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"Symbols"

Computer games even from an early age have talked to us, not necessarily through sound and text but through symbols. Try to imagine the Pac man screen what do you see? A maze like structure, numbers at the top of a screen, what looks like a Pizza with a slice taken out of it at the bottom besides a collection of cherries.

People look at that screen and work out the pizza with a slice taken out of it is Pac man and the ones at the bottom represent his lives. The cherries represent what you have collected and the numbers tell you the high score. Something that represents something else is called a symbol and that is what computer games are full of even today.

Look at the vast changes in graphics and gameplay that has occurred over the last 10 years. But symbols have always stayed the same even recent games such as Conker, tails represents lives and chocolate represents health. So will symbols always stay the same? Well things are changing if anyone who had the pleasure of playing Mad Dog McCree on the CDI would of noticed that when you die instead of losing a life you went to the doctors and he would say “your lucky that shot didn’t kill you” which represents the loss of life in a more realistic light.

Goldeneye had your gun disappear off the screen then reappear to represent your gun reloading but in Perfect Dark they had little scenes of an ammo clip getting put into the gun which also represents your gun reloading but in a much more realistic way.

So what else could be done to symbols in games? What do you think?

Here’s to the future

Dringo

Ok i know i shouldn't moan but i'm kinda dissapointed this didn't win.

ahhh well keep trying.

Meka_Dragon wrote:
> Symbols? CRASH!

Whats this got to do with Speccy mags?!?!


:)

Or you could end up in a hospital the doctor could say your lucky to be still alive and you can start from the last checkpoint. Much more realistic but as i have said Platformers aren't realistic.

I haven't said symbols are bad but instead trying to open more options for games.

Dringo

Symbols? CRASH!

So they're not good enough for you then?

So if you want an extra life in a game, collecting something to represent one isn't good enough.

Well how about, in say Conker, you have to locate another squirrel and drain it's life, and keep it in your pocket for when you need it?

> Fogmaster wrote:
it's obvious, just use the
> pictures of cherries at
> the top of the screen, when you eat one it
> gets popped to the
> top of the screen.

Still Symbols though huh?

I thought the idea was to get rid of numbers, I obviously didn't read the first letter properly.

XO/\[]

Thats the best I could manage sorry.

Symbols can also reperstent a company or game, it's for a quick look so you can see what it is. This was made many years ago when people couldn't read or write so they could understand what the shop was about.

Fogmaster wrote:
> I'm trying to think of another way of counting the cherries you've
> eaten on pacman without using numbers, it's obvious, just use the
> pictures of cherries at the top of the screen, when you eat one it
> gets popped to the top of the screen.

Still Symbols though huh?

:)

I'm trying to think of another way of counting the cherries you've eaten on pacman without using numbers, it's obvious, just use the pictures of cherries at the top of the screen, when you eat one it gets popped to the top of the screen.

I played mad dog mccree on friday!!!!

It was brilliant, we pulled the CDI out of my mates attic and started playin it.

I was laughing so much at the cutscene at the start where the fella dies*UUUGGAAAHHHHUUU ahhhhhh, with tongue sticking out*

LOL