GG Magazine

D e v e l o p m e n t d u r in g V id e o t h e g a m e p a n d e m ic g r a p h ic s P a g e 16 Pa g e 4

m a k in g in d ie g a m e s G a m in g f o r c h a r it y

Pa g e 22

P a g e 10

Picture courtesy of Bethesda.

Summer 2021

L e t t e r

f r o m

t h e

Ed i t o r s

Dear Reader s, We ar e happy to br ing you this m agazine. We all shar e an inter est in gam ing, and this issue r eflects that. We w anted to w r ite about som ething w e enjoy and ar e fam iliar w ith. We called it GG M agazine, after the popular abbr eviation for "good gam e." This could be consider ed som ew hat of a passion pr oject. Hopefully, this m agazine m ay even get you inter ested in gam ing. Ther e ar e m any differ ent aspects of it to explor e.

GG A var iety of topics in gam ing ar e cover ed her e, such as the psychology of video gam es, the intr icacies of anim ation, and how the pandem ic has affected gam e developer s. We also have statistics and com par isons to pr ovide a com pr ehensive pictur e of the gam ing w or ld. We conducted inter view s w ith industr y pr ofessionals and did extensive r esear ch to gather only the highest quality infor m ation.

Ther e w as a lot of effor t involved, to get ever ything or ganized and polished. The gr aphics w er e par ticular ly difficult because w e didn?t have pr ior exper ience w ith vector pr ogr am s. It w as also har d to m ake sur e ever yone w as coor dinated and up to date on their w or k . Never theless, w e accom plished it because w e w or ked har d.

Our m agazm ething that w e ar e all pr oud of. We hope you enjoy it too.ine took a lot of dedication and per sever ance. Thr ough that w e have m ade so Sincer ely, Teddy, Em il, Ricky, and Rahm anullah

1

CONT E NT S L EVEL

2

SEL ECT

4

The Aspects of Game Animation

8

Game Genres

10

Gaming for Something Greater

14

Video Game Controversies

16

Tanking the Hit

20

The Spread of Gaming

22

Score for More

26

The Battle of Battles

28

Staff Credits

Outside covers designed by Emil Trevino.

Inside cover designed by Ricky Rivera.

Pages 1-3 designed by Teddy Clements.

Pages 28-29 designed by Rahmanullah Daadman and Teddy Clements.

3

Scr een sh ot of Blen der Sof t w ar e t ak en by Rich ar d River a

T he A s pec ts of Ga m e A n im a t io n Opening up the aspects and process video games have to go through.

4

By Richard Rivera

you want to pursue a career in developing and designing a video game. Many chose to take classes to master the skills and others master the skills by using the web, explained animator, artist and up-and-coming game designer Ho-Seh Esquivel. ?I only went to school for graphic design, but I wasn?t interested in going back just for animation,?

Esquivel said. ?I learned everything I know on the web and through feedback with other animators who I?m friends with.?

In a design school, they talk about the genres and contexts needed in designing a game.The program

Gr aph ic m ade by Em il Tr evin o

" I s t a n i ma mu c h t i me t o b e d e v e l wo r k i o wn g a n i ma n e c e s

a t a I c o n a t s

r t e d i o n t t h d e c o me p e r . g o n me , i o n i t y .

d o i n g p r e t t y e s a me i d e d a g a me I wa s my a n d wa s a "

-Ho-seh Esquivel, animator, artist and up-and-coming game designer.

Video games have been getting way better in terms of animation. They are so much smoother than other games half a decade ago.

According to TalentLyft, Game animation focuses on design and artistic skills associated with video

groups course into game studies, design,

games. Game animators use computer software to

development, aesthetics,and critical play. These

create their art into animated images and

graphic design schools will grant a Bachelor 's

environments for video games.

Degree of Science in Game Design with the

During the process of making a video game, game

knowledge and skills they need to start designing

animation is vital for completing the process.

games professionally.

Whether a game animator is making a pixel, 3D or 2D video game, they absolutely need the skills used in game animation. These game animation skills can be very time consuming but can be worth the time if

The first thing to do when starting an animation project is to make a basic brainstorm on what you want to make for the video game.

5

It could be a moving

off is using animatics for the

?The very first thing to do is

background or it could be the

animation. Using animatics can

storyboard and animatics,?

characters moving along the

be very fundamental to the final

Esquivel said.

landscape.

draft of the project.

There?s many games with great

Some games that have very

work would be- Final Sunrise

landscapes but some that I

interesting animation are-

Red Dead Redemption 2, Old

really like are Breath of the Wild,

Mortal Kombat 11, God of War,

Soldier World of Warcraft, and

Persona 5, Cyberpunk 2077, and

and Resident Evil 2. The facial

The Suicide Mission Mass Effect

Horizon Zero Dawn. These

expressions are something that

2. These cutscenes are very well

games have the most realistic

I have never seen before in any

done. They show the

and most interesting

video game. In God of War, the

importance of using animatics

landscapes I have seen in any

fight scenes are very cinematic

in a game.

game. Moving along and seeing

and very well crafted. These

the landscape around you is

animation studios really put a

truly an eye pleasing

lot of effort into the game and

experience.

you can clearly see it by playing

Once knowing what to do, a good way to start

6

them.

Examples of strong animatic

Choosing which software to use can be difficult the first time.

There?s many game animation softwares to choose from.

According to WindowsReport,

User interface of Bark City Brawl. Courtesy of Ho-Seh Esquivel

here are the best game animation softwareAdobe After Effects, Adobe Animate, Autodesk 3ds Max, Houdini, Blender.

?I use Clip Studio Paint and a little bit of Blender,?

Esquivel said.

These software animation

Graphic made by Emil Trevino

" I a s o t h I s p t o o b wh a l a n a n

? f l e a a j e s i d

v e o r e e l o d e f i r n i ma c e s h l e a r e c t s n r o o h a ma t e j e t

n a v s t i n

l n e t e p

l t a d b f i

y b e c e r l o p e t h i d wa .

I h o w o o k t i n g t o u l l e r e . "

Animation skills get better e a r n s h

n n d , g a a d

over time and with practice. Experiment with different softwares and try other methods of video games creation.

.

I

t s

-Ho-seh Esquivel, animator, artist and up-and-coming game designer

?I?m learning Blender to make basic models and animate them. Then I rotoscope the animation,

programs are very helpful

import it into Clip Studio,

when creating video

and then clean it up,?

games. There are tons of

and creativity is possible in

tools you can use for what you

these software programs.

Esquivel said.

specifically need. Imagination

User Experience of Ocean Lords. Courtesy of Ho-Seh Esquivel

7

Video Game Genres

Action

Racing

26.9%

5.8% Sports

Shooter

11.1% Other

20.9%

3.7% Adventure

Role-Playing

7.9% Strategy

11.3%

4.6% Fighting

7.8%

8

Action This genre of video game emphasizes physical challenges including fast reflexes,hand-eye coordination, and reaction time. In the specific game, the player would control the person/character and as they adventure through their navigation, they level up their skills. By the time each minutes gets gradually harder.

Role-Playing Role-playing or an RPG is a genre where the player controls the character to discover new locations just like a board game. RPG's would go around a discover parts of their world and complete quests along the way.

Pokemon would be a great representation for a role-playing game.

Adventure Adventure video games is a genre characterized by investigation, exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges.

Shooter Shooter, more commonly FPS (First Person Shooter), is a genre where you are centered on a gun in a weapon based combat in a first person point of view. It usually involves the player battling through progressively harder game levels towards some ultimate goal.

Sport Sports video games simulates the practice of real life sports. These types of games would be recreated into a fun and competitive game played with other players. Sport games involve physical and tactical challenges, and test the players precision and accuracy.

NBA and FIFA are representations of sports video games.

Fighting A fighting video game is a genre of video game in which the player battles against another character controlled by another character or the game's artificial intelligence. Most fighting games usually show fighters from a side view, but multiple viewpoints are now used in many of newer games in the genre.

9

Picture by Emil and Sergio Trevino

G a mi n g

f o r S o me t h i n g G

r e a t e r

Using video games to help kids cope

By Emil Trevino Being a child in the hospital can be scary and stressful, but there are organizations that try to combat this with the use of video games, according to Erick Blandin,

10

program director of the non-profit Child?s Play. ?Our mission is to provide games, toys and electronic entertainment to children's hospitals and other child welfare facilities around the world,? said Blandin.

There are organizations that help children who are in hospitals with the pain and trauma of being trapped in their hospital beds, like Child's Play.

Child?s Play helps hospitals by donations, whether that's in the form of money or video games or consoles, they do

fundraisers like live streams and other events. They have also worked with other non-profits like Gamer Outreach. ?With my kids, if I set up a motivating object like a drink that they love or something and they succeed in drinking it in VR then they will be more motivated outside of VR,? said Danina Culvert, a physical therapist.

Culvert is a personal physical therapist that uses virtual reality to help her clients. She has worked as a therapist for four years mostly with infants all the way up to 21 years old. ?The main way people support us is to organize some sort of fundraiser like a live stream in which they have a donation button,?

Blandin said. ?Another way is to

volunteer at your local children's hospital.?

Gamer Outreach is another non-profit that hosts Go Kart.

Go Kart is a fundraiser that

" Ga l i k p i e me d t r i e mo

me e c e i a g g t i

s a n o c e r o n

y f a n s . "

-Erick Blandin, program director for Child's Play

develops portable gaming stations for children's hospitals. The Go Karts have screens mounted to a desk with wheels, the desk has a space inside it to store

Picture by Emil ad Sergio Trevino Graphic by Emil Trevino

a console with openings in the front where wired controllers connect. Another fundraiser Gamer Outreach does is something called Gamers For Giving. Gamers For Giving is a weekend long competitive gaming tournament that takes two forms, a LAN party and streamathon. ?Gamer Outreach we have worked with before,? Blandin said. ?They make these game carts that we helped go into hospitals. We constantly recommend Able Gamers because they have great tools for those who can?t game with a controller normally. Those are the two biggest ones.?

All of these non-profits try and complete their missions in different ways. For example, Child?s Play provides an annual gift, which can take the form of cash or check, designated for electronic

11

entertainment, games, toys and anything that they want to buy for the kids as well as a care package every summer filled with items that people have donated.

Doom's game play is fast-paced and requires a lot of bottoms to be pressed. So games like this would be great for someone that has chronic pain.

Picture courtesy of Bethesda

?Games like any piece of media can trigger emotions. ? We try to help hospitals find games that help to cheer kids up and distract them from the boredom, pain, and anxiety of hospital life,? Blandin said.?

The types of games that Child?s Play provides hospitals lean more towards less mature games such as Mario or Minecraft and tend to trigger more positive emotions.

Gamer's all around the world use gaming PC and consoles to play their favorite games.

Games aren't only entertaining, they can be good for expressing yourself and relieving stress or anxiety.

Picture by Emil and Sergio Trevino, Graphic

by Emil Trevino

12

?For chronic pain, games that have a lot of button pressing would be good so a game like Doom or Overwatch would be great for that, because things are constantly happening and you're having to press a bunch of buttons and stimuli coming at you auditory and visual,? Blandin said.

Games can also assist patients with things like chronic pain because it can stimulate their brains so much that there is not enough time to process the pain.

are an outlet for people that have violent tendencies or mental health issues use video games as a means to coup and

" I wh t h i n v i t o a b t r i n l i

n e e d a t e v e r e y d o r t b l e a n t o f e

u a e t s f r . "

l l y o e r e a l

-Danina Culvert, physical therapist

M. Boffey from the Dana Foundation there is no hard evidence that video games are a direct cause of violent actions. ?The kids I work with have to learn to use a controller to move their bodies, then that's not reality and they are having enough of a hard time.

Because I need whatever they do virtually to be able to transfer into real life,? Culvert said.

VR in physical therapy is a relatively new idea and hasn?t really been studied thoroughly.

Culvert has to make sure that

?There is a charity called Games to Grow, they use Dungeons and Dragons as a therapeutic tool for kids that are socially isolated and need help communicating and making friends,? Blandin said.

Not only can games be used for kids in the hospital, but outside problems such as Child's Play hosted it's 2nd annul fundraiser last year raising $9,000. social isolation and kids The money when to electronic gmaes and toys for kids in hospitals. with trouble making Picture courtesy of Child's Play friends. Video games help them stay level. The fact her clients know their own are not the only game that they played video games limits. either like Dungeons did not make them that way. ? I and Dragons, an ?Our perfect world would be if a have seen too much good in tabletop RPG, is used kid goes into a children's games to believe that,? Blandin to help kids that have hospital they feel no different said. social problems. than if they were at home,? ?No, I don't think any video game is a direct cause of real world violence.

Oftentimes they

When violent events happen like a school shooting or a mass shooting video games are one of the first things blamed for the crime.

According to the writer Philip

Blandin said.

13

V i Many d video egames o come G a m e C o with controversies and some of them

These are some of the biggest games that ha Picture courtesy of IGN

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most controversial game of 2020. When released it was almost unplayable on old generation console such as PS4 and Xbox One. The game was unpolished and had so many bugs that players were asking for refunds which lead to Playstation removing it form the PS Store. CD Projekt Red, who developed the game, were accused for not testing as well as lying about the state of the game.

Picture courtesy of Playstation

Doom Doom like many other games were accused of being to violent, but that wasn't the biggest controversy Doom had. The game had you shooting and slashing through waves of demons and for that people thought it was satanic. The soundtrack, which was mostly heavy metal, was thought to have some demonic meaning behind it.

Picture courtesy of Ubisoft

For Honor

For Honor devolved by Ubisoft introduced a character named Valkyrie for the Viking Faction who had an execution that had the enemy grab her chest. After receiving backlash from the media and player base Ubisoft removed it then added it back in where the enemy would grab her shield instead.

Picture courtesy of Deviant Art

14

Grand The

Grand Theft Auto 5 is one if not the most con violence to its depiction of women to its depic lawsuit after lawsuit for what their games sho with torturing some one to get information. A

o n t r o v e r s i e s m fix or change the problem others solve them in different ways.

ave had the biggest problems with the media.

Overwat ch

By Emil Trevino

Picture courtesy of Xbox

Overwatch had a controversy back in 2017 where Blizzard and other gaming companies made money from in-game purchases of loot boxes. This was considered gambling because the loot boxes, when opened, would give you a random prize.

Picture courtesy of Polygon

Bat t lefront 2

Battlefront 2 on release had a big micro-transaction problem with players having to pay up to 300 dollars just to play as Darth Vader. Later EA, the people behind the game, removed this but the damage was done and players had lost interest.

Fort nit e

Picture courtesy of Pro Game Guides

Fortnite, made by Epic Games, had a big controversy about their emotes which ranged from actions like pointing or clapping to dances. Fortnite was sued for stealing some of the dances such as The Carlton, Floss, and the Milly Rock. Epic Games was also sued by the creators of PUBG for copying their game. Epic Games then sued Apple in 2020 for the way it runs the Apple Store saying that it's a monopoly.

eft Aut o 5

ntroversial video game of all time. It has had so many controversies over its 8 year life span ranging from ction of drugs and other races. Rockstar Games the developed the GTA series have faced ow. Some of the biggest were the depiction of torture, where in one mission you are tasked Another huge one was its portrayal of women as well as its portrayal of of other races.

15

Ta n k i n g t h e Hi t How the games industry survived and thrived in the pandemic

by Theodore Clements

Although the video game industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it

16

has not suffered as much as other industries have. Through all the disruption, video game companies have found that the process has changed relatively little, despite a few difficulties.

Snooky Kazoo's Tur nip Boy Com m its Tax Evasion is an adventure game about a turnip committing tax fraud.

The game was released in April 2021, and was in development during 2020. Courtesy of Snooky Kazoo.

Social distancing guidelines have been in place to protect people from the virus, but until the advent of the vaccine, most sectors were forced to switch to virtual. Yukon Wainczak, lead developer at independent game studio Snooky Kazoo, said the games industry is no exception.

Even though there are a select few issues, game studios are able to stay afloat and work normally.

transition into full online work regardless since we didn't have an office, and I live about an hour away from the rest of the team.?

Snooky Kazoo released Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion on April 22, 2021. The comedic adventure game is the studio?s first title, and their only released project. Proper development of the game started in December 2019.

?When quarantine started, our only online work went from being a convenience to a necessity, but we were already very used to it regardless,? Wainczak said.

?I get this question a lot and I feel like my answer is probably really weird, but we haven't been impacted at all by social distancing,? Wainczak said. ?Around [December 2019], we actually " Wh e had to

Before the vaccine, many workplaces switched to fully remote business to maximize social distancing. People joined video calls or similar online groups instead of leaving their house and going to work. This quarantine is still in effect in some places.

There are still a few issues present, particularly in communications.

Communication purely through online means can have problems such as poor internet connectivity or scheduling errors.

This puts strain on communications or IT departments everywhere.

n q u a r a n t i n e s t a r t e d , o u r o n l i n e wo r k we n t f r o m b e i n g a c o n v e n i e n c e t o a n e c e s s i t y . "

?For any specific issues within development relating to the team, we worked hard to build up our

- Yukon Wainczak, lead developer at Snooky Kazoo

17

communication so we could all get onto the same page fast and painlessly,?

Wainczak said. "

?You aren?t going to dial up somebody for something like that. It?s more cumbersome,? said Smith.

According to Smith, there is a piece missing from this type of

18

-Harvey Smith, Studio Director at Arkane Studios

Despite all these issues, there is fun in making the game itself. Solving problems with other developers or building a rich and intricate game world are things the people who work on the game can derive genuine enjoyment from.

Developers also often feel a great sense of accomplishment when a game they worked on is released and received well by the public.

Image courtesy of Bethesda.

Online communication also makes casual conversation more difficult to achieve.

Harvey Smith, studio director at Arkane Studios, said spontaneous advice-sharing and collaboration takes more effort and does not happen as naturally as it would in person. Smith, along with the rest of Arkane, has worked on several popular titles such as Dishonored and Prey.

Yo u a r e n ' t g o i n g t o d i a l u p s o me b o d y f o r s o me t h i n g l i k e t h a t .

I t ' s mo r e c u mb e r s o me . "

communication. The spontaneous part of socialization is lost during the transfer to online work.

However, other than that, the actual development process has been relatively unchanged.

Communication was also a difficult problem even before the pandemic.

?It?s such an incredible sense of validation when you bring joy to others,?

Smith said.

Courtesy of Snooky Kazoo.

19

The Spread of Gaming Market Growth Over the Years Video games really took off when consoles and personal computers became widespread in the general public.

The total market value of the games industry is predicted to reach 196 billion USD by 2022.

20

The current bestselling video game, Minecraft, has sold over 200 million copies!

Video games were around before 1970, but they only became popular in mainstream culture around that time.

Graphics by Teddy Clements.

21

Sc o r e Fo r Mo r e Indie developers working hard to make great games

By Rahmanullah Daadman

22

Images Courtesy of Hebi Studios.

Playing video games is an exciting habit for many people. The trick for game developers is making a game that a lot of people want to play. For Angelus

many of them only play

" Ou r c o mp a n y d o e s n o t ma k e u p d a t e s , b e c a u s e we o n l y p u t o u t c o mp l e t e v i d e o g a me s . ?

focus of their

pay that much attention. ?Making video games can take a long time and process and could be hard to make,? Delacroix said.

Delacroix of Hebi Studios, this is the

video games and do not

-Angelus Delacroix, the lead developer and CEOof Hebi Studios

company.

Over 2.4 billion people had played video games in 2019 according to an article in the Newzoo. People just play games but often don?t think about the people that make them and how long it

Video games developers all around the world are trying to make

better games every day so that the games they make could be loved and played by millions or even billions. RageBall is a competitive game that anyone can play with their friends or family.

takes. Players don?t know that because

In ths image, a player can choose from whichever playfield they want. There are total of nine playfields. Courtesy of Hebi Studios.

23

?If you want to create some type of video game, you have to go through a lot of stuff,? Delacroix said. ?First you have to pick a concept, and picking a concept can take a bit of time. Then you have to gather information about your idea.?

require a degree, Hebi Studios believes education is vital. ?You need two degrees, one is

? De l e t e mi s t a k e s t o ma k e i t c l e a n wi t h n o p r o b l e ms . ?

video game art design and the other in graphic design,? Delacroix said.

He explained that a good education prevents problems later. Many video The Hebi team game companies find errors designed a game -Angelus Delacroix, the lead in the process. A lot of called RageBall, a 2D companies update their developer and CEOof Hebi animation sports game games to correct any errors.

Studios that pits player against Companies should look for any player. It has nine different errors there so that their games don?t playing fields for players to choose from. crash.

Delacroix said the game was developed based on theories and ideas from his team. ?You have to start building your theory,?

Delacroix said. ?And then refine your concept, make it clear.?

Delacroix explained that the more education a developer has, the better their game design can be. While some game companies do not

?Our company does not make updates because we only put out complete video games,? Delacroix said.

Some companies do not fix their games and that their games have a lot of glitches and bugs. For example, the big-budget

Two opponents playing Rage Ball together.

The left person is winning.

Courtesy of Hebi Studios.

24

game Cyberpunk 2077 had a lot of bugs and glitches when it was first released. The game that people played had problems, like

2022, so they were frustrated when it was supposed to ? I f y o u come out by 2020. wa n t t o c r e a t e s o me To avoid problems like t y p e o f v i d e o those faced by g a me , y o u h a v e Cyberpunk, Hebi Studios t o g o t h r o u g h a l o t o f s t u f f . ? runs the game over and

messing up character rendering or user inputs, and sometimes it would

-Angelus Delacroix, lead developer and CEOof Hebi Studios

affect the equipment the game was played on, like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. In the console versions, fun turned into stress. One developer told Bloomberg they

over again until they solve any problem. ?Delete mistakes to make it clean with no problems,?

Delacroix said. ?Test your game

and see how it is, so that if you don?t like it you can change stuff in it and make it perfect. And the last step is to market the finished product, and the whole process would take you around 6 to 10 months.?

thought the game would be released in According to Delacroix, other companies do updates every six months to solve problems that crash their games. But not all companies are the same, some make updates every 3 months so that people who play it get more options and new characters like the game Player Unknown Battle Ground. PUBG makes updates every two months and they have different features, so every company is different.

Delacroix said Hebi?s goal is to make the best games they can. ?Right now we are just starting and later on we are going to have great video games that are better than what we have right now,? Delacroix said.

25

These two games are some around the world. Player Unk has over one billion players and play

OR PUBG is one of the most played games in the world because over 1 billion people have downloaded it.

600,000 people play it at a time and because of this the developers have made $2.7 billion as of 2020.

Image courtesy of PUBG Corporation Krafton

26

e of the most popular games known's Battlegrounds (PUBG) d Fortnite has over half a billion yers.

OR

n.

Fortnite is also one of the most played video games because they have had six million downloads worldwide in April 2020. The developers made over $9 billion in 2019.

Image courtesy of EPIC GAM ES.

27

HI GH S CORE S Hello, people. I am Emil Trevino. I have been on the Earth for 14 years and I'm a new freshman this year. Playing video games is one of my favorite pastimes, so when the option came up I chose it straight away.

Although I have not accomplished this yet, I plan to get the platinum trophy for Red Dead Redemption 2 which is hard to get. Only 0.1% of players have it. Things I have helped with include giving ideas and editing. For the future, I hope that you enjoy our magazine and learn something new. Good luck!

Hi, I am Richard Rivera. I?m 14 and new to LASA. I love video games in general and I like learning about the hardware inside desktop computers.

Video games have been a major part of my life since my dad introduced them to me. When I heard that I and my teammates were going to make an article about them, I got excited to learn new things along the way. I have helped with the writings and layouts throughout the magazine. I hope you learn something by reading our magazine!

28

I am Rahmanullah Daadman. I am 14 and just graduated middle school. I love sports and action video games. I play one game, and that is PUBG, which I am addicted to. One: because it makes me feel like I am there and two: because it keeps me happy. I also like sports games like FIFA 20 because it is a soccer game and soccer is my favorite sport. When I noticed that my teammates also liked video games I decided to make it about the sport so hopefully, you learn something from our magazine.

My name is Teddy Clements, and I?m 14. I just graduated from middle school, so I?m new to LASA. I enjoy many different types of video games, which is why I helped choose this topic for our magazine. I?ve been a gamer for most of my life, and it?s my primary hobby. I want to become a game developer sometime in the future. I helped with the magazine?s general graphics and aesthetic. I hope you find this magazine interesting, and maybe even learn something useful from it.

29

GG