Monthly Archives: February 2019

Alto’s Odyssey

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Alto’s Odyssey is a nice mobile game available on both Android and iOS. It is the finalist of 2019 Independent Game Festival under excellence of visual art and excellence of audio.

The game is about an endless sandboarding adventure. The background is a beautiful and ever-changing natural landscape. The player has to jump to cross the obstacles and cliffs along the way. It is designed to be enjoyed by returning player and newcomers alike.

The next adventure awaits

Link to the game: http://www.altosodyssey.com

Lens 1: Essential Experience

The essential experience of Odyssey is to expand and build upon the feelings of being alone to an adventure in nature. Besides, it also encourages the player to step out of their comfort zone to explore the beyond of the world. This kind of experience is achieved by the fluid physics-based actions of the sandboarding, procedurally changed backgrounds, dynamic lighting and weather effects, and the beautiful background audio.

 

Lens 2 & 3: Suprise & Fun

Odyssey surprises player along the way with various natural phenomena and wildlife. The player has to jump. During the jump, the player can enjoy the fluid physics-based action in the air. Besides, the player can also control the body to land fluidly and successfully.

Lens 4: Curiosity

Odyssey offers the player with a small screen into a much bigger world, through the endless sandhill and procedurally changed backgrounds. The game tries and boils down the essence of immersion. It wants to offer a place where the player can escape.

Lens 5: Endogenous Value

Along the way, the player can collect coins for a higher point. The coins are placed creatively to encourage the players to jump and control the body accordingly. Sometimes it also leads players to a second way to do sandboarding rather than on the sandhill.

Mechanics:

The procedure of Odyssey is quite simple. As the player is on an endless sandboarding adventure, player just need to tap to jump over the obstacles or cliff and hold to control the body before landing. There will be several goals for player to accomplish at each level. The game is over when the player fail to jump over the obstacle or cliff. With the collected coins, the player can buy some special packages to help recover from the death or delay the timer and so on. The game is easy to learn but difficult to master.

Aesthetics:

Odyssey has built a beautiful polygon wild world. The world is expanding endlessly through a small window. Environments is changing accordingly. The background audio matches the action of player, which helps the player to be immersed inside the wild world and control the actions better. It has received critical acclaim as a “piece of interactive art”.

Story:

Odyssey is mainly about adventure. While the world is expanding procedurally through the small window, the player is encouraged to explore and continue this endless adventure.

Technology:

Odessey is designed in Unity 3D, and then taps into Metal 2 for iOS. The game is now available on both Android and iOS. Besides, the game is well achieved with a silky 60 frame-per-second. Metal 2 allows much more access to the GPU compared with OpenGL. During the game, the view never stutters or shakes.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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Image result for witcher 3 screenshot

After completing The Witcher 3 I felt a deep loss. I truly became its protagonist Geralt of Rivia; and by the time a legendary career of slaying monsters had come to an end, it was as if a chapter of my own life had ended as well.

A Witcher is a genetically modified professional monster killer. The game follows Geralt on his various quests and contracts, and the friends (and many foes) encountered on the way.

Official gameplay:

Official website: https://thewitcher.com/en/witcher3

The Lens of Surprise:

Geralt is only compensated for contracts on specific monsters, however, other monsters are uninclined to leave you alone as you explore or transit through the open world. Some of your greatest bouts will start running into a dark swamp ill-prepared and low on health. Contracts themselves can often be much more complicated than initially presented. A degree of adaptability and creativity is needed to be successful in quests.

As per typical in role-playing games, characters accumulate new skills and hone existing ones with time. Geralt’s are physical and combat oriented at first, however more magical and mysterious as the game progresses.

The story is also filled with twists and turns. We begin the game looking for an ashen-haired girl who is later revealed to be Geralt’s long lost adopted daughter Ciri – an incredibly powerful young Witcher.

The Lens of Fun:

An obvious source of entertainment is the freedom of choice we posses within the game, furthermore – being able to see the consequences of said choices manifest in plot changes, Geralt’s relationships and available contracts.

Isolated situations are also uniquely thrilling. Awesome fight progressions and visceral combat options make for an intoxicating interactive experience. The exhilaration of facing danger and ordinarily impossible feats is achieved perfectly.

The Lens of Unification:

The world (The Continent) is fictitious, yet the setting greatly resembles a Dark-Age-like time period. Playing as Geralt in this environment is a cohesive and holistic experience. His clothing and weaponry are thematically accurate and even supporting and background characters have nuanced attires and dialects depending on where you are in The Continent. Whether it be on an island in Skellige or in a quaint tavern in Novigrad, your surroundings are detailed and consistent.

The lore in the world is also very detailed, this becomes apparent as you venture to farther lands and collect a wealth of information on the places, people and creatures you encounter. This attention to detail in both the visual non-visual realms of game design create a foundation for the exciting but, importantly, convincing narrative.

The Lens of the Player:

This game is more than entertainment. The enchanting element is its ability to make its players feel powerful and important. Many look to manufactured fantasies when reality is mundane or disappointing. The more believable the fantasy, the greater the escape.

In The Witcher 3, you are Geralt: a powerful and confident man, known the world over for your bravery, strength and success. You are held in high regard by your peers who reside with you in the great castle Kaer Morhen.

Fun is an ultimately superficial lens, achieved by the most trivial games. The degree of control you have over your life in The Witcher compared to (for argument’s sake) the lack of control you have over your own is an irresistible trade. In the game, a player can be seen and heard as they intend; Pursue travel and career risk and romantic relationships with very literally, just the press of a button.

The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad:

The Witcher 3 exemplifies the axioms of good game design. We are drawn into the game by hyper-realistic character and world aesthetics, a thematically complete universe of which we are the centre. A captivating and malleable story with seamless gameplay maintains our emotional investment in the game.

The game was created with the REDengine 3, CD Projekt Red’s game engine specifically designed for nonlinear open world role-playing video games. The engine runs on top of both 32 and 64-bit Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Image result for witcher 3 wallpaper