A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device – such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device – to generate visual feedback. This feedback is shown on a video display device, such as a TV set, monitor, touchscreen, or virtual reality headset. Video games are often augmented with audio feedback delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes with other types of feedback, including haptic technology.
Star Wars is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. In 2020, its total value was estimated at US$70 billion, and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time.
Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man". Mega Man, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, was the first in a series that expanded to over 50 games on multiple systems. As of March 31, 2021, the game series has sold 37 million units worldwide.
A video game genre is a classification assigned to a video game based on its core gameplay rather than visual or narrative features. A video game genre is normally defined by a set of gameplay challenges considered independently of setting or game-world content, unlike works of fiction that are expressed through other media, such as films or books. For example, a shooter game is still a shooter game, regardless of where or when it takes place.
Ken Sugimori is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is best known as the primary character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, including Pulseman. Sugimori drew and finalized all of the original 151 Pokémon. He has also worked on the various Pokémon films, trading cards, and other games like the Super Smash Bros. series.
Video game development is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC and console games is normally funded by a publisher, and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games usually take less time and money and can be produced by individuals and smaller developers. The independent game industry has been on the rise, facilitated by the growth of accessible game development software such as Unity platform and Unreal Engine and new online distribution systems such as Steam and Uplay, as well as the mobile game market for Android and iOS devices.
Mustafar is a fictional volcanic and lava planet in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the final prequel film, Revenge of the Sith (2005), it also appeared in the films Rogue One (2016) and Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019). The lava planet consists largely of volcanic environments, featuring lava rivers and active volcanoes. It is mostly remembered for the role it played in Revenge of the Sith, being the site of a climactic lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former pupil, Darth Vader, which resulted in the latter's disfiguration and need of life support. The planet also featured in various spin-off media, including the VR game Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (2019), which reveals that Mustafar used to be a forested planet, and explores the origins of its current state.
Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a 1987 action-platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was directed by Akira Kitamura, with Nobuyuki Matsushima as lead programmer, and is the first game of the Mega Man franchise and the original video game series. Mega Man was produced by a small team specifically for the home console market, a first for Capcom, who previously focused on arcade titles.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it was the second in a planned trilogy of shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004).
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. However, the "indie" term may apply to other scenarios where the development of the game has some measure of independence from a publisher even if a publisher helps fund and distribute a game, such as creative freedom. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games, and may explore the medium to produce unique experiences in art games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to lack of publisher support. The term is synonymous with that of independent music or independent film in those respective mediums.
Fez is an indie puzzle-platform video game developed by Polytron Corporation and published by Trapdoor. The player-character Gomez receives a fez that reveals his two-dimensional (2D) world to be one of four sides of a three-dimensional (3D) world. The player rotates between these four 2D views to realign platforms and solve the game's puzzles. The objective of the game is to collect cubes and cube fragments to restore order to the universe.
Anna Anthropy is an American video game designer, role-playing game designer, and interactive fiction author whose works include Mighty Jill Off and Dys4ia. She is the game designer in residence at the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media.
An art game is a work of interactive new media digital software art as well as a member of the "art game" subgenre of the serious video game. The term "art game" was first used academically in 2002 and it has come to be understood as describing a video game designed to emphasize art or whose structure is intended to produce some kind of reaction in its audience. Art games are interactive and the result of artistic intent by the party offering the piece for consideration. They also typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or complexity in design. The concept has been extended by some art theorists to the realm of modified ("modded") gaming when modifications have been made to existing non-art games to produce graphic results intended to be viewed as an artistic display, as opposed to modifications intended to change game play scenarios or for storytelling. Modified games created for artistic purposes are sometimes referred to as "video game art".
Philippe Poisson, better known as Phil Fish, is a French-Canadian former indie game designer best known for his work on the 2012 platform game Fez. He was born and raised in Quebec, where his experiences with Nintendo games in his youth would later influence his game design. He studied game design at the Montreal National Animation and Design Centre, and worked at Ubisoft and Artificial Mind and Movement before starting Polytron in 2008.
Ridiculous Fishing is a mobile fishing video game where players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. The game is known for its developers' battle against a cloned version of their game released by another company. The game was developed and published by Vlambeer—Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman—and released for iOS on March 13, 2013, and later that year for Android.
Borderlands is an action role-playing first-person looter shooter video game franchise set in a space western science fantasy setting, created by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games for multiple platforms.
Sonic: After the Sequel is a 2013 platform video game created by Brazilian student Felipe Daneluz (LakeFeperd). It is an unofficial game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series and set between the official games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Daneluz's second Sonic game, it follows Sonic: Before the Sequel, which is set between the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Like its predecessor, After the Sequel stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails in a quest to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman.
Descent, formerly Descent: Underground, is an unreleased first-person shooter game developed by Descendent Studios, the fourth installment in the Descent series, and the prequel to the 1995 video game of the same name. It was successfully funded via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter in 2015 and temporarily released on Steam as an Early Access title the same year. Descendent Studios signed a deal with publisher Little Orbit for financial support. The game was expected to be available in 2019 on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but Little Orbit sued the company in early 2020, accusing it of breaching its contract and failing to meet deadlines. In turn, Descendent Studios filed a counter lawsuit alleging that Little Orbit failed to fulfill its own obligations and said that it was impossible to implement features suggested by Little Orbit and still meet the deadlines.
Environmental Station Alpha is a 2015 metroidvania created by Finnish indie developer Arvi Teikari.
The Company of Myself is a 2009 Flash platformer by Eli Piilonen featuring a hermit as the protagonist whose depressed inner thoughts appears as writing on the "walls" of the game. Piilonen has stated that the "core intent [of the game] is to be half puzzle game and half character study". It's been frequently cited as an early example of an art game and has received praise for how it deals with issues of mental health. Tom Fronczak of Destructoid called the game "brilliant". It was included in Michael Rose's 2014 book "250 Indie Games You Must Play" and has been frequently cited in video games research. Piilonen later released a prequel for the game called Fixation.
