Posting on Behalf of Joey Yeo – A0127127L

Overcooked! is a cooking simulation game developed by Ghost Town games. In either single-player or local cooperative or competitive mode, players control a number of chefs in various hazard-filled kitchen levels and aim to fulfil food orders as rapidly as possible.

The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

Players must cooperate to complete recipes and earn points within a set amount of time in one of numerous kitchen levels. Players must pick up ingredients, put them down on chopping boards to chop them, then place them into cooking devices such as pots or ovens before serving them. Each level has its own set of obstacles that requires players to devise strategies to complete the orders as efficiently as possible. In competitive mode, players play against each other in side-by-side kitchen levels to earn the most points.

Aesthetics

The game is rendered colourfully in stylized low-polygon 3D, with cute character designs and simple, responsive animations that make the hectic gameplay feel more immersive and exciting. The user interface is pared-down and usually absent, using only icons and graphics to instruct users on the steps needed to complete new recipes.

Story

The story of the game is simplistic and has little bearing on game mechanics: the players are transported back in time by the Onion King to learn how to cooperate well as chefs in order to defeat a giant, apocalypse-causing spaghetti monster.

Technology

Overcooked was made in the Unity game engine and can support up to four controllers, and most interestingly, Shared Controller Mode where a single controller can be used for two players.

The Lens of Fun

The game’s fun factor largely stems from the chaotic cooperation between players, who in local co-op, are likely sitting near each other and can interact both in real life and within the game. Playing the game becomes a bonding and socializing experience with their friends.

The Lens of Skill

The skill tested most in this game is in single-player mode, the ability to multi-task, and in co-operative mode, the ability to cooperate with their fellow player. The basic actions in the game such as assembling the recipes are all done with a single button push, but completing the recipes with the other players requires a modicum of skill in communicating effectively and collaboration. After replaying certain levels, players will devise strategies and become more skilled in navigating them.

The Lens of Challenge

Levels get more challenging as play goes on. Earlier levels only introduce one type of obstacle at a time, for example, rats which will steal ingredients or earthquakes that cause parts of the map to become inaccessible. Later levels ramp up difficulty by combining these obstacles, causing players to have to restrategize.

The Lens of Cooperation

As the game only allows local co-op, players must communicate by talking to each other and can do so at all times. All players have the same abilities, but in some levels, players may be split up and only have access to certain kitchen equipment, requiring them to co-operate by passing each other items on conveyor belts or opening doors by standing on a button.

The Lens of Parallelism

Completion of each level earns players 0 to 3 stars depending on their performance. The next level can only be unlocked if players have obtained 1 star for the previous one, but later levels require also an additional number of stars for players to proceed. This is a rather frustrating way to gate later levels from players who may just be bad at dealing with a certain map’s obstacles and are not keen on replaying earlier levels to obtain more stars.

STARDEW VALLEY

Website: http://stardewvalley.net/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7uXNQskhs

Stardew Valley is a mixture of farming simulation and RPG. We assume the role of a person who escape from the city mundane life by inheriting his/her grandfather’s farm in Stardew Valley. There are lots of activities you can do in this small town – grow your crops, raise your animals, befriend the town people, and many more.

Aesthetics: Pixel Art with cartoony style. The choice of colour palette helps to convey the atmosphere of seasons and emphasize the beauty of nature. Furthermore, the style still allows each character portray to display their emotion clearly.

Story: Other than the premise that leads to the protagonist moving to the stardew valley, there is no main plot in the game. However, the game is packed with short stories that the player can experience by befriending the townsfolk, completing quest, and progressing through the year. Immersion comes from shaping the farm to our liking, so this aspect does not really negatively impact the experience.

Mechanics: There are many different activities that can be done in this game, but everything can be simplified to two main mechanic: using tools, and interacting with objects. Tools can be used anywhere and anytime so long it is equipped, but can only yield something at the designated place – axe to cut tree, hoe to toil ground, weapon to attack monster, etc. Similarly, items can be spent only on their intended function –  seeds on soiled ground, hay to feed animal, food to be consumed. Using tools used up stamina, and if you spent your entire stamina, you will not be able to do anything and your movement slowed down. There are also various craftable items which allows the player to obtain more sellable product such as bee house for honey or crab pot to catch prawns, crabs or snails

Technology: Current technology, much like the most of the modern game, allows the developer to deploy update to the game. The latest update deployed is the choice of location of our farm.

Lens of goal

• Main goal told by Mayor is to revitalize the town’s community centre
• Other small goals in form of request in the bulletin board townsfolk’s personal request which if fulfilled helps in player’s effort to befriend them
• Except for the bulletin board request that has time limit of two in-game days, other goals have no real time limit.
• Rewards are listed for the completion of segments of community centre revitalization effort which might entice player to clear it to figure out what the actual reward is.
• In favour of this design since I personally feel this game supposed to be a relaxing game where player should be able to take their time to enjoy the game in any way they want. Whether we want to focus on raising animals, planting crops or fishing to gather money is up to us. Perhaps, even, the player wants to focus more on befriending all the townsfolk instead to learn all their stories.

Lens of Emotion

• The game, I believe, wants us to feel comfortable, at ease while playing the game. The game wants us to feel pleasant, and at times surprised by the unexpected outcome or unlockable after doing certain actions or achieving certain goal.
  • Done by the art style and the music that emphasize certain aspect of seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, as well as in certain places such as the town’s mine or town square.
• Invested/feels of ownership to the farm that we develop.
  • Provides freedom in planning and arranging the farm, including the location of the farm and position of the building such as coop or barn
  • Allows us to decorate the farm with structure such as path and fences. Additionally, items that serve functionality such as scarecrow can also have unique design.
  • Even our own home can be decorated with some furniture!
  • Personalisation give a sense of ownership to the player since each farm have high probability of being unique and different from other player’s farm.

Lens of Fantasy

• Fantasy of living in a countryside and taking care of a farm
• Element of magic in modern world. Non-human NPC, monsters, and unreal This aspect is a surprise for new player when first introduced in-game and compelled them to question and test the limit of the world design. At the same time, this set the stardew valley world different from the real world. Make it feels more special.

Is that a gigantic Mushroom?

Lens of Simplicity and Transcendence

• Simplicity
  • Player’s character has no problem interacting with anyone.
  • Player’s character already master the technique of planting and farming. All actions are reduced to equipping tools and clicking the action button.
  • If the player have the recipe and the ingredient, any food can be cooked and any items can be crafted.
  • Townsfolk never lie about their opinion on the gift given to them, making it easier to gauge if the gift is the right gift for them.
  • This does not make the game too simple however.
    • Recipe still need to be found, be it through levelling up skills or befriending people.
    • Player still need to find out on their own what gifts are perfect for the people they like, giving a wrong gift will impact their relationship negatively
  • Transcendence
    • Players can tell how much stamina they have left so they can gauge how many more actions they can make before feeling exhausted.
    • Players are given the information to know how much each townsfolk like them.
    • Players can interact with fairies that has the power of repairing village’s infrastructure after fulfilling their request. In this respect, the player is given the ability to fix and improve the village, making them sort of the heroes that improves the life in the valley.
    • Upgrading equipment let players do some impressive feat. For example, a high-level hoe can toil 6 tile of lands in one go. Although the aesthetic style does not make these features immersion- breaking. Plus, this really helps in speeding up the farming process.
  • I feel there is a balance in term of simplicity and transcendence. Things that are simplified are things in the pipeline that are tedious and time-consuming if implemented. Transcendence element most of the time gives the player a good measure of the result of their actions or give them a sense of progress

Thank you for not lying as well!