Hw #6: Analyze two Games

Tetrad: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

• Story: The story begins with the player as a prisoner being taken to Helgen to be executed. Right as the prisoner's head is laying on the chopping block, a dragon appears and destroys everything. During the destruction, the player can choose to follow the Imperial soldier or the prisoner Stormcloak soldier. The player then follows the soldier to the nearby town Riverwood to regroup after the attack. The next day the player must got to Whiterun to tell the Jarl about the dragon attack and request aid. Jarl Balgruuf the Greater accepts and directs the player towards the court wizard for the next step. The wizard sends the player on a quest to retrieve the dragon stone. It is discovered that the player is Dragonborn and has this power to fight dragons. At this point the player can either continue with the main quest line or can go off and do minor quests and level up. 
• Mechanics: The game is first person combat oriented but it can be played as third-person. At the beginning of the story the player is able to choose the character's design; there are 10 different playable races. The game is an open world type game with 100s of side quests available for the player. There are three main skill classes, Mage, Warrior, and Thief. Under each class is a set of six skills in which the player can choose to level up the desired skill. The player can play with a max of two weapons. 
• Art: The art is medieval viking style. Depending on where you are in the game world it could be dark and wintry or bright and sunny. The game world has it's own weather patterns such as rain and blizzards.
• Tech: I mostly played this game on Xbox360 but it is also available on PC.

Balance:

As you go through the game, the enemies become harder to defeat and in order to defeat them you must level up. Your choices in the quest lines have an affect on the outcome of the quest. Some weapons effect the player's stamina more then others, like a war-hammer may take half of the players stamina to do a power attack where as a small dagger will hardly take any stamina.

Emergent Properties:

there are many combat variations, which helps keep the game interesting. 

Interest Curve:

Skyrim has a great interest curve. There is so much to explore in the game and seemingly never ending quest lines.

Skyrim was the first game I played that I really fell in love with. And after years of playing it I can still find new quests to complete in the game.

Tetrad: Minecraft

• Story: There isn't really a story for this game. You just explore and build things. When you first start you must build a shelter to stay in at night to 
• Mechanics: Minecraft is a first person open world adventure game. The main objective is to chop  and place blocks to build different structures.
• Art: The game world is composed of 3d blocks in varying colors such as brown for dirt and bark, gray for rock and green for grass and foliage.
• Tech: can be played on PC, Xbox360 and iPad

Balance:

Your choices in the game effects life in the game. If you dig too deep in the ground you will find water or even lava. If you mix lava with water you'll get stone or obsidian. If you decide not to build a shelter before nightfall you will be attacked by creepers.

Interest Curve:

I don't think this game has a very good interest curve. The objectives aren't clear enough for me and there isn't much of a story.

I did not enjoy this game. I felt boring after playing it for an hour.

Hw #8: Game Analysis

Greenhouse Tetrad

Story: 
You wake up in a house and you quickly realize the town has been overrun by some sort of plant zombies. As you defeat the zombies you find some survivors who join you in your attempts to save the city. You are told the radio tower might have some information so you go to there and find it has been overrun with zombies and you find a few survivors tucked away safe from the zombies. They tell you that from what limited knowledge they have that they believe some type of spore is causing all of this and the spores appear to be coming from the mansion across the river. Upon getting to the mansion you must defeat the zombies and destroy the spore machine and the evil AI that is controlling it.

Mechanics: 
The player will begin the game in a run-down house with one character, the robot, and as you go through the game objectives you will find survivors who will become your companions. The game is mostly just an open city where you can explore different areas, but some areas are more difficult than others to get through. Each character will have the same health bar that will be affected by enemy contact. Throughout the game you will set up bases where you can heal you and your team, as well as switch out members of your team (maximum of 3 at once).

Art: 
The location of this game is a run down city overcome with the plantlike zombies. The roads are mostly covered by grass at this point and many of the houses are abandon. We are hoping to create a darker creepy aesthetic, but at the same time we are not trying to stay away from the horror genre.

Tech: 
We are using Unreal Engine and we are designing the game to be played on the PC.

Balance: 
To add balance to the game we want to give each of the companions different attacks and play styles, each one will be more helpful in certain parts of the game than others. For example, if you are fighting a lot of melee enemies you might want to use a ranged character and shoot them before they get too close, but if you are fighting weaker ranged enemies you might want to use heavier damage melee characters.

Emergent Properties:
 In addition to the choice of your team we are trying to give the player different options for most other things as well. A very skilled player may be able to end the game quickly by storming the mansion with just the robot you start with, or a player who isn't as good at combat could possibly stealth around the mansion at the end of the game, bypassing the hordes and cut all power to the mansion, disabling the AI.

Interest Curve: 
As the player progresses, the enemies will become relatively more difficult to defeat, and the missions will become more complex. Furthermore, more details about the AI, the scientist, and the android will be revealed throughout the game.