Interactive Media and Game Design Concepts (College Work)

Media, Multimedia or Interactive Media its self has been around for many years, making big progress in employment and audience. Media could be a mixture of many things that can control artistic substances or create ability to make sure that a certain product, style, image, is placed out into the world with ease. The real meaning is basically a subject that involves different or multiple (Hence at the start of Multimedia has "Multi" on it.) content forms that appeal or proses appeal to a user or viewer. It's quite a big subject to get into, and it appeals to many who know about it as it is quite broad. Having quite a participation in actually changing the world and molding it into something which every one can deal with, or proses interest in. Biggest example of hosted media at work would be the World Wide Web. Here, it has sparked interest in many people who want to throw their opinions out into the open, and not get judged otherwise. The examples below are pieces of multimedia that have changed reality its self, as we know it. 


Web 1.0 and Web 2.0;

YouTube is now a Web 2.0 website.

During the oldest stages of web development, Web 1.0 was the serious business, and was used globally in many ways. Although, coding were completely different for browsers that let you do such things around the web, which resulted in Web 2.0 being born much later, but let us leave that explanation later. In some stages, Web 1.0 wasn't user friendly then many others believed, so it caused complications when others wanted to create their own websites and information banks but really enables users to get simple designs down and out in the open.  They hadn't have been the best graphics in the whole, not a lot of storage space was there, yet it was such a big stage in development which is more important to this day in life then you would think it would be. Connectivity was crucial to get each piece of information and data to each machine with internet access, so Web 1.0 was the circuit which would need feedback from the image of the website its self to the computer; this caused updates and developments to come much later then they would in the 2.0 forms. In Web 2.0's terms, it was the complete opposite in both information and graphic detail. The whole point of it was to be obviously better then the first, but more kind and more free to the user who is able to use such a development process in web pages. So, in simple terms, Web 1 and 2 are examples of applications used to express detail, express capability in pages and coding that goes into stations/programs such as 1.0 and 2.0. An example of a Web 1.0 website would be The Well, in which was one of the very first websites to ever be released onto the world wide web. The Well was made to test community accessibility to the internet its self, as it was released, there was such a huge amount of people who logged into it that the people who hosted the server had to make sure it was shut down entirely, to not overload the system. Google used to also be a Web 1.0 product, but has been tweaked and administrated into what is now a 2.0 website. An example of a a Web 2.0 page would be YouTube, a website which can proxy video footage and store data of personal information into their own database. This is a big leap, as it was much harder to process such detail in such a manner back when Web 1.0 coding and processing was still around; not much data was enabled for use.

Website Usability;
Thinking of the whole concept and idea of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, usability is very important any where, especially when you want to appeal a product to certain people and to put your points and interests across. The internet is a great example of usability, as it has multiple ways to deal with certain things that it would come across. If a person had a disability, or if a person wanted help with a situation or work that they have to do, a website host and provider would have to make sure their website was updated with appealing footage and examples on their own web page. One example is a website dubbed Subtraction, a blog website that is contrasted yet stable to relate to with simple layouts and gorgeous activity. The reason this website is very good to look upon for usability is the fact of simple design and layout that it consists of. A man called Khoi Vinh was the person who created and developed this blog by him self, yet explains that the website has been his own website since the release of websites; 1997. It was basically a portfolio for him to show his less graphical work, until years went on and website development stages became apparent for him to do much more. But, because of how old the website is, Vinh him self has seen a lot of changes in web development to be able to know that there are some people out there who could be hard of hearing, eyesight troubles, or even just general public viewing are important, and it must be usable to present his work.

Example of Vinh's web-blog, Subtraction.

So, because of these two situations; Usability and Website access, situations such as console development came into play. Basing their own facts through machinery that computer products had, they come to create machines whom were able to use these sorts of accessibility and production as the World Wide Web did. 

Video Game Development and Concepts;

Games have been quite a great media product since the day it was finally introduced properly with the resemblance of Pong. Development really went on just the same as the websites own development, but with quite a twist in the graphical division. Games now had to focus on quite a few details to make their own games noticed and played, even known all across the world. The competitive side of the website now stemmed on games them selves, which resulted in different consoles being released, just like when Microsoft and Apple battled it out  and disputed for the first time, as the details of Microsoft's machinery plans were out in the open. So, games, game products and cartridges were released for different consoles that all claimed to have the best graphics, the best everything in their own department, it was and still is a huge franchise. Games have to focus on the story and graphics of their own products in which they make. They also have to make sure that their own game is quite compatible for the console its self to be able to actually play the game. These days, we are left with three major companies that service games on consoles; Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. PC games have never been truly in the marketing feud, nor' have they been despised because of graphical terms, they have been around for ages, and the medium of the product is huge beyond compare; not all people can afford consoles them selves (Yet, computer games are not hosted on an engine which is acceptable for good quality standards, unlike the consoles which enable great quality play through. Development of consoles to be able to host such big files of data, and graphics them selves. The people who create these objects of game play and certain description in them require real life usability to example their work as "player friendly". For example, over the years, games suffered glitches and hackers all around the world, and there was no explanation as to how to stop it or who was creating hacks and why these glitches were happening. Take an 1997 example, Tomb Raider 1 was brought out for the Play Station 1, PC and the Sega Saturn, there was quite a choice in what console you were able to play such a game on, yet it experienced quite a beating when during 1998, so many glitches and unmistakable jumps that were created in game were visible, people complained of the hard detail it consisted of (It was never the most visually friendly game, either, but one of the first to have 3D game play, so it was bound to be bugged/glitched.) So, as they noted the unfortunate side of events, many games took advantage of these mistakes and managed to correct them with real life examples and events. Halo were one of the few its self,  it's much younger then Tomb Raider, but it is a good idea of how to show the change in development processes in any game. As 3D concepts came to rise up from the 2D platforms, games became more sleek and some what more pleasing to the eye and more realistic, presentation wise. 


So, all visual media products, like the internet and games them selves, rely on consumers taste to create their own pieces and to get them sold to suit everyone's needs.