Subject brief : Click here
Though out this module I will be playing and researching a range of games of all platforms to find out what are there best and weakest aspects. Overall I will create a fragment of a game that will adopt certain elements from the games and research I have done.
For research apart from playing a range games we also looked at two different ways Roger Caillois and Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi analysed gameplay.
Roger Caillois used four ways to identify gameplay:
- Agon - Literature, conflict, eg. between the protagonist and the antagonist
- Alea – Games of chance such as roulette or a lottery
- Mimicry – Copying and playing a story or a role
- Illinx – Where a player has a momentary disorientation usually in the physical sense
whilst Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi defines 8 conditions for gameplay
- Anxiety
- Arousal
- Flow
- Worry
- Control
- Apathy
- Boredom
- Relaxation
Which depending on the skill level and how challenging the game would result into one of these conditions and can best been seen in the chart below:
Analysis of games played
Game title: Diablo II
Description: Players chose from a range of characters each with their own unique set of skills and abilities. Once chosen, players move around vast landscapes and dungeons killing monsters with a simple point and click movement/killing system.
Genre: “hack and slash” RPG
Reference to Caillois
Mimicry: players kill monsters to gain experience points (Exp) to level their character as they quest though a set quest line which progresses them to the next area
Is the game fun and why?
The game can become very tedious but addictive to play with plentiful foes to kill.
How the rules of the game portrayed are are they clear?
The game can be complicated to get used to at first as the controls and instructions are not explained upon entering the game.
Is the game suitable for platform? And would it work (maybe better) on other platforms?
The game works well from a third person perspective, but could also work as a first person shooter (FPS) because of the amount of enemies to be killed.
Where there any parts of the experience unintuitive and if so; how could this have been dealt with better?
The game can be seen as unintuitive in certain aspects because despite being given such a variety of skills, only one can be used at any one time and the others have to be shortcut keys. This disables the player from performing to their full potential. Also keeping track of your health can be distracting because the health bar and the GUI system bars are not distinctive from the gameplay features.
Game title: Assassin’s Creed
Platform: Console
Description: players play as an assassin called Altair. The purpose of the game is to move through the historical series of events and assassinate your way through multiple targets to uncover an ancient conspiracy.
Genre: RPG
Reference to caillois
Mimicry: the player takes the role of an assassin that travels through a range of historical landscapes hunting down key targets whilst trying to remain anonymous.
Is the game fun and why?
The game is fun because there are very few restrictions in place. There are also many sub-quests to complete. The lack of limits enables the character to explore everything.
Is the game suitable for platform? And would it work (maybe better) on other platforms?
No it would not be suitable because of the physics of gameplay. The character of Altair has to roam about and explore deeply in order to find his next targets, whereas games such as FPS limit this ability of play due to the perspective.
Where there any parts of the experience unintuitive and if so; how could this have been dealt with better?
There game on a whole is very intuitive. However, there could be more unlockable achievements and also some of the game play’s cut scenes limit the players abilities as it was not possible to bypass them, this led to frustration.
Game title: New Super Mario Bros DS
Platform: hand held console
Description: play as Mario to complete a variety of tasks through different levels and worlds in order to save Princess Daisy.
Genre: 2D platform
Mimicry: the player takes the role of Mario, a character that travels through a range of levels avoiding and defeating enemies by jumping on there heads
Is the game fun and why?
The game is very simple and enjoyable to all ages because of the brightly coloured graphics and straightforward game mechanics
Is the game suitable for platform? And would it work (maybe better) on other platforms?
With the Mario series it has been playable on a couple of platforms although it works better in the 2d platform 3d platforms are still suitable but the game mechanics are harder to get to grips with.
Where there any parts of the experience unintuitive and if so; how could this have been dealt with better?
Within the levels there are many hidden areas that can be overlooked and forgotten
Which can be frustrating as you advance to higher levels
Game title: Chess
Platform: Board game
Description: players take in turn to move their pieces across the board and use them to take the others players pieces off the board until none remain
Reference to caillois
Agon : the game highly uses Agon because off the different amount of strategies needed to beat the other player
Is the game fun and why?
Chess can fun because each turn doesn’t have a time limit given you enough time to plan your next move and plan different ways to win your opponent
Is the game suitable for platform? And would it work (maybe better) on other platforms?
With chess being a very simple game the board can't really be changed and works well in any platform although many variations of the board and pieces have been changed to represent a range of characters such as Star wars, Mario, Doctor Who etc .
Where there any parts of the experience unintuitive and if so; how could this have been dealt with better?
One of the main elements that can put someone off from the game is how each piece has it own way of moving. Also the game can sometimes take along time from days to months.
