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Writer's pictureJustin S.

Dev.Log Orange

Prompt #1: List ten of your favorite games and name the objective for each. Do you see any similarities in these games? Try to define the type or types of games that appeal to you.


These are some of my favorite games that come to mind, in no particular order as that would take me hours upon hours to choose my actual top 10 games. I picked games that have a clear and definitive objective because some of my favorite games objectives are sort of up in the air or can be played/interpreted as having multiple main objectives.

  1. Fallout 3 - Search the post nuclear wasteland for your father who unexpectedly left you alone. Very much an "exploration" game as the book describes.

  2. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - You are double crossed by your accomplice and you must get to the lost city of Shangri-La before him and his villainous partners with nefarious means get their first. It's a rather linear story so not much exploration is involved but it does have heavy "solution" aspects because there's quite a bit of puzzles throughout the game.

  3. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance - Save the sleeping worlds from their sleeping state to prove yourself to your master that you are ready to obtain the Mark of Mastery. Another very linear story

  4. The Last of Us - You are in a post-apocalyptic world covered in infected and have been tasked with smuggling a girl across the country. While the girl can certainly handle herself, it does have "rescue" aspects as listed in the book.

  5. God of War (2018) - Keep the boy safe while you fulfill his mothers last wish and bring her ashes to the highest summit in the realm. Contains heavy exploration aspects that works together with solution aspects to solve puzzles to continue through the missions.

  6. Metro 2033 - You must traverse the Russian wasteland in order to save your underground home from the dangers of a new threat. Heavy exploration aspects and primarily focusing on combat, atmosphere, and character Interaction.

  7. Dead Space - Trapped on a dying spacecraft you must repair the ship so you can be rescued while defeating the terrifying enemies that have infested the ship. Some exploration and puzzle aspects but primarily relying on atmosphere.

  8. Bioshock - Your plane crashes and you swim to a nearby lighthouse for safety only to find there's an Atlantis-like city underwater that becomes overrun by psychos. You must find the man responsible for this and take him down. Exploration is necessary for progression but this game does heavily rely on it's combat which i would say is the driving objective of the gameplay (upgrading your character and defeating enemies).

  9. Batman: Arkham Knight - As vigilante/superhero Batman, save your city from the terrorist Scarecrow as he destroys the city and causes turmoil. Puzzles are probably the main objective because while there is lots of exploration, puzzles are more prevalent to the main objective.

  10. Cuphead - After doing a deal with the devil, you must defeat many different characters in order to repay your debts and confronts Satan himself. Pretty much the only objective is combat based since this is quite a simple game in terms of gameplay.


After heavily debating which games to list these are ones that I felt had interesting (and easily definable) objectives. After looking at them I see quite a bit of similarities, one that I wasn't particularly expecting. Almost all of these games have major exploration based objectives, which I did already know I loved, but another reoccurring objective is solution. Solving puzzles and problems is something I've always liked but I didn't suspect it to be such a big aspect of my favorite games.


Many of the games listed also have post-apocalyptic aesthetics which is a type of game that I am almost always immediately attracted to. You say "end of the world" and i'm hooked. Something about the way different developers and writers tackle that sub-genre is forever interesting to me. My interest in exploration objective games doesn't stop with just post-apocalyptic scenarios as you can see in some of the choices above. I simply have a deep desire to explore the unique game worlds that we are blessed with being able to play in.


This exercise really helped me further understand where some of my interests come from. I think this textbook does a great job of expanding my knowledge of games and giving me different ways to think about HOW and WHY I love to play. It's also pretty fascinating to see how many different objectives and objective types games really have. My simple objective explanations here don't even begin to go as deep into each of these titles as you could go. This is one of the many things that make video games so engaging to me, is just how much goes into both creating and playing through these stories.


 

Prompt #2: Play a game you’ve never played before and reflect on your experience as a player—what struck you as you played? What would you hope to include (or avoid!) in future games you design?


A major fear of mine in game design is not that i'll never make a game that'll gain popularity, but that i'll make one that a lot of people anticipate, and not be able to meet expectations or deliver on time. A game recently that I've seen this happen with is Days Gone. Allow me to set the scene, It's June 2016, E3 is on and it's the PlayStation panel. As a PS fanboy, I'm excited to see what is going to be announced, and while there was a lot to look forward to. I had an itch to scratch, I needed another post-apocalyptic narrative after having overplayed/beaten Fallout 4 and The Last of Us (remastered). Then comes this unheard of game with a gameplay demo showing off a beautiful wilderness encompassed in hordes of zombies. Flash forward to April, 2019 and I find out that one zombie game from E3 three years ago finally came out and since the hype had died down, I chose to ignore it in favor of other releases at the time.


This month I found the game on sale and figured it was about time to pick it up. While I am glad I've finally gotten around to play it, it is another unfortunate case of not living up to expectations. After more than two years of anticipation I had given up so going into Days Gone my expectations were much lower than they normally would be. Having played now for a few hours I'd say my expectations, albeit lower, have been met.



As I rode around this wilderness wasteland on my motorcycle I felt that sense of freedom and isolation that I look for in a game like this. I felt that emotion that the character goes through of gripping onto that old world in hopes that it will help you get through this infected version of it. The survival horror aspect was done very well, while exploring camps and doing missions I found my heart rate increasing trying my best not to alert the horde in the area. Aiming to keep my sound levels as low as possible in hopes that I don't have to waste what little ammo I have whilst escaping a horde of zombies. Once that horde goes off, i'm running for the hills trying to get to my bike for a quick escape. Sneaking my way through areas or stealth-killing everything I can in this infested wilderness proved to be a pretty immersive way to explore the lush environment the developers had created for me.


While not perfect, Days Gone did help me scratch that itch (although by this point it had gone away) I had for another post-apocalyptic world to indulge myself in. Something I would hope to avoid is one of the bad points of the game which would be the character development. They feel rather flat overall and I find myself not being able to get too attached to anybody besides the main character, which, even he I have a hard time with. Another minor thing to avoid would be that the gun-play could use some improvement but I can personally look past this. The game has some great qualities too that I aim to capture in my future in game design. Being able to make the player feel truly immersed in their world is one of my top goals as a developer. Ever since I was a little kid I've always wanted to help create these worlds I would lose myself in. Properly capturing the desired aesthetic of a project in pursuance of letting the player lose themselves, and forgot the cares and responsibilities of the real world would be a dream to me.

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