How I'm Involved With Games Currently
Out of the numerous games I've played throughout my life, one of my all time favourites if not the favourite, would be a shooter called Titanfall 2. Set in a universe where two main factions fight for control of key planets in outer space, the Militia and the IMC's fight on the planet Typhon is the focus point of Titanfall 2's setting. The singleplayer focuses on a Militia rifleman called Cooper, who has been training to become what is the equivalent of Titanfall 2's (TF2 for short) supersoldier - a pilot. Armed with a jetpack, enhanced physique and wits, pilots are a force to be reckoned with, but the name doesn't come from these traits. It comes from the fact they have the ability to pilot a Titan, i.e. a massive bipedal mech with the firepower of entire squads of soldiers. The trailer below will give an idea of a pilot and their titan.
Released on the 28th October 2016, it was a game that I was eagerly excited for. I've invested approximately 942 hours into this game since its release, and still play to this day. It has allowed me to meet other people online who I play with regularly, and has had more impact on my life than any other game I can think of. I even went so far as to participate in mock tournaments and upload Youtube videos highlighting some of my most impressive gameplay. In TF2, there are two main gameplay attractions; pilot combat, and titan combat. TF2's titan combat is incredibly unique and an experience unlike any other, which is how I was able to invest 80% of my time spent on this game exclusively partaking in titan combat. The pilot combat is also incredibly unique, but I found titans to be more enjoyable. I'll show some of my favourite videos which I uploaded below for the interested.
Needless to say that this game has been very impactful on me. Recently, news broke that the developers behind TF2 have moved members from their Titanfall development team onto a game that they released just recently (named 'Apex Legends'), and that future Titanfall projects have been put on hold. Unfortunately this means that Titanfall 3 may take a long time before it becomes a reality (potentially 4 or 5 years), which is disappointing since this franchise was one of my favourites.
The Dark Souls franchise isn't one that I got involved with before the 3rd (currently the final) installment, but after watching streamers play it I immediately knew it was something I could invest myself in. There is no way to tell how much time you've spent playing Dark Souls 3 on Playstation, but if I had to guess I played it almost as much as Titanfall 2. Dark Souls 3 was a hardcore action, fantasy role playing game where you take the role of a character you create which is deemed the "Champion of Ash". Your job is to slay four key bosses, named the Lords of Cinder, scattered within the realm of Lothric and bring their ashes to a place called Firelink Shrine. In doing this, the Champion of Ash may then perform their duty of "linking the fire".
The features of this game that kept me hooked wasn't just the story, but the character building and online interactions primarily drove my interest. You are able to build your own character from the ground up - appearance, equipment, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and more. The amount of freedom in character building kept me coming back to try new combinations of equipment and stats, and coming up with a theme for each character was also enjoyable. Once you built a character, you'd throw yourself into the online segment, which has a number of features. One of them is the 'invasion' system, where you force your way into another players' game with the goal of defeating them. The invader is at a disadvantage with handicaps in place, but this adds to the challenge, which is also what makes Dark Souls 3 known for. Another feature of online is the 'summoning' system, where the player can opt to leave a message in other players' games stating that they can summon the player to their game to help them. Assisting the summoner with bosses or fending off invaders is also enjoyable, as cooperating in a fight against a tough challenge provides the summoned player with unique rewards. Overall, the sheer freedom the game offers made it a highlight of my game library, and I plan on revisting this game sometime.
Persona 5 is also a game that I exceedingly enjoyed. It's a singleplayer RPG where it's a blend of both dungeon crawling, turn based combat and dialogue driven, world building character interactions. Not only does it have a unique gameplay style, but the music in Persona 5 is the best of any game I've played. All these combined with its strong art aesthetic make for one amazing experience.
Persona 5's story revolves around the protagonist, a 16 year old student who's name you decide, where he attempts to help a woman that is being harassed on the streets by a strange man. The protagonist accidentally knocks the man to the ground, inflicting injuries that led to the man suing the protagonist. As a result his parents kicked him out and sent him to live with someone they know while he's on probation. Upon reaching his new home and beginning his new life, he ends up being involved in strange events that lead up to him and a fellow student being sent to an alternate reality. They discover in this reality they have the unique power of summoning a 'persona' which is a manifestation of their soul that aids them in fighting against an evil force that threatens their way of life. Eventually more people join the protagonist's cause and fight as a team in this alternate reality with the goal of fixing issues in the real world that range from familial abuse to sexual exploitation and political corruption.
The result of playing all these fantastic and memorable games have driven my interest in what goes into making a game. During my GCSE's I was introduced to programming, which I later learned plays a huge part in development of a game. The language I was studying at the time was Python, and while studying a programming language on top of many other subjects was not enjoyable, the core concept of programming has stuck with me as something I can invest myself in. As a result of this growing interest, as well as some ideas to what kinds of games I would like to make, I enrolled at university to study game development.