Design Specification

Customer

What does the customer want?

I am making this game for students around the age of 16 so I will include content that they will enjoy playing such as: violence and possibly blood/gore.

What does the design brief say?

Create a Platform game for the students to play. The main character of this game ‘Max’ has to move from level to level dodging enemies which block his way whilst collecting gold. Max gets score from collecting gold and has to collect certain items to unlock doors, vents and shutes to progress to the next level. This is a platform game so I would expect Max to be able to jump over obstacles and enemies.

Who is the target audience?

My target audience will be people aged 7+. I chose this age as I want to create a game that includes mild violence and be available for a lot more people than say, a 12+ game.

Development

What sprites do we need?

I will create sprites for the main character (Max), the police, S.W.A.T and the boss “Sergeant Smoke”. I may also include civilians and/or alternate versions of Max and the enemies.

What sounds do we need?

I will need different radio and gun sounds for the enemies, and voice clips for Max when he jumps or dies. I will also need a Mario-styled “goomba stomp” sound for when Max jumps on an enemy.

How many levels do we want?

I will create either 5 or 7 levels to navigate through, each one getting progressively harder as you go on with the last level being a boss battle.

What other elements do we want?

I will include objects in my game such as lights to climb on, tables to slide over and doors to open.

Management

What do we want to do by the end of this session?

By the end of this session I want to have completed the design specification and move onto creating sprites.

How long do we have to create this game?

I have till around November to complete my game, which is about a month.

How can we break down the tasks in making a game?

I will create a plan which orders the criteria I need to include and shows how long I have to complete them.

06/11 UPDATE: By the end of this session, I hope to have created the layout for my game, the camera options and the coding for the main character.
11/11 UPDATE: By the end of this session, I hope to have... I have also decided to change the layout of my game so that the levels are one on top of another instead of two next to each other going down.

Artistic Styles & Comparing Games

Cel-Shaded

This is an art style that mimics the look found in comic books and is mainly used by Japanese developed games such as Killer is Dead and Jet Set Radio. It is designed to make 3D images appear flat like 2D by taking out the gradient effect in shading and replacing it with simple coloured shading. It also involves realistic elements, but characters made in this style look very different to real people. For example, in the image below the character has around sixteen arms instead of two.



Photo-Realism

This is an art style that tries to look nearly identical to real life and is found in games such as Grand Theft Auto V and L.A Noire, and is designed to make images look as realistic as possible, down to the blackheads. Video games in this style are usually made using motion capture technology as shown in the images below.

Exaggerated

This is an art style that is loosely based on real-life. This is because although the characters may look real, they are made to look exaggerated. For example in the game “Gears of war”, the main human characters look realistic but their body size is much larger than normal. Using exaggerated graphics can allow you to create crazy elements like hairstyles and eyes without worrying about it being realistic or physically possible.

Abstract

This is an art style that doesn't resemble other styles in any way and is often made to be unrealistic. The style usually involves shapes and lines and uses random shapes and colours to create images unique to gaming. A game known as “Geometry Wars” is made up of only geometric shapes and colour but is still a very fun and creative game.

When creating a game, developers will need to consider various elements that are required for the art and graphics they want to use in their game.

Computer game graphics

They will need to think about the level of graphics that they want to include in their game. Making a computer game with very high graphics options will mean that only people with top-end computers can run them, which could potentially decrease sales. Making a game with low graphics could result in a low detailed game but it will be playable by a lot more people. Game graphics involves elements like dynamic lighting, draw distance, tessellation and shadowing.

Pixel

A pixel is a point sample (not a square) that contains colours from the RGB or CYMK pattern. Pixels make up the resolution of images so when making an image or video the creator will need to think about this. For example, an image that is made in a 1080p resolution will be very clear and in high definition. If the viewer couldn't view the image in that resolution, then the creator could also create a 720p or 480p version that is of less quality but can still be viewed. In video games, there are options that you can change for things like the texture quality etc. Having more than one option can let people with budget-computers play the game.

Types of digital graphics

There are two types or images used in games: Raster images such as gif, bmp,  jpg and tiff, and vector images such as psd, wmf, fla and ai. Raster images are made up of thousands of pixel and mainly use the RGB format, but these images can not be stretched and scaled. However, vector images can be stretched and scaled, and will retain their quality when doing so.

File Extentions

File extensions are important for telling the user what program can open certain files. For example, the extension “.jpg” can be opened by nearly everyone with a computer as the operating system will recognize it. But a file extension named “.psd” requires the program “Photoshop” to open and can not open without the correct software. Other examples or extensions are: bmp, png, gif, tiff and doc.

Compression

Compression is the technique used to remove unnecessary areas from an image for easier storage and sharing. There are two ways to compress: “lossy” or “lossless”. Lossy compression is the best way as it means that bitmap files can be reduced in size without the problem of a reduced image quality. Lossless compression involves changing all of the same shades of a colour in an image into just one, this can make the image look much worse.

Image Capture

Images in games can be captured in many different ways the main ones being through camera and motion sensors. With a camera the photographer can take several photos of an object or location and have the designers/artists recreate them in the game. A similar thing happens with motion sensing, people will act out parts of games and the animators will recreate them in-game.

Optimization

Optimization involves taking a large image file and reducing it's size by lowering the amount of colours and tones used. Doing this allows you to transfer files a lot quicker between people and makes loading these images on a website much faster.

Image Asset Storage

This is useful for games companies as it means that they can pass around files and images between workers so that work can be done quicker and easier. It also means that everyone can add to the same task rather than everyone doing the same thing. The only downside is that you're unable to share large files, but you're still able to share files such as Jpegs, tiffs and gifs. If you needed to share a file that was too large it will either get damaged or lost. However, you could reduce the size of the file from 1080p resolution to a lower size like 720p or even 480p. This would also reduce the size of the file allowing it to be shared, but it would be in less quality.

Comparing Games

Games like "Really Big Sky" and "Wolfenstein: The New Order" are drastically different games visually, but when you look at them closely there could be some similarities.

The game "Really Big Sky" uses an abstract art style that is seen commonly in indie games but takes away the geometric shape style to create something beautiful. Whereas the game "Wolfenstein: The New Order", uses a photo-realistic style that makes the game look and feel very-realistic. When it comes to the graphics of these games, "Really Big Sky" has very simple options that allows the game to be playable on nearly all hardware, but "Wolfenstein: The New Order" has very advanced graphics options such as anti-aliasing, shadows and more, which - although looks visually brilliant - makes it very difficult to run on most computers. In "Really Big Sky" the pixel size and quality of the images are fairly small and simplistic so that nearly all hardware can handle it but not small enough to look bad. Whereas the pixel size and image quality in "Wolfenstein: The New Order" is very high making the game look very polished but once again makes it very difficult for average hardware to load it.

Video games today that have the option to change the resolution usually use vector images as their digital graphics type. This is because vector images can be stretched into different sizes. Video games in the past would have likely used raster images as they could not be stretched and had smaller file sizes.

The games "Really Big Sky" and "Wolfenstein: The New Order" would have gone through compression at different stages of development. This would allow big files to be reduced in size at the cost of image quality and small files to be reduced without any loss of quality. A game like "Wolfenstein: The New Order" would have probably never gone through compression as the game looks stunning and is very large at a whopping 50gb. But "Really Big Sky" could potentially have gone through compression to reduce the games size.

Most photo-realistic games use motion-capture to make characters look as human as possible. No other art styles can use this technology really as it is meant to make characters look real and other art styles aren't meant to be realistic. The developers of "Wolfenstein: The New Order" used this technology for realistic cut-scenes, whereas the developers of "Really Big Sky" had no reason to use motion-capture because they weren't trying to be realistic.

If developers wanted to send and share images between workers and external companies/freelancers, they could use image asset storage. However, there is a file size limit to this so files would have to be reduced in size using compression or optimization.

Game Concept

In my video game, the player control a man named Samson, a 19 year old college dropout who excels in thievery and needs money to pay for his family’s debts. In the game Samson must escape from the worlds largest bank after a robbery goes wrong. He must escape from the top of the building using nothing but a jetpack and his brain in order to make it out alive. When Samson encounters the enemies, the only thing he can do is run and dodge if he gets caught he will end up in prison and this will result in the “Game Over” screen. In order for Samson to progress through the levels he will need to locate exits such as vents, shutes and maintenance ladders. These will take Samson to the next level/floor in the building. As the levels go on Samson will encounter more and more stronger, smarter and quicker enemies that will make it very difficult for Samson to escape alive. Along the course of the levels Samson will be able to collect various collectables that he can sell to pay of the debts, this will increase your overall score at the end of the game. Besides enemies Samson will need to avoid other obstacles that can either be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how you use them. For example, there are lights on some levels that can either fall on him or the enemies.

The story goes as follows: Samson Strange is a 19 year old college dropout who has no dreams or life goals. One day, a man approached him and offered him lessons in thievery, Samson accepted these lesson and started to become a thief. Over the course of 5 years, Samson’s family has mounted up a ton of debt that will surely ruin their life, so Samson decides to help. Though Samson had learnt very little over the course of 5 years and could not do much to help, he still tries. He realises that the only way to get enough money to save his family, is to steal from the world largest bank. But Samson – being the amateur that he is – trips the alarm system – alerting every worker and security guard in the building as well as the police and military outside…

Visual Styles in Games

There are four main visual styles seen in games and a couple of unique ones. In this blog I will be covering what they are and how you can tell if a game is using one.

Cel-Shaded

This is a visual style that mimics the look found in comic books and is mainly used by Japanese developed games such as Killer is Dead and Jet Set Radio. It is designed to make 3D images appear flat like 2D by taking out the gradient effect in shading and replacing it with simple coloured shading. It also involves realistic elements, but characters made in this style look very different to real people. For example, in the image below the character has around sixteen arms instead of two.

Photo-Realism

This is a visual style that tries to look nearly identical to real life and is found in games such as Grand Theft Auto V and L.A Noire, and is designed to make images look as realistic as possible, down to the blackheads. Video games in this style are usually made using motion capture technology as shown in the images below.

Exaggerated

This is a visual style that is loosely based on real-life. This is because although the characters may look real, they are made to look exaggerated. Games like “Dragon Ball Z” and “Gears of War” use this style. In “Gears of war”, the main human characters look realistic but their body size is much larger than normal. Using exaggerated graphics can allow you to create crazy elements like hairstyles and eyes without worrying about it being realistic or physically possible.

Abstract

This is a visual style that doesn’t resemble other styles in any way and is often made to be unrealistic. The style usually involves shapes and lines and uses random shapes and colours to create images unique to gaming. A game known as “Geometry Wars” is made up of only geometric shapes and colour but is still a very fun and creative game.

My Video Game

Game Genres

Genre	Genre Description	Genre Example
Shooter	Shooter games involve using a variety of weapons in combat to complete objectives. The two main types of shooter games are in either first-person and third-person	Warframe is a free-to-play third-person shooter currently in open-beta. It is from the creators of Dark Sector and Unreal Tournament and uses the Evolution engine, capable of creating visually stunning graphics for most computers. In-game players control members of the Tenno, ancient warriors who have awoken from centuries of cryosleep to find themselves at war with three menacing races: the Grineer, a militarized race of clones; the Corpus, a mega-corporation with advanced robotics and laser technology; and the Infested, disfigured victims of the Technocyte virus. To hold the balance between the factions, the Tenno use advanced exo-armour with unique abilities called Warframes. Another example of a shooter game is Call of Duty, which plays in the same way but is in first-person
MOBA	MOBAs are real-time strategy games that require you to act fast. The objective is to destroy the opponents’ base by using a variety of game mechanics that help you to get strong enough to win.	Dota 2 is a free-to-play MOBA based on the old Warcraft III mod and uses Valve's Source engine. The objective of the game is to gain enough gold, items and levels to destroy the enemy’s base. The story goes that a crystalline satellite called “Mad Moon” entered the planet's orbit and offered raw energies for two factions: the Radiant and the Dire. Eventually, the moon took so much damage that it blasted into millions of pieces across the world. This attracted creatures of various alignments and unified them under the two factions, thus starting a war. Another example of a MOBA is League of Legends.
Role-Playing Game	Role-playing games are games in which the player assumes the role of a character in a story. These can be either single player or multiplayer which involves teaming up with other players to complete quests or objectives.	Dark Souls is an action role-playing game set in a large open-world and uses the Havok, and an in-house engine. The games plot is very minimalistic in that it’s left up to the player to piece the story together. The only help you get is that if you ring two bells something will happen which is not much of a premise but it’s enough to get you interested. Another example of a role-playing game is World of Warcraft, which plays in the same way but involves a group of people and an open-world.
Strategy Games	Strategic games usually require well thought out decisions and high awareness of what's going on. Turn based and real time strategy follow the same rules as normal strategy games but involve players either taking turns or doing turns simultaneously.	XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an action turn-based strategy game set on earth during an alien invasion and it uses the Unreal Engine 3. The goal of the game is to defeat the aliens and save the world by completing missions using soldiers and advanced weaponry. Another example of a turn-based strategy game is Final Fantasy XIII.
Simulation Game	Simulation games attempt to copy various activities from real life and put them into a form of game for various purposes such as training and entertainment. There is usually no goals as players freely control a character and complete job or tasks.	Surgeon Simulator is a single-player simulation game and uses the Unity engine. In this game you play as a man named Nigel Burke, who has a placement at a fictional hospital. He carries out various operations on a man named 'Bob' in an operating theatre, on a trolley and - at one point - in space. Another example of a simulation game is Farming Simulator 2013.
Racing Game	Racing games are usually played in the first-person or third-person perspective. The player partakes in a racing competition with either land, air, or sea vehicles. They are usually based on anything from real-world racing leagues to races in a fantasy setting.	Blur is a unique racing game set in real cities around the world and it uses the Horizon engine. The game involves beating the best racers in the world and rising to the top. You do this by racing people in vehicular combat with neon versions of bullets, homing missiles and shields etc. Another example of a racing game is Gran Turismo, which focuses on realism.
Puzzle Game	Puzzle games involve logic, pattern recognition and sequence solving. They focus on logical and conceptual challenges and involve shapes, colours, or symbols, and the player must move them into a specific pattern.	Fractal is a puzzle-strategy game which uses the Unity engine. The game involves pushing hexagonal shapes together to form clusters or "blooms" of the same colour to acquire points. In the game there are three mode to play: campaign, arcade and puzzle which allow playability for any skill level. Another example of a puzzle game is Candy Crush Saga
Fighting Game	Fighting game involves the player controlling an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. The characters are all equal and fights consist of several rounds, which take place in an arena.	One Finger Death Punch is a 2D side-scrolling fighting game which uses the Microsoft XNA engine. The game has no plot but offers the player 1:1 reaction time and makes you feel like you're controlling the player, instead of the game. The gameplay involves fighting hordes of enemies using only your left and right mouse buttons. Throughout the game you will encounter various enemies that react in different ways to your attacks, making for really intense and strategic levels. Another example of a fighting game is Soulcalibur, which plays in a similar way but focuses on one player versus another instead.
Music Game	Music games are video games in which the gameplay is meaningful and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. They take a variety of forms and are often similar to puzzle games due to their common use of "rhythmically generated puzzles".	Audio Surf is a puzzle/rhythm game which uses the Quest3D engine. The game visually mimics music that the player chooses and generates blocks that are in sync with the music's beat. Although the game includes various songs, you are able to upload your own songs into the game and race on them. Another example of a music game is Guitar Hero.

Pre-production of my maze game

Finance
When I make my maze game, I will need to consider what I need to buy for its development. If I don’t have enough money to buy the things I need I could make a Kick-starter so that people who are interested in the game can donate money to see that the game is created, in exchange for exclusive gear both in-game and real life. The software I will use to make the game will be “GameMaker”, this is free and available for me to download and use. I might also use Photoshop to create sprite and background. If I was to buy it at home it would cost me a lot of money, so I would need to make sure I can afford it if necessary. I will be making the game at home and I will not require any facilities to develop it. I will be making this game alone so I won’t be hiring anyone to help me, but if I did I would need to advertise the job or ask friends if they can help. I might use music or artwork for my game so I’ll ask some people I know who can help me for free but if I didn't, I could use royalty-free music and sounds and buy the artwork online.

Time Constraints
As I am making this game at home for myself and not someone else, I will not need to worry about deadlines. I won’t have anyone working for me so their availability isn't an important factor. Knowing how long the music and artwork will take to do will be important for completing the development in a good time. I might need to buy a drawing tablet if I want to draw the artwork myself, instead of my friends, or a microphone if I want to include voice-overs or narration in my game.

Personnel
If I was to make a bigger game, I would need to decide how many people to hire for the job and how much money to pay them. I would also need to hire the right people for the job such as programmers, artists and sound designers and make sure that I don’t go over-budget. Luckily, I’ll be making this game on my own so won’t cost me anything.

FacilitiesI won’t need to hire any facilities but if I did I would need to look into the possibility of a music studio for music and/or sounds. If I was to make a large game that I’d sell, I might consider hiring a place that has motion sensing technology so that the game can look very realistic. Hiring these facilities will cost money, so I will need to make sure that I can afford them if I choose to use them.
Materials
When I start developing the game, I will need to consider if I need anything from other people such as artwork, sounds/music etc. To get this I can either buy artwork online or ask for it from friends. If I was to get artwork or sound/music it would save me having to do it and allow me to focus on other areas of the development and get the game made quicker.

Contributors
I won’t need anyone contributing to my game as I feel there will be no need and it will be too expensive, but if I was making a larger game I might consider asking someone famous to star in my game to help boost sales or just someone with talent.

Locations
If I wanted my game to be set in a real-life city, I would need to know exactly what it looked like so that the player can tell where they are. In my game I will loosely base the location on New York city, so I will need to look up New York city online or physically go there. Looking the place up online will be the easiest and quickest way to know what it looks like and because it’s loosely based on real-life, it doesn't need to be point-for-point accurate. If I was to make my game visually realistic, it would be helpful to go to New York on reconnaissance and see the landmarks and buildings. If I wanted character interactions to be realistic aswell, I could learn how people speak and act towards each other in that location.
Codes of Practice
Before I start developing my game, I will need to consider the target audience that I'm aiming my game at. If I choose to make a game for children that includes violence and swearing, and try to sell it then PEGI or ESRB have the power to either change the rating or cancel the game. When I make my game, it will be aimed somewhere around the age of 3 years old as my game will not include any bad content. In the development of my game, I will need to also need to consider copyright on anything I use. If I choose to use a sprite or background from a game that already exists, I could get sued or even have the game cancelled. So I need to make sure that the content I use is either made by me, my friends (with their permission) or royalty-free.

What is pre-production?

Pre-production is the term for planning before you produce something. Whether it’s for game development, television, film, advertising or even just a song; pre-production helps.

There are many different factors you need to consider before you start producing something, such as: the costs, time available, amount of people involved, facilities & materials needed, contributors, locations required and the codes of practice.

Finance
Finance is important because over the course of any production you will need to decide what to spend money on. You will need to think about what equipment to buy and any facilities you may want to hire. You’ll also need to decide how many people to hire, depending on the size of the game. The game called “Grand Theft Auto V” cost a total of more than £170 million to make and sold more than $1 billion.

Time Constraints
Time constraints are also important as you will need to decide when to do specific tasks so that you can meet deadlines and goals. Knowing how long tasks are going to take can mean the difference between completing the project and failing it. If you hire workers, you will need to allocate suitable time for them to complete work, that isn't too long or too short. You might also hire equipment specific to the production and if this is only accessible for a certain amount of time then you would need to focus on everything to do with the equipment so that you don’t need to hire it again. “Alien: Colonial Marines” took more than 10 years to make due to the developers working on two games simultaneously, the writers constantly changing the script, and many other factors.

Personnel
Personnel is also an important factor of pre-production as hiring too many people or too little can cause massive problems to either your money or your deadlines. This is why you will need to work out how many people you need and what area you need them for. In games development, there are several different areas that need to be completed, and hiring the right people is vital for completing them. In gaming, you will need graphics artist for the design elements, sound artists for the audio and programmers to make the game itself. You might also want to hire freelance artists or musicians to get the job done if you can’t find the right people. The game “Call of Duty: Ghosts” took between 120-140 company workers to make and received help from other companies like “Neversoft” and “Raven”. There are also kick-starters for games that aren't as huge, these allow people who are interested in the game to donate money to the production in return for exclusive items and to see it created.

Facilities
At some point in pre-production you may want to hire a facility for motion sensing or a studio with a green screen. If you need something like this then you’ll need to know if you have enough money to pay for it and time available to use it.

Materials
Throughout production you might want/need graphics or sound from people outside the production, which can be used with the creators permission. Asking for materials from freelance artists or musicians can save a lot of development time and allow you to focus on bigger areas of production and meet deadlines sooner.

Contributors
At the start of pre-production for a game, you may need money that you don’t have. To get this money and allow its creation you can make a kick-starter. Kick-starters allow people from all over the world to donate money towards a game they like the look of. Many developers choose to offer donors exclusive downloadable-content or real-life gifts, depending on the amount they donate. Sometimes developers choose to have famous people in their games. For example, Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page starred as main characters in the game “Beyond: Two Souls”.

LocationsIf you want to make a game based in a real-life location you will need to do reconnaissance on the location so that you know what it looks like and where building and objects are. The game called “Sleeping Dogs” is set in a near-exact copy of Hong Kong. Knowing exactly what an area looks like is great for a game that wants to be very realistic.

Codes of Practice

Before you start producing a game or movie, you need to know the target audience you’re aiming at. If you create a game that is too scary or too violent for the rating you want, then ESRB or PEGI will either change it or the game will be cancelled. ESRB are in charge of handling the games in America, and PEGI handle the games in Europe. When ESRB rate games they do it in three areas: the appropriate age, content in the game (bad language, violence etc.) and the interactive element involved. Whereas PEGI rate games using information from a form. On this form the developer of the game highlights all the areas that he thinks will affect the rating this is quicker and easier to do than have the administrator of PEGI play-through the game to analyse it.

The impact of computer games on society

Computer games can have several different effects on society both good and bad. In this post I will be describing the various good and bad effects of video games, how they can affect society and how they affect you psychologically.

The Good Effects

Improves Eyesight. Some people are born with eye problems that affect the way they see but playing video games could help improve their sight by teaching the brain to spot small details, follow movements and spot light changes. Even people with normal sight can have theirs improved.  Having improved eyesight allows you to see problems far away (e.g. a traffic jam) and avoid them before you reach them.

Quick thinking. Playing shooter games can improve the ability to translate the information you sense, quickly to your brain. Improving your reaction time can help you to make tough decisions quickly and even save your life.

Video games develop real-life skills. Many games have thriving online and offline fan-bases, and a community component that strongly encourages social interaction. MMOs involve you talking to people in groups and can be practice for real life. Learning social skills through games can have wondrous effects on your real life. In games that require communication you can learn leadership, teamwork and general social skills.

Games can teach people the beauty of games. Video games have artwork, music, sounds and stories unlike any other form of art in existence, they offer the combination of all of these different aspects combined. Playing games that include these factors can inspire people to make games or generally be creative.

Problem solving/decisions making. Tests have shown that action and shooter games improve the inference process that our brain goes through. This means that gamers can learn to make better and smarter decisions and create clever strategies in jobs and everyday life.

Accepting failure. Games such as the Dark Souls series put gamers through constant failure until they reach that moment of success. This is because the more you fail, the more you learn from your mistakes and improve. It also means that you can accept when you’ve failed and begin fixing your problems.

Video games may slow the aging process. Playing even two hours of brain training or puzzle game a week can slow down the rate at which your brain mentally decays. This means that games that make you think such as puzzle and strategy, can help to keep your brain active in old age.

Improves motor skills. Studies have shown that playing games that involve controlling movements such as kicking, catching or throwing a ball can improve object control and locomotor skills. This means that playing racing games and simulators can help people to learn how to drive in real life. Learning when to accelerate, brake and switch gear are vital factors of driving and games like “Gran Turismo” teach that.

Bring families together. Playing video games with the family can bring them together and is a great way to improve the amount of quality time they spend together. This means that video games that can be played by more than two people at a time can help to develop social skills and improve relationships in families. These games also have the potential to improve relationships with women and fellow workers.

The Bad Effects

Violent games can make you aggressive. Studies have shown that playing difficult games or games with unplayable controls can make the player angry and aggressive.  This can even lead to kill gamers killing their relatives or random people in society.

Playing video games increases obesity risk. Scientists have claimed that games make teenagers hungry. They increase their appetites and cause them to eat. This means that there is the potential for gamers to become obese and housebound.

Video games can interfere with your sleep. Video games can affect how much children sleep. Having computers in a child's room can cause them to play more and sleep less. If gamers play for too long it can make it hard for them to sleep and can even reduce the amount of time that they spend sleeping. Having less than seven hours sleep can cause various problems to your brain and body.

They restrict movement. Most games involve you sitting in the same place for hours and this can cause delayed development of your limbs. Not moving for too long can cause various problems to your life such as blood clots, numbness and sometimes - in rare cases - amputation.

Playing too much can cause mental illnesses. Studies have shown that becoming addicted to video games can cause anxiety, depression and social phobias. This means that playing games in certain conditions and including certain content can potentially cause illnesses that can make your work life and everyday life difficult.

Slows brain growth for 0-2 year olds. Too many video games for toddlers have been shown to negatively affect early brain development and cause attention deficit, impaired learning and increased impulsivity. This means that playing too many games at an early age can affect the way your mind and body grows, and this can make it harder to learn in later life.

Decreased concentration and memory. Studies have shown that video games both hurt and help childrens attention by boosting it short term but damaging it in the long-term. This means that children playing video games can concentrate and remember important information at an early age but it could potentially become weaker at a later age when you need to get a job or study for qualifications.

They can make you addicted. Children who do not have a strong parental attachment to the their parents, attach to devices, resulting in addiction. This means that people who play video games too long have the potential to disconnect themselves from real-life. Gamers can feel like playing games or reading through social networks is the only way to fill up time and some people have been known to do this at dinnertime with the family or whilst watching television.

Wireless devices emit radiation. It is said that mobile phones and other devices emit radiation that is harmful to children who are still developing their brains and immune systems. This means that being with electronic devices for too long can potentially cause long term and short term effects to your health.

They can cause headaches and migraines. Sitting in the same place and playing games for hours can cause headaches and aid in creating migraines. This means that sitting in front of a screen for too long can cause problems to your eyes and if left untreated could ruin your eyesight in many ways.

The Psychological Effects

Music and sounds that trigger emotions. In nearly all games there are sounds that invoke different emotions in us, whether it's a crunching sounds that plays when you hit someone with a baseball bat or a splat noise that happens when you die in a childs game. But music and soundtracks can make the biggest difference to how we feel whilst playing games. For example, in "Dark Souls II" whenever you enter a new area that you've never seen before you get relevant music that will invoke the emotions to put you in the right mood for the area. 

High-scores and competition. In most video games now a days there is competition between friends and players around the world. This competition gives players a reason to continue playing, as beating most gamers around the world or even just your friends can be satisfying.

Peer pressure. Sometimes people will only buy games because their friends have it or their friends say "You have to get it". The same thing can also happen whilst playing; many people are pressured into playing games for hours because their friends want them to improve or beat them.

Levelling in games. Video games that involve levelling (like "World of Warcraft" or MMO's in general) can have several effects on gamers, both good and bad. Levelling can become an addiction meaning that they'll play for hours and hours trying to get to the next level because their friends are too high for them. Sometimes people have been known to miss education because they feel that getting to the next level in their game is more important. However, levelling can also make the player feel like he's achieving and doing well at something in life and can make them feel good about themselves.