Todays blog is all of the annotated blogs combined. It is the final paper to all of the research for our game. Below will discuss the genre of the game and why we picked it, the games main themes, the cognitive benefits of a shooting game and the benefits of making a game based off of such an under talked piece of Irish history compared to other historical event in different countries e.g. the world wars.
Firstly, the genre. The genre of our game is a role playing game. Here I will explain the basics of a role playing game and thus showing the reasons why we picked this as the genre of our game. So what is a role playing game? According to a 2007 article of the benefits of role playing games by medium.com, it is when you play the protagonist of a game who is down trodden by antagonists. Through this you would meet characters who either try to hinder or help you on your journey. This kind of game is very interesting and interactive as the player in very involved. According to the same article, there are many sub genres of a role playing game such as video games, table top ( such as dungeons and dragons) and so on. It is a very extensive area and so as a developer, you can allow your audience access so much more in you’re game then you would in say a quiz game. Also, they are proven to be one of the most social games. It will teach younger users how to socialise in a fun way. This is proven by a 2015 article written on lifehacker.com by Patrick Allan. He explains how a role playing first person game have many psychological benefits. This is important in order for our game to be the most use to a user as possible. Over all our genre of a role playing first person game will make the user feel more involved in the game. The user can create their own destiny in the game and have more creativity. There is a move storytelling feel about these types of games and they will learn basic social skills which will help them in all aspects of life.
Secondly, why our game is a shooting game. An article by techopedia.com explains what a first person shooting game is. Techopedia.com wrote that a first person shooting game is a shooting game played in the point of view of the protagonist of the game. As our players will be the protagonist of the story and lead the journey this definitely is needed in order to explain our game. You will never see the characters face as it will be like you are playing the game. You will see their arms and legs and the world instead. According to this article the player will swing from left to right slightly in order to mimic a real person. This type of game play is more intimate for the person playing the game. Why shooting games are beneficial shows the reasons to why we choose this. and here they are. Not only are these games more fun for a user but they are also psychologically beneficial according to this article written by Samit Sarkar in 2013. He explains that hand eye co ordination use in these games improves in users and faster cognitions thinking. How? As the user has to keep constant focus, understanding of the game and has to learn to act fast, there is no wonder! We thought a rpg shooting game would work in terms of storytelling but now its even better. Over all our whole plan was to teach people about the 1916 rising, now we can teach them valuable skills they can use in all aspects of life too.
Now a bit of a change. Why are historical based learning games beneficial? This article by digital commons written in 2011 explains the benefits of a history based game. It explains that the educational benefits are great. You can learn so much from a game as it is visually striking and can test your knowledge. You can play a game set in a time in history ( for example the 1916 rising like our own) and learn so so much more then you ever would in a book. The user will always have a chance to understand the world of the 1916 rising first hand. TO conclude, children are way more visually stimulated then academically stimulated therefore having an academic topic in a visually immersive way will allow our users to learn exactly what we want the to.
Now onto our story. Our story is set int he 1916 rising. This article written by the Irish times in 2016 explains the whole story of the 1916 rising. Irish people had to form their own army. Did they not have one already?! The answer is no. Instead they were ruled by the British at this time. The yearned for freedom. Through reading the article it occurred to me that there was no real protagonist or antagonist as in a war both sides are wrong and right at the same time. However, due to this war being a revolution to get the Irish their country back, and our games genre to reflect this, it seems the Irish rebels were more protagonists then the British who took over in the first place. The main protagonists in the 1916 rising were the leaders of the IRA and associated groups attached to the IRA. The IRA were the Irish Republican Army. They were the newly formed government to protect the Irish people and get back their 36 counties . Arthur Griffith, James Connolly ,Patrick Pearse ,Eamon DeValera, John Redmon, Sean Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDounnagh, Josaph Plunket, Thomas Clarke, Éamonn Ceant, Constance Markievicz, Michale Collins, and so on were all main leaders of Ireland at this time. So what does this all have to do with the theme of our game as the 1916 rising? The player will be playing as part of the Irish republican army fighting for freedom. Now you know the background, here we speak of the benefits for making a game based off a piece of history not spoken of. This article by the Irish times written in 2017 explored how young boys 10-16 were messenger boys during the 1916 rising. This article from 2017 was specifically speaking of St. Enda's in Rathfarnham in Dublin. Boys from this school joined "Na Finna" and "the IRA" in order to be messenger boys for the IRA. The rebel army was like a family to them. They had to stay loyal. Especially the fact that Padrige Perce was a head master of the school. He was one of the IRA leaders of the time. He gave guns to the boys for winning competitions and so thought them to fight. This was the very basics of the 1916 rising. To secretly create an Irish Republican Army. What has this got to do with our game? This is an aspect of the game we are looking at. For the player to be a messenger boy during the 1916 rising. But not only this, it is shocking that boys of all ages were dragged into such horrible conditions. This is what we want to do. Overall, this is what we want to teach, of a story lesser told.
In every war, especially the 1916 rising there was two sides and how this ties into our game. These sides can create the themes of our game. This article written by a company called “ O Tnuthghail” in 2015 told the whole story from both sides of the war, the Irish and the British. Again, there are no real protagonists or antagonists as both sides were brutal in their killings and war tactics, however the Irish were fighting for freedom. Therefor in this case, the article thought me about the British. I chose this article as in every story and game alike, you need an antagonist to fuel every mission. In our game our enemy is the British and so, they are our antagonist. I learned Michael Portillo, Herbert Asquith, Gen John Maxwell were the main antagonists of the 1916 rising. They were on the apposing side of the Irish and so made any complications they could for the Irish. This ( in our game) would fuel the story arc. Anytime the Irish tried to compromise the British would fight. Anytime the British were warned of the Irish rebellion, they under estimated the Irish and let them get one step closer to outbreaking into war. Any weapons the Irish put onto the British , they used a weapon twice as destructive and threw the remaining people in torturous jail cells. This, creates the story of two sides fighting in the 1916 rising which essentially is the basic story of our game. ( more in-depth explanation of our game to come in the next blogs!!)
Now we know the dynamics of the games theme its time to get into sub themes. This is an article by enotes was written in 2017. Enotes thought me the themes of the 1916 rising. They wrote this as study notes for exams but it helps for our game also as it is a solid and factual piece which is easy to understand. The main themes are conflict and resolution in the 1916 rising. The conflict is the Irish being ruled by the British and the resolution is 34/36 counties being won. There is also sorrow and loss. Sorrow being families, friends, neighbours and so on fought against each other and deaths occurred from both sides. Loss being the deaths experienced and loss of historical buildings such as the GPO ( now re build). This site was on a specific book written on the 1916 rising, however, I found this to be a very good source as books are the truth on many situations. This book was a fictional take on a real situation so it had the real themes within the 1916 rising. These themes are clearly going to be shown through out our game as basic building blocks for a really interesting and interactive game for our audience.
Finally, reflection on the governments involvement. Why are we putting this in? Well it is the basics of the fighting and kind of summarises the whole review. This article by the official Irish government written in 2018 explained their reflection of the government at the time of the 1916 rising. The main government party was sine fine. They consisted on the main IRA and main rebels at this time. The Irish government tried to negotiate with British to try get their counties back. The government spilt and became military after no negotiations were accepted by the British. Thus the IRA formed. The Irish parliament were there to keep up legal discussions with the British and to keep a bridge between the two sides. The army were the force who drove action and fear into the British. Likewise, the British government were there to legally stop any Irish discussions at bay and to enforce rule into the Irish people. Their army fought with the Irish army to force retaliation. This article explains the in's and out of what happened in the government at this time. The suppression the Irish government and Irish people were under forced the Irish government into action. The wanted their whole country back. After many attempts at negotiations with the British government and noting but push backs in return, the Irish had to fight for freedom. Therefor the Irish revolution or the 1916 rising broke out. So theres our theme. The 1916 rising and its significance of why we need to teach people of the story.
Then the genres and sub themes within the topic of our game. The 1916 rising topic is both historical, educational and exciting for a player. Having a rag first person shooting game will teach of this story in an interactive way but also will teach skills to people who play.
