DAI 227 Week 5 Video Game Assignment

DAI 227

Rethinking Digital Visual Media

Vintage Gameplay Activity

Andrew Redoble

3/3/2011

Game Title: Tempest

Year of Publication: 1980

Game Publisher: Atari

Game Developer: Atari

1 - What is the game genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)
This game genre is a fast paced tube shooter; shoot-em-up game where enemies attempt to pass the player in a tube-like environment.

2 -What is the type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)
Tempest has a 3D environment with a perspective view that has a vanishing point near the center of the screen. It appears as if the player travels further and further into a tube.

3 - What is the perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.
I haven’t played games with this type of perspective so I’m not entirely sure how to categorize it. It has a 3D perspective that isn’t necessarily first person since the ship if visible.

 
4 - What is the actual gameplay – what does the player have to do?
The player is in a tube and numerous enemies of varying types try to pass by and/or destroy the player. The difficulty varies since the enemies that show up are different and the layout of the tube changes drastically. The player’s priority is to shoot and destroy all enemies before they reach the end because that is when they are the most dangerous. It’s not game over when enemies get to the end, but then they attack the player from the side. The player is granted only one zapper per level to use in case of emergencies such as too many enemies reaching the player’s position along the tube.

5 - Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.
It is very easy to understand after the person adjusts to the different colors that make the game very busy. The game is very quick and after two or three attempts the concept is easy to understand. All the player has to do is shoot enemies and will progress after shooting down all or most of them.

6 - Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)
The gameplay pattern is the same, but as mentioned earlier the layout of the tube changes and the enemies have different behaviors. The colors and perspective make the game appear very busy and the player can get lost and accidentally run into an enemy bullet or ship. Overall, the gameplay pattern stays the same but the difficulty doesn’t.

7 - What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?
The simple vector color graphics make it evident that this was the best technology available at the time. The 8-bit noises also reveal how far the technology has come at the time. This game is known as the first video game with a selectable level of difficulty, so gameplay was still evolving at this time and didn’t have much variety.
8 - Describe your views about the game from the point of view of
1. ease of play

2. enjoyability

c) level of engagement/immersion

With all the sophisticated games that are out now, Tempest is very primitive and boring compared to other games. However, I still enjoy it because it helped the progress of video games, as it utilizes various levels of difficulty as well as the latest audio and visual technology.

This game was really easy to play and was actually pretty entertaining to watch the transition between levels. It gets boring pretty fast since all that I do is shoot the same enemies over and over and over.

It does require constant attention since it only takes a second or two for an enemy to get close enough to become a major threat.  In juxtaposition to other classic arcade games, Tempest definitely tops them all since it has a perspective view rather than a simple 2D or primitive top down view.

9 - Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?I have never played this game before but I have seen it. I never understood what was going on until I played it myself

10 - what does playing the game remind you of in terms of other games/media?

It reminds me of first person shooter that immerse the player in detailed environments. To me, it relates more to space and alien  themed games like Halo rather than Call of Duty because of the awkwardly shaped enemies.