Website: http://www.thinkwithportals.com/
Gameplay Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUiD2IyUpDI

Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform game developed by Valve and released in 2011. As the sequel to the much smaller but critically acclaimed Portal, Portal 2 expanded the world and the scope of puzzles that the player had to tackle, but still maintaining the core gameplay mechanic of the original game. The player has a “gun” that shoots two different portals that are connected to one another. Whatever goes in the first one will come out of the second one. The game is structured through a series of “test chambers”, each of which has an entrance and an exit, and the player has to figure out how to use his portal gun to get himself out of each chamber. As the game progresses, the complexity of the puzzles gradually increases as more mechanics are introduced.

Self-Observation

Elemental Tetrad

• Aesthetics – Portal 2 has a very clean aesthetic with relatively little variation in colour schemes and very few superfluous effects (e.g. particle or lighting effects). This helps to 1) reinforce the industrial setting of the game, and 2) significantly improves clarity of the puzzles. The puzzles faced by the player can become very complex in the later levels, and the clarity of the aesthetics provides the player with all the information he needs to solve the puzzle, allowing him to focus on tacking the puzzle.
• Story – The main aim of the player is to escape the facility, and while the protagonist remains silent throughout the game, she is accompanied by various announcers and non-playable characters that humorously convey the story. Various objects are also placed around the levels in specific ways to tell the story in more subtle manners.
• Technology – The physics system in the Source engine is very robust and allows for interesting puzzle design, as objects maintain their momentum when going through portals.
• Mechanics – The core mechanic of portals is unique and interesting by itself, but more mechanics are introduced throughout the game (e.g. new objects that can pass through the portal or new environments). While the mechanics seem simple, they are combined together in many different ways, resulting in brilliant level and puzzle design.

Lens of Essential Experience

While teleporting through portals is the game’s core mechanic, its “essential experience” is allowing the player to feel like they are outsmarting the various antagonists of the game, who tend to be various AIs that are intent on trapping the player in the facility or killing the protagonist. The antagonists consistently taunt the player (albeit in humorous ways), suggesting that the player is too incapable to escape the facility. Furthermore, the puzzles players are presented with often seem impossibly complex at first glance, causing the player to feel extremely smart and satisfied with himself once he has completed each level. On closer inspection, the levels are actually designed in such a way that the player is subtly guided towards the solution (e.g. through particular placement of certain objects or emphasising certain parts of the level through aesthetics), while simultaneously making the player feel like he is discovering the solution by himself. All these factors result in a puzzle game that is especially satisfying to complete and hence extremely fun for the player.

Lens of Character

The game has great characterisation even though there are so few characters in it. GLaDOS and Wheatley are AIs that both act as companion and antagonist to the player throughout the game, switching roles mid-game. They are extremely talkative characters, with humorous dialogue filling practically the entire game, even while the player is solving a puzzle. This is unique in that character development and storytellingis fused with the gameplay, instead of being separate aspects like in other games where gameplay is interrupted by cutscenes for narrative purposes. Perhaps the weakest part of Portal 2’s characters is the protagonist herself, Chell. She remains silent throughout the entire game, and very little can be gleaned about Chell from whatever dialogue there is in the game. She feels like a boring, blank slate in some ways. However, this does seem to be Valve’s style, as they also make use of a silent protagonist in their other major game, Half-Life.

Lens of Simplicity/Complexity

In my opinion, Portal 2 nails the fine balance between simplicity and complexity. It starts off with a deceptively simple mechanic and slowly introduces the player to new ways to use the portal gun (e.g. falling through a portal from high up to gain speed). As the game progresses, other mechanics are introduced that interact with the portal gun (e.g. cubes that can be thrown through portals), leading to more complex and interesting puzzles. Hence, there is an “emergent complexity” to the puzzles as the player is introduced to new mechanics incrementally and methodically. Furthermore, while the mechanics are extremely simple to understand, the levels are designed in very unique ways that forces the player to use these simple mechanics in many complex and interesting ways, leading to more complicated and thus satisfying puzzles for the player to complete. Observations while watching a friend

Lens of Essential Experience

My friend’s essential experience with the game was near identical to mine, in that she found it much more fun than the average puzzle game and was also highly satisfied with herself every time she completed a level. She also felt that the game does a very good job of “making you feel very smart”.

Lens of Simplicity/Complexity
My friend was extremely excited and intrigued by the portal mechanic in the game, proving that the simplicity of the portal gun was a very interesting mechanic even for less experienced gamers. Furthermore, usage of the portal gun was intuitive for my friend, and she was able to easily complete the early stages without being too confused over how the portal mechanic worked. This once again shows how Valve managed to nail the “simplicity” element of game design, whereby the game is intuitive to play but still challenges the player to complete difficult puzzles.

Lens of Control

My friend does not have much experience with first-person games, leading to some difficulty in using the standard WASD controls to move the character efficiently. While this did not hinder her from completing the puzzles, it certainly did cause frustration at some points where tight control of the character was necessary. However, it is difficult to see how Valve could have made the controls friendlier for inexperienced gamers, as the WASD controls have been the standard control scheme for first-person games for more than a decade now.

Lens of Character

While I personally found the characters in the game extremely interesting and entertaining, my friend did not care much for their dialogue. Many of the jokes that I found funny did not hit home for my friend, as she either didn’t understand what they were saying or simply didn’t find it very funny. Humour in games is a relatively rare occurrence. Most games tend to tell “serious” stories, and those that do not often find humour in ridiculous premises or simply have slapstick humour. Trying to include more “highbrow” humour is a challenge in games due to everyone’s differing sense of humour. There is also a lack of control over the specific timing of joke delivery (due to the interactive nature of games), which can often make or break a joke. The dialogue from Western games often leans towards Western sensibilities as well, making it harder for the international audience to fully grasp the nuances at times. When done right, humour in games can vastly improve the player’s experience, partly due to how rare it appears in games. However, it is challenging to write great dialogue that appeals to all gamers.

Analysis

Both my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed playing Portal 2, and for similar reasons. We both experienced the “essential experience” that I believe Valve had intended, as completing puzzles in Portal 2 is just so much more satisfying than completing other puzzle games.

The main differences in our experiences were in ease of controlling the character and the degree to which we enjoyed the dialogue and story.

As I am very experienced with first-person games, it never occurred to me that the controls could be a stumbling block for some players. My friend is more accustomed to games where the character being controlled can be seen, or games which have a cursor on-screen (e.g. real time strategy games). However, using a different perspective would change the overall “feel” of the game, and even though using a first-person perspective might alienate some players, I feel that it is too closely linked to the essential experience for it to be changed.

As for the humour and dialogue in general, such things can be very subjective, making it relatively difficult to determine what should be the “best” way to write dialogue and stories for games. Even though my friend did not find the dialogue to be very funny, we both agreed that the way the story is presented is very interesting, as the game has a lot of character even though the player sees very few characters throughout the game. Using various announcers as the primary characters in the game is an interesting technique of storytelling in games, and one that is seldom seen. Portal 2 proves that when done well, this technique can be very effective.

On the whole, both my friend and I agreed that Valve succeeded in creating an extremely fun and unique puzzle game that manages to mesh gameplay and storytelling in an elegant fashion. Of course, the game seems to be lacking in certain departments (e.g. bland graphics and the protagonist’s non-existent personality). However, these seem to be calculated design decisions instead of oversights. While these are usually signs of bad game design, they contribute to the player’s experience in positive ways in Portal 2, adding to the experience rather than detracting from it. In my opinion, Portal 2 is the pinnacle of great game design as every aspect of it was thoroughly thought out, and it is simply great fun to play.

Wong Kang-An
A0097091Y

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) is a street racing video game developed by the Electronic Arts Black Box Studio and published by EA Games. The game features several elements of street racing, with customizable cars, high speed police pursuits, and different kinds of racing events, such as speed traps, checkpoint races, drag races, elimination and finally the normal races. There is also a bounty system, wherein you are supposed to earn a certain amount of street cred before you can advance in the game. There are various modes in the game: Story Mode, Challenge Mode, Quick Race Mode and LAN Play.

Gameplay Video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ2tYcIvzXk

Analysis

Lens 1: Elemental Tetrad

Story: The game has a good story, which is relatable and gives the players a clear motivation to finish the game – a motive of revenge – which is one of the strongest. One place where it lacks is that the game kind of loses touch with the story in between and it becomes somewhat dreary and repetitive.
Mechanics: The racing experience, although enjoyable, is not very realistic in terms of the consequences of a wrong move – which I must say is one of the key selling factors – as it does not make the game too difficult for the average gamer.
Technology: The game is now old and can run on any of the current generation laptops/computers – all it needs is a decent processor, about 1 GB of RAM, any graphics cards and a keyboard/joystick/steering wheel accessory.
Aesthetics: The game was designed beautifully at the time of release, and even though the standards have reached higher and higher, it is still not considered jarring and old age, which is quite commendable. The world is beautifully designed and the cars are even better to look at.
Overall, I would say that it is a well-balanced game, which performs decently on all fronts, without compromising on any of the aspects.

Lens 2: Essential Experience

The essential experience of the game is racing – going as fast as you can without banging into stuff – except when you want to (during police chases). The game delivers well on the racing experience of speed. The experience is fun, sometimes challenging, but always rewarding. It might not be a very good adaptation of the real world driving experience, but as a fun video game, it delivers.

Lens 3: Goals

As mentioned above, the game sets clear goals for the player to accomplish to progress in the game. For each level, you must finish a specified number of races, get a specified amount of bounty and cause enough trouble to the city through various “milestone” events. After accomplishing this, each level has a boss that you must defeat in order to proceed to the next level.

Lens 4: Beauty

As mentioned in the aesthetics section, the world of the game has been beautifully created. It has highways, industrial areas, residential areas, and even some mountains – a typical city. Even more beautiful are the cars, with every attention being paid to the details of the various parts. One of the most beautiful things in the game is the nitrous flame, coming out of the exhaust. Also, the various customization of the cars make every car personalized and beautiful. And that is very important – since it gives you something to show off to everyone else, especially when playing with friends.

Lens 5: Skill

The game requires a lot of skill, in terms of reflexes and hand eye coordination. The learning curve is very lenient and you get used to the controls as you progress and get faster cars. There is also the “speed-breaker” mode, which slows down time and allows you to turn more accurately, which requires a lot of practice.

DISCLAIMER:  I do not own any of the images presented above. They are screenshots of the game and belong to the game publishers.

The game I want to analyze is FIFA 14. It was launched in 2013 by EA sports. It is a football simulation video game.  I have been following the FIFA series since 2007. It has evolved a great deal since then. It has many different modes, the most popular one being the story mode which is called the Career mode. Here you have two options, either you can start as a player or you can manage a team. FIFA 14 also has the provision of multiplayer, where one can either play locally with friends or one can play online with other people.

Analysis

Lens 1: Elemental Tetrad

Overall, the 4 aspects are balanced. Though the story is less detailed, but it goes well in accordance with the game.

1. Mechanics: FIFA 14 mechanics differ from its previous versions in two key aspects. First is when the player shoots the ball towards the goal. In FIFA 14 the shots look much more real and the ball behaves similar to what it would behave when an actual player would shoot it. The other aspect is the player movements. It appears that they have gone a little overboard trying to make the player movements appear real. Though the fall through reaction immediately after shooting or passing seems real, but the way they receive the ball is sometimes a little unreal.
2. Story: There are two main types of story modes, one being the ultimate team and the other career mode. In ultimate team mode one gets to build his dream team by earning money and buying, selling and loaning players. In the career mode there are 2 options, the manager mode where you can manage a football team and the player mode where you start off as a single player, advance your skills, try to become a star and eventually retire after which you can choose to be a manager.
3. Aesthetics: The aesthetics of the game are really detailed. It has stunning graphics. The players’ avatars seem very real. So does the stadium layout. The post goal celebration is also spectacular enhances the experience further. The crowd has been really improved from the past few version. Now there are 3D home and away supporters, living sidelines and the pre-match ceremonies are very well done. Even the post goal celebrations look beautiful.
4. Technology: The technology required to play the game is a good computer with a keyboard. A good graphic card is required to gain maximum pleasure from playing the game.

Lens 2: Fun

The game is immensely fun. It offers a vast variety of choices to the players. They can choose from a wide range of teams, can modify/create player formations and can play in many tournaments. It is very exciting to try and score goals and defend your goal from the opponent. Additionally, there are short practice challenges available as well to practice skills which are fun in themselves.

Lens 3: Essential experience

Playing the game gives you the experience of watching a football match in terms of graphics. The career mode effectively captures the experience of managing a football team or being a real football player. FIFA 14 commendably gives you the experience of playing as a team and of playing as an individual player.

Lens 4: Skill

FIFA 14 requires a lot of skill. It is fast paced and requires a lot of hand eye coordination. The learning curve is very steep initially. The controls also can be very overwhelming in the beginning. Also, after mastering the basic controls, one can try to perform the special tricks and challenges.  The career mode further requires management skills like who to buy/sell, managing the team, budget etc.

Lens 5: Modes

There are two basic modes in the game – Offense and defense. Both of them go hand in hand, but at one particular time you are either attacking or defending; not both. Since they don’t overlap, same controls can be used for the modes. It is very logical for the players to know in which mode they are i.e. if they have the possession of the ball, they are in offense mode and if they don’t then they are in defense mode.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the pictures posted above. They are the property of the game publishers

Game Website: http://www.mobygames.com/game/swat-4

Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zg4OMScy7g

Description: SWAT 4 is a first-person shooter that requires the use of realistic squad-based police procedures to resolve hostage stand-off situations.  Players may outfit their squad and plan their approaches as they deem fit.  Scoring is based on how strictly players follow proper police procedures.

My Experience

The Elemental Tetrad

• SWAT 4’s graphics are realistic enough for my immersion and suspension of disbelief, with detailed items, locations & NPCs.
• As I pieced the story together, touches like a mass grave of babies in a cultist’s house got me emotionally engaged.

• SWAT 4’s mechanics were precise, and I felt in control due to the many commands I could easily give for any situation. However, AI SWAT members often got in my way and complained, making it rather irritating and causing quite a few accidental deaths.
• The technology in SWAT 4 was put to good use, as NPC enemies all had their own personalities. AI team members also knew different procedures and executed them independently in context.

The Lens of Projection

• SWAT 4 made me feel like a SWAT leader, following police procedures, and aiming to minimize hostile casualties.
• I could relate to real-life police as I arrested the baby-killer, furious as I saw their graves. I gave the suspect an unnecessary taser shot to express my disgust, and had to actively restrain myself from further brutality.

The Lens of Skill vs Chance

• Each SWAT 4 scenario is randomly generated, such as enemy placement and personalities. I took a very cautious approach, skilfully checking each room to minimize casualties.  However, there were still times when I was surprised by hostiles rushing in.  Thus with skill, I mitigated the problem of chance disadvantages.

The Lens of Control

• I opted to outfit my each member with non-lethal weapons, and commanded them as a team and individually with a few clicks. This made me feel masterfully in control as I directed each element and executed my grand plan for storming a toilet.  The interface was not deficient in options and mastered quickly.

The Lens of Rules

• I followed the ‘rules’ of SWAT 4 closely. These rules are not strictly enforced, and your score will be reviewed at the end of the game with no consequences.  Hence, the rules are rather up to the player, who enforces them on himself to get the highest score.

The Lens of Challenge

• I was constantly challenged as enemies started wearing armour and getting more plentiful. I had to devise new strategies to deal with more professional hostiles, but also had more tools like snipers.  The scoring also left the challenge up to me, where I aimed for 100% perfection in each scenario.

My Brother’s Experience

The Elemental Tetrad

• SWAT 4’s graphics are realistic enough for my brother, who enjoyed the blood spatter effects immensely. He had a great deal of fun trying to paint on the wall by shooting a corpse in a certain manner.
• My brother entirely disregarded the story, and just wanted to kill everybody. His fun came from the pure emotional detachment from the seriousness of the game’s story.
• My brother explored every mechanic SWAT 4 presented, but ultimately stuck to a true-and-tested formula of gassing the room and then shooting everybody who resisted.
• The technology in SWAT 4 was great, and the NPC hostiles adapted quickly to my brother’s careless playing style through mock-surrendering and suicidal attacks.

The Lens of Projection

• As my brother skipped briefings and also disregarded the subtle story artifacts that the player discovers through the level, he did not feel as much immersion as I did. However, he did still feel empathetic towards injured hostages, opting to rescue them quickly – perhaps due to his background as a first aider.  He would however, still get angry when he or his teammates were shot by hostiles, and would project himself into the game scenario rather than into the character.

The Lens of Skill vs Chance

• My brother did not approach SWAT 4 with much caution, and the random placement of enemies frustrated him as he was constantly surprised. However, he soon learnt to play at the minimal skill level to survive while maintaining as much reckless excitement as he could.

The Lens of Control

• My brother did not bother to take full advantage of the equipment outfitting options, and often lamented the lack of specific tactical equipment he needed as he progressed. He also felt frustrated that he could not control the situation as hostiles hid in tactically advantageous spots, and would sometimes restart the level to get a more favourable scenario.

The Lens of Rules

• My brother did not follow proper police procedures closely, and often did the bare minimum in order not to fail a level. However, he had a lot of fun bullying suspects or shooting his own teammates – his rule being that you could do anything to have fun as long as you did not die or get less than 50%.

The Lens of Challenge

• My brother was constantly challenged by enemies adapting to his recklessness. As he formed his own rules, he also formed his own challenges – such as killing all his teammates and completing a level solo.  Upon being stuck due to good enemy positions, he would get frustrated and rush into the room, then quit or restart once he inevitably died.  He preferred playing custom games where he could set the number and skill of enemy hostiles himself.

Analysis

Background of Players (Projection & Skill)

I realised that the existing knowledge and background of the player is important in game design.  As I was formerly trained in urban combat operations, I understood the best way to minimise casualties.  I made full use of the options available to me for each situation, and felt very immersed in a familiar role.  However, my brother did not as he had yet to enter the military, but had experience as a first-aider.  This affected what roles the players projected themselves into (police vs himself), the skills available to them (urban ops vs Call of Duty-style rushing), and the challenge they faced (perfect scores vs frustration, game-rigging and restarts).

Subtle vs Direct Elements (Story, Skill, Rules)

I learnt that not all players could identify subtle gameplay/story elements, and needed to have them directly highlighted to them.  I enjoyed SWAT 4’s story immensely, taking the time I used to scope out a room to also take in any evidence/artifacts.  I also paid attention to the text-based briefings so that I could plan my approach with the intelligence.  However, these were all missed by my brother, who wanted to get into the action.  I believe that he would also be able to enjoy the story had they been presented in a more direct manner, such as through cutscenes or objectives, or even through AI teammates making story-specific remarks.

My brother’s lack of military background also resulted in poorer skills.  While the game did have a tutorial level on the mechanics available, it did not explicitly go through other rules such as police and military procedures/tactics.  This was slowly picked up by my brother the hard way, or with my coaching.  Hence, the game is deficient in its assumption of its players.  If a player’s initial frustration due to a lack of skill and success leads him to quit the game, then it would not have been successful.  However, SWAT 4 prevents this with its flexibility and customisability.

Designing for Various Play Styles (Challenge)

I realised that SWAT 4’s flexibility allowed my brother to continue playing despite his initial frustration.  He could customise enemies to fit what he wanted to play (A Call of Duty-style shooter), and there were no hard and fast objectives to meet.  He could indeed, find success by using an entirely different approach from myself (lethal vs non-lethal).  The vast array of lethal weapons and explosives available were also put to good use by him, while I did not even try out any of them.  Thus, SWAT 4 was well-designed for different types of players in mind.

I felt that SWAT 4 could be even better designed with different built-in game modes, a sort of pre-set for their custom games.  This would allow players to immediately choose what they wanted.  However, even if players opted for vanilla SWAT 4, the AI does an incredible job of adapting to the play-style on the fly.  This keeps the challenge up and the gameplay fresh.

Error Recovery

I found that SWAT 4 might have a steeper learning curve for those without police/military backgrounds due to the tactics they have to devise.  Furthermore, health was not recoverable, and teammates stayed dead. Ammo could also not be picked up. Hence, a wrong step early in the game could lead to quick failure, and players are not able to recover from their mistakes.  Hence, rather than basing game difficulty on the minimum score required in each play, SWAT 4 could have allowed beginners to recover and learn from early mistakes by featuring things such as regenerating health, calling for more backup or ammo.  This would reduce beginners’ frustrations while they learn.

Controls, Controls, Controls

Lastly, what impressed me most about SWAT 4 are its controls.  With an easily navigable control interface, even unskilled players could quickly and easily do what they wanted.  The menus were contextual, logically grouped and colour-coded for superior control and feedback.  Hence, this is something I would spend a considerable amount of time planning and aiming towards when designing a game.

-Daryl Lim

Part I     Introduction

Please allow me to list all the lens first so that we can find the link between

Lens 1 – Essential Experience

Lens 2 & Lens 3: Surprise & Fun

Lens 4: Curiosity

Lens 5: Endogenous Value

Lens 6: Problem Solving

Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics Story Mechanics Technology

Lens 8: Holographic Design

Lens 9: Unification Theme

The game which I would talk about is Defense of the Ancient 2.

It is one of the most famous Moba(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games)s game right now. The designer of this game is IceFrog and this game is originally just a map of Warcraft3. Ice Frog coporates with Valve, which is a famous Game Company to reproduce this game with independent Game Engine. And it is one of the most popular MOBA game right now.

The aim of this game is to destroy the buildings of the opponents and defend your own building. Each player in this game would play a hero. Each team has 5 heroes totally. These two team would fight with each other.

Video Address for this game:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dota2

Part 2: My own Experience:

In order to play this game, I need to log in into the game platform provided by Valve first and find another 9 players who would like to play together with me.

Firstly, I would pick one hero. There are more than 100 heroes for player to pick and each hero has its  own shape and skills. After picking heroes, game really begins. As a hero, you can choose to farm, push, gank. And you need try to kill your opponent so that you would become stronger and they would become weaker. As you get more and more advantages, you may choose to push and destroy their buildings. Once you destroy the last building, game over and you would win.

I would describe my experience based on different lens.

1. Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad

Aesthetics:

The game is using Source2 game Engine. When I play the game, I would be able to appreciate the attractive scene. It makes me feel good. Besides the scene, the heroes have different kinds of equipments. With these equipments, the hero would look totally different and it makes user always feel interested and I seldom become bored because of the shape of the heroes.  Skills are also very magnificent. Such features are all because of the aesthetics.

Story

In fact, during the game experience, I seldom think about the backgroud story of this game. Though this game also has its own story, even each hero has a description which talk about who they are and where they come from. However, story is not very important in this game. And during the game progress, only the dialogues of the heroes sometimes would illustrate some story. At other time, I just need to keep farming, pushing, killing enemies.  Story is really not important here.

Mechanics

As a MOBA game, story is not important. In contrast, the Mechanics is quite important.

Dota2 has great Mechanics and it is the key for its success.

When I am playing, I can get extra money and experience by do the last hit to enemies. i can but different items which would help me to fight easily, I can copearate with my teammates and kill all our five opponents without scarifying even one of us if we make good combo. Such experience really make me excited and they all belong to the good mechanics of Dota2.

The designer, IceFrog also keeps improving Mechanics to make it a better game.

Technology

Same as Aesthetics, Dota2 take use of Technology to make sure the stableness  of web connection. This is a online game. If the connection is not well enough, it would be quite annoying. When i am playing dots, the ping is smaller than 50ms and it provide me with a good feeling.

2. Lens 6: Problem Solving

The secret of the success of dota2 is there are always new problems for you to solve because I am fighting with different real people!

Some game provides problem for player to solve but once all problems have been solved, the player may get bored. Dota2 is different. As a player versus player game, I have totally different problem to solve in every round of game. As there are also many heroes for me to pick. i also get different experience when playing different heroes.

3.Lens 4: Curiosity

Dota2 is keeping updating. Designers keep making new heroes. After some time, i would be able to play  a new hero and it make the game always attractive.

Besides the new heroes, Dota2 also make people curious because there are infinitely many combinations of heroes. Each combination would create totally different game experience and I enjoy the process to try a new combinations.

4.Lens 5: Endogenous Value

Game can produce endogenous value. So does dota2. Equipments are the mainly endogenous value created by dota2. I can get new equipment after each round of game. I can also buy them in the store. These equipments would not change the power of heroes, but only the shape of them. I really like to collect new equipments for my favourite heroes and it make me feel proud when others see my hero.

5.Lens 9: Unification Theme

Whatever hero I choose to pick, I always get one same goal: Kill enemies and destroy their buildings. This is the unification theme of this game and therefore, I would never lose myself and do not know what to do.

Part III              Others’ experience

Second part is the experience that I watch one famous Chinese player 2009 play this game. in order to avoid being bored, my second part would have another structure:  I would describe what I saw and I would try to link the phenomenon to the lens

1. He picks one hero whose name is Pudge and he explains to the audiences the skills of this hero.

Lens 6: Problem Solving

How to correctly use a hero is in face a problem need to be solved. As an experienced player, he “shares” his “solution” to the audience.

2. He use good skills to kill the opponent and therefore h becomes quite excited.

Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad

Player versus player always make people more excited than versus computer. The  Mechanics of this game allow you to kill others.

3. He buys an item which can enhance the hero’s skill and try to prove to the audience how powerful his skill become.

Lens 4: Curiosity

There are 100 more heroes, there are 100 more items. It is always curious that how things would be if one hero get one specific item. Sometimes a good choice for the item can really excite the player.

4. He appreciate the specially good effect of his skill.

Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad

Good design of Aesthetics make game much more fun

5. When he farms, he is ganked by his enemies. He died.

Lens 2 & Lens 3: Surprise & Fun

Playing with other player can always give you much more “surprise” then computer. Human currently can give you more surprise~

6. He feel very excited when his team destroyed their opponent’s building and win.

Lens 9: Unification Theme

He finish his goal for this game and it really excites him.

Part IV        My final conclusion:

What I have learned from this experience:

1. The experience gained from playing game myself sometimes is really similar to the experience gained from watching others’ playing experience. For example, I would get the same feelings when I kill an opponent as watch him kill an opponent.
2. There can also be some differences, for example, I would be more excited when I finish some hard operations myself then watching others finishing them.
3. From 1 and 2, I think the different is that the degrees of emotions can be different but the game determine what kind of emotions or experiences would you have.
4. Different game focus on different lens, as a MOBA game , Dota2 focuses on mechanics much more than story. instead, some RPG (role playing game) may focus on story much more than mechanics.
5. It is good experience to analyse game experience instead of just playing without thinking. I really learned a lot this time.

The video game I want to analyze here is NBA2K series produced by 2K. I have been playing the game starting from NBA 2K9 and the newest version currently is NBA2K14. The game is a sports game with many different modes. The most basic one is to control an NBA team fight against another one. I love the game because I love both playing basketball and watching NBA matches. I find it interesting and competitive especially playing with friends instead of combating with AI.

Main website: https://www.nba2k.com/

Youtube demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9rWnS34UAI (The demo is on PS4)

Figure. NBA 2K 14

Lenses:

l  Essential Experience

n  The game is able to accurately capture the essence of what a player or a manager or a coach gets from playing a real-life basketball/NBA league. For example, you can play as a player starting from rookie year to win numerous awards.

n  The game allows people who are not good at playing basketball enjoy the fun of basketball.

n  The game allows experienced basketball players or NBA fans to gain the sense of achievement by building great teams and winning the championships in the league.

Figure. 30 teams in NBA league

l  Fun

n  NBA 2K series are definitely full of fun. The games contain many different modes which fulfill different requirements and I love combating with my friends via the games.

Figure. Play 1 on 1 with best friend

n  Among all the modes, I love the Jordan Challenges and Create a Legend in 2K 11 best. I can not only experience the highlights in Air Jordan’s career but also play as Jordan starting from his rookie year and finally become a legend by our own effort.

Figure. Create a Legend

l  Skill

n  The game requires multiple skills to play well. Different modes even require different sets of skills. For example, Quick game requires the skill to control the whole team; MyCareer mode requires the skill to control only one basketball player; Association requires the management and trading skills, etc.

n  Players like us have to improve our skills to achieve the goals we want.

Figure. MyCareer mode

Figure. Control one player in one match

Figure. Manage the whole team

Figure. Control the whole team in one match

l  Fairness/Competitive

n  NBA 2K series are definitely skill-based and fair games. Players with more skills and experiences are more competitive compared to those who seldom play the game. There are strong teams and weak teams, but your skill will finally decide which are indeed strong.

n  You can adjust the “fairness” by selecting suitable difficulty levels. There are several levels for players of different background.

Figure. Different difficulty levels allow various players to have fun

l  Control

n  NBA 2K series are powerful “control” games. The game has training sessions that help players get familiar with and therefore master the controlling system. You can always complete complicated actions by using game controller or keyboard.

Figure. Training Camp

n  It is also the “realest” basketball game. A few years ago, NBA Live series was another famous NBA basketball game. However, it eventually failed to compete with NBA 2K because of its controlling system was too poor. It was too easy to score and I cannot feel the power of my controlling skills.

Game description
Limbo is a 2D side scroller platform game in which the player controls a nameless little boy who is looking for his sister. The player does not learn anything about a backstory. To progress in the game the player has to solve puzzles which make use of mechanical effects, gravity, magnetism, among other things. Additionally, one has to avoid dangers such as foothold traps. In some cases, these dangers are not immediately visible, such that the player cannot help but make the character die in the first attempt and avoid them in a subsequent try when he knows about them. The game appearance is a dark, moody, greyscale look. It makes heavy use of fog and artistic blur. The deaths of the character are usually cruel, illustrated by disturbing animations of the detachment of body parts.

Website: http://limbogame.org/
gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT6M1_NnNZ8

Lens of Pleasure
What pleasures does your game give to players? Can these be improved?

• It is satisfactory to solve a puzzle and make progress in the game: resolving a period of frustration with a “eureka experience” of finally seeing the solution can be very pleasurable 
• well-designed graphics, artwork and sound which work together in an aesthetically pleasing way are an enjoyable to experience for the player

What pleasures are missing from your experience?

• Game does not provide pleasure for players who especially enjoy the following game mechanics:
  – levelling up
  – collecting things
  – noticeable improvement over time
  – creating things
  – action
  Those aspects are not present in the game design.

Why? Can they be added? 

• It seems like a conscious choice by the designers to keep the game as simple as possible and to concentrate on the core experience, avoiding everything that could distract from it.

Lens of Surprise
What will surprise players when they play my game?

• In many cases, deadly foothold traps cannot be spotted beforehand. Suddenly seeing the main character die in one of them will probably shock most players.

Does the story have surprises? Do the game rules/artwork/technology?

• When first playing the game, it is surprising not to get any type of instruction on what to do.
• The very reduced graphics style might be surprising for some players; however many players have already seen screenshots before they start playing \
• The movements the player can execute (running left/right, jumping, pushing and dragging objects) are not surprising since it is common to all platformer games.

Lens of Curiosity

• since everything is kept very mysterious, player’s curiosity is triggered
• curiosity is the motivation to keep on playing since no formal goal is stated

What questions does my game put into the player’s mind?

• There is no explanation or introduction, so players will ask themselves:
• Who is the character? What are his goals? What is the objective of the game? What is this dark and foggy venue?
• Mysterious things, like a white butterfly, are placed in the game world without any further explanation. What are these things about?
• How difficult will the game puzzles become?

What am I doing to make them care about these questions?

• The game hooks the players with interesting puzzles
• The possibility of a great story which will unfold later and resolve the beginning mystery keeps the player interested.
• 

Lens of Freedom
When do my players have freedom of action? Do they feel free at these times? When are they constrained? Do they feel constrained at these times? Are there any places I can let them feel more free than they do now?

• When solving puzzles, player has the freedom to interact with moveable objects in the game world. For example boxes, ropes or corpses of beasts. However, the number of these objects is usually very low.
• The overall freedom the player has is very limited. Firstly of course by the fact that the platformer-genre only allows movement in two spatial dimensions. Secondly, because at every state in the game there is usually only one way (or very few ways) to progress.
• Other than trying to solve the puzzles, there is not much else to do. This fact does not change for the entire duration of the game.
• Despite this lack of freedom, the overall feeling of the game is not dominated by feeling constrained. This is partly achieved by the level design: Progress is made by moving to the right, and there is no boundary at the right until the end. This makes the world seem big and open, even though in fact only a certain range of the world can be accessed at any given time (you can’t move all the way back to the left because of certain one-way obstacles in the level design)

Lens of the Visible Progress
Players need to see that they are making progress when solving a difficult problem.
To make sure they are getting this feedback, ask yourself these questions:
What does it mean to make progress in my game or puzzle?

• The visual environment changes from a forest to a more industrial setting
• The character of the puzzles changes from (involving classical mechanics, animals, etc.) to puzzles which make use of technology such as electricity or gravity-inversion.
• The difficulty of the puzzles gets slightly harder in the course of the game
• Besides those aspects, we don’t feel progress. For example, the character does not learn

Game: League of Legends
Game Type: MOBA
Players: 5 v 5

League Of Legends

Opinions on the game

League of Legends (LoL) is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, inspired by the mod Defense of the Ancients for the video game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

League of Legends was the most played PC game in North America and Europe in terms of the number of hours played. As of January 2014, over 67 million people play League of Legends per month, 27 million per day, and over 7.5 million concurrently during peak hours. Currently, it has become one of the most played in Asia as well as the World Champions being Asians previously (TAIWAN).

The main game’s objective is to destroy the last structure on the classic map, the enemies’ “Nexus”. Other maps have differences in the rules and objectives, such as the map “Dominion” where the team’s Nexus will lose health when the opposing team has at least three of the five towers in their control.

This game is frequently compared with its counterpart DOTA. However, it is different from DOTA in many ways. Some of the ways are:

1. Different mechanics
2. Bushes along the lanes that hide heros
3. Dragon that is similar to Roshan in DOTA but weaker
4. No “Denying”
5. Heroes are bought instead of free to play
6. Weekly free Heroes
7. Masteries outside of the game itself to allow players to customize how their heroes play.

Lens

1. The Lens of Surprise

The mechanics of ganking and how the players utilises the spells on each characters to their benefit will surprise players when they play my game. Bushes along the lanes will allow players to hide from enemies to suprise each other. There is also Fog of War that only allow the player to see what is around his character or his team. Since this is a MOBA, different players can use their creatively to surprise the players themselves

2. The Lens of Skill vs. Chance

This is usually a more serious game as there are 5 people playing and if you
spoil the game it might result in spoiling the game for everyone else. Hence this is a game

Team Fight

where the player should have a certain level of skill. However, there is always a custom games where players can train to play. The game is also tedious as there are lots of tatics to follow and adhere to. Adding more elements of chance does not enliven it as many believe this game to be based on skills. However, there are still some elements of chances that will surprise the players like % of stun chance.

3. The Lens of Cooperation 

I AM SUPPORT

This game focuses on team work to win and accomplish the mission. Each team has 5 players and there are different roles in the team (Carry, Support, 1Tanker) which makes a critical role in team fights. Each roles have different abilities to support, carry or tank in which they assist each other in team fights. For example, a Support Class Hero Soraka can heal her allies in battle by using her ultimate(Wish).

4. The Lens of Essential Experience

In this game, the essential experience that it provides to the players is the challenge of mixing up the skills and trying to predict the opponents moves and working together as a team to achieve the goal of the game.

5. The Lens of Time

Victory

The length of the gameplay is determined by the status of the game. Only
when the team is able to defeat the other teams Nexus will the game end.
Hence, some player might be frustrated if this game drags too long due to the
difficulty of destroying the opponent’s nexus.