Game Analysis Worksheet: TEMPLATE

Summary

• IN ONE TO TWO SENTENCES, DESCRIBE WHAT GAME YOU ANALYZED FOR THIS PROJECT AND WHY YOU CHOSE IT
• DELETE ALL OF MR. LE DUC’s ALL UPPERCASE INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE

Game Play Analysis

Formal Elements	Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive open world RPG
The Basics	It gud game
Name of the game	Cyberpunk 2077
The platform	Xbox 1s (DO NOT PLAY IT ON AN XBOX)
Time played (should be at least 30 minutes)	5 hours (sorry)
If you could work on this game (change it), what would you change and why?	Work on the issues with it not being compatible with lower gen consoles (its a buggy mess)
Players	Single player
How many players are supported?	for now only 1 but multiplayer is coming out in a year
Does it need to be an exact number?	Yes you cant play the game if you are not playing the game
How does this affect play?	As a single player game, It is more character driven experience where you make choices not friends.
Objectives/Goals	Wake the (CENSORED) up samurai, we got a city to burn
What are the players trying to do?	Progress as a mercenary in Night city
Rules/Mechanics	I could spend 9 hours here but to be short, as a player you can do anything, see a tv hack the tv, see the bad guy shoot the bad guy.
Controls	Standard Xbox controls very responsive and comfy
What controls are used?	All buttons are used
Was there a clear introductory tutorial?	Very the tutorial is also very funny
Were they easy to understand or did you find yourself spamming the controller?	Very easy for me to understand but i have been gaming for 13 years now
Resources & Resource Management	Very important if you go into a gun fight without any healing or bullets ye be dead
What kinds of resources do players control?	Ammo weapons, Buffs, clothing, gear, cybernetics, car, ect
How are they maintained during play?	The player can manage their inventory by using the very easy sorting system
What is their role?	To provide help to the player while he burns Night city
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	buggy mess
How much information in the game state is visible to the player?	a lot, you can even see the local politics of the game on TV which changes every day depending on your actions or the AIs
Sequencing	good
In what order do players take their actions?	how ever they want to, open world open mind
How does play flow from one action to another?	very well it is like a slide but with more death
Player Interaction	all the time the smallest choice can effect an entire mission
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.
Theme & Narrative	Futuristic/punk like
Does it have an actual story structure?	yes
Is it based on a historical event (or similar)?	inspired at the begging but after that its all made up
Does the theme or narrative help you know how to play?	yes it creates important decisions
Does it have emotional impacts?	yes very much so, if my best friend in game dies im going to snap my xbox in half, (this is a in game character)
Also, look for en media res (does it start in the middle of the game)?	yes
The Elements in Motion	NOTES
How do the different elements interact?	Like butter its really impressive
What is the gameplay like?	Beautiful I feel like im there
Is it effective?	very much so
Are there any points where the design choices break down?	yes with xbox issues and it not able to take the game
Design Critique	NOTES
Why did the designer make these particular choices?	Because the game needed it
Why this set of resources?	the game is built on story not action RP is this game
What if they made different decisions?	I would not play it
Does the design break down at any point?	sometimes, again lag and bugs are everywhere
Graphics & Sound	NOTES
Does the game art pair well with the mechanics?	YES ITS AMAZING
Did you find any bugs or glitches?	plenty
What about sound?	Oh my the effects are so good
Can you spot any technical shortcuts?	not from my research
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:	Keep an eye out for everything the smallest thing could change an entire story.
What challenges do you face, and how do you overcome them?	With your brain, you have to think to survive no help at all
Is the game fair?	No if you lack logic and the thirst to explore go back to a more liner game
Is it replayable? Are there multiple paths to victory or optional rules that can change the experience?	the game has 9 different endings as far as i know, and 3 different stories each 20 hours long.
What is the intended audience?	RP and true gamers
What is the core, the one thing you do over and over, and is it fun?	My god for me the guns, very very impressive gun play it so en joyful i spent all my in game cash on ammo and wasted it shooting targets

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
  • raphkoster.com/2014/01/06/how-i-analyze-a-game/
• Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers
• Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals by Katie Salen

Mr. Le Duc’s Game Analysis Resources

• Diigo.com Game Analysis Links
• YouTube Game Analysis Playlist

COPY AND PASTE ALL THE CONTENT BELOW

“Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner” by classic film scans is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Analysis gave me great freedom of emotions and fantastic confidence. I felt I had served my time as a puppet.”

Hedy Lamarr

SUMMARY

• This week so far i have turned in my GTD and late work

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

• This week I learned the importance of having a game that is compatable with older gen hardware, my experience playing Cyberpunk 2077 has been a lot of fun! but my console is about to die because of it

“The successful free to play games are selling positive emotions. Not content.” – Nicholas Lovell

“It should be the experience, that is touching. What I strive for is to make the person playing the game the director.” – Shigeru Miyamoto

SUMMARY

• During this week we cover coding and learning to work in teams on the same project.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

Construct 3 – Javascript

• This week on SoloLearn I worked with variables and learning to input them.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

MDA Notes

• Mechanics
• Dynamics
• Aesthetics
• MDA is a formal approach to game design and research
• It is a way for easy construction and work between the developer and the consumer

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

• According to Wikipedia:
  • Mechanics are the base components of the game – its rules, every basic action the player can take in the game, the algorithms and data structures in the game engine etc.
  • Dynamics are the run-time behavior of the mechanics acting on player input and “cooperating” with other mechanics.
  • Aesthetics are the emotional responses evoked in the player.

Brainstorm Ideas for Each of the Eight Categories

1. Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure): The player enjoys memorable audio-visual effects.
   • A rank up sound games like Call Of duty have always had the classic rank up sound in each title, when that sound is heard it is always remembered as a challenge completed
2. Fantasy (Game as make-believe): Imaginary world.
   • Personally i have always been a sucker for futuristic games, Star Citizen is a personal favorite
3. Narrative (Game as drama): A story that drives the player to keep coming back
   • Games that have multiple endings depending on the choices of the player are the best or games that never end at all. Cyberpunk 2077 has 4 endings so far that have been discovered, at the beginning if a player makes one choice it can lead to him having 2 hours of fighting instead of 1 or none
4. Challenge (Game as obstacle course): Urge to master something. Boosts a game’s replay ability.
   • challenges and added DLCs to be released after the game comes out
5. Fellowship (Game as social framework): A community where the player is an active part of it. Almost exclusive for multiplayer games.
   • Place idea here…
6. Discovery (Game as uncharted territory): Urge to explore the game world.
   • Ghost Recon (Breakpoint) is a perfect example, in this game you must explore in order to continue the game, you build your own story and have to make decision that could end it or progress it every place and thing that you do.
7. Expression (Game as self-discovery): Own creativity. For example, creating a character resembling player’s own avatar.
   • Character customization is always important i feel like it is a way for the player to express themselves in the game cough couch Fallout 4 cough cough
8. Submission (Game as pastime): Connection to the game, as a whole, despite of constraints.
   • To be a good game a player needs to be connected to it, when I play Titanfall 2 I feel like i am there, i can feel the movement of my character through my controller and hear the sounds around me, I have played that game for 4 years now and it still never gets old.

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY, PRODUCTIVITY & THE BRAIN)

• Work, its interesting we always talk about working. But in some aspect we never do,

STUDIO (CREATIVITY)

• Construct 3 is an amazing piece of coding software, it works really well for me because of my limitations while using a Chromebook.

CONTROL ROOM (PRODUCTION)

• Using this, I can work with a team and others on the same project or projects, coding is much more fun with friends!

WHAT I LEARNED and PROBLEMS I SOLVED

• I need to stop procrastinating on my work, I do it far too often and I cant figure out why. I solved many issues with work this week and coding.

WEEKLY ACTIVITY EVALUATION

• This weeks work was very fun and eventful i enjoyed it a lot