Game Narratives and History of Play
.jpg)
Game Rules (Week 3)
Bloodborne
Developer: FromSoftware Inc.
Publishers: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Corporation
Designer: Hidetaka Miyazaki
​
Platform: PlayStation 4
​
Release Date: 24 March 2015
​
Bloodborne is an action roleplaying game developed by FromSoftware. The game is set in the Victorian era in the fictitious city of Yharnam, it follows the player as they roam the city during the night fighting beats trying to figure out its mysteries.
​
​
On the of the main rules in Bloodborne is when the player dies they lose all their blood echoes. These blood echoes are the main game currency, they are used to level up stats, buying items, upgrades and so on, the only way to get the echoes back is by slaying the beast that took the player’s echoes when they died. If the player dies before getting their blood echoes back, they are lost forever.
​
This rule can be extremely frustrating, as upon death it gives the player a reset to back when they started the level, keeping the same stats not being able to increase stats or upgrade their gear since the currency used for it is reduced to zero after perhaps an hour of progress into the level, and maybe there was a good reason the player did in fact died where they did, perhaps an enemy the player wasn’t prepared to fight at the moment only to be able to reach that same place and having to fight that same enemy again. But the rule isn’t just punishing, having such a rule in place within such a highly difficult game there are also benefits for the player, having the total of their currency on the line the players are more likely to be more observant and careful of their surroundings as well as the enemies they face. Although the player loses their currency, they keep their knowledge of they level and that is what this rule forces the player to explore, the knowledge acquired from the level and the enemies found within.
​
I can think of one way this rule could be improved, instead of losing the total amount of echoes upon death, losing only half. Instead of throwing the entirety of the progression it would allow the player to still retain some currency to upgrade before venturing again in the level, so the sense of progression is more than just the knowledge retained from playing the level. And as the game was built on this rule it could be a possible addition as a lower difficulty setting for the overall game.
Interaction Diagram (Week 5)
Cats are Liquid - A Light in the Shadows
Developer: Last Quarter Studios
Publishers: Last Quarter Studios Limited Partnership, Last Quarter Studios
​
Platform: Android, Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS
​
Cats are Liquid - A Light in the Shadows is a 2D platformer about a cat with the ability to transform into liquid. The game has 90 levels, that are spread across 9 different worlds. It has a minimalistic but colourful style. (Source)
Essay Draft (Week 8)
GDD Analysis (Week 9)
Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist
Developer: Sierra On-Line
Publishers: Sierra On-Line
​
Designers: Al Lowe, Josh Mandel
​
Platform: MS-DOS, Macintosh, Windows 3.x
​
Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist is an adventure puzzle game designed by Al Lowe and Josh Mandel, the Game Design Document (GDD) was written by Al Lowe. (Available at http://allowe.com/gamedesign/Freddy%20Design.pdf)
This GDD has complete table of contents, divided by various categories and subcategories making it easy to navigate through the document for any specific item. One of which is a section with considerations of design based on previous tittles designed by the author of GDD.
There are detailed descriptions of setting, areas the player can access, what the areas should look like, what are in these areas, their features, props actors, objects that can be found and objects that can be used as well as a description of events for each of the area. Item wise, there are descriptions of each one, their uses and consequences of uses of certain items in certain situations.
It includes character descriptions, a synopsis of the plot and walkthrough, as previous games developed from Lowe did not feature any death, he has also included a list of deaths in the GDD for Freddy. The scenes are also described in detail, even a graphic of the map showing positioning and which areas connect to which.
I can be read at the end of the GDD resources used such as historic events, western slangs as well as a list of chemical labels.
The GDD reads easy, is very detailed and complete.
The Prologue of the game follows the visual and cinematic instructions present on the Game Design Document as close as possible, with an addition of a theatre stage. The release of the game follows the elements on the GGD almost to the tiniest detail.
Every major and minor section is covered in the GDD
.
.
Critique of Review (Week 11)
Horizon Zero Dawn
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Publishers: Sony Interactive Entertainment
​
Platform: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
​
Release Date: PS4: 28 February 2017, PC: 7 August 2020
​
Horizon Zero Dawn
IGN: https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02/20/horizon-zero-dawn-review
Is it a good review?
This review on Horizon Zero Dawn seems to have been written by someone who has spent some time playing the game, this is evident by the information shared on the behaviour of the animal like machines that populate the game.
The beginning praises the game and covers enough about the game without giving too much information about the story in a way that covers just about enough that it will not spoil the game to those who have not yet played it.
Aside from the introduction there are three sections discussing the content of the game, one going in enough depth about the combat, some combat mechanics, types of enemies, specific ways to defeat some of the enemies, types of weapons the player will have at their disposal, crafting system, AI behaviour of the enemies and some skills available to unlock in game.
The second section discusses the world and other non-combat mechanics, such as activities out in the open world of the game and the stealth mechanics. The third section discussing “The Human Element” present within the game, related to settlements, NPCs and quests as well as some downsides of the side quests in particular.
Overall, the review is written well, with some personal opinions and discusses all the main points of the game, going in depth on certain aspects as form of example of what the player can expect when playing the game. Sounds biased as the reviewer often praises the game and some aspects can be rather subjective.
It is a good review as the main features are approached and discussed, written in a way that leaves the reader interested in playing the game to see for themselves what it is about.
2 Page Pitch (Week 13)
