UGDP - Modes of Play Lesson

Modes of Play Lesson

The device you use to play a game is called the "platform", which can be synonymous with the "mode" of a game. This is the physical item, the "hardware", that you actually play the game on. You can play Star Wars: Battlefront on a PC or an XBox. Angry Birds can be played on PC, iOS, Android and more. Neither the genre nor the classification change, just the mode of play based on the platform.

It's not really possible to count the modes/platforms of play, as they are constantly invented. As more hardwares are developed for use in the world of industry, they are frequently adopted to be used for games. The first computers were never intended for games at all, but they quickly became a very popular platform after discovering the possibility. The first video game was actually made in 1958! Until recently, Pokemon was a very popular game played on the Nintendo or Gameboy devices, but a new version was recently released that can be played in the real world with an Android device, using Augmented Reality (AR) on smartphones! AR is a layer of simulation displayed in front of the real view, giving the appearance of the game and real world merging. This is different than Virtual Reality (VR), which does not overlay the real world images, but creates entirely new virtual worlds for the user to view and participate in, and the player cannot see the real world at all.

Within each platform, games can be 2D (two-dimensional, or flat like a picture or cartoon) or 3D (having depth and shadow, the ability to rotate around), or other format such as isometric. The game can also be played individually in single-player mode or with other players at the same time in multi-player mode. This is one more set of choices that makes games more appealing for players. For example, Minecraft can be played on an XBox, PC or smartphone, and can be played individually or on a server with many participants. Users are most often limited to playing others using the same platform, but that has begun to change.

There are dozens of platforms available to the player, and part of game development is deciding which platform is most suitable for your genre of game. If a great game is designed and developed for the wrong platform, it may not be easy nor convenient to play, and will not be a success. It is important to do research on gamers, and that unit is coming up.  

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