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
- Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers
- Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen