it's like blending pizza into a smoothie. The two on their own are great and fine, but put them together and you get someone horribly nasty. That analogy sumes up all the problems with open-world-specific-task games, but there is a way you can have booth your shake and pizza, and eat it too.

  Kingdom Hearts is an Open World game with linear progression and the need to trigger specific events in specific places to progress. As we've discussed, normally this is a problem, but the good old designers at Square soft thought ahead and got into the players mind. First, they segmented the worlds into rooms and areas, a brillant and necessart idea. Added up and it' just as big as the open areas in the others games, BUT not we
• BUT now we have focus. Now have the ability to grasp and logically exclude areas. "Alright, I'm suck and don't know where to go. Hmm well I've checked everything in the "1st and 2nd Districts, so maybe I'm supposed to go to that there 3rd District. Do do do walking along, Hey! What do you know?! It worked. Thanks Square Soft!" See, segmentation and area titles (another brillant idea), give the player, an easy way to conceptualize the world and understand where they need to go. It's a very helpful organizational tool. Like, instead of having this big open plate where your mash potatoes and peas mix together, you have this perfect wonder microwavable dish tray or bowl with different segments that can be used to hold different things. The mash potatoes and peas can be all cozy in there own bunker without there personal space issues being violated. You can really appreciate the individual tastes of the foods when they have touched and their juices mixed. Another example I thought of is the difference between Sonic Adventure and 06.

  Sonic Adventure uses similar desgin philosophies to Kingdom Hearts and Mario 64, while Sonic 06 has similar design philosophies, if you can call it that, to the other games. In Sonic Adventure 1, the areas are segmented and thus kept small there are: Set-pieces (Tails Workshop, a casino), an excellent use of bright and dark contrasting colors, titled areas, and theirs even a guide to tell you where to go in case you get lost. Sonic 06 on the other hand, has 2 or 3 big open areas, that are either filled with too much pointless open space, or has building that all look the same and blend together. I got lost and couldn't figure out what to do the first time I played it. Huh, what a weird coincidence. As soon as Sonic moves away from Nintendo it's plagued with bad open world design. All the other games I talked about were for the ps2 or 3 so it's as if those developing for those consoles are cursed to make bad decisions. It's like developers for the man's gaming console are encouraged to misplace their values and design money and time. It's like they are putting all there efforts into the wrong things like pixel perfect graphics and realistic design. Huh, what an odd thing.

  Oh well, NINTENDOMINATION!!!! except I hate Nintendo now too. PC MASTER RACE!!!! No, I hate PC gaming too. READING RAINBOW!!!! Uh, not quite. WORKING! I don't have a job. SCHOOL! Just ended. Drat, it appears everything sucks and I'm all out of options. I guess it's the meth lab for me.

Random Argument Extra Credits, "Beyond Fun" "Differeneces in Kind" Sonic Heros SA2.

The point I'm supporting is what I said. Games don't have to be narrow mindedly be limited to light-hearted pleasure, and arcade-like gameplay. Actively doing something while taking in the story is something movies nor books can deliver on. It's arguably the best way to experience a story.

As defined in this video and by me Engagement does mean the same thing as fun. Engagement is having your interest kept and mind stimulated. Fun is light-hearted, thrill based pleasure. Are puzzles fun? Is a mystery novel fun? No, but they keep your attention, and thus engage you. Something that's only fun is not even a tenth as rewarding as something deep and meaningful.

When I think of games that had the cencept of "fun" in mind, I think of the every Mario game Nintendo has made since Super Mario Galaxy 1. I think of Sonic Colors, and Lost World. By focusing on "fun" as the only and core objective, developers end up making a game that provides a shallow experience, and often isn't even that engaging.

Extra Credits makes a lot of keen observations, and puts a lot of abtract concepts into easily understand terms. The writer for the show James has actually spent many years as a developer and observing other developers. Whether or not they accurately sum up individual franchise is not important. Those are just examples and opinions. The design priciniples they establish are far more important, and that's where they excel.

The principle of "Differences in Kind" in this video explains why Sonic Heroes is boring, yet SA2 is fun. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlBR1z-ue-I)
In Sonic Heroes everything in one level feels the same, visually and indiviual action wise. There are almost no set piece moments  and few dynamic camera angle shots. Mechanically, you're doing the same tasks in the same way over and over. Punch blocks and enemies with Knuckles, switch to tails to slowly platform, switch to Sonic on straigh aways and to spin around poles. The music is flipping repitive too which only makes the experience worse. Shadow's game basically has the same problem.  Unleashed and even Colors are less boring then Heroes because at least in Unleashed the visuals and tasks are dynamic and diversified. One of  Color's problems actually is that it put too much diversity into a single level which resulted in a severe lack of flow.

In City Escape of SA2..I start with.boarding down a city street while jumping off jumps and avalanching cars. Then, I'm running around normally, then I'm running on the side of a wall, then I need to go up stairs where I hace to be careful because enemy are blocking my path and shoot at me, then I'm rail grinding done a corridor, then I'm in a park that I can explore and run around in, then I'm doing tricks off of pull up bar, then a giant truck is chasing me with a backwards facing camera. Each moment feels different  Unlike in Heroes.