2012年11月19日 星期一

Final Presentation Topic: Plants VS Zombies.

A) Introduction to the work

Name: Plants VS Zombies

Publisher: PopCap Games
Designer: George Fan
Releasing Date: May 5, 2009
Platform: PC/Mac/Smart Phone



B) The detailed description of the work 

   
   Plants Vs Zombies is a tower defense action video game developed and  published by PopCap Games. The game involves a homeowner using many different plants to repel the army of zombies from "eating their brain".



    
    In the game, players need to place different types of 
plants which have their unique offensive or defensive 
capabilities. Players act as the homeowner and use the 
plants to stop the zombies. There are some horizontal  
lanes which is the battle area for the plants and zombies.  
Players have to put plants on right place to protect
themselves.

  
   The players need to know the attribute of the plants and 
zombies and plan the battle array. The zombies have  
distinct attributes with speed, damage tolerance, and 
abilities.  Zombies may wear armour, jump over plants or 
even drive a car.



> Unique Design of the game

    The contrast between plants and zombies had a key 
characteristic of the game. The lovely plants looked cute 
and likable. When the zombies look weird but special. Both 
of them appear in the same battle field make a great visual 
contrast.It can make the attention of the players easily. The 
plants are designed as lovely and colourful so they have 
many different form and look.  


  The zombies have the same appearance but they perform 
in many costumes and styles. The characters in this game 
included aesthetic and humorous.

For example: Tall Nut. George Fan, the designer explained that the Tall-nut has character, citing its "determined gaze" and how it sheds a single tear when hurt. ("Interview with Plants vs. Zombies creator George Fan". Gamezebo. May 22, 2009. )
> It is Interesting!!    
  According the director George Fan , he designed this game 
as a "gritty" and a "sickeningly cute" game.(Thompson, 
Michael, "Aliens in the garden: the secret origin of Plants vs. 
Zombies".) The game choose an unusual topic that zombies 
are not attacked by human.
  Just like resident evil 6 or House of Dead, the zombies look
dreadful and players need to kill them cruelly.  Zombies in
this game change the traditional image of zombies and the
producer make them as a new icon of zombies. The durable
of gameplay or interesting system make it different from other
games. It balanced the both side of game players . It needs
strong strategic elements for experienced gamers but
keeping it simple for casual gamers.






C) Whether Plants and zombies harms or benefit individuals 
and society??
  
1.Benefit to individuals

> Great entertainment for people to relax

  Easy gameplay for the casual players and the game can 
really attract people to play and relax. According to Justin 
Calvert , the game impresses across the board with
ingenious game design, uncomplicated controls, colorful
visuals, upbeat audio, a decent difficulty curve."(Plants VS
ZombiesReview,Sep13,2010,http://asia.gamespot.com/plants
vs-zombies/reviews/plants-vs-zombies-review-6275775/)


> Inspire creativity 
 "What makes Plants vs Zombies an absolute gem is the 
loads of personality and unique animation for each plant 
and zombie." said by Andrew Podolsky (Plants vs Zombies 
Review,April23,2012,http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/plants-
vs-zombies-review) who wrote review about this game. It 
shows the great animation of plant and zombie make this 
game so unique. It inspired people's creativity about the 
characters. Many drawings and product are made by the  
people. This game enlighten our imagination a lot.
This elaborate drawing was submitted by Fundead Legionnaire Roma Raqueno.


2 Benefit to society 
>Economy
  Plants VS Zombies is the fastest-selling video game 
created by PopCap Games. According to PopCap, the iOS 
release of this game sold more than 300,000 copies in the 
first 9 days. It  generating more than $1M in gross sales, 
and considered it "the top-grossing iPhone launch"(Plants s. 
Zombies is PopCap's fastest-selling game".
Joystiq,May20,2009)

This game also create a lot of type of products to sell.
Products of zombies
 

>Cultural 
It brings cultural influence to the society. Many humourous 
joke contained into the whole game. For example, "Scary 
Potter"  comes from the movie "Harry Potter" or the Michael 
Jackson style Zombies.(Review:Masterful Plants vs. Zombies Proves Less Is More",Wired.com,May5,2009)

All of this arouse the attention of the society on the cultural 
issues and increase more topics to discuss. 


   

   

 

2012年11月5日 星期一

Mission to Earth


> What is new or different about digital cinema compared with traditonal filmmaking?


  The "Mission to Earth" show us how different  between the digital camera and the traditional film making.  In the clip, there are different size of frame with different angles of shots. The images are showed by the creator in a specific way that the viewer get feelings from those changing screens. 


  The whole story is talking about the , it is full of fantasy but there are still keep the characteristic of documentary. The shots and scenes are realistic but it's  fabricate space of imagine.  Traditional filmmaking focus on the content  but this video show a kind of presentation of concept with a loose story line.


> What is other art form that the film remind you?


 It reminds me a film I had seen long time ago called Mission to Mars. The film is about a team was sent to Mar and  saved another team which meets with a catastrophic and mysterious disaster. They need to bring back any survivors. This film focus on the story and it is clear that what the mission is about but "Mission to earth" tell the story with a lot of way like flashback, shots with different angles in one screen. There are still different between two art form.