Month: December 2020

Summary

• I described/analyzed Grand theft auto 5 which is a game that is really great and the greatness stops their own company from making GTA 6 which is a game people really want.

Game Play Analysis

Formal Elements	gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
The Basics	NOTES
Name of the game	Grand Theft Auto 5
The platform	PC
Time played (should be at least 30 minutes)	30+ Minutes
If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why?	I would change the content bc I think they worked too much on the game and now it is hard for them to compete with there own game which is why it’s going to be hard for Rockstar Games to make GTA 6. for example no one plays red dead redemption bc its basically GTA 5
Players	NOTES
How many players are supported?	This is a game that supports both Multiplayer and Story Mode. Online er server: Xbox 360: 16, Playstation 3: 16, Xbox One: 30, Playstation 4: 30, PC: 30
Does it need to be an exact number?	Yes for online it needs to be an exact number in GTA 5
How does this affect play?	If there is a lot of people online on a server there is a lot of people killing each other but if there are fewer players fewer people kill each other and focus on their missions. The mission can be head to head, PvE, One against many, and more.
Some types of player frameworks:Single Player – like Solitare.Head-to-head – 1 vs. 1, Chess.PvE – Player vs. Environment, or multiple players vs. the game. Common in MMOs like World of Warcraft.One against Many – Single-player vs. multiple (obvy).Free-for-all – Every man for himself (1 vs. 1 vs. 1 vs. 1..). Most common for multiplayer games, from Monopoly to Modern Warfare.Individuals Against the System – Like Blackjack, where the Dealer is playing against multiple players, but those players have no effect on each other.Team Competition – Multiple vs. multiple, i.e. sports.Predator-prey – Players form a circle and everyone’s goal is to attack the player on their left and defend themselves from the player on their right.Five-pointed Star – Eliminate both players who are not on either side of you.
Objectives/Goals	NOTES
What are the players trying to do?	The players have a lot of options to do. They can free roam which is just play around with their vehicles which include planes, cars, motorcycles, and more. They can play missions, which include more heist missions or just completing missions with peds. Players can also race which is one that keeps the players busy and that is why it’s hard to release GTA 6, bc GTA has a lot of things to do. like the maximum level is 8,000
Some common objectives include:Capture/Destroy – Eliminate all your opponents pieces (Chess).Territorial Acquisition – Control as much territory as you can, not necessarily harming other players (RISK).Collection – Collect a certain number of objects throughout the game (Pokemon).Solve – Solve a puzzle or crime (Clue).Chase/race/escape – Anything where you are running towards or away from something (playground game Tag).Spatial Alignment – Anything involving the positioning of elements (Tetris or Tic-Tac-Toe or that game at Cracker Barrel).Build – Advance your characters or build your resources to a certain point (The Sims).Negation of another goal – The game ends if you perform an act that is forbidden by the rules (Jenga or Twister).
Rules/Mechanics	NOTES
There are three categories of (what the book Rules of Play calls) operational rules: Setup – the things you do at the beginning of a game. Progression of Play – what happens during the game.Resolution – How an outcome is determined based on the game state.	GTA is a game of Progression of Play.
Controls	NOTES
What controls are used?	Don’t get this question
Was there a clear introductory tutorial?	No and Yes. GTAs Tuturails is more of an overtime thing. You do things while getting the tutorial at the same time, but they are helpful. The tutorial continues telling you where to go during missions and marks places on the map
Were they easy to understand or did you find yourself spamming the controller?	The tutorials were easy to understand but sometimes were hard to understand.
Resources & Resource Management	NOTES
What kinds of resources do players control?	Territory in RISK The number of questions remaining in 20 Questions Objects picked up during videogames
How are they maintained during play?	You can do anything you want at any time unless you in a mission where you can play and if you fail you try again or you can quit but there will be that big you failed on your page once you quit.
What is their role?
A resource is everything under the control of a single player. Could be the money in Monopoly or health in WoW. Other examples are: Territory in RISK The number of questions remaining in 20 Questions Objects picked up during videogames (guns, health packs, etc.)Time (game time, real-time, or both)Known information (like suspects in Clue)
Game State	NOTES
How much information in the game state is visible to the player?	Total Information: if taking about the environment than its total info but you do need to unlock things such as a lime green color to customize your cars.
A snapshot of the game at a single point is the game state. The resources you have, the un-owned properties in Monopoly, your opponent’s Archery skill all count towards the game state. Some example information structures are: Total Information – Nothing is hidden, like Chess.Info per player – Your hand of cards is only visible to you. One player has privileged info – Like a Dungeon Master. The game hides info from all players – Like Clue, where no one knows the victory condition. Fog of War – In video games, where certain sections of the map are concealed if you do not have a unit in sight range of that area. You also cannot see other players’ screens, so each player is unaware of the other’s information.
Sequencing	NOTES
In what order do players take their actions?	GTA 5 Has a lot of different modes. Sometimes you each one mission and then meetup and sometimes you play with your teammates and sometimes you play a mission by yourself.
How does play flow from one action to another?	It is great actually, they make you unlock maybe something like a door, and then you can continue shooting which is very simultaneously.
Some structures include:Turn-based – Standard board game technique.Turn-based with simultaneous play – where everyone takes their turn at the same time (like writing something down or putting a card down in War).Real-time – Actions happen as fast as players can make them. Action-based video games.Turn-based and time limits – You have this long to take your turn.
Player Interaction
Some examples: Direct Conflict – I attack you.Negotiation – If you support me here, I’ll help you there. Trading – I’ll give you this for that. Information Sharing – If you go there, I’m warning you, a trap will go off.	GTA 5 doesn’t really have any of these even if it does then it would be like at a little percentage and you wouldn’t even notice it.
Theme & Narrative	NOTES
Does it have an actual story structure?	For online, no (though missions have like a story based thing), for Story Mode, yes. Cause the name literally says story mode in it.
Is it based on a historical event (or similar)?	Well, the whole story is a representation of life in America.
Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play?	No, at least for me
Does it have emotional impacts?	No, But it is nice to win a mission or win in a fight due to how hard missions can be or just how complicated they can be.
Also, look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)?	Don’t understand
The Elements in Motion	NOTES
How do the different elements interact?	The people(peds) interact with each other.
What is the gameplay like?	Nice
Is it effective?	Yes
Are there any points where the design choices break down?	Yeah, GTA has a lot of lags which rockstar dislikes to fix
Design Critique	NOTES
Why did the designer make these particular choices?	I think the designers made a good choice bc the game looks very good and can’t be outdated.
Why this set of resources?	What resources?
What if they made different decisions?	Then it couldn’t take just a little thing to ruin that game bc it’s such a big game plus it gets updates that improve the necessary things.
Does the design break down at any point?	Yes
Graphics & Sound	NOTES
Does the game art pair well with the mechanics?	Yes
Did you find any bugs or glitches?	Yes and No (I saw YouTubers get glitches but I also had glitches). In story mode, there are a lot more glitches.
What about sound?	It’s great. Though in story mode sometimes characters don’t sync to their voices causing other characters to talk in the other character’s voices.
Can you spot any technical shortcuts?	Yes (on YouTuber people teach you all the cuts for entering missions more quickly and more.)
Various Stages of the Game	NOTES
To wrap up, some things to keep in mind (as if there aren’t enough already) as you play:
What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them?	Don’t remember challenges but sometimes I just quit missions if I tried my best and couldn’t complete them.
Is the game fair?	No.
Is it replayable? Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience?	Yes. You can reply a mission, you can rest your level by creating another character and restart the whole game, or you can just play races without doing missions which you can play continuously
What is the intended audience?	17+ (that game has nightclubs and everything)
What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun?	having an open world is the best bc you can fly planes or do you own things.

This analysis form was adapted from https://notlaura.com/a-template-for-analyzing-game-design/

Resources

• Playing Like a Designer – I: Examine Your Experiences by Extra Credits
• Playing Like a Designer – II: How to Analyze Game Design by Extra Credits
• Game Analysis Guidelines by MIT
• Level 3.2: Critical Analysis of Games at learn.canvas.net

Books

• A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
  • raphkoster.com/2014/01/06/how-i-analyze-a-game/
• Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers
• Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen

Mr. Le Duc’s Game Analysis Resources

• Diigo.com Game Analysis Links
• YouTube Game Analysis Playlist

“Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner” by classic film scans is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Analysis gave me great freedom of emotions and fantastic confidence. I felt I had served my time as a puppet.”

Hedy Lamarr

SUMMARY

• I spent a lot of time on the game analysis thing because it was confusing. So I decided to organize it, which took a while. But after that, I quickly completed my work and am proud of what I made. I also got to learn a lot about games.

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

• This week I went to go outside a few times with my family once and by myself a few times. The cool is that I got to explore around with my bike.

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

• I learned a few things about games believe it or not. The whole analysis thing was great. I got to learn a few core things about games.

Summary

The game I wanted to do an analysis on is Rocket league bc its the game I have been playing the most recently. Its also about soccer which is my favorite sport. Lastly its the only game I play as of right now though I have a lot of games

Game Play Analysis

Formal Elements

The Basics	NOTES
Name of the game:	Rocket league
The platform:	PC
Time played (should be at least 30 minutes):	1 Hour (my free time)
If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why?	This is a really well done game but if I worked on it I would make it less complex
Players	NOTES
How many players are supported?	This is a sports game about soccer so it has different modes which include Single Player (kinda), and then there is Multiple vs Multiple which includes 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4.
Does it need to be an exact number?	No and Yes. There are different modes where if your team leaves you play by yourself vs the other team who have full players or and there’s other modes where if you choose 2v2 or 3v3, you have to have 2 players vs 2 players or 3v3.
How does this affect play?	Well usually when a team leaves it leaves you by yourself which isn’t good.
Objectives/Goals	NOTES
What are the players trying to do?	The players are trying to score as many goals as possible in a certain amount of time.
Rules/Mechanics	NOTES
There are three categories of (what Rules of Play calls) operational rules:	There are literally no rules. You have a car, you have a soccer ball and a team.
Controls	NOTES
What controls are used?	Don’t understand this sorry!
Was there a clear introductory tutorial?	Yes the tutorial was clear but not so helpful. Once done with the mian tutorial, you’re left alone with people who are the same level but understand the controls as you don’t. So you have to learn and improve from other players and by yourself.
Were they easy to understand or did you find  yourself spamming the controller?	Well sometimes it was easy cause i did the tutorial and i was already into agming before but at the same time i was a noob with controls and i didn’t know which keys it meant by RT or LT. So I had to click a lot of keys to finger it out,
Resources & Resource Management	NOTES
What kinds of resources do players control?	Players only control the car which controls the ball.
How are they maintained during play?	The car never changes everything about the car stays the same including health. (I don’t really get this one)
What is their role?	The car’s role is to score the goals with the soccer ball.
Game State	NOTES
The snapshot of the game at a single point is the game state. The resources you have, the un-owned properties in Monopoly, your opponent’s Archery skill all count towards the game state.	Don’t get this one either
Information	NOTES
How much information in the game state is visible to the player?	A lot. You can view the time left to finish the game. Who has earned the most amount of points. And the scoreboard
Sequencing	NOTES
In what order do players take their actions?	Turn-based with simultaneous play, Real-time and Turn-based and time limits at the same time bc you play as a team and when you see your chance you go for it at the same time you wait if you see your teammate is hitting the ball. (you don’t wanna be in their way)
How does play flow from one action to another?	Very well. You can change up the action you’re doing at any time.
Player Interaction	NOTES
What is the player interaction?	In rocket league it’s more of a direct attack but with teams. Where we attack you and you attack us.
Theme & Narrative	NOTES
Does it have an actual story structure?	No.
Is it based on an historical event (or similar)?	No.
Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play?	No and Yes. Like yes you try to score and by using a car which has different skills you can use to both get through and score..
Does it have emotional impacts?	Yes. You would be happy if you win a game and level up as much as you can.
Also look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)?	Don’t understand once again.
The Elements in Motion	NOTES
How do the different elements interact?	Soccer ball interacts with car, Car interacts with car (car means the player as well cause he is using the car), Car also interacts with environment
What is the gameplay like?	Smooth, can be a bit fast for beginners and for me even though I am used to the game a bit.
Is it effective?	Yes.
Are there any points where the design choices break down?	No.
Design Critique	NOTES
Why did the designer make these particular choices?	Maybe because they study soccer.
Why this set of resources?	Because I think that they thought it would be a bit funner and different from other games at the same time.
What if they made different decisions?	I think the game would still have been fun though this is more of a game where one choice could kill a lot but also could not at the same time.
Does the design break down at any point?	No.
Graphics & Sound	NOTES
Does the game art pair well with the mechanics?	Yes.
Did you find any bugs or glitches?	Sometimes but nothing major. It’s like my internet glitching, not the game though.
What about sound?	The sound is great, plus there are different sounds for cars and everything. Though this game is a simple game where you don’t need to work so hard with the sound cause there are no big things like talking or anything.
Can you spot any technical shortcuts?	Yes, You can choose different sounds for cars and I think that’s because they didn’t want to make different sounds for different cars.
Various stages	NOTES
What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them?	The challenge of not knowing rather someone understands some parts of the game more than you.
Is the game fair?	Yes and No. In Some parts  as I said the games lets you continue a game if your team leaves.
Is it replayable?	Yes.
Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience?	There are billions of paths.
What is the intended audience?	I feel like it was intended for soccer fans but the devs didn’t realize that it was a sun game that anyone can play. Cause it constantly has updates about soccer but if you play the game you almost forget that its about soccer.
What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun?	Hitting the ball.

COPY AND PASTE ALL THE CONTENT BELOW

• REVIEW THESE BLOG POST EXAMPLES:

“The successful free to play games are selling positive emotions. Not content.” – Nicholas Lovell

“It should be the experience, that is touching. What I strive for is to make the person playing the game the director.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

SUMMARY

• I had an ok week. I learned a few things. Though I am turning this late. I feel like it’s as completed as ever, so yay.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

Unity – C#

• For now, I am stuck in the “your first c# program” due to some technical difficulty so I have no choice but to do a little bit of java for construct 3 instead. After doing a little bit of javascript learning, it defiantly feels a lot easier to learn.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

MDA Notes

• Mechanics
  • Mechanics are the base components of the game – its rules, every basic action the player can take in the game, the algorithms and data structures in the game engine etc.
• Dynamics
  • Dynamics are the run-time behavior of the mechanics acting on player input and “cooperating” with other mechanics.
• Aesthetics
• Aesthetics are the emotional responses evoked in the player.There are many types of aesthetics, including but not limited to the following eight stated by Hunicke, LeBlanc and Zubek:
  1. Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure): Player enjoys memorable audio-visual effects.
  2. Fantasy (Game as make-believe): Imaginary world.
  3. Narrative (Game as drama): A story that drives the player to keep coming back
  4. Challenge (Game as obstacle course): Urge to master something. Boosts a game’s replayability.
  5. Fellowship (Game as social framework): A community where the player is an active part of it. Almost exclusive for multiplayer games.
  6. Discovery (Game as uncharted territory): Urge to explore game world.
  7. Expression (Game as self-discovery): Own creativity. For example, creating character resembling player’s own avatar.
  8. Submission (Game as pastime): Connection to the game, as a whole, despite of constraints.

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

Brainstorm Ideas for Each of the Eight Categories

1. Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure): The player enjoys memorable audio-visual effects.
   • Something that makes the player satisfied through the visuals or audio
2. Fantasy (Game as make-believe): Imaginary world.
   • Basically, a thing/word where the play can be or do whatever the heck they want that wouldn’t do in the real world, such as fifa.
3. Narrative (Game as drama): A story that drives the player to keep coming back
   • A game where a player can get to complete a game by the story or the order the creator(s) made the game to be played.
4. Challenge (Game as obstacle course): Urge to master something. Boosts a game’s replayability.
   • A game that puts some sort of challenge that the player can get to overcome.
5. Fellowship (Game as social framework): A community where the player is an active part of it. Almost exclusive for multiplayer games.
   • A game in which the player is going to need to work with other people (community)
6. Discovery (Game as uncharted territory): Urge to explore the game world.
   • A Game where the player can get to Explorer, like unlocking parts of a map.
7. Expression (Game as self-discovery): Own creativity. For example, creating a character resembling player’s own avatar.
   • A game where the player can get to do everything in their way.
8. Submission (Game as pastime): Connection to the game, as a whole, despite of constraints.
   • A game that’s continuous almost like GTA Online (I gotta include my boy gta) where you can keep playing and playing without an end

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

• Set a timer
• Spend 30 minutes in this ‘room’

• I learned about how to become a more positive thinker or how to convert negative thinking into positive thinking. I barely have negative thinking and when I do I usually lead myself away from it and they’re usually not that negative to the point they affect how I feel or think. Though if I do think negatively to the point it affects me, I usually play games, watch some YouTube, take time off of what I am doing, or just do something I enjoy like biking or just doing things on my computer.

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

• I learned a few things about making your mind think positively rather than negatively. I also learned a few things about M.D.As.