Game Analyzation & Theory #5

The game is set in Roman times and a city is under siege, much like in the beginning of Ryse: Son of Rome. The character progresses through the game by fighting off waves of enemies like in the game Achilles. The player takes control of a Roman defender on the city wall, this helps the player immerse themselves into the game because it gives them a defined character who's role they must fulfill. The game's avatar is an average roman legionnaire with the usual phalanx square shield and gladius with plate armor lined with leather. The player must fight off waves of enemies by using basic combat and not let their health hit 0. The game falls into the genre of action and platform. The game's target audience is 13-18 and the game's simplicity and setting as well as combat provides for an overall good experience. The game takes place on the walls of a Roman city under siege.  The game may be broken into levels in which the victory condition is to defeat every enemy in the level. The game does not have a story at this time.

Game Analyzation & Theory # 4

Warcraft 3:

The game genre is Strategy/RPG with a sub-genre of real-time Strategy. It fits into these genres because you complete each level in real-time and must build your base with the right priorities in mind in order to complete the objectives of the level. It fits into RPG because you as the player get to decide what to build and what ultimately makes up your base and your army. The game's target audience is people 18-30. The goal of the game is to progress through each level by building your base and army in order to effectively complete that level's objectives and progress through the game. The game's story follows several different characters and events, but ultimately it shows how the Alliance (an alliance of Humans, Night Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes) and the Horde (an alliance of Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, and Blood Elves) were formed, how they became what they are in the game World of Warcraft, and what made the major characters how they are. The game, for when it was made, has pleasing aesthetics, by today's standards it is nothing special though. The game has a captivating story and very well-developed characters. The story combined with the overall gameplay and the entertainment that comes with building your base as you see fit and training an army the way you want it, makes for a very addictive game and a captivating experience.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Assassin's creed IV: Black Flag is a historical fiction action-adventure open-world stealth video game. It fits into all these genres because it takes place in a real point in history and uses prominent historical figures such as Edward Thatch (Blackbeard) or Ben Hornigold, but uses fictional scenarios and events along with them as well. It has no lack in action as the player can end up constantly fighting guards or boarding other ships they've defeated in battle while sailing the West Indies at their leisure. The stealth part comes into effect as to complete certain objectives you must remain unseen by your target and use quick-thinking to find hiding places to avoid being detected. Assassin's Creed IV as with all Assassin's Creed games is targeted at a mature, adult, audience. The game's main goal is to progress through the game's story as pirate Edward Kenway, though the game is enjoyable without the story at all as you can constantly rob the ships of England and Spain's royal navy or complete side-objectives such as finding Mayan Stelae or raiding plantation warehouses. The story of the game is that Edward Kenway left his wife Caroline in England to sign on as a privateer in order to earn more money so they can live a better life. Caroline left Edward so he stayed in the West Indies as a pirate because he didn't have anything else to go back to. The game follows Edward's adventures as a pirate, the friends he makes, and the enemies he defeats, all while showing the life of a true pirate. The game is aesthetically pleasing, the colors and structure of buildings in different cities such as Havana or Kingston vary greatly and come together to make a beautiful world. The controls of the game are easy to get a feel for and gameplay isn't hard to learn and master. Keeping the fast-paced story in mind, coupling it with the open-world availability leaving you free to run about the world and wreak havoc on the royal navy between missions creates an exciting experience that no other game has done yet.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is an action-adventure third-person shooter platform game. It fits into action-adventure because the game takes place all around the world and is full of constant fighting and action. It is a third-person shooter and is a platformer because it requires you to climb up and jump around walls and platforms in order to progress through the game and even solve puzzles. The target audience for Uncharted 2 is targeted at a mature, adult audience. The goal of the game is to progress by solving puzzles and finding how to escape as well as the best way to engage and kill the enemies. The game's story follows Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Nathan Drake a privateer for Queen Elizabeth I. As Nathan or "Nate" you need to find the lost city of Shangri La. The game is well-made, the textures and models of the characters and environment differ from setting to setting and always provide a breathtaking view wherever you are. The game offers several varieties of weapons to choose from to fight any enemies you may encounter and offers challenging puzzles that really makes the player think about what they may have missed or what they're looking for. All these aspects together make an exciting and addictive game.

Game Analyzation and Theory #2

The game's objective is to survive the waves of zombies by shooting crates to unlock special weapons, and to upgrade your default weapons by using money you earn throughout the levels. The game is a shooter. The game is extremely easy to navigate using simply WASD or arrow keys to move around the roof, left mouse button to shoot, and space bar to use a special weapon. The player is meant to strive for buying better weapons to continue surviving the waves of zombies in each level and reach the end of the game. The risk balances out the reward as the more zombies that appear through each level gives more money to buy better weapons. With that in mind I think the game is balanced.

Contemporary game assignment

Reflection:

What were the game's apparent design goals? Did it succeed at those goals? Why or why not?

The apparent design goal of the game was to make a fun and challenging turn-based strategy game with a compelling story. I think the designer's succeeded with this goal because the story of the game is interesting and catches the player's attention and the game starts the player off in a moderately challenging map, giving them units with different skills with which the player must learn and effectively use to clear the map.

What were the mechanics? What was the play experience? What is the relationship between the two? Did you find any strategies that were exploitable? Did the game seem well-balanced?

The mechanics of the game were to select your units, move them towards enemy units or objectives, attack the enemy units by selecting the desired weapon, use items to heal or increase stats of your units, and use your "lord" unit to complete certain objectives such as seizing a location on the map, thus clearing the map and moving on to the next stage. The play experience was entertaining and challenging, the mechanics though simple, are addictive and easy to grasp, balanced out with the increasingly difficult enemies and map lay-out lead to an overall exciting experience. Very few strategies are necessarily exploitable as each map requires a different one, some you may want to use your archers and mages to strike from afar before finishing off the enemy up-close, while in others you may want  your cavalry to charge ahead and take the brunt of the damage. Overall the game was very well-balanced and well-made.

What kinds of interesting decisions (and uninteresting ones) were you making throughout the game? What do you feel was the competitive differential of the game?

With command you make in the game you're making a decision, death is permanent in the game so if one of your units dies, they are gone forever. You as the player must decide which place is best for your unit by analyzing the enemy's range, analyzing your unit's defense capabilities and the enemy's attack capabilities. Throughout the game the levels get progressively harder with more enemies of different types and more map layouts, but you get more of your own units as well, learn how to use them correctly and the game will be challenging all the way to the end.

Modification Task Sheet:

Name/Publisher: 

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade - Nintendo.

Core Mechanics:

In the game you must select your units and move them to your best advantage in a position in which they can effectively attack/defend against enemy units, and move towards the objective. The player does this while trying to keep all units alive and keeping their lord safe so that they may defeat the boss and capture the objective on the other side of the map. This can be difficult though as some enemies see certain units as a higher priority than others and the game starts making them more intelligent as the player progresses. These aspects of the game keep the player interested and attached to the game until the end with a good balance of difficulty and simple mechanics.

Design Goals:

I believe the designer was trying to make a turn-based strategy with an interesting and slightly mysterious story that flowed well with the game-play and objectives of each level. Throughout the game this goal is met and I believe the designer did an excellent job of sticking with their plan and delivering it to their audience.

Changes:

If I were to change one thing it would be certain filler levels in the game, for example your party is travelling from one castle to another to attack the main enemy of the game's story but on the way there, there are two levels in which you fight bandits, I feel that these levels were unnecessary and could be outright removed from the game without risking much, if any, loss in entertainment.