Unit 13 - Game Genres
Genre Specific Mechanics
RPG:
- Creation of own character
- Questing
- Inventory Management
- Crafting
Fantasy:
- Based on fiction
- Contains supernatural or mythological beings
Horror:
- Dark, dystopic environments
- Implementation of scares, mainly jumpscares
MMO:
- Always playing with or against real opponents
- Normally a large world to play in
Shooter:
- Guns, other sorts of weapons
- First or third person
- Simulates battle
Racing:
- Competitive
- Play to win
- Customisation of vehicles
Strategy:
- Difficult opponents, makes you think
- Play to attack or defend objectives as efficiently as possible
- Resource Management
- Strategic/Tactical Deployment
- Real Time/Turn Based
Puzzle:
- Problem Solving
- Thinking outside the box to solve unique conundrums
- Often Physics/Logic Based
Action:
- Fast Paced
- Requires Hand-Eye Coordination
- Quick Reflexes
Adventure
- Puzzle Solving
- Exploration
- Item Selection/Inventory Management
Simulation
- Simulating a real life experience
- Development of Entities i.e. Cities
Key Gameplay Design Elements
- Core gameplay mechanics e.g. jump height
- Goals, Challenges and Rewards
- Progression
- Balance and Flow
- Fair and Unfair Player Punishment
- Secrets and Easter Eggs
- Replay Value
- Target Audience, Key Demographics
Comparison of Two Games Within the Same Genre
Games Chosen:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks, 2011)
Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The image to the left is a screenshot of a fight in Skyrim. This immediately tells us that this is a fantasy game, because you are fighting a dragon, a fantastical being that (hopefully) only exists in stories. This game clearly takes place in a more primitive world, the usage of the axe is a clue that tells us this, however its intricate designs and use against a dragon seems to tell us that in this world weapon craftsmanship is as good as if not better than that seen in the real world. There is no HUD present, this could be to give the players a more immersive environment, as if they were actually fighting the dragon and have to rely on their skill alone. The age rating for Skyrim is 18+, as it has alot of violence and examples of drug and alcohol abuse.
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII on the other hand, is a much different kind of fantasy game. It has less than realistic graphics and a more colourful art style, paired with more unique and less terrifying enemies along with a different style of combat. Instead of real-time combat it's turn based, allowing the player to stop and think about their next move to try and formulate a strategy, rather than instantly being thrust into the action Skyrim has to offer.
Final Fantasy has a different rating to Skyrim, being Teen (presumably 14+) this is a far cry from the more violent game of Skyrim, even though both have constant fight scenes and a combat system.
4 Game Mechanics
The game I played and am deriving my 4 mechanics from is Fallout 4. There are mechanics featured which are unique to the game series alone, but it does share similar mechanics with other games.
Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S)
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System is a unique form of combat which allows players to slow down time and select what part of the body they wish to attack. The numbers featured are percentage chances (out of 100) on whether or not you will hit what you are aiming at. This is optional in combat, and requires AP (Action Points) which are used for many things, including V.A.T.S, and sprinting. If you choose not to engage in V.A.T.S you will fight in real-time and will have to rely on your aiming skill alone.
Settlement Building
The settlement building system allows players to take control of one of many locations created by Bethesda and build on it to your hearts content. The only limits are your imagination, where you can place things, and how many things you can place in a single settlement. Settlements can have as many people as 10 plus your current charisma stat, and your goal is to keep the happiness as high as possible, because if it gets to 0 then you can no longer control that settlement. The key to keeping them happy is having at least the same amount of food, water and defense rating as the amount of settlers currently in the settlement, but it is better to keep the defense high and a higher amount of food and water. On top of this, each settler needs a bed which has a roof over it, otherwise there is a happiness penalty, regardless of beds, they have to be covered. Resources are also required for you to build, like wood and steel for objects made out of this material respectively. Like in the picture, items and/or buildings/rooms selected are bright green, and if you move it to somewhere it cannot be placed, it highlights in red. They also snap together, making building easier, but, I've also found this can make precise building a real pain in the ass.
Companions
In Fallout 4, the player can travel with a number of companions, but only one at a time. The most iconic companion is of course Dogmeat, your trusty canine companion whom you meet very close to the start of the game. These companions each have affinity, which means they like and dislike certain things you do. These are different for every companion, but if you do enough things that they dislike, eventually they will decide not to travel with you. At some point they will hate you so much that you are able to kill them, permanently eliminating them from your game. Outside of this, they cannot be killed, but if they are injured enough they go down for a small amount of time. Either they get up on their own after this time has elapsed, or you can use a stimpak to heal them and pick them up instantly. If you reach the highest affinity with a companion, you can gain a bonus perk unique to them. Some of the companions are also romanceable, meaning if you reach the highest affinity with them you can fall in love, and they will give you the "Lover's Embrace" perk if you sleep with them nearby. Dogmeat is the only companion who doesn't have affinity. Originally it seems you were supposed to be able to travel with a companion and Dogmeat at the same time, but this game feature was removed for some unknown reason. However, since Fallout 4 is highly moddable, you are able to get a mod that allows you to travel with Dogmeat and a companion seamlessly.
Weapon & Armour Customisation
The weapon and armour customisation in Fallout is a system based around specific parts of weapons and their functions. For example, the barrel of a gun can be lengthened to increase its range, essentially converting it into a form of sniper rifle, as seen in the picture attached. Also in the picture, you can see that the stock and handle are highlighted in green. This is because the stock has been selected for modification, which allows you to do one of many things, for example improve the quality of the stock, reducing recoil, or you could remove the stock entirely, which converts the rifle into a pistol. The sights are also customisable, the higher the quality the better the accuracy and range. Using iron sights shortens these, while using long scopes and/or night vision scopes gives more visibility, range and accuracy.
Fallout 4
Genre: Action, RPG
The reason why it is categorised as an action game is down to the extensive use of weapons and fighting to progress through the game. Generally guns are used, but they have many subtypes alongside the large amount of melee weaponry that can be utilised for brutal efficiency close up.
However, it is also named as a role-playing game. This is because of the setting. It’s set in the far future, after a nuclear holocaust destroyed humanity, leaving only a small amount taking shelter in underground bunkers known as “Vaults”. Fallout 4 in particular focuses on a parent whose child was taken from them during a cryogenic sleep. They wake up years after prepared to go after their child, fighting their way through the remnants of Boston now known as 'The Commonwealth' to eventually find their child and be reunited with them.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Fantasy, open-world, RPG
This is classed as a fantasy game, mainly because it includes fantastical creatures such as dragons, and beings with assorted magical powers, the main character is a prime example of this. The RPG factor comes in from the highly customisable player character, their face, body, armour, clothes and weapons.
Super Mario Bros.
Genre: Platformer
This is classed as a platformer because the game is played from a side-on perspective, observing the main character from afar and controlling him as such. It utilises combat mechanics in the form of jumping on enemies and flattening them.
Rogue Legacy
Genre: Roguelike, platformer
Rogue Legacy is depicted as a roguelike platformer game. This is mainly due to, once again, a camera angle like the one seen in Super Mario Bros. It involves the player exploring a randomly generated dungeon and defeating the four unique bosses in their own environments and then progressing onto the final boss fight.
Describing Game Features in Relation to Their Genre
| Game Genre | Game Title | Key Elements | Example | Notes |
| Strategy | Bloons Tower Defense 4 |
Combat Controls Graphics NPCs/Enemies |
Combat: Protect an objective by strategically placing turrets and other means of defence. Controls: Mouse only, place down and upgrade turrets by clicking. Move turrets before placing by moving mouse. Graphics: Simple, cartoon-esque graphics, bright colours. NPCs/Enemies: Balloons, no complex enemy or means to defeat them, no backstory present. ------------------------------------------- |
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| Puzzle | Home Story: 1971 |
Controls NPCs Replay Value Graphics |
Controls: Point & Click NPCs: Parents (unseen), simple dialogue Replay Value: For a simple brain teaser, this game can deliver, but isn't really more than a play once then never again type game. Graphics: Hand drawn, simplistic art style, blocks of colour, light, sort of washed out. ------------------------------------------- |
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| Hybrid Game: | Sports/Puzzle |
Controls Difficulty Replay Value |
Controls: Drag mouse to determine angle/force of shot. Click to fire ball. Difficulty: Definitely tricky. Hard to plot the right speed and angle for the shot, but once you get the hang of it, things get a little easier. If you miss a shot you restart from the beginning. Replay Value: It's mindless, something you can do to pass the time, so absolutely replay-able. |
Has a mathematical feel to it, to work out the right angle and speed you need to plot your shot.
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Comparison of Game Maps from Different Genres
The picture attached is the map from the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The map is cleanly split up into different areas, with the names of said areas in large easy to see font. Smaller towns and places located in these areas are labelled in smaller text. Each part of the map is coloured in different ways, the more southern parts being brown, and the more northern parts being white. This is most likely to give us an idea of the climates in these different parts of the map, and do bear some relation to the names of the areas. There are small details like mountains valleys and rivers all over the map, telling us about some of the possible environments present in these areas. The map itself has a key, which elaborates on the colouring in the map, confirming that these colours do indeed tell us what kind of environment is in those areas, and what kind of climate and weather we can expect.
On the other hand, the map for Slender: The Arrival is a lot simpler. Looking almost hand drawn, it lays everything out in a clear, easy to read format, showing us the main pathways and the multiple sites we can venture to. It also shows us the starting points we can spawn at, a unique feature not featured in many other games, mostly because of their genre or how the game is engineered to play.
Brief Synopsis of My Game
- Fantasy
- Character has Companion
- Companion is one of the last surviving Detriates (det-ree-ates), a mystical species capable of incredible feats of magic
- Detriates are similar to Zal from Prince of Persia The Fallen King
- Player's gender can be selected
- Player is a ranger trainee, already capable of tracking, unseen movement (to a certain degree), basic archery skills, using, wielding and throwing a knife in combat, advanced survival skills.
- These skills can be increased upon when practicing
PLOT
- The player's Master, the ranger teaching them (The Wraith to most, Harry to his friends) has been sent out on a quest as protection detail to the King, his majesty, Duncan, Leaving the Player in their cottage, expected to continue practicing.
- When the player is given a letter for Harry, they disobey the request to not read it, as Harry won't be back for another two weeks.
- The letter asks Harry to seek out the Lord Jones, whose daughter is a childhood friend of the players. It bears important news essential to the negotiations between their kingdom, Dairgarda, and the neighboring kingdom of Schleitland (Shh-light-land). Seeing this as urgent news, the player sets off south, to Lord Jones' castle, Castle Solas.
- However, once they get there, the player finds the castle in a state, with the great maple doors broken out of their frame, a lot of valuables gone and a note, placed right on the seat of Lord Jonas' throne, asking Duncan for a ransom "worth all the gold in yer coffers and then some"
- The player rushes off to the border between Dairgarda and Scheitland, looking for Harry, for Duncan, for anyone. But they are over the border, and the player has no pass to go over. In dismay, the player starts wandering back to Jones' castle, looking for any signs of the two nobles and their staff.
- Stupid! The player scolds themselves for remembering that every ransom note always has a location... "The Scar". Oh. Well that's a problem.
- The Scar is a giant crevice in the earth, which acts as a natural border between Dairgarda and the Nightlands, where cruel creatures lurk, fear is omnipotent and the Lord of Darkness waits.
- Mustering up great courage, the player ventures back to Jonas' castle anyway, for supplies. There he finds a secret entrance to a cave under the castle, where he finds Scáth, a remnant of the Detriates, who was attracted to the scent of Jones' magic and had been hiding in the caves for over a decade, regaining strength. He wishes to help, for he has no ill will toward the player and his kingdom.
- So, the player and Scáth set off for The Scar, where they hope to find Jones and Evalyn, his daughter.
- Luckily, the men who kidnapped Jones were only mercs, and had decided to set up camp right on the edge of The Scar, a strategic point where they couldn't be taken by surprise from behind, due to there being no way to cross.
- The player and Scáth free Jones and Evalyn and return to Duncan's castle, Castle Dair, where he finds a very angry and worried Harry, The King, and of course, a right telling off.
- Duncan rewards the player with the symbol of a Ranger, and even though his training isn't over Duncan, Harry and Jones agree the player deserved it. Scáth decides to join Dairgarda, as a guardian and soldier for any conflicts. Evalyn expresses her delight in seeing the player again, and she and Jones return home, where there's an awful lot of cleaning to do.
Your family has seen it all. Your Great Grandfather fought in WW2. Your Grandfather and Father both had a hand in fighting WW3. The apocalypse has been and gone, and now you've grown up. But, your shelter has been compromised. Its basic life support and food creation is running out, leaving you and your family just over a year left. With your Grandfather too old to go out and fight, your Father decided to brave the horrors of the Underworld alone, to find salvation. The surface air is too toxic, and far more dangerous than the Underworld, so that is the only option. He's been missing for 6 and a half months now, leaving your family's months numbered. In a last ditch attempt to save everyone, you decide to volunteer to look for both, your father and a means to stay alive in the harsh reality of the Underworld. Navigating the tunnels, sewers, rooms and long forgotten places from before the Great War, it's all about survival in your quest to find the only things that can save yourself, your father and your entire family.
Game Name: Life Under Earth: A Tale of Survival
Peer Feedback
Below is the feedback I got from my peers when they viewed a design for my games map.
What Went Well
Nice Environment Created (Good Pixel Art Skills).
Map Fits the Game Genre.
Map is very well designed for Genre.
The map is very detailed. Fits in with the Genre.
Wide variety of different levels that have very similar layouts.
Simple design that fits the brief of the game.
The map is very well designed.
Even Better If
Make More Assets
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Include Interactive Assets
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Try to include in game objects (Simple Concept Designs)
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You could maybe add in different paths so it’s not just a select way that you have to take to get to the end, but make the keys the place it far places.
Sprite Sheet
Below are a few drawings/concepts for some sprites I'm using in my games.
A quick write-up about my Sprites:
- Nemean Lion Skin - Impenetrable. Unbreakable. Wearable! This is the best armour in the game.
- Boomerang - As comical as these may sound, boomerangs are powerful, when thrown they go in a long orbit around the player, regardless of movement, dealing damage as it moves, Multiple ones can be thrown, and if the player has high enough stats, they can surround themselves with them.
- Golden Fleece - Grants full health + Regen, permanent health boost. Incredibly rare and hard to find. Found in "Paradise?"
- Rat - Sewer Friend, the rat is a permaperk that follows the player around, occasionally dealing damage to enemies and blocking hits.
- Apple of Discord - Actually just a radioactive apple which glows, this grants the player a huge luck boost, normally maxing it out.
- PotatOS - By combining Tek-7 and the Potato (Simply by having both in the player's inventory) PotatOS is the result. A follower that is quicker and does more damage than Tek-7, and occasionally makes sassy remarks with the voice of its inspiration (and straight up rip off) GLaDOS. Speaking of GLaDOS, she rarely drops PotatOS when her boss battle is beaten.
- Tek-7 - A metal ball that follows the player around and deals damage to nearby enemies.
- Potato - Won in the GLaDOS boss battle, the potato does... nothing. Until you get or already have Tek-7.
- Element 115 - A gift from some psychopathic German doctor who claims he's from the past, this element is unlike any other seen on Earth, even after the Apocalypse. It grants the user god-like abilities that are as yet unknown, and it allows the user to walk past lost souls safely and completely unnoticed. However, prolonged exposure can have terrible effects, slowing the user down, decreasing their range and in some extreme cases, killing them.
- Tartarus Portal - Not actually an item, but the concept for a portal to a hellish dimension.
- Trash Can Lid - Named so because this game takes place in America, this adds a small defense rating to the players stats.
- Light Disc - Based on the identification discs from Tron, the light disc has the same function as the boomerang, but does more damage.
- Slingshot - Default weapon, very low damage, 5 shot kill on mutos, almost ineffective against everything else. Luckily, it can be replaced very early on in the game.
- Wheel of Misfortune - Bit more common than the Wheel of Fortune, this has a high chance of a less powerful item being given, but 75% chance of a good power up, such as x2 health, x2 damage, or rarely an extra life. However, a random stat is deducted if another is boosted.
- Wheel of Fortune - Reroll items found in rooms to something random, high chance of good item.
- Soul of the Damned - Fighting enemies and gaining items charge the Soul, when fully charged it can be used for 10 seconds of health regen.
- Strange Paw - Gives you what you have least of to equalize with highest amount of items possessed. Can be used once.
- The D20 - Buffs stats when rolled with 11 and above, reduces stats when rolled with 10 and below. Can be used twice.
- Portal Gun - This will grant the player free access to the next level without needing to defeat the boss on the current level. It can be kept for later use, but only used once. Found in the Aperture Science Testing Chambers. DOESN'T WORK ON LAST TWO BOSSES.
- Herbal Tea - Permanently gives the player another heart.
- Coffee - Increases the player's range, not their speed.
- Skull - Temporary strength when used, slight damage reduction when first obtained. Permanently buffed if/when father is found.
- Deck of Cards - Shuffles all the items on and around the player. Can be used three times.
- Energy Drink - When drank, the player is given an increase in their speed stat. Helpful if used after the Toxic Waste.
- Toilet Paper - Removes all buffs and debuffs once per level. Can be used four times only.
- Four Leaf Clover - Gives the player a luck boost.
- The Shroom... - Gives the player a random buff or debuff.
- Toxic Waste - When used, the player is given a strength boost, but also has a slowness effect for 5 levels.
- 1Up? - 50/50 chance to either give the player another life, or remove half of their health. Scales with luck.
- 1Up! - Gives the player another life.
- Laser Gun (Supercharged) - I was originally going to call this the "Super Deadly Extreme Damage-Dealing Unbelievable Gun of Overpowering Bossness" but that seems like quite the mouthful, so I decided to just supercharge a laser pistol and leave it at that. Incredible damage, it can only be gotten from a 3% chance of the laser gun transforming when the player jumps through the Tartarus Portal. 1-2 shots everything.
- Laser Gun - Obviously not as powerful as its counterpart, this thing still clears out entire rooms in 3-4 shots, and takes maybe 10 shots to kill... lets say... a lower level boss?
- Flintlock Pistol - Common, but not useless. When you start the game, this pistol is your best friend. It kills things quickly, and looks good doing so.
- Scrap Metal - Basic armour fashioned from scraps foraged from all around.
A lot of the sprites do have small animations, which I may implement into the game, or leave as a concept for a more fleshed out animation.
The majority of these items can be found randomly either in rooms or chests, or even from bosses. Combine different ones to see what you get!