Clifford_C

Clifford Chamberlin SD&E through UB

Final Project: My final project is a joint effort with Mark Homayouni to follow and analyze the evolution of the gamer hero. To do this we will be watching at least two movies a week which will serve as our main, but not only, focuses for our blog posts. Comments and criticisms are better than nothing so check it out and have fun with it, the link is at the bottom of the list here.


 * __LINKS:__**
 * Response - first(also additional comments on same page)>
 * Response 3/4/10
 * Meridian 59 (in class)
 * Comments onReading
 * haltingState -- Terminology
 * vidding (in class)
 * gamer hero blog

My be favorite video game ever would have to be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This is the case for many reasons, the foremost being the level design and the ways you would have to interact with the world based on what you had on your person. The way the world was designed encouraged exploration and emphasized the story itself by creating almost "characature environments". The story itself was compelling seeing as how I was already a fan of Link's adventures and the character design seemed to make the battle mechanic run even smoother. Let's not forget the music either, I mean, who didn't mess up the first few times on the ocarina? The most personally influential part of the entire game was the infamous Water Temple that took(on average) a bagillion hours to get through due to it's rediculously complicated element of having to raise and lower water levels to get around. Yet once I finally figured it out it was almost elegant in its confusion and at the same time gave one a high sense of achievement once it was completed. Let's not forget that the end reward of the temple wasn't just another piece of the puzzle solved but one of the coolest fights in game history, the battle against Dark Link, which in itself was a great collaboration of story, music, character design, and level design all working together to create a perfect moment in gaming history. All in all, this is one of the games that I will never forget and is the main reason why I want to do level design and why I still judge most games based on the single player story mode gameplay.

My career goal is to become a lead level designer and oversee the physical construction of the world in which a game takes place. I have a strong conviction that level design dictates a lot of gameplay and interaction and therefore has a great influence on the meaning of a game. I want to get to the point where I can collaborate with the programmers and character designers and even the musical composers to make my levels and the game as a whole the best it can be.