P2
ALL GAMES SHARE THE SAME BASIC ELEMENTS:
ACTIONS
The activities players carry out in pursuit of the game's goals.
Actions are the things players get to do while playing a game.
RULES
The instructions for how the game works.
Rules define what players are able to do and just as importantly, what players cannot do.
GOALS
The outcomes players try to achieve through their play, wether they be measurable or purely experiential.
The actions and rules of a game makes more sense when we know the game's goal.
OBJECTS
The things players use to achieve the game's goals.
Objects are the things that players interact with during the game, as defined by the rules.
PLAYSPACE
The space, as defined by the rules, on which the game is played.
The playspace creates physical and conceptual relationships between objects.
PLAYERS
The operators of the game.
Players put the game into motion through their pursuit of the goals using actions and objects within the playspace, all governed by the game's rules.
STUCK IN THE MUD
ACTIONS - The player has to avoid the taggers and ensure that they are of a safe distance from them so that they don't get tagged. The players also needs to rescue those who have already been tagged.
RULES - You can't go outside the perimeter and you can't stay on the benches for more than 5 seconds. If you get tagged you have to stay frozen until someone else rescues you.
GOALS - Your goal as the player is to not get tagged by the taggers and ensure that you are rescuing the people who have been tagged.
OBJECTS - The only safe zone for the players are the benches, they can't leave the perimeter given by the game's host.
PLAYSPACE - The playspace is within the imaginary perimeter of the quad.
PLAYERS - The taggers have to tag the players, and the players have to escape the taggers.
TOMB RAIDER
CANABALT
GENRE
CORE MECHANIC DIAGRAM
TOMB RAIDER
CANABALT
GENRE
Canabalt fits in an indie, action, 'one-button' and endless running genre.
NARRATIVE/STORYLINE
Part of the concept is that you're meant to outrun some sort of carnage behind you. The game is set in some type of sci-fi apocalyptic context with a worn-down and industrialised backdrop.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
The game was produced in just five days as part of a monthly themed Experimental Gameplay Project. The goal of Canabalt is to "rip out the barrier of entry for those who don't normally play action games". The initial prototypes were just blocks, and the production team only involved two people - one was in charge of programming and art (Adam Saltsman- designer), the other had the responsibility of being the sound designer (Danny Baranowsky- composer) . The game was made in flash. The publishers for Flash and iOS was Semi-Secret Software, Beatshapers for PSP and Kittehface Software for Android and Ouya. Adam Saltsman wanted a game with a movie standard music.
CHARACTERS
The main character is a mysterious pixelated character in a suit -endlessly running due to an unknown reason.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay involves the player pressing one button (spacebar) to make their avatar (pixelated man in a suit) jump. There's only one button and their character is always running to the right. The obstacles are clear and obvious; there's rooftops and there's gaps between the rooftops, there will also be some minor obstacles that will block the runway for you. The aim is to gain a high score (set in metres). You either land on a rooftop or you fall and die.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The creator (Adam Saltman) wanted to create a game which he would find fun, yet still be accessible to other people who are more casual gamers,or those who aren't even gamers at all. It's a casual game with a broad appeal due to it's simple mechanics and because we don't know much about the character, it's very easy to identify with the characters.
PLATFORM
The creation of Canabalt has helped Adam Saltman's team to establish a relationship with Apple after it's arrival on the App Store for the iPhone and the iPad- which in turn has lead to an increase in their fanbase. It was developed initially as a web browser game- then it was quickly imported on mobile platforms such as Android and iOS.
DONKEY KONG
The creation of Canabalt has helped Adam Saltman's team to establish a relationship with Apple after it's arrival on the App Store for the iPhone and the iPad- which in turn has lead to an increase in their fanbase. It was developed initially as a web browser game- then it was quickly imported on mobile platforms such as Android and iOS.
DONKEY KONG
GENRE
Donkey Kong fits into the arcade, jump and run platform genre.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
A lovestruck gorilla absconds to the top of a construction site, with the pretties girl he sees, and her carpenter boyfriend has to come to her aid.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
After Nintendo's failed attempt at making 'Radar Scope' into a successful product within the U.S market, they were left with 2,000 arcade machines with very expensive hardware sitting in Nintendo's warehouse. The implications of their failed attempts at making a successful run with their previous game (Radar Scope) were potentially devastating. Nintendo could either give up and face financial ruin, or they could develop a conversion kit that would turn those units into something marketable.
Due to this and the fact that Nintendo was lean on experienced game developers, they placed Shigeru Miyamoto in charge of the project. Miyamoto had never designed a game before, but he had been doodling ideas for characters during his time in the company. Hiroshi Yamauchi (Nintendo's President) assured him his lack of technical skills would not be a problem. Miyamoto would have to simply give direction to the team at Ikegami Tsushinki (engineer and hardware manufacturer) and they would develop the game according to his ideas. Gunpei Yokoi (later known as the father of the Game Boy) would further guide Miyamoto on technical and design concerns.
Miyamoto did not approach game design the way that others did. Where most game at the time involved scenarios drawn from action movies (shoot-outs, race cars and intergalactic battles) Miyamoto wanted his game to feel like a comic strip come to life. Initially he had hoped to create a game based on Popeye and his perpetual battle with Bluto over his damsel in distress, Olive Oyl. Nintendo was unable to secure the license at the time so the designer superimpose the classic love triangle over a King Kong theme.
Miyamoto's methods of communication mirrored the comic medium he was inspire by. Like Sonic the Hedgehog designer, Hirokazu Yasuhara, he would draw pictures of scenarios on paper, each on a whimsical snapshot of how the game would feel. While jumping wasn't a new mechanic in games, Miyamoto envisions a character that would have to jump over hazards, onto moving platforms, and across gaps in a way that had never been done before. The action was just plain fun, funny, and fit perfectly with the game's light-hearted tone.
The game the two companies created communicated quite a bit without the need for words. The decision to show the giant ape as he scale the building's scaffolds, to show Pauline crying for help, and to show the gorilla's escape at the end of the level was a bold one at the time. Normally these things would just be implicit, but Miyamoto wanted to make sure the whole story, simple though it was, could be told on screen in a way that could be instantly grasped by players.
This allowed for an innovative multi-stage design that boasted four very distinctive screens of action with unique challenges, without confusing the objectives. Pauline was still near the top of the screen crying for help, and Mario's goal was clear. The desire to see the new levels, rather than just repeating the same one over an over again would motivate players, especially the more casual, to drop more quarters into the game in a way that just competing for high score never could.
Yamauchi immediately recognised that Miyamoto's game could be the one to save Nintendo's sinking American operation. He asked the designer to give the game an English title that Americans could relate to. Of course, Miyamoto knew very little English, so when he tried to look up for a word that would accurately convey his ape's stubbornness, he came up with the somewhat perplexing "Donkey Kong".
The game arrived just in time to save Nintendo's American division. The situation was so dire that the company's landlord, Mario Segale, had been coming around demanding the late rent payments owed to him. Arakawa though the moustachioed owner looked a bit like the hero of Miyamoto's game, so Jump-man was renamed to Mario in his honour.
Due to this and the fact that Nintendo was lean on experienced game developers, they placed Shigeru Miyamoto in charge of the project. Miyamoto had never designed a game before, but he had been doodling ideas for characters during his time in the company. Hiroshi Yamauchi (Nintendo's President) assured him his lack of technical skills would not be a problem. Miyamoto would have to simply give direction to the team at Ikegami Tsushinki (engineer and hardware manufacturer) and they would develop the game according to his ideas. Gunpei Yokoi (later known as the father of the Game Boy) would further guide Miyamoto on technical and design concerns.
Miyamoto did not approach game design the way that others did. Where most game at the time involved scenarios drawn from action movies (shoot-outs, race cars and intergalactic battles) Miyamoto wanted his game to feel like a comic strip come to life. Initially he had hoped to create a game based on Popeye and his perpetual battle with Bluto over his damsel in distress, Olive Oyl. Nintendo was unable to secure the license at the time so the designer superimpose the classic love triangle over a King Kong theme.
Miyamoto's methods of communication mirrored the comic medium he was inspire by. Like Sonic the Hedgehog designer, Hirokazu Yasuhara, he would draw pictures of scenarios on paper, each on a whimsical snapshot of how the game would feel. While jumping wasn't a new mechanic in games, Miyamoto envisions a character that would have to jump over hazards, onto moving platforms, and across gaps in a way that had never been done before. The action was just plain fun, funny, and fit perfectly with the game's light-hearted tone.
The game the two companies created communicated quite a bit without the need for words. The decision to show the giant ape as he scale the building's scaffolds, to show Pauline crying for help, and to show the gorilla's escape at the end of the level was a bold one at the time. Normally these things would just be implicit, but Miyamoto wanted to make sure the whole story, simple though it was, could be told on screen in a way that could be instantly grasped by players.
This allowed for an innovative multi-stage design that boasted four very distinctive screens of action with unique challenges, without confusing the objectives. Pauline was still near the top of the screen crying for help, and Mario's goal was clear. The desire to see the new levels, rather than just repeating the same one over an over again would motivate players, especially the more casual, to drop more quarters into the game in a way that just competing for high score never could.
Yamauchi immediately recognised that Miyamoto's game could be the one to save Nintendo's sinking American operation. He asked the designer to give the game an English title that Americans could relate to. Of course, Miyamoto knew very little English, so when he tried to look up for a word that would accurately convey his ape's stubbornness, he came up with the somewhat perplexing "Donkey Kong".
The game arrived just in time to save Nintendo's American division. The situation was so dire that the company's landlord, Mario Segale, had been coming around demanding the late rent payments owed to him. Arakawa though the moustachioed owner looked a bit like the hero of Miyamoto's game, so Jump-man was renamed to Mario in his honour.
CHARACTERS
The characters within the game are Donkey Kong, Mario and Pauline.
Initially Miyamoto had hoped to create a game based on Popeye and his perpetual battle with Bluto over his damsel in distress, Olive Oyl. Unfortunately Nintendo was not able to secure the license at that time so the designer superimposed the classic love triangle over a King Kong theme.
As for the games' title, Miyamoto looked to Japan and America's shared history of gigantic movie monsters- which lead them to King Kong, who was the biggest ape around.
However, Miyamoto thought that the character in the game was no king, and that the character was not only stubborn, but like Bluto, pretty stupid like an ass or a donkey. From then on, Donkey Kong was born.
As for the other characters, 'the lady' would be named Pauline- thanks to their warehouse manager; Don James, whose wife's name was Polly.
The game's hero however was named after the warehouse's owner (James' hot-headed boss) Mario Segale.
GAMEPLAY
Players have to direct the in-game avatar (Mario/jumpman) safely up a construction site to rescue the kidnapped lady (Pauline) - jumping over barrels and finding scattered hammers to clear away threats.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience for Donkey Kong at the time of it's creation was mainly the American arcade gamers. This was due to the fact that even though Nintendo found success in distributing their previous games within Japan, they were unable to re-create a similar success overseas in the U.S market.
PLATFORMS
Arakawa and his small team started hand-converting 'Radar Scope' cabinets to Donkey Kong machines. In 1981, Arakawa put the test machines in two Seattle bars - and they took off like Radar Scope never did; the machines earned more than 30 dollars a day in quarters. This prompted Arakawa to install more machines. Soon enough, the cabinets each made Nintendo 200 dollars a week. Arakawa and his team started converting the rest of the 2,000 Radar Scope cabinets by hand and started manufacturing hundreds of new Donkey Kong machines to keep up with the growing demand.
GENRE
TowerFall is an action indie video game created by Matt Thorson through his company Matt Makes Games. In the game, players control up to four archers in a battle royale.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
The world of TowerFall is a setting rich with history and lore ranging from centuries in the past to a future that occurs after the events seen in the game. The world of TowerFall compromises many areas whose inhabitants live under the rule of Kings, The main continent features a northern arctic zone, several mountain range and temperate forested areas and a vast desert in the east. The sparse southern continent is largely uninhabited though features several monuments and landmarks important to the history of TowerFall.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
TowerFall originated as a design created by Matt Thorson alongside Alec Holowka during the June 2012 Vancouver Full Indie Game Jam. They iterated through Legend of Zelda inspired gameplay centred around weapon combat. Archery became the focus of the gameplay and was designed to afford a sense of mastery to both experienced and inexperienced players. Medieval towers and castles were chosen as the setting for the game, inspired in part by the Game Of Thrones book series. Thorson had intended to send the game to Adult Swim to publish but choose to continue developing the game, expanding upon the version created during the game jam.
Thorson later moved into the Vancouver residence known as "Indie House", alongside Holowka and other game developers. It was there that the game received many hours of multiplayer testing and the competitive multiplayer aspect became the focus of the design. Thorson credits Super Smash Bros. and Bushido Blade as inspirations for the game's competitive nature. The game was exhibited at both PAX East and the Game Developers Conference in March, 2013 where it received its first public exposure.
Aiming to develop TowerFall into a full fledged release, Thorson sought the assistance of additional artists to improve the visuals and audio. MiniBoss developed the character and world designs and created the game's visuals, Alec Holowka composed the game's soundtrack and Power Up Audio created the game's sound effects.
After the increase exposure at PAX and GDC, Thorson entered into a exclusivity agreement with Ouya to release the game on the fledgling console. He felt that the Ouya was a good home for TowerFall because of the console's emphasis on the local multiplayer experience and it allowed him to continue development without the added pressure of releasing on a major console. TowerFall was first released on June 25, 2013 as an Ouya exclusive. It saw moderate success despite the console's relatively low install base.
Thorson later demoed the game at the Evolution Championship Series fighting game tournament in July, 2013 where he received praise and feedback for improving the game's competitive viability.
After the Ouya release, Thorson took time developing the game into a fuller package, stating plans to expand the single-player component. He later signed and exclusivity agreement to release the expanded TowerFall Ascension on PlayStation 4 and Steam after the Ouya exclusivity ended. The game was ported to XNA with assistance from Sickhead Games. The game was released on March 11. 2014 and featured a new co-op Quest mode, new un-lockable archers and stages, and a multitude of new power-ups and variants. Linus and OS X ports followed on May 29, 2014. Since its release, the game has received several minor updates improving performance and tweaking mechanics along with minor additions.
TowerFall Ascension was release on Ouya on August 28, 2014, after the PlayStation exclusivity period ended. It was available as a free update to those who had already purchased the previous version.
CHARACTERS
TowerFall: Ascension starts with four selectable characters: The Vigilante Thief (Green), The Turncloak Soldier (Orange), Last of the Order (Blue) and Assassin Prince (Pink).
GAMEPLAY
The game involves the player selecting one of the four archers and competing with others in an action fantasy type death match- killing their opponents through the use of arrows, explosives and jumping on them.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The game contains non-realistic looking violence towards characters which although human, are not very detailed. Therefore the content of the game is suitable for people aged 7 and above- with the game getting a PEGI 7 rating and an ESRB rating of 10+
PLATFORMS
The game is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, Android, Microsoft Windows, Ouya and Linux.
GENRE
Depressions Quest fits into the single-player, interactive fiction genre which involves the players using text commands to control characters and influence the environment/situation.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
Depression Quest is an interactive fiction game where you play as someone living with depression.You are given a series of everyday life events and have to attempt to manage your illness, relationships, jobs and possible treatment. The game shows to other sufferers of depression that they are not alone in their feelings- as well as to illustrate the concept of depression to people who may not understand the illness and the depths of what it can do to people.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
The game was designed by Zoe Quinn and written by Patrick Lindsey, both of whom have suffered from depression. The soundtrack was composed by Isaac Schankler. Quinn and Lindsey started the project, with the aim of communicating how the mind of a depression sufferer functions. Quinn purposely designed the game's protagonist as someone with an outwardly happy and easy life, so as to "pre-empt the argument that someone is only depressed because they have a difficult life".
Depression Quest was first released online as a web browser game on February 14th 2013. Quinn also submitted the game through Steam's Greenlight program and consequently received disparaging comments and hate mail, causing her to withdraw the game from the service. After receiving positive feedback from players who had played the game and receiving and invitation to Indiecade, she tried Greenlight again. She received further harassment, but felt that she could deal with the stress. "I thought, honestly, I could take the hate if it meant the game would reach somebody who be getting something out of it, feel less alone." Quinn stated.
The game was accepted by Greenlight in January 2014, and was released on Steam in August that year. The day it was due to go live, news broke that actor Robin Williams had died from a suspected suicide. Quinn considered delaying the Steam release, as she did not want to be seen as taking advantage of Williams' death. She eventually decided to keep to the original release schedule, as she thought that making the game available to those struggling with their own problems was more important than any negative publicity she might receive, writing, "I can't in good conscience hold back offering someone something that could help them start making real changes in their life for the sake of reducing the risk of offending people or hurting my own reputation."
The game uses a pay-what-you-want pricing model: it is free to play, but players can pay any amount they think is appropriate. Part of the proceeds from the game are sent to charity -initially iFred, but this was later changed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline after the game was released on Steam. The game has over 40,000 words of text, about 150 unique encounters, content generated based on the player's decisions as well as five different endings.
CHARACTERS
In the game, players assume the role of a person suffering through depression. You are also introduced to the character's girlfriend (Alex), the character's mother and brother- alongside other minor people along the way.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay involves the player assuming the role of a person suffering through depression. You are presented certain scenarios and given a bullet pointed list of choices that you can choose to take as a response to the situation in order to progress through to the next narrative.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The game's targeted audience are people who are suffering through depression as well as those who seek more information about it and the outcomes/consequences that come along with having the illness.
PLATFORMS
The game itself is available on browsers, Windows, OS X and Linux.
GENRE
Proteus is an open-ended, roleplaying, exploration-adventure game which allows its players explore a procedurally generated environment, without pre-determined goals.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
The game itself has no narrative (other than perhaps getting stranded on the island) - instead the player is not given any instructions or how to proceed, instead they are expected to explore the surroundings.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
British game designer Ed Key began work on Proteus in 2008 during his evenings and weekends, though the game only neared its final form when David Kanaga joined development in 2010. Key originally envisioned the game as a procedural role-playing game in the same vein as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in which the player would visit towns and complete quests. Realising the extent of the work that would be needed for such a game, the developers decided to instead make something "non-traditional and non-violent".
Key developed the game using a game engine he had written in the C# programming language. During and after development the developers expressed interest in allowing player-created mods of the game; some such modified versions of the game have since been created by the community. After David Kanaga joined the development team as audio composer, the audio mechanics were refined through the testing of many different ideas, such as allowing players to create their own music within the game. The ideas was cut because Key and Kanaga felt it would detract from the exploratory emphasis of the game and turn it into more of a creative tool.
Proteus was released on January 30th 2013 for Windows and OS X, and on April 8th of the same year for Linux. When pre-orders were open in 2012, and Artifact Edition was also available; a a version which included a boxed version of the game with artwork, the soundtrack, and notes on the game's development. Key apologised when the Artifact hadn't yet shipped at the end of its release year and offered to refund customers upon request. Th Artifact Edition was finally released in July 2016.
Around the time of the game's release, Curve Studios approached (and later worked with) the developers to port the game for release on Playstation 3 and Vita. These versions of the game use Curve Studio's own game engine. Sony requested that new features be added to the game, though Key said that the company never attempted to steer the direction of the development of these features. Key added location and date-based world generation and a way to interact with the game using the Vita's rear touchpad. He has stated that the location- and date-specific world generation feature could come to the other versions in the future. The Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita versions were released on October 29th 2013.
CHARACTERS
This single-player role playing game has no specific characters other than the animals, trees and other living beings within the island's environment.
GAMEPLAY
In Proteus, players explore an island from a first-person perspective. The island is drawn in a pixel art style and contains hills, trees, structures, and animals such as frogs and rabbits, though the layout is different each time the game is played. The focus of the game is on exploration rather than interaction, as there is no narrative and the player is given no instructions on how to proceed. Possible interactions are limited- for example, animals may run away when players come too close. The soundtrack changes depending on the player's movement and location; it may fall silent when the player is at the top of a hill and sonically dense as they travel down it. The soundtrack includes additional sounds and notes when the player nears objects or animals.
When the game begins, players are situated away from the island and must move across an ocean of water to reach it. Upon arrival, players are free to explore the whole island during the initial season of spring. During nighttime, players can enter a cluster of lights to advance time to the next seasons; going through each until the end of winter, after which the game ends. The landscape changes with the season, such as trees shedding their leaves in autumn.
In addition to these gameplay elements, the Playstation Vita version lets the player directly affect the environment with the console's rear touch panel and generate islands based on the current date and location in the real world.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Overall, Proteus is highly accessible to players and non-players alike and generally the game doesn't have a definitive target audience.
PLATFORMS
The platforms that Proteus is available on are Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.
Arakawa and his small team started hand-converting 'Radar Scope' cabinets to Donkey Kong machines. In 1981, Arakawa put the test machines in two Seattle bars - and they took off like Radar Scope never did; the machines earned more than 30 dollars a day in quarters. This prompted Arakawa to install more machines. Soon enough, the cabinets each made Nintendo 200 dollars a week. Arakawa and his team started converting the rest of the 2,000 Radar Scope cabinets by hand and started manufacturing hundreds of new Donkey Kong machines to keep up with the growing demand.
TOWERFALL
GENRE
TowerFall is an action indie video game created by Matt Thorson through his company Matt Makes Games. In the game, players control up to four archers in a battle royale.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
The world of TowerFall is a setting rich with history and lore ranging from centuries in the past to a future that occurs after the events seen in the game. The world of TowerFall compromises many areas whose inhabitants live under the rule of Kings, The main continent features a northern arctic zone, several mountain range and temperate forested areas and a vast desert in the east. The sparse southern continent is largely uninhabited though features several monuments and landmarks important to the history of TowerFall.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
TowerFall originated as a design created by Matt Thorson alongside Alec Holowka during the June 2012 Vancouver Full Indie Game Jam. They iterated through Legend of Zelda inspired gameplay centred around weapon combat. Archery became the focus of the gameplay and was designed to afford a sense of mastery to both experienced and inexperienced players. Medieval towers and castles were chosen as the setting for the game, inspired in part by the Game Of Thrones book series. Thorson had intended to send the game to Adult Swim to publish but choose to continue developing the game, expanding upon the version created during the game jam.
Thorson later moved into the Vancouver residence known as "Indie House", alongside Holowka and other game developers. It was there that the game received many hours of multiplayer testing and the competitive multiplayer aspect became the focus of the design. Thorson credits Super Smash Bros. and Bushido Blade as inspirations for the game's competitive nature. The game was exhibited at both PAX East and the Game Developers Conference in March, 2013 where it received its first public exposure.
Aiming to develop TowerFall into a full fledged release, Thorson sought the assistance of additional artists to improve the visuals and audio. MiniBoss developed the character and world designs and created the game's visuals, Alec Holowka composed the game's soundtrack and Power Up Audio created the game's sound effects.
After the increase exposure at PAX and GDC, Thorson entered into a exclusivity agreement with Ouya to release the game on the fledgling console. He felt that the Ouya was a good home for TowerFall because of the console's emphasis on the local multiplayer experience and it allowed him to continue development without the added pressure of releasing on a major console. TowerFall was first released on June 25, 2013 as an Ouya exclusive. It saw moderate success despite the console's relatively low install base.
Thorson later demoed the game at the Evolution Championship Series fighting game tournament in July, 2013 where he received praise and feedback for improving the game's competitive viability.
After the Ouya release, Thorson took time developing the game into a fuller package, stating plans to expand the single-player component. He later signed and exclusivity agreement to release the expanded TowerFall Ascension on PlayStation 4 and Steam after the Ouya exclusivity ended. The game was ported to XNA with assistance from Sickhead Games. The game was released on March 11. 2014 and featured a new co-op Quest mode, new un-lockable archers and stages, and a multitude of new power-ups and variants. Linus and OS X ports followed on May 29, 2014. Since its release, the game has received several minor updates improving performance and tweaking mechanics along with minor additions.
TowerFall Ascension was release on Ouya on August 28, 2014, after the PlayStation exclusivity period ended. It was available as a free update to those who had already purchased the previous version.
CHARACTERS
TowerFall: Ascension starts with four selectable characters: The Vigilante Thief (Green), The Turncloak Soldier (Orange), Last of the Order (Blue) and Assassin Prince (Pink).
GAMEPLAY
The game involves the player selecting one of the four archers and competing with others in an action fantasy type death match- killing their opponents through the use of arrows, explosives and jumping on them.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The game contains non-realistic looking violence towards characters which although human, are not very detailed. Therefore the content of the game is suitable for people aged 7 and above- with the game getting a PEGI 7 rating and an ESRB rating of 10+
PLATFORMS
The game is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, Android, Microsoft Windows, Ouya and Linux.
DEPRESSION QUEST
GENRE
Depressions Quest fits into the single-player, interactive fiction genre which involves the players using text commands to control characters and influence the environment/situation.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
Depression Quest is an interactive fiction game where you play as someone living with depression.You are given a series of everyday life events and have to attempt to manage your illness, relationships, jobs and possible treatment. The game shows to other sufferers of depression that they are not alone in their feelings- as well as to illustrate the concept of depression to people who may not understand the illness and the depths of what it can do to people.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
The game was designed by Zoe Quinn and written by Patrick Lindsey, both of whom have suffered from depression. The soundtrack was composed by Isaac Schankler. Quinn and Lindsey started the project, with the aim of communicating how the mind of a depression sufferer functions. Quinn purposely designed the game's protagonist as someone with an outwardly happy and easy life, so as to "pre-empt the argument that someone is only depressed because they have a difficult life".
Depression Quest was first released online as a web browser game on February 14th 2013. Quinn also submitted the game through Steam's Greenlight program and consequently received disparaging comments and hate mail, causing her to withdraw the game from the service. After receiving positive feedback from players who had played the game and receiving and invitation to Indiecade, she tried Greenlight again. She received further harassment, but felt that she could deal with the stress. "I thought, honestly, I could take the hate if it meant the game would reach somebody who be getting something out of it, feel less alone." Quinn stated.
The game was accepted by Greenlight in January 2014, and was released on Steam in August that year. The day it was due to go live, news broke that actor Robin Williams had died from a suspected suicide. Quinn considered delaying the Steam release, as she did not want to be seen as taking advantage of Williams' death. She eventually decided to keep to the original release schedule, as she thought that making the game available to those struggling with their own problems was more important than any negative publicity she might receive, writing, "I can't in good conscience hold back offering someone something that could help them start making real changes in their life for the sake of reducing the risk of offending people or hurting my own reputation."
The game uses a pay-what-you-want pricing model: it is free to play, but players can pay any amount they think is appropriate. Part of the proceeds from the game are sent to charity -initially iFred, but this was later changed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline after the game was released on Steam. The game has over 40,000 words of text, about 150 unique encounters, content generated based on the player's decisions as well as five different endings.
CHARACTERS
In the game, players assume the role of a person suffering through depression. You are also introduced to the character's girlfriend (Alex), the character's mother and brother- alongside other minor people along the way.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay involves the player assuming the role of a person suffering through depression. You are presented certain scenarios and given a bullet pointed list of choices that you can choose to take as a response to the situation in order to progress through to the next narrative.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The game's targeted audience are people who are suffering through depression as well as those who seek more information about it and the outcomes/consequences that come along with having the illness.
PLATFORMS
The game itself is available on browsers, Windows, OS X and Linux.
PROTEUS
Proteus is an open-ended, roleplaying, exploration-adventure game which allows its players explore a procedurally generated environment, without pre-determined goals.
NARRATIVE / STORYLINE
The game itself has no narrative (other than perhaps getting stranded on the island) - instead the player is not given any instructions or how to proceed, instead they are expected to explore the surroundings.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
British game designer Ed Key began work on Proteus in 2008 during his evenings and weekends, though the game only neared its final form when David Kanaga joined development in 2010. Key originally envisioned the game as a procedural role-playing game in the same vein as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in which the player would visit towns and complete quests. Realising the extent of the work that would be needed for such a game, the developers decided to instead make something "non-traditional and non-violent".
Key developed the game using a game engine he had written in the C# programming language. During and after development the developers expressed interest in allowing player-created mods of the game; some such modified versions of the game have since been created by the community. After David Kanaga joined the development team as audio composer, the audio mechanics were refined through the testing of many different ideas, such as allowing players to create their own music within the game. The ideas was cut because Key and Kanaga felt it would detract from the exploratory emphasis of the game and turn it into more of a creative tool.
Proteus was released on January 30th 2013 for Windows and OS X, and on April 8th of the same year for Linux. When pre-orders were open in 2012, and Artifact Edition was also available; a a version which included a boxed version of the game with artwork, the soundtrack, and notes on the game's development. Key apologised when the Artifact hadn't yet shipped at the end of its release year and offered to refund customers upon request. Th Artifact Edition was finally released in July 2016.
Around the time of the game's release, Curve Studios approached (and later worked with) the developers to port the game for release on Playstation 3 and Vita. These versions of the game use Curve Studio's own game engine. Sony requested that new features be added to the game, though Key said that the company never attempted to steer the direction of the development of these features. Key added location and date-based world generation and a way to interact with the game using the Vita's rear touchpad. He has stated that the location- and date-specific world generation feature could come to the other versions in the future. The Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita versions were released on October 29th 2013.
CHARACTERS
This single-player role playing game has no specific characters other than the animals, trees and other living beings within the island's environment.
GAMEPLAY
In Proteus, players explore an island from a first-person perspective. The island is drawn in a pixel art style and contains hills, trees, structures, and animals such as frogs and rabbits, though the layout is different each time the game is played. The focus of the game is on exploration rather than interaction, as there is no narrative and the player is given no instructions on how to proceed. Possible interactions are limited- for example, animals may run away when players come too close. The soundtrack changes depending on the player's movement and location; it may fall silent when the player is at the top of a hill and sonically dense as they travel down it. The soundtrack includes additional sounds and notes when the player nears objects or animals.
When the game begins, players are situated away from the island and must move across an ocean of water to reach it. Upon arrival, players are free to explore the whole island during the initial season of spring. During nighttime, players can enter a cluster of lights to advance time to the next seasons; going through each until the end of winter, after which the game ends. The landscape changes with the season, such as trees shedding their leaves in autumn.
In addition to these gameplay elements, the Playstation Vita version lets the player directly affect the environment with the console's rear touch panel and generate islands based on the current date and location in the real world.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Overall, Proteus is highly accessible to players and non-players alike and generally the game doesn't have a definitive target audience.
PLATFORMS
The platforms that Proteus is available on are Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita.
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